Shatzi Weisberger: The 91-Year-Old Death Educator | LGBTQ+ Elders Project

LGBTQ&A

Jeffrey Masters

Society & Culture

4.7 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2022

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Spoiler alert: You are going to die. Shatzi Weisberger works with people to dismantle their fears and worries around dying, helping them to approach their deaths with intentionality. A lifelong activist and former nurse, Shatzi was born in 1930.

This is part of our new LGBTQ+ Elders Project. Click here to listen to our recent interview with the 87-year-old trans elder, Barbara Satin.

LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website in the afternoon (or earlier, if I get enough coffee). Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, so I have some bad news to share, unfortunately, and that is that if you're listening
0:06.3	to this right now, you are going to die. And so am I. And so is our guest today. And maybe I shouldn't
0:13.8	even call this bad news, right? It is simply a fact, a certainty. It is one of the only certain
0:20.2	things in life.
0:22.0	For that reason, I don't think we should fear it or be afraid to talk about it at the very
0:26.7	least.
0:27.7	And I know our guest today agrees with me.
0:30.1	Shotsie Weisberger is 91 years old and a death educator.
0:34.8	She works with people to dismantle their fears and worries and also to figure
0:39.3	out what they want. What is your desire for your death? Because the dying experience
0:46.1	is something that we can approach with intentionality. And I think we're only just now beginning
0:51.1	to have that conversation in the mainstream. Before all this, Shatty worked as a nurse for 47 years.
0:58.0	Part of that was during the height of the AIDS crisis when she cared for people with AIDS,
1:03.0	and all the while she's been a fixture at marches and protests here in New York City,
1:07.0	whether marching against police brutality or with the Jewish voice for peace,
1:11.7	Shotsie is there right at the front with one of her famous signs.
1:16.4	So without further ado, let's get to the interview.
1:18.9	I'm Jeffrey Masters, and from The Advocate Magazine in partnership with Glad, this is
1:24.3	LGBTQ and A with the 91-year-old Shotsie Weisberger.
1:33.6	So to start, I want to begin with the end.
1:37.5	You're 91 years old and a death educator.
1:40.5	Have you always been interested in and comfortable with death, or has that only come with age?
	...

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