Portages, Alternative Funeral Advocacy leads us back to the traditional folkways of home vigil and family directed funerals. Helping families to create legacies, Portages is committed to providing education, resources and support to families and communities who desire to care for their own at the time of death. Portages can be reached at portagesafa@yahoo.com

Jean Madsen & Michael Sorrell

Storied Lives ~ Exploring, expressing and preserving our stories deeply honors our experiences and our living voice. Storied Lives offers classes, assistance and digital recording services for Ethical Wills, Family Stories and more, as well as Story Circles for groups and families. In addition to classes, they produce a podcast called, Life, Love & Loss.

Jeanne Bain holds an undergraduate degree in Theater and a Masters Degree in Human Development. She has worked extensively with people who have stories to tell, using both the written and the spoken word. In her teaching, she often combines writing exploration with imagery and movement to encourage personal stories to be released more easily into the world. As a youthworker, she has worked in alternative schools, the juvenile justice system, public schools, hospice programs and more. She currently teaches yoga, writing groups for young women, and Intentional Writing for Adults, which combines writing with yoga and intuitive development. Most recently she has taught at The University of Minnesota, Corazon Gallery, and the Medica Skyway Senior Center. This summer she will be teaching classes in The Loft Summer Youth Programs. She is a parent of a 10 year old writer & aerialist and a 2 year old pirate.

Robert Haarman is a performing artist and choreographer in Minneapolis. He holds a B.A. in Dance from the University of Minnesota and began performing, like most of us, before entering kindergarten, in the living room of his family home. He has worked with Live Action Set, Dancing People Company and Time Track Productions. His choreography has been shown at Zenon School, Cannon Falls High School, and Bryant Lake Bowl. His work, “Handsbreath”, created with composer, Anne Kilstofte, was featured at the Annual Meeting of the American Composer’s Forum in 2006. He is married to Jeanne, and together, they raise their two boys, Aidan and Finneas while juggling an ever-changing business that revolves around the story.