White Eagle Memorial Preserve Who knew conversations about death could be so life-affirming? Since I organized the first PDX Death Cafe last spring my world has expanded to include scores of open-hearted, broken-hearted, life-embracing, death-accepting, courageous caring people yearning to connect through the isolation and silence typically surrounding this topic.
I've organized or supported 14 more Cafes in the 14 months since that first 60 person gathering at the Bijou Cafe. They've taken place at restaurants, churches, community centers, my Reed College reunion, and a co-housing community.
And just last Sunday we held our first "mobile Death Cafe" - a road trip to the White Eagle Memorial Preserve, a natural burial ground two-and-a-half hours from Portland.
On the drive up and back our carpools discussed questions such as:
I've organized or supported 14 more Cafes in the 14 months since that first 60 person gathering at the Bijou Cafe. They've taken place at restaurants, churches, community centers, my Reed College reunion, and a co-housing community.
And just last Sunday we held our first "mobile Death Cafe" - a road trip to the White Eagle Memorial Preserve, a natural burial ground two-and-a-half hours from Portland.
On the drive up and back our carpools discussed questions such as:
- What do you know about your ancestors?
- What were the burial practices in your family and how connected to them were you, growing up?
- What associations do you have with cemeteries?
- What do you want to have happen to your body when you die?
Nancy Ward in Portland Tribune And now that more than 500 people have engaged with our local Death Cafe scene, the media is starting to pay attention. Last week Peter Korn of the Portland Tribune wrote an article with the wonderful title, "O Death, spare me til we talk about it."
While there were a few misquotes (I didn't say Oregonians are "notoriously cheap" and I don't call myself a "death celebrant"), Peter did a great job of covering some of the diverse aspects of the growing movement that's beginning to normalize death in our culture. He retold the story of one of "Green Reaper" Elizabeth Fournier's home burials that I'd featured on my blog and included photos I provided of myself trying out a cremation casket and of my friend Mark, shrouded in the back of a 1962 Chevy Suburban, headed for a green burial in his family's pioneer cemetery.
They also took this amazing photo of my friend and sister home funeral guide Nancy Ward, which graced the front page of the paper for the five days it was on the newsstands.
While there were a few misquotes (I didn't say Oregonians are "notoriously cheap" and I don't call myself a "death celebrant"), Peter did a great job of covering some of the diverse aspects of the growing movement that's beginning to normalize death in our culture. He retold the story of one of "Green Reaper" Elizabeth Fournier's home burials that I'd featured on my blog and included photos I provided of myself trying out a cremation casket and of my friend Mark, shrouded in the back of a 1962 Chevy Suburban, headed for a green burial in his family's pioneer cemetery.
They also took this amazing photo of my friend and sister home funeral guide Nancy Ward, which graced the front page of the paper for the five days it was on the newsstands.
The Tribune article seems to have opened the floodgates. Among other media inquiries came an invitation to discuss Death Cafes on Oregon Public Broadcasting's Think Out Loud. Click the image if you'd like to hear the interview, which generated nearly 50 requests to join our notification list in just the first few hours after it aired. Among the comments coming in: "Glad I found you!" and "Thank you for getting this topic out into public. Much needed. I am a social worker who has seem too many 'bad' deaths occur in hospitals."
Next up, courtesy of some of PDX Death Cafe's creative facilitators, an August Death Picnic. I love this town!
Next up, courtesy of some of PDX Death Cafe's creative facilitators, an August Death Picnic. I love this town!
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