We’ll do it again!
A write up of Death Cafe' of Central Arkansas
Descriptions of the night: interesting, fascinatingly morbid, thought provoking, affirming, enriching, intriguing, informative, fun, convivial, open, inspirational, comforting, diverse, curious, and welcoming. Where else do you get this and cake (we had donuts) with a group of people coming together for the first time? What a fabulous night!
The inaugural Death Café of Central Arkansas was, in the words of a journalist that attended, “The conversation was stimulating, fascinating, and the donuts were delish. I’d call it a success.”
Our conversation flowed to topics about deficits in culture, writing your own obituary, pet death, parental and family influence on views of death, how we live in layers, societal fascination with death, The Body Farm, living wills and advanced directives, ‘clinicalness’ of death and how sacred it is to be present with a dying person, ‘Soul Injury’, PTSD, military ceremony, death in art and literature, the BS of the Stages of Grief, ghost and exorcism, Terror Management Theory, media portrayal, milestones of reaching the age someone close died, perspectives of funeral and hospice professionals, and more.
It was validating to attendees to know other people are also interested in death, and overall did not seem to affect feelings about death but created a comfort level. One said, “It’s great to not feel so weird in your thoughts” and another said, “It’s perfectly fine to talk about and explain death.” The conversation topics seemed to stimulate more questions for some. We utilized “death notebooks” so people could write down sparks of interest to come back to.
What did we hear when we asked what they would tell someone thinking of attending a Death Café? We had a unanimous yes! “It’s non-judgmental and super informative.” We even celebrated one of the host’s 30th birthday with a candle and a song. Life affirming.
And congratulations to Chuck Hollowell for naming our mascot Tallulah Deathhead by popular vote!
