Death Cafe write-ups
Death Cafe Des Moines, IA Write up
Posted by Carmen Elliott on Aug. 18, 2014, 10:51 a.m.
Amanda the Panda Family Grief Center hosted Des Moines' first Death Cafe this past Saturday! It had a lot of challenges, but also a lot of rewards.
We sent out the message via Facebook (our page & an event page), Twitter, Pinterest, & Instagram, as well as emails to grief services state-wide, our program committee, word-of-mouth, and using the event button on the Death Cafe Website. We had LOTS of interest, and by Saturday night, we had about 30 RSVPs!
Our challenges were all venue-related. We had reserved the rooftop, but when we arrived, we were locked out, and all of the chairs we stacked & padlocked together. We couldn't ...
Death Cafe Seattle - Greenwood Write up
Posted by Seattle Death Guyz on Aug. 17, 2014, 5:59 p.m.
-The Denial of Death. A 1973 work of psychology and philosophy by Ernest Becker. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1974.
-I Thought My Father Was God: And Other True Tales from NPR ...
Montpelier Death Cafe Write up
Posted by MontpelierDeathCafe on Aug. 17, 2014, 5:56 p.m.
We often open our meetings by asking the attendees what brings them to our Death Café. Hearing the broad range of answers is inspiring; some people admit they just don’t know, others share personal stories. But the common thread in all answers is the desire to not hide from death. As a group we feel safe bringing our thoughts about death “into the light”.
As this month’s meeting turned towards a desire not to be afraid of death and how to prepare to die well, we actually talked about how death isn’t the only thing we need to bring into the light. Most of us ...
Death Cafe Louisville Write up
Posted by Justin Magnuson on Aug. 17, 2014, 3:45 p.m.
Death Cafe Louisville hosted its third cafe in the community room of Rainbow Blossom. Like the previous cafes there was a large mix of ages, interests, and attendance was between 15-20.
We split into two groups and it seems each group had completely different conversations. The group I facilitated talked about everything from books, to cultural expectations, a group members recent bereavement, and a young man who is a pallbearer at the local potter's field.
The other group talked about personal loss as well, but also spirits and they seemed to laugh more than my group. We are realizing the acoustics of the room make it difficult ...
Death Cafe in Maple Ridge, BC Write up
Posted by Death Cafe - Fremantle on Aug. 16, 2014, 11:48 p.m.
As a long-time fellow Death Cafe facilitator, I was really curious about what it would be like to sit in on a Death Cafe run by someone else. And this wasn't just 'someone else,' but a kindred spirit in the facilitation of death as positive inspiration.
Stephen Garrett and I seem to be holding up the planet from both ends (him here in Canada and I in Australia) with our passion for all things death and dying. We have our own journeys that have brought us to facilitating Death Cafe's but it seems that our message is the same. We both believe that speaking about death ...
Death Cafe Senegal Write up
Posted by Death Cafe Castlemaine on Aug. 15, 2014, 10:42 p.m. 2 comments
Death Cafe was well received here in Saint-Louis with those I could explain it to in my broken French! I did find it a little difficult to broach the subject of death with locals as well as find people who could speak good enough English to participate in the Death Cafe.
However on the day we had an enthusiastic contingent of five from Finland, Senegal and Australia all keen to explore death related issues. A particularly interesting discussion revolved around the rituals and beliefs of Muslim burial in Senegal. Much of our discussion was art related, with photography, film and visual art references exploring ways of grieving and ...
the Rockland Maine Death Cafe! Write up
Posted by plindquist on Aug. 15, 2014, 8:12 a.m.
Muffins and Tea at the Death Cafe by
> Jory Squibb
>
> I'm heading out to Michigan to spend time
> with my mother. She's almost 99 and I'm
> sure to hear her tell me every day, "Jory, I'm so tired of
> this. I just want to get 'out of here' ". When I
> first began to hear this mantra a few years ago, my
> engineer's mind tried to figure out how I could specifically
> respond to this apparently heart-felt plea from one I dearly
> love.
> I thought of getting some sort of 'final
> pill' from Oregon, where such assistance might be
> legal. I also talked with ...
Death Cafe in Maple Ridge, BC Write up
Posted by Leo Simmons on Aug. 14, 2014, 7:10 p.m.
Books lined the walls in neat yet homely shelving. As we opened the door, the air carried a strong fragrance of expertly-brewed coffee and fragrant teas, mingling with a pleasant atmosphere of quiet excitement and anticipation. We were almost – but not quite – late for our very first ‘Death Café’ experience, but it didn’t seem to faze our hosts or the fifteen or so people already settled in an interesting assortment of chairs around the outside of the room. Perhaps it helped that a ripple of applause was in progress as my wife and I (this was a birthday treat for her!) made our entrance to the tiny ...
Death Cafe Hong Kong Write up
Posted by Carmen Yau on Aug. 12, 2014, 11:38 p.m. 1 comment
It was a lively Sunday afternoon with nearly 40 participants in the Death Café Hong Kong on 27 July 2014. The event was held at the Love Soar Children Grief Awareness Expressive Art Exhibition.
The venue provided a warm and relaxing environment so that people felt free to express themselves and make friends with strangers around the table. All participants are local Hong Kong people and the whole event was held in Chinese.
We understand that Chinese may find it difficult to discuss about death. Therefore, we created some little paper rolls with quotes related to death and encouraged them to pick from the cup and share their ...
Invito a partecipare al Death Cafe, conversazione aperta sulla morte e sul morire Write up
Posted by Elisabetta Lucchi on Aug. 12, 2014, 5:14 p.m.
7th June 2014, Malcesine, near Verona.
A small group of three people took part in this Death Café, kindly hosted by Il Punto Café in Malcesine, a wonderful village on the shores of Lake Garda near Verona.
There was a very particular light surrounding this meeting and I would like to report the words of one of the participants, Michela, who afterwards described the atmosphere of this summer afternoon:
“How beautiful Malcesine was yesterday afternoon with people in the squares and music and the light from the lake which reverberated on the balconies full of flowers and the warm air soft with the perfume of jasmine. There is ...
Hosted my first Death Cafe yesterday, on Dying to Know Day, and I was pleased with how it went. It was a small gathering only 6 guests and myself. A cute little venue. The conversation flowed freely and I had some positive feedback following it. A big thank you to those who came and supported me and also to Michelle of Kinfolk Cafe for letting me use her cafe for the event. I look forward to running another one some time. Here is a group photo following the event. I am the shorty in the middle back row. Glennis
14th Death Cafe at Cafe Rouge in Hampstead, London, UK Write up
Posted by Josefine Speyer on Aug. 6, 2014, 6:08 p.m. 2 comments
by Josefine Speyer
A lively evening, but less busy than expected. A demonstration in town and some difficulties on the underground may have made travelling for some people difficult. It was the anniversary of the 2 July London Bombings in 2005. I had invited two poets to read a short poem each. Only one was able to come. He read both poems to us at the start of the plenary.
The evening was in two halves: an intimate conversation around a small table for 1 ½ hours facilitated by a facilitator who also takes part in the conversation. A 25 minute break, followed by a 45 minute plenary. Ending ...
Death Cafe Birmingham Write up
Posted by carrieweekes on July 31, 2014, 10:40 a.m. 2 comments
It was probably the most beautiful, sunny and warm Sunday Birmingham has seen all year.
Would the prospect of spending a couple of hours talking about Death be enough to tempt our prospective attendees from their sun-baked gardens and Birmingham’s wonderful parks and into a City Centre pub? We wouldn’t have blamed them for finding excuses…
But they came! 25 wonderful and interesting strangers came with a desire to talk about Death. This was our first publicly advertised Death Café in Birmingham. And thanks to a wonderful venue who put us up free-of-charge (thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk), some lovely cake pops courtesy of Conjurerskitchen.com and some ...
Death Cafe Madison Write up
Posted by Willy Street: Madison Death Cafe on July 29, 2014, 12:14 p.m.
"I've always thought about death a lot", differences in families; some families don't talk about death or people in the family who have died, others often reminisce about family members who have died. Times have changed, everyone is busy and family members are spread out across the country, thus less time to come together to grieve. When people die at home, there is more time to accept and be together, now often, families are not with the person often when they die and everyone is so busy. Taking care of the property, funeral arrangements, etc) becomes another arrangement in the busy schedules.
Death Cafe in Montreal Write up
Posted by Kit Racette on July 28, 2014, 5:17 p.m.
On July 16, 25 people gathered together in Montreal for tea and coffee and cakes. Once more I was struck by how different each Death Cafe is. There is always the mixture of people who come because they have experienced the death of some one close. Then there are those who work in palliative care and I value their sharing of their accompanying the dying. And there are always those who are curious about their own death, some frightened and some wanting to face it in a conscious way. This time, once more, there was some one who shared their near death experience and we are all interested ...