Posted by: sara | May 3rd, 2017
So I remember back in the summer of 2014, when I was plotting how to begin a Death Cafe in our quaint little city, I came across the funniest stories about the use of the name "Death Cafe." People apparently didn't cotton to it all the time, thinking it cast "doom and gloom" on any social atmosphere. Like, how were you supposed to be convivial and congenial with nomenclature like DEATH defining your surroundings? Wouldn't it boost attendance if you took the word "death" out of the name? Or, how about people interpreting this to mean that the particular coffee shop/tea room/diner/eatery where you would be meeting had big health and/or sanitation problems and that people who came in and ate or drank there DIED. Or even (seriously) some asking whether this was a club for people with HEARING problems? (DEAF Cafe!!?) But the semantics coup de grace was to encounter something so bizarre and so radical that I had to do a double-take and then go back and get a picture! This was my second time hosting a Death Cafe at a local CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community) with a group of really engaging and inquisitive souls, and I am quite sure that it was NOT one of them who reserved our space under the name....(are you ready???)....DEATH SQUAD!!!!! But there it is, on the reservations diary, for all the world to see. I only wish I had taken the picture before our meeting, and not after, since apparently you get "stricken" to show meeting has already occurred. Death Squad!!!?? That must be the ultimate in cultural aversion tactics! Clearly, a lot of work remains to be done as we carry on these conversations and engage in musings on our mortality. Which reminds me...I am available to come talk to your group/organization/crowd/crew...or dare I say SQUAD whenever you are ready!!!
