Events

No one likes to talk about dying, right? We do! Bring your curiosity, your courage, and a sense of humor as we sit around the table at the gatehouse (almost) every Saturday in 2023 to explore our worries and wonderment about mortality. Join our new death doula in residence for a weekly series of conversations and workshops about the end of life. Guests will include those who sit with the dying, care for our bodies, and help those we will leave behind. We will work on projects like organizing our digital lives, documenting our wishes, and telling our life stories. We will play games, do projects, hear musicians, meet artists, and hear from scholars who explore the end of life in their work. Our goal is to explore a 'death positive' way to think about our mortality. You never know who you’ll meet around the table, but each person who enters the room is a gift to the event. Cake and tea provided. Donations to our host, Historic Congressional Cemetery, are warmly encouraged. By facing our fear of death we aim to best enjoy every breath.

This Saturday’s topic is: Ready, set, don’t go! We are having an advance planning checklist challenge. No homework necessary: come and fill out a checklist of possible items to take care of to be prepared. Don’t worry: the idea is to get started and to make progress, not perfection. Come join us if you haven’t started anything, or you want to be a role model as someone who checks every box. No shame, just encouragement.

This Saturday’s topic is: The junk drawers. Who are you, according to your junk drawer? What story of your life does your stuff tell the world when you’re gone?

This Death Doula Day we’ll talk about the topic of death phobia, death anxiety, fear of death. Some of us have very little of this, and some of us are impaired by it all the time. We won't be able to fix the problem for one another but we can bring our fear into the open.