Between St. Patrick’s Day, the arrival of the first day of spring, and the light green tinge just starting to show on the trees, we’re going green this week!
This past Sunday, I spoke on “Going Green with Your Final Arrangements” to a great group of folks in Santa Fe. In addition to green burial, we discussed cremation, body donation and Jewish funeral traditions. You can hear the speech for the Journey Santa Fe organization through this blog post at The Family Plot.
You can also see growth in the number of A Good Goodbye film clip-illustrated presentations, four of which are now certified for continuing education credit by the Academy of Professional Service Practice. Those talks are The Funeral Director on Film, Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film, Funny Films for Funeral Planning and Understanding Grief & Mourning Through Films.
And there are new film clip presentations growing to fruition! Business Succession in the Movies looks at ways a family business can be smoothly passed along to the next generation, and how transitions can be sabotaged by the pitfalls of personalities and insufficient planning.
ADEC logo
Looking forward to reconnecting with friends and meeting new folks at two conventions in San Antonio, Texas April 8-11. Both the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association and the Association for Death Education and Counseling are holding their conventions in the same place at the same time. It’s going to be lively! Look for radio and television news of interest for those who want to garner local or national awareness of their businesses.
Wish me luck as I speak in the Toastmasters International Speech Competition at the Division level on March 28. My speech, titled “Je Suis,” has already won at the Club and Area levels. If you can’t make it to the live event at 1:00 p.m. at Presbyterian Hospital’s Savage Auditorium, look for a video of the speech on YouTube afterwards.
Highlights of some recent blog posts, upcoming events and a humorous quote follow. Please call me at 505.265.7215 if I can be of assistance.
Live long and prosper,
Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®
The Family Plot Blog Highlights
Click on the titles to read the blog post. Review all posts on The Family Plot Blog or review just the Death Cartoons posted on the blog!
Mr. Spock “Live Long and Prosper”
The Origin of Star Trek‘s Live Long and Prosper Sign: With Leonard Nimoy’s death on February 27, I revisited an old blog post with videos of the original Mr. Spock explaining how the Vulcan “Live long and prosper” greeting with the distinctive upraised hand sign came to be.
Radio Interview: Prepare to Die!!!: The latest A Good Goodbye Radio interview with Peter Callan, author of a book with two different titles and covers: Prepare to Die!!! and Other Stuff Nobody Told You and Preparing for the Inevitable.
Preneed Funeral Planning Thoughts: A story by Gail Rubin in the March 2015 issue of Mortuary Management Magazine.
Emotional Wisdom Training Radio Interview: Gail is interviewed on how it takes laughter and a light touch to proactively address the one true inevitability of life: death.
A Short Memorial Service Template: Here’s a structure for a short but meaningful service that covers the “Four Rs” of a good memorial service.
Upcoming Events and a Humorous Quote
Saturday, March 21: Gail addresses members of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International in Albuquerque.
Thursday, March 26: Gail presents Understanding Grief & Mourning Through Films at Dr. Kris Roush’s Death & Dying class at Central New Mexico Community College.
Saturday, March 28, 1:00 p.m.: Gail competes in the Toastmasters International Division B speech contest. Location – Savage Auditorium at Presbyterian Hospital on Central Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.
April 8-11: Gail is in San Antonio, Texas for the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA) convention and the conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC).
Tuesday, April 14, 10:00 a.m. to noon: Ashes to Ashes, Dust in Your Face: Cremation, Comedy and Creativity film clip illustrated talk at Osher Continuing Education at the University of New Mexico. Cremation is the fastest growing disposition method in the U.S. Watching funny and serious film clips, you’ll learn about what you need to know before there’s a death in the family, including choices to make and disposition options. Tuition $20. Register for class 19892 at the Osher website.
Thursday, April 16, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.: The Elemental John Ford Western Film class at Osher Continuing Education at the University of New Mexico. John Ford was best known for his Westerns, many starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda and James Stewart. He incorporated specific elements into each film, scenes of which will be examined in this two-hour class. Tuition $20. Register for class 19981 at the Osher website.
Saturday, April 25, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Albuquerque Death Cafe at Gail Rubin’s home. The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” It’s all about an interesting, unstructured conversation – open and free-flowing with no specific agenda. At these events, people come together in a relaxed, confidential and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea (or your favorite beverage) and eat delicious cake or cookies. Post a comment below to RSVP for address and directions.
Friday, May 1: Gail will be in Las Cruces, New Mexico to present and conduct what may possibly be the largest Death Cafe event to date, with 300 people at New Mexico State University’s School of Nursing daylong symposium on end-of-life issues. She will also present “Doctor, How Long Do I Have?” on how to hold good doctor-patient-family conversations, in two afternoon break-out sessions.
“In the city, a funeral is just an interruption of traffic; in the country, it is a form of popular entertainment.” — George Ade