The Family Plot Blog
Fundamentals of Chinese American Funeral Customs – Part Three
Part Three of the Fundamentals of Chinese American Funeral Customs covers Red Envelopes, Funeral Music and Processions, Lucky and Unlucky Numbers, and Celebration Days. This information was shared during classes at the 2016 ICCFA University College of International Studies. Click here for Part One. Click here for Part Two. Lycee – Red Envelopes As attendees leave the funeral, family members hand each person a red envelope and a white envelope....
How To Make Christmas Gift Giving a Downsizing Adventure
This Christmas, avoid the clutter of unwanted items and make holiday gift giving an opportunity to downsize. "The chaos and clutter of holiday gift giving is stress-inducing," said Gail Rubin, CT, author of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die. "Yes, it is possible to use the holidays to downsize and start meaningful conversations when the family gatherings start at Thanksgiving." Rubin offers...
Day of the Dead Celebrations Have Worldwide Commonalities
The Catholic Church officially recognizes the November 1 and 2 celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. While the Dia de los Muertos Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico and Latin America gets much of the news coverage, other cultures also observe this tribute to our beloved departed. The Church influenced these observances throughout many cultures. In New Orleans, you see the French and Spanish influence in the city's above-ground...
How to Create a Day of the Dead Altar
Halloween, a.k.a. "All Hallows Eve," precedes the Day of the Dead celebrations held November 1st and 2nd - All Saints Day and All Souls Day in the Catholic tradition. In Mexico, Dia De Los Muertos as it is known in Spanish, honors deceased children and infants on the first day, and deceased adults on the second day. You don’t have to be Mexican or Catholic to honor your loved ones with a Day of the Dead altar in your home and welcome their...
How to Treat Cremated Remains: New Vatican Rules for Catholics
Catholics got the okay to be cremated in 1963, when the Vatican and the Pope said cremation was allowed, as long as it didn't suggest a denial of faith about resurrection. But with the rising cremation rate now exceeding 50% in the United States, the Vatican needed to issue some clarification about what Catholics can do with cremated remains. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published on Tuesday, provides a new...
How Gimmicks Attract Visitors to NFDA Exhibitors
After you've been to a few funeral director conventions, you begin to notice specific vendors use their favorite enticements for drawing visitors to their exhibit booths at the expo. Here are photos from the 2016 NFDA convention in Philadelphia that illuminate this phenomenon.
Kicking The Bucket List Talks and Book Signings
It's now official! The eBook versions of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die are now available in Kindle form at Amazon.com and on iTunes for Apple, both at $7.99. The paperback retails for $15.95. In KICKING THE BUCKET LIST, death educator Gail Rubin brings a light touch to cleaning out those dark recesses of your home and organizing for end-of-life issues. In these pages, you’ll learn how to:...
New Mexico Baby Boomers Now Have a Natural Burial Ground
Green burial in New Mexico has been a long time coming. Actually, given the state's high desert dry climate, it's really brown burial - so let's call it natural burial. The prospect of natural burial appeals to Baby Boomers. The good news: there's now a natural burial ground open for business in the state. For years, there was hope that a natural burial ground would be started near Santa Fe as part of the Galisteo Basin Preserve land...
How To Safely Dispose of Prescription Medications
It’s tricky to dispose of expired prescription medications without polluting the environment. Flushing some drugs down the toilet can cause groundwater problems downstream. But there are ways to avoid those issues. This Saturday, October 22 is a national day for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to collect unused or expired medications for safe disposal. Check with local government entities to learn your options for safe disposal. If...
Remembering Larry Mandel
Three words come to mind when I think of funeral director and life cycle celebrant Larry Mandel: kindness, justice and enthusiasm. He died on Sunday, October 16, 2016, just two weeks shy of his 68th birthday (Oct. 30 - also Create a Great Funeral Day). Kindness Larry was a mensch - a good guy. He proudly described himself as a fourth generation funeral director. He was also a very media-savvy funeral director. Early in his career, before...
Oct. 30 Bookworks Talk and Signing
Not only is Sunday, October 30 Create a Great Funeral Day, it's also the official launch day for KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die! At 3:00 p.m. on October 30, the great local independent bookstore Bookworks will host a talk and book signing in their store at 4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW, Albuquerque, NM. Here's a link to their event listing. Come to Bookworks and hear about Gail's Adventures in...
Nov. 5 ABQ Death Cafe
The next Albuquerque Death Cafe is scheduled for Saturday, November 5 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Gail Rubin’s home. It’s an opportunity to discuss what’s on your mind or in your heart regarding mortality issues. 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...
Oct. 18: How to Brand Yourself
Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death, A Good Goodbye author, speaker and pioneering death educator, shows branding tools to help make you outstanding in your field! Gail Rubin and Susan Cooper, a.k.a. The Queen of Mold, present "The Art of Branding for Writers" at SouthWest Writers meeting on Tuesday, October 18 at 7:00 p.m. at New Life Presbyterian Church, 5540 Eubank Blvd. NE, Albuquerque. More information at http://www.southwestwriters.com/ And...
Poem on Life, Death, and Sleep: To Awake
This reading from the Rosh Hashana prayer book used at our Reform Jewish congregation provides a comforting message - death is not the end. To Awake by Rabbi Richard N. Levy To awake from sleep each morning recalls Your mystifying promise that death is not the end, but when this world awakens to the messianic dawn souls and bodies will somehow join together once again in one grand reunion of the human race. When I awoke this morning It was as...
How to Express Your Condolences to a Mourner
There's an article in today's New York Times Style Section called "The Art of Condolence" by Bruce Feiler. It has very good advice about how to write a note of condolence that expresses your sympathy to a person mourning the loss of someone they love. It's something the younger people in our society are drifting away from. From the article: Offering a written expression of condolence (from the Latin word condolere, to grieve or to suffer with...
Funeral Business Advisor Review: Kicking the Bucket List
The September/October issue of Funeral Business Advisor, a trade magazine with a circulation of more than 17,400 subscribers, features a review of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die. Here's the article: This book’s title and subtitle, while lengthy, says it all: KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die. Author Gail Rubin, CT, a death educator with a sense...
Ready to Clear Unwanted Clutter? Here’s How to Get Started.
October brings us the excitement of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta – it's also the official launch of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die. The book already has 21 five star customer reviews on Amazon. The paperback is available now, and eBook versions will debut in October. You can get a signed copy from me through this link, or come to one of the events listed below to get your...
Oct. 24 and 25: NFDA Book Signings
On Monday, October 24 and Tuesday, October 25 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., Funeral Business Advisor magazine will host book signings with author and death educator Gail Rubin at the 2016 National Funeral Directors Association Convention and Expo in Philadelphia, PA. Funeral Business Advisor can be found at booth 2837 in the expo hall. Gail will meet with attendees and sign copies of her newest book KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and...
Movies, News Media and the 2016 Presidential Election
On Thursday, October 13 in the Washington, D.C. area and on Tuesday, October 18 in Albuquerque, Gail Rubin, CT, detours from death education to offer two presentations using movies to provide insights into the development of the news media in the 20th century and its impact on presidential elections. Long before becoming a pioneering death educator using humor and funny films to break the ice about discussing end-of-life issues, Gail Rubin's...
Fundamentals of Chinese American Funeral Customs – Part Two
Part Two of the Fundamentals of Chinese American Funeral Customs covers Visitation, Food Offerings, Blanketing Ceremony, Paper Burning Products, and Dress Code. This information, presented by Bob Yount, General Manager of Green Street Mortuary in San Francisco’s Chinatown, was shared during classes at the 2016 ICCFA University College of International Studies. (Read Part One) Chinese Funeral Visitation Visitation is held the night before the...
Fundamentals of Chinese American Funeral Customs – Part One
At ICCFA University, Bob Yount, General Manager of Green Street Mortuary in San Francisco’s Chinatown, presented an enormous amount of information on the Fundamentals of Chinese American Funeral Customs. This blog post includes only a portion of his teachings about Chinese funeral traditions: Benevolent Family Associations, the importance of flower arrangements, packing for the trip to the Other World, and funeral timing. Other aspects will be...