I’m taking the summer off from my own community education offerings but here are a few events that catch my eye. Click on links for more information.
Summer 2025
- Film Screening and Panel Discussion: “The Last Ecstatic Days” Monday June 9th, 6:30-8:30pm at Beaverton City Library. Organized by Hopewell House. Free with limited seating; doors open at 6:15 pm.
- Accorda Music-Thanatology Institute Benefit Concert July 25th at 7pm Rose City Park Presbyterian Church (1907 NE 45th Ave, Portland, OR 97213) Music has the power to comfort and connect when words fall short. This special benefit concert celebrating the healing presence of music and the work of the Accorda Music-Thanatology Institute. The concert is free, with donations gratefully accepted to support Accorda’s mission of training future music-thanatologists and expanding access to this vital care.
Ongoing Resources
- City of Roses Death Forum, offering regularly scheduled, in-person Death Cafés and Death Chats in Portland.
- Reimagine On-Line Events, offering a full schedule of on-line events, many free, exploring how we “face adversity, loss, and mortality, and channel the hard parts of life into meaningful action and growth.”
- North Coast End-of-Life Collective maintains a packed calendar of offerings of their own, and by collaborators
- Peaceful Presence Project‘s next available facilitated End of Life Doula Training starts September 10. Self-paced trainings and Continuing Education also available.
PAST EVENTS
- Ethical Wills Workshop, Thur. Sept. 26, hosted by JADE: Jewish Association for Death Education. See also JADE’s interactive, web-based information about Jewish death practices, Hineni.
- Befriending Mortality: My signature 6-Class Series runs every other Monday from Sept. 29-Dec. 9, along with monthly Death Cafés for Befriending Mortality participants and alumnae/i.
- Caring for Our Dead: Making Home Funeral Information Easy to Find, an online community/ continuing education I’m presenting Thur., Oct. 10 on the free, on-line informational site Oregon Funeral Resources & Education, for Lewis & Clark Graduate School in partnership with the NW Association for Death Education & Bereavement Support.
- Pacific Northwest History Conference, Oct. 18-19, features sessions on events related to public health, racial injustice, climate disruption, Indigenous sovereignty, queer history, and the fragility of democratic institutions, all from a Pacific Northwest history lens, including the community remembrance project I co-curated, No on 9 Remembered.
- Washington County End-of-Life Resource Fair, Wed. Oct. 23, featuring a presentation by yours truly at noon.
- Finish Strong: Prioritizing What Matters Most at Life’s End – A 7-week Guided Book Forum with author and advocate Barbara Coombs Lee in collaboration with Hopewell House, hosted by the North Coast End-of-Life Collective on Zoom, Wednesdays 10/23, 11/6, 11/20, 12/4, 12/18, 1/8, 1/22.
- Jack Has a Plan, a documentary film about one community’s experience with Medical Aid in Dying, airing on Public Broadcasting this fall and in person on Wed. Nov. 20 at the Beaverton Library (I’ll be facilitating conversation afterwards).
- Angel of Hope Children’s Remembrance Ceremony: Sun., Dec. 15 at 7pm in the Chapel at historic River View Cemetery in SW Portland. Every year for the last 13 I’ve been honored to lead a candlelight ceremony of remembrance for those mourning the death of a child. No cost, no tickets or RSVP needed. Please note Katie has agreed to incorporate photos received through Thurs., Dec 12. Contact info here.
- Outliers & Outlaws feature documentary showing at Portland’s Cinema 21 Dec. 15-18. I consider historical memory projects an essential part of befriending our mortality. I attended the world premiere of this film and highly recommend it, along with all the legacy tending of the larger Eugene Lesbian History Project.
- Longest Night: Sat., Dec. 21, 6:45-8:30pm in SE Portland. From Portland Threshold Singers: “Come join us for an evening of shared music, poetry and interactive exploration as we honor the darkness and light. Free, inclusive of families.” Waverly UCC, 3300 SE Woodward.
- A Grief Workshop: Turning Pain into Poetry. Sun., Dec. 22 in SE Portland. From Studio Nunchi: “If you’re feeling grief during this holiday season, you are not alone. Join us for an intimate evening of light movement + creative writing, centered around community & destigmatizing grief.”
- Film Screening and Panel Discussion on Death – Out of the Shadows, a new documentary featuring local death and grief care practitioners, Feb. 16 at 3:00pm in-person in SE Portland. $10/person. View Film Trailer. Buy tickets on the Clinton Street Theater’s website.
- Committed to Heart, Committed to Memory: Poetry Memorization Intensive with Matthew Stillman, starting the last week of February (highly recommended for anyone needing a little beauty in their lives right now)
- My Befriending Mortality Six-Week On-Line Classes hosted by Rowe Conference Center March-April (this may be the only time I offer this series in 2025)
- Stephen Jenkinson’s Sanity & Soul: Die Wise, Ten Years On March 15-16 (recordings available afterwards)
- Apprenticing Ourselves to the Unknown: A Six-Part Series on the Skill of Grieving offered on-line by my colleague Asher Wallis, dates TBD
Photo: From my visit to Olle Bolle, one of six NW Trolls.