If you go
› What: Death Cafe group discussion about death.› When: 6-8 p.m. today, Sept. 1.› Where: Chattanooga Public Library, 1001 Broad St.› Admission: Free, refreshments provided.› Phone: 662-791-1800.› Website: deathcafe.com.
In most conversations, the discussion of death is about as welcome as a mud fight at a debutante ball.
At the Chattanooga Public Library tonight, Sept. 1, however, Taylor Hinton-Ridling is hoping to shake off the traditional aversion to mortality and transform it into a discussion primer during the city's first Death Cafe, an event at which strangers come together to chat about all aspects of the great beyond.
Also, there's tea and cake.
"It's not a grief counseling session or anything like that. We'll all just come together as humans, mortal humans," the 27-year-old Minnesota transplant laughs. "Ultimately, the idea, I think, is to normalize this difficult topic and have a conversation that is very deeply personal on a human-to-human level and bring a little bit of the taboo off of it."
The Death Cafe concept, by design, lacks a formal structure. Participants - Hinton-Ridling is hoping for six to 12 - simply introduce themselves and begin talking about death from every conceivable angle while enjoying light refreshments.
Nothing is off-limits, from end-of-life care and the bereavement process to religious interpretations of the afterlife. Should the conversation ever derail, a facilitator will attempt to steer it back on track, Hinton-Ridling says.
"I think one thing that might come up is where you'd like to be when you die, what would be considered a good death and how you would like to be remembered," she says. "It's hard to say because... it'll depend on the people. And people are emotional, so they might be feeling or thinking different things."
The Death Cafe concept is new to Chattanooga, but it's a global movement - its founders call it a "social franchise" - that dates to 2004, when sociologist Bernard Crettaz hosted the inaugural charnel chat in Switzerland.
From there, more than 3,400 Death Cafe events have been hosted in 37 countries, whether as one-off events or recurring gatherings. A story about the movement introduced Hinton-Ridling to the concept, and she says it seemed like the ideal outlet for the feelings dredged up by her experience as a hospice volunteer.
"[Hospice care] is quite life-affirming, and I've learned a lot from it," she says. "When I found out about the Death Cafe concept, I wanted to go to one because I'd be able to discuss these things and the feelings I had from being with people at the end of their lives. Since there wasn't one close to me, I figured I would host one."
And if the event proves as popular as early response to the concept suggests, Hinton-Ridling says she's planning future cafes. The next is set to take place in October, a time of year when she says people naturally feel more inclined to consider their own mortality.
"Acknowledging reality and your birth and death, that's part of life," she says. "When we face [death] and learn to accept it as part of our life, not only does it affirm life, it helps us to accept loss better."
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.