TalkDeath

06/17/2026

Bonjour, hi, Montreal! We hope you can join TalkDeath and local death care workers for fast and fascinating deep dives into topics related to death, end-of-life, and grief.

RSVP REQUIRED, Pay-what-you-can suggested donation $15

Wednesday, July 8
Doors open at 6, talks begin at 7

Presentations will be in English but French and English speakers are welcome

Presentations will include topics such as:
⁉️Funeral Myths & Cemetery Conspiracies presented by Betsy Manning-Roy

From jerking bodies in dimly lit morgues to “bankruptcy-worthy” funeral expenses and the idea that grief follows a strict schedule, let me walk you through a fun and honest Q&A session about common misconceptions surrounding the funeral industry. Together, we’ll unpack the myths, strange stories, and realities of death care with openness, curiosity, and a little humour along the way.

📺Your TV Guide to Grief: What Television Fails To Teach Us About Loss presented by Rebecca Feinglos

From dead Disney moms to sports comeback stories and reality TV meltdowns, television has been teaching us what grief is supposed to look like for generations. The problem? Much of what we've learned is incomplete, oversimplified, or out of touch with what grief actually feels like. In this Deathy Powerpoint presentation, Rebecca Feinglos explores the good, the bad, and the toxic messages we've absorbed about loss, and why the future of TV and grief education might be unfolding on our iPhone screens right now.

🥼A Final Gift - A Quick Guide to Whole Body Donation in Quebec presented by Dr. Emily Pecsi

Many have heard of donating their body to science, but what does that actually entail? Learn the ins and outs of how you can posthumously give the gift of knowledge and scientific discovery in Quebec.

📷The Sound Of Good Coffee: Living and Documenting Humanitarian Work in a War Zone presented by Jonathan Durand

In spring 2022, Jonathan Durand found himself unexpectedly living and working in a war zone, confronting death in ways he had never experienced before. As he moved closer to the front lines, sleeping in bomb shelters and waking to missile impacts, that confrontation grew increasingly direct. After one particularly challenging day documenting humanitarian work in Kharkiv, he and a friend stopped for lattes, and to discuss the war raging nearby.

🐚Plan D: An Exploration of Dignified Abortion at the Juncture of Deathcare presented by LJ Boyes

In many cultures, abortion is understood as a community experience — met without judgement and held by collective protection and support for the concentric circle of all involved. Abortion can be experienced in many ways: sometimes with a feeling of great completion, and other times — even when it feels like the right choice —shaped by forces including the loss of knowledge once held in community pre-colonization and over-medicalization. In this presentation, LJ aims to illuminate what abortion can look like with different scaffolding and patterns in the cultural field around this experience, and into tending to what author Miriam Rose Brooker calls the "liminal space" after abortion.

🍄Psychedelic Assisted Therapy at End-of Life presented by Penny Pattison

An introduction to the benefits and possibilities of therapeutic psilocybin use for people with life limiting conditions.

🌱Green Burial and Red Tape: Natural Burial in Quebec presented by Kelly Butler and Emma Griffin

Community changemakers Kelly Butler and Emma Griffin present Green Burial and Red Tape, a review of the promise and challenges of natural burial in Quebec. Learn more about current laws, municipal barriers, and emerging initiatives shaping access to green options across the province. Ecological ideals often collide with bureaucratic restrictions, and this death doula duo offer a clear-eyed look at what is changing, what is stalled, and what it is needed to make environmentally responsible deathcare more accessible.

Join TalkDeath and local death care workers for fast and fascinating deep dives into topics related to death, end-of-life, and grief

06/15/2026

Scientists Made Sourdough Bread With Yeast Found on Ötzi the Iceman’s Mummified Body

“In 1991, hikers exploring the Tyrolean Alps between Italy and Austria discovered the mummified remains of a 5,300-year-old man. Since then, scientists have learned a lot about the mummy, nicknamed “Ötzi the Iceman,” including that he was going bald, had numerous tattoos and was infected with a cancer-causing strain of HPV.

Now, researchers say they have successfully made sourdough bread using yeast found on Ötzi’s body. Up next, they hope to try making beer. The findings suggest that Ötzi is ‘not a static relic but a dynamic biological system,’ Frank Maixner, who directs the Institute for Mummy Studies, says in the statement.

Past studies had identified some of the microorganisms living in Ötzi's mouth and intestines. But researchers wanted to get a more comprehensive picture of the famous mummy’s microbiome, and they were curious to know whether any of the microbes were still active—and potentially damaging the remains.

They collected some of the ice chunks from the surface of his body, as well as the thawed water from both inside and outside the remains. They swabbed the outside of the body and collected samples from some of the exposed, internal areas of the remains. Additionally, they looked at soil samples collected from beneath the mummy during excavations in 1991 and samples taken from his body in 1992 and 2010.

Their analysis revealed a mix of ancient and modern microbes...

One of the most surprising discoveries was the presence of four cold-adapted yeast strains derived from the glacier environment where the remains were buried.
The scientists found both ancient and modern DNA. And when they compared samples taken in 2010 and 2019, they saw that one strain, Glaciozyma, had proliferated to become the dominant strain. Together, the findings suggest that the yeasts have remained metabolically active over the years, including under the current storage conditions.

‘These yeasts have accompanied Ötzi on his long journey through the millennia,’ Maixner says in the statement.” -Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine

06/13/2026

🍒💀🥀🌊🍒💀🥀🌊🍒💀🥀🌊🍒💀🥀🌊

🍒💀🥀🌊

06/09/2026

“I was trying to escape the pain I felt, after my wife's death. I thought I could take the uniform, wrap it around that pain and toss them both away. But it doesn't work like that. Running may help for a little while. But sooner or later, the pain catches up with you; and the only way to get rid of it is to stand your ground, and face it.”⁠⁠⁠⁠

06/07/2026

Who will care for your animal companion(s) after your death?

Painting:
A Mother And Her Kittens (1903)
Henriëtte Ronner-Knip (Dutch, 1821 – 1909)

06/05/2026

Anthony Head: February 20, 1954- June 5, 2026. Anthony Head played Rupert Giles in Buffy. For many viewers, his character became an almost father figure.

Clip from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 episode 10: Nightmares

06/04/2026

Happy Pride, babes, let there be a thousand blossoms bloom and for LGBTQ rights to not be used as a culture war to divide and distract, and even be torn asunder into, the state sanctioned deaths, violences, and fact that someday, we're all going to die

"I mean, you know, people are entitled to their sexual proclivities. Let there be a thousand blossoms bloom, as far as I am concerned. But I ain't spending any time on it because in the meantime, every three months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in north Queensland." Federal member for the North Queensland seat of Kennedy, Bob Katter
19 November 2017, Innisfail, Queensland, Australia

06/01/2026

How Much Do You Know About Cremation? Quiz!!

🔥Though there have been a few recorded instances of cremation before the 1800s, the first crematories were built in X____________ and X____________ in 1878.

🔥There are many casket options, as long as they are burnable. X____________ caskets are the only type that cannot be cremated with the deceased.

🔥The heat will get to temperatures ranging between X____________ degrees, but each state or province has different laws for required temperature.

🔥During the cremation, the soft tissue X____________

How do you think you did?! Check out the answers
https://www.talkdeath.com/what-is-the-process-of-cremation/

06/01/2026

05/30/2026

CW: Death by Su***de. Editorial Note: The Guardian uses different language around death by su***de and MAiD than TalkDeath. We are sharing their text as a part of a good faith conversation.

“Mother ends life at Swiss clinic four years after son’s death” Nadeem Badshah for The Guardian

“A grieving mother has ended her life at a clinic in Switzerland four years after the death of her only child. Wendy Duffy, 56, a physically healthy woman, died at the Pegasos clinic in Basel after struggling to cope with the death of her 23-year-old son, Marcus.

The former care worker, from the West Midlands, had previously attempted to take her own life.
The case comes as assisted dying legislation in England and Wales, branded ‘hopelessly flawed’ by opponents, ran out of time to be passed by parliament, though the circumstances of Duffy’s death would not have been within the scope of any proposed legislation in the UK.

’Ruedi Habegger, the founder of Pegasos, described Duffy’s death as a ‘sane su***de’. He told the Daily Mail: ‘I can confirm that Wendy Duffy, at her own request, was assisted to die on 24 April and that the procedure was completed without incident and in full compliance with her wishes.

I can also confirm that neither we nor any of the professional staff assessing her mental capacity had any doubt as to her intention, understanding and independence of both thought and action.’

Duffy’s son died after choking on a sandwich that became lodged in his windpipe, starving his brain of oxygen.

She had told the Daily Mail that she had paid Pegasos £10,000 and her siblings – including four sisters and two brothers – knew that she had applied to the clinic.
She said: ‘I will call them when I get to Switzerland. It will be a hard call where I’ll say goodbye and thank them. But they will get it. They know.’” -Nadeem Badshah for The Guardian