Last Words Cemetery Concert

Lone Fir Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Portland and an arboretum with some of the most majestic trees in the city, just 6 blocks from Sue’s house. We often go walking there. Today we came across a remarkable event that gives us joy and great hope for the future. 

A young woman named Crystal Meneses runs a non-profit community arts program that is doing (and has for years been doing) imaginative arts projects in the Portland area. Meneses is a Death Doula, a chaplain, and an activist for social justice. She has run a chorus for people with Alzheimer’s and their carers; a visual arts project at a women’s prison; mural projects in Portland and at the coast; and a group of ten musicians (including a cellist and a washboard-percussionist) and singer-songwriters called the Last Words Band. The band has performed in cemeteries all around Portland every summer for the past three years (despite Covid), and they are just amazing. Yesterday’s performance included two barefoot dancers (first extra) and ended with a brass band parade (main blip, and yes, that’s Sue right behind the band, waving streamers). In the second extra, that’s Crystal on the right.

For those in Portland, there is another performance Sunday night, 4-6 p.m., Lone Fir Cemetery. If you can possibly go, it’s a heart-lifting, joyous experience. Meneses says, “Death reminds us how precious life is, and how important it is to bring joy into our lives and to love our bodies just the way they are.”