Every week the Town Crier blog will look back at Seattle’s near-forgotten Town Crier magazine to see what was happening then and talk about what’s happening now. One of the largest sections of the original Town Crier was “What People Are Doing,” highlighting things like, “Miss Dorothy Ewing will be the guest of honor at a picnic luncheon” and, “Have you heard whispered the coming vogue for Oriental pearls?” In this series we’re revisiting the old column and tying it to our community’s current happenings, asking: “what are people doing?”

Today’s entry…

There’s an ad in the August 23 issue of the Town Crier. It’s for the Cremation Society of Washington on Queen Anne Boulevard at Sixth West (an organization that still exists in Tacoma). Under the management of Arthur Wright, the Cremation Society offered a private ambulance, earth burials, shipments. There were licensed embalmers on site. Funeral directors, too.

This all might be of interest to you and one Caitlin Doughty. A celebrated licensed mortician, she’ll be coming to Town Hall as part of our Homecoming Festival on September 16. She was here last year as part of our Inside/Out season. You can listen to that talk here. This time, she’ll discuss her new book, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, blending her scientific understanding of the body and the intriguing history behind common misconceptions about corpses.

Buy tickets now. The event is (snicker snicker) TO DIE FOR.