We just came from the opening of the Day of the Dead exhibit at Somarts, as always, it's stunning.

www.somarts.org/content/view/337/27/

My favorite were the interactive art pieces - a tree that you hung pieces of paper on listing the attributes of your ancestors that you want to honor, or if they were attributes that you wanted to let go of you could bury them in the compost at the base of the tree.

There were lots of places to write messages to the dead, and even receive them (I got "I still love you" from a tiny bottle floating in a pool of water, and I replaced it with my own message and put it back in the water to be delivered).

Even better than the art, I saw Jack Davis (who runs Somarts) looking well... he just had a heart attack, and that shook the SF art scene to think of losing such a pillar. His daughter Sarah and I bonded over having arty dads, she now has a beautiful daughter a bit younger than my boy, and she calls me when she needs help with her event production company. I ran the starting line at Bay to Breakers for her, and I'm pretty excited to be working the Google xmas party with her this year. It was lovely seeing the Davis family happy and healthy, this has been a big year for passings in my life, I'm not wild about having any more. My experience at Zen Hospice has solidified my belief in the continuity of existence and the wisdom of embracing impermanence, but I'm tired of going to funerals for the moment.

Besides the personal memorial, the celebration of death is an important feature lacking in our culture (watching "Six Feet Under" doesn't count). The Day of the Dead is a beautiful event, like the European Danse Macabre, which brings the truth of our frailty out of the shadows. As Joseph Campbell said, "Life as we know it, as we have seen it, yields but one ending: death, dismemberment, disintegration, and with it the crucifixion of our hearts with the passing of the forms we have loved."

The parade is on Nov. 2 and starts at 7pm at 20th and Harrison. www.dayofthedeadsf.org
The closing celebration of the show at Somarts is on Nov 4th.