This wasn’t your typical cafe. Yes, there were pastries, coffee and tea in the Faculty Dining Room on the Eckerd College campus late one afternoon in early December. But the centerpieces on the tables included drawings of skulls and skeletons, and the conversations revolved around topics such as how to console someone whose loved one has died, advanced directives and writing your own obituary.

Written by Tom Zucco and read by Nicole Vogler '26.