Putting the Grim Reaper on the Couch

What a paradox: we are surrounded by death in the news every day - from terrorism to natural disasters to contagious diseases - yet it is the last topic we want to think about. Get ready for some gallows humor on today's show, as Gail Rubin shares her story about how she became The Doyenne of Death and how she helps people overcome the taboo. Her journey began in college when she satirized Ingmar Bergman's classic film The Seventh Seal and had her future husband play Death. Then her second wedding was such a fun event, it inspired her to write a column called Matchings, Hatchings and Dispatchings. When readers responded most to her columns about death, she went on to write the award-winning book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die, and later wrote Kicking the Bucket List: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die. She's also a pioneer of the Death Cafe Movement, where people have fun keeping the Grim Reaper at bay.