Let’s rip off this band aid… stuff has happened.
I used to write about Jonestown and Peoples Temple from the perspective of an outside onlooker, a rubbernecker slowing down on the highway to get a peek at a car wreck. Passing judgment from over here in my silo.
I called myself out on that lack of empathy, on being “part of the problem,” so to speak. I got to know people involved, and I think I’ve grown and changed in ways that I work to apply to all parts of my life and understanding of people in general. I at least try to own my shit when I begin to see people in a simplistic or reductive way.
I am now personally connected to the story in ways I never expected to be. With that connection comes some level of bias, to be sure, but also deeper insight with which I want to share what I know (and what I think) as authentically as possible. With the hope that you might connect with the humanity that gets lost beneath the drama and sensationalism.
I am re-working what I have written about Jonestown and Peoples Temple. It’s going to take a while, and I might publish some other stuff in the meantime. I’ve got a fire under my ass to write about movies, hiking, travel, neurodiversity, and perhaps some personal ramblings about myself and my life.
Thanks for hanging in with me! 🙂