{"id":29254,"date":"2013-07-25T16:49:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T16:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=29254"},"modified":"2025-02-14T09:13:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T17:13:57","slug":"berdass","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=29254","title":{"rendered":"Jonestown Memorial Coda"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were survivors, family, friends, organizers, reporters\u2026 And then there was me, the interloper. It was like stumbling upon a large family reunion in a picnic\u2019ized area: any moment I was expecting to be called out as such.<\/p>\n

What was I doing there? Who am I?<\/p>\n

I have written<\/a> for the jonestown report<\/em> for the past couple of years, developing a screenplay about Jonestown from 1975 through 1978. You could say I was there for research<\/em>, if research means to look at the faces and hear the voices still left behind, to witness the emergence of families and new generations brought forth after 1978.<\/p>\n

Would some be bitter? Would they be open to talking? I had to at least try to see \u2013 and meet \u2013 some of these people if I wanted to capture the spirit of that time period. And I saw, some up close, some from a distance:<\/p>\n

Jim Cobb\u2019s laughter
\nJim Jones Jr.\u2019s charisma
\nStephan Jones\u2019 intensity and intelligence
\nJim and Stephan, arm and arm
\nTim Carter\u2019s vulnerability
\nLaura Kohl\u2019s friendliness
\nLeslie Monique\u2019s beauty
\nMac McGehee\u2026in person<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The family, the one unit<\/em> that was the survivor body, the acceptance of their past and hopefulness for their families\u2019 future, that was what I took home with me.<\/p>\n

I want to thank everyone I talked to for listening and considering my own little piece of the Jonestown legacy. I hope to meet again in the course of this journey\u2026<\/p>\n

(David Berdass can be reached at <\/em>David.Berdass@bermo.com<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were survivors, family, friends, organizers, reporters\u2026 And then there was me, the interloper. It was like stumbling upon a large family reunion in a picnic\u2019ized area: any moment I was expecting to be called out as such. What was I doing there? Who am I? I have written for the jonestown report for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":29507,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-29254","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29254"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51617,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29254\/revisions\/51617"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}