I have learned a great lesson about \u201cfinding my voice.\u201d Before my involvement in Peoples Temple, and during my time in it, my associations with progressive, integrated, and idealistic groups made up my \u201cvoice.\u201d I lived it each day, or felt that I did.<\/p>\n
When Peoples Temple died, along with all of my wonderful family, I lost that voice. For the next thirty years, I survived, raised a family, and put myself back together with a profession. I was treading water, and I was satisfied doing that.<\/p>\n
When I decided to write my book five years ago, that became my burning candle. I had to do it before I could move past it to whatever would come next. It blocked my view of my future. I then went through all the hoops to get where I am \u2013 editing, publishing, publicizing, and encouraging people to talk both about my book and about a deeper understanding about Peoples Temple. That, along with my family and job, took all of my time and energy. I was enriched by what I did, and I was even delighted by my own accomplishments. I thought about writing more books, maybe even fiction. I thought about other directions. But my \u201cvoice\u201d had other ideas.<\/p>\n
I feel that I finally put my own jigsaw puzzle together so that I am whole. I do love my family, my students, the Quakers, progressives everywhere, communalists at Communal Studies Association, my fellow writers, atheists, peace advocates, and the Occupy-ers who are so much a part of my life these days. And, of course my fellow survivors and other dear friends make up a huge part of who I am. It has taken this one piece \u2013 the Occupy-ers \u2013 to really complete my circle. That was the missing part of me. I feel so fortunate that these days, when crises flare up, and bigots and homophobes feel too comfortable spouting offensive rhetoric, I am in a good spot to defend the defenseless, and vocally advocate for everyone I know \u2013 the 99%. It was a long time coming.<\/p>\n
(Laura Johnston Kohl<\/strong>, who had lived in Jonestown but was working in Georgetown on 18 November, died on 19 November 2019 after a long battle with cancer. She was 72. Her writings for this website appear here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n (The website for Laura\u2019s book <\/em>Jonestown Survivor is <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. It was reviewed by <\/em>The WriteEdge Bookshelf<\/em><\/a>, a project of the WordPress website for book aficionados (also available <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n