JONESTOWN SURVIVOR SEES A BLURRED LINE
I am a teacher, so much of the year, I am preparing future lessons, correcting work from past lessons, or just consumed by the experience. I’ve had about ten days off from that, while waiting to teach summer school in a few days. I have been immersed in Peoples Temple. We have a private “survivors only” Peoples Temple facebook page, and the memories of the details of the last days of Peoples Temple are harrowing. Along with following these conversations, and adding a person’s name here and there, I’m also setting up my own book talks and introducing myself to schedulers in many venues. The result is that I am more focused, and less diluted, than usual. And, today, I had a dream that combined a Jonestown experience with my Synanon experience, with a current event – regardless of whether the people in the dream had survived.
I dreamed that I was awakened late, in Jonestown sort of, and that my roommate was a fellow Jonestown survivor. We spoke about something I was anxious about. Then, a friend of mine from Synanon – Lavonne – walked into the middle of the conversation. I interpret that to mean that I want all of those I knew and loved from Peoples Temple, and those who became treasured friends in Synanon to all remain part of my life. I don’t want to lose any of them. The lines have blurred for me at least in my sleep.