Posts Tagged ‘cult’
JONESTOWN SURVIVOR to Present in Zoar, Ohio at Communal Studies Association Conference
JONESTOWN SURVIVOR to Present in Zoar, Ohio at Communal Studies Association Conference Jonestown Survivor will participate in the Communal Studies Association Annual Conference in Zoar, Ohio. I am a Board Member of the CSA and have gained insight into my own experiences living in the communities of Peoples Temple and Synanon. I reflect and present about my evolution of understanding in these settings. THE THEME: To succeed, grow and survive, all successful communal groups have had to adapt to changing situations, be they internal or external: internal changes in their leadership, in their environment, and in their membership, as well as those ...
» continue readingJONESTOWN SURVIVOR – Current Schedule 2017-2018
Jonestown Survivor - Current Schedule Currently, I am writing my 2nd book. Additionally, I have these scheduled presentations: July 29, 2017 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm - I am attending: San Francisco’s Museum of African Diaspora White Nights, Black Paradise | A Screening and Discussion on Black Women, Peoples Temple and Jonestown August 8 - Panelist 10:30-12 (as a Quaker) 2017 Poway Interfaith Team putting on a 2017 NAIN “CONNECT” Conference, San Diego October 5-7 Presenter of two Scholarly Papers on Peoples Temple at Communal Studies Association Conference in Zoar Community, in Ohio 2017 Conference Theme: “To succeed, grow and survive, all successful communal groups have had ...
» continue readingJONESTOWN SURVIVOR Upcoming Class
Jonestown Survivor News - I have been asked to teach a 5-week OSHER Class here in San Diego. Here is the Course Outline: Selected History of the 1960s and 1970s Laura Johnston Kohl, Jonestown Survivor and Author, will present a 5-week study of selected United States History from the 1960s and 1970s. Each class will focus on a different aspect of those two decades. -1st class will review US History, beginning with the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks, including the assassinations of five inspiring leaders in the 1960s, and ending in 1970. -2nd class will review the struggles for different national communities to gain ...
» continue readingMuseum of African American Diaspora Hosts New Jonestown Study
Jonestown Survivor will join many other survivors in the Bay Aeea plan to attend this event: White Nights, Black Paradise | A Screening and Discussion on Black Women, Peoples Temple and Jonestown When: July 29, 2017 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Cost: $10 General | $5 Students/Seniors | Free MoAD Members CONVERSATION FILM SCREENING PANEL DISCUSSION On November 18, 1978, more than 900 people died in a mass murder-suicide at the Peoples Temple Settlement in Jonestown, Guyana. Although the majority of the Jonestown massacre victims were black women, nearly four decades since the tragedy black women’s voices remain marginalized in Jonestown literature. Based on ...
» continue readingJONESTOWN SURVIVOR – What’s Going On?
JONESTOWN SURVIVOR- What’s Going On? This has been a busy summer for me. I’ve traveled to Washington, D.C. (my birthplace), New York (my husband’s birthplace), San Francisco, Oakland, Visalia, Tijuana, and all over southern California. I have presented at libraries, senior centers, street fairs, and conferences. I have had a number of interviews related to my life (Peoples Temple, Woodstock, Black Panthers, and/or Synanon) for documentaries, newspapers, blogtalk radio, and research projects. When I am not taking care of that, I am an activist. I do work on making the world a more sane place for all of us. I am politically ...
» continue readingJONESTOWN SURVIVOR AT BAY AREA BOOK FESTIVAL 2016
JONESTOWN SURVIVOR AT THE BERKELEY BAY AREA BOOK FESTIVAL I hosted an author’s table this weekend (June 4 and 5, 2016) at my second Bay Area Book Festival. I set up a table with photos of Peoples Temple. I had an aerial photo of Jonestown in 1978, which shows how much hard work we put into creating the community. I had photos of the Evergreen Cemetery tombstone and the newer panels listing the names of all of those who died in Guyana. I had photos of some of the ceremonies and gatherings we survivors have held over the years. And, ...
» continue readingJONESTOWN SURVIVOR to Speak at San Bruno Senior Center
JONESTOWN SURVIVOR TO SPEAK AT SAN BRUNO SENIOR CENTER, 1555 Crystal Springs Road, San Bruno, CA on Monday, August 15 at 10:30 a.m. Laura Johnston Kohl was a life-long activist, who joined Peoples Temple thinking that her voice would be louder in a richly diverse and progressive group like Peoples Temple. She was an enthusiastic member for about ten years, in both California and in Guyana. Her survival was a fluke. She came back to the USA and joined Synanon for the next ten years, where she healed and moved forward. Now, thirty-eight years later, she is a parent, a ...
» continue readingJONESTOWN SURVIVOR Answers High-Schooler’s Questions
Questions from Grace D, a high school Junior in an AP History class in Washington: 1. What was your relationship with other members like in the 1970's? And, I read you are still on contact with other members, what is your relationship like with them today? From the time I first passed through the doors of the Peoples Temple building in Redwood Valley, I found meaningful and delightful friendships with the diverse membership in Peoples Temple. People were genuinely thoughtful and caring. One of my favorite parts of the Temple then was the feeling of being in an “adopted family” with people ...
» continue readingJONESTOWN SURVIVOR – Writes Some Tankas
I am an educator in my life, other than speaking and writing about Peoples Temple and being a Jonestown Survivor. In one of my recent classes, my good friend Mel Takahara came and presented a few form of poetry to my students. He introduced a Tanka. A Tanka is a 31-syllable, 5-line poem, with syllables 5-7-5-7-7. My students have had very tough lives with some of them homeless, some in and out of foster homes during their whole lives, and many other painful and difficult life experiences. They wrote amazing Tankas, which my friend will publish for them. Here ...
» continue readingJONESTOWN SURVIVOR – A new book
I’LL BE WRITING ANOTHER BOOK For the past few years, since I “retired” from a career teaching middle school in California, I have thought about writing a second book. I do a lot of writing now. I create six or seven articles for the annual Jonestown Report, several monthly blogs on my website, www. Jonestownsurvivor.com, a monthly article in my local progressive bilingual newspaper Alianza North County, and, papers for conference/university presentations. Those writing pieces cover a wide range of topics, and they are fun and current. I see myself continuing those. But, there is still some “unfinished business” for me. I ...
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