You can find the Jonestown.sdsu.edu Volume 13 Report HERE and the specific page for my own writing in the report HERE.
On November 18, 1978, over 900 members of the religious group the Peoples Temple poisoned themselves by drinking cyanide mixed in juice. The group leader Jim Jones called it a “revolutionary act of suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world”. His idea was that all the members who killed themselves would meet up on another planet and life would be better there. Sharon Amos was the only person outside of Jonestown at the time who went through with Jones’ instructions to kill her children.
My goal in this project was to represent as many different kinds of people involved as possible: Jim Jones himself (Step On Up), those who were devoted (Sharon Amos) and those who doubted (Daleigh), those who died (Mortis Operandi) and those who escaped (Thank God For Basketball), a child’s perspective (Separation of Church and State of Shock), and all of the overlaps between those descriptions.
I also wanted to get perspectives from people who were not a part of the group. The Harvey Milk Journals and Harvey Milk Day 2011 reflect how people received the news if they were not involved, the latter being a modern reference to the event. Don’t Drink the Kool-aid and Dear Shirley reflect on how survivors affected the people around them.
I organized the pieces in order from those describing people closest to the event, to those set apart from the event who may not even know about it. I wanted to show how a disaster such as this ripples out and affect different people, no matter how many degrees of separation they have from the event itself. I tied some of the pieces together with a common character, John Burrell, to help the entire project seem more cohesive and show a single person’s journey from when the event takes place (Daleigh), his search for an outlet for his feelings (Thank God For Basketball) and his difficulties moving on (Dear Shirley).
Table of Contents: Click the title of a work to go to that page and read it.
Step On Up A poem from Jim Jones’ perspective.
Daleigh A short story about a couple.
Sharon Amos A poem about Temple member Sharon Amos.
Mortis Operandi A poem about a dead body.
Thank God For Basketball An excerpt from a screenplay.
Separation of Church and State of Shock A poem from a child.
Harvey Milk Journals A set of journal entries from Milk.
Harvey Milk Day 2011 A newspaper article about Milk.
Don’t Drink The Kool-aid A poem from a child.
Dear Shirley A letter between friends.
On November 18, 1978, over 900 members of the religious group the Peoples Temple poisoned themselves by drinking cyanide mixed in juice. The group leader Jim Jones called it a “revolutionary act of suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world”. His idea was that all the members who killed themselves would meet up on another planet and life would be better there. Sharon Amos was the only person outside of Jonestown at the time who went through with Jones’ instructions to kill her children.
My goal in this project was to represent as many different kinds of people involved as possible: Jim Jones himself (Step On Up), those who were devoted (Sharon Amos) and those who doubted (Daleigh), those who died (Mortis Operandi) and those who escaped (Thank God For Basketball), a child’s perspective (Separation of Church and State of Shock), and all of the overlaps between those descriptions.
I also wanted to get perspectives from people who were not a part of the group. The Harvey Milk Journals and Harvey Milk Day 2011 reflect how people received the news if they were not involved, the latter being a modern reference to the event. Don’t Drink the Kool-aid and Dear Shirley reflect on how survivors affected the people around them.
I organized the pieces in order from those describing people closest to the event, to those set apart from the event who may not even know about it. I wanted to show how a disaster such as this ripples out and affect different people, no matter how many degrees of separation they have from the event itself. I tied some of the pieces together with a common character, John Burrell, to help the entire project seem more cohesive and show a single person’s journey from when the event takes place (Daleigh), his search for an outlet for his feelings (Thank God For Basketball) and his difficulties moving on (Dear Shirley).
Table of Contents: Click the title of a work to go to that page and read it.
Step On Up A poem from Jim Jones’ perspective.
Daleigh A short story about a couple.
Sharon Amos A poem about Temple member Sharon Amos.
Mortis Operandi A poem about a dead body.
Thank God For Basketball An excerpt from a screenplay.
Separation of Church and State of Shock A poem from a child.
Harvey Milk Journals A set of journal entries from Milk.
Harvey Milk Day 2011 A newspaper article about Milk.
Don’t Drink The Kool-aid A poem from a child.
Dear Shirley A letter between friends.