(After the group )Jonestown and the Three Mile Island Fallout

 ]As this episode unfolds the eerie news bulletins of Jonestown bring with it the realization that the Sullivanians were a cult and I was part of it.  Hoping, one last time to make a go of my relationship with Chris we move to the East Village,

Still cleaning for two Sullianian apartments,  a few months later the events of near nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear plant unfolds.  Caught in the crossfire I learned of the treacherous events, marked by unprecedented actions and some shocking discoveries. These events are true. I experienced them. Thank you for listening and please pass along

The complete documentary Through a BlueWindow  can be seen  on my youtube channel shellfein1. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you

Transcript

Jonestown and Three Mile Island Incident

Speaker 1 0:04

It was dark outside and I hadn't noticed how cold or how hungry I was until I turned off the typewriter . I'd been in the apartment writing for most of the day and turned the radio on . As I dressed , I was meeting Chris at the cafe for dinner and I was going to be late . As I rushed around , van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl was playing in the background when suddenly the song was interrupted by a news bulletin . After the first startling words , I sat down on the edge of the bed , one leg in one leg out of a pair of jeans , listening to the reporters , obviously shaking voice . I repeat Congressman Leo Ryan of California and several of his party have been shot on the airfield in Guiana . Ryan , after urging by his constituents , many of whom had relatives in the People's Temple , chartered an airplane to take him to Guiana to investigate allegations that Jim Jones , the charismatic leader of the temple , extorted money and encouraged sexual promiscuity among his followers and that the People's Temple was a dangerous religious cult . Early this morning , ryan was driven to the airport in a van and , while he was awaiting airlift off the island , open fire ensued . Reports have his gun-riddled body lying on the airfield , shivering , unable to catch my breath and then gulping for airs while breaking the water service .

Speaker 1 1:40

After a deep dive , and with no memory of dressing in what seemed like hours but in reality was barely 20 minutes , I headed downtown . The deafening noise of the ? A train couldn't quiet the high-scoring pinball game that was going on inside my head , nor could it stop the silver ball from pinging repeatedly . As I made the connection between the group and Jonestown , chris was waiting for me at the Cafe Borgia newspaper strewn haphazardly across the table , their headlines screaming up at me . I approached the table with tears in my eyes . After the Jonestown incident , chris had been very supportive and I thought perhaps we had a chance . After all , we needed to get out of Inwood and I found a fifth story walk up on 6th street off of Avenue A in the East Village , and though the apartment was too small , the location was just a couple of blocks west on 2nd Avenue where black , leathered and blue haired Billy Idol and Madonna wannabes transformed restaurants after midnight into raucous punkadelic scene . An exotic mix of frankincense swefted up from downstairs neighbor and curry drifted down the block from the Indian restaurants that proliferated the neighborhood , filling the apartment , and in the months after the move I spent curled on the window ledge taking in the brilliant sun . After several months in our new apartment , it came to pass that Chris began spending nights at Mary Sheldon's Bronx apartment . The bespecaled Open Union member I knew at last was time for me to get my apartment . But then Three Mile Island happened , bringing Chris and I together for one more round .

Speaker 1 3:37

Though the first reports downplayed the seriousness of the accident , as the afternoon wore on and the truth was revealed a macabre hush blanketed the streets of the usually Polini-esque , like Lower East Side . The Governor of Pennsylvania had ordered the evacuation of all pregnant women and school-age children within a five-mile radius of TMI . Chris had come home early that day and uncharacteristically took the initiative . After a quick run to the supermarket , he announced we were all to stay in the apartment . I was to call my two cleaning jobs I was still cleaning for the group and say I wasn't coming , but it was a non-issue . No one answered my calls .

Speaker 1 4:28

I left several messages , but ten days passed without contact . On the eleventh day I decided to use the key and let myself into one of the apartments . The combined odor of sour milk and urine hit me in the gut like a fist . In the kitchen , coagulated bowls of cereal sat on the table and two containers of milk , now rancid , stood open on the counter and looked as though everyone had been vaporized zapped right in the middle of eating breakfast . You could almost hear the spoons dropping to the floor where they lay on the soiled newspapers . Several glassy-eyed dogs appeared from hiding , with tails in the air , and began to sniff at my feet , obviously starving for human contact . Hoveredly , I poured out some dry food and refilled several pots with water . There was no note and no money , and I left spooked by what I'd seen .

Speaker 1 5:29

Two days later , I was finally contacted by both of my jobs and what they said sounded scripted and no doubt was . They claimed to have left a message with that quote . That man I was living with , unquote , refusing to be intimidated , I confronted the lie . We were home and there was no call , and that man is my boyfriend and I trust him . In the end , tony's apartment agreed to pay me for the lost time and would leave a check with the doorman in exchange for the key , but the men's brownstone told me to come there the following morning to collect my pay . Manny Weiss , one of the trainees who lived there , met me at the door and escorted me upstairs to the kitchen . I'm surprised I wasn't blindfolded , because I couldn't help but notice the strange goings on taking place .

Speaker 1 6:23

The monitors had been installed in the pantry , one for each major city LA , chicago , florida , san Francisco and New York and the screens were flashing barometer wind and precipitation readings repeatedly . The common room , on the other hand , looked like a save the group telethon . In place of the couch chairs and tables , there were three eight foot long conference tables set one behind the other , with five people to each table answering phones . I was thanked for my service and told I would no longer be needed . He paid me in cash for three weeks of work and I handed him the keys . Serena , my pipeline into all group happenings , eventually learned the truth and passed the information on to me .

The Fallout From TMI at TMI

Speaker 1 7:17

When the news first broke about TMI , seth decided the members of the Institute , therapists and trainees , pregnant women , children and their babysitters should leave the city and though not one group apartment was officially notified , a chain of calls alerted the apartments to the exodus . Days later , more than 300 members of the group followed , flying down to Orlando , florida , where they set up a stronghold at the Howard-Johnson's and conducted house meetings , therapy and strategies sessions around the swimming pool . Members were instructed to call their jobs and lie to their employees , saying their employers saying they had to help a sick relative who had just happened to live in Florida . How else could they have accounted for the tan ? Back in New York Lewin's laws went into effect .

Speaker 1 8:15

What happened in Florida and what I saw at the Men's Brownstone and the group's response overall was to be kept strictly within the group . Most members were able to adapt , but there was one notable exception Alex Bergen , a tall milk-coast guy , milk-toast guy with a patchy blonde mustache , who joined the group as I was getting out . It seemed TMI and its aftermath were too much for Alex and he swallowed a handful of valium . Alex's roommate , marv Halpern , older than the average college-bound Arlettian with a well-established accounting practice , found Alex in a drug-induced sleep and when he couldn't wake him up , marv carried him to the street and into a taxi . Alex's stomach was pumped at the Mount Sinai emergency room and when he was questioned by the psychiatrist he did the unthinkable . He broke group security , beginning with the secret phone calls , the whispered voices and the mass exodus .

Speaker 1 9:24

Alex broke security and related the events of the past 11 days . He told them about the panic , rushed to the airport with his roommates about the institute , about the therapists , house meetings and sessions around the pool , and he named names and gave details . The doctor wanted to commit him for observation until Marv cooperated his story and assumed responsibility . It was three in the morning when Alex and Mary got home from the hospital . Ten minutes later the phone rang . It was Lewin himself and because they had endangered the continued existence of the group and the institute , they had one hour to pack and leave the premises . Thank you , you , okay , good .