Looking back on the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us have one shared memory. It's not of gathering supplies or the fear that came from the pandemic swallowing the earth. No; the one thing we all remember is watching a Netflix documentary series about a merry band of cat-loving lunatics called Tiger King. Tiger King told the story of zoo owner joe Exotic and the trouble he found himself in for allegedly trying to hire someone to kill the Grand Pooba of Crazy Cat Ladies, Carole Baskin, who is herself alleged by some to have killed her late husband. It was a wildly entertaining documentary series, that was the biggest thing in the world in late-March/early April of 2020. Then, like anything that starts out fun, it was run into the ground. Endless news stories and pontificating talking-heads inundated our TVs, think pieces (like this one. whoops) filled our social media feeds, and then came the death knell: the parody songs that became huge on TikTok. By the Summer of ...

I love myself a good cult story,  I've talked about that before , and so I found myself watching a documentary series on the Jonestown Massacre. I've read and watched a lot of material on Jonestown over the years and I've come to a formal conclusion: Jim Jones was an unsavory character. As controversial an opinion as that may be, it's the truth. Like all good cult leaders, Jim Jones started out as a creepy kid. He held elaborate funerals for roadkill. I know that this was in like the 30s, but a red flag should have been raised right then and there. Sane people don't do anything with roadkill except scoop it up with a shovel and fling it into their neighbor's yard. Still, no one said anything and that lead to ol' Jonesy starting one of the first integrated churches in Indiana, before moving to California. I've heard California referred to as "The Land Of Fruit And Nuts" so maybe Jim Jones drank the Kool-Aid with which he has become synon...