You mentioned David Coyne in anther post in this thread.  He used to drop by at DECA but I was always vague about what he did.  I know his famliy had money and he definitely was a hanger-on PAM type, but he also was an ashram premie living at the Broadripple.  What did David ever do, if anything?  I could never get a straight answer out of the guy and he NEVER did a thing when he hung out at the little IMMCO warehouse.  And I mean nothing.

The short answer is I don't know, but I always had the same question.  It always seemed that people like him, and Randy Prouty, and _____ Knight (what was his first name, this really elitist initiator?), Ron Coletta, John Hampton and a few others, were always vying for the position as Rawat's "friend" or something.  Clearly, David got to where he was because of his money, let's face it.  I remember he bought Rawat a Rolls Royce in the early 70s.  I assume that got the Lord's attention as expensive cars were always Rawat's thing.

But, back to your DECA story.  Was it May of 79 that you first went down to Miami or was it later, because if you came to the IMMCO/DECA warehouse after April, 1979, we had to have met?  It was pretty tiny. And my desk was two up from Randy's near the front door.

Well then, we did meet because my first intro to the plane was the IMMCO warehouse, getting a tour from Michael Black and I remember Randy Berringer up in front, well, because she was "up in front" (sexist I know, but I can't help it, and I'm gay so it can't really be sexist ), and I remember at the time they were doing a "mock up" of the plane for Rawat to play with, or something.  It was all in cardboard.  Useless, actually, but Rawat always was asking for stuff like that.

I can't recall the exact dates, because I was contacted by Dennis first, earlier in 1979 and told to quit my job and get ready to come to Miami (I think he wanted to get IHQ to Miami first), and then after Holi Festival, I met with everyone, and that might be when I first came to the IMMCO warehouse.  I was still believing the cult lie that we were all fundraising for a "world tour."  It was at Holi that I was told about what was really going on with the plane and all.  Of course, I felt privileged and special to have this "secret" information, which I was told to tell no one about, and I didn't.  I think I went back to Chicago briefly and returned right away, so it might have actually been April that I got there.

Actually, you mentioned "Sam" the woman from Chicago who was the interior designer doing furniture design for Prem and Raja Ji.  Since I was going to Miami, I was actually asked to drive a U-Haul with her furniture and belongings for her and her kid, since they were now living in Miami, doing that "service."  It was also a way to save money.

I think she was living with Janet Maggio (I will say nothing of her appearance lest you give me the "police" label again ) , who was also from Chicago, and was sort of the Hedda Hopper, or Rhona Barrett of the cult.  She always knew all the gossip on everyone and everything, and she worked for Joe Anctil, so that sort of fit.  I thought it was interesting because when I was in Chicago, Janet rarely spoke to me, preferring to cultivate friendships with people better connected in the cult.  When I got sent to Miami, and possibly had connections, Janet actually sought me out.

Actually, it was Janet who informed me, at the Kissimee swamp festival, that I had, in fact, been selected to be CC in Miami.  She knew well before I did, that's how "connected" Janet was.  (Of course, Janet had been a witch before she received knowledge, so maybe she had special powers.)

There was a lot of shuffling around all of the time.  Once I was out of DECA, but still around DLM (it was still DLM then, not EV yet, right?) I got moved a lot to those scummy cockroach, mold-infested Miami Beach hotels.

Yes, the FAAMM, (the Florida Association for the Advancement of Mold and Mildew) requires that all hotels more than 10 years old be properly mold infested, especially in carpets, drapes and mattresses.  I can testify that the DLM/EV hotels met all the requirements.

Actually the Surfside, which arrived somewhat late on the scene, was the nicest hotel I lived in, although it was pretty basic.  It had nice views and no EV/DECA honchos strutting around.  It was just the lowly folks who worked as carpenters at DECA and us lowly community people.  I rather enjoyed that place.  I remember during the winter, it actually got cold in Miami Beach, and I opened my window and let the cold air blow in from the ocean, longing for more temperate climates.

BTW -- did you recall that the Hare Krishnas lived in the hotel next door?  They actually came by a couple of times to do "outreach" as we ate breakfast.  Yes, that part of Collins Avenue, I think due to the delapidated hotels and cheap housing, could easily have been called "Cult Street."  But I think the Rawat cult had the most hotels, at least about 4 at any one time as I recall.

I was never told the words "your fired" either, but I was just told that I was out because I was so sick.  It devastated me because I was one of the first to become sick from total exhaustion and I really felt that I was a total failure to Maharaji and every other premie was a better devotee than me. 

God, I can relate.  The truth is, we were totally expendable, just commodities to serve the Lord and if you wore out, they threw you away and somebody else was in line to do the service they thought would be so blissful.  It was totally dehumanizing and it happened to lots of people.  Frankly, I think one of the reasons I was "fired" wasn't only that I was the bearer of bad news and was too concerned about the safety of the premies and not enough about serving Rawat damn the cost, but also because I refused to act like a chicken with my head cut off in doing "service."  There was this vibe that if you didn't work around the clock and crash out on the floor at DECA, you really weren't doing "service" or even understanding what "service" was.   You just weren't a real devotee.

I remember one time the fanatic David Smith told me (a couple years later), that I had failed to properly "take up the sword of service." (Exact quote.  I remember I told my friend Richie Azzarone what Smith had said, and he laughed so hard he acutally had tears running down his face and choked on something.  Thanks to Richie, for stopping my feelings of guilt cold.)

I saw a lot of energy at DECA accomplishing nothing.   A lot of it was meaningless busy work with no management whatsoever.  So, you took a step back, you tended to not get caught up in the whirlwind, and that's partly what happened to me.  I can't tell you how many times at DECA that I delayed in doing something I was told, because I knew that by the next day, it would be either useless, or counterproductive to have done it.  Things changed daily, there was no plan.  This is partly because Rawat was micromanaging, changing everything and asking for reallly stupid stuff, unrelated to the plane, just because he could, and he would not be questioned.  He was always asking for reports, for example, that made no sense whatsoever.

But the fact is, a cult that could make you feel guilty for being a human being is completely destructive, and that's the kind of cult we were in.  So, I can really feel for what you went through and even just thinking back on it, it makes me angry that people were treated like that.

We did think we were "extra special" though, some more than others, too.  I remember there were a bunch of DECA folks that liked going to Miami for satsang and avoided satsang at the Complex.

I actually tried to really liven up the satsang programs in Miami to get more of the "special" premies to attend.  If Joan Apter, or Jagdeo, or Charanand were there, then more would show up.  But Miami was such a huge premie community, that we regularly had 800-1000 premies show up for nightly satsang, in our decrepit, fire trap, former Baptist Church on Biscayne Boulevard.  But I don't think everyone at DECA was feeling superior to the other premies.  Some people really were kind of humble -- I guess those were the saints.

Actually, I think some premies who look back on the dehumanization that was DECA and aren't appalled, do it from the standpoint of still thinking they were some kind of special devotee for having been there, and how lucky they were and, again, it was for Rawat and therefore exempt from the values you would impose on any other situation you would look at..   Of course the cult itself would really like to erase DECA from the history books.  That's why you, Cynthia, are one of their enemies.  Thorns in the side come to mind, and you do a very good job of it.

I have to say, getting sent to San Francisco, was one of the good things, in the long run, that happened in the cult.  Even after all these years, I do love it here.  But even at the time, I wasn't so much thinking about how great it would be to go to San Francisco, I wanted to leave Miami because I was terrified that if I stayed there, I would leave the cult.  I felt that if I got sent away from the madness there, away from the misery I saw so many premies going through, I could once again be a devotee.  In the end, that didn't work.