I’ve mentioned before (and let’s face it, kinda constantly) that I have a book coming out about a cult. I’m also featured in a six-part documentary series about the cult called The Devil You Know Season 2 on ViceTv. The show airs on Monday night and, as a result, people reach out to me about it, often in reference to another cult they would like me to investigate.
I’m not a cult investigator, like, professionally, but I respond to everyone and want to hear their stories. I’ve heard some doozies.
This week, though, I was privileged to have been contacted by a childhood friend of Sherry Shriner, the cult leader at the center of the story. They asked not to be identified in any way but shared with me some insightful stories about the prophet before she fully launched into religious extremism.
It was a tantalizing conversation and made me wonder whether having spoken with her would have changed much about the book. I don’t know if it would have except to make me take an even harder stance against sending children to religious schools.
In other show highlights, Todd and I discuss the return of going out as he recounts his visit to the Evo Public House, a brewery and restaurant in Salisbury that is really among the top places to hang out.
One of my favorite things about Evo is they’re not super-trendy in the best way. As a former beer writer the abject desperation with which so many places try to be hip and cutting edge took a lot of the fun out of experimenting.
You may not recall, but if you went to local breweries before the apocalypse you had better have been ready to try a variety of sour beers and “juicy” IPAs or else go thirsty. Evo had them, but they made other beers as well.
For me, the craft beer revolution devolved into a boring attempt to predict trends rather than make the beers the brewers wanted to drink. It’s possible that most brewers just started drinking tart, fruit-infused malt liquor and beer-flavored orange juice, but I got the sense it was more about getting your beer talked about than making something interesting that you think people might like.
It is also possible that the culture passed me by, that this was a battle that my side lost. Speaking of which, I’ll be producing a new podcast soon called “A Bagel Manifesto” where I talk about learning to live with culture changes that you hate.
Tuesdays With Sherry