If you don’t know me, I came across Synanon in 1969 as a square, naïve 19-year-old game player (Janet Holdaway at the time), after having been thrown out of my home because I spent the night at my boyfriend’s house. I was thrown into a whirlwind of trying to find out where I fit in the world, while going to college, working, attending anti-Vietnam rallies. My friends were taking LSD and smoking pot. I even ended up at a drug dealer’s house in San Francisco, where he offered me opium and wanted to paint my body. To me, Synanon was a sane place in an insane world. I moved into Oakland in 1971, got married to Bobby Best in the big wedding of 1972 (becoming Janet Best), moved to Walker Creek with the Breeders, moved to Santa Monica with the Hatchery, and finally ended up as Clerk in Badger, where I left in 1977 — with 1/4 inch of hair on my head, $30 dollars to my name, a 2-1/2 year old mixed race son, and a suitcase of clothes between us. I was love matched to George Agnosticus at the time and he left with me. Some years later, I cut off all contact with my old Synanon friends and spoke little of it. Got married, raised my family, had a career. I had left, but Synanon continued to reside in my heart and soul. Thankfully, Synanon.org and Facebook have brought me back in touch with many old friends, and I now relish this group of people who went through the Synanon experience. I really miss our community. To say it was unique is an understatement. And I’m still trying to describe it.