“L.A. is a competitive place, full of transplants on the seek. And with each season comes a new diet (“any three-day cleanse for $90”), a new treatment to fix what’s wrong (the “Viora Reaction,” the “Vampire Facelift”). Self-help has become a habit in America, but it’s pathological in Southern California. Life coaches advertise on telephone poles. Storefront psychics are open 24/7.” To better understand this side of LA (and perhaps the broader world as well), Rosecrans Baldwin decided to subject himself to a thirty day life cleanse, complete with juice bars, hallucinogenic ceremonies, wellness retreats, spell sessions with a witch, walks with a complexity coach, and a gnostic mass in a strip mall. (I’ve tried all that and more … anything to avoid the news for a few hours…) Needless to say, things got pretty dark. From GQ: My Life Cleanse: One Month Inside L.A.’s Cult of Betterness.