From: dobbo101 . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/22/2006 3:27:00 PM
we use in the UK originate from. Also are they used
From: Fred . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/22/2006 10:15:00 AM
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In a discussion with a friend about the forging
association with The Oxford Group. The discussion
centered around SPONSORSHIP and its origins.
Many times Roland Hazard's name is brought into
working with Dr. Sam Shoemaker at Calvary Mission.
to Roland Hazard having an Oxford Group sponsor.
The Question for the group is, "Who was Roland
From: robinjshearer . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/21/2006 6:45:00 PM
celebration started.
From: Shakey1aa@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/21/2006 6:00:00 PM
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At the Pioneers Meeting of AA's International
was an alcoholic.
and CEO rather than Chairperson. This was done for
legal purposes.
Mr. Alexander states that for this reason all
no anonymity concerns.
drinking and had to resign.
and had to resign.
Board of AA.
Who was the chair during the Time of the
From: James Blair . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/21/2006 12:21:00 AM
slip or slipper was used very early on.
explains what the term slip means. In a "spiritual
person who once experienced grace but turned away.
Jim
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++++Message 3884. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Use of the word "slip" in early
From: Tom Hickcox . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/25/2006 4:14:00 PM
drinking again, is used twice in pp. 1-164 [current
editions] of the Big Book, on p. 100 and again on
p. 139.
Bill W used it in eleven entries of A.A. Way of
Life/As Bill Sees It: pp. 11, 28, 68, 99, 153, 184,
197, and 251.
in the August 1946 Grapevine.
repeatedly in her bios of Big Book story authors.
seventy years.
was used very early on. The first edition story
slip means. In a "spiritual life one is either
From: diztitcher . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/25/2006 4:41:00 PM
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I have never read anywhere that the Oxford Group
ever had sponsorship. Rowland never joined AA,
Graves.
- - -
asked:
Who was Rowland Hazard's Oxford Group Sponsor?
- - -
From the moderator (Glenn C., South Bend):
This was not sponsorship in the AA sense, but see
Richard M. Dubiel, The Road to Fellowship: The
Role of the Emmanuel Movement and the Jacoby Club
in the Development of Alcoholics Anonymous.
(http://hindsfoot.org/kdub1.html
and http://hindsfoot.org/kdub2.html)
Courtenay Baylor of the Emmanuel Movement became
Rowland Hazard's therapist in 1933, and continued
to work with him through 1934. It is under the
influence of Baylor's Emmanuel Movement therapy
that Hazard actually began to recover. Hazard
was also attending Oxford Group meetings, but
his family was paying Baylor to be his regular
therapist.
Boston AA arose out of the context of the Emmanuel
Movement and the Jacoby Club (their group was
never part of the Oxford Group, unlike Akron,
New York, and Cleveland AA).
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++++Message 3886. . . . . . . . . . . . Meditation
From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/26/2006 3:39:00 PM
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Glenn C., "Twelve-Step Meditation in the A.A. Big
Book and the 12 and 12," describes the way Bill W.
recommended that we meditate in Alcoholics Anonymous
and in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. This
is a Microsoft Word document, requires MS Word
to read:
http://hindsfoot.org/medit11.doc
(found on page http://hindsfoot.org/spiritu.html)
In the eleventh step, "meditation" does not mean
the same thing as the Hindu technique called
Transcendental Meditation. But it is recommended
that part of our period of morning prayer and
meditation be a brief "quiet time." Various methods
of quieting the mind, including using mental
imagery (suggested by Bill W.), Jacobson's method
of progressive relaxation, and so on. Richmond
Walker's Twenty-Four Hours a Day and Emmet Fox's
Golden Key.
- - -
Responding to Message 3857
from "Henrik Rue" henrik.rue@edb.dk
(henrik.rue@edb.dk)
He asked for "a definition of what meditation was
defined as, at the time of writing Alcoholics
Anonymous? I do not expect it to be some eastern
way of meditation."
- - -
A NOTE FOR GERMAN-SPEAKING AA's:
It is very difficult to translate the English word
"spirituality" into German. For German speaking AA's,
it is easier to understand what was being talked
about in the Big Book by looking at Jakob Friedrich
Fries' idea of obtaining an Ahnung (a hint, intuition,
or presentiment) of the Infinite, Friedrich
Schleiermacher's idea of the Gefuehl (feeling) and
Anschauung (intuition) of absolute dependence upon
God, and especially Rudolf Otto's idea of the Gefuehl
of das Heilige (the awareness of the holy or sacred
dimension to reality). That was what Bill W. was
talking about in the Big Book on pp. 1, 10, and 12
(the experience at Winchester Cathedral and Bill's
grandfather's experience when gazing at the starry
heavens above and experiencing what Immanuel Kant
called the experience of the Sublime).
It is not the same as a Begriff (an intellectual
concept). Unfortunately, the philosophy of G. W. F.
Hegel (1770-1831) turned the German word Geist into
an intellectualized notion (philosophy, political
theory, economic theory, legal theory, and so on
became die Geisteswissenschaften in post-Hegelian
German usage). In German culture to this day, the
word Geist therefore tends to have that kind of
intellectualized sense.
That was why Carl Jung used Latin instead of German
to speak of the solution to the alcoholic's problem
as "Spiritus contra spiritum." The English word
"spirit" still preserves the original meaning of
the Latin word "spiritus," so in English we do not
have to use the Latin word to make it clear that
we are talking about a non-intellectualized realm
of immediate feeling and intuitive knowledge and
awareness when we speak of the "spiritual."
This may help German speaking AA's to understand
what is meant by the "quiet time" which is part of
our eleventh step morning prayer and meditation.
The brief period of quiet time means a few minutes
when we stop thinking constantly in terms of Begriffe
and open our minds up instead to feelings of gratitude,
appreciation, being surrounded by God's love and
care, the beautiful and the sublime, the holiness of
the universe and everything in it (from the starry
heavens above to the wildflowers growing in an Alpine
meadow), the moral dimension of our lives, and so on.
- - -
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Rudolf Otto, "Das Heilige: ueber das Irrationale in
der Idee des gottlichen und sein Verhaeltnis zum
Rationalen" (1917). The most useful book ever written,
I believe, for helping German speaking people in the
twelve step program to understand what the English
speaking people are actually talking about when they
talk about "spirituality" all the time.
Friedrich Schleiermacher, "Reden ueber die Religion"
(1799), English translations use titles like "Speeches
on Religion to its Cultured Despisers." Schleiermacher
was part of the same world as Goethe, Novalis,
Hoelderlin, and Schelling (and in music Mozart,
Beethoven, and Wagner). The tradition of German
spirituality (in the English sense of the word
"spirituality") began with Schleiermacher.
Rudolf Otto, "The Philosophy of Religion Based on
Kant and Fries" (1931). I assume that the original
German edition of this book is available in Germany,
but I must apologize, because I do not know the
exact German title. Jakob Friedrich Fries (1773-1843)
was the first great Kantian commentator (see his
"Neue oder anthropologische Kritik der Vernunft").
He applied for the position as Professor of Philosophy
at the newly created University of Berlin, but
G. W. F. Hegel (who tried to completely intellectualize
spirituality, as the unfolding of the Geist in human
history through a sequence of thesis, antithesis, and
synthesis) was given the position instead. And poor
Fries, who had spoken out openly in favor of democracy
and having democratically elected parliaments, was
stuck at the University of Jena, where the Grand
Duke of Weimar (who controlled that area at that
time) forbade him to lecture on philosophy for many
years, during which time Hegel's style of philosophy
took over the German speaking world. There has
recently been a revival of interest in Fries' work
in both the German and English speaking worlds, so
perhaps this brilliant philosopher may finally
receive his due.
I don't think I agree with Fries' solution to the
Kantian problem, but I can guarantee that Kant will
never look the same again to anyone who studies
Fries' detailed analysis of what Kant was actually
doing in his "Kritik der reinen Vernunft," and
why Kant's continued assumption of many Platonic
concepts of the world made him believe (falsely)
that our human minds could not gain access to
anything outside the box of space and time in
which they were imprisoned.
Richmond Walker talks about that part of Kant's
thought in many passages in "Twenty-Four Hours a
Day," but argues that our minds can in fact pierce
through the veil of the box of space and time through
a kind of meditation based on feeling and intuition.
This little book could also be useful to German
speaking AA's, in better understanding the feeling
and intuition based experience which is being
referred to by the English word "spirituality" in
the Big Book.
Glenn F. Chesnut, South Bend, Indiana
glennccc@sbcglobal.net
(glennccc at sbcglobal.net)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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++++Message 3887. . . . . . . . . . . . Circle and Triangle lawsuit
From: Edgar . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/26/2006 8:24:00 AM
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The Dec. 1993 Grapevine article says that two
companies were sued for refusing to stop using the
Circle and Triangle emblem, as requested by New
York. More than 100 other companies making doo-dads
and trinkets had already acceded to NY's request.
My questions are: What companies were those two?
What law firm represented AA in what court? What
was the outcome of the suits?
Edgar C, Sarasota, Fla.
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++++Message 3888. . . . . . . . . . . . The doctor on p. 122 in "The Family
Afterward"
From: nick675833 . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/26/2006 9:46:00 AM
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Who is the doctor that Bill is referring to on
the bottom of page 122?
regards nick
- - -
"A doctor said to us, 'Years of living with an
alcoholic is almost sure to make any wife or child
neurotic. The entire family is, to some extent,
ill.'"
- - -
Note from the moderator: this is the "founding
manifesto" (if we may) of Al-Anon Family Groups,
Alateen, Adult Children of Alcoholics, and the
other twelve step groups which were formed to deal
with this enormous problem. Glenn C.
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++++Message 3890. . . . . . . . . . . . Significant December Dates in A.A.
History
From: chesbayman56 . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/1/2006 12:28:00 AM
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Dec
Dec 1934 - Bill and Lois start attending Oxford Group meetings.
Dec 1934 to May 1935 - Bill works with alcoholics, but fails to sober
any of them. Lois reminds him HE is sober.
Dec 1938 - Twelve Steps written.
Nov/Dec 1939 - Akron group withdrawals from association with Oxford
Group. Meetings moved from T Henry and Clarence Williams to Dr Bob and
other members homes.
Dec 1939 - First AA group in mental institution, Rockland State
Hospital, NY.
Dec 1939 - 1st home meeting in Los Angeles at Kaye M.'s house.
Dec 1939 - Matt Talbot Club has 88 members, uses wagons to collect
old furniture to recondition and sell, not A.A., used A.A. program,
material, marked 1st effort reach alcoholics outside married middle-
class category.
Dec 1940 - 1st AA group formed in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dec 1940 - group started Ashtabula, Ohio due to Plain Dealer
articles. A.A. Cleveland has about 30 groups.
Dec 1948 - Dr. Bob's last major talk, in Detroit.
Dec 1950 - Grapevine article signed by both Bill and Dr Bob recommend
establishing AA General Service Conference.
Dec 1955 - 'Man on the Bed' painting by Robert M. first appeared in
Grapevine. Painting originally called 'Came to Believe'
Dec 1982 - Nell Wing retires from GSO after 35 years of service.
Dec 1, 1940 - Chicago Daily Tribune begins a series of articles on AA
by Nall Hamilton.
Dec 5, 1985 - Dave B, founder of Montreal Group dies weeks before
50th anniversary. His story added to the 4th Edition Big Book.
Dec 6, 1939 - Bert the Tailor lends Works Publishing $1000.
Dec 6, 1979 - Akron Beacon reports death of Henrietta Sieberling.
Dec 7, 1949 - Sister Ignatia received Poverello Medal on behalf of
A.A.
Dec 10, 1975 - Birds of a Feather AA group for pilots is formed.
Dec 11, 1934 - Bill admitted to Towns Hosp 4th/last time
(fall '33, '34 in summer, midsummer and final admittance).
Dec 11, 1941 - Dallas Morning News reports 1st AA group formed in
Dallas.
Dec 12, 1934 - Bill has Spiritual Experience at Towns Hospital.
Dec 12, 1937 - Bill meets with Rockefeller Foundation and tries to
get money.
Dec 13, 1937 - Rockland State Mental Hospital takes patients to
meeting in New Jersey.
Dec 13 or 14, 1934 - Ebby visited Bill at hospital, brought William
James's book, "Varieties of Religious Experience".
Dec 19, 1939 - Los Angeles hold their 1st AA meeting there.
Dec 20, 1945 - Rowland H dies (he carried the Oxford Gp message to
Ebby).
Dec 27, 1893 - Rev Samuel Shoemaker is born.
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++++Message 3891. . . . . . . . . . . . Baltimore Chip House -- name of
chart on wall
From: twelvestepswetook . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/29/2006 2:31:00 PM
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I'm trying to locate the name of a consumption chart
that was on the wall of the Baltimore Chip House
(Charles Village meeting on Calvert Street) when I
got sober there in 1991. I don't think it was Dr.
Jellinek's curve, although it may have been a variation.
It showed how an alcoholic's tolerance would
increase to a certain point and then start going
down as the disease progressed.
I was told that this had been hanging on the wall
in the Chip House for many years, and when I was
there it was on the main floor near the staircase.
Thanks to anyone who might know the answer to this,
I'm on the West Coast now and can't look myself to
see if it's still there!
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++++Message 3892. . . . . . . . . . . . Fulton Oursler Article
From: Bill Lash . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/29/2006 8:34:00 AM
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"High Praise for the Charm of Recovering Alcoholics"
by Fulton Oursler
There are times when I wish I were an alcoholic.
I mean I wish I were a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The reason is that I consider the AA people the
most charming in the world.
Such is my considered opinion. As a journalist,
it has been my privilege to meet many people who
are considered charming. I number among my friends
stars and lesser lights on stage and cinema; writers
are my daily diet; I know ladies and gentlemen of
both political parties; I have been entertained
in the White House; I've broken bread with kings,
ambassadors and ministers; and I say that I would
prefer an evening with my AA friends to any person
I've indicated.
I asked myself why I considered so charming these
alcoholic caterpillars who have found their butterfly
wings in AA. There are more reasons than one, but I
can name a few. The AA people are what they are, and
they are what they were, because they are sensitive,
imaginative, possessed of a sense of humor, an
awareness of the universal truth. They are sensitive,
which means they are hurt easily, and that helped
them become alcoholics. But when they found their
restoration they are as sensitive as ever; responsive
to the beauty and the truth and eager about the
intangible glories of this life. That makes them
charming companions.
They are possessed of a sense of universal truth
that is often new in their heart. This fact that
this at-one moment with God's universe had never
been awakened within them is the reason they drink.
They have found a power greater than themselves,
which they diligently serve. And that gives them a
charm that never was elsewhere on the land and sea;
it makes you know that God is charming, because
the AA people reflect his mercy and forgiveness.
They are imaginative, and that helped make them
alcoholics. Some of them drank to flog their
imaginations onto greater efforts. Others guzzled
only to block out unendurable visions that arose in
their imaginations. But when they found their
restorations, their imagination is responsive to
new incantations and their talk abounds with color
and might, and that makes them charming companions,
too.
They are possessed a sense of humor. Even in their
cups they have known to be damnably funny. Often
it was being forced to take seriously the little
and mean things of life that made them seek their
escape in the bottle. But when they found their
restoration, their sense of humor finds a blessed
freedom and they are able to laugh at themselves, the
very height of self-conquest. Go to their meetings
and listen to their laughter. At what are they
laughing? At ghoulish memories over which weaker
souls would cringe in useless remorse. And that
makes them wonderful people to be with by
candlelight.
(Fulton Oursler was a magazine editor, religious
author, and Hollywood screenwriter, and was an early
Oxford Group member and friend to AA. He passed
away in the year 1952. His official relationship
with AA is as follows: Sept. 30, 1939, the very
popular weekly Liberty Magazine, headed by Fulton
Oursler, carried a piece titled "Alcoholics and God"
by Morris Markey (who was influenced to write the
article by Charles Towns). It generated about 800
inquiries from around the nation. Oursler (author
of The Greatest Story Ever Told) became good friends
with Bill W and later served as a Trustee and member
of the Grapevine editorial board. In Oct. 1949, Dr.
William D. Silkworth and Fulton Oursler joined the
Alcoholic Foundation Board.)
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++++Message 3893. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Rowland Hazard and Oxford group
sponsorship
From: James Blair . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/26/2006 4:43:00 PM
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Diz wrote:
"I have never read anywhere that the Oxford Group
ever had sponsorship."
They did not formally refer to helping a new man
as "sponsorship." They did have a saying that went:
"Walk with the new man until he becomes a life
changer. Then, leave him alone as the needs of
others will drive him back to God."
Jim
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++++Message 3894. . . . . . . . . . . . How many internet AA members?
From: spebsqsa@att.net . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/30/2006 1:03:00 AM
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Does anyone have estimated numbers on the growth
of online A.A. meeting participation? How many A.A.
members use their digital meetings as their home
groups with little or no face-to-face meeting
activity?
{Please, this information request is not an
invitation to debate the need/value of F2F
meetings.]
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++++Message 3895. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Baltimore Chip House -- name of
chart on wall
From: Rob White . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/2/2006 3:40:00 PM
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http://www.in.gov/judiciary/ijlap/docs/jellinek.pdf
this a good link for the Jellinek Curve.
see if that looks familiar.
I can check on the actual chart.
Rob W.
Baltimore
Robert White
UMB-Psychiatry
410-328-8549
>>> "twelvestepswetook"
11/29/06 2:31 PM
>>>
I'm trying to locate the name of a consumption chart
that was on the wall of the Baltimore Chip House
(Charles Village meeting on Calvert Street) when I
got sober there in 1991. I don't think it was Dr.
Jellinek's curve, although it may have been a variation.
It showed how an alcoholic's tolerance would
increase to a certain point and then start going
down as the disease progressed.
I was told that this had been hanging on the wall
in the Chip House for many years, and when I was
there it was on the main floor near the staircase.
Thanks to anyone who might know the answer to this,
I'm on the West Coast now and can't look myself to
see if it's still there!
University of Maryland, Baltimore, Department of Psychiatry
Confidentiality Notice: This email message, including any attachments,
is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain
confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended
recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all
copies of the original message
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++++Message 3896. . . . . . . . . . . . Photo of Rowland Hazard
From: ollie_olorenshaw . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/26/2006 7:22:00 PM
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I have been putting together a one page pictorial
history of the formation of AA for my sponsees.
I have been unable to find a picture of Roland
Hazard. Does anyone know if one exists?
many thanks
Ollie
- - -
From the moderator: Mel Barger gave us a photo
of Rowland Hazard, taken around 1943 or 1944,
which is posted on the internet at:
http://hindsfoot.org/archive3.html
It's an old snapshot taken with a brownie
camera, but it should be good enough to get an
idea of what he looked like.
See the recent research by Amy Colwell Bluhm Ph.D.
and Cora Finch. The two of them, working completely
independently, came upon the same archival documents
and established that Rowland arrived in Zurich in
May 1926 (not 1931, the date given in the older
AA literature). See Bluhm's article "Verification
of C.G. Jung's analysis of Rowland Hazard and the
history of Alcoholics Anonymous" in the American
Psychological Association's journal History of
Psychology in November 2006 and Cora Finch's long
account of Rowland Hazard's life and struggles
with alcoholism at
http://www.stellarfire.org/
if you want to get the most up-to-date information
on Rowland Hazard and the period when he was Carl
Jung's patient in Switzerland.
Glenn Chesnut (South Bend, Indiana)
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++++Message 3897. . . . . . . . . . . . Money Back Guarantee on 1st edit.
Big Book
From: sober_in_nc . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/2/2006 2:11:00 PM
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Someone surprised me the other day with a question
I've never heard ...
On the dust jack to the first edition, on the back,
at the bottom, is a money back guarantee that the
publishers will refund the $3.50 and postage, if
the buyer is dissatisfied with the book.
Do we know how many people took Works Publishing
up on this offer?
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++++Message 3898. . . . . . . . . . . . RE: Circle and Triangle lawsuit
From: hartsell . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/26/2006 7:37:00 PM
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Edgar, I can not quote you "scripture and verse"
but someone here no doubt can and hopefully will,
but my memory is that the outcome was A.A. lost,
dropped out of the suit, could not of course Prove
Their Case.
This dropping out resulted in NY stopping the use
of the Circle and Triangle as symbol of "official
literature"; but of course ANY A.A. CAN use the
symbol as it is in the public domain, just as it
was at the time A.A. brought suit.
My memory of the sequence, and only reason I do
recall is because of a personal conversation I had
with Wayne P. of Ark. at a NETA function when
the whole mess began.
Sherry C.H.
-----Original Message-----
From: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Edgar
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 7:25 AM
To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] Circle and Triangle lawsuit
The Dec. 1993 Grapevine article says that two
companies were sued for refusing to stop using the
Circle and Triangle emblem, as requested by New
York. More than 100 other companies making doo-dads
and trinkets had already acceded to NY's request.
My questions are: What companies were those two?
What law firm represented AA in what court? What
was the outcome of the suits?
Edgar C, Sarasota, Fla.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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++++Message 3899. . . . . . . . . . . . Alcoholism and AA in modern American
detective novels
From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/3/2006 1:38:00 PM
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Richard M. Dubiel, "Sober Sleuths: Lawrence Block
and James Lee Burke" (1999), discusses the life
and writings of these two best-selling authors of
detective fiction, and their fictional heroes
Matthew Scudder and Dave Robicheaux, who are
portrayed in the novels in sensitive and insightful
fashion as alcoholics who got sober in A.A. The
article may be found at either
http://www.uwsp.edu/comm/rdubiel/research/slueth.htm
or http://hindsfoot.org/sleuth.html
- - -
Prof. Dubiel is an unusually perceptive historian.
The influence of AA on popular culture in the
United States has been incredibly deep and pervasive.
Most other contemporary American historians have
not begun to realize this yet, or write about it,
but its impact has been at least as great as that
of the Great Awakening on the Thirteen Colonies in
the period right before the American Revolution,
and is well on its way to achieving the same broad
cultural influence which Frontier Revivalism had
on nineteenth century American history.
In the 1940's, the typical fictional hero in
American detective literature was a hard-boiled,
hard-bitten, hard-drinking character who had a
bottle of whiskey tucked in his desk drawer,
which he regularly turned to as a solution to
all of life's difficulties. But by the 1990's,
there were hardly any heroes left in the popular
detective novels who were drinking much alcohol
at all, and a surprising number who were portrayed
as men (and now women too) who had had a history
of alcohol abuse, but were now staying away from
the bottle and realizing the destructive effect
it had had on their lives.
And a few were now being protrayed in these novels
going to AA meetings and gaining strength and
solutions to their problems from the little meetings
in the church basements. The two best-drawn
characters of this new breed of fictional hero
were Matthew Scudder in Lawrence Block's novels
(set in New York City, one of the classical
settings of the traditional American detective
story), and Dave Robicheaux in James Lee Burke's
novels (which are placed in a very different kind
of setting, the exotic, French-speaking world of
Cajun Louisiana, where the strains of "Jolie
Blonde" drift from the little dancing and
drinking establishments, and Spanish moss drapes
from the trees while the ghosts of Conferate
cavalrymen ride tirelessly through the mists
hanging over the dark bayous).
- - -
During the same period, one can also see the
same quiet spread of A.A. ideas and the ethic
of the twelve steps into American television,
particularly the sit-coms and comedies. Jokes
and comic situations and characters in various
humorous episodes revolve around making amends
or trying to maintain one's self-affirmation or
something else that is clearly drawn from twelve
step culture, and -- which is the important part
-- the audiences recognize what is going on.
There is no air of puzzlement, or "what are they
talking about?" They understand the twelve step
culture, at least to a certain extent, and they
laugh, and keep on turning the television knob
back to that station every week.
Nineteenth-century frontier revivals were
flamboyant and noisy, and everybody in town knew
when one was going on. The great revivalists
were promoters who went to great lengths to make
sure that their pictures and names were put up
in lights everywhere people turned. A.A.
meetings are quiet and unobtrusive. You can walk
past on the street and not even realize that
people are sitting around a table in the basement
of the building, talking about the twelve steps.
The anonymity rules in the twelve traditions have,
as their almost sole purpose, restraining the
flamboyant promoters (of whom the fellowship has
many!) until they are safely dead.
So A.A. comes into a town, and no one notices it
all that much, at the conscious level. But it is
said that every alcoholic who keeps on drinking
has a traumatically destructive effect upon a
great number of "earth people," non-alcoholics
(both in the family and the workplace and elsewhere),
and we can see that the reverse must also be true,
by observing what has happened in the United States
over the past seventy years. Recovered alcoholics
can redeem their pasts by quietly spreading an
atmosphere of peace and harmony and personal
responsibility for one's actions to the "earth
people" around them, not by preaching, but by
actually living by the principles of the twelve
steps and twelve tradtions. "You are the salt of
the earth," it says in the Sermon on the Mount,
where even a tiny pinch of salt can give flavor
to the entire dish.
Something good may be happening in the United
States, and we hope that it will keep on happening.
And as we can see from the fictional exploits of
Matthew Scudder and Dave Robicheaux, we don't
have to be boringly conventional people in the
way we do it, or totally destroy our alcoholic
love of words, and our love of flamboyance and
romance and adventure and our larger-than-life
enthusiasms. We just have to learn how to do
it in ways where we don't hurt people.
Glenn C. (South Bend, Indiana)
- - -
Lawrence Block's novels
A Dance at the Slaughterhouse. NewYork: Avon, 1992.
Even the Wicked. New York: William Morrow, 1997.
Everybody Dies. New York: William Morrow, 1998.
In the Midst of Death. 1976. New York: Avon, 1992.
The Sins of the Father. 1976. Arlington Heights, IL.: Dark Harvest, 1992.
When the Sacred Ginmill Closes. New York: Arbor House, 1986.
- - -
James Lee Burke's novels
A Morning for Flamingos. 1990. New York: Avon, 1991.
Black Cherry Blues. 1989. New York: Avon, 1990.
Heaven's Prisoners. New York: Henry Holt, 1988.
Sunset Limited. New York: Doubleday, 1998.
The Neon Rain. 1987. New York: Pocket Books, 1988.
- - -
Richard M. Dubiel is also the author of "The Road
to Fellowship: The Role of the Emmanuel Movement
and the Jacoby Club in the Development of
Alcoholics Anonymous" (2004), the book which
first opened up the question of Rowland Hazard's
real relationship to the Swiss psychiatrist Carl
Jung.
http://hindsfoot.org/kdub1.html
http://hindsfoot.org/kdub2.html
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++++Message 3901. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Meditation
From: Kimball ROWE . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/27/2006 6:08:00 PM
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The only true test of Step 11 Prayer and Meditation
is contained in the step itself, "Did your prayer
and meditation improve your conscious contact with
God?"
If all you get out of meditation is a relaxed
feeling or an empty mind, perhaps you should
abandon what you're doing and try something new.
As with the Big Book and the 12 by 12, there are
specific topics and subjects to focus on in
meditation (BB, pgs 69, 83, 86-87, 12X12, pg 99).
As Father Joe once said, "Meditation is the
contemplation of God's truth for me." From that
simple statement, I can extract all of BB pgs
86-87 and the 12x12 pg 99, and much much more.
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++++Message 3902. . . . . . . . . . . . RE: The reading of "How it Works" at
the beginning of meetings
From: Tom Hickcox . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/28/2006 3:50:00 PM
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I found the following when I got bored in a
meeting and started browsing through my PDA.
It is from Significant March Dates in A.A. History
from the series that is posted here monthly:
"March 1940 - Mort J. came to LA from Denver;
started custom of reading Chapter 5 Big Book
at Cecil group."
Now the question may be, was it a custom in the
Denver area to read How It Works at the start
of meetings?
Tommy H in Baton Rouge
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++++Message 3903. . . . . . . . . . . . A ceremony at Towns Hospital at noon
on Dec. 10
From: Robt Woodson . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/2/2006 4:35:00 PM
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AAHistoryLovers et al,
I have a new date for December, I just received
and confirmed an invitation to attend a Candle
Lighting Ceremony to honor Bill's Spiritual
Experience and his subsequent sobriety at Town's
Hospital in New York City.
If any of you are interested, four of my AA
friends from Mexico City, myself and a sponsee
(from Akron) will be there the ceremony at 11:59pm
just before Noon on the 10th of December...it is
our great hope that some of you might join us
there for a moment of reflection...at 11.59pm a
candle will be lit inside the window there...
followed by the lighting of two lights outside,
one for Bill and one for Doctor Bob...other
lights will be lit and passed on from the first.
This will be the second year that this ceremony
has been held and the first that it was opened,
as here, to the fellowship and friends of AA.
I hope that we might see some of you there.
Thankyou for your interest,
Best Wishes in this busy Season of
Holidays and Celebration,
Woody in Akron
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++++Message 3904. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Photo of Rowland Hazard
From: Mel Barger . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/2/2006 8:31:00 PM
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The photo of Rowland Hazard is posted on the
internet at:
http://hindsfoot.org/archive3.html
Hi Ollie,
Here's all I have on Rowland Hazard. This photo
was obviously taken in 1943 or 1944, as it shows
their son Peter in his Naval officer's uniform, and
he had most likely just graduated from officers'
training school or perhaps flight school. They
are in front of their home in Peace Dale, Rhode
Island. Peter was lost in early 1945 and was
listed as missing in action when Rowland died.
The brief account of his death is recorded in a
book titled "The Little Giants," published by the
Naval Institute. He was a pilot on one of the
baby flattops and was killed while pursuing a
Japanese Val; he flew through some flak from our
own antiaircraft guns. The Hazards had previously
lost another son as a result of an accident, so
they had their share of profound grief.
Mel Barger
melb@accesstoledo.com
(melb at accesstoledo.com)
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++++Message 3905. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Photo of Rowland Hazard
From: Tom Hickcox . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/2/2006 9:00:00 PM
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I see the Brattleboro Retreat referred to again
as the Asylum.
My maternal grandmother lived in Brattleboro as
did an aunt and uncle. The locals call it "The
Retreat" and their web site says the term goes
back to when it was founded in 1834.
I have sent them an email asking what the
historical name of the institution was and if
it changed from asylum to retreat, when that
happened.
Tommy
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++++Message 3906. . . . . . . . . . . . "Qualification"
From: johnpublico . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/3/2006 3:10:00 PM
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Lawrence Block, in his Matthew Scudder detective
series set in NY City, uses "qualification" and
"qualifying" in apparent reference to an AA
speaker's story. In Charlotte and several other
cities where I've attended meetings, I've never
encountered this usage. Can anyone tell me
whether the terms are still used and if so how
widespread they are?
John
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++++Message 3907. . . . . . . . . . . . Tommy H. on Big Book changes ("at"
vs. "for")
From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/3/2006 3:01:00 PM
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From: Tom Hickcox
(cometkazie1 at cox.net)
We had the "at" vs "for" discussion and I have
found where As Bill Sees It changed the wording
of "Deep down . . . . is a fundamental idea of God"
from p. 66.
As Bill Sees It has "idea of a God," which is a
lot different. It's like that in the first printing.
There are a number of changes, but the editors
tell us some changes are made "in the interest of
clarity." They changed victory in the 3rd Step
Prayer to transcendence, but that doesn't seem to
me to add clarity.
Tommy
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++++Message 3908. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: A ceremony at Towns Hospital at
noon on Dec. 10
From: doclandis@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/3/2006 9:44:00 AM
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"ceremony at 11:59 pm just before Noon on the
10th of December"
I hope that you mean 11:59 a.m., instead of
p.m., because while noon does eventually follow
midnight, it is 12 hours away.
Then again, perhaps we should bring really
BIG Candles!
It sounds like a really cool gathering. I wish
I could be there.
Mark
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++++Message 3909. . . . . . . . . . . . Is there a distinctive "California
AA"?
From: Jon Markle . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/3/2006 12:40:00 PM
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Has there been, historically, a distinctive kind
of "California AA"?
In another forum, I recently made a (mistaken?)
off-the-wall comment, using the phrase "California
Program" and "California AA" . . . and I'm
wondering . . . where did this originate and what
exactly was it meant to convey, if anything?
I know I did not make it up . . . I've heard it
all my AA life (I'm on the East Coast, never
been to meetings west of Denver, but plenty of
others in other parts of this side of there
. . . and I've heard the phrase more than once,
usually by "old timers" in "fundamentalist"
type meetings.
My suspicion is that it came about probably in
the same way as did other similar type of labels,
like "New York AA" and "Akron AA" and "Cleveland
Style" . . .
Anyone shed any enlightenment on this for me?
Jon (Raleigh)
9/9/82
PS: I didn't get a good reaction from
some folk who happen to be from California,
either.
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++++Message 3910. . . . . . . . . . . . RE: Circle and Triangle lawsuit
From: jenny andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/3/2006 4:53:00 AM
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Surely "NY" (i.e. presumably GSO) had no power
to abitrarily drop the circle and triangle symbol
from all our literature etc - surely that would
have been a Conference decision?
Laurie A.
>From: "hartsell"
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