Aa history Lovers 2010 moderators Nancy Olson and Glenn F. Chesnut page
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lives.
equilibrium is what many people in recovery are striving for. At the same time, as a feminist, I just couldn't get comfortable with powerlessness and "acceptance" as the paths to happiness for women in the aggregate. When taken out of the context
of the individual pursuit of sobriety, recovery ideas seemed profoundly non-liberatory. This puzzled me: how and why did these ideas move from one context to another, and what was it about that changed context that gave them
such a different valence? To answer those questions, I decided to write the book
that became The Language of the Heart. Fortunately, as I wrote I got the opportunity to revise this fairly simple binary into a much more complex and multi-faceted picture.
this
book is not. Unlike most of the writings on the topic, The Language of the Heart
is neither "for" nor "against" recovery, and it's important that people know that going in. Twelve-step groups like AA may work well for some people but not for others. The broader culture of recovery is in some ways insipid, banal, and politically reactionary, and in other ways profound, exciting, and progressive. Like any complex cultural phenomenon, recovery can't be easily boiled down to a "good" or a "bad" thing, and people who come to the book expecting such blanket praise or condemnation will be disappointed. The second thing I hope a browsing reader would come across is the series of images on pages 89-91. These show the iconic figure that people in AA refer to as "the man on the bed," the de-toxing drunkard being visited by sober AAs and encouraged to try their program of recovery. The first image is a staged photograph that accompanied the 1941 Saturday Evening Post article that first
brought AA national attention; the second is an illustration for an article in the AA magazine The Grapevine. That illustration was translated into stained glass by AA members in Akron, Ohio in 2001, and the final image is of their work, which hangs in the Akron AA archives. This triptych of images is important to me for two reasons. The image of "the
man on the bed" exemplifies both the vulnerability (represented by the man on the bed himself) and the mutuality (represented by the AAs who have come to offer him help) that together form the heart of 12-Step recovery. Mid-twentieth-century straight white masculinity did not value either of those traits particularly highly, and AA's most radical feature may be its injunction to its members (about 66% of whom are men) to give up the habits of "domination and dependence" that have shaped their lives and their drinking. The man on the bed is poised to renounce those habits or to slip back into them, and so his image appears frequently in AA's material culture. on sobriety medallions, bookmarks, murals, etc. That AAs continue to re-imagine the man on the bed in new media suggests that even as the organization has grown into a global phenomenon of millions of members, its radical potential -- the possibility that individual men might transform their lives by embracing relationships of compassion, rather than competition -- remains alive.
people while I was putting this book together. Few of my primary sources reside
in standard repositories like libraries, museums, or professionally-maintained archives; instead, they came from private collections, offbeat literature dealers, and the archives maintained by recovering people interested in their own history. Their generosity in sharing these materials with me has been one of the greatest rewards of my research, and it is emblematized in these photos. Lastly One of the things I've become most aware of while working on this book is the
degree to which cultural critics inside and outside of the academy write about
phenomena that reflect and reinforce their own tastes and worldviews. There's a lot of writing out there about addiction, because addiction, despite its tragic
dimension, retains a sheen of cool. Drug and alcohol use and abuse are dis-inhibiting; they de-stabilize social norms. Without too much effort, we can see them as heroic challenges to the staid routines of our uptight bourgeois lives. Recovery culture, by contrast, is really square, both as aesthetics and as politics. One of the amateur authors I talk about drew inspiration from Lawrence Welk in many of his writings, for crying out loud -- and not in an ironic way! It's this squareness, I think, that has led critics to overlook the complexity of recovery -- its existence as a cultural formation with a genuine intellectual and social history that both reflects and helps to construct the larger economic, political, and psychic realities around it.
prefer
reading high modernism to the personal stories in the Big Book. But that doesn't
mean that the culture of people whose tastes don't run to transgressive or ironic texts is transparent or not worthy of scrutiny. Neither belletristic nor academic critics of the popular expend much energy on square cultures, however, except to occasionally talk about how awful they are. I wonder what other cultural formations besides recovery scholars of popular culture have simplified or overlooked in recent years simply because they don't give us aesthetic or intellectual pleasure. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6335. . . . . . . . . . . . The two alcoholic employees in To Employers From: Harriet Dodd . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/13/2010 11:37:00 AM
To Employers at the moment. Page 149 says "Today I own a little company. There are two alcoholic employees, who produce as much as five normal salesmen."
Harriet
______________________________ From the moderator: it will be useful here to go to the Message Board at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/messages and do a search for all the messages using the phrase "To Employers" (e.g. Message 5468) and all the messages entitled "authorship of Chapter 10" (e.g. Messages 3280 and 3284). The chapter To Employers begins on p. 136 with the statement that this chapter
was written by "one member who has spent much of his life in big business." It is believed by most AA historians (although not one hundred percent of them) that this was Hank Parkhurst. See Hank's story "The Unbeliever" in the first edition of the Big Book. If this was indeed Hank, then on p. 141 the company which the author of this chapter said he was employed by was Standard Oil of New Jersey. Then on p. 149, the passage you are asking about says: "Today I own a little company," which would have to be a reference to the Honor Dealers Co., an automobile polish distributorship.
Ruth
Hock, a nonalcoholic, as their secretary. She typed up the various versions of the Big Book manuscript, and became AA's first secretary. Later on they hired Jim Burwell, another alcoholic, making four of them in all -- three alcoholics and one nonalcoholic. See Jim Burwell's Big Book story "The Vicious Cycle," 3rd edit. page 246, "Bill
and Hank had just taken over a small automobile polish company," and 3rd edit.
page 248, "peddling off my polish samples." In the passage you are asking about, on pp. 149-150, Hank was probably thinking
of himself as "the boss," so the "two alcoholic employees" he was referring to would have been Bill Wilson and Jim Burwell. Glenn Chesnut (South Bend, Indiana) IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6336. . . . . . . . . . . . Earliest prison/behind the walls groups in Canada From: Michael . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/15/2010 3:33:00 PM
Canadian AA History. I believe the first prison group in Canada was the Intramural Group at Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick, registered with GSO June 22, 1949. The Group is still active. Does anyone know of an older group of this type in Canada? Thanks. Michael IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6337. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: archival resources From: Charlie C . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/15/2010 7:34:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII For some years I had, among other duties, that of being college archivist where
I am a librarian, and I found Light Impressions an excellent source of archival
quality supplies and information: http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/ Charlie C. IM = route20guy IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6338. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Speaker tapes of Joe H., Santa Monica CA From: Roy Levin . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/15/2010 2:51:00 AM
website is run by my AA buddy Dan S. of Santa Monica a former Joe H. sponsee, and indeed, he does sell a set of CDs of Joe's salvation army workshop back in 93. I have these CDs myself. Joe is an excellent presenter of the BigBook based step process.
To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com Sent: Fri, January 29, 2010 7:32:00 PM Subject: Re: Speaker tapes of Joe H., Santa Monica CA There is a set for sale at: http://bigbookawakening.com/ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6339. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Banners -- and photos of Bill and Bob
From: DudleyDobinson@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/11/2010 7:26:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Some countries should include the U.S.A. I got sober in San Jose, Ca and the local Alano Clubs had pictures of our founders on the walls of meeting rooms. No further comment needed!
(serenitylodge at mac.com) Personally, I detested the change on chips/tokens when they went from the triangle to a likeness of Bill & Bob (those metal/bronze tokens). I refuse to carry them. It smacks of idolatry worship that I can't abide. I refuse to attend meetings where there are such depictions on the wall; even
large framed pictures are disturbing to me. I believe that any such representation on our literature, tokens, posters, etc,
is simply wrong spirited. The fellowship is not Bill and/or Bob. Holding up one person as "god" simply defeats the whole purpose of our principles. Although I may refer to something one or the other has written, (such as the Steps), that does not mean I worship or idolize them as being infallible or god-like.
(nuevenueve at ymail.com) In some Countries (mainly in those very anthropologically linked to ancestral religious and political leadership imagery), one finds pictures of both Bill W. and Dr. Bob on the AA meeting rooms' walls, or even their figurines in carved wood. Don't know what Bill & Bob would have thought about this, but it just happens. - - - - From the moderator: compare Message 4497 "Saints With Glasses: Mexican Catholics in Alcoholics Anonymous" http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/message/4497 "I confess all my errors to the priest since it's the most mortal sin to receive the Lord without confessing all. Here too I have to confess all my errors. Here they talk to us of good things. When I came here and saw the pictures of the founders, I thought, 'I've never seen a saint with glasses before!'"
Displaying the portraits of the founders above the lectern echoed the placement of saints' images in a Catholic church. For this man, his A.A. colleagues were confessors and Bill W. and Dr. Bob his saints." IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6340. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Banners with the steps, traditions, and concepts From: Arthur S . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/11/2010 1:47:00 PM
prior to the mid-1970s after Bill W had passed away. Individual groups may have elected to do what they did on an individual basis.
Steps and Twelve Traditions made up in a 2' x 4' or other size suitable for hanging in meeting places?" The answer was "The matter will be discussed at a meeting of AAWS." I believe they began production of them in 1975. A question posited at the 1976 conference that: "There has been much controversy over the alleged misuse of the word "suggested" in reference to the Twelve Steps. Please give all examples of literature changes in wording since the 1975 Conference-changes allegedly made only to insure uniformity in reference to the Twelve Steps, "which are suggested as a program of recovery." The answer was: "In the listing of the Twelve Steps, the word "suggested" was removed from 14 pamphlets. In three pamphlets, it has not been removed. For further information, contact the Conference secretary." The 1976 Conference Committee on literature recommended that "Present terminology used regarding the word "suggested" when referring to the Twelve Steps is consistent with that employed in the Big Book, the "Twelve and Twelve," and other A.A. literature and should remain as is." Bill may have been opposed to injecting the word "suggested" into the title of the Steps but he was not opposed to the notion of the Steps being viewed as suggestions. In the 1953 final Conference report, Bill is quoted as saying:: "Where variations of the Traditions are concerned, we've gone up and down like a window shade. We even have a Tradition that guarantees the right of any group to vary all of them, if they want to. Let's remember, we are talking about suggested (underlined in the report for emphasis) steps and traditions. And when we say each group is autonomous, that means that it also has a right to be wrong."
The one theological proposition is a Power greater than oneself. Even this concept is forced on no one.
area and they were titled "Twelve Suggested Steps." Also, cards and other local literature was printed in this manner. This was probably in the 1945-46 period. Bill was opposed to the title "Twelve Suggested Steps" and twice delegates to the General Service Conference put forward conference actions to change the title from Twelve Steps to Twelve Suggested Steps and their proposed actions were rejected. I had read a couple of letters in the early GV's on this subject and I brought it up with Frank M.(archivist) on a trip to GSO and he explained it to me.
Jim IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6341. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Bridge of Reason From: J. Lobdell . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/15/2010 9:55:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII The Bridge of Reason occurs in [Moses] Maimonides, eight hundred (or so) years
ago, and was picked up by Spengler in his magnum opus, The Decline of the West,
greatly publicized in the 1930s. I'm not sure if "the Bridge of Reason leads to the Shore of Faith" is itself in Maimonides, but that's generally where the Bridge has been deemed to lead. My guess is any Big Book use comes from Maimonides through Spengler -- unless it's also in Lewis Browne, the one Jewish religious writer we know Bill read. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6342. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Bridge of Reason From: corafinch . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/15/2010 9:13:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII It sounds something like what Charles Fillmore wrote in the "Manifestation" chapter of Christian Healing. Referring to the gulf between spiritual knowledge and the material manifestation, he wrote, "The bridge needed is the structure which thought builds." Fillmore and his wife Myrtle founded Unity Church, a Christian denomination within the New Thought movement which was such an important influence on AA. However, other writers in the New Thought tradition used similar analogies, so Fillmore is certainly not the only potential source. Thomas Troward, in the Edinburgh lectures, spoke of the subconscious (which he considered to be amenable to conscious suggestion) as the bridge between individual minds and the higher thought or divine mind. Troward capitalized many of these terms, although Fillmore tended to leave them in lower case. - - - - --- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, Ben Hammond > > I have been searching for the > source of the phrase "Bridge of Reason" > (with caps) from the Big Book, pp. 53 and 56. >
traditions, and concepts From: James Blair . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/17/2010 6:54:00 PM
> Wall banners or placards were not distributed to groups by the NY Office > prior to the mid-1970s after Bill W had passed away. Individual groups may > have elected to do what they did on an individual basis. These were made up by N.Y. Intergroup on blinds as well they printed cards with Twelve Suggested Steps on them. Too bad Frank M. is gone b/c he explained the whole kerfuffle to me. Jim
++++Message 6344. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Banners with the steps, traditions, and concepts From: James Blair . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/17/2010 7:07:00 PM
> A question posited at the 1976 conference that: "There has been much > controversy over the alleged misuse of the word "suggested" in reference > to
> the Twelve Steps. Please give all examples of literature changes in > wording > since the 1975 Conference-changes allegedly made only to insure uniformity > in reference to the Twelve Steps, "which are suggested as a program of > recovery." The answer was: "In the listing of the Twelve Steps, the word > "suggested" was removed from 14 pamphlets. In three pamphlets, it has not > been removed. For further information, contact the Conference secretary."
the title of the Twelve Steps not be reinstated."' This suggests to me that it once existed in the literature. I have a friend who attended the 83' conference and I'll see if I can get in touch with him and ask if he can shine any light on this.
and Bob
From: Cindy Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/17/2010 6:02:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII From Cindy Miller, tomper, and Robert Stonebraker - - - - From: Cindy Miller (cm53 at earthlink.net) How about the big Bill & Bob pictures displayed on an easel at the large Founder's Day meetings? > `·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> - - - - From: "tomper87" Very nice portraits of Dr. Silkworth, Dr. Bob, and Bill W. were displayed on the
wall at the first A.A. club in New York. Bill lived upstairs for awhile so apparently did not mind this. Picture of this can be seen on the aa.org website on the timeline: http://www.aa.org/aatimeline/ Just plug in search word clubhouse. Portraits of someone can just be a sign of respect and do not necessarily indicate idol worship of the individuals. - - - - From: Glenn Chesnut (glennccc at sbcglobal.net) This photo is in the 1935-1944 section of the AA timeline, describing events which took place in 1940, and headed "The first New York clubhouse," with Yüklə 25,47 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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