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Lincoln's address to the Washington Temperance Society, Springfield, Ill. February 22, 1842. Following this is a 5 page article titled THE 24-HOUR PLAN.
I'm wondering if anyone has any more information on this piece, or its author? Does anyone know when the rest of these articles appeared in the Grapevine? Thanks for your help Steve Covieo sober in kalamazoo 269-352-7702 From: Jim Blair Date: Sun Dec 8, 2002 5:44 pm Subject: Re: [AAHistoryLovers] Book '12' The dates of the articles in the GV are as follows Step 1- Aug,54, March 61 Step 2- Oct.54, May 61 Step 3- Dec.54, July 61 Step 4- Jan. 54, Sept. 61 Step 5-March 55, Dec. 61 Step 6- June 55, Feb. 62 Step 7- Aug. 55 Step 8 - Oct. 55, June 62 Step 9- Dec. 55, Aug. 62 Step10- Feb. 56-Oct. 62 Step 11- April 56, Dec. 62 Step 12-June 56, Oct. 63 He did not include the Oct. 62 and Dec. 62 articles in the book you have. The articles were written by Jerome E., who was a writer for a national magazine. He went to work in the GSO in 1962-63 and I guess he did not see eye to eye with the way things were done. He wrote a scathing attack on the "Headquarters" and the way it publishes literature which was published in "The Nation" on March 2, 1964. Jim From: "melb" Date: Sun Dec 8, 2002 8:02 pm Subject: Re: [AAHistoryLovers] Book '12' Hi Everybody, I sent a letter to Steve about Jerry E.'s book. It's rue, as Jim says here, that Jerry had a falling out with AA General Services and wrote quite an attack on it for The Nation. He had called me while he was writing the article because I had once submitted an article for The Grapevine about racial prejudice in a southern Michigan town's AA group. He changed that to "southern" only. We know that there has been plenty of racial prejudice in the South, but we should not accuse them of any specific actions they were not guilty of! But Jerry was a good writer and I'm sorry that he had the falling out, because he had a lot to contribute. Mel Barger Toledo, Ohio IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1774. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Book ''12'' - Compiled from Previous Posts From: Mel Barger . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/26/2004 10:10:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Hi Steve and Friends: The book you have was authored by the late Jerry E. who was for a short time the editor of The Grapevine. Jerry had been a successful magazine writer, having started his career at The Reader's Digest and later becoming managing editor of Collier's when it was a popular family magazine. He discussed his alcoholism in a book titled "Report to the Creator," which I read in the 1950s. I met Jerry at The Grapevine in 1962 and spent a few hou rs with him at his home in Guilford, CT, in 1964. Hang on to that book, Steve, as I'm sure most of the copies have now been lost. This is an odd coincidence, only a half-hour before reading your email, I was telling a fellow member something I'd heard from Jerry in 1964!. Mel Barger ~~~~~~~~ Mel Barger melb@accesstoledo.com ----- Original Message ----- From: NMOlson@aol.com To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 10:32 AM Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] Book '12' - Compiled from Previous Posts From: "steve Date: Sun Dec 8, 2002 2:46 pm Subject: Book '12' HistoryLovers, I have stumbled across a book which I need help ientifying. The cover is light blue with a gold `12' in the upper right hand corner. The title page reads: TWELVE STEPS and the Older Member, Older Member Press, Box 25, Guilford, Conn. Price Two Dollars Copyright 1964, Older Member Press Fourth Printing January, 1970 The book is 72 pages and its origination is articles in the Grapevine from 1954-1956. At that time (1954) the author had 7 years of sobriety. The articles for the grapevine are written about the steps. There are twelve articles (one for each step). The book then reproduces these Grapevine articles of an AA's experience with the steps at seven years sober. The book also adds to these articles an AA's experience with the steps at seven more years sober (14 years). The Eleventh Step article mentions that the original eleventh step article was printed in the April 1956 Grapevine, but none of the other articles gives an original date for the articles. Following the articles is `Lincoln on Alcoholism,' from Lincoln's address to the Washington Temperance Society, Springfield, Ill. February 22, 1842. Following this is a 5 page article titled THE 24-HOUR PLAN.
I'm wondering if anyone has any more information on this piece, or its author? Does anyone know when the rest of these articles appeared in the Grapevine? Thanks for your help Steve Covieo sober in kalamazoo 269-352-7702 From: Jim Blair Date: Sun Dec 8, 2002 5:44 pm Subject: Re: [AAHistoryLovers] Book '12' The dates of the articles in the GV are as follows Step 1- Aug,54, March 61 Step 2- Oct.54, May 61 Step 3- Dec.54, July 61 Step 4- Jan. 54, Sept. 61 Step 5-March 55, Dec. 61 Step 6- June 55, Feb. 62 Step 7- Aug. 55 Step 8 - Oct. 55, June 62 Step 9- Dec. 55, Aug. 62 Step10- Feb. 56-Oct. 62 Step 11- April 56, Dec. 62 Step 12-June 56, Oct. 63 He did not include the Oct. 62 and Dec. 62 articles in the book you have. The articles were written by Jerome E., who was a writer for a national magazine. He went to work in the GSO in 1962-63 and I guess he did not see eye to eye with the way things were done. He wrote a scathing attack on the "Headquarters" and the way it publishes literature which was published in "The Nation" on March 2, 1964. Jim From: "melb" Date: Sun Dec 8, 2002 8:02 pm Subject: Re: [AAHistoryLovers] Book '12' Hi Everybody, I sent a letter to Steve about Jerry E.'s book. It's rue, as Jim says here, that Jerry had a falling out with AA General Services and wrote quite an attack on it for The Nation. He had called me while he was writing the article because I had once submitted an article for The Grapevine about racial prejudice in a southern Michigan town's AA group. He changed that to "southern" only. We know that there has been plenty of racial prejudice in the South, but we should not accuse them of any specific actions they were not guilty of! But Jerry was a good writer and I'm sorry that he had the falling out, because he had a lot to contribute. Mel Barger Toledo, Ohio ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This message was scanned by GatewayDefender [4] 10:44:14 AM ET - 4/26/2004 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1775. . . . . . . . . . . . More Info on quote from Bill W From: davidt030992 . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/27/2004 8:39:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII While researching a workshop I am preparing for on singleness of purpose, I recently came across this quote from Bill W in As Bill Sees it on page 79 Our Sole Purpose "An AA group, as such, cannot take on all the personal problems of its members, let alone those of nonalcoholics in the world around us. The AA group is not, for example, a mediator of domestic relations, nor does it furnish personal financial aid to anyone. "Though a member may sometimes be helped in such matters by his friends in AA, the primary responsibility for the solutions of all his problems of living and growing rests squarely upon the individual himself. Should an AA group attempt this sort of help, its effectiveness and energies would be hopelessly dissipated. "This is why sobriety - freedom from alcohol - through the teaching and practice of AA's Twelve Steps, is the sole purpose of the group. If we don't stick to this cardinal principle, we shall almost certainly collapse. And if we collapse we cannot help anyone." This was from a letter written to a memeber in 1966. I'd like to know if anyone has any further info on this (maybe the entire letter), what question was he responding to from this member? Also, I'd be interested in any more material any of you may have to offer regarding the subject. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1776. . . . . . . . . . . . Special token of appreciation given to Bill W.
From: victoria callaway . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/28/2004 12:49:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII In the BB and "Pass it On" it mentions a special token of appreciation given to Bill W. Page 62 in "Pass it On' and page 1 in BB. Can anyone tell me what this was that was given to him-much thanks vicki c IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1777. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Special token of appreciation given to Bill W. From: goldentextpro@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/28/2004 11:05:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII From Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-Founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, (New York: Al-Anon Family Headquarters, Inc.), 1991, pp. 26-27: Upon leaving France the men of his [Bill's] battery paid him special honor. His letter of January 3, 1919, read: "Quite a touching thing happened yesterday. The men presented Captain Sackville and me each with a watch, chain and ring. The whole battery was lined up, and I tell you it was equal to promotion and decoration by J. J. Pershing himself! Coming as it did from a clear sky, it was quite overwhelming. Wouldn't have changed insignia with a brigadier general. It means so much more than promotion. Insofar as I know, we are the only people in the reigment who have been so honored. I'm sure you will be as happy and proud as I am." Richard K. Haverhill, MA IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1778. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: More Info on quote from Bill W From: Arthur Sheehan . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/29/2004 8:33:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Hi David
In going through Bill's writings it strikes me that he was an astute "recycler" of the same basic messages in order to maintain consistency and, perhaps, reinforce through repetition. The letter you cite on page 79 in "As Bill Sees It" was written in 1966. The substance, and a part of the citation, is contained in Bill's February 1958 Grapevine article titled "Problems Other Than Alcohol." The article is preserved in the book "Language of the Heart" pages 222-225 and also contained in a Conference-approved pamphlet of the same title (publication number P-35). There is also a small excerpts pamphlet of "Problems Other Than Alcohol" (publication number F-8) which is provided by GSO at no charge. A very powerful portion from the Grapevine/pamphlet article is: "Now there are certain things that AA cannot do for anybody, regardless of what our several desires or sympathies may be. Our first duty, as a Society, is to insure our own survival. Therefore we have to avoid distractions and multipurpose activity. An AA group, as such, cannot take on all the personal problems of its members, let alone the problems of the whole world. Sobriety - freedom from alcohol - through the teaching and practice of the Twelve Steps, is the sole purpose of an AA group. Groups have repeatedly tried other activities and they have always failed. It has also been learned that there is no possible way to make nonalcoholics into AA members. We have to confine our membership to alcoholics and we have to confine our AA groups to a single purpose. If we don't stick to these principles, we shall almost surely collapse. And if we collapse, we cannot help anyone." Arthur ----- Original Message ----- From: davidt030992 To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 8:39 AM Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] More Info on quote from Bill W While researching a workshop I am preparing for on singleness of purpose, I recently came across this quote from Bill W in As Bill Sees it on page 79 Our Sole Purpose "An AA group, as such, cannot take on all the personal problems of its members, let alone those of nonalcoholics in the world around us. The AA group is not, for example, a mediator of domestic relations, nor does it furnish personal financial aid to anyone. "Though a member may sometimes be helped in such matters by his friends in AA, the primary responsibility for the solutions of all his problems of living and growing rests squarely upon the individual himself. Should an AA group attempt this sort of help, its effectiveness and energies would be hopelessly dissipated. "This is why sobriety - freedom from alcohol - through the teaching and practice of AA's Twelve Steps, is the sole purpose of the group. If we don't stick to this cardinal principle, we shall almost certainly collapse. And if we collapse we cannot help anyone." This was from a letter written to a memeber in 1966. I'd like to know if anyone has any further info on this (maybe the entire letter), what question was he responding to from this member? Also, I'd be interested in any more material any of you may have to offer regarding the subject. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1779. . . . . . . . . . . . "Academics Recovering Together" now a Yahoo Group From: jblair10101 . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/29/2004 3:31:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII In message 483, August 25, 2002, Barefoot Bill provided an extensive list of anonymous groups and 12-step offshoots. One group listed was "Academics Recovering Together," which began in 1989 at Brown University. This group is now online as a Yahoo Group. John
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1780. . . . . . . . . . . . Hubert "Cubby" Selby--Obituary From: jimmy . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/30/2004 7:29:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII A much loved, longtime sober and active member in Los Angeles..... Author Hubert Selby Jr. Dead at 75 Associated Press Monday, April 26, 2004 LOS ANGELES -- Hubert Selby Jr. , the acclaimed and anguished author of "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and "Requiem for a Dream," died Monday of a lung disease, his wife said. He was 75. Selby died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his home in the Highland Park section of Los Angeles, said his wife of 35 years, Suzanne. Born in New York City, Selby's experience among Brooklyn's gritty longshoremen, homeless and the down-and-out formed the basis for his lauded 1964 novel "Last Exit to Brooklyn," which was made into a film in 1989. "It was a seminal piece of work. It broke so many traditions," said Jim Reg= an, head of the master's of professional writing program at the University of Southern California, where Selby taught as an adjunct professor for the pas= t 20 years. "There was that generation of writers: William Burroughs, Henry Miller, and= there was Hubert Selby. And he's one of the last of that generation, of som= e of the greatest writers in this country." Suzanne Selby said her late husband was kind and generous but in recent years suffered from depression and occasionally would launch into rages. "He screamed, he yelled, he broke things," she said. "But he did not have rages when he was writing." Selby shared screenwriting credit on the 2000 film version of his 1978 nove= l "Requiem for a Dream," a harrowing look inside a family's many addictions. = His other novels include "The Room" (1971), "The Demon" (1976) and "The Willow Tree" (1998). A collection of short stories, "Song of the Silent Sno= w," was published in 1986. Selby continued to work on screenplays and teach at USC until he was hospitalized last month. He had been in and out of the hospital in recent weeks and died with his wife by his side, she said. He contracted tuberculosis as a child and had suffered from breathing problems ever since, Suzanne Shelby said. He was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease several years ago. Selby often wrote at an apartment he kept in West Hollywood. He worked in a= bedroom there for at least five hours most days, and always left one line unfinished at night to have a place to start the next morning, Suzanne Selb= y said. She said that he had battled addictions, but while much of his work dealt w= ith
the topic, he always wrote while sober and had not had any alcohol or any drugs since 1969. Along with his wife, he is survived by four children and 11 grandchildren. © Associated Press. All rights reserved. __________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 27, 2004 Hubert Selby Jr., Who Wrote `Last Exit to Brooklyn,' Dies at 75 By ANTHONY DePALMA Hubert Selby Jr., the Brooklyn-born ex-merchant mariner who turned to drugs= and to writing after cheating death and created a lasting vision of urban h= ell in
his novel "Last Exit to Brooklyn," died yesterday at his home in Los Angele= s. He was 75. The cause was chronic pulmonary disease, said his son, Bill Selby, who added that his father's death was the long-term consequence of the tuberculosis he had contracted while at sea during World War II. Mr. Selby had no formal training, and disdained the prim order of punctuati= on and plot. His writing was spare and direct. But what most marked his work was the stark despair and loneliness he described in such shocking terms that some of his work was blocked for a time in the United States, and late= r England, as obscene. He said he did not understand what the fuss was about. "The events that take place are the way people are," he said in an intervie= w with The New York Times in 1988, describing the gang rapes, brutal beatings= and countless perversions described in "Last Exit." "These are not literary= characters; these are real people. I knew these people. How can anybody look inside themselves and be surprised at the hatred and violence in the world? It's inside all of us." "Tralala," one of the stories that make up the book, was the subject of an = obscenity trial involving The Provincetown Review, which published it in 1961. And when "Last Exit," which consists of "Tralala" and five other loos= ely
connected stories, was published in England in 1966, a jury found it to be = obscene and fined its publisher. The novel describes the seedy underbelly of the Red Hook waterfront neighborhood in the Brooklyn of the 1950's, which is depicted as a wastelan= d prowled by gangs, whores and transvestites. When it was published by Grove = Press in 1964, its repulsive language and blast-furnace images made the novel difficult either to accept or reject. "This is a brutal book -- shocking, exhausting, depressing," wrote Eliot Fremont-Smith in the first review of the book in The Times. Yet, despite th= e gutter language and obscene grunts of the dark characters in the novel, Mr.= Fremont-Smith said that the book could not be easily dismissed. "The profound depression it causes -- once one starts seriously to read it -- is a= measure of an authentic power which carries through and beyond revulsion," = he wrote. "Just who should be asked to undergo this experience is another matter." Hubert Selby Jr. was born on July 27, 1928, in Brooklyn, the son of Adalin = and Hubert Selby Sr., a coal miner from Kentucky who served in the merchant marine for several years until his son was born. During World War II the se= nior
Mr. Selby returned to the merchant marine. His son, though underage, convinced the recruiters he was old enough to join as well. While at sea he= developed tuberculosis. After going through radical surgery and more than a= year of hospitalization, he was given no chance of recovery. He did recover, but was hooked on the morphine he had received during his hospitalization. He started drinking. With no other prospects, he decided t= o try writing, although he once said he had never read anything until he was an adult. While he wrote the stories that went into "Last Exit to Brooklyn" he= worked for a time as an insurance analyst in Manhattan. Before the book was published in 1964, Mr. Selby's writing had earned him less than $100. Despite its bleakness, the book's underlying message of redemption through self-destruction caught on in a United States about to enter the radical 1960's. Mr. Selby overcame his addictions and moved to the West Coast, where he wrote several other books, including "The Room" (1971) "The Demon" (1976), = and "The Willow Tree" (1998). In 1989 "Last Exit" was made into a film by t= he German director Uli Edel. Hubert Selby Jr. was married three times, most recently in 1969 to Suzanne = Victoria Selby, who survives him, along with four children: Claudia Adams o= f Marrow Bone, Ky.; Kyle, of Yorktown, N.Y.; Rachel Kuehn of Corona, Calif.; = and Bill, of Loma Linda, Calif. Download 4.17 Mb. Share with your friends:
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