Aa history Lovers 2004 moderators Nancy Olson and Glenn F. Chesnut page
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space, or the love of friends, or the power of the AA meeting itself: Choose your own Infinite. Whatever works. In the can-do land of the bottom line, even our spirituality tends to be results-oriented. But the language of AA plays provocatively with a simple word: "work." In one sense, sobriety is something that just happens, much like Wilson's great clean wind. It is a gift from the Higher Power to the alcoholic. At the same time, "work" means work, as in tangible, sometimes even grudging, effort. In the early
days, Bill W. and Dr. Bob would sit in the Smith parlor refining their drunk-saving techniques, and often Smith's wife, Anne, read aloud from the Bible. They were partial to the Epistle of James, which reminded them that "faith without works is dead." AA members speak of "working the steps," and many meetings end with the affirmation that "it works if you work it." This means returning again and again to the state of mind and the exercises that
constitute the upkeep on each miracle of sobriety. Beginning with the admission that they are powerless over alcohol and continuing through labors of humility, repentance, meditation and service, AA members maintain the dam that holds back
the obliterating tide of booze from their lives. A Friend of Bill W. Cheever is a forthright woman with a big laugh and no immediately obvious illusions, a hard-working writer who publishes books like clockwork, pens a column for Newsday and teaches at Bennington College. She decided to write about
Wilson because "I loved him. I loved how he changed the world without knowing
it, just as a way to stop drinking himself. I loved his Yankeeness," by which
she seems to mean a range of qualities, from the Emersonian flinty optimism, to the unsentimental practicality, to the hovering dark clouds and the weirdo seances, which she calls his "table-tapping after dark." No doubt she also loved Wilson for the fact that his miracle, worked and reworked through the long chain of drunks, touched her own family, late in the
life of her father, the short-story artist John Cheever. Booze was the lubricant of Cheever's masterpieces. He was the poet laureate of postwar suburbia, in which hope, striving, lust and angst were all refracted through the bottom of a cocktail glass. But what was symbol and atmosphere in his stories was toxic in John Cheever's life, as his daughter explained in her acclaimed memoirs "Home Before Dark," and
booze washed into Susan Cheever's life as well. In her book "Note Found in a Bottle," she recalls learning to mix a martini by the age of 6, and doing plenty of drinking as an adult. Susan Cheever now speaks of her father's AA years as an amazing gift to the whole family, not a gift of bliss so much as a gift of simple reality. When a drunk enters the unreal world of his illness, he takes
his family and friends with him. Her homage to the family benefactor is pro-Wilson but not hagiographic. "I like to take saints and make them into people," she explains. She touches the spiritual bases in her portrait of Wilson, but seems more moved by the concrete
elements. Over lunch at a Manhattan bistro, she recalls her first visit to Wilson's boyhood home in East Dorset, Vt., not far from the Bennington campus. Cheever noticed the low ceiling of the stairway leading to Wilson's room, and caught a glimpse in her mind's eyes, so to speak, of the gangly boy having to duck his head each time he passed. "And I was him," for that moment, she says. "I understood what it was to be a depressed 10-year-old boy trapped in that house" after his parents had abandoned him to his remote and austere grandparents. It's not easy making a spiritual figure compelling and real without slipping into iconoclasm. Cheever's approach is to apply a writerly version of Wilson's humility. She gets the goods on his serial adultery, for instance, but declines to make too much of it. "He was engaged to Lois when he was 18 -- hello!" Cheever says. "They were married 53 years. All we really know is that they were
friends through an amazing life. He was a good-enough husband." Likewise, she can look into Wilson's LSD experiment with proto-hippie Aldous Huxley without getting mired in a puritanical inquisition into whether this constituted a "slip" in his sobriety or hypocrisy in his creed. This attitude allows Cheever to see that Wilson's inconsistencies and quirks weren't blemishes on his record -- they were the essence of a flawed man who was endlessly seeking what works. "Again and again, his intuitions were wrong," Cheever says. "But he wasn't interested in problems. He was interested in solutions." Most of the key traditions of AA operations, including its independence, anonymity and governance-by-consensus, ran counter to Wilson's personal disposition. "He wanted fame and fortune, but somehow was able to figure out that AA would have to be a group in which nobody represents it, nobody speaks for it and nobody's in charge of it." Sobering Reality The striking thing about Wilson's story -- which only settles in upon reflection -- is how hard his life was even after he sobered up. What, really, had that bright light and clean wind changed? He and Lois remained
penniless, even homeless, for years. Sometimes it seemed that AA was determined to keep him poor forever. He had a chance to cash in by allying his message with
a particular hospital, but his fledgling flock forbade him to do it. He harbored
hope that John D. Rockefeller Jr. would lavish money on him, but instead Rockefeller came through with a tiny stipend. Alcoholics Anonymous struggled for six long and underwhelming years before catching its crucial break: a glowing article in the Saturday Evening Post. Then, as the group flourished, Wilson was attacked by jealous colleagues and abandoned by old friends. He sank into a crushing depression, and "often just sat for hours with his head on the desk or with his head in his hands," Cheever writes. "When he raised his head, he was sometimes weeping." Wilson liked children but was childless. Cigarettes were killing him but he couldn't stop smoking.
He wrote of "being swamped with guilt and self-loathing . . . often getting a misshapen and painful pleasure out of it." It was enough to drive a man to drink. Yet for 36-plus years of this troubled and very human life, he was able to resist that next drink. Perhaps the most efficacious miracles are the small ones. And because "his mind was the right lens" and his will was "the right machine," in Cheever's words, for mass-producing that limited but crucial victory, Bill Wilson's miracle keeps working, one person and one day at a time. © 2004 The Washington Post Company Of Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson, Cheever says, "He changed the world
without knowing it, just as a way to stop drinking himself." (Helayne Seidman
For The Washington Post) IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1788. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: One Solitary Voice by Jack B...any info.?
From: Jim K. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5/6/2004 7:25:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Jack B got sober in 1942 in the southern Westchester county area just north of New York City. Before relocating to Perth, Australia in the late 1970s, he was associated with "The Cops and Robbers" of Westchester AA [oldtimers from the era of 1950-80 in Westchester] and notably at the Sobriety Unlimited Group on Gramatan Avenue in Mt. Vernon, NY. As an aside: this group keeps a fully decorated Christmas tree in the meeting room 365 days per year. Sobriety is like Christmas everyday! It never stops giving! Jack was well known for his emphasis on the physical aspects of our disease which is chronicled in his pamphlet published in 1968 - "One Solitary Voice". He used to go to area meetings with a contraption known as "The Monster". Roughly it was a representation of the body, it's organs, and the physical interrelations between the alcohol intake in an alcoholic and the effect it has on the brain and body of an alcoholic. Jack passed in the mid 1980's if I recall correctly. He was a good friend of my mom's [Margette Grandy/Hartzell (deceased) of Maryknoll Group] and of Jim B. of Lincolndale. I still have photocopies of "One Solitary Voice", [someone made off with the original sometime ago] which I pass on to newcomers as it helps to explain the physical dimension of alcoholism which isn't discussed in many meetings these days. Glenn K. Audiotapes of Long Island has a recording of Jack at the Blackstone Retreat. Jim K. The Into Action Group Manhattan, NY --- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, "wbmscm" wrote: > Does anyone have any information on a gentlemen by the name of Jack > B. who wrote a publication called "One Solitary Voice"? IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 1801. . . . . . . . . . . . Chip system, etc. -- Compilation From: NMOlson@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 5/12/2004 4:37:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII This is a compilation of previous posts which have been deleted. Nancy
From: "pete_geilich" Date: Thu May 6, 2004 3:00 pm Subject: Chip System How did this system come about, and is it practiced world wide? From: Ken Ring Date: Sat May 8, 2004 8:28 pm Subject: Re: Chip System I don't claim that I have authenticated all of the statements included in the following, but it has been accepted locally for quite some time. From our archives collection. MEDALLIONS In 1965, a Wendell's employee, "Bill," joined AA. Bill gave numerous talks at Mission Farms and detention centers in Minneapolis and surrounding areas. He began handing out bronze medallions with the Serenity Prayer on one side and two large A's on the reverse. Everyone wanted a medallion! Bill then got the idea that all AA members should have a medallion to carry in their pocket or purse, to constantly remind them of their hard won sobrietyÅ but the medallions should be just for that person-so, somehow it has to say how long he/she has been soberÅ it had to be easily distinguished from pocket change, thus, the raised center medallion was born. The first versions of the medallion were actually two pieces-the medallion was struck, then the center was soldered on. This worked, but the medallions began to sell in such great numbers, Wendells couldn't keep up with the demand. At that time, coining dies were made and they used insert dies in the center with the Roman numeral engraved and when the medallion was struck, it gave them a one-piece medallion that could be made in one operation. The raised center medallion was introduced in November of 1973 at the Founders Group weekend at the Leamington Hotel in Minneapolis. The response was outstanding. A mailing went out to all the Intergroups and Central Offices in the United States and Canada. Wendell's has had to make various changes in the medallion at the request of AA World Services (they deleted the two A's). Without a doubt, the raised center medallion has been used by more recovering people than any one item, aside from the Big Book, used in recovery, and it all came to be because of one member who recognized the need for "reassurance" and was fortunate enough to be employed by a coining mint. In many parts of the country, or the world for that matter, have their own traditional ways of recognizing sobriety birthdays. Some offer "pins" to be worn on the lapels of jackets (remember them)? Others simply have a cake, much like a real birthday celebration, to be shared in the group. And there are certainly combinations of all of these and further adornments that show the support of family, group and fellowship. In some locales, recognition is in increments of months, years or sets of years-every five years-in others it is much more personal and not brought before the group at all and between sponsor and sponsee. Ken Ring, Dist. 18 Archives Committee Chair Archivist/Historian Alano Society of Minneapolis, Inc. "2218" From: "Robert Stonebraker" Date: Sun May 9, 2004 1:15 am Subject: RE: [AAHistoryLovers] Re: Chip System Could someone please give me the history of celebration of sobriety. I have not been able to find this in the BB.
Here is a post on this subject I saved for history Lovers:
Chips, Medallions and Birthdays The traditions of chips, medallions and birthdays vary in different parts of the country and I thought it would be interesting to look up some of the history on them. Sister lgnatia, the nun who helped Dr. Bob get the hospitalization program started at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron was the first person to use medallions in AlcoholicsAnonymous. She gave the drunks who were leaving St. Thomas after a five day dry out a Sacred Heart Medallion and instructed them that the acceptance of the medallion signified a commitment to God, to A.A. and to recovery and that if they were going to drink, they had a responsibility to return the medallion to her before drinking. The sacred heart badges had been used prior to A.A. by the Father Matthew Temperance Movement of the 1840s and the Pioneers an Irish Temperance Movement of the 1890s. The practice of sobriety chips in A.A. started with a Group in Elmira, N.Y. in 1947 and has grown from there. The celebration of birthdays came from the Oxford Group where they celebrated the anniversary of their spiritual rebirth. As we have a problem with honesty, A.A. chose the anniversary of the date of our last drink. Early celebrations of birthdays resulted in people getting drunk and Dr. Harry Tiebout was asked to look at the problem and he commented on this phenomenon in an articled titled "When the Big "I" Becomes Nobody", (AAGV, Sept. 65) "Early on in A.A., I was consulted about a serious problem plaguing the local group. The practice of celebrating a year’s sobriety with a birthday cake had resulted in a certain number of the members getting drunk within a short period after the celebration. It seemed apparent that some could not stand prosperity. I was asked to settle between birthday cakes or no birthday cakes. Characteristically, I begged off, not from shyness but from ignorance. Some three or four years later, A.A. furnished me the answer. The group no longer had such a problem because, as one member said, "We celebrate still, but a year’s sobriety is now a dime a dozen. No one gets much of a kick out of that anymore." The AAGV carried many articles on chips and cakes and the following is a brief summary of some. Feb. 1948, Why All the Congratulations? "When we start taking bows (even on anniversaries) we bow ourselves right into the cuspidor." July, 1948. Group To Give Oscar for Anniversaries. The Larchmont Group of Larchmont, N.Y. gives a cast bronze camel mounted on a mahogany base to celebrate 1st., 5th and 10th anniversaries. "The camel is wholly emblematic of the purposes of most sincere A.A.s, i.e., to live for 24 hours without a drink."
August 1948. The Artesta, N.Mex. Group awards marbles to all members. If you are caught without your marbles, you are fined 25 cents. This money goes into the Foundation Fund. June 1953, We operate a poker chip club in the Portland Group (Maine). We have poker chips of nine colors of which the white represents the probation period of one month. If he keeps his white chip for one month he is presented with a red chip for one month's sobriety. The chips continue with blue for two months, black for three, green for four, transparent blue for five, amber for six, transparent purple for nine months and a transparent clear chip for one year. We have our chips stamped with gold A.A. letters. Also at the end of the year and each year thereafter, we present them with a group birthday card signed by all members present at the meeting. January 1955, Charlotte, N.C. "When a man takes "The Long Walk" at the end of a meeting, to pick up a white chip, he is admitting to his fellow men that he has finally accepted the precepts of A.A. and is beginning his sobriety. At the end of three months he exchanges his white chip for a red one. Later, a handsome, translucent chip of amber indicates that this new member has enjoyed six months of a new way of life. The nine month chip is a clear seagreen and a blue chip is given for the first year of sobriety. In some groups a sponsor will present his friend with an engraved silver chip, at the end of five years clear thinking and clean living.
March 1956, The One Ton Poker Chip. Alton, Illinois. Author gave friend a chip on his first day eight years ago (1948) and told him to accept it in the spirit of group membership and that if he wanted to drink to throw the chip away before starting drinking. October 1956, Bangor Washington. Article about a woman who sits in a bar to drink the bartender sees her white chips and asks what it is. She tells him. He throws her out as he does not want an alcoholic in his bar. She calls friend. April 1957, Cape Cod, Mass. Group recognizes 1st, 5th and 15th anniversaries. Person celebrating leads meeting. Person is presented with a set of wooden carved plaques with the slogans. July 1957, New Brunswick, Canada. Birthday Board. Member contributes one dollar for each year of sobriety July 1957, Oregon. Person is asked to speak and is introduced by his or her sponsor. The wife, mother, sister or other relative brings up a cake. The Group sings Happy Birthday. The wife gives a two or three minute talk. April 1959, Patterson, N.J. People are asked to give "three month pin talks." And that's a little bit of info on chips, cakes and medallions. From: "Robert Stonebraker" Date: Sun May 9, 2004 1:33 am Subject: RE: [AAHistoryLovers] Re: Chip System In 1975, when I first came to AA in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, this was the custom: · No beginner's chip was given, but you had to hold up your hand if you had less than 30 days sober. · Then embossed poker chips on chains were given: White for 30 days, Red for 3 months, Blue for 6 months, and Yellow for 9 months. They had “God grant me the serenity†stamped on the back.
· It was the custom to carry all these accumulated tokens till you got one year. · No tokens were given for number of years, but there was always a birthday cake and singing of “Happy Birthday.†Followed by singing “Keep coming back.†Then the candles were blown out. · This custom was still in effect at some of the meetings I attended out there last year. Bob S., now from Indiana From: "Kimball Rowe" >
Date: Sat May 8, 2004 7:52 pm The "chip" system used in Germany consisted of poker chips and pie pans (originally). They used poker chips with 5 colors, white, green, red, yellow and blue. They were given for beginners, 2 months, 3 months, and 6 months. There was no 9 month chip, and there was no 18 month chip. Metal chips started at one year. SURRENDER - The white chip was called the surrender chip since the international color for surrender is white. It was given to all new comers (1-30 days). It is said that if you chose not to surrender, then the white could stand for the color of the sheet that they cover you dead body with. GO - The green chip was called the "GO" chip since green is the international color for go. It was given at 30 days and implied that the owner should GO to more meeting, GO get a big book, GO read your big book, GO take a step, GO get into service, GO get into action, etc. It is said that if you don't take these simple suggestions that green could also symbolize the color of your liver as they perform the autopsy. STOP - The red chip was called the "STOP" chip since red is the international color for stop. It was given at two months and meant for us to STOP our stinking thinking, to STOP using our character defects, STOP taking others inventory, STOP ducking responsibility, etc. It is said that if you persisted in your old ways, then perhaps red could be the color of your windshield as you are ejected from the car in an alcohol related car accident. CAUTION - The yellow chip was called the "CAUTION" chip since yellow is the international color for caution. It was given at three months because at three months a member knows just enough about sobriety to be dangerous, so CAUTION is the watch word. It is said that if you do not practice caution during this time that the color yellow could reflect the color of your eyes as jaundice sets in. SERENITY - The blue chip was called the "SERENITY" chip, as it resembles the color of the a peaceful sky. It was given at six months. It is said that if you don't do what Download 4.17 Mb. Share with your friends:
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