Spotlight On The WSO Board: Charlie H.
Charlie H. is from Falls Church, Virginia, USA. He has served as a WSO Trustee since 2016 and Board Chairperson between 2019 and 2022. He has stepped down from the Board of Trustees at the end of his term of service after the 2023 ABC. In this interview, we learn more...
Step Eleven Is For Warriors
How to win? “Lack of power was our dilemma,” AA’s original program affirms. How do I solve that lack, in personal recovery? Isn’t that the point? Do I want to win? Here’s a strategy for non-toxic, productive power that martial artists use that can be applied in Step...
Ode To A Loving Family Dinner
Pork roasted in cheap Budweiser and black-eyed peas.Spinach noodles laden with heavy cream, garlic and salt.Red wine flowing freely.Miles Davis crooning from the record player.Dozens of dishes left half empty to sit; eaters distracted by conversation, eye contact, an...
Feelings
Vessel on the rocky shore and ocean swallowing up the broken wreck.The wreckage of the past is something i did regret,Now i give myself compassion and love like my pet,Recovery is going to help me, it helps me to be free,Society is something i don't worry about and...
Things I Have Learned In Childhood And Adulthood
Things I Learned as a Child and Young Adult (from my parents, schools, and church): No one at home has the right to be angry – except daddy-Monster. All authority figures are monsters and must be feared. They are always right and I am always wrong. God loves me and...
True Teacher
(A short letter/poem to the one teacher who made a difference for me, who revealed my competence to me.)Dear seventh-grade math teacher, you had no idea – the family violence endured by one of your students. I was a C/D student before your...
Anonimity is a Spiritual Principle in Step Eleven
It is a mistake to approach Step Eleven with the old idea that I know what it means to pray or to receive guidance in meditation. That is not to say that I do not have ideas or spiritual experiences I bring or can draw on in Step Eleven. No. I am a spiritual being in...
Green Florals and Brown Spots
I remember a green floral sofa and a blurry brown spotted carpet.I confuse them as being together at the same time and place, but it's not the case; pictures tell me so.One was in our first home and apartment. The other was in our one and only house. Yet they are...
Anger
A drawing from an art-making ACA meeting reflecting my anger about being put into boxes regarding themes of femininity and conditional love regarding gender expression.
The Package
THE PACKAGE(A short poem about my struggle to face the ugly truth about family dysfunction.) A package appears on my desk,addressed to me.It’s from my parents.I see the label: Family Secrets. I know the rules:do not open under any circumstance.But the package calls to...