I’m Not a Has-Been, I’m a Never Was - AA Speaker - Jerome S.

Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 4 - There Is A Solution - AA Big Book Workshop

In Part 4 of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, Joe and Charlie explain the two powers in There Is A Solution: the fellowship that holds us and the spiritual experience that changes us. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie walk through There Is A Solution as the Big Book's answer to the problem laid out in The Doctor's Opinion and Bill's Story. They focus on the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, the phrase "we of Alcoholics Anonymous," and the strange but beautiful fact that people who normally would not mix can find a common solution together. They also make the larger point that fellowship alone is not enough for the real alcoholic. The chapter points toward the vital spiritual experience, the difference between the hard drinker and the real alcoholic, and the need for both support and a program of action. Part 4 is where the series starts to move from identification into the actual answer: not many solutions, but one common solution that can be lived. Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 4: "There Is A Solution" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

I’m Not a Has-Been, I’m a Never Was - AA Speaker - Jerome S.

Jerome says he was not a has-been, but a never-was, until AA gave him a design for living that took him from Skid Row and institutions to sobriety, family, education, and useful work. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Jerome shares a vivid AA talk about growing up in South Central L.A., taking his first drink before a high school record hop in the summer of 1962, and discovering that alcohol seemed to make him able to act, perform, and stop caring what anyone thought. That first drink became a long collapse through homelessness, hospitals, arrests, mental health treatment, Camarillo State Hospital, and repeated attempts to explain away what alcohol kept doing to his life. On June 6, 1973, after one more jail cell and one more broken return home, Jerome walked into an AA clubhouse at 9604 South Figueroa and finally listened like only the dying can hear. In this talk, he tells how no-nonsense AA people, sponsorship, faith in action, work, school, fatherhood, forgiveness, and the simple design for living in Alcoholics Anonymous helped him become the man a psychiatrist once said he could never be. Jerome S. from Corona, California Speaking at the Santa Barbara AA Convention, September 23, 2000 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 3 - Bill's Story Explained - AA Big Book Workshop

In Part 3 of the Joe & Charlie Founders’ Day series, Joe and Charlie walk through Bill’s Story as the first full example of alcoholism, identification, and recovery in the Big Book. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes [https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes] 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie show why Bill’s Story comes so early in Alcoholics Anonymous: not as biography alone, but as identification. They trace Bill W. from early success, ambition, Wall Street, drinking in the jazz places, and the crash of 1929 into the progression of alcoholism - when drinking stopped being exciting and became necessary. They connect Bill’s repeated failures to stay stopped with Dr. Silkworth’s explanation from The Doctor’s Opinion, then follow the turning point: Ebby’s visit, the simple religious idea, the practical Oxford Group actions, and Bill’s sudden spiritual experience at Towns Hospital in December 1934. By the end, Joe and Charlie make the central point clear: Bill did not just learn about alcoholism, he had old ideas replaced with new ones, and almost immediately began thinking about how to help other alcoholics. Bill’s Story becomes the bridge from powerlessness to hope, and from hope to a design for living that works in rough going. Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 3: "Bill's Story" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 2 - The Doctor’s Opinion Explained - AA Big Book Workshop

In Part 2 of the Joe & Charlie Founders’ Day series, Joe and Charlie explain why The Doctor’s Opinion is one of the keys to understanding alcoholism itself. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie walk through Dr. Silkworth’s explanation of alcoholism: the body that reacts differently to alcohol, the physical craving that starts after the first drink, and the mind that eventually forgets the consequences and reaches for alcohol again. They break down the difference between craving and obsession, why the word “allergy” confused so many alcoholics, and why the Big Book says the body of the alcoholic is as abnormal as the mind. By the end, they connect The Doctor’s Opinion directly to Step One: if we cannot safely drink because of the body, and we cannot stay stopped because of the mind, then we are powerless over alcohol. They also point toward the answer: the psychic change produced through the Twelve Steps, where peace of mind, serenity, and usefulness begin to replace the restless, irritable, and discontented condition that once drove the first drink Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 2: "The Doctor’s Opinion" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 1 - AA History - AA Big Book Workshop

In honor of AA’s 91st Founders’ Day, we’re sharing the legendary Joe & Charlie Big Book workshops in order, from AA history through the Steps, over the next 10 days. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In Part 1, Joe and Charlie begin with the history behind Alcoholics Anonymous and the Big Book, starting from the Foreword to the Second Edition and the first AA group in Akron, Ohio in June 1935. They walk through Bill W., Dr. Bob, Ebby Thacher, Dr. Silkworth, the Oxford Groups, the early shape of the program, and why understanding the history makes the book easier to understand. This opening session sets up the pattern they return to throughout the workshop: what the problem is, what the solution is, and the practical program of action that carries the message. Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 1: "AA History" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu