I’ve been at this for a long time. Not as long as many others, of course, but half of my life has been spent in these rooms.

You wouldn’t know it from looking at me — well, you probably would, but let me have […]

“… and I’m an alcoholic.”

It took me a long time to say those words, and even longer to mean it.

I’m not sure if alcoholics are contrarian by nature, even if we are typecast as a rowdy, incorrigible bunch. […]

I’ve always looked up to astronauts, even if I consider them to be brave and foolish in equal measure.

They aren’t just tough — they’re smart, and courageous. They further the cause of science and advance the […]

I try not to let alcohol’s dominance of the cultural zeitgeist get to me. I used to drink socially, many moons ago, and I didn’t always abuse it. There are a lot of people out there who can drink without […]

“He would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies.” (Orwell, Animal Farm)
There’s a saying in Brazil — I write this as if I’ve ever bee […]

“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.”
Until you’re ready to make an honest attempt at recovery, Alcoholics Anonymous’ first step seems trivial. I didn’t take it […]

“My stability came out of trying to give, not out of demanding that I receive.” (The Best of Bill, pg. 46)
When we welcome someone new into these rooms, it’s kind of an exciting thing for those of us with some […]

Across the eastern United States, cicadas are beginning to free themselves from their self-induced isolation, bursting from the earth after seventeen years of hibernation. They’ve spent far too long alone, deep […]

Narcissist.

One of the most overused words I hear thrown around today — outshining even “existential” and “praxis”, perhaps. In many cases, though, as it was famously said: “I do not think it means what you […]