BOX4005oo9

NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE GENERAL SERVICE OFFICE OF A.A.

Vol. 22, No. 1

February-March 1977

The A.A. Group Variety and Vitality Worldwide 27th Conference Takes A.A. Group for Theme “The A.A. GroupWhere It Begins” will be the theme of this year’s General Service Conference, April 17-23 in New York, the Conference Agenda Committee has decided. The 27th annual gathering, the first at the Statler-Hilton Hotel, will differ from preceding ones in other ways, too. The opening dinner and A.A. meeting will be held Sunday evening, not Monday, and Conference committees will meet earlier in the week. Elected area delegates from the United States and Canada form the (continued on p. 5)

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? A recent letter from an A.A. group in a Wisconsin prison says they have no A.A. literature and no money. Is that true of any institution group in your community? Apparently, A.A.’s confined in institutions have unending hunger for A.A. reading material, so we are challenged to find ways of filling that need. Does the institutions committee of your local general service committee (or central office) have a literature budget? Do local groups have a special kitty for collecting literature funds for institutionalized alcoholics? What other ways can it be done? What do you and your group do? Please let Box 4-5-9 know.

What do the South Pole, Saudi Arabia, New York’s Grand Central Station, and JFK International Airport all have in common? At all four placesand almost 30,000 othersA.A.’s hold meetings of various styles to share with each other experience, strength, and hope, and carry the message of A.A. to the millions of other alcoholics still suffering out there. About 1,426 new groups, our basic operating units, were started last year. Theyjoin the older groups as the repository of the group conscience for all of us. That’s why the A.A. group will be the primary object of attention at the 27th annual A.A. General Service Conference (U.S./Canada) in New York this April, as noted on this page. Groups have multiplied and evolved in a colorful, almost bewildering variety, as the following letters show.

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“Hi! First meeting of the 1976 season is tonight, but this is not the first A.A. meeting in Antarctica,” writes Max W., McMurdo Naval Station, Ross Island. “We are two Americans and three New Zealanders, and I’m expecting one more American shortly.” From the subtropical Florida Keys, Charles M. writes, “Three years ago six of us started A.A. here. Now attendance is 60 to 80, without winter visitors!” But what do you do when you have to leave the haven of your home group? D. C. writes, “Several years ago I viewed with great hesitation my first sober business trip” (from California to Detroit). So he wrote the Detroit Central Office and received (1) a listing of local A.A. meetings, (2) a map showing routes from his hotel to downtown meetings, and (3) names (continued on p. 5)

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Box 4-5-9 is published bimonthly by the General Service Office ofAlcoholics A nonymous, 468 Park Avenue South, New York, N. Y. 10016.

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Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1977.

Mail address: P.O. Box 459, Grand Central Station, New York, N Y. 10017. Subscriptions: Individual, $1.50 per year; group, $3.50 for each unit of 10 per yr. Check made payable to A.A. W.S., Inc. – should accompany order.

WORD FLAPS Members have questioned from time to time the proper word to use in describing Alcoholics Anonymous. It has been called a “movement,” an “organization” (though it’s not very organized!), an “association.” Bill W. referred to it at various times as a “society,” a “fraternity,” or a “fellowship” and the last term seems to have stuck, perhaps because it is the word used in the Preamble. Some members refer to A.A. or to their particular group semijokingly as “the club.” The problem with this term is that it leads to confusion with a separate entity, a clubroom forA.A. members, which serves quite a different function. Also, the term “club” may leave the wrong impression with the newcomer.

BIGGEST CROWD YET! G.S.O.’s annual open house for all A.A.’s in the Northeast Region, on Nov. 16, was attended by the biggest crowd ever over 500! Members also came from Canada and at least 11 statesas far away as Texas, Michigan, and Virginiato tour the office and meet the staff. The General Service Committee for Southeastern New York helped by hosting a luncheon, a sharing session, and a Traditions play. Watch the calendar for this year’s date, and maybe we’ll have the pleasure of your company next time!

WHO NEEDS OLDTIMERS? Are so-called oldtimers a blessing or a problem in your group? “An oldtimer,” one frustrated group member exclaimed, “is someone who will travel 100 miles to speak at a big anniversary, but won’t walk across the street to help a newcomer or make coffee!” Is this true of any oldtimers you know? Be careful. If you stay sober and don’t die prematurely, you, too, will become an oldtimer. Will that description then fit you? As more and more of us stay sober, the number of oldtirners is rapidly growing. In many groups, they are a help, not a hindrance, as Jerry F. (Conference delegate from Mid-S. Calif.) wrote us. Another middle-timer put it this way: “Newcomers may be the lifeblood of A.A., but if we had nothing but newcomers, what a sloppy mess we’d all be slipping around in! Oldtimers furnish the backbone and skin to hold us together. If they didn’t stay around and share their experience, where would we all be?” Problems with older members often stem from their acting like authorities, impatiently criticizing new members’ ’’mistakes,” and being intolerant of any change. The custom of rotating jobs in A.A. helps keep oldtimers from beginning to feel they own some particular A.A. position. It also insures that chances for service in A.A. get shared among many of us, not just a self-selected few. Rotation is called “a real step forward in growth a step into the humility which is . . . the spiritual essence of anonymity.” That’s from our pamphlet “The A.A. Group” (p. 19). A good look at it might help us all benefit from oldtirners’ experience without encouraging them to turn into bleeding (or is it bleating?) deacons. At the 1977 G.S. Conference, there will be a discussion on rotation. One Australian member, sober more than 25 years, has suggested that his group hold an oldtimers’

meeting every three months. In one Canadian province, members sober over ten years meet regularly for Sunday breakfast (newer members are never turned away). Other suggestions?

CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUTSIDE ORGANIZATIONS? Should an A.A. group give any financial support to a detox or rehab center, to a halfway house or, for that matter, to a club, a church, or a chamber of cornmerce? This is an inquiry we keep getting. The answer, according to Tradition Six, based on lots of bitter, heartbreaking experience, is plainly “No.” You can read for yourself why in the pamphlets “Twelve Traditions Illustrated” and “A.A. Tradition – How It Developed” and beginning on p. 159 in “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.” No matter how wonderful such outside enterprises are, they should not be confused with A.A. – a program of recovery. So our Fellowship neither endorses nor opposes such activities. We are not affiliated with them and should never give the impression we are. That’s why we pay our own rent and other expenses, and do not contribute to others.

NEW FACES AROUND GV AND G.S.O. The Grapevine Corporate Board has three new members never mentioned before in Box 4-5-9. They are Don D., Kitty K. (the GV’s circulation manager), and Fred S., all of New York. Frank M. is the new administrative assistant on the G.S.O. staff. He joined A.A. in Manhattan some years ago, now attends the Kips Bay Group in New York and the Southern Berkshire in Great Barrington, Mass. Welcome aboard, folks!

G.S.R. Corner

Trustee Corner

ARE THESE REASONS – OR EXCUSES?

AN APPRECIATION OF DR. JACK

“Does your group have a G.S.R.?” asked Jerry F., Mid-Southern California delegate, from Huntington Beach, in a recent message to groups. He continued: “Some answers I have heard are: ’No, our group doesn’t have one, nor do we want one’; ’We can’t get anyone to do it; besides, there is just too much politics’; ’I don’t want to hear about service. I did it a long time ago and couldn’t under stand any of it’; ’I have to spend more time with my kids (or wife)’; ’Maybe George will do it. He’s sober a couple of weeks and is really grateful.’ Jerry wrote: “Please read ’A.A. Comes of Age,’ specifically pages 209-219, and relive that experience. If those nine pages don’t change some of those answers, I’ll stand on my head till my nose turns red.” He concluded with a quotation used in the Big Book: “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”

Too many A.A.’s have not had the privilege of friendship with the nonalcoholic members of our General Service Board, so 1 this is the first of a series of sketches of these distinguished friends of our fellowship. They have been invaluable to A.A. since the original establishment of the Alcoholic Foundation (now the General Service Board) in 1938. Serving without pay, they give long hours to A.A. business and try to practice A.A. principles in their own lives. In our four-decade history, we’ve had very few board chairmen. Filling that post since 1961 is John L. (“Dr. Jack”) Norris, M.D., who was associate medical director of Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N.Y., from 1937 until his retirement in 1969. Dr. Jack has said he will relinquish the board chairmanship in 1978, but will continue to serve on the board (continued on next page)

WHEN TO START A NEW INTERGROUP “I have talked with other members about the need for another central office, more centrally located in order that all groups can be better represented,” writes Larry B. from the West Coast. “if an area is too large for one C.O. to represent all its area, Should another be started? How do you recognize the need? “Ours is a rural area about 35 miles from our C.O. For the office to be listed in the telephone directories for the territory it covers, it would mean five ads in five different directories. Is it the responsibility of the groups to split the cost? Is it wise for an individual member to run such an ad, with a personal home-phone number?” Throughout the A.A. world, these questions have arisen for years, and each area has worked out its own answers. For example, last year we ran in Box 4-5-9 a series of articles on how one big CO. got started, then branched out. We also have free Guidelines on Central or intergroup Offices. But if anyone has specific experience along these lines to share with Larry, we’ll gladly forward your letters to him.

Central Office Corner

CAN ANY ASSEMBLY BEAT THIS? In 1974, when Washington G.S.R.’s met for their annual election assembly, 258 voting members turned up. But in 1976, 270 (out of a possible 357) voted – which is 75%, Natalie S., Panel 25 delegate, writes. “We are very grateful for the service structure we have inherited,” she adds. . John G., Milwaukee, Southern Wisconsin’s new delegate, has sent us a very warm get-acquainted letter. John found A.A. in a halfway house in 1968 and began his A.A. service career as secretary six months later. His area has subdivided into 17 districts instead of eight; uses “The A.A. Service Manual” as a guide in all Third Legacy matters. He likes the Big Book brand of A.A., and institutions work. John never misses a chance to meet with present (and past) delegates and trustees, pointing out that Virginia H. and Jack M. have been particular inspirations to him. Thanks for your sharing, John. We look forward to seeing you in April.

Delegate Corner

DR. JACK (continued) for another year or two. Born in Dorchester, Mass., Sept. 24, 1903, Dr. Jack was graduated from Dartmouth College and Medical School before getting his M.D. degree from McGill University, Montreal, in 193 1. He did residency at Genesee Hospital, Rochester. Later, he was on its staff and the faculty of the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and acted as consultant on alcoholism at Rochester State Hospital, where an alcoholism treatment unit is now named for him. He has been president of the American Academy of Occupational Medicine, the Industrial Medical Association, and the New York State Academy of Preventive Medicine. He is also a member of the American Medical Society on Alcoholism. He is the author of many professional papers and articles on alcoholism and on occupational medicine, and has received many awards and citations. He has traveled around the world visiting A.A. groups and offices and delivering talks on alcoholism and on A.A. He was appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to head the first New York State Advisory Council on Alcoholism. Dr. Jack has three sons, Robert, David, and Richard, born to him and Beatrice McIntire Norris, who died in 1971. In 1972, he married Eleanor McKay, and they now live in the New England village where Dr. Jack first entered the private practice of medicine. ARE GROUPS TAX-EXEMPT? Periodically, we are asked whether G.S.O. can get a blanket tax-exempt status for all A.A. groups, offices, conferences, conventions, etc. The U.S. Internal Revenue Code contains no provision under which the G.S. Board could apply for

blanket exemption for all A.A. entities, because the board has no control over their funds and could make no statement as to the purpose for which they might be expended. Since each A.A. group, office, committee, etc. is completely autonomous, it is necessary that application be made to its own local I.R.S. office for such exemption. Ask any A.A. member who is a lawyer or tax accountant to help with the red tape. Happy tax season, everybody!

WHERE DID

COME FROM? Almost nothing in A.A. is, praise be, “official.” Yet A.A. did accept the triangle-in-the-circle as the A.A. symbol at the 1955 Convention in St. Louis, and this logo is now our legally registered trademark, appearing on Conferenceapproved literature. What does it mean? William H., Ronkonkoma, N.Y., recently asked about it, and our nonalcoholic archivist, Nell Wing, dug up the answer. The base of the triangle represents the First Legacy passed on to the rest of us by A.A.’s foundersRecovery (the Steps); the left arm stands for Unity (the Traditions), our Second Legacy; and the right arm signifies our Third Legacy, Service. (A fascinating explanation of this appeared in the Sept. 1959 Grapevine.) Both the triangle and the circle are among the earliest spiritual signs known to man. Both are expressions of the eternal. Being without beginning or end, the circle is a symbol for God or eternal life. To ancient Egyptians, the triangle was a sign of creative intellect, and to the Greeks, it meant wisdom. In general, it represents an upward yearning after higher knowledge. Bill W. wrote to a Finnish mem-

ber in 1954 that “a student of such things told me in ancient times the triangle in the circle was used by sorcerers to ward off evil spirits. For us, this could be alcoholism!” (There’s more on p. 139 of “A.A. Comes of Age.”)

TWELFTH CONCEPT: GOOD GROUP GUIDE “Where has this been all along? Our hometown group can make good use of this, and I’ll bet other groups would, too!” That member was talking about Concept Twelve, which is Article Twelve in the Charter of the General Service Conference. Although it mentions specifically only the Conference, obviously its ideas can be applied by any A.A. individuals who get together for any A.A. purpose. It says: “(1) In all its proceedings, the General Service Conference shall observe the spirit of the A.A. Tradition, taking great care that the Conference never becomes the seat of perilous wealth or power; (2) that sufficient operating funds, plus an ample reserve, be its prudent financial principle; (3) that none of the Conference members shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified authority over any of the others, (4) that all important decisions be reached by discussion, vote, and, whenever possible, by substantial unanimity; (5) that no Conference action ever be personally punitive or an incitement to public controversy; (6) that, though the Conference may act for the service of Alcoholics Anonymous, it shall never perform any acts of government; and that, like the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous which it serves, the Conference itself will always remain democratic in thought and action.” Don’t you agree that is a good description of the spirit of any good A.A. group, committee, or intergroup?

MacCORMICK RETIRES One of our most cherished and valuable nonalcoholic trustees, Austin H. MacCormick, retired from our General Service Board after its November 1976 meeting. He has become officially a “trustee emeritus.” More important, he will remain a vibrant, active friend to all A.A.’s. Austin has had a distinguished career as a criminologist, and has been active in behalf of our Fellowship for 36 years. His interest in alcoholism arose during World War I. As a corrections official for the U.S. Navy, he was puzzled when sailors got drunk to the point of sickness, recovered with great suffering, then did it all over again. As New York City commissioner of corrections under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, he persuaded City Hall to start the city’s first rehabilitation center for alcoholics. After hearing Bill W. speak at a luncheon in 1940, he immediately began to study A.A. and to refer alcoholics to it. Austin joined our board in 1949, but resigned when he left New York to become professor of criminology at the University of California in 1951. In 1961,he was welcomed back to the board when he returned to New York to assume the directorship of the Osborne Association, one of the country’s oldest, most prestigious penal reform societies. He is now its president, and serves as consultant on

correctional problems to the U.S. and many state governments. His fame and reputation for integrity are international. But you’d never guess any of that upon meeting Austin. He is a warm, unpretentious man with gigantic courage he has never hesitated to use in A.A’s behalf. He can spellbind anyone with amusing stories, as most Conference delegates remember. Austin has made outstanding contributions to the trustees’ Nominating and Literature Committees and to the Grapevine’s Corporate and Editorial Boards. He has chaired the trustees’ Institutions Committee since its inception. We would print here a farewell and thanks if we suspected for a second that Austin would absent himself from us. Happily, we think there is not a chance. He is as hooked on A.A. as we are on him, and ours is a happy and benign addiction we refuse to give up. We intend to count on the friendship of the “secret nondrinker” for many, many years. Trustee emeritus? “Trustee everlastingly meritorious” is more accurate. ANONYMITY AND RESPONSIBILITY “I used to think of responsibility as that of a home, job, etc.” writes Liz 3., Auckland, in Mainstay, monthly A.A. magazine in New Zealand. “But the concept has changed now – almost bewildering in its vastness. “How I use the Steps affects only me; but if I violate the Traditions or any part of them, I affect A.A. as a whole. “I have responsibility in anonymity. Only because my original sponsor told a friend how she found sobriety did I find mine. I must take all opportunities presented for ’the hand of A.A. always to be there,’ so that I learn to attract by example, not by promoting.” Liz has similar good thoughts

on sponsoring and on unity. “I am responsible to the Fellowship for keeping the Traditions,” she declares. 27TH CONFERENCE (continued from p. 1) majority of Conference members. They are joined by members of the General Service, A.A. World Service, and Grapevine boards, and the G.S.O. and Grapevine staffs. The A.A. principle of rotation, the Grapevine, cooperation and communication among all service levels, role of the regional trustee, and the Conference Charter and Warranties will be subjects of presentations. Also scheduled are trustee elections (East Central and Southeast U.S. and general service trusteeU.S.), reports on the World Service Meeting, A.A. directories, and the possibility of relocation of G.S.O.; plus discussions, workshops, or sharing sessions on Box 4-5-9, whether groups should sell nonConference-approved literature, how the group conscience operates, and the A.A. group. G.S.R.’s have been asked to go over these matters with their groups and in assemblies, and to inform delegates of local feelings so delegates will represent informed group consciences at the Conference. THE A.A. GROUP (continued from p. 1) and telephone numbers. And then (4) an A.A. met his plane! D. C. has been welcomed at meetings in Tokyo, Mexico City, London, and Athens, and by A.A.’s in Kao-hsiung (Taiwan), Manama (Bahrain), San Na’narit (Thailand), Khartoum (Sudan), and Qurnet Chewab (Lebanon). “Meetings ranged from a chat with a Loner on a dhow from Chittagong, to full-fledged sessions complete with steering committees (continued on p. 6)

THE A.A. GROUP (continued from p. 5) and bleeding deacons (or bleeding imams, abbas, or effendis)! “Petitions to Allah to grant serenity and decisions to turn life and will over to the care of Buddha sound strange at first, and ’coffee breaks’ may be for glasses of icecold yogurt, or tiny cups of cardamom coffee. “To close a meeting with an Arab friend, hands joined, facing Mecca, while he prays in Aramaic, the ancient language Christ spoke, emphasizes the common bond each of us has with our own Higher Power. This is, after all, the fellowship of one drunk sharing with another,” D. C. points out.

Recently, he boarded an Asian airliner in Bangkok for a long night flight across Burma, India, and Afghanistan, to Teheran. “A Chinese stewardess woke me for breakfast, with a smile and hot towels, then handed me a note. It said: ’Hi. Saw you in Singapore at the meeting last week. Come on up to the cockpit. I’ve got American coffee.’ It was signed by the captain. I’m not alone any more.” Halfway around the world, hurrying commuters jam New York’s Grand Central Station during the evening rush hour. But every Wednesday at 5:15, there’s an oasis of serenity tucked away in a quiet room for A.A.’s en route to suburban trains. The same is true each Sunday morning at the city’s JFK International Airport, where a syna-

gogue plays landlord to three groups. From Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Joe P. writes that total prohibition and abstinence are the law in the Muslim religion. But alcoholics can get drunk even when in solitary confinement, of course. In Arabic, native moonshine is called sadiygiy, which means “my friend.” Not for A.A.’s, however. “A bunch of nice people and a few old soreheads are meeting in the Oasis Group,” Joe says. The members are natives of Scotland, India, the Netherlands, England, and the U.S. Drinking alcoholics try to hide their condition, naturally, but, according to Joe, “Absence from work, the shakes, puffed faces, red eyes, and good Al-Anons often lead us to them.” Meanwhile, in a still-struggling group at Vineland, Minn., on the Indian reservation, Jesse K. has been proudly displaying for admiration the group’s first A.A. books. “It was as though someone had sent thern a wonderful, golden gift of life,” Carol N. writes. And Betty B., San Diego, writes of the pride two groups there have in being able to up their donations to the local central office and G.S.O. Little globe banks did it, she says. Across the U.S., the Gramercy Group, New York, just celebrated its 20th anniversary by publishing a charming, witty group history,

by Cynthia C. And in Willowdale, Ont., Bob V., 17 years old and sober two years, is asking about starting a young people’s meeting in Toronto, while from Sarasota, Fla., Tim L. sends us two pages of notes on the group inventory taken by the Midtown Group (using suggestions in the pamphlet “The A.A. Group”). (Incidentally, we haven’t heard in a long time about business meetings of the type most groups used to have years ago. Do groups still have these separate sessions for discussing mechanical arrangements, refreshments, how group funds are spent, and news from intergroups and G.S.R.’s?) Internationalist George H., aboard the S.S. American Accord, writes about the great feeling of fellowship at a Rotterdam meeting where only Dutch was spoken. Thomas M. attended meetings in Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro, but says, “I understood every wordit was the language of the heart.” Yes, groups have adapted and transformed their appearance and other externals in a myriad of modern group styles. Their basic operations, however, remain today much the same as they were nearly 40 years ago in Akron and Brooklyn. Groups have simply found, by the grace of God, more and more ways of carrying the message to today’s generation of alcoholics.

THE BULLETIN BOARD February-March 1977 ITEMS AND IDEAS ON AREA A.A. GATHERINGS – VIA G.S.O.

A.A. CALENDAR OF EVENTS JANUARY 28-29 – Blytheville, Arkansas. 20th Annual Tri-State Coon Supper. Write: Chin., P.O. Box 401, Blytheville, AR 72315 29-30 – Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. 26th Annual A.A. Rally. Write: Rally Chm., P.O. Box 71,Victoria, B.C., Canada 29-30 – Kindersley, Saskatchewan, Canada. Sixth Annual First-of-the-Year Roundup. Write: Chin., P.O. Box 1598, Kindersley, Sask., Canada SQl 150 29 – Manchester, New Hampshire. N.H. Area Assembly 10th Annual Midwinter Banq. Write: Function Comm., P.O. Box 500, Derry, NH 03038 29 – West Palm Beach, Florida. Pains Beach Co. 18th Annual Intergroup Banq. Write: Intergroup Banq., Palm Beach Co. Intergroup Assoc. of A.A., 301 Broadway, Riviera Beach, FL 33404 FEBRUARY Hamilton, Bermuda. First Annual Bermuda A.A. Regional Cony. Write: Cony. Chm., P.O. Box 178, Warwick 7, Bermuda 4-6 – North Hollywood, California. Second Annual San Fernando Valley Cony. Write: Cony. Chin., P.O. Box 8474, Van Nuys, CA 91409 4-6 – Beaumont, Texas. 15th Annual S.E. Tex. Conf. Write: Conf. Secty., 5324 W. Groves Circle Dr., Groves, TX 77619 11-13 – Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. Rally. Write: Rally Chin., Box 15, Nanaimo, B.C., Canada 11-13 – Greeley, Colorado. Greeley Stampede. Write: Chm., P.O. Box 209, Greeley, CO 80631 11-13 – Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand Nat. Cony. Write: Cony. Seely., P.O. Box 37338, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand 11-13 – North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Fifth Annual North Shore Roundup. Write: Ticket Chin., 3088 Duchess Ave., North Vancouver, B.C., Canada V7K 1Y9 11-13 – Toledo, 0/no. Fourth E. Cent. Conf. Write: Host Comm., 1711 Navarre Avenue, Toledo, OH 43605 18-20 – Bellevue, Washington. Third Annual Conf. Write: Chin., A.A. Winter Holiday, P.O. Box 937, Mercer Island, WA 98040 18-20 – El Paso, Texas. 15th Annual Jamboree. Write: Jamboree Seely., P.O. Box 1405, El Paso, TX 79948 18-20 – Lexington, Kentucky. State Conf. Write: Host Comm., P.O. Box 23, Barr St. Sta., Lexington, KY 40501 19 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia Intergroup’s 37th Anniy. Dinner & Dance. Write: Intergroup Off., 2202 St. James St., Philadelphia, PA 19103 4-6

25-27 – Virginia Beach, Virginia. First Annual Virginia Beach Oceanfront Conf.Write: Chin., P.O. Box 7201, Midtown, Portsmouth, VA 23707 25-27 – Apache, Oklahoma. Eighth Annual Apache Conf. Write: Conf. Secty., P.O. Box 708, Apache, OK 73006 25-27 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, canada. Annual Intergroup Roundup. Write: Conf. Chm., #3-3030 Arlington Ave., Saskatoon, Sask., Canada 25-27 – Chicago, Illinois. 13th Annual National A.A. Women’s Conf. Write: Conf. Chin., 1414 E. Nottingham Lane, Mundelein, IL 60060 25-27 – Indianapolis, Indiana. 24th Ind. State Cony. Write: Cony. Chin., P.O. Box 502, Greensburg, IN 47240 MARCH 4-6 – Sioux Falls, South Dakota. W. Cent. Region Conf. Write: Chin., Apt. 14, 500 31st St., Des Moines, IA 50312 4-6 – Seattle, Washington. Pacific Regional Serv. Assembly. Write, P.R.S.A., P.O. Box 6038, Bellevue, WA 98007 5-6 – Ketchikan, Alaska. Annual S.E. Aisk. Conf. Write: Cent. Chin., P.O. Box 6062, Ketchikan, AK 99901 11-13 – Stockton, California. 30th Annual Spring Conf. Write: Conf. Chin., 166 Geary St., Rm. 804, San Francisco, CA 94108 11-13 corpus Christi, Texas. 23rd Coastal Bend Jamboree. Write: Jamboree Comm., P.O. Box 3201, Corpus Christi, TX 78404 11-13 – Springfield, Massachusetts. N.E. A.A. Regional Forum. Write: Box 459, Grand Central Sta., New York, NY 10017 11-13 Jersey, Channel Islands. Cony. Hotel de France, St. Saviour’s Road, Jersey, Channel Islands, United Kingdom 11-13 Toronto, Ontario, canada. 27th Annual Ont. Regional Conf. Write: Chin., Conf. Comm., do A.A., 272 Eglinton Ave. W., Toronto, Ont., Canada M4R 1132 11-13 – New Canaan, Connecticut. Second Annual Spring S. New England Conf. Write: Chin., S.W.C.S.C., P.O. Box 2084, Norwalk, CT 06840 25-27 – New Orleans, Louisiana. 34th Anniv. New Orleans A.A. & Big Deep South 10th Annual Cony. Write: Spec. Activ. Comm., 535 Gravier Bldg., Rin. 707, New Orleans, LA 70130 25-27 – Atlantic City, New Jersey. S. N.J. Gen. Assembly Cony. Write: Secty., Gen. Serv. Assembly, 505C Kings Highway Towers, Maple Shade, NJ 08052 27 – Hyannis, Massachusetts. Second Annual Roundup. Write: Cape Cod Roundup, P.O. Box 553, South Yarmouth, MA 02664 –

CLOSED MEETING TOPICS FROM THE GRAPEVINE February: Three articles (“Ho Hum, It’s Wonderful,” “Now I Want What I Get,” “Those Material Blessings”) can set off a lively discussion of gratitude; “Cop-Out” suggests a search for other A.A. ways to deal with the common feeling of being unloved and unlovable; “Humility” may be an aid in exploring the changed sense of values that can come with sobriety and a good sponsor’s help. March: Further sharing of views on sponsorship may be inspired by the contrasting approaches described in “Around-the-Clock A.A.” and “Feet of Clay”; a Third Step session (ever-fruitful) can be based on “My Will and Alcohol” and “Turning It Over”; after reading “Personal Responsibility,” discussion of Tradition Nine may take on deeper meaning for each of us in relation to our group and A.A. as a whole. MAKING JUDGES FRIENDS OF A.A. “Dear Grapevine,” wrote Willard W., Montclair, Calif., to A.A.’s monthly magazine. “A bunch of us want to show thanks to some judges that sent us to A.A. and saved our lives.” So Willard and buddies ordered Grapevine subscriptions for four judges, each to include a card saying only, “Thanks from some alcoholics you sent to A.A. We owe our lives to you and A.A.” We’re enclosing the revised G.S.O. pamphlet. It’s free, up to 100 copies.