The Consistency of Being a Positive Example – Sharon B.

About This Speaker Tape

July 27, 1975, in the Palm Springs desert. Sharon B. is bleeding from a broken jaw and a shattered nose, rolled off the road by people who dragged her across the cement. She is a "bloated mess" who has become unemployable, waiting to die at twenty-five. Before the wreckage, she was a runner—a "backpack on my back and see ya" type who chased truth through art schools, New York ad agencies, and a stint as the town drunk near Aspen. She recalls the grit of the 60s: the "just say thanks" generation, the "call of the wild," and the chaos of a life where she once got so smashed with a priest that her father stood aghast in the background.

Now, she is a paradox of consistency. The woman who once "thumbed her nose" at everything now finds security in being a "drop in the bucket" at her Wednesday night meeting. She trades the "truck driver mouth" and the knife fights of New Orleans for a life of service, buying ride tickets for kids at carnivals to clean a slate stained by years of taking. ...

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Timestamps

• 0:00 Sharon B. opens with a lighthearted take on her 'woman on the move' energy and her sobriety date: August 20, 1975.
• 5:45 Laughter: Discussion of her competitive relationship with her Mensa sister and the plane at LAX.
• 12:15 The 'call of the wild' and her experiences in the 1960s counter-culture and protest marches.
• 16:30 The story of her ride to California with Bob D.
• 21:00 The emotional wreckage and verbal fighting with her father in Iowa.
• 26:45 The 'organic' commune experience and the struggle with 'thirst' despite the availability of pot.
• 32:15 Details of her felony arrest in Bogalusa, Louisiana, and the pet skunk.
• 38:00 The 'Three Musketeers' drinking days in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
• 44:15 The brutal assault in Palm Springs and the voice that told her she was responsible for her own condition.
• 50:00 Her first meeting at the Pacific Group and the '20 questions' test.
• 56:30 Step work: The process of making financial and emotional amends to her father.
• 62:00 Reflections on the 'hallways of growth' and the joy of being a giver rather than a taker.