Nine Areas of Unmanageability From Page 52 and a Fifth Step for the Dark Crannies – Don C.

About This Speaker Tape

Don K., a member of the Mohican Nation, opens this talk with a traditional blessing — laying down the four-color cloths, lighting sage, and placing an eagle feather on the podium so he can't lie. He introduces himself as an alcoholic and frames his story through the lens of his culture, explaining concepts like netashneha (interconnectedness) and the 'earth suit' that every human wears. He then shifts into his experience, strength, and hope, built around the image of a boxing match with alcohol in a crowded arena where his family sat in the front row until they finally left.

He describes getting beaten down round after round, insisting each punch was a lucky one, telling his eight-year-old son 'just one more round' while his wife begged him to walk away. By August 10, 1978, after crawling out of the arena twice and trying his 'real moves,' he conceded to his innermost self that he was an alcoholic. He came back to AA with his family gone, his job gone, thousands in debt, and no resistance left.

His sponsor, Big Frank — a 6'7' Denver attorney with 17 years — put him through the first 164 pages of the Big Book as written instructions, made him answer the 'step before the steps' (willing and wanting), and walked him line-by-line through every step. Don writes about the sexual abuse inventory that broke him open, the Friday he almost drank and grabbed a stranger for a 5th step, and Frank's cake-in-the-oven teaching about steps six and seven.

The last third of the talk is about the four-year cycles of recovery, his return to his culture, and building the Wellbriety Movement and White Bison foundation. He tells how elders reviewed the 12 Steps and placed them in a Medicine Wheel, how they ran the Sacred Hoop 4,294 miles from LA to DC in 109 days, and why — if forced to choose between his tribe and AA — he'd choose the fellowship that told him 'keep coming back' and meant it.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Don K. opens with his Mohican name Tantanka Wombley and lays down the four-color cloths for the four directions
• 3:00 Lights sage and uses an eagle feather fan from the White Buffalo Calf ceremony, leaves the feather on the podium so he can't lie
• 8:00 First AA meeting story: circling the block three times, walking in and seeing all white people, hating the laughter but never forgetting the feeling
• 12:00 The boxing arena parable begins — family in the front row, alcohol landing 'lucky punches,' son delivering his wife's message to leave
• 18:00 August 10, 1978 — crawls out of the arena on his stomach, concedes to his innermost self that he is an alcoholic
• 22:00 Meets Big Frank in Denver — 6'7' attorney, 17 years sober, offers friendship, guidance, and hope with 'you little brown son of a bitch, you can't get 30 days'
• 32:00 Sexual abuse memories surface during inventory — pounds on Frank's door, writes dark cranny pages separately and hides them in his pocket
• 40:00 The cake-in-the-oven parable for steps six and seven: stop peeking, let the Creator bake you
• 48:00 Four-year cycle teaching from Johnny Looking Cloud — every four years the Creator takes your old beliefs and shifts you into a new orbit
• 55:00 Takes the 12 Steps to tribal elders who place them in a Medicine Wheel, builds the Sacred Hoop and runs it 4,294 miles from LA to DC in 109 days for the Wellbriety Movement