The Alcoholic Mind and the Default Position – Sterling H.

About This Speaker Tape

A tall can of Colt 45 on a summer's day in the South Bronx was the first thing that quieted the maelstrom in Sterling H.'s head. He spent years as a 'failed Catholic' and 'practicing Muslim' who could win an argument with a Jehovah's Witness while standing in his underwear with a bottle in his hand. From the Air Force in Japan—where he drove down the middle of the road because he forgot which side was which—to a marriage that ended in a blunt 'nope,' Sterling H. describes a life of being 'educated beyond his intelligence.' He found his footing in Omaha Nebraska after a period of being 'stark raving sober' and desperate

. He navigates the tension of being an 'AA icon' with 30+ years of sobriety while admitting he still defaults to a 'drunk and disorderly' mind if he gets too irritable reminding himself to stay the 'right size' by welcoming the wet drunks who remind him where he came from.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Sterling H. opens with his sobriety date: June 2, 1981.
• 4:15 Laughter: Sterling H. discusses the 'Roman numeral' at the end of his name and his childhood in the South Bronx.
• 8:30 Sterling H. describes the 'maelstrom' in his head and his first drink at 13.
• 14:20 Sterling H. discusses the 'rapacious creditor' of alcoholism and the loss of his mother.
• 18:45 The 'military version' of treatment: Alcohol Education and the 'Jelly Neck Chart' of disease.
• 22:10 Sterling H. describes his first AA meetings in Japan and his suspicion that the group was a cult.
• 26:40 Laughter: The story of making terrible coffee as a form of service work.
• 31:15 Sterling H. discusses the shortage of African-Americans in the early AA literature and his desire to be 'in the middle' of the pictures.
• 35:50 Sterling H. describes the 'stark raving sober' period and finding a sponsor in Omaha, Nebraska.
• timecode Sterling H. reflects on his divorce and the need to stay the 'right size' in the rooms.
• 30:00 Sterling H. discusses the 'four horsemen' of the final stages of alcoholism.
• 34:10 Closing story about the puzzle of the world and putting the man together first.