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BETTY SANCHEZ - PHOENIX, AZ 10-25-87
Betty, from Mesa, Arizona recorded this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at the Indian Alcothon in Phoenix, Arizona on October 25th, 1987. Betty begins her talk by reading an inspirational prayer about honesty. Betty was raised by two alcoholic parents and had her first taste of alcohol when only two years of age. She married an alcoholic. Betty was on the verge of suicide when she ended up in Alcoholics Anonymous. Her story of recovery is very inspiring.
Contents – 16 Tracks
Length – 78 Minutes
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BILL TOBICOE - RICHMOND HEIGHTS, OH 3-25-90
Bill, a Native American Indian from Buffalo, New York recorded this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at the Freeway Breakfast Group in Richmond Heights, Ohio on March 25th, 1990. His sobriety date is April 9th, 1961. Bill tells several humorous drinking stories about being arrested, being attacked by police dogs, etc. He talks very emotionally about the fear he had when he had to first speak at an AA meeting and the extreme joy and serenity he felt afterward. Bill and his wife got sober at the exact same time and life was good for them for nine years until she died unexpectedly. He then used the principles of the AA program to get him through his grieving period. Now Bill believes very strongly in people enjoying life in the AA program.
Contents – 10 Tracks
Length – 49 Minutes
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CHIEF BLAWK HAWK - NEWBURY, OH 1985
Chief Black Hawk, from Royal Oak, Michigan recorded this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at the Punderson Conference in Newbury, Ohio in 1985. We don't have a description of the contents of this CD because we have not personally listened to it yet. Please let us know if you have any comments or questions after listening to it.
Contents - 14 Tracks
Length - 68 Minutes
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CHIEF HENDRICKS - SAN DIEGO, CA 9-28-86
Chief Hendricks is a Cherokee Indian from the “Holy land of Oklahoma.” He tells the crowd that he used to drink tons of wine before eventually getting sober in 1960. It wasn’t until after he sobered up that he realized that he had been angry and hateful for most of his life. At one point, the Chief made his way to California. He tells a very funny story about trying to shock himself into sobriety by sticking his finger inside an empty light bulb socket. Near the end of his talk, he very sincerely says, “No one would have believed it 25 years ago that I would someday travel this great distance and be speaking to a bunch of alcoholics, but now this has become part of my life.”
Contents – 11 Tracks
Length – 53 Minutes
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DEBBY V - IGNACIO, CO 8-6-94
Native American Debby V from Fort Defiance, Arizona delivered this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at The 1994 Indians in Sobriety Campout in Ignacio, Colorado on August 6th, 1994. On this recording, Debby shares her story of drinking and eventual recovery.
Contents – 8 Tracks
Length – 39 Minutes
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DON COYHIS - DAYTON, OH 2001
This talk was recorded at the Miami Valley Winter Conference in Dayton, Ohio. Don, from Colorado Springs, Colorado begins his talk by stating that he was born into the Turtle Clan on his mother’s side, he was born into the Coyote Clan on his father’s side, and that he is a member of the Mohican Nation. Don tells an excellent story about his alcoholism but he uses an analogy about the battle taking place in a boxing ring. He also tells about attending his first AA meeting. When he finally got up enough nerve top enter the building, he was very disappointed to find all white people at the meeting. Don goes on to tell a great story of recovery and at the end he says, “You are my tribe now. You told me to keep coming back no matter what.”
Contents – 14 Tracks
Length – 70 Minutes
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DON COYHIS - LAUGHLIN, NV 1-19-02
Don, from Colorado Springs, Colorado recorded this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at the River Roundup in Laughlin, Nevada on January 19th, 2002. His date of sobriety is August 10th, 1978. Don goes through a Native American ritual before beginning his talk. He tells about alcohol taking his family and his job. He tells of the difficulty he had attending his first AA meeting because he was very prejudiced against the white man and wanted no part of his program. He goes into quite a bit of detail explaining how his sponsor took him through the Big Book, particularly the taking of his inventory. Don tells how he took the AA program back into the Native American culture to help his own people. At the end of this talk, Don says that when he was at his lowest point, AA took him in when his own people rejected him.
Contents - 14 Tracks
Length - 70 Minutes
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ELEANOR GILBERT - PHOENIX, AZ 10-24-87
Native American Eleanor Gilbert delivered this Alcoholics Anonymous talk in Phoenix, Arizona on August 24th, 1987. On this recording, Ellie shares her story of what it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now.
Contents – 10 Tracks
Length – 47 Minutes
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EMMIT WHITE - PHOENIX, AZ 10-24-87
Emmit recorded this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at the Indian Alcothon in Phoenix, Arizona on October 24th, 1987. Emmit says that his parents drank only on rare occasions. He thought the marines would correct his drinking problems but after joining, his drinking got even worse. After many years of progressive drinking, and hitting bottom after bottom, Emmit distinctively remembers compulsively crying out, “God, Please Help Me!” On July 10th, 1973, Emmit entered the AA fellowship and never had another drop of alcohol. This is a great story. He finalizes his talk by saying, “I thank you all for listening to me, because you made my day,….again!!”
Contents – 11 Tracks
Length – 54 Minutes
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FLO A - ALBUQUERQUE, NM 4-3-94
Native American Flo A from Pena Blanca, New Mexico delivered this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at The First New Mexico Indian AA Convention in Albuquerque, NM on April 3rd, 1994. On this recording, Flo shares her story of drinking and eventual recovery.
Contents – 11 Tracks
Length – 56 Minutes
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GEORGE W ROBERTSON - PHOENIX, AZ 10-29-83
George, from Sells, Arizona recorded this AA talk at the Phoenix, Arizona Indian Alcothon in October of 1983. He begins his talk by stating that he just recently lost all of his teeth. He had consumed so much wine over the years that it had eaten into his teeth. George was born into a drinking family on a reservation in South Dakota. He grew up in a time that alcohol was not sold to Indians, “Because when we drank we would go crazy.” George lived in flop houses, in alleys, and under cardboard “houses.” In AA, George says he has learned many things, to keep it simple and to progress and grow. George finishes his talk by saying, “God loves you, AA loves you, and so do I.” A very inspiring man.
Contents – 11 Tracks
Length – 53 Minutes
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JIM HENSON - CHEROKEE, NC 11-13-94
Jim Henson a full-blooded Cherokee Indian from Sallisaw, Oklahoma, recorded this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at the First North Carolina Native American Convention in Cherokee, North Carolina on November 13th, 1994. Jim’s got a lot of credentials. He’s an AA counselor, a spiritual advisor, and an AA member for 23 years. Near the beginning of this talk, Jim honors, “Creator” with an Indian song and a prayer and this continues to be an extremely spiritual talk. Jim was introduced to alcohol at age three when his grandfather while babysitting him would spike his Kool-Aid with whiskey. Jim sobered up at age 26. He speaks about the seven clans of the Cherokee Indian tribe. Jim has a very spiritual message and at the end of this talk he says, “I am so glad that we see each other again. Until that time, may the Creator abide with you. Thank you.”
Contents – 15 Tracks
Length – 70 Minutes
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JOHN VICAIRE - PHOENIX, AZ 10-19-84
John Vicaire from Berlin, Massachusetts, had his first experience with Alcoholics Anonymous in Syracuse, NY. He got sober in 1957. John was raised in a small Indian reservation in Quebec, Canada. John had a very rough life; practically his entire family was wiped out by tuberculosis. John’s got a great message and has a very sincere way of telling it.
Contents – 16 Tracks
Length – 76 Minutes
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LIZ TIEDECKI - LAS VEGAS, NV 10-9-92
Native American Liz Tiedecki is from Hoopa, California. In this AA talk she says she was a real trouble maker as a child and that her second home was juvenile hall. After high school she lived out on the street. After years of drinking, two women from AA came to call on her and she mistook them for Jehovah’s Witness people and slammed the door on them. Liz talks about her very first AA meeting and how emotional it was for her. She felt that she was being held captive at the meeting by two women and began to cry. She also cried and drank when she got back home. Liz says she drank heavily all through her first pregnancy but luckily her son was born with no problems. Her husband, finally fed up with her drinking, physically threw her out of the car in a treatment center parking lot. Liz tells some funny stories about the treatment center itself. After she got clean and sober, Liz became an alcoholism counselor and now works a lot with children in the prevention of alcoholism.
Contents – 12 Tracks
Length – 59 Minutes
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MARILYN STEEL BURKE - OVERLAND PARK, KS
Marilyn Steel-Burke is a Chickasaw Indian from Shawnee, Oklahoma. She is a very dynamic speaker that uses a lot of humor in this AA talk. Marilyn is so short that she needs to stand on an old Coke case to be able to see over the podium, but she’s really quite a firecracker and has one hell of a story. She claims she submitted her story to, “As the World Turns” but they rejected it because it was too unbelievable. Marilyn shares a lot of background information about her Indian heritage and her belief in the genetic connection to alcoholism. She says that alcoholics aren’t always the last to know that they’ve got a problem, but they’re usually the last to admit it. “When I died all I could die, when I hurt all I could hurt, and when I cried all I could cry, then I had hit bottom.” Some of her words of wisdom include: “Learning how to live as a human being is an exciting experience and I highly recommend it.” And “Repetition strengthens and confirms.” At the end of her talk she tells the crowd that she hopes they are not having a bad day but even if they are, they sure have made hers!!
Contents – 15 Tracks
Length – 70 Minutes
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NAT HENDRICKS - IGNACIO, CO 8-5-94
Native American Nat Hendricks from Cottonwood, Arizona delivered this Alcoholics Anonymous talk in 1994 at the Indians in Sobriety Campout. Nat is a Cherokee Indian originally from the “Holy Land” of Oklahoma. He’s got a great story and he shares it thoroughly on this recording.
Contents – 13 Tracks
Length – 65 Minutes
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OPIE MERRITT - BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA 4-21-91
Opie Merritt, a member of the Chu-Chua Reservation was sober for 7 ½ years at the time he delivered this Alcoholics Anonymous talk. Like many long time drinkers, alcohol eventually took its toll on Opie’s life and family. At one time his drinking got so bad he told his wife that if she ever left him, he would kill the entire family. After attaining some sobriety, Opie was able to also use the basics of the AA program and successfully apply them to his nicotine addition and was 11 years smoke-free at the time of this talk. Opie says that he must constantly remember that his, “Sobriety today is totally contingent on his relationship with God.”
Contents – 10 Tracks
Length – 47 Minutes
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PAT S - IGNACIO, CO 8-5-94
Native American Pat S from Durango, Colorado delivered this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at the Indians in Sobriety Campout in Ignacio, Colorado on August 5th, 1994. On this recording, Pat shares his story of drinking and his experience, strength and hope.
Contents – 7 Tracks
Length – 33 Minutes
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PAUL EDDY - TENNESSEE MAY 1986
Paul recorded this AA talk at the Tennessee State Convention in 1986. Paul is from Decatur, Georgia. The first time he got drunk was at the age of twelve. There was an occasion during the time that Paul was in the Navy that he returned very drunk to his ship. He woke up the next morning with blood all over himself and had no idea what had happened. He found out later that he had tried to kill one of his shipmates. Paul still has many scars on his body and has no idea how they got there. He often woke up with broken bones as well. He never felt a part of anything in his life, even in early sobriety. It took him two years after getting sober to feel comfortable at an AA meeting. It was just a matter of him searching for the right group of people. Toward the end of his talk, Paul recites a very sincere Indian prayer that ends with the line, “Thank you for my life.”
Contents – 13 Tracks
Length – 63 Minutes
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RICK THOMAS - PHOENIX, AZ 10-25-86
This recording was made at the Phoenix, Arizona Indian Alcothon on October 25tth, 1986. Rick Thomas, a disabled Vietnam Vet from Sioux City, Iowa is from a northern tribe. He says early on in this talk that all of the misery he went through in Vietnam doesn’t even compare to the pain that alcohol has put him through. Rick grew up with no sense of belonging, he felt lost in society. He began drinking at age twelve. Later, he had eight DUI in six years. Rick ended up in a rubber room in the psychiatric ward of a VA hospital in South Dakota. He was suicidal. After attaining sobriety, he became an adjunct professor of the University of South Dakota and has about 15 people working under him. He is an alcoholism educator. He is devoting the remainder of his life to the field of alcoholism. This is a real success story.
Contents – 9 Tracks
Length – 44 Minutes
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RUSSELL BOX - IGNACIO, CO 8-6-94
Russell recorded this Alcoholics Anonymous talk at the 1994 Indians in Sobriety Conference in Ignacio, Colorado. Russell begins this AA talk with a prayer spoken in his native tongue. He was introduced to the “Ugliness of Alcoholism” at a very young age. He was 6. Russell talks a lot about being forced to surrender his Indian customs in order to fit in while growing up. As a result he feels that he had lost his identity. This entire talk is filled with Native American wisdom, spirituality, and recovery.
Contents – 12 Tracks
Length – 59 Minutes
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THE NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE
There are two talks on this CD from two different men. The first talk, recorded at Founder’s Day 2003 is given by CHIEF BLACKHAWK. He is heredity chief of the Ottawa Chippewa Nation in the State of Michigan. He was once living the millionaire’s country club life but his alcoholism took him to the skid rows of Detroit. He was the youngest person to enter AA at the time in the Detroit area and was very frightened. He was not used to being amongst white people. His father never allowed white people in his home. Alcohol allowed him to mix with white people and go to school with white people. At one point in his talk, the Chief, now sober for 45 years, tells of the time he shouted out, “MY GOD, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME”. It really gives you chills. He eventually came to the realization that he actually loves white people. He particularly loves Bill Wilson. Towards the end of his talk, Chief Blackhawk humorously remarks that, “When you get to be my age and you’re still above ground, you’d better thank God.”
The second talk on this CD is by DAVE THE INDIAN. He begins his talk in the usual way, “My name is Dave the Indian and I am an alcoholic.” He is a North American Indian and comes from a reservation across the river in Montreal. At one time, despite a very serious back injury while in New Jersey, he had heard that the 50th Anniversary of the Big Book was going to be held in his home city of Montreal. With the help of several friends he was able to get to that anniversary and got to meet Lois Wilson and is still very grateful for that. Dave jokes about the white man coming from Europe and messing up the lives of the Indians by giving them alcohol. But in the end, the Indians got even by giving the white man tobacco.
Contents – 13 Tracks
Length – 62 Minutes
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WILSON PLAIN - LAS VEGAS, NV 10-8-92
This Alcoholics Anonymous talk was recorded at the 2nd International Native American Indian AA Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 8th, 1992. Wilson, from Canada gives his sobriety date as November 11th, 1967. He is a very jolly fellow and has a pleasant way of delivering even the more serious parts of his story. Wilson said when he was drinking he was very easily set off when someone made a comment about all Indians being drunks and it would usually end up in a fistfight. He would very often find himself in the gutter or in an alley the morning after drinking and have no idea of how he got there. Near the end of his talk he covers the twelve promises in a very inspiring way.
Contents – 13 Tracks
Length – 64 Minutes
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