summer 2014

www.wolfestreet.org

OLFE STREET JOURNAL W

Founded in 1982, the Wolfe Street Foundation, Inc. is fully funded

through private contributions. Patronage is vital to our mission of love

and service. Several levels of giving are available. Please help us

continue to provide a meeting place, education and prevention

programs and fellowship center for Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon

Family Groups. Take a minute to join us. We need you. See page 2 to

become a Patron of the Wolfe Street Foundation, Inc. or visit our

website.

Still carrying the message... Summer 2014

http://www.wolfestreet.org

Summer 2014 Wolfe Street Journal 1

Experience, Strength, and Hope

I was born September 27, 1964, in Little Rock. My Dad was a lobbyist for the disabled and my Mom was a surgical nurse at Baptist. My parents were gone a lot so they hired a nanny and a maid to take care of me and my little brother. I remember more about them than I do my parents.

At night my dad was always out going to political parties and my mother would be on call sometimes. My dad would come home drunk and talk about how depressed and miserable he was. When I was 14, my parents were out of town and my Dad’s mother stayed with us, and one night she molested me. I, of course told no one.

My Dad was a humanist and a highly functioning alcoholic, my mother took my brother and I to a fundamentalist Christian church against my Dad’s will. My little brother and I absorbed what the church taught, believed it for a few years and then slowly started to disengage from it.

I was 16 when I had my first drink. I was on student council and we were throwing the seniors a dance. I took off with friends to a frat party where I had some PGA Punch, which I loved! It gave me so much energy! I got drunk and went back to the school and cleaned up the gym with everyone.

I went home and woke up feeling great. That summer I spent with my friends borrowing booze from our parents, getting drunk and pulling

pranks. In the fall I went off to college, while my parents were divorcing. I experienced my first depression when I arrived at college, the college my mother wanted me to go to because her father and aunt went there. We hid vodka, so the RA wouldn’t make us go to the dean. It was there that I had to fend off a big man on campus, down by Lake DeGray. The experience was too much for me, everyone heard about what happened and I was ostracized by all the girls and their social clubs.

I transferred to UALR, continuing to study Political Science and Art. I became very structured in my studying; I lived with my mother and wasn’t allowed to drink. The Political Science professor submitted one of my papers to The JFK School of Government at Harvard, and I was approved to go to a seminar in Cambridge. When I got there I lived with a friend that was in law school, and she was a drinker so I let loose. I didn’t go to class I wondered around Boston going to Art Galleries. I discovered Saki and sushi and my roommate loved wine, so that three weeks was a blur accept I remember people making comments about my lipstick. For the first time I felt grown up.

A year later I graduated with a Liberal Arts degree, and then started my Masters in Art History. I started

(Continued on page 7)


Wolfe Street Center Patron

Name_______________________

Address_____________________

City, State___________________

Email:

Check category and payment

method.

Corporate or Personal

Sponsorship

_____ $2000 or more annually

Benefactor Patron

_____ $1000 annually

_____ $83.33 per month

Patron

_____ $750 annually

_____ $62.50 per month

Supporting Patron

_____ $500 annually

_____ $41.67 per month

Voting Patron

_____ $240 annually

_____ $20.00 per month

Participating Patron

_____ $60 annually

_____ $5 per month

Friends of Wolfe Street

_____ Amount is optional

In Memory of Lauren Duncan

&

Chad Lilly

“There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then I

understood Him, to do with me as He

would.”

-Big Book, pg 13


Noon Meditation MONTHLY THROUGH 2014

EVERY 2ND FRIDAY OF THE MONTH UPSTAIRS IN THE ELEVENTH STEP ROOM

WOLFE STREET CENTER

June 13 July 11

August 8 September 12

October 10 November 14 December 12

“The willingness to grow is the essence of all spiritual development”

”As Bill Sees It” pg 17

Wednesdays Noon—1:00 pm

Dunbar Wednesday

Open Speaker Meeting

Please join us, upstairs at the Wolfe Street Center

Some pictures from

The Road Trip to Akron, Ohio 2014

for AA Founders Day.


We are not a glum lot.

"Seems awfully bright out for a Wednesday night."

“1 never drink water

because of the

disgusting things that

fish do in it.”

~W.C. Fields

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001211/

Summer 2014 Wolfe Street Journal5 5

A 12-STEP WORKSHOP

BY MARIAN Mc D.

JUNE 29TH

NOON - 2PM

$2 ENTRY FEE POTLUCK UPSTAIRS AT

WOLFE STREET CENTER

Still Cookin’ Geno’s Breakfast will continue through the Summer!

Breakfast │8:30 to 9:30 am │ $5 plate

Eggs to order Bacon

Sausage Grits/Cheese Grits

Biscuits and Gravy Cinnamon Roll

Coffee Orange Juice

MINDFULNESS BASED RELAPSE PREVENTION WORKSHOP OFFERING CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS

WHEN: Thursday, August 21, 2014 Noon to 2 pm with light lunch COST: $45.00 (Only $5 to eat and attend) WHERE: Upstairs at the Wolfe Street Center. Contact us to register.

Mindfulness practice is used to develop awareness of triggers to addictive behaviors, development of skills to handle cravings and urges, and choice.


3rd Annual

Variety

Show

July 19th at the WSC

7 to 9 pm ($2 admission fee)

Snacks available at the

Concession Stand.

Inquire about entering your

act in the Bookstore

Entry fee—$10—See page 4

Music│Singing│Comedy

Starting July 7th, 2014 the Pig Pen Young Peoples Group will be adding a 2nd

Meeting. Join us at 7pm every Monday for an Open Big Book Study. We also

meet on Sunday afternoon at 5:30 for an Open Discussion. Both meetings are

in the West Wing at WSC. We welcome people of any age to come share their

experience, strength and hope. Begin and end your week with the PIG PEN

YPG!


modeling, they were good gigs. I could have moved to New York, one of the agencies had courted me but my mother wouldn’t let me. She was very controlling, I came home from The Unitarian Church on Sunday and she chased me around the house with an open bible asking me, “Is Jesus Christ still my personal savior?” I moved out one week later. It was then that I got a really good modeling gig and of course the champagne flowed.

In between gigs, I started traveling with an actor. I discovered a year later he was a drug dealer. He always had plenty of drugs and alcohol for me. I worked my way into an Account Executive position with a perfume company. I traveled for business drinking for 10 years.

When I was 35, I started modeling again, this time in Thailand, and of course I was drunk as usual. When I got home, a friend gave me a house, car and a new job. I stared traveling, as her buyer, to Paris, Germany, L.A., SF, and NY. I did this for two years, until my friend ran out of money. By that time 9/11 happened and I couldn't get a job to save my life, my boyfriend broke up with me because all I did was get high all day. My other boyfriend returned with other substances and I started dealing out of the expensive gated community in which I lived. I threw wild expensive parties, when the money ran out I sold the house and moved to the Heights then sold that house and bought my condo downtown. I had money, and I was able to travel all over the world. I

spent a lot of time in Amsterdam, for the good art and the “culture.”

I ran out of money and moved to Montana with a few friends, leaving my house and dogs with a stranger. I worked in a bar and golf shop in Glacier National Park, staying drunk. My dad called and told me to come home, he was sick. I got home and immediately started taking care of him for six months until he died.

My depression was at the worst it had ever been. I was diagnosed Bi Polar, my doc told me not to drink, I ignored him and wouldn't take my meds. I got a job as a sales manager, where I was sexually harassed every day. Instead of quitting, I got drunk with the owner and embezzled a substantial amount of money from them just to show them! I was fired, arrested, and had to pay the money back.

A few years passed and I had terrible part-time jobs where I could show up drunk. Three years ago my ex-boyfriend, who I loved, found sobriety through AA, then went back out and killed himself. I went into another depression, this time I got on the right meds, but I still was using. Another old boyfriend showed up and he was in AA he told me to go to Al-Anon, so I did. Six months later I got fired from my retail job for drinking and my sponsor told me to go to AA. So I did and never looked back.

- Holly V. 120 1/2 Group

(Continued from page 2)


“The Son of the Sheik”

Thanks to focused grant, funding for this presentation, and outreach programming at Argenta Community Theater, see Rudolph Valentino in his last silent film, "The Son of the Sheik," scored and performed by the ALLOY ORCHESTRA.

The ALLOY ORCHESTRA, a three man musical ensemble recognized worldwide, writes and performs live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources.

Purchase tickets at www.EventBrite.com, search for “Alloy Orchestra North Little Rock” or link from www.wolfestreet.org.

Live music

score by the

ALLOY

ORCHESTRA

Tickets $20

Visit Eventbrite.com

To Buy Purchase

Tickets. Search

“Alloy Orchestra”

10/7/14 7 p.m.

Argenta Theater

405 Main Street

North Little Rock


Board of Directors

President

Pete Hornibrook

Vice President

Thomas J. Kelly Jr., PhD

Treasurer

Anthony Michael

Secretary

Colin Jorgensen

Jo Blankenship

Mary Clare Brierley

Sarah Cearley

Tricia Chaffin

Kay Fisher

Larry Gaines

Betti Hamilton

Jennifer Jones

Donna Skulman Lloyd

Alfred Williams

Advisory Board

Rick Adkins

Nancy Kumpuris

Kathy Gwatney Hardison

Executive Director

Markey Ford-Brisbin

Notes from the Board

For the first year

in the 30 year

Greek Food Festi-

val history the

WSF was in-

cluded as one of

the 501c3 non-

profit groups to

provide volun-

teers and benefit

from the annual

event. More than

75 volunteers,

affectionately re-

ferred to as

Friends of Wolfe

Street, worked

three booths, open

to close all 3

days. The WSF

Board of Direc-

The Wolfe Street Foundation

benefited from a fantastic “Night

at the Rep” featuring "The Com-

pleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr

(Abridged)"! This event is a tradi-

tion 18 years strong. All proceeds

from ticket sales benefited WSF,

including a lively silent auction of

wonderful donated goods. It was

an evening where many friends of

WSF enjoyed visiting with one

another and a night out on the

town.

The show itself was hilarious! A

parody where three actors per-

form all 37 plays written by

Shakespeare in one 110 minute

show. Non-stop humor of all

kinds: jokes, sight gags and hys-

terical situations. Special thanks

to Kay Fisher and Mary Clare

Brierly who co-chaired the event.

We’re already looking forward to

next year’s play, August: Osage

County on June 2nd.. .

Tending one of the 3 booths

at the May 2014 Greek Food

Festival, pictured above are


Al-Anon

Group Liaison Reps meet at 5:30 on Thursdays before the Board of Directors

Meetings on the 3rd Tuesday of February, April, June, August, October & December.

Sunday Breakfast 8:30-9:30 $5 All Year

Wednesday Lunch Noon-1 $5

SUNDAY Name of Group 7:30AM OD Hour of Power

10:00AMOD Hour of Power

5:30 PM OD Happy Hour

5:30 PM OD Pig Pen Young Peoples

7:00 PM OD 120 1/2—Newcomers

MONDAY

6:45AM Hour of Power

NOON OD Brown Bag

1:00PM OD LR Women

5:30PM CD Happy Hour

7:00PM OBBS Pig Pen YPG—Starting 7/7

8:00PM OSS Dunbar

TUESDAY

6:45AM OD Hour of Power

NOON OD Brown Bag


7:00PM CD 120 ½

WEDNESDAY Name of Group


NOON OS Dunbar


7:30-9PM CBB Big Book Study

THURSDAY


NOON OD Brown Bag


8:00PM OS 120 1/2

FRIDAY


NOON OD Brown Bag


8:00PM OD Y.E.S. Group

10:00PM OD Last Chance

SATURDAY


1:00PM CD Rebos

5:30PM OD Happy Hour

8:00PM OS Big Meeting

10:00PM OD Last Chance

Meetings @ Wolfe Street Center

AA

MONDAY Name of Group

5:30PM Happy Hour Group

TUESDAY

9:30AM SS T-N-T Group

11:00AM Wolfe Street Group

WEDNESDAY

5:30PM Alateen

THURSDAY

5:30PM Al-Anon Step Study

FRIDAY

5:30PM Happy Hour Group

SATURDAY

9:30am How Al-Anon Works

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summer 2014

Documents

dads mother

wolfe street journal

wolfe street foundation

little brother

olfe street journal

law school

political science professor

political parties