“A New York Needle Exchange Program in Action”: Sarah Beller

May 30, 2013 By

at The Fix: Around 6 pm on a spring evening, I walk with Hector Mata through an area of northern Manhattan known as “the Zig-Zag,” sculpted by the off-ramps of the George Washington Bridge. We pass a playground, go down through a woodsy area, slip through a hole in a fence, and step into a [...]

Filed Under: Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , , ,

Speaking of Endurance

May 21, 2013 By

His-and-hers perspectives on chronic relapse. Strong stuff. She: I met my husband, Jimmy, at my very first AA meeting. I stumbled into the 14th Street Workshop, bloated and reeking of booze from the night before, in my pajamas. I hadn’t showered in days, and I was wary of the people in the room. I didn’t [...]

Filed Under: Too much is never enough Tagged With: , ,

Ask Your Doctor If Solidarity Is Right for You… or AA, CBT, LOL

April 26, 2013 By

I have a lot of small thoughts about this piece at The Fix about the similarities and differences between cognitive behavioral therapy and the 12 Steps. I don’t know that these small thoughts come together into one big Voltron thought, so I will just put them out there in a list. As always, my opinions [...]

Filed Under: Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , , , ,

From Henri Nouwen, “The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom”

April 25, 2013 By

Simply start by admitting that you cannot cure yourself. You have to say yes fully to your powerlessness in order to let God heal you. But it is not really a question of first and then. Your willingness to experience your powerlessness already includes the beginning of surrender to God’s action in you. –via

Filed Under: Mackerel-Snapping, Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , ,

“Clinical Sentiments”

April 19, 2013 By

This chorus ultimately gives way to “St. John of Gods” as an alternative mantra.  St. John of God is a psychiatric clinic in a southern suburb of Dublin, run since 1882 by the religious order of that name. Though it offers a range of services, it is best known for alcoholism treatment. The legend of [...]

Filed Under: Mackerel-Snapping, Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , , , ,

Addictions and Corrections to the Minutes

April 5, 2013 By

See what I did there? Anyway, I have a whole lot of random notes or clarifications about that earlier post and no real organizing principle for them, so I will just throw them out here in a list. * I think I expressed myself poorly earlier, since some people seem to have read the initial [...]

Filed Under: self-obsessed, Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Twelve Steps and/as/vs. Religion

April 2, 2013 By

There is no way I will regret writing this post! Anyway, Helen Rittelmeyer has a provocative piece called “The Language of Addiction Takes Over,” which makes a bunch of great points despite an underlying framework I think may be wrong. Some of the great points: “The religious novel is in eclipse, but the recovery memoir [...]

Filed Under: Mackerel-Snapping, self-obsessed, Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , , , , ,

“You think you hold the high hand; I’ve got my doubts”

March 31, 2013 By

This works best as an Easter song at the end of its album, but here you go anyway–I love this. Probably listened to it for the first time sober ever on Holy Thursday. Had to clean 14-month-old spilled drinks off the CD but it spun just fine. (I just tried looking up this album at [...]

Filed Under: Art, Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , ,

This is how it’s supposed to be.

March 31, 2013 By

“Why I Am a Catholic,” by Calah Alexander. ETA: and more, in praise of Protestants.

Filed Under: Mackerel-Snapping, Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , , ,

“David Foster Wallace and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Had a Lot in Common”

March 28, 2013 By

Helen Rittelmeyer: The biggest difference between Samuel Taylor Coleridge and David Foster Wallace is that by the time cardiomyopathy took Coleridge’s life in 1834, at the age of sixty-one, the consensus was that he had died too late. It’s not that no one engaged in rueful speculation about the masterpieces that would go unwritten, it [...]

Filed Under: Art, Too much is never enough Tagged With: , , , , ,