We were just about to get this letter out when we got a call from J.A. in Brunswick, Georgia, telling us about the new SA group there, which we didn’t even know existed. She was sharing a recent experience with me and then read what she’d written during it. I asked her if she’d share it with all of us in this letter.
1. Leaders lead and sharers share. Leaders of meetings are servants of that meeting; they don’t “carry” the meeting; they merely facilitate it.
Here are some principles thrown out for suggestion/feedback: SA members commit themselves to SA Meetings. They attend every SA meeting they can. On time. Meetings; on time. Why this emphasis?
Under Traditions One and Three, each SA group has the right and responsibility to bring up issues that bear on membership, group unity, and meeting quality. The following are merely suggested for debate and feedback, supporting the idea that if we don’t look out for our unity — both group and SA as a whole — who will?
As we look at ourselves, we see we have a long way to go: 1. There are lots of newcomers (in many groups) and initial interest and even great honesty.
We’ve learned that earlier this year a writer for the pop sexology/“girlie” magazine press posed as a sexaholic and attended SA meetings in at least two cities. This man had requested an interview and used “dirty tricks” to try and force one. He was given the standard response that we are not granting interviews at this time, and we sent him our media form letter (copy enclosed).
The Phoenix-Tucson people tell us their December get-together is in the planning stages.
The word from the SLC people is that their June get-together was a resounding success.
1. The big change is that all quotes from the AA Big Book and Twelve and Twelve are in quotes with the credit line at the bottom of the page. AA is not letting us paraphrase their literature as they have in the past; they’ve changed their policy.
Dear Friends in SA, This newsletter is going out to all groups on file at the General Service Office here in Simi Valley. It is also being sent to individual members who represent groups or potential groups for information as well as to individual SA members.
