March 1st, 2025
Okay, so we’re recording.
Tom M. – Hi, Danette. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. I appreciate you taking the time to, or consenting to even talk about the history of N.A. back in the prehistoric days.
Danette – Oh, migosh!.
Tom M. – Well, you know, they call people dinosaurs.
Danette – Yeah, so this was back in the dinosaur days.
Tom M. – And have you been asked to do an interview for WSO as part of their history project?
Danette – No. And I have not made contact with those two people that Lori suggested might be helpful. I got called back to my previous job to repair a lot of damage that was done.
Tom M. – Yeah, you were telling me about that.
Danette – So, my time and my energy and resources have been less than when you and I first talked. As far as the prehistoric times, I sometimes say that N.A. was started for me because it started in 53, as we know it today. And I was born in 54, so it was like, oh, it was getting ready just for me.
Tom M. – Perfect.
Danette – Yeah, really.
Tom M. – Well, the idea here is, I mean, your clean date is December 8, 1977, and you got clean in the Los Angeles area, North Hollywood, San Fernando Valley, and went to work at the World Service office in the early 80s. Bob Stone hired you shortly after he took over the office, and you worked at the World Service office for several years. And then in 1989, after terms as an RSR from Southern California and alternate, and no telling how many other service positions around Southern California, you became a Board of Trustees member for the World Service office.
Danette – No, back up. That is a little reversed. I had just come up on five years clean when Bob Stewart, who was the RSR for Southern California at the time, needed an RSR alternate because his had not been able to complete. So, I started at World Service Conference as Bob Stewart’s alternate. Then I took the RSR position for another couple of years.
Tom M. – Right then, which I think we decided probably was 82, is when Jimmy was being let go.
Danette: Right. Bob Stone was hired. And at that time, from the WSC minutes I read, part of what the conference was looking for in Jimmy’s replacement was someone with bookkeeping skills and business skills. Also, somewhere in some minutes, it was requested that an accounting of the WSO financial situation be done. Bob Stone didn’t really have bookkeeping skills, but he was a business type person. He knew he needed help with the bookkeeping stuff and management also. So right then, before he ever hired me as a WSO employee, he hired me as a contractor to do a forensic accounting of the most recent financial report that the conference had, from Jimmy I believe, to verify everything was in order. I did that, and I made a report to the conference at whenever their next meeting was.
Tom M. – So, the high finances of WSO back then might have been $30,000?
Danette – Oh, gosh. They weren’t even that.
Tom M. – $10,000?
Danette – Yeah. They weren’t even that.
Tom M. – Really?
Danette – I mean, $5,000 might have come in and they spent $4,800. It was something like that. Yeah. And that was part of my report, to the best of my memory. I don’t know why it’s not in minutes somewhere. I know that there’s a reference to Bob presenting that to the conference.
Tom M. – I might have a copy of your audit report.
Danette – That would be cool. And part of what I reported, if memory serves me, is that there was very little going on financially, and there didn’t appear to be any malfeasance or misappropriation or mishandling; also, I noted, that there was going to be a lot more money to be handled because the sales of the basic text was going to create that. That’s when I told them, and I’m sure I started mentioning it at that point (and ongoing from there), that there has to be a budget. And I mention this because for the next 20 years, there was never a budget that was really a budget. People call a budget, call all kinds of things a budget, but there wasn’t a budget in what I consider a budget, and that was documented many years after my little report there. So, I made that report, and then I don’t know how quickly, but pretty quickly, Bob Stone asked me to become an employee and be what he called, a project coordinator, that I would be the first project coordinator, which means that I worked with the WSC committees.
Tom M. – So, thinking back on that audit, was it just for the office, or did you also audit the WSC treasurer?
Danette – Well, and this is where I’m hoping that somehow with your help, we can track down, and the calls that I’m going to make to the people that were suggested to me, we can track down where the money at that point, what little money was coming in, where it really went.
And I don’t know, I think donations, I’m almost positive, went to the conference somehow, where they got mailed to, what the address was, I have no idea. The only money that came to Jimmy at the WSO was for literature orders and there was very little of that. Jimmy was always trying to find money for postage and he would wait to order or print literature until he has sufficient money to do so. That caused delays in people getting their orders, which created some rumors about Jimmy not using the money properly.
So, I don’t know who received any other money. When I was looking at the final little financial statement, it was just, I thought at the time it was the World Service Office, but now I’m not so sure, because there was a period of time where the conference was in charge of the funds.
Tom M. – And then, you served on the Board of trustees. And that, is that a four-year term back then, or was it six years, or do you remember?
Danette – The trustees, that’s something else, it was five years, I think.
Tom M. – Five years, okay.
Danette – So I served there for five years, and they wanted me to serve another term, and that’s when I wrote my letter to the WSC about why I wouldn’t accept another term and why I would no longer be involved in world services, at all.. It was right when we completed that ridiculous farce of an inventory, and that was my main reason for my decision, you know, I’m sure I said it in my letter. I didn’t read through it again when you sent it to me, but it had something to do with that. You know, I made clear that I didn’t recognize any individual inventories about how we were working our own recovery and bringing that to bear on our world service, that it did not appear to me that we actually took our own inventory, that things that could have been brought to light were not, nothing was going to change based on the outcome of that inventory, that i wasn’t okay with the process or outcome and that i was not willing to keep serving in world services the way it was going.
Tom M. – Yeah, so then, what, a year or two after that, after your term expired, they called you back, requested your service on the resolution group.
Danette – Yes, I don’t remember who it was exactly, but am pretty sure it was one of the people, I think, who actually then served on the resolution group. Somebody who had first been contacted, this is what I think, and that person contacted me. I want to say it was Jeff Baker, but I’m not sure. Interestingly, as you can see, in the documentation, I was only the only female there.
Tom M. – He was the chair of that committee, wasn’t he?
Danette – I don’t know. Could have been.
Tom M. – I understand he lives in Ojai.
Danette – I think they moved a long time ago. He and Kim moved out to the San Gabriel Valley. I think. But that time, I think they might have been in Ojai
My reason for accepting the invicte was having hope that things might actually be ready to change in World Services. I verified that when Ron Hofius reminded me of this. He, when they contacted him, he had the same reaction that I had with, oh my gosh, because we had both gotten very disillusioned with things. And he was thinking as I was, that this could be great. And it was an amazing group of people coming together with a vision that was, apparently, ahead of its time.
Tom M. – I think you got in there and you got things taken care of in less than a year. You guys didn’t mess around .
Danette – Yes We pushed hard to get the work done. I think it was about 9 months
Tom M. – Yeah. So, I believe you finished your work, you got assigned at the conference, and then you finished by the end of 93. So that, the resolution group actually started before that.
Danette – But see, that doesn’t line up with, if I was elected to the Board of Trustees in 89, which I think you have documented somewhere.
Tom M. – Yeah.
Danette: So, I was elected 89, served for 5 years, then a lapse and then called to service on the Resolution Group (RG) and the RG completed work in 93, I would just have been ending that term. So, there’s something wrong with that timeline.
Tom M. – Well, I remember the terms as being four-year terms, so you’d probably know better.
Danette – My time sequencing is not good. I don’t think they were four-year. Oh, we have to find out about that, too, to be absolutely sure.
So anyways, I think it was a year or so after we finished that it went to the composite group (or was it called the Transition group?) for, I guess, review. Not really sure why it never went directly to the Conference. Then it went to an Implementation Group and it ended up being presented to the WSC with strong recommendations from the Board to NOT take it as it was written. It was very disappointing because the RG had specifically written in their report that, if Resolution A was not adopted, the remaining resolutions would not work. The resolution group you’ve got here was provided the final report from the composite group in 93.
Tom M. – Yeah. Okay. But the point is that, you know, you’ve been vital. You’ve been involved during one of NA’s most transformative times, the early 90s, the late 80s, early 90s, and involved at a level that there are few that can say they even remember those things that we’re talking about. So, if anybody reads this, we’re just trying to document why your experience, Strength and Hope is so important to get a full understanding of what took place back then. And that’s why, you know, I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down and have a little conversation. I put together some questions that you didn’t want to know about in advance.
Danette – What are they?
Tom M. – Well, let me scroll down here.
Danette – Oh, are they in this document?
Tom M. – Let me finish your introduction – coming to the resolution group. And you submitted, along with your committee, resolutions A through G that were voted on after the inventory in 1996. So maybe there is the, yeah, probably back up 94 to 95 may have been resolution group. But in 96, the fellowship voted on these resolutions, two motions and resolution A through F or A through G. And they were all about how the service structure was going to start transforming into these new processes. And so, there were many things happening in the world services back then. There was the federal court case of the NA literature production. There was, the 12 concepts were written. The FIPT was written. The Joint Administrative Committee was replaced by the Interim Committee. The Board of Trustees created their own operational procedures. And they also suggested and implemented a dual membership with the World Service Office and the World Service Conference Board of Trustees. And the Board of Trustees wrote some new internal guidelines, creating their own policy that was, you know, that they were to follow so people would know what to expect from the Board of Trustees. And that was inserted in what was called the Temporary Working Guide to our Service Structure. And so that gets me to the point of questions, you know, like just to introduce you to anybody that’s possibly reading this transcript, as somebody who was involved at the level of understanding that very few had and even fewer possess today.
So, my first question would be very simple. And it brings us back to what we were talking about a minute ago, about what are your thoughts on the money shifting from the World Service Conference to the WSO?
Danette – Well, and we kind of touched on that a couple of minutes ago. I, I don’t have any real information to give you there, because I can’t remember exactly when that would have even happened. I was not involved at a time where people were sending donations to the World Service Conference. I wasn’t even aware, really, at that time that it was going there or if it was going to the office. Since the WSC actually grew out one of the first world conventions, the funds may have all been together, i just don’t know
Tom M. – You just knew we had, we had money or we didn’t have money. This can’t be done or that can’t be done because of finances.
Danette – Well, and there is a copy of that financial statement that was prepared as one of, I believe, one of Jimmy’s last bookkeeping reports to the conference. Yeah. So, I mean, at that point, Jimmy had some money to report about. A couple thousand dollars, yeah. So, probably Jimmy maybe had his little bank account and then there was the World Service Conference treasurer that had a bank account somewhere, too.
Tom M. – It would seem so, since there was a treasurer at the conference.
Danette – OK
Tom M. – And I think the treasurer’s report, too. It was a guy from L.A. Oh, man. Fagan or?
Danette – Kevin Fahey?
Tom M. – Fahey, yeah. I think he was a treasurer for a couple of years.
Danette – Could be. Yeah.
Tom M. – So, there was a bank account somewhere.
Danette – I knew Kevin personally, and I can’t recall specifically that he was the treasurer. He’s now dead. He was not much involved with World Services for a long time, moved to Hawaii, and lived there until the end of his life. Very, what I recall, a reputable, ethical, recovering person. That’s all I can say. Any other old treasurer from back then, it would be nice to talk to them to get a clearer understanding about the whole process. And I will make those phone calls to a couple of people at the WSO I know who I think might have that information.
Tom M. – And my next question is kind of maybe out of left field for you, but what are your thoughts on the change that took place regarding non-addict board of trustee membership?
Danette – I don’t think it ever made sense. And I don’t think the majority of people thought it made sense.
Tom M. – What is it that didn’t make sense at that time?
Danette: When I was on the board of trustees, the board of directors still ran the office. And the board of trustees handled questions from the fellowship as far as tradition type things, matters of spiritual principle and the Traditions. And at that time, there was very little perceived need to have a non-addict be a face of N.A. to a large national or international bureaucratic or governmental organizations. And that would be only the reason that it might make sense. If somebody wants to present, you know, be the public information point of contact for all those types of huge, big, out in public media, it could be done by a member without having to reveal membership. So it was, at that point, there wasn’t really that perceived need. Why would we need that? Now, I don’t think it, well, now, I mean, I’m just, you know, going to be honest and controversial here. I don’t agree with much that World Service NAWS has done over the years. There’s very little I agree with about the path that was chosen. So, at this point, as far as i know no decisions are made with input from non-addicts.
Tom M. – And they’re not doing a very good job either.
Danette – So, they are addicts. I said they’re doing the job without non-addicts. So, they’re doing the job by themselves. They don’t have non-addicts making presentations that i’m aware of.
Tom M. – Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, so you remember that happening. That happened while you were on the Board of Trustees?
Danette – Oh, the addition or removal of non-addict? I think there was a time that it was required that a certain number of non-addicts be on the Board of Trustees. I just wasn’t ever aware of it happening
Tom M. – And I remember watching on Good Morning America when Lynn Bias, the basketball player, died from a cocaine overdose. One of the Board of Trustees, a non-addict member of the Board, was on Good Morning America talking about, you know, addiction and recovery.
Danette – Well, when was that? Because I didn’t serve with any non-addict members.
Tom M. – And shortly after that, they combined the boards.
Danette – And there hasn’t been a non-addict.
Tom M. – It must have been early 80s, 87, maybe. Whenever Lynn Bias died.
Danette – You sure it was Board of Trustees and not Board of Directors?
Tom M. – Yeah, I’m pretty sure.
Danette – Huh. I didn’t hear about it.
Tom M. – Yeah. But, I mean, somebody called me and said, turn on the TV. And I did and got to see this, you know, because at commercial break, they said, this guy’s coming on. And so, I turned it on and got to watch a Board of Trustees. I can’t remember his name, but he was a doctor. Yeah.
Danette – And there was a doctor hanging around for a while, but I just don’t think he was on the Board of Trustees. But I could well be wrong.
Tom M. – Yeah, me too. And the documentation is impossible, well, difficult to find.
Danette – Yeah.
Tom M. – Okay. Well, what are your thoughts? Here’s my next question. What are your thoughts on the WSO taking a member to court for printing our literature back then?
Danette – That was before.
Tom M. – Was that when you were on the board?
Danette – No, I was an employee. At least if we’re talking about the same thing. And this came up in one of the conversations, phone conversations that you and I had about, I think it was Grateful Dave and maybe Bo or Greg or somebody, I don’t know. So, there was going to be a conference call with them about the baby blue and some office people and maybe a BOD and BOT. I was asked to attend as a WSO employee, I’m pretty sure . It was in a WSO office with Bob Stone. There was another office person, I think. And I was another office person.
Tom M. – George?
Danette – Could have been George at that time, sure. I think Bob McDonough was there from the board or conference as a treasurer. I think he was a WSO board treasurer. And maybe somebody else. The transcript of that call includes Bob McDonough bringing up the need for a budget, after the main conference call was over.
Tom M. – So, the conference call was in Stone’s office.
Danette – Yes. Well, I shouldn’t say that. It was in one of the offices there at WSO. And these guys from east of CA, I don’t know exactly. They were, in their own way, questioning and objecting, “why aren’t you guys presenting what we’ve done?” That was the bottom line. “Why won’t you present to the conference what we’ve done, what we’ve created here as literature for the basic text?” And I’m sure there was some conversation about who owns, who has the right to the literature also.
Tom M. – And there was no FIPT.
Danette – I’m pretty positive at that point. But the question came up and my impressions of it, my sense, what I told the office people after the call ended was that I felt it was handled really poorly. That it was definitely us and them and the us at World Service Office end was taking the stance of the more enlightened, better-knowing-than-any-of-the-fellowship perspective. And that these people that were on the other end of the phone were just “malcontent, uneducated, maybe mentally ill”, you know, just didn’t know what was the best. It was a classic case of Those who have it, Those who don’t. People who think that they know best. And the people who are trying to get their voices heard. So, by the end of the conversation, it was, from the WSO end, “well, we’re going to have to file a lawsuit against you if you continue trying to get your stuff published without conference approval.”
Tom M. – Was that Bob Stone? Bob Stone was still in the office at that time?
Danette – Oh, he definitely was there. He was there the entire time i was employed. I resigned prior to this departure.
Tom M. – Because didn’t Stu Tooredmanman take over for a period of time?
Danette – Maybe for a minute after Stones’ contract wasn’t renewed but that happened later
Tom M. – But Tooredman was on the board of directors.
Danette – Yeah, i’m pretty sure of that.
Tom M. – He became the de facto office manager.
Danette – Would make sense. Yeah. He had a lot more business management experience than anyone else who has ever been there.
Tom M. – Except maybe Joe Gossett.
Danette – I don’t know about him for sure.
Tom M. – He was short-lived.
Danette – Yeah, he was.
Tom M. – What’s my next question? So, getting back to the resolutions, have you discovered any unforeseen consequences of those resolutions?
Danette – Well, here’s what Ron reminded me of. We, as the group, the resolution group, felt absolutely strongly about resolution A, that it must be accepted as the foundation, or none of the rest of it should even be considered.
Tom M. – And real quick, resolution A was to approve and principle a change in participation at the new WSC to achieve the following objectives. One, to reduce the total number of representatives. Two, to provide an equal representation from all geographic entities. And three, to encourage a consensus-based decision-making process.
Danette – Right. And that was completely thrown out. They did start the conversation about consensus-based decision-making. But the first two items in resolution A were critical for any of the rest of it to even make sense. We were quite extremely disappointed and was why many of us pulled out. Ron told me that I, and I saw that in some correspondence, I tried to rally up when the, what was that next group? The Composite group or something?
Tom M. – Yeah, there was one of the composite group and then the implementation group.
Danette – And I guess they sent a letter asking questions to the resolution group, wanting some clarification. And I was the only one that was willing to even take a stab at it. And I made some comments. It had no impact. And we were all just like, damn, that’s a shame..
I guess they approved B? To approve in principle the adoption of a world board, replacing the current world board, World Service Board of Trustees with the World Service Office Board of Directors and the WSC Administrative Committee.
Tom M. – So, they did that. And you also, one of the resolutions was to continue utilizing the subcommittee structure.
Danette – We wanted to, if you read through C, you see that we’re unanimous in the belief that the standing committee structure should be eliminated. Now, we did go on and say, indeed, that there should be an ad hoc committee structure responsible to the world board, but not standing committee. And obviously, if resolution A had been put into effect, the standing committee structure would have, we felt, would have become ridiculous.
Tom M. – It would be unnecessary.
Danette – Yeah. I guess what it was, this was the presentation, the resolutions that were in the conference agenda report.
Tom M. – The conference had other ideas. And they were the ones that insisted on the subcommittee structure remaining.
Danette – Yes. All of it. I mean, it’s been the powers that be at World Services have been running the motions, managing, I should say, all the motions for a long time. Before this, and still to this day. Well, you know, Narcotics Anonymous is simply a microcosm of our bigger society. It is following what’s happening in our larger society.
Tom M. – It’s a bureaucracy..
Danette – Yes.
Tom M. – Okay. So, did the WSC accidentally spiral out of control on ad-hocs, or was that something that was deliberately done? There were so many of them. It’s crazy.
Danette – Who knows? I think it was, I can’t tell you if it was intentional, if there was any kind of plan about it. Well, I think more than anything, it was because, possibly, never crossed my mind. I haven’t looked at the resolution from the group. But possibly, they thought they were moving in the direction of the elimination of standing committees.
Tom M. – There were a lot of them.
Danette – The more cynical part of me says, oh, we’re going to make these ad hoc committees because we get to choose when and how they’re going to function. So, we have more control. Whatever. I don’t think they needed that. They had all the power they needed.
Tom M. – Well, it seemed like with, I mean, I’m just, as an observer out here in the hinterlands, that all of this chaos at World Services would make me say, absolutely, we need to do an inventory. You know?
Danette – Well, and that’s, I think, what came out of, I guess, somehow, is the time sequencing, correct?
Tom M. – That the inventory came after the resolution group and the composite group and the implementation?
Danette – No, the inventory was before that.
Tom M. – That was before that.
Danette – Yeah. You know, if you’re not going to do your own inventory, each individual member of the board do their own and their place in the group, What’s the point?
Tom M. – Well, that leads me to my next question. What are your thoughts on WSO’s involvement with the inventory process? Because they paid for somebody to do it, basically.
Danette – Well, it’s no different than it has been. I don’t even, well, I guess back then I could still have used the word WSO. I don’t use WSO anymore. There is no WSO. There’s NAWS, which is such an ugly sound. But anyways, they were definitely the conference. So, yeah, of course they were involved. And they were, they handled, they had all the money. They’re the only ones that could pay for anything.
Tom M. – Right.
Danette – If you pay for somebody to do your inventory, I mean, you and I have had this conversation. It’s just ridiculous.
Tom M. – Oh, yeah. Come up with the questions that will be good for everyone to answer. Not to dig too deep. So, who do you suppose was the driving force behind the inventory?
Danette – I don’t remember. The office? I can’t imagine the office would have. There must be something in the minutes. I would have, i think, come from some conversation at the conference. Many conversations were private and lobbied (you could call them focus groups !)and then presented.. I think it was something that came to us at the Board of Trustees. But I cannot say for certain.
Tom M. – Well, the first time I found anything written about it was Bobby Hunter was a World Service Conference chairperson. And there was some stuff floating around, you know, it’s time for N.A. to do an inventory. Just, you know, sheets of paper. And this is what we need to ask and answer and determine if this is serving us or we’re serving it. Or what’s, you know, what’s the process employed? And who’s not doing what they’re supposed to do and who’s doing more than whatever, you know, all that stuff. And so, Bobby got a hold of one and reported on it in his report to the fellowship in the fellowship report. Back when that was a great tool, I guess, created by the office. I loved getting that fellowship report. I’d find out exactly what was happening everywhere in the fellowship, H&I, PI, literature, policy, at the conference, everywhere. I loved it.
Danette – So that’s the first time it was mentioned in documents?.
Tom M. – And really, I mean, it was a couple of years after that, I think, before the inventory actually was suggested by the conference. But that’s the first time I read about it, it came from the members, from the malcontents, the people that were raising hell about, I guess, probably more than likely the money. What are your thoughts about the changes it brought about by the inventory?
Danette – I don’t think that there were any changes.
Tom M. – They did do away with the subcommittee six years after they said they would not do away with any subcommittee. Because when the World Board was created, they promised we won’t change anything that is adopted today. And one of the things that they used to get it adopted was, we’re going to keep the subcommittee structure in place. Six years later, they eliminated the subcommittee structure.
Danette – So, okay, I’ve been completely out of touch. What subcommittees are there now? Are there no standing subcommittees?
Tom M. – No, but there were for the first six years of the board.
Danette – So, who’s interfacing what with all the other geographical areas that have H&I committees and LIT committees and PR committees? Who’s interfacing?
Tom M. – Nobody. I mean, each region has a board member as their point man or point woman as a contact. But as far as subcommittee structures, maybe it’s happening from the zones.
Danette – I was going to ask, is it coming from the zonal forums?
Tom M. – I’ve never really participated in the zonal structure. So, I don’t know. But the results of the…
Danette – Well, the zonal, but I can tell you that the resolution group had a lot of conversation about what are the regions for, really? How much are they really needed? And wouldn’t it be more practical to have zones, (which at the time we referred to as geographical entities so as not to create a new label without having sufficient information for the membership about what geography would make sense)? Of course, that was also tied into our conversation about it would be more practical to have national conferences also. And the geographic entities within the nations would be much more representative. And that the only thing that world services would ever need to be involved in is those things that truly affected, and maybe even on political levels, Narcotics Anonymous. They wouldn’t have their hands in every thing that N.A. did, but, you know, that was probably never going to happen until everything implodes.
Tom M. – Yeah.
Danette – So, I just focus on my own personal recovery and my group.
Tom M. – So, the concepts came about during your time at the Board of Trustees, I believe.
Danette – I don’t remember them coming about during my time…
Tom M. – Do you remember how they came about? And why did we write our own…
Danette – George and Becky, and I think Anthony, decided, A.A. has these. We have to have them. I don’t look at them. I don’t study them. I don’t know why they exist.
Tom M. – Why? Why didn’t we just adopt them, as opposed to writing our own?
Danette – I don’t know what the point of them is at all. Sorry. Well, the premise is that the concepts allow the services being delivered by the World Service Office at the time to… It gives them the authority to do what they’re doing. Hence, I don’t see why we needed them at all.
Tom M. – Right. What about the FIPT creation? Was that something created by the office, or was that the trustees? It’s like, there was no…
Danette – There was so little separation between the office-controlling faction and the conference-controlling faction. Not necessarily the board of trustees at that time.
Tom M. – The conference and the office.
Danette – For the life of me, I don’t know if I blacked it out or if I just wasn’t present right when the FIPT was really in its heyday. I may have… I think on some emotional level, ever since that phone conference about the Baby Blue and who owns the
copyright and all that, I think I just hardened my heart to anything because my conscience was so bothered by it. I think I probably resigned from the office not too long after that – I don’t remember
Tom M. – We’re getting close to an hour I know I know I don’t want to wear you out but um are there like maybe I have a few more questions but do not maybe you have like what are your thoughts on the literature process today versus back then or you know what are your thoughts about you know what do you want to talk about
Danette – What do I want to talk about? As I said, my date my time sequencing has never been good – it’s not an aging thing- it’s’ never been. So, I would really like to pin down some of these years if you could as far as literature compilation
Tom M. – creation
Danette – Creation thank you thank you .It was so much fun – the literature conferences that I was able to attend. I can’t remember one of the things that you sent me that I read about the um outside writers so I want to share this memory. There is a woman who I knew quite well. I went to her home one day for some type of gathering. Shes is in a bedroom that has a big wide open doors – sitting there on the bed with piles of papers all around her – she was doing something with writing stuff at the WSO I think or maybe Bob Stone contracted with her anyways so she’s in there with all these pieces of papers and I said something to the effect of “whoa what are you doing” and tell me that she’s going through the input received for the Just For Today book and putting it together for daily reading – that there have been hundreds of thousands of pieces submitted by members of the NA fellowship that she had to make sense of them and put in some kind of order and that certain dates for the book had nothing so she would write things based on pieces that didn’t fit anywhere else.. I have a vague memory of her being part of the editing/writing WSO staff team dedicated to doing those types of things.
We know that that’s a variation of what happened even more with subsequent lit development – it was byy addicts, for addicts, with gobs of input from NA members and then a very small number of members who talked and had long discussions and then a couple of writers & editors who, after all the minutes and input and everything else, put the book together. I love the living clean and the spiritual guide to guiding principles it’s pretty damn good too so I’m not saying that we didn’t get some we have the best literature of any 12-step program. It’s just when I go back to that conference call it still hurts my heart that we weren’t able to handle some of the literature process and people with more love, compassion and inclusivity.
Tom M. – yeah that was probably before we began the literature conferences on it works how and why
Danette – oh yeah I was asked to participate with the steps portion. I forgot about that. And then, on the Board of Trustees some of us participated in the group that discussed with a writer the traditions portion of that book. It was a great group and I’m pretty positive that other groups around the country did some of the same type thing
Tom M. – and I’ve got 102 pages of transcript of that if you don’t have it you want it of those discussion groups of your quote quoting you.
Danette – really? oh, sure, i’m self-obsessed enough to want to know that- it would be so cool to see if i still agree with whatever i said back then – totally forgot about all that till just now.
Tom M. – you know we are at the hour I don’t want to keep you. I know I can keep talking to you but I want to tell you Danette that in 1994 or whenever it was you wrote that report and I think it’s in the minutes and I read that report.
Danette – it better be in there because I demanded it be.
Tom M. – yeah and I thought this is the woman we need as opposed to all of those other people and so it’s an honor for me a treat for me to have this conversation thank you
Danette – you are so welcome
Tom M. – I’m so grateful for you doing what you’re doing well maybe we can we can do page two later on all right
Danette – we will we can do it next Saturday if you want we can keep doing
Tom M. – all right thanks Danette
Danette – you’re welcome thank you have a great evening enjoy your Saturday
Tom M. – thanks
Danette – thank you you’re welcome thank you I’ll see you next time.