—Mike B.
On the afternoon of April 16 the phone rang. Noting that the area code indicated that the call came from New York, I wondered who would be calling me from there. Picking up the phone, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the caller was Michele Mirza, the very dedicated non-alcoholic archivist at the General Service Office in New York City. After exchanging greetings, Michele is unfailingly polite, she noted that I was already registered to attend the International Convention. I was pleasantly surprised, but wondered why she would note such a fact. After all, tens of thousands of other alcoholics were registering.
Michele then floored me with a question. “Would you be willing to speak on your experience at being the archivist of the Area One archives at the International Convention in Atlanta in July?”, she asked. I was stunned and rather weakly replied, “I can do that.” She laughed and said, “You can do that, huh?” I replied, recovering a little from my shock, “Yes I can, thank you so much.” She then mentioned that she knew I had been a professional archivist, and asked at what institution I had worked. I told her I worked at the Alabama Dept. of Archives and History from 1985-2015 as a collections management archivist, retiring at the end of January. She then asked if I could include the topics of professional development and cooperating with professional archivists into my talk, and I eagerly agreed. The official written invitation arrived the next day, April 17, by email, and I quickly completed the necessary paperwork and returned it.
Accepting the invitation gave me about ten weeks to prepare the talk. At this point I did what is normal for me, I panicked. All those alcoholics! All that recovery! What if I got it all wrong! AACK! After pausing a bit, then praying, I began to calm down. At various times I also talked about this opportunity with my sponsor. That helped me stay focused.
I identified my audience more completely. The folks I would be addressing are AA members interested in doing service work in AA Archives. I noted that there was time for me to become even more familiar with the Area One archives as well. In preparing my talk I examined the archives more closely, including taking more photographs, looking through boxes to be sure the inventory was complete enough, even if not exhaustive, categorizing what was in the Area One archives, and enumerating the tasks that needed to be done, at least in general terms. My original talk was created in PowerPoint using 46 slides. I forgot that only oral presentations are made at the International Convention.
After Michele reminded me of that fact, and I had a good laugh at myself, I converted that talk to an oral presentation only. After all, I wrote all my papers in graduate school on a manual typewriter. The presentation consisted of five parts: my professional background, What Archivists Do and the Difference Between Archives and Special Collections, Archives Development from a Professional and Non-Professional Perspective, The Purpose of Archives in Alcoholics Anonymous, and The Area One Archives in the Present and a Vision for the Future. I also talked this over with and sent out versions of my talk to several folks in the Area One Archives, as well as Michele, and asked for their input.
Thus by the time I gave the talk at 11;00 am on July 3rd, a calm confidence went with me. I do not walk alone, and others before me paved the way. In addition, a number of individuals from my home group, The Prattville Downtown Group, as well as those from District 8, and from Area One, made a special effort to be there for this talk. They came to support me, but more importantly they came to be more effective in carrying the message of Alcoholics Anonymous. That is the mission of archives in AA. At the end of the talk an overwhelming sense of gratitude enveloped me. It became even stronger as several friends and I shared lunch.
Another big bonus for me was meeting many other archivists in AA. Some of these individuals I had corresponded with, but now I got to meet them and make a person-to-person connection. That alone was worth the trip to Atlanta. I have followed up with some and plan to follow up with others.
In summing up, this experience revitalized my connection with Alcoholics Anonymous by expanding my borders, by allowing me to be a part of a much larger whole, and by making and carrying through a commitment to the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. After all, as it says in Alcoholics Anonymous, page 89, “Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot in our lives.”
Gratefully, Mike B.
Prattville Downtown Group