On Tuesday evening Oct. 10, four of us steadfast LSR folks made the third LifeRing presentation to Cornell Corrections (the State program) in San Francisco. Links to reports on the previous presentations are below. The Cornell Corrections Facility at 111 Taylor Street at the corner of Turk -- deep in the city's Tenderloin district -- is hardly a drug free area. The facility is a work furlough program and the men in it are considered to still be in jail. They all are in for various crimes with the additional factor of drug/alcohol related circumstances.
The four members of our LifeRing speakers' team for the occasion were Marylou B., Chet G. (who just got out of jail 11 days ago), James C. and myself. Over the course of our presentation we eventually ended up with about 17 men in the room.
I began by giving a brief history of LSR and talking about the three S's and then talking about my own experience in LSR.
Chet G. was next and spoke of his time in jail and the help that LSR was to him while there. He talked about the Keepers books (2) that were provided to him by LSR and that he left them on the book carts in the two different areas that he inhabited while there. He asked the men at the end of his talk to ask themselves a rhetorical question. He explained what a rhetorical question was. He said ask yourself "How much did drugs have to do with me being in jail?" Then, since he brought his small guitar, he played a not-drinking song. It happened to be the one Chet sang once at the Kaiser education session in Oakland back in February.
James C. was next and spoke eloquently to these men about his drug use and his search for sobriety. He talked about how difficult it was but that by hanging in there how much better he felt. He stressed the sobriety priority -- to not use no matter what and that drugs could only make things worse.
Marylou spoke about being an ex nun and that she wanted to make sure that the men understood that she was the ex nun and Chet G. was the ex con. We all got a chuckle out of that. She went on to talk about how she got started on drinking. She was impressive in the way she made us feel how much denial can hurt our chances for recovery.
When we were done presenting there were some questions. One question had to do with religion and recovery. I had mentioned that I was a Christian but that LSR was for everyone. This fellow asked if I believed that Christ was my savior and I said yes but I also believe that God Helps those who help themselves. I explained that I believe that my religion didn't have a lot to do with my recovery, that LSR was for all people who wanted to get clean and sober.
One man asked each of us to talk about how we came to the decision to get sober and what we did about it. We each told our stories. One man was talking about not feeling well and that the booze made him feel better at least for a time. We talked about the oh so temporary feeling of euphoria and talked about playing the whole tape. I told the group that with long term sobriety we all felt better and that our talents and abilities began to come back. I read the poem I wrote and dedicated to Bettye titled "Necessity". Everyone seemed to appreciate the presentation, the music and the poem.
The session lasted about an hour and could have kept right on going but we were getting tired and I called a halt to the session. I want to take this opportunity to thank Marylou, Chet and James for their time and the wonderful job they did representing LSR. They fielded some hard questions which taxed their honesty and they came through like troopers. It makes me want to go out and do this more often.
Lisa Ransom, the contact person at Cornell Corrections was present during the presentation and thanked us for our time. We left feeling tired but elated.
-- Bill Somers