It’s that time of year. American Atheists Federation President, David Silverman, is making the talk-show rounds with his message of “who needs Christ during Christmas?” presumably to raise money before the new year for his non-profit company. His press release points to the Federation’s new Times Square billboard, put up on December 3, which states in part, “American Atheists launched a major billboard display on Tuesday that declares Christmas is better without the Christ. The … [Read more...]
A wild, insightful, often hilarious trip to sobriety – Mary Karr story
Mary Karr, author of Liar’s Club, Cherry and LIT, a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry; and a Peck professor of literature at Syracuse University, was asked once by her four year old son, Dev, to take him to church. At best an agnostic at the time, Mary asked “why?” and Dev answered, “Because I want to see if God is there.” Turns out He was. Reflecting on the moment, Mary said, “If you’d told me even a year before I start taking my son to church regular that I’d wind up whispering my sins in … [Read more...]
Lois Wilson Story: When Love is Not Enough
The Biography of the cofounder of Al-Anon By William G. Borchert Picture if you will, eight women parked in front of the Clinton Street Brooklyn home of Bill and Lois Wilson. Their motors are running and they are steamed. On this night in 1938, their husbands, most of them newly sober, are attending a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous with the organization’s co-founder, Bill Wilson. What ticks the ladies off is that their husbands have replaced drinking with meetings, leaving them once again … [Read more...]
Memoirs of a Runaway
CEO looks back on his life as a troubled teen By Michael Kennon Outskirts Press $10. 95 Remembering vividly his own pain, shame and isolation as a runaway from age twelve to early adulthood, CEO Michael Kennon hopes his story will let the untold thousands of runaway children in the U.S. know that if he made it, they can too. Kennon said his recently published book, “Memoirs of a Runaway: A Story of Hope,” (www.memoirsofarunaway.com), will let teens who have run away or who are … [Read more...]
Moments of Clarity
By Christopher Kennedy Lawford William Morrow $25.99 “The morning of February 17, 1986, I woke up, as usual, with that weight in the pit of my stomach, knowing that all I had in front of me was another day of dancing with the 800-pound gorilla of addiction.” And so begins Chris Lawford’s “moment of clarity” as he reports it in his introduction to this great book about how people recover from addictions—in this case 42 well-known people, many of them celebrities. Lawford, whose father was … [Read more...]
