Episode Details

Michael turns his AA recovery story into a slide show where the martini keeps reappearing, until a hospital death watch, the fellowship, and nearly fourteen years of sobriety replace it with a coffee cup.

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Michael grew up in San Francisco, flew during World War II, tried monastic life, studied theology, and built an award-winning advertising career across Portland, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, and Kansas City while martinis gradually became the organizing principle of his life. By 1978 he was isolated at home, drinking roughly half a gallon of vodka a day, and making a blizzard trip in layers of pajamas and black leotards because running out overnight felt unthinkable. When he finally called for help, he collapsed in a hospital tunnel, spent five days in intensive care, and awakened paralyzed from the waist down under a death watch. Michael initially rejected the hospital AA meetings, but later found identification at Kansas City’s Plaza Fellowship and helped establish the Live and Let Live group in 1979. Approaching fourteen years sober, he uses a deliberately theatrical slide presentation to challenge several AA myths: the Steps are not casual suggestions, nobody graduates after completing them once, life does not become permanently manageable, and recovery means more than excusing behavior with “what do you expect from a drunk?” His program is built around change, inventory, learning through mistakes, accepting divine delay, and the three givings of giving, forgiving, and thanksgiving. The final slide replaces the old martini and black leotards with an AA meeting and coffee cup. As Michael says, there have been a few changes.

Michael D. from Kansas City, MO speaking at Chicago Roundup - July 20th 1991

Music: Deep by KaizanBlu