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December 2009 e-AA Newsletter
This newsletter includes reports submitted from: Group Secretary, Russell; Treasurer, Ketra; Online Intergroup Representative, Susan; Grapevine Rep, Scott; Literature Committee Chair, Sheila; Twelve Step Coordinator, Todd; Email Coordinator, Ian; Forums Coordinator, Juanita; Interim Real Time Coordinator, Dean; Links Editor, Arlena; and Listkeeper, Trish O.; and a link to the Winter issue of Markings, the newsletter for AA archivists.
1. Group Secretary's Report, Russell
Group business this month:
Discussion on the motion of Rotation on non-elected servants
Pat McGr. made a motion on jettisoning the chatroom from e-AA, it was placed on the agenda for later discussion
Pat McGa. resigned as Realtime Coordinator (Chat Coordinator)
Dean stepped up to temporarily be the Realtime Coordinator
Replacement of the Chat Coordinator was put on the agenda - the group was asked if this needed to be prioritised, but did not wish to.
A number of longer term chatroom admins stepped down, including Kimberley, Jenny and Jim (AshbyJim)
Vote took place on the motion of rotation (full text below)
The motion passed and minority opinion was called for. Minority opinion contributions were made, there were no changes of votes by those who had voted Yes in the vote, so the motion was accepted (Jan).
[Motion text including the amendment - START]
Unelected Service Positions
Each of the elected officers has a traditional "Right of Decision"
(Concept III). This may often include the appointment of unelected
individuals into positions of trust, as the officer cannot always be
present and resolving all issues, leading all meetings, etc. Yet, by
the very nature of some of the functions being performed, these
individuals may have unqualified temporary authority and decision-making
abilities over another individual's ability even to participate in a
meeting hosted by the group. Such privileges can far exceed any
capabilities of any individual in a face-to-face meeting and the exercise of
such authority or capabilities should be reported at once to the respective
coordinator and their committee for review.
Additionally, any unelected individual may feel obliged to serve a
term beyond that which would be reasonable. Tradition 2 encourages
the spirit of rotation. So, any unelected individual performing
service for the group should serve in that position for a period not
exceeding 2 years, and not return to the same function, except on a very
temporary fill-in basis, for a period of at least 6 months (unless elected by
the group as the officer). Length of service will often be less than 2 years,
e.g. a meeting leader, greeter, etc."
Rationale: We seem to be very good at rotating the elected officers,
but not so good at rotating the unelected worker-bees.
[END]
There was a huge amount of inappropriate mail during the month of December. I remind the members of this email list, that this list "Members" is a business meeting. It is not a venue for the public hearing of personal grievances. Many may not like it, but you, each of you is responsible for your behaviour and your emails and their content (or your choice not to email). Personally, I am totally over people rehashing old resentments. You all know of the steps, of the approach to dealing with resentments. Never forget that resentments are a deadly hazard to alcoholics. I believe at least one person picked up a drink during the turmoil that passed here - that is not acceptable, you can say that you didn't put the drink in that persons hand and didn't pour the alcohol down their throat - that is true BUT we have an obligation to conduct ourselves in a sober manner, a respectful manner.
I request the Members here remain focused on the business before the group, maintaining a principles before personalities approach and maintain decorum.
Thank-you for the opportunity to serve.
2. Treasurer's Report, Ketra
Follow this link
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8FVry85kLj6ZWM5MTA2ZWUtZmQyNC00Yzc5LTllNDgtM2IyMDg1NzRjZGEx&hl=en to view the December detail sheet.
DEC. OVERVIEW:
1199.95 member contributions
(74.80) expenses
1125.15 balance
Please note we're significantly over our prudent reserve ($450.00 est). We had one large contribution via PayPal and I want to move slowly to distribute the reserve overage in case there was a decimal error or something goofy. Also please note that although we had literature expenses of around $120 for Dec. that check is going out in today's mail, so the expense will show up on the Jan. 2010 report. (Note: the literature outlay for books didn't suddenly jump in Dec., after careful discussion with the lit sender, Trish, we determined it was better stewardship to get an Amazon Prime account for the year for her service and the Jan. figure includes that annual expense).
Okay, that's the highlights.
For your convenience, contribution methods are:
PayPal:
http://www.e-aa.org/group_seventh.php
Mail:
The e-AA Group
732 Viader Ct.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
USA
3. Online Intergroup Representative's Report, Susan
December was a lively month at the Online Intergroup ! Please see the snipped report from the Chair, below for an overview. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or interest in the business of the Online Intergroup. Also, anyone can subscribe as a "peanut" (non voting member), to be more informed about the activities at the Online Intergroup.
CHAIR'S REPORT January 1, 2010
December Reports were submitted or questions answered by the following: OIAA Historian, OIAA Listkeeper, OIAA Chair, 12th Step Committee, Cooperation With the Professional Community Committee, Policy & Admissions Committee, Public Information Committee, Unity Committee, Web Committee, Convention Committee, Ad-Hoc Sponsor Committee, Ad-Hoc Welcome Committee, Ad-Hoc Directory Listing Update Committee.
We had two resignations and quick reinstatement of: Listkeeper and OIAA Secretary.
In December, the Assembly held three relatively lengthy discussions, on Listkeeper Term of Service, Photos (of committee members) in Power Point Presentation, Reports (differentiating good/bad). All posts and summaries of above topics are available in the business email list archives.
Special Election OIAA Alternate-Chair: First Ballot
One motion was made for the Listkeeper Term Of Service
4. Grapevine Representative's Report, Scott
We had 25 entries this month for the grapevine drawing and this months lucky winner was Kathy M.! Congratulations Kathy! Thanks to everyone that entered and please keep trying till you win!
Here is the report for December's issue of Grapevine Magazine:
AA is a very practical program, a friend assured me when I was new and afraid it might have rules or a religious agenda. If you want to get sober, AA suggests small, simple actions like going to a meeting, talking with another alcoholic and not picking up a drink one day at a time, she said. Eventually I saw that even aspects of the program that seemed philosophical—letting go of self, living along spiritual lines—were rooted in action: setting up chairs, throwing away someone else's paper cup, taking a newcomer to coffee.
So it's not surprising that when AAs write about what gives them hope, the subject of this issue's special section, they say it springs from action. Hope is something you can see or feel. For the author of "Down the Mountain," overwhelmed by the deaths of both son and husband, it's the stillness that descends when she arrives at a meeting and the reading goes to the quick of her pain. For the author of "Ground Work," it's giving up his Christmas break to plant a garden in a neglected churchyard. By giving hope and joy to others, he writes, "I feel useful and connected." For the author of "What Hope Looks Like," it's in the tears of an alcoholic who sees for the first time that he doesn't have to kill himself to kill the pain of losing his daughter and wife; AA offers another way out. Hope is "the freedom and happiness that only someone on the verge of physical death, after already suffering spiritual and emotional death, can comple
tely know," the writer says. And it is contagious: We catch it every time we touch the life of another alcoholic and he or she touches ours.
That is the kind of hope I hope you will catch from the stories in this issue, and when you do, I hope you'll pass it on.
Subscriptions to the Grapevine can be ordered here: http://www.aagrapevine.org/catalog/shop/gvsuborder.php
The cost for a 1 year subscription is $27 for the USA, $31 for Canada and $39 for all other international orders.
Call for Articles: The AA Grapevine is your meeting. Please feel free to share. We are always looking for new stories to share with our readers, especially for our Special Sections. If you would like to share a story with us, please keep in mind that we need to receive it at least three months prior to publication. The Grapevine welcomes articles on every aspect of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.
We are always glad to get stories about helping others and working with professionals. In addition, we always welcome articles about the Traditions and the Twelve Steps. Suggested manuscript length is three to seven double-spaced pages. Include your full name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. Please keep a copy of your work because manuscripts cannot be returned. Refer to our Submission Guidelines for more information.
Mail to:
Editorial department, Grapevine,
475 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10115
or by email to
gveditorial@aagrapevine.org
5. Literature Committee Chair's Report, Sheila
We sent 2 Big Books in December.
Tina - Minnesota - referred by Chatroom
Campbell - Georgia - referred by Chatroom
Thanks to the chat folks for remembering our Big Book offer and for your service.
Our Stories
Thanks to the Webteam here at e-AA for posting Russell's story about buying a yard for his cat. You can find Russell's story ( and many others ) here : http://www.e-aa.org/group_stories.php
Ongoing business:
We very gratefully welcomed Len back to the Literature Committee. Len has some excellent leads for new stories - and a great deal of experience with the committee.
Please consider submitting your story to the Committee!!
6. Twelve Step Coordinator's Report, Todd
Step-12 Email Team : First and foremost: Thank you to members on the Step-12 email list. We are all part of a very valuable AA tool . . . Get Help Now. Thank you! If you would like read or respond to GetHelpNow emails,please contact the list-keeper.
Items we are working on, from last month:
Reducing Reply Spam ~ Change to the List-Email address.
We really want our reply to be opened, and not dumped as spam.
The Web Team and List-keepers are working together to complete the change.
The New Email we requested is GetHelpNow@e-aa.org
When it is complete, a housekeeping announcement will be posted to business meeting list.
Tally Dec09
Requests approx: 65
Replies approx: 101
7. Email Coordinator's Report, Ian
Juanita has stepped down as secretary of the women's email meeting. Sheila B is the new secretary. Laurel M has become the new greeter in the 12&12 meeting. I'd like to thank Juanita for her service, and welcome Sheila and
Laurel to the email committee.
The 12&12 email meeting continues to have weekly topics of sharing. As we're in January, we're currently on the topic of Step 1 from the Big Book.
8. Forum Coordinator's Report, Juanita
The forum is active and running well. There is nothing new to report at this time.
9. Interim Real Time Coordinator's Report, Dean
The following has been reviewed by the chat folks, at least several of them.
At last count, we had nearly four dozen people participating in service within the chat community. What a wonderful bunch of folks they are.
Special appreciation goes to Mags and Thane for coordinating the recent Holiday Alcathons, as well as to Scott and Brenda for coordinating the search for meeting chairs (aka "secretaries" or "leaders") and greeters for the 28 weekly meetings on the regular schedule (http://e-aa.org/chat/eaa_chat_schedule_full.php).
The new chat program (http://e-aa.org/chat.php) is attracting more and more people, and the number of daily help requests just to get into the chat rooms has decreased from sometimes double digits to nearly zero. Highest number of concurrent users (all rooms), 38; average number of users per hour, 10.7; "Main Room" (aka "lounge" or "fellowship hall"), highest number of concurrent users, 24.89; "Main Room" average, 8.9; "Meeting Room" highest number of concurrent users, 27; "Meeting Room" average, 4; "Women's Meeting Room" highest number of concurrent users, 14; "Women's Meeting" average, 1 (password protected; only used once per week so the average seems low). Total log-ins since the new program has been publicly available (Sep 15, 2009): 7,802.
The new chat program isn't as flexible (monitor and admin options) as the previous program, and how to surmount those challenges are being discussed on the chatcom@e-aa.org list. For example, turning off "whisper" in all rooms, and turning on "private messages" in the meeting rooms only (so the greeters can do their jobs in the background). In other words, in the "Main Room," all chat would be public. We'll let you know how the discussion turns out.
10. Links Editor's Report, Arlena
The following links were added in the month of December:
Shoals AA
Site Description: Alcoholics Anonymous District One Area One Northwest Alabama (Serving Colbert,Franklin,Lauderdale & Lawrence counties and Belmont, MS
5th Tradition group of Alcoholics Anonymous
Site Description: 5th Tradition group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Atlanta, GA with beginner, big book study and speaker meetings each week. All speakers can be listened to or downloaded from our website.
Soberstock
http://www.soberstock.com/
Abbotsford Intergroup, BC Canada
Link updated with new address and contact information per their request.
We continue to check existing links to make sure they are still active and delete those that are not.
11. Listkeeper's Report, Trish O.
Things are running smoothly in the Listkeeping dept. We have a new service alternate listkeeper -- Karl has joined us :-)
12. Check out Markings, the newsletter for AA archivists. Did you ever want to know the difference between the jobs of Archivist, Librarian, Curator, Records Manager and Historian? National archives workshops have been going on since 1996, bringing together the trusted servants who had been "floating out there independently". Read more about the tasks and rewards of this service position here http://www.aa.org/lang/en/en_pdfs/f-151_markings_winter09.pdf
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