What a treat it is for Rebellion Dogs to be in conversation again with author, historian, and super-wise and enthusiastic speaker, Dr. Trysh Travis. Wild guess: you're going to love this...

"How I got from The Language of the Heart: the Recovery Movement from AA to Oprah (2009) to Feminists of Drugs: A History," Trysh Travis, PhD, talks about how her first book led to her latest work. None of us could believe it was a year ago that we were all together at ICSAA 2024 (the International Conference of Secular AA in Orlando), where Dr. Travis spoke to us about AA in the Age of Polarization.

As a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard), Trysh continues her work with time and resources to focus on her research within a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment. Trysh Travis focuses on 20th-century U.S. cultural and literary history, with a particular emphasis on gender and popular culture. Sub-specialties include the history of medicine, therapy, addiction, recovery, self-help, and the history of print culture, the evolution of book publishing/promotion and the role of reading in the lives of everyday people.

Dig in now for an hour or so - damn it goes by fast; we will have Trysh back and in the meantime, some of what was cut on the editor's floor for this epic discourse will find its way into a new episode about the impact of AA on the Plain Language Big Book.

Visit Rebellion Dogs Radio for links to everything we talk about in the show.

Mary and Joe really appreciated talking shop with Trysh Travis, and we hope you'll enjoy this energetic and poignant talk, too.

More Trysh Travis #WomenAlsoKnowHistory

Please join the conversation; for social media, contact info, links and show notes, info on Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life and other great books etc, visit:

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Mary C and Joe C in conversation with Dr. Adina Silvestri is what's on the menu for Episode 85 of Rebellion Dogs Radio.

Some of the topics we discussed with Dr. Adina include the evolution of therapeutic modalities and what's on offer today for people with Mental Health or substance use concerns: Internal Family Systems (adopted from attachment theory), microdosing for enlightenment and breakthroughs, trauma and emotional impasses, hypnosis, sound bathing and more.

In Adina's podcast, Atheists in Recovery, Joe was a guest on her show. John Sheldon had Adina as a guest for Episode 177 of the Beyond Belief Podcast.

Dr. Silvestri also reviewed 30 Things: Practical Advice for Living Well, written by William H. Schaberg and published by Rebellion Dog (2024).

https://adinasilvestri.com/counseling-services/

• Therapies with Adina include:
• Internal Family Systems Therapy
• Brainspotting
• Writing Bravely
• Ketamine-Assisted Therapy
• Therapy Intensive
• Hypnotherapy
• Imposter Syndrome Counselling
• Group, Family and online/in-person therapy

Discussed on the show:

Sam Harris Awake App

Free Samples of Adina's Writing Through Grief and Loss: An IFS Journal for Healing

Episode 177 of Beyond Belief Podcast hosted by John Sheldon with Adina Silvestri

Adina Silvestri reviews 30Things: Practical Advice for Living Well by William H. Schabert (Rebellion Dogs Publishing 2024)

Please join the conversation; for social media, contact info, links and show notes, info on Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life and other great books etc, visit:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/home-page

This is Episode 84 of Rebellion Dogs Radio. Mary C and Joe C welcome Jamie Marich, PhD as her latest collaborative effort is published: Queering EMDR Therapy. Dr. Jamie will read a poem of hers that is published in this latest book.

We talk about the need for authenticity/integrity and its role in properly connecting in peer2peer, therapy and recovery, work, and community. And in a polarized environment, is our job to be truly authentic or avoid offending anyone? Well, that's a helluva question; let's talk about it.

We will look at this therapist/author's backlog of great books and her recent visits to ICSAA (International Conference of Secular AA) events in-person in Orlando (2024) and this September at ICSAA Virtual 2025.

For a complete list of links and show notes, visit Rebellion Dogs

Also,

https://jamiemarich.com/author/

Please join the conversation; for social media, contact info, links and show notes, info on Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life and other great books etc, visit:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/home-page

Episode 38 of Rebellion Dogs Radio includes this interview with author Leslie Jamison at a Toronto hotel for her book tour. The Recovering is part memoir and part history of the Americana writers, creators, their work and their struggles.

Jamison’s 2024 latest Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story is also autobiographical, this time about love, parenthood and divorce. For our interview of this replay podcast (#38), Leslie had her beautiful baby in tow - a book tour during the realities of parenthood - and Splinters is about love and divorce and parenthood, full of lived experiences.

http://www.lesliejamison.com/#/news/

Please join the conversation; for social media, contact info, links and show notes, info on Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life and other great books etc, visit:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/home-page

Right now, we look ahead to 2024. Freethinkers in Orlando Alcoholics Anonymous are preparing to host the International Conference of Secular AA. This will mark ten years since our first International gathering of AA, for and by atheists and agnostics.

This show is a replay of Episode IX - highlights of the first ever We Agnostics & Freethinkers International A.A. Conference from Santa Monica California, November 6th to 8th, 2014.

Rebellion Dogs Radio # 9 includes segments from the keynotes given and a snap-shot of what was happening ten year ago, as all AA eyes were drawn to Los Angeles, historians, nonbelievers in recovery from addiction, fundamentalist AA's who overtly opposed Atheist/Agnostic AA at this critical juncture and the greater addiction/recovery community.

On the trip, I was one of several members who came a day early to visit the Pacific Group on the Wednesday night, to see what all the fuss was about. I stayed a day longer to visit my first (the first) Refuge Recovery meeting in LA.

Depending when you're listening to this, some of the Orlando ICSAA 2024 host committee will be sharing their recovery stories and updating us about the upcoming conference on the monthly ICSAA First Sunday International secular speakers Zoom Meeting January 7, 11 AM Pacific, 2 PM East, 7 PM UK/IE, 8 PM Central Europe. A link (if you missed it) to the ICSAA podcast can be found below. Registration for ICSAA 2024 is now open.

It's been a helluva decade.


A link to Rebellion Dogs Radio talk with Ward Ewing about his book 12 Steps to Religiousless Spirituality

Show notes and links from Episode IX from December 2014

More information about the September 20-22 Orlando International Conference of Secular AA

ICSAA audio archives: https://secularaa.buzzsprout.com/

Please join the conversation; for social media, contact info, links and show notes, info on Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life and other great books etc, visit:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/home-page

A significant portion of this Rebellion Dogs Radio Episode 20 was the first interview we conducted with recovery friend/history lover, and writer Bob K, also known as Bobby Beach, originally aired in January 2016.

It is with sadness that we share the news that Bob passed away at the age of 75 on August 12, 2025, in the early morning hours. This recording, the first of two on Rebellion Dogs Radio (the second being about his historical fiction called The Secret Diaries of Bill W.

The whole episode talks about history, the history of agnostics and atheists in AA, remembering Erinest Kurtz, PhD, who Bob and I share the honour of Ernie-Freaking-Kurtz having written the Forewords to our books (Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life + by Joe C, + Key Players in AA History, by Bob K).

So, let's remember Bob K. Feel free to fast forward to 20 minutes to listen to my chat with Bob.

The inside joke of Bobby Beach:

The now-defunct TheFix.com (oh, how I miss this town-square of topical issues in the recovery community) first recruited me to write an article was early in the "Toronto De-listing Debachal." In May of 2011, Toronto Intergroup took draconian measures to eliminate growing atheism in AA by voting to remove the two (at the time) agnostic/atheist meetings: Beyond Belief Agnostic & Freethinkers Group and We Agnostics. TheFix editor knew or heard about me from somewhere, called me, pitched me and made an offer. The article would use this event as a news peg, and it was titled around the larger question: "Do Atheists Belong in AA?"

In the addiction/recovery/healthcare world, I use the pen name Joe C. They didn't like that; they wanted a full name. I asked, "Does it have to be a real name?" "No," they answered, "just a first and last name." So, I replied, "So, how about Jesse Beach?" This was a stroke of good luck; the article was all over social media, and I had complete anonymity in my AA hometown and Area.

Then we learned that the alleged "anonymous author" of The White Paper on Agnostics, a Mein Kampf-esque manifesto on how and why to rid AA of the infectious threat of freethinkers, and our meetings--the word around AA History Symposium was that this was Sandy Beach, conference speaker. So inadvertently, Sandy Beach and Jesse Beach were family, divided by a family squabble. Well, Bok K joined the fray, evoking the pseudonym Bobby Beach, which is right in Bob's wheelhouse for sense of humour.

Visit the writings of Bob K @ https://aaagnostica.org

Visit Rebellion Dogs Radio page for more bob k when we talk about The Secret Diaries of Bill W. This is also right in Bob's sense of humour wheelhouse.

EPISODE 72 The Secret Diaries of Bill W by bob k

More History: September 27, 9 AM at Secular Ontario AA Roundup in Ottawa, Canada https://www.soaar2025.ca/ Joe C on the history of agnostic and atheist (secular AA) meeting and gatherings in AA.

Please join the conversation; for social media, contact info, links and show notes, info on Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life and other great books etc, visit:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/home-page

Rebellion Dogs Radio episode 83 broadcasts within the 90 years of AA in Vancouver, Canada, from July 3 to 6, 2025, at the International Convention. Because COVID-19 prevented the in-person 2020 Detroit I C from happening, it’s been ten years since we all met in Austin. Estimates put the attendance at 38,000 in Vancouver; others enjoyed 8 hours of hybrid “Language of the Heart” – the convention theme – by logging on privately or participating in watch parties with AA members at home groups, clubhouses, or online via Zoom and other communities.

"The Language of the Heart" was the theme for this quinquennial gathering, which featured a diverse program offering sessions on Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour, LGBTQIA+, young people's, women's, career-specific (pilots, lawyers, doctors, first responders) groups, and more. Atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers tended to the hospitality suite of the International Conference of Secular AA. They presented three panels for everyone: "We Agnostics," "One Big Tent," and "What Makes a Secular AA Meeting Format?" which were shared with over 2,000 AAs in attendance.

One Big Tent offers the experiences of Michel from Ottawa, Stephanie from New Zealand and Rady, presently in Cleveland. We’ll also hear from members from Ireland, Poland and around the USA. AA members came to learn more about “AA with—or without—God.”

Joe C participated in and recorded "One Big Tent." You can get your recordings of this or another 700 panellists and speakers who shared at the Convention Centre or in BC Place, the stadium, downtown, for a few dollars each. AA contracts the recording, and they will happily provide some or all of the recordings via CD or MP3.

Visit AA.org for AA International Convention FAQ

or visit/Google Multiview Recording Services

https://2025ic.sclivelearningcenter.com/MVSite/Default.aspx

You can buy individual meetings or packages of some or all recordings from 2025. Prices for panels range from $3 to $5 for convention panels to $10 for individual stadium sessions.

AA for agnostics and atheists, or secular AA, is part of AA as a whole, referred to as one of many special composition groups. For more information about secular AA (humanists, agnostics, freethinkers, atheists, or anyone who prefers a practical AA approach without a supernatural/religious component) visit Secular AA

https://www.aasecular.org/

Check out Rebellion Dogs Publishing online for our recent blogs, books, merch, upcoming events and links. For more expansive links and thoughts about Vancouver 2025, Language of the Heart, click HERE

Please join the conversation; for social media, contact info, links and show notes, info on Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life and other great books etc, visit:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/home-page

The magical mystery tour of AA storytelling came to Atlanta in 2015, where 60,000 attendees at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous gathered from July 1st to 5th. “80 years – Happy, Joyous and Free” was the theme.

Diggins, Big Mike, and Jeff Y spoke to 1,500 and 2,000 people at the We Agnostics Panel held at the Convention with three speakers.

2025's AA celebration will include a Secular AA Hospitality Suite, which you can find in your 2025 AA Vancouver program. We are open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; come and visit us. There will be another "We Agnostics" panel + all about being part of a secular AA group in another panel called "One Big Tent." Who knows what other panels of the 700 +/- speakers among our secular members will participate?
https://www.aa.org/international-convention

Please join the conversation; for social media, contact info, links and show notes, info on Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life and other great books etc, visit:

https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/home-page