WHAT I LEARNED: 1. In 1986, Al-Anon’s first outreach film “Al-Anon Speaks For Itself” (item # AV-10) helped carry the message to teachers, the clergy, the media, social workers, counselors, & other professionals.  The 15-minute program featured stories from members from all walks of life & was broken into 5 sections: 1) The Way It Was, 2) Going to a Meeting, 3) Getting Better, 4) Getting To Know the Program & 5) Getting on With Life.

2. Per page 15 of the “2000 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46), the film was recommended to be discontinued because “it was generally agreed that the video was too long in this era of information bombardment.”  However, the World Service Office (WSO) posted it to YouTube in 2007, then removed it, & re-posted it in 2013 randomly edited into 4 parts (rather than to fit the 5 sections mentioned above).  It is available to view at these links from the WSO’s YouTube channel:

Part 1 (4:49 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDQCE2de494

Part 2 (5:19 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP93dlbjouE

Part 3 (4:49 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6gRA0afJJ0

Part 4 (1:41 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5w3SmEmgc8

Since this blog is about literature, below are 4 screenshots from the video about the CAL shown.  It’s a little step back in time to see how literature tables would have looked in the mid-80’s!

3. I love the beginning of the video where the lady is describing the games we play to get the “Good Housekeeping seal of approval…”   I have 2 favorite lines – the first is:

“Look, you have to go to Al-Anon.  If you have to think of it as medicine, then think of it as medicine.  I’m writing you a prescription: Al-Anon.” 

And my other favorite line is:

“Al-Anon is a very simple program for very complicated people.”   

By the way, when I watched it on YouTube, I had the closed captioning feature turned on & when a member mentioned AA, it listed AAA in the subtitles instead – ha ha!  I wonder how many times that happens in the other fellowship! 😜

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**BONUS CAL QUESTION: Per page 21 of the “1996 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46), what country was approached by Blockbuster Video to put the “Al-Anon Speaks for Itself” video in their stores?  (Hint: Think koala bears & “G’day mate!”)

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***UPDATE (4/24/17): Good things come to those who wait!  My Higher Power must have known I was searching for this VHS tape.  You can click on the thumbnail image to see the actual video jacket cover!