Earl Hightower of Studio City, CA
at 22nd Mid-Winter Roundup

February 14, 2009 ~ Syracuse, NY
10 Tracks ~ 51 Minutes
After some thank yous Earl talks about having childhood behavioral problems and being put into a boarding school.

He felt totally abandoned but realizes now that he was given a great educational opportunity.

His first Drink and Drug while in that boarding school.

Escalating drug and alcohol abuse in his teen years; lots of drugs but Booze was the most constantly use substance.

The reliability of Booze when contrasted with street drugs.

After surviving an airplane crash his life spirals downward even faster. Survivors guilt.

He begins to try to get sober with multiple detoxes. How his tricky alcoholic mind always got him to start again.

Finally he ends up physically injured, criminally charged and dangerouslly insane.

His last detox and told to got to AA. He begins coming to AA with contempt but sees they may be onto something.

He doesn't like the people in AA (or anyone else) but feels AA may have the answer to his problem.

Amazed that people in AA talk openly about their problems. Something he had never before seen or done.

Tells some stories about things that happened to him in early sobriety.

Talks about the meaning of the AA symbol. Triangle in Circle.

Talks about the steps and spiritual growth.

A Power Greater than himself can enable him to do things he could not do by himself.

Talks a bit about his wife and their relationship. It's Valentines Day.

A Great Closing Segment where he talks about the gifts of sobriety and the AA way of life.

This is a really good Earl H talk- not too long with plenty of substance.

 Earl Hightower
of Studio City, CA
14 Tracks 63 Minutes
A Really great topic talk. Earl begins by reading parts of page 84 and 85 of the Big Book which is where Step 10 is discussed.
His talk is really about developing a way of life that is fundamentally different from what he had when active.
He points out that he was a fear driven human being and because of this love tolerance and the way of life described in pages 84 and 85 was alien to him.
He talks about the process of growth that changed him from entirely fear driven and selfish to somewhat loving and helpful.
It began with his sponsor prodding him into his first AA friendship,
and continues to this day with him taking an active part in peoples lives by practicing the steps and participating in AA activities.

A Talk About Relationships in Sobriety by Earl Hightower of Studio City, CA
at Sober Vacation  February 11, 2005
Earl Hightower is a great topics speaker. A topic talk by Earl is totally different from his story.
He barely mentions stuff he usually talks about and tells all new stories and talks about all new stuff.
He starts out the relationships talk by talking about them in a general way.
He points out that for a long time he thought he had to work on his "picker" that his big problem was not picking the right ones.
In time he found out that to make relationships work he had to work on himself.
He had to work on what kept him from having serene relations with himself, God and others.
He talks about those three areas for the rest of the talk.
Tells things that happened, stuff he did, and what he learned as he improved.
A really good talk lots of "Rule 62" good hearted humour and identification.