IJ study archive

Gately on Boston AA — "At least this pain means you're…"

quote

At least this pain means you're going somewhere, they say, instead of the repetitive gerbil-wheel of addictive pain.

Context

Gately's long free-indirect tour of Boston AA, and the recovery counter-thesis in two images a page apart: the fellowship's own logo is a triangle held inside a circle, and what AA actually offers isn't less pain but pain with a direction — versus the "repetitive gerbil-wheel" kind. The whole sobriety-vs-addiction question, restated as geometry: a line out, or another lap.

In anthology