Alcoholics Anonymous meeting: April 17, from 6:30 to 7:30 P.M. In Paso Robles, California.

I previously had contacted the leader of the AA meeting to see if I could get permission to attend a session. He wondered if I was in the media, and I told him this was for a college class; and after he explained that everything is open for discussion in these meetings he made clear that I was not to use any real names in my report. I agreed and here is what happened at that meeting.

As I approached the meeting place -- in the back of a small retail building on a busy street near downtown -- several men and a woman were smoking cigarettes outside the building and greeted me with "hi." There was an outside ash tray jammed full of cigarette butts, but no cigarette butts were on the ground. I was...
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