As part of the Link
As part of the Link and Think Program on World AIDS Day. those bored enough to read this blog can wade through my thoughts, then follow some links a link.
First off, my thoughts, summarized by: I’ve been lucky.
Despite living in some heavily impacted areas (S.F. Bay Area, Washington, DC, and sub-saharan Africa), none of my friends are, to my knowledge, infected. That’s not to say the pandemic has not affected my life. I was in Berkeley when the first safe-sex propaganda was coming out, even though there was still debate over the cause of the disease and an overwhelming bias toward/against gays at the supposed carriers of the disease. I lived overseas for four years in terror that requiring local medical care would result in contracting HIV, at the time an absolute death sentence. I was in Bangkok, Thailand, on a business trip that coincided with my birthday when the local press reported in a front page headline that five out of six bar girls there tested postitive for HIV. As an American diplomat in sub-saharan Africa I saw the looks of distrust, disbelief and disgust from locals as local press reported that the plague that was decimating their continent was a result of U.S. Government live-subject experiments in Africa gone awry. In short, it has changed my behavior and my attitudes, and I don’t believe anyone who’s been alive the last twenty years can say this pandemic hasn’t negatively affected their life in some way.
I was going to follow that up with links to safe, institutional sites, but after seeing East/West last night, think that’s probably the better choice. Choire and Philo did an amazing job.
