Letter From the Editor

Since our inception fifteen years ago, peer-to-peer counseling, education, and support has been one of the cornerstones of Body Positive. So it is with great pleasure that we present this month's cover story about the Body Positive Peer Education Program. As stated by the article's author, Ron Russo, "Peer Education is staffed by a group of exceptional people who've dealt with and risen above their personal issues, and bring love and caring into their work." You will have the chance in this issue to meet several of them, and we hope that you may one day also have the opportunity to encounter their excellent work first hand.

This being the December issue, we also address the highs and lows of the holiday season, particularly in this most difficult of periods in the history of New York City. Among the holiday-themed articles in this issue we offer info on holiday happenings by contributor Laura Engle, as well as advice for overcoming the seasonal stress from our "Psychologically Speaking" columnist Dr. J. Buzz von Ornsteiner and our "Healthy Living" columnist Glenn Preston.

Rounding out our issue are two perspectives on surviving and thriving from people living with HIV, a "Research Notebook" article on the rights and responsibilities related to participating in research studies, a BP spotlight on our forthcoming conference on club drugs and men's health, and, in "The Last Word," poetry from a reader on the theme "I Own All of Me."

The holidays are a time of nostalgia, when we look back to years past. But this season, we can also look back with nostalgia just a few months back, before September 11, when our nation had known a decade of unprecedented peace and prosperity. Even more than usual, we truly don't know what the new year will bring. But if the resilience shown by New Yorkers this fall -- and by people living with HIV for the past two decades -- is any guide, we may just be alright.