Hey everybody. At the beginning of June I volunteered for THRIVE! -- a one-day educational and empowerment workshop in Atlanta for people living with HIV. I love doing this workshop and think that it is a valuable guide for people on living a long life with HIV.
I was on my spring break and felt like I should do something "wild" since historically, spring break is the week that college students are supposed to "let loose." Since I am a 41-year-old student and not 18 anymore, I felt like making a visit to the New York City Museum of Sex was about as wild as I was going to get during spring break. So, for the price of $11.50 ($3.00 coupon deducted from the original price), I spent two hours roaming the exhibit halls of the Museum of Sex fantasizing about the life I wish I had.
My heart is breaking. It is not breaking over a guy rejecting me or not paying attention to me, but from the end of something amazing.
Dating sucks. I hate it and wish I didn't have to participate in it. I realize that no one is forcing me to date, but does it have to be so complicated? Can't we just go out, like each other, find each other attractive, have great safer sex, get tested, get married, have kids, live happily ever after and avoid all the BS that comes with dating?
World AIDS Day has come and gone. The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 was "leadership." The commentary on the World AIDS Day webpage (http://www.worldaidscampaign.info) noted that this theme can be "as flexible as possible to accommodate a range of campaigning needs."
Before you accuse me of being something that I am not, hear me out. I am sick of seeing posters that associate this disease with one race. Are we not all at risk for this disease? Why do the majority of HIV prevention posters, videos, etc. only target one race?
It has been well over a year since my friend Dan Dunable died. We think he died on October 4th ... but we are really not sure ... we don't know, we are guessing. What we do know is that he was dead when we found him on Wednesday, October 4, 2006. "We" included me, Butch, Jon, the Atlanta Police Department and the Atlanta Fire Department. It was a circus and a nightmare.
Have you ever thought about how we come to believe what we believe or why some people think what they think? Let me give you an example; or, actually, let me share an e-mail exchange between me and one of my not-to-be-named cousins.
Hi. My name is Terri Wilder. I am a person ... a weird, opinionated, compassionate person who has worked in HIV for 18 years. I didn't start out in the field because I was personally affected. That came later. I started in the field because I was walking through the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia and found a brochure ... one brochure, announcing an AIDS-related workshop.