Hello out there! I am Candace Y. A. Montague. I am a writer from Washington, D.C., and I cover HIV/AIDS news for the D.C. Examiner.com. I was inspired to write about HIV after learning about how hard African-American women have been hit by the disease, in 2008. Being an African-American woman myself, I felt drawn to this fight from then on.

Covering HIV in D.C., where the infection rate is currently the highest in the country, is like writing about the stock market from the middle of the floor at the N.Y. Stock Exchange. D.C. is bustling and exciting and quite fascinating when it comes to AIDS. I'm a teacher by trade and I enjoy running at my leisure, so chasing a story is not a problem for me.

I have attended black tie fundraisers, distributed condoms in front of a popular gay bar, covered celebrity basketball tournaments, witnessed a shouting match at a church forum and followed a protest from the White House to the mayor's office that ended with two people being arrested. So you see being in the 'epicenter of the epidemic' feels just right for a busy lady like me. What will happen next is anyone's guess. I can't wait to show you all what I see.

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