Christine finds a great deal of pleasure in people's confusion about her age and her looks. As an HIV educator for high school and grade school students, she loves to be told, "You're too pretty to have AIDS" or, "You're too young to have AIDS." Christine is a myth buster. She'll answer by saying, "Oh, really?? And how old and unattractive do you have to be to be exposed to HIV?"

She was a food services employee who was relieved of her position by an otherwise friendly boss. Apparently, he felt that her presence at the restaurant was a threat to his business because she has AIDS. She busted that myth when she took work elsewhere, and despite a general community awareness of her HIV status, she brought a new and money spending clientele to this new job. Christine is loved by everyone who knows her. Perhaps this is small consolation to a woman for whom the biggest of life's gifts is life itself. She feels that an inadequate women-specific health program has cost her a great deal. When she hears talk about 'a cure', or 'a vaccine', she feels that it will be for others and not herself. Christine wants to live a long and full life. If she does, it will be in no small part because she alone has paved a way for women with AIDS in her rural area.