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David dreamed of getting a house in the country with a picket fence, a rose
garden, and open space. His dream became a reality when his HIV diagnosis
and poor health made him eligible for a housing facility in the rural region
north of his home city. And he was ok with that.
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At nineteen, David quit a corporate job and moved to New York City to
find work in the theater. Isn't that the oldest story in the book? He'd
say, "No, it is my story - the only story." New York City ate
this young man alive. He hustled, he smoked crack, he did what it took to
stay alive. And when he awoke from this awful bad dream ten years later
he was malnourished, "jonesing" and very ill. He'd hit bottom.
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His family wasn't as disappointed as he'd feared - they were sad and
loving. His "family" was his aunt and uncle. David knew that his
birth mother was dead. He remembered her death when he was eight - that
was when his aunt and uncle had taken him in. Now, nearly twenty years later,
he met his father by accident. He found out that the man who had lived in
the house with the picket fence before him also had AIDS and had the same
last name as his mother - the pieces of a long lost puzzle fell into place.
It was his father, ill, recovering and glad to meet his boy. |
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As David often says, "I'm through not telling the truth." As an
educator of adolescents and a speaker panel coordinator - he stays busy.
His health is good and he works as a chef for a community-based program
for inner city scholars attending his rural town high school. Boy, do they
love his food! He is some cook! |
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When David gets the blues, he reminds himself, "My sky is also blue!"
That thought first came to him in the psych ward at the New York City hospital
where he woke up. |
Back to The Loel Poor Exhibits
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