Like you, I was diagnosed with HIV. Almost fifteen years on, I've never been healthier. Let's stay positive and let's beat HIV and AIDS together. IMPORTANT: I am not qualified to give advice on HIV/AIDS treatment. Don't make treatment decisions on anything you see here. Remain critical at al times especially if someone claims hiv/aids doesn't exist or they have found a cure for it. They are lying to you (and to themselves).
I don't think much of beauty pageant in general and the bimbos who make it their ambition to achieve world peace but Miss America Caressa Cameron talks intelligently about HIV/AIDS, how her uncle's disease opened her eyes to the devastation the disease could have on a family. She is pretty, too.
"I hope to use my voice in as many ways as possible, because I know I have a face that matches what this epidemic is right now. I think it’s important I use [my platform, myself and my messages to save lives]."
Help scientific research into hiv/aids by sharing the processing power of your humble computer during downtime.
FightAIDS@Home is now a project on the World Community Grid . This means more benefits for our Members. For example, you will be able to see your Member statistics, create and join teams with other members, and participate in discussion forums . Being part of World Community Grid is simple -- and the software is free, secure, and will not affect how you use your computer!
Would you? After a brief, sensual video introduction on HIVSTIGMA.COM you are asked to decide. I was taken aback, overwhelmed, intrigued and excited at the same time.
Click Skip (bottom right corner of the screen on that page) to proceed to the website. You are met by handsome hiv positive men with a message. They have been living with hiv for years or months; they have been living with the stigma of the hiv label (HIV Stigma definition)
You won't be surprised to hear that I already have a crush on a few of the gentlement who posted their videos or blogs. This being a Canadian website, however, chances of a romantic relationship developing between any of those good looking guys and poor old me are thin. Also, they would have to know that I am watching them. Mere details, I know.
Explore the website now further and get sucked into the discussion.
HIV exists also in virtual world Second Life, if the presence of a HIV Prevention and Care center is anything to go by. And lauded thatshould be too. While you and I may be playing Second Life for free, it's big bucks being spent on education and outreach. The project runs from 1st Octiober 2008 to 31st March 2010.
The Alliance Library System (ALS) is pleased to announce that the National Library of Medicine has awarded ALS a $60,000 grant for a project entitled "AIDS Information and Outreach in the Virtual World of Second Life." The project includes the creation of a new island with a community AIDS/HIV library/resource center. The resource center will provide information support and outreach to the Second Life community and beyond about AIDS/HIV and its prevention. The new island will also be home to a garden space where narratives about the AIDS/HIV experience can be shared through art, audio, video, poetry, essays, and more. The project runs from October 1, 2008 – March 31, 2010.
Have you heard? There is a new search engine, Cuil.com, which is hoping to be a strong contender (or take the place of?) Google. All the better for us, small people, as more web and better search engines should mean better information and better living with or with hiv and aids. That's cool. No, I mean that's Cuil.
So, with my poz glasses firmly on my nose, ten fingers on the keyboard, one eye on Cuil.com and another on Poz.com personals, I queried the terms [hiv aids]:
We didn't find any results for hiv aids which for a split second made me think, hey wow, that new search engine is brilliant, it can even read me back my latest blood test results and has found me to be undetectable. The split second over (it feels longer, doesn't it?) I realised that the words hiv and aids together probably weren't meaningful enough to Cuil. Aaaahhhh. Only a few million search results for Google, probably, and only a few dozens, presumably, people with hiv aids around the world.
I'll give it to them, searching for hiv alone was much more rewarding. What with the suggested categories on the right hand side (note AIDS dissidents in the list!):
Even with all that, I can't be bothered spending more time on the search engine that requires me to find the words that it will understand instead of reading my mind.
What do you think of that new search engine and its apparent inability to cope with a diagnostic of hiv aids??
The effect of that absurd ban was that people with HIV/AIDS who still wanted to conduct business in the US or just enjoy a holiday had to either travel without their medication or smuggle them into their luggage at the risk of being found out and banned for life.
The latter was my experience. When in 2003 my boss offered me to visit the mothership in the state of Washington I did not want to turn down the opportunity. At the same time, I did not want to tell my boss about my hiv status. Taking with me enough to take me through the long flight, I stuffed the rest of my medication into the bottom of my bag hoping that I would not be searched.
Thank God, I went through border control without any hassle from the rather intimidating security staff!
Visiting the US was a great experience. The US seem so familiar because we see so much of it through films and TV series, finding myself walking in downtown Seattle was like being on a movie set. Walk. Don't Walk. Extreme service in shops. ID required to drink in bars. And handsome Americans to boot.
In those past 12 and a bit years since I was diagnosed and put on medication I swore I would never go there. I even rationalised that I was never into American culture to begin with. Now that the borders seem to open themselves to people with HIV who take their medication with them, I have to admit that I am curious about it. That I wish I could have visited even more of the things I heard about in movies and on TV... I can even make plans now to attend conferences and meet some of the brightest brains on earth. How cool is that?
Chris Rock hits it on the nail.I haven't come across many comedians or people brave enough to joke about hiv aids so I was delighted when I watched Chris Rock's show on New Year's Even and heard these gems.
About taking the test and worrying about the result. Rings a bell?
I took the AIDS test... passed it... with a 65! Now, the scary thing about the AIDS test is that when you take it, you don't get the results back for FIIIVVEE days, and in those five days you start reflectin'. You start reflectin' on every single piece of dirty, disgusting little sex you've ever had! Oh my God, 1993, what the fuck was I thinkin'? Then, you start callin' people up to see if they still alive!
About waiting for the test results anxiously and calling recent shags just to check that they are still alive and well...
[Impersonating a telephone call]
Chris Rock: Yeah, hello, is Stacy there? "This is Stacy." CLICK! Hello, is Tammy there? "Oh, Tammy dead." Well, what happened? "... she got hit by a bus." OH, THANK THE LORD!
About gays in the military - not HIV/AIDS but close to my heart and my thinking!
If they wanna fight, let 'em fight. Cause I ain't fightin'! I don't give a fuck if there's a Russian tank rollin' down Flatbush Avenue. I ain't shootin' nobody. So call me a faggot! When the war's over, I'll be the faggot with two legs, thank you!
About curing AIDS. I've had athlete's foot for a very long time, well before hiv but the funny thing is... now my doctor would tell me that it is caused by my hiv!!!!
You think the government is gonna cure AIDS? NOO! They can't even cure athlete's foot!
So true. Why cure AIDS? Slight digression on the same theme.
The government curing AIDS? That's like Cadillac making a car that last for fifty years... and you know they can do it! But they ain't gonna do something that fucking dumb! Shit! They got metal on the space shuttle that can go around the moon and withstand temperatures up to 20,000 degrees. You mean to tell me you don't think they can make an El Dorado where the fucking bumper don't fall off?
Jokes or political criticism? Offensive or necessary? What do you think?
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