In its 19th annual display at the Boston Center for the Arts, this year’s Medicine Wheel continues to raise AIDS awareness. The 2009 Medicine Wheel, entitled “Luminaria” contains touching phrases, memories of loved ones and special mementos from those who have passed away. The installation is made up of a 45-foot lantern (which has 650 faces printed on white canvas) and encompasses 36 pedestals.

Artistic director Michael Dowling explains the process of creating the Medicine Wheel,

“At first we thought the faces would be people who maybe had died from AIDS or suffered from AIDS and we sent out a call looking for photos and we didn’t really get much of a response … I think part of it was awareness around AIDS is waning. People aren’t really looking at it as a death and dying disease so much anymore. And maybe it’s just too painful to sort of revisit those memories. Then I sort of made the decision to send out an invitation to collect people’s light, the light of a memory of somebody, the light of somebody who’s still in your life, the light of yourself, and if we could join those lights together, then we would have this giant Luminaria, this giant lantern, so I guess I started chasing people’s lights and that was actually easier because the truth is in 2009 all of our lives have been changed by AIDS whether we admit it or not.”

“We still didn’t have enough photographs so we actually opened up the pedestals of Medicine Wheel, because every year people leave offerings to the shrines that have been put in the pedestals, and took out hundreds of photographs from the pedestals and used those as a memorial wall to people who had died and been lost to HIV and AIDS over the last 18 years that Medicine Wheel has been running,” said Dowling.

The stunning use of fully internal lighting serves not only a functional purpose, but also a poetic one. The internal lighting is meant to be a metaphor for looking to the light within us. 

Downing credits the positive outcome of the installation to the young artists and studio assistants who have helped him (several of whom have their own personal connections to AIDS.)

While awareness remains the main purpose and theme of “Luminara,” other themes like life and remembrance are also present.

Like the rest of Medicine Wheel, the exhibit was participatory, as attendees entered the giant embryo [by Agathi Pavlidis, a senior at the Art Institute of Boston] and rested on the circular bedding within the structure. Pavlidis said her experiences working with Dowling led to her extending herself as an artist and creating the work.

“He really just lets you explore yourself as an artist,” she said. “He’s there for guidance but he’s really just giving you an opportunity to kind of test boundaries and delve into a project head on. The best way to learn is to have these challenges, and you’re not going to really know what they are and how to deal with them unless you actually do them. So he’s just really giving you an opportunity to learn through experience.”

To read the entire article associated with this story, click here.

For more information on the exhibition (or to contribute), click here.

For a list of art events going on around Boston, click here.

Today Is Recognized As World’s Aids Day. 

For me, it goes much deeper than just a day of recognition, so much deeper.  I have experienced personal loss from HIV/AIDS.  To put it into words, each time not only helps someone else but myself too.  Somehow I feel many of us at one point or another can become very casual with the very relevant Aids.

First Experience… Haunts Me Till This Day…  

I was a freshman in College, arrived August 1989.  I wasn’t the typical ‘green’ freshmen.  During my junior and senior year in high school my parents entrusted my aunt who was in college four years older than me to let me spend some weekends with her.  I was exposed to some of college life, through college, able to sit in on some of her classes and develop some memorable crushes while spending time with my aunt.

I thought I was prepared for college life…

I went off to college with my best friend at the time.  The feeling of being on your own without the daily interaction of parents was straight LIBERATING! Words that were spoken to me before leaving for college were prophetic.

Welcome To The Real World

Today Is The First Day Of Your Adult Life Experiences

Your College Friends Will Mostly Remain Your Closest Friends

Your College Experience Will Prepare You For The Real World

I am sure many have heard these words and more.  I don’t think many of us who exposed ourselves to the ‘true college experience’ can deny these truths.  Truth, I always say is a slippery slope.  There always seems to be more that is not told when ‘Truth’ is in command of any given moment.

The Initial Experience… *names are changed to protect loved ones 

The year 1989, The Month August

I had been at college for a month when I met *Thames.   He was very handsome, nice build, great personality.  His boy *E was quite taken with my girlfriend *CeCe.  *Thames was a senior in college and *E  recently graduated May 1989, now working as a Chemist, with his own two bedroom apartment The Timbers in Charlotte North Carolina.

*Thames was living off campus with his mother and sister, commuting everyday on the public bus transportation.  *Thames and *E were members of  Fraternities, very popular, athletic, and very respectable guys. *E was taken quite instantly with *CeCe and she with him.  Their only problem was his former girlfriend *Secily who we found out had two abortions from him, suffered a nervous breakdown the end of her sophomore year, took a year off from school and was now back as a junior. 

*Thames had no girlfriend or ex-girlfriend but many admirers.  I feel really hard for him.  The attraction wasn’t a secret, he knew it.  He did not object.  All four of us created a special bond.  Since *E had the car, we all would go places off campus, hang out and have a great time together. *E and *CeCe were sleeping together by the second month and *Thames and I were doing nothing but cuddling.  I was receiving forehead kisses, endearing but I did want more.  If you can imagine the scene, it was I who was asking for more.

*Thames would always say how much he cared for me, respected me and wanted to wait for the right moment.  He said I deserved it.  I felt the same way too but I wanted to move past what we were doing.  At least lip lock.  What bothered me were the times we all attended school dances and he would leave with other girls.  Yeah we didn’t have a title but I was bothered. You leave with a girl after a school dance it’s about 2am, I knew what was up.

For awhile I started to distance myself from *Thames.  I would not accept anymore sleepovers at *E’s that involved all four us.  If *E and *CeCe were getting it on, I wanted the same.  *Thames wasn’t trying to go there and I was not trying to feel ‘unwanted’, ‘wanted’, ‘unwanted’, confused.  We remained friends.  Whenever *E and *Thames would play tennis on campus, I would go along with *CeCe to watch the match.

I soon caught the eye of  The Captain of The Football Team *Wills.  He had a body that would not quit, charm, very popular of course, had a car,  humor, a fraternity brother I was a moth to his flame.  Literally.  Now even though I was a moth to his flame I always stayed cautious.  We started going out and *Thames became less on the brain. 

By the end of the first semester, it was very cordial between *Thames and I .  *Wills and I were now a couple, life was great, classes were great, I was ready to see my parents and spend time with them over the Christmas Break.

During the Spring, *Wills and I were having issues.  I was vulnerable, and tired of the issues we were having.  *CeCe who was my roommate also was giving me some issues.  Over the break she hooked up with her ex who was at another college.  She came back to school pregnant.  They both collected money to get an abortion.  I went along with *CeCe because she was my girl. She needed me even though I don’t believe in abortion for myself, but I am PRO CHOICE.  It is a woman’s right to do what is best for her and her body. My position for myself, If I can have sex, I can accept the consequences.

*CeCe had the abortion, *E never knew. 

*Thames called me up one day.  He asked if  I wanted to attend the off campus afterparty for the new guys who just went over in his fraternity. *Thames caught me at a time where I just wanted no issues, so I said yes.  *Thames had a car by this time, picked me up on campus, and we headed to the party.  When we got there it was crowded.  He fixed me a drink, a plate of food, we mingled and then the fast songs slowed down. 

I remember the conversation…  

*Thames:  you want to dance?  *Me:   Sure 

We went on the dancefloor,  he held me tight, he felt so good, he said I felt so good, his cologne was overpowering me in a good way.  He kissed me on the forehead, each cheek, on the lips no tongue, on the neck.  I was like omigod this is going to happen tonight.  I was feeling happiness, and guilt because I was seeing *Wills.  I pushed my feelings aside for *Wills who was being in impossible jerk these days. 

*Thames:  You want to get out of here? *Me: Yes!

It was a quiet ride.  He said we were going to his mom’s.  She was on her way to work  and he was babysitter tonight.  His sister was nine and she adored *Thames.  He was not only brother but the only father figure she knew.  When we arrived his mom was coming out of the house to catch the bus.  She reminded *Thames to pick her up in the morning and of other things.

*Thames read to his sister with me watching, then he made us a late night snack and then we found ourselves watching television on the couch like nobody’s business.  Definitely the moment at the party had passed and I wasn’t having it.  I got up off the couch, finding my belongings to leave.

*Thames:  What’s wrong?  *Me:  This isn’t gonna happen is it?   Silence.

He offered to take me back to campus.  I declined.  I didn’t want him to wake his sister but he said he didn’t want me riding the bus this late.  It was a quiet ride.  I was so fuming and I knew it would be no more getting my hopes up to be with him.  As I proceeded to get out of the car, he touched my arm.

*Thames:  You will never know how much I care for you.

*Me:  Yea right Thames,  Whatever.  Goodnight.

I walked away and did not look back.  I was so hurt,  that night I walked into my room.  *CeCe was at *E’s,  Thank God.  *Wills had left me four messages wanting to make things right between us.  I didn’t know if one of his boys saw  me leave campus with *Thames but I didn’t care. I showered, got  pj ready, wrapped my hair,  got into bed and I went to sleep.

*Thames and I saw each other a few times around campus.  He would speak and I would speak sometimes but never stopped for conversation.  *Wills and I sat down with each other to work out our issues.  As time went on, my whole heart now belonged to *Wills.  I was in love and I was loved back without the previous issues. *Thames graduated the end of spring.

I never saw him alive again…  

Two more years had gone by.  During those years my mind would often go to *Thames.  I wondered how he was doing.  Alot had changed in my life.  *Wills and I was going strong.  During our time together he spoke to me once about *CeCe and *E.  He said *CeCe needed to be careful because when *E was on the football team in school, there was an issue about him being bisexual.

As a good friend I did talk with *CeCe and she said there were no truths to it. *Wills had asked me about *Thames and I told him nothing ever went down. I didn’t think much of it because there were no obvious signs of femininity, men around.  Yes I was clueless like so many before me, and after me.

The Phone Call That Changed My Life

Life was good, I was out of school, awesome apartment, great job, great social life, doing my thing like a grown up.  *Wills and I had cooled off and I was dating other people.  I decided to take a few days off from work, some well deserved me time.  I was loading dishes in the dishwasher when I received a phone call from my girlfriend from college *Deb.

*Deb:  Benita! I am so glad I caught you!  *Me:  What’s up girl?  Took off.  *Deb:  Are you sitting down?  *Me: Deb what is it? You sound shook girl!   *Deb:  Did you sleep with *Thames in college or after?  Silence…

I was getting pissed.  I thought *Deb was being funny.  Most of everyone knew that I liked him so much and anyone that listened in my inner circle knew what *Thames would not do, what we did not do. I was silent.  

*Deb:  You there?  *Me:  You tryin to be funny Deb? Deb!  What the hell Deb! *Deb:   *Thames was working in a executive position here at the bank I saw him a couple of times, he would ask about you.  After a while girl he started to look funny and then word got out *Thames had to resign from his job.   *Me:  Deb what does this have to do me.  We did not sleep together!   

*Deb:   *Thank God B!  *Thames has AIDS!   He’s at ___ hospital! 

I didn’t hear anything else, I slumped to the floor.  Deb kept calling out to me until I came back to my full senses.  We talked a lil bit more and then I pulled myself up from the floor.  I called my best guy friend who was a orderly at _______ hospital.   I told him what was going on and he looked up the patient records.  It was confirmed *Thames was on the HIV/AIDS floor.

My best guy friend let’s call him *Kellz kept me informed regularly on the condition of *Thames.  *Kellz I felt was gay but he was in big denial and I wasn’t a friend who pushed too much.  He always kept a girlfriend, I was always confronting him not to endanger an innocent life but that is another story.  *Kellz said I needed to come visit *Thames.  He said he wasn’t in a bad way.  *Kellz told me there were many guys who were gay who came to see him, that his mother was there alot and a little girl.  His sister/daughter.

I couldn’t bring myself to go.  I had no words.  I felt ashamed but ashamed for whom?  HIV/Aids wasn’t the real focus as it should have been for heterosexuals.  Many of us were still ignorant to the fact it couldn’t touch us. No one was talking about the bi-sexual side of it all, the men still in the closet who were married or had girlfriends but still did their sex scenes with men.

When I finally decided to go to the hospital Kellz informed me *Thames was released from the hospital. My timing sucked, I was pissed at myself.

*Me:  What do you mean released?  *Kellz: He’s going home to die Bennie.

Bennie is my nickname, one of many.  *Kellz gave me the new address for *Thames and said he would check on me later.  I was in a pure dilmena with myself.  I thought about all the times I wanted *Thames to be with me, all the times it didn’t happen.  I just thought about the close calls and how it could have been me staring death in the face along with *Thames, along with the others.  How many others were there did *Thames take down with him?

I kept thinking about the things I would say, how he would react, how he would look, how I would fee, how he would feel.  Would he reveal to me how he got this disease?  There were so many questions.  Did anything matter now?  Could I just not ask anything and be there for him?

*Deb called again, and again I took a few days off from work. So very deja vu. She told me *Thames had died, the obituary write up was in the paper. 

He was dead, there would be no face to face moment

*Deb had arranged to meet me at the Funeral Home for moral support.  I arrived at the Funeral Home before *Deb.  This funeral home had about four rooms for viewing.  I was greeted by a staff person, gave *Thames full name and they directed me in a room, plush with greenery, artificial waterfalls, serene music playing, a serene experience.  As I approached the casket, I thought I was preparing myself to see *Thames as he was in my mind’s eye.

*At first sight of *Thame’s body, I fainted.

When I came to, several staff persons were around me and *Deb had finally shown up.  I could not believe what I saw.  In the casket was a skelatal body, which reminded me of one of  those persons with ‘aging disease’, if you know what I mean.  His skin was wrinkled, he looked as if he weighed 80 pounds, his skin had darkened, they had a sandy looking toupe’ on his head, it was horrible. There were NO FEATURES of *Thames except his freckles.

The freckles were more pronounced and that was it.

*Thames was a strapping 6 ft, light-skinned, sandy colored hair, beautiful teeth, beautiful smile, light freckles, weighing about 180 pounds give or take. On his suit was the fraternity pin.  The nameplate showed his full name.

Thames…  

The staff person said, “He looks good to have died from Kidney Failure.” 

I asked did I have the right room over and over again, and they assured me along with Deb.  After giving me some juice, the staff people left *Deb and I alone in the room.  *Deb asked if I were okay and I told her yes the initial shock had worn off.  I asked to be left alone with him for a few moments.

I stood over *Thames looking, searching the face to see if I saw resemblence of the guy who I fell for so long ago it seemed.  Nothing, no trace of *Thames. The tears started to fall.  I looked at this skeletal figure, trying to remember how *Thames use to be.  In that moment I could not. 

*Me:  Thank you for loving me, respecting me enough not to give me this.  *Me:  I know now how much you love me, Rest In Peace Thames.

As I walked away, there were brothers from his fraternity at the doorway.  Some of them I knew, some I didn’t.  One guy pulled me aside and he said he had no idea *Thames was having sex with guys.  He said all the years they were in college, he only saw him with women.  I told him I had no idea either, there was never a clear sign.  He asked if I was coming to the funeral, I told him I didn’t know.  I really didn’t know.

Deb followed me to *Thames mother’s home.  When I walked in I recognized more people from college.  I went to his mother and she remembered me.  She told me he spoke about me often even at the ending of his life.  His little sister was now a teenager.  She was distraught, her brother/father was dead. *Thames mother told me how she took a leave from her job to care for him.

She told me he was her baby.  She told me how she had to be counseled in how to care for *Thames to prevent spreading the HIV virus.  She told me she changed his diapers, fed him, read to him, prayed for him.  She told me *Thames became saved years before the disease took him down.  His mother told me she didn’t know how long he knew but she knew it was before he became sick.  His mother told me how he felt ashamed, wanting to close himself off from the world when he looks started changing.

She told me friends came, fraternity brothers came and the ending visit would make him happy.  *Thames mother told me he was ready to go to the next world and he died in her arms.  She said she was there for his first breath and she was there for his last breath. 

I glanced at the orange hazardous bags in the hallway. 

 His mother was sending a message of  ‘No Shame’ to everyone who entered her home.   Everything I wanted to ask *Thames was being told to me, happening as it should have.  As I signed the visitor’s book, his mother had a collage showing *Thames as a baby, child, teenager, in college and after. 

Finally I saw the face of the *Thames I knew.  Healthy and Handsome.

I stared at the picture for a long time.  His mom put her arms around me and she said to me softly, ”I opened the casket for everyone to see what this Aids will do to you if you don’t protect yourself.”  “Thames wanted it this way.”

Finale 

I did not attend the funeral.  I sat in silence in my apartment during the hour the funeral was suppose to be.  I wasn’t planning to go to the graveside but I found myself getting my purse, getting into my car and driving to the Memorial Gardens.  I arrived just as the hearse was pulling up the opposite direction with what seemed like endless cars behind it.

The fraternity brothers made their way out of their cars, I saw out of state car plates, recognizing many in a sea of faces.  *Thames mother and sister got out of the family car.  I stood back a ways observing everything. His coffin was taken out, I am sure it felt light to the frat brothers carrying it.

As I was walking away from the last rites over *Thames, I heard my name being called.  It was *E.  I had questions for the living, for *E. 

*E:  It is so good to see you ( he reached to hug me, I pulled away  quick )  *Me:  Did you know?  (he acts like he doesn’t understand me, I am pissed )  *Me:  You answer me motherf^&%^ I have a right to know!  Right now!  *E:  I wasn’t for sure, I didn’t get into that man’s business like that.                    *Me:  You weren’t for sure? *E:  Let’s not do this here Benita.                           *Me:  Here is a good of place than any.   ( we walk towards my car )         *Me:  Willz told me long about about you.  Were you with *Thames.             *E:  No! I was not with him! Benita he cared for you, he protected you.  *Me: Get out of my car… omigod CeCe ( he didn’t deny Willz accusations ) *Me:  Yes *Thames cared for me, he had a concious! You…. you….

I kept saying you, and *E knew he was dead to me too!  I wasn’t prepared for this kind of life changing event.  This is the kind of stuff you see in a movie, you read in a book, but it was all real.  *E was bisexual, *CeCe was no longer with him but the thought of what she could have shook cold right through my bones.  Here I thought I was the one getting the short stick of things and I was saved. I was saved, I was saved, I was saved by *Thames.

*E got out of the car still saying I had it all wrong, he would always be there for me.  I was numb, I let the tears fall and I drove away from the Memorial Gardens.  I never spoke with *Thames mother or sister again. 

Real Talk…

I stopped dating men for about three months.  I trusted no one.  There were conversations face to face on dates about  sexual preferences.  I kept the convo very real.  I gave them a chance to come clean on their sexuality.  I tell every man the story of *Thames.  I protected myself at all times.

I could only trust myself.  Too many people were hiding and HIV/Aids were no longer thought of as just a gay man’s disesase.  No one was immune to this disease.  I don’t think for one minute anyone will ever consider my feelings, my life like *Thames did.  He was one of a kind.

*E died seveal years later.  He got saved they said, gotten married no children and died on the basketball court of a heart attack.  No words to really say besides this.  I feel indifferent yet sad for the loss of human life.

*CeCe and I are not as close as we were.  She doesn’t bring *E up, avoids his name like the plague.  She is married, with three children. 

*Kellz is finally out of the closet.  He is in a relationship with a man but I often wonder about the women he slept with along the way.  Did he mass murder them?  I try to keep it as real as I can on everything I love and that is not throwing words around like a bad habit. When *Kellz was exposed by a lover who he tried to pass off as a homeboy who didn’t want to hide the fact anymore he was sleeping with Kellz my life changed even more.

There is no real way to tell if the straightest of the straightest man isn’t sleeping with a man or not.  Those sure signs are not helping women.  Those sure signs are for the courageous ones who live their lives in the open.  I love them for that.  They let you know what is up.

Everyone is not honest.  If you have someone in ‘the life’ they will tell you, many of their sexual conquests are with married men with children, men who seem to be the pillar of greatness among their families. Double life’n.

I’ve experienced men over the course of my life who were bisexual, I knew it, it was confirmed by my great gay male friends who treat me like their babysister.  Even though I have them, they are not always around I know for absolute confirmations.   It is a very cruel world where many people don’t value the moral code.  You have to be aware of this and protect yourself at all costs.

I’ve seen many guys being around my gay guy friends who are living with AIDs, died of AIDs, dying with AIDs.  I’ve seen friends mother’s who were out there on drugs, out there sexing die of AIDs and I’ve voluntered  to those cut off  from their families because of their HIV status by being a part of their support group.  Someone must care, someone must be there.

In 2007 I lost a dear friend to this disease.  Another guy, like my brother whom I will not name here out of respect.  I knew he was gay but it was never a subject of trying to be all in his business.  I would always say, be careful.   *Kellz told me this friend didn’t hang out on the gay scene in Charlotte like he and his friends did.  *Kellz chalked it up as this friend of mine most likely kept to his inner circle, and exposed himself to someone who did not have the courage to keep my friend safe. 

My last conversation to my friend was after I found out he had a stroke.  My friend said the stroke left him unable to perform his high position job. He was out on disability.  Well I took him at his word.  For the life of me, I didn’t think about HIV/AIDs because this friend and I were so honest he would have told me. I thought he would have.  This is a very shameful disease to many people.  Our last time together, we watched tv, then critiqued music together like we normally do.  He tried to turn off the television but could not perform the simple task.  I thought this was a complication from the stroke but afterwards I found out from his family and a close female mutual friend of ours he was going blind.  I played it off, took the remote and turned the television off for him.  I told him, the gadgets were confusing to me too.

My friend was a thin person so when I saw him and he dropped a lil more weight, I figured it was from what he told me, what I believed, a stroke.   He told me he was tired, so I grabbed my stuff to leave.  I told my friend to get some rest, to call me if he needed me, and to build up his strength to get better.  He said to me he wanted to get better.  I didn’t pick up on the words I wasn’t a snob to first bring to my mind, my friend is dying of AIDS.

We hugged for a really long time, longer than normal and he wasn’t trying to pull away from me.  When we released, I looked him in the eye and told him I loved him and he said he loved me too.  His life of being a gay man was held close to the vest.  He wasn’t out in the open because of the fine family he was trying to protect.  As I got in my car, I looked back and he was watching me from the doorway.

I never saw him alive again, he died two months later.

I spoke at his funeral and I tell you this is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.  Our friends were there from college, we all came together for our beloved friend.  Burying another friend with no head of full grays isn’t what you expect but  it is real out here.  His family decided to keep the casket closed, I do believe he would have wanted it that way.  It is only farewell until we meet again.

WORLD’S AIDS DAY  is recognized December 1.  The Awareness should be everyday of your life.  This disease doesn’t take a day off, not even a second.  Not only are men affected with AIDS but women, children are too.  Yes we recognize the world but this disease is like they say, ‘Right in your backdoor’.  I have friends in the medical industry who see lives change on the daily.  Women and Men are told they are affected.  Some choose to be responsible with the diagnosis they have been given and others are murderous, spreading the disease on… no moral code.  The bottom line WE are responsible for our actions.

Protect yourself.  A moment’s pleasure, putting your trust in someone else’s hands isn’t worth it.  From this post, DON’T BE DEJA VU’D.

BEBE

I was in Hawaii on a family vacation in the spring of 1991 when I heard the news that put me into a very sad and contemplative mood for the rest of the trip and for the weeks that followed.  I can still remember the moment that I heard the news.

I was alone in the condo because I was exhausted and I needed to get some rest.  I stayed behind while my (then) husband and the kids went out for the afternoon.  I had the TV on but wasn’t really paying attention.  I remember that it was a telethon or some such show to raise money for AIDS research/awareness.  I was drifting in and out of sleep when I heard Richard Thomas say something to the effect of “in memory of the late Arturo Islas whom we just lost.  His death is a great loss to the world of literature.”  I jumped up out of bed.  I couldn’t believe it.  Not Arturo.

Arturo Islas was one of my literature professors at Stanford Universiy.  He was a very quiet, intelligent, and supportive man.  At the time that he was my professor, he was working on the first of his three novels (the last was published post-humously).  He would read to us from his works in progress and we’d discuss the writing then he would give us a related assignment.  He was very supportive of his students.  He was a prince of a man.  (For a post about Arturo Islas, on this blog, click HERE.)

Arturo grew up in El Paso, Texas.  He suffered from colitis and eventually had to have a colostomy while he was in college.  His family was not well off but he excelled in his academics to the point of being awarded a four year scholarship to Stanford University where he planned on becoming a neurosurgeon.  By the time he graduated with a Bachelors degree in English Literature (and a minor in Religion) in 1960, he had decided to pursue a career in literature.  He came back to Stanford to begin work on a Masters degree in English Literature then he completed his Ph.D in English Literature.  He was the first Chicano to have gained a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. on scholarship from Stanford University.  He went on to become the first Chicano faculty member at Stanford and the first tenured Chicano professor at Stanford.

I wish I could describe this gentle yet strong being that supported his students yet demanded excellence from them.  I wish I could share him with you.  I wish he still walked the earth.  He had so much to teach us when he was taken from us at the age of 51.  It was a great loss for us all.

Arturo Islas is only one of many.  Millions have died of AIDS.  In 2008 alone, there were TWO MILLION deaths attributed to HIV/AIDS.

When will it stop?

Today is World AIDS Day.  What can YOU do to help raise awareness?  What can YOU do to stop the spread of AIDS/HIV?

Some links:

World Vision-World AIDS Day

I Am Africa (buy clothing to support stopping the spread of AIDS in Africa)

Avert.org World AIDS Day

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC World AIDS Day)

“SPOTLIGHT ON ACTION”
AC-AF fundraiser to benefit children affected by Aids.

Tuesday Dedcember 1/09
Bloor Cinema Theatre – 7:00
doors open @ 6:30

Tickets:
$25
$20 for students

ANGEL FLAKES – PART 1

In 1993, I won a county-wide contest for drawing Martin Luther King
It was in 1993, in Ms. Harriets first grade class when she…
My best-friend, first asked me to draw her.
I remember being a little bit puzzled and hesitant because I knew that the 96 colors within the Crayola box weren’t going to be enough to illustrate her aura
Still I drew, I drew like a knew I was creating the nubian Mona Lisa
Midway through her youthful curiosity impatiently begs to get a peek or two of my masterpiece.

She enjoyed how I captured her dangling braids,
dressed in hair sheen,
decorated by purple and pink barrettes
She said “whoa” when she realized how the melanin of her skin flowed like a ocean of cocoa hues
She was also startled
She asks me,
… Why did I give her wings.
As if I it was a some kind of caricature
I told her when it come to portraits
I only draw what I see
My art is my perception of reality.

and with her innocence
She childly said to me if she was so special then how come she carrying a disease contracted from our classroom bully named Goonie Rudy?

The mild case of the cooties
Imaginary or not
She was scared of any kind of shots

Never the less I took the duty to heal her
I had an alternative cure that was so good that she wouldnt have it more than once sorta like the Chicken Pox
Circle, circle
Dot, Dot
Switched it up with a hum of a Beatbox
{Beatbox}
Using my fingertips as drums to rhythmically lift the infection
“La-Di-Da-Di”
Any contanimation perished from the spot
{Beatbox}

…Still… she wondered
If she was so special then why did everyone pick on her
Our peer population would call her “Ashy Jazzy”
To mock the random places on her body that may have seemed to be dry skin
I remember she was really hurt
wondrous…
She says that she really tried
She would apply 2 coats of lotion,
A screen of baby oil
And dabs of spit
Regardless, strips of this so-called ash remain stashed and scatter in the crevices in between each set of fingers, clinged on to her elbows and made her knees into two snow caps

I told her… “don’t worry, that’s not ash
See….
That’s just Angel Flakes
Your skin is only that way because the atmosphere as yet to adapt and grasp to your celestial being”
That kind of overwhelmed her because she didn’t even know what celestial mean
Ever since then, we became a team
Best Friends.
A heterogenous mixture that complemented each other
Never to be homogenized
We didnt want to cross the thin line of friendship
Ignoring each other sign for permission
Years went by on the timeline
I became an Artist at my craft
replacing crayons with professional stencils
She, soared throughout the world on missionaries
Carrying out tasks for the Unseen
And we grew…
Just slightly apart
Look, two branches from the same root

I had my Kingdom
She had her Queendom
There was a period of time
When we didn’t see each other for a while
Our lives were now busy
Days of innocence were long gone now
Holding to so much responsibilties made it hard to balance priorities
Absence, method was the communication used as speech
‘Til One day, she knocks on my door
before any greeting, or acknowledge and right after her initial expression
she asked me… if I could paint her
she said it was an emergency, she needed me to do it immediately
she begged “please!”
Her urgency struck up my curiosity
I asked her, what’s wrong?
she said “please”…

My palette of oils meet with a new canvas
Paintbrush carried by the inertia of inspiration
Using my innervisions and the force the mystic winds
Surface decorated with strokes of jazz heavily weighted with rhythmic blues
My magmum opus was conducted

She’s breathes in, she breathes out
Inhale, Exhale
“David…I have HIV”
“HIV positive and negatively my self-esteem was stuck between a rock and hard place and still…. you depict me with wings”

The last words seems as if they were vaguely hovering
I was stuck in the mere utterance of HIV
Heart dropped I was discovering that my best friend, the Queen
…had a disease

I told her, there’s got to be a cure
Somehow she can be healed
She says “chill.. this is not like Rudy, I want you to take on a different duty
This way much bigger”
and she told me she was just starting to deal with it
and she needs me to be strong…
So that if something were to go wrong
Then I could be her Catcher In The Rye
If she falls a cliff she wants to hold on to my wrist
To distract in her mind from life’s maladies
She needed help lifting her Bucket List, she said it was quite heavy
I remember she said “Help Me”
as a team, help carry her bucket list to fulfil her written dreams
to uncover the joys that lie beneath

I admit, at first I was weak
Congested with sorrow of emotions
We needed to be each other’s heroes
She asked me to be her sanctuary so
that the Devil’s dust doesn’t hallucinate her celestial being
I have to make her understand her celestial meaning

Now..
Her Angel Flakes were more vibrant
In her aura she was somehow able to converge the luminous passion of sunrays with the serenity of moonlight
Now I am her warrior, fighting off the heat of the night with a valiant effort bestow breaking dawns

This might be beginning, bring on… the rest of life

ORIGINAL WORK COMPOSED BY DAVID DELISCA

PEACE

World AIDS Day 2009 – Official Website.

It’s a silent killer.  It’s stigmatized here in the states.  Because you can only “get” AIDS if you are a druggie or gay, right?  However, HIV/AIDS is an illness that kills millions worldwide every year.  It doesn’t discriminate – children often fall victim.  So on this HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, please take into consideration all those that are suffering and do something about it.  Not only can you practice safe sex, but educate others and donate to organizations like (RED) to help those in need.

Here are some facts about the disease from (RED) and avert.org:

*Every day 4,100 men, women and children die in sub-Saharan Africa of the preventable and treatable disease

*The difference between life and death can come down to just two pills a day for a cost of around 40 cents a day

Testing for HIV/AIDS is a large component to World AIDS Day 2009. Many hospitals and clinics offer free testing is today. The expense is often too great from some of the homeless, sick, uninsured, and otherwise concerned individuals. That is what makes December 1st so important.

15 minutes duration from the needle stick to results can be found in The Johnson County Health Department in Kansas allows for quick response. A second appointment to find results often isn’t necessary. A spokesperson for the JCHD said, “One of our overall goals is to help stop the spread of HIV by educating the public.”

The World recognition of AIDS day is today, Tuesday December 1st 2009. Every year memorials, testing, and other disease related issues come to a forefront. 40,000+ individuals in the united states are affected with AIDS each year. One of the larger concern is that it is estimated that 1 in 5 infected with HIV virus are unaware of their infection.

Symptoms for AIDS can take 1 years to manifest.  AIDS is caused by a virus called “Human immunodeficiency virus” (HIV). It is estimated that, throughout the world, over 33 million people have HIV. This is a staggering number. Equally concerning is that only about 4 million are receiving appropriate HIV treatment.

HIV is one of the leading cause of deaths worldwide. The bright spot regarding this disease is that we have seen a steadying of the number of new cases for the last several years. Increased awareness, prevention programs, medications, and testing have largely been a success.

Some great Websites:

A good website for the UK is www.worldaidsday.org

The White House put out a proclamation found here; http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-world-aids-day

The CDC and HIV incidence: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/incidence.htm

US Government and AIDS: http://www.aids.gov/

World wide campaign and local events: http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Key-events/World-AIDS-Day/Events-Calendar/WAD-2009-Events-Calendar

While the mere thought of death scares most people, there are approximately 33.4 million worldwide who are probably numb to its everyday threat. This is the statistical number of the HIV-infected population; of which 2.1 million are children under 15.

In 2008 alone, about two million people surrendered to the disease. To this day, there is no cure for HIV. Treatment and medications are available and expensive; and even if one can afford it, well, let’s just say pain and uncertainty comes with the package.

Unfortunately, there are bigger issues than cost and death.

I would like to believe that the world is well-educated about AIDS. We know how one gets it, its signs and symptoms, and preventive measures – and the concern stops there.

I was once a contemptuous young girl. I thought AIDS was the result of reckless decision-making therefore whoever is infected with it deserves so. I certainly did not want to belong to that population (and still don’t) nor did I want anything to do with anyone who does. And I am pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who felt and thought so.

We do so well at “protecting” yet we fail (major) at “respecting.”

Children do not deserve this disease. No one deserves this disease.

Contempt and ignorance are bigger issues than death (to me, at least). Contempt and ignorance kill. These kill hope and opportunities for the world to finally see the end of HIV/AIDS – opportunities that require global unity. Global unity begins with a desire from every single one of us to end the problem.

The task is great especially since few take the responsibility. But imagine how small it might seem once the world decides to do something about it. Do something about it. We are all capable of doing something about it. Cliché, yes; but true.

Be educated, inform others. Donate or lend your time. Rid yourselves of contempt and discrimination. Rock love this World AIDS’ day.

References:

http://worldaidsday.org

http://unaids.org

http://un.org

World AIDS Day-2009

It’s the World Aids Day today.  We should be aware of this kind of disease.  This is not a simple ailment and we shou be careful for it.  So let’s participate in the celebration of World Aids Day.

World AIDS Day-2009

It’s the World Aids Day today.  We should be aware of this kind of disease.  This is not a simple ailment and we shou be careful for it.  So let’s participate in the celebration of World Aids Day.

World AIDS Day 09 - Check Yo Self!

World AIDS Day….have you been tested?
It’s YOUR responsibility so in the words of Ice Cube Check Yourself!

HIV/AIDS remains largely a taboo in the Hip Hop World and far too many people have already lost their lives to this illness. Many people living with HIV still lead full and meaningful lives, but only if they are diagnosed and treated soon enough. Please do not become another statistic, play it safe, take responsibility for your life and get tested!

Check Yourself!

For more information about World AIDS Day or the HIV/AIDS pandemic, go to http://www.worldaidsday.org/

A UNAIDS study in the year 2000 on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Kenya predicted that the scourge would leave the Kenyan economy one-sixth smaller than it would have been in the absence of HIV/AIDS. Well, the pandemic has wreaked more havoc both on the economy as well as business.

Not only has the scourge adversely affected productivity and costs, but HIV/AIDS continues to have an invidious effect that is unquantifiable but yet profoundly impacts enterprise.

Absenteeism is usually the first and most common impact on business productivity. The number of days an employee reports to work can be measured, but this can also be a trigger for discord in labour relations when other healthy workers have to shoulder the responsibilities of the absentee.

The next impact is usually a loss of vital skills, which in turn makes entrepreneurs hesitant to invest in training for their employees. Most times, when a small business owner sponsors an employee to training they also expect that this employee will act as some sort of champion of the newly learned skill or knowledge, spreading it amongst the other employees. Thus the loss caused by AIDS doesn’t just end with the illness or death of that employee.

Finally there is the emergence of a loss of morale amongst the other staff members. What else can you expect when attending funerals of colleagues and their family members becomes a common event.

On World AIDS Day, the National AIDS Control Council should salute small businesses that take measures to protect their workers who are uninfected, whilst offering appropriate support and services to those who are infected. These are the entrepreneurs who are on the front-line fighting the scourge that threatens to shrink and sink the economy.

The government on its part could also provide incentives to small business entrepreneurs by introducing tax incentives for greater involvement in AIDS prevention.

Plans to promote Aids awareness by erecting a huge structure, made of 12,000 condoms and 20,000 balloons – which self-deflates after 30 mintes – at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus have been derailed by a railway official who refused to allow the erection to be sited at the station.

“It is a powerful metaphor for the destruction of the virus through the use of condoms, the most effective means of prevention of AIDS”, said Parmeshwar Godrej

Despite the setback, Ms Godrej is continuing work to heighten public awareness of condoms as an effective tool to combat the spread of Aids

Source . . .

P.S. Worlds Aids day is tomorrow – 1st Dec

http://www.worldaidsday.org/

A poster for World AIDS Day

Darhoon Menghwar

HYDERABAD SINDH:  HIV/Aids cases in Pakistan have climbed above 80,000 and a further rapid rise is likely unless swift action is taken, the government has warned.

Speaking in the national assembly, Mahreen Bhutto, parliamentary secretary for health, said the HIV/Aids control programme had not worked well over the past six years and its reputation was poor. But the government was working hard to spread awareness of the disease and the need for preventative measures.

HIV is spreading fast in South Asia, mostly through injecting drug users. Heroin and other drugs are easily available in the markets of Pakistan, smuggled in from neighbouring Afghanistan.

According to the Aids Control Authority in Sindh province, 60 to 70 per cent of HIV infection in Pakistan is spread through intravenous drug use, 20 per cent through male-to-male sexual contact, 6 per cent male-female contact and 0.1 per cent mother-to-child. Four per cent is due to other causes. Truck drivers and other workers help carry HIV from urban to rural areas. In the cities, the so-called “third gender” –  hijras, or lady-boys – are another big factor.

The health minister said members of parliament had a duty to spread awareness of HIV/Aids as they are not only leaders but often heroes in their home areas. “We will encourage their struggle,” she said. “They should address these issues in public. MPs can play a key role in educating the population.”

But the task of educating the people is not easy. Emerging from more than 30 years of dictatorship, Pakistan is still beset by corruption and inefficient institutions. Democracy is bringing change, but slowly.

The education system is still weak. Government sector education suffers from political interference. Fewer than 40 per cent of women are being educated, 50 per cent of men. In rural areas more than 80 per cent of women are uneducated and do not know about their rights – they may not even be allowed to leave their home. A backward, feudalistic society shuns education, so most farmers’ children are illiterate.

In Pakistan 30,000 women die every year during or after pregnancy – one every 17 minutes. In rural areas pregnant women are not allowed to go to hospital for delivery; unskilled village “Daies” do deliveries. So mortality rates are high. Few rural areas have women doctors, according to health worker Lachhami Bhatia, of the NGO “Hope”. She works in rural areas near Hyderabad. “In this complicated situation, how can you expect to spread awareness about HIV/Aids?” she asks. “People are not ready to accept that HIV is dangerous; mostly Pakistanis regard HIV as a disease of Europe.”

Pakistan has yet to conquer an earlier scourge, polio. Poor management is blamed. The latest anti-polio campaign was launched before 2000 but rates are rising despite the vaccination programme. Pakistan signed up to a Millennium Goal of becoming polio-free by 2015 but this target now looks unlikely.

Whether or not you are a fan of Alicia Keys or her music, it must be said that her Keep A Child Alive deserves a huge amount of credit. By raising awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is particularly devasting in Africa, the Grammy-winning singer is proving that it is possible to directly make a difference to people’s lives.

Hopefully other urban artists will follow her example and help raise awareness about the disease not only abroad but also closer to home. As long as it is caught in enough time and treated properly, HIV does not have to be a death sentence. THINK….Don’t become another AIDS statistic.

Video Courtesy of CNN:

This Saturday, a handful of the Philly area’s most talented creative minds gather together to host an Aids Benefit Fashion and Art Show called Reflections at the Fortress of The Arts. The event features live music, DJ Mike Saga spinning records, Food, Drink, Dancers, Vendors and of course…Fashion and Fine Art from the likes of the multi-talented Jason Hyde, Candylust and many more. All proceeds go to local Philadelphia AIDS Charities. A Great event for a great cause. Hope to see you there!

Fortress of The Arts
221 Glenwood Avenue 5th Floor
Philadelphia, PA