Help Wanted

Fellow blogger and special educator Courtney is once again participating in the AIDS Walk up in Boston on June 1, and she'd like us all to come watch. Or, failing that, to at least support the cause.

I think that I'm probably one of the oldest bloggers in town, thus I have a memory of a time when AIDS was a rare anomaly, something that didn't happen to just anybody. I was in college when the word started to spread that something weird was going on. As it happened, I was working in the school's radio station, so I'd see stories coming off of the newswires about this strange new disease that, at the time, appeared to affect only homosexuals, prostitutes and people of Haitian descent. The death of Rock Hudson was the thing that brought it to the forefront, but it was still quite a while before AIDS was considered to be anything other than a "gay" disease. When I was in school, condoms were used to prevent pregnancy and avoid having to go to the clinic to get penicillin.

I remember many years ago, in the late 80s, I think, there was a "Doonesbury" strip that involved elderly Lacey Davenport considering returning to the dating scene. She hadn't dated in something like fifty years. She told a friend, "I understand things have changed quite a bit since then." Her friend replied, "Yes, but then they changed back."

At any rate, we've certainly lost enough good people to this disease and I'm hoping I'll see a return to a day when having sex that isn't really kinky isn't something that will kill you. So take a little time to support Courtney on her walk.

Click here to donate.

Comments

[Courtney]

Thank you, Claude. Thank you.

[yellojkt]

I had a gay roommate in college during the mid-80s so AIDS was a pretty common topic around my place. I'll make sure to throw something Courtney's way.