World AIDS Day
Well it's 2010, how many World AIDS Days have there been? How many people have died in the USA? In Africa, in Asia? In the world? Is this day to remember those that died? Is it for the government to be able decide to focus on a cure, or a vaccine? Is it to bring awareness to those who say they don't know anyone with AIDS, or anyone who have died of AIDS or is living with HIV.
I guess I do still have anger. I remember in 1989, I dressed in black and stood on top of the Carl Andre rocks in Hartford across from the Wadsworth Atheneum in a below zero day. I staged actions. I lit candles. I watched many friends die. I was in Act Up.
I remember all of us sitting around a circle talking about what we all were going to do when Victor got sick. What he wanted and what he didn't want. How he wanted to die, and what pills he planned on taking, so he could die in dignity. Then in the end, he decided to just die naturally...to go through the process. He died right when the cocktails came out. I think he would still be here if he wasn't so stubborn. It was amazing what the cocktails have done and how so many people are still living.
In 1988, I made a poster, then I printed a t-shirt and sold it for AIDS Project Hartford, then threw a fundraiser. Then in 1990 myself, John Bonelli and a bunch of friends organized Artists Against AIDS where hundreds of artist donated their works, music was played, poets read, dancers danced....it was an incredible event. We raised over $100,000 over 5 years and donated all the money to different organizations that were helping people live with AIDS, buying art supplies, going to the movies, help with medications....doing what then needed to government grants couldn't do.
I do miss Victor every day. I miss his sense of humor. His brilliance. His sharp sarcasm and wittiness. His masks and his art collection. The deep conversations that always made me cry. He was always a teacher and an inspiration.....
Another WORLD AIDS DAY - I look forward to NO MORE WORLD AIDS DAYS and the end to AIDS.
I guess I do still have anger. I remember in 1989, I dressed in black and stood on top of the Carl Andre rocks in Hartford across from the Wadsworth Atheneum in a below zero day. I staged actions. I lit candles. I watched many friends die. I was in Act Up.
I remember all of us sitting around a circle talking about what we all were going to do when Victor got sick. What he wanted and what he didn't want. How he wanted to die, and what pills he planned on taking, so he could die in dignity. Then in the end, he decided to just die naturally...to go through the process. He died right when the cocktails came out. I think he would still be here if he wasn't so stubborn. It was amazing what the cocktails have done and how so many people are still living.
In 1988, I made a poster, then I printed a t-shirt and sold it for AIDS Project Hartford, then threw a fundraiser. Then in 1990 myself, John Bonelli and a bunch of friends organized Artists Against AIDS where hundreds of artist donated their works, music was played, poets read, dancers danced....it was an incredible event. We raised over $100,000 over 5 years and donated all the money to different organizations that were helping people live with AIDS, buying art supplies, going to the movies, help with medications....doing what then needed to government grants couldn't do.
I do miss Victor every day. I miss his sense of humor. His brilliance. His sharp sarcasm and wittiness. His masks and his art collection. The deep conversations that always made me cry. He was always a teacher and an inspiration.....
Another WORLD AIDS DAY - I look forward to NO MORE WORLD AIDS DAYS and the end to AIDS.
I too look forward to no more World Aids Day and the end to needless suffering.
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