supplemental

Adj. 1. supplemental - functioning in a subsidiary or supporting capacity; "the main library and its auxiliary branches"
auxiliary, subsidiary, supplementary
secondary - of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate; "the stone will be hauled to a secondary crusher"; "a secondary source"; "a secondary issue"; "secondary streams"
2. supplemental - added to complete or make up a deficiency; "produced supplementary volumes"; "additional reading"
supplementary, additional
added - combined or joined to increase in size or quantity or scope; "takes on added significance"; "an added attraction"


it has been a pretty emotional week. i sit on the planning council for the mayor's office of hiv. the city received a supplemental grant this year that was pretty hefty, but we were only given 30 days to distrubute the funds. so we had to spend much extra time trying to figure out out to best appopriate. it went fairly smoothly. the really odd thing about this process is that most members of the council have a personal interest as well as a professional interest in such decisions. and when there is money involved, there is bound to be some differences of opinion and some emotions flying around.

surfing these particualar waters is not my strong suit. conflict and conflict resolution are probably one of my least favorite recreations. it seems when there is a disagreement, i have a tendency to go a little numb and check out a little. it takes me a while to actually get back to a normal presence again. i guess this is ptsd.

here is a link for the life or meth website AIDS INC. please feel free to click, scroll to AIDS INC and read. this pretty much explains much of what i think is my experience to some level here in denver. and that is the main reason i got into the "hiv and meth treatment" field. when i was first getting clean, i felt like a martian here. and i kept walking away from recovery because i didn't feel connected. of course, i realize this is the nature of addiction, but it caused me much difficulty in the beginning.

and a quote:

Meth addiction is a profoundly complex affliction of the human spirit that cannot be tangibly measured nor sufficiently responded to with the kind of scientific/theoretical logic that yields harm maintenance/user-enabling booklets that aid users to "prepare and repair".


my case manager at an aso was 20 years my junior. there was no way that he could understand what living with a virus for 18 years was like. there was no way that he could probably stop wondering if his plucked eyebrows looked real. he was nice, and i trained him a little in how to find housing and funding information for a client. but i wasn't there to train him. i was there because i had nowhere else to go.

Here is another quote from AIDS INC.

Stagnation and corruption are diseases endemic in all hierarchal structures that grow out of touch with street level consensus and refuse to adapt or change, becoming stuck in obsolete beliefs, methods and conventions. Businesses fall on their sword or are forced to change their policies when they lose their way or become inert because their customers vote with their feet and go elsewhere. But where charitable public sector organisations like AIDS Inc. are concerned, the funds keep pouring in regardless of their lack of efficiency or ability to grasp the concept that failure must result in dismissal, or that were they in the private sector they would be deluged with corporate negligence law suits.

"People with HIV have to take on activism themselves. We have to fight our own battles. HIV/AIDS has become so commercialised and the HIV campaigns are now just about getting money. We need to go back to the drawing board and find strategies that will help us."~ Rubaramira Ruranga [Positive Nation]

and a little backtrackin today. 1976- i remember this song because i had gone to a Texas A & M party and i heard it the first time there. i had moved to Texas to try to finish school. unfortunately, it didn't happen that way for me. but i digress. this song heralded in a very new sound. the repetitious rhythm track and the repetitious lyric. it was new then, and it was strange. i liked it! but i liked platform shoes, nik nik shirts and double pleated high-waisted baggies, too!