i read an article last week in the chicago poz publication "positively aware" and was instantly struck by the sincere need that this guys' new book is aimed at. i have already been aware in my own city that there really is not much emotional support, not to mention solid friendly information and guidance, available to new positive folks.
there is so much information available on the internet, but i don't think that it has the same impact as it would have coming mano-et-mano. i know i am more likely to pay attention to someone i know when they share their experience than i am when i am home reading a book or online surfing.
so when i read the interview with brett grodeck i was hooked. i plan on reading this book "the first year hiv" and i am thankful that someone is thinking of the pozlings that follow us. they just don't have the same emotional connection to poz life as we do. how could they? they didn't have the luxury of going through aids/hiv panic with the rest of their contemporaries. they are required to get a table for one in many, many cases.
i wonder if my generation is doing a piss poor job of making these newbies' transitions smoother and more solid. we have great experience. are we just bogart-ing this? doesn't matter. somewhere, somehow, i am going to do a better job of lighting a way.
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 comments:
Sounds like a big need. I can't imagine the emotional turmoil one goes through upon learning he/she is poz. In such situations it would be much more meaningful to talk to a sympathetic friend than to get information from an impersonal source.
Unfortunately, the sort of experience I have to share doesn't always resonate, for good reason. It's no longer a terminal condition, at least in this country, and when I was a newbie the experience of seroconversion was far more dramatic than it deserves to be now. I think if our goals are: acceptance, self-treatment and taking responsibilty not to spread it, de-dramatizing what it is like to live with HIV is the most effective message for newbies to hear. That second closet of denial is our biggest enemy.
Of course, this presents a quandary, because the message of prevention is more likely to stick if we make sure people consider the possibility of seroconversion very dramatic. It's like teaching kids not to talk to strangers. You want them to stay safe but you don't want them to have nightmares.
What is lethal is too little openness and not enough communication all around. But I wouldn't call just living your life being fully open and available to talk, but not chasing the pozling, "bogarting" the message. People get the information they seek, they avoid the information they don't want to hear.
Young men who want to party and have a lot of sex tend to be largely immune to any message that runs counter to their desire to do that. It seems they have to seroconvert or get sober to become listenable. Can you really say that such a person cannot then find support if they look for it? How many projects, seminars, reachouts, hotlines, ad campaigns and meetings do you have to have?
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