Turning Remembrance Into ACTION! 10 Years Later... A Memorial Day Retrospective on OUR HIV/AIDS Warriors & Survivors.

 

Friday, May 7, 2004 This little light of his is going to shine bright Michael Connett of Covington tries to improve the world around him where he can. He spreads mulch around plants in a paper-thin sliver of land, hoping to create a front yard. He hangs windsocks and angels and rainbows to turn a bland brick wall into colorful art. He also tries to better the world for others being ravaged by HIV/AIDS. Connett, 49, was diagnosed HIV positive in October 1991. He has been living with AIDS since 1996. And he does what he can for others like him. He has established a living trust, with the funds designated to go to AIDS organizations after he dies. The windows of his home that face the street are plastered with educational material about HIV/AIDS - including a poster with a cow wearing galoshes that says, "Wear your rubbers." He is on no medications for the disease. There is a waiting list for the pharmaceuticals, and he wanted to give up his spot on the drug program for somebody younger. "In the back of my mind, that adds a little more urgency to the things I try to do," he says. Now Connett is doing his best to coordinate a local event for the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial on May 16. "We have to let the people living with AIDS in this area know that people here still care," he says. On that day, thousands of individuals - more than 3,000 communities in 85 countries - will participate in the world's largest and oldest annual grass-roots HIV/AIDS event. The memorial is designed to honor the memory of those lost to HIV/AIDS, show support for those living with the disease and raise awareness. (www.candlelightmemorial.org) Connett was inspired to initiate a candlelight memorial here after seeing the memorials in Batavia for Pfc. Matt Maupin, the Clermont County Army reservist being held hostage in Iraq. "Don't the 28.9 million who have died of AIDS merit some show of support from this community?" Connett asks. "Don't they deserve something, too?" Connett had hoped to launch a grand event: people from all over Greater Cincinnati holding candles on the Purple People Bridge, which links Newport and Cincinnati. Memorial luminaria flickering along the span. Representatives of Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati AIDS organizations, handing out educational materials. Free AIDS testing. The problem is that he's getting very little help. Local AIDS organizations, which rely on very little government money and charitable donations, have too little funds to offer their support. Connett has little funds himself. Most of all, there's way too much complacency and apathy when it comes to AIDS. This disease is still a very real threat - not just to one neighborhood or community, but to everyone. There's just no drive or desire to discuss it anymore. "There's a dinner here or a support group there, but things aren't like they used to be," Connett says. "Everything might not work out this year, but that's OK," he says, hopefully. "But next year when we say we're going to light up the Purple People Bridge, we'll really light the sucker up." The theme for the international candlelight memorial event is "Turning Remembrance into Action." It means doing things like Connett does - print a poster about the event and hang it on a window, light a candle and stand on the Purple People Bridge, tie a red ribbon somewhere. Most of all, never stop talking about the devastating impact of this disease. On May 16, Connett might be the only person standing on the bridge, remembering those who died. But sometimes that's all it takes.

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Greetings Y’All!

The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Memorial, coordinated by the Global Network of People living with HIV is one of the world's oldest and largest grassroots mobilization campaigns for HIV awareness in the world. Started in 1983, the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial takes place every third Sunday in May and is led by a coalition of some 1,200 community organizations in 115 countries.

The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial is much more than just a memorial. The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial serves as a community mobilization campaign to raise social consciousness about HIV and AIDS. With 33 million people living with HIV today, the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial serves as an important intervention for global solidarity, breaking down barriers of stigma and discrimination, and giving hope to new generations. http://www.candlelightmemorial.org/

We will have a Community Support & Education Forum from 2:00 to 6:00 leading up to the CandlLight Processional from 6:00-8:00 pm. We will be set up along the Legacy Mural Walk along Covington Landing. ALL Greater Cincinnati HIV/AIDS Professional, Community-Based & Non-Profit Service Organizations & Agencies as well as Northern Kentucky Social Service Providers are Invited and Encouraged to participate in this CommUNITY Conversation.

DUE TO THE ASTOUNDING APATHY AND INCREDIBLE INDIFFERENCE WITH WHICH GREATER CINCINNATIANS RESPONDED:

THIS EVENT AS WELL AS "RETURN TO DORA'S DINER" IS CANCELLED!

2014: "LET'S Look Back, Consider Advances, Acknowledge Deficiences to OUR Mission then Look Ahead"

December 2013

Positive Networks

People living with HIV discuss self-empowerment...

Pisces: "It seems that you're ready for a major change in your life, Pisces. But take care that you don't implement change merely for the sake of change. Think carefully about what you really want to do. Some introspection just might reveal that the changes you seek are minor rather than major. You may simply want to begin working on your health a bit more. Jogging a few days a week and vowing to eat salads at lunch rather than sandwiches may bring about a wonderful ripple effect of health and well-being in your life."

"In 1983, the problem was getting the media to pay attention to HIV/AIDS. In 2013, the problem is getting the media to pay attention to HIV/AIDS.

In the beginning, major news outlets ignored the epidemic because it only struck marginal populations. After brief windows of concern, WE have fallen into the same pattern."

http://buddhistthings.blogspot.com.es/2014/04/20-things-to-start-doing-in-your.html

Here are twenty tips to help you find and foster these special relationships.

1. FREE YOURSELF FROM NEGATIVE PEOPLE.

Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and likeminded. Relationships should help you, not hurt you. Surround yourself with people who reflect the person you want to be. Choose friends who you are proud to know, people you admire, who love and respect you– people who make your day a little brighter simply by being in it. Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. When you free yourself from negative people, you free yourself to be YOU – and being YOU is the only way to truly live.

2. LET GO OF THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY GONE.

The sad truth is that there are some people who will only be there for you as long as you have something they need. When you no longer serve a purpose to them, they will leave. The good news is, if you tough it out, you’ll eventually weed these people out of your life and be left with some great people you can count on. We rarely lose friends and lovers, we just gradually figure out who our real ones are. So when people walk away from you, let them go. Your destiny is never tied to anyone who leaves you. It doesn’t mean they are bad people; it just means that their part in your story is over.

http://www.cdc.gov/actagainstaids/campaigns/starttalking/index.html

 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQxt_U2sGCOUWrIxVUJqOpw

 



“It’s very clear that housing works to end homelessness, but there’s nothing to say it addresses everyone’s problems or that it won’t create some other problems,” Henwood added. “It’s definitely a life-altering, complicated move. Any time you give people more independence, there is always risk that comes along with that.”

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