If liberty means anything at all,
it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
George Orwell
In The Beacon's Beam...it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
George Orwell
"If YOU Build IT, THEY will come..."
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The Journey Begins
“On Coming Home”
“Home is not a place; it is an attitude. It is an attitude which depends on how much we are able to feel at home with ourselves as well as with others. Home is something which happens to a person; homecoming has less to do with geography than it has to do with a sense of personal integrity or inner wholeness.
The most important of all endeavors in life is to come home. The most terrifying of fears is loneliness. It means that one has become a stranger to himself, and consequently, to others. To be lonely is to feel fear, to be forever unsettled, never at rest, in need of more reassurance than life can give.
Someone truly loves us when he brings us home; when he makes us comfortable with ourselves, when he takes from us the strangeness we feel at being who we are. We are loved when we no longer are frightened with ourselves.”
“Dawn Without Darkness” - Anthony Padavano
Blessings Spring @ Easter 2012!Paging back 10 YEARS AGO:
Please do, Spring! And if you absolutely have to have something, see something, meet with colleagues,... and your only option is Cincinnati-ya gotta do what ya gotta do! After all, the majority of the HIV/AIDS Expertise in this area is clustered at University Hospital. I suggest that you Buycott Support of the Arts, and then support the Boycott while you're here and: www.staynky.com !!!Come enjoy the many riverfront activities here on The South Bank... Like to catch a nice dinner on your way down the road? May I suggest... on The South Bank:
The Comfort of the HIVe... 03/22/2002
...not only because of the physical limitations it imposes, but because the prejudice surrounding HIV/AIDS exacts a social death which precedes the actual physical one."
Greetings!
Still as true today as it was when first quoted in the movie "Philadelphia", the breadth of that social death, like the disease, has broadened into every segment of society. While the gay community, already well-versed in being regarded with disdain, rallied quickly to thumb their noses at and ward off that social shadow of death by organizing support systems and programs that would become the models that are imitated yet today, I now see a need to re-focus, energize and re-establish these social supports to be of greater value to the wider audience they now command. It often wrenchingly occurs to me that there are those among us who live in an HIV-closet because they are married/divorced, not Gay, not Male, not Adult or even not totally straight.
Through my membership in several internet groups focused on living with HIV , I've gotten a lot of support, comfort and ideas. I'm wondering if such a group would be of service here, in the Tri-State? At the very least, it would help keep "what they don't want to hear(about)" out of the NEGATIVEs group discussions. One of the other ideas I'm strongly drawn to are POZ Parties and I wonder if a monthly "Evening/Afternoon at the HIVe" is something that could be done successfully here as well? Imagine a bee-line for an Afternoon HIVe at Coney Island, Devou Park or Sunrock Farm?!?
Over the years, I've encountered several gay priests and religious and had no problems with their sexuality and choice of vocation. The thing that gave me pause, however, was the amount of "action" some of them seemed to be getting. It will be interesting to see if and how Mother church will now confront the issue of the unexpectedly and rather high incidence of HIV/AIDS amongst her CELIBATE? ranks? I can't wait to hear Dennis Jansons ' 2 cents worth on that! If you missed it, he was "Right ON" in regard to the Arch Bishops current dilemma... (I'll bet Bishop Muench is glad to be in New Orleans!)...
The Boycott from here... 03/21/2002.
Greetings!
Todays news of an imminent end to the boycott in the aftermath of a highly probable settlement in the racial profiling case certainly has tongues a waggin' and cerebral gears a grindin'... Although not to be taken as "Much ado 'bout nothin'", I passed it off as more "Wishful/Hopeful Thinkin'" by the anti-boycott forces. But then I stopped to consider what could happen...
I like to think that I am not so extraordinary that I am going to have a life experience that no one after me will also experience. That was the basis of "The AIDS Benefits Handbook" which was my bible as I began the journey 10 years ago. Unfortunately there was no similar Guidebook for Coming Out back in the early 70's. My calling is to education and my talent is to write. I've lived in this area, on both sides of the river, all my life... And I wondered; Will the coalition fall apart??? Who will be the first to fold??? If CincinNASTY winds up with and settles for just enough of the pie to satisfy her current appetite, how much longer will it take for her to regret waiting for the whole one??? What more can be done???
Here's my 2cent view from The South Bank:
Monday April 2nd: City of Covington HUMAN RIGHTS Commission regularly Monthly Meeting in the 4th Floor Conference Room at Covington City Hall.
About the Covington Human Rights CommissionThe Human Rights Commission was established to foster mutual respect and understanding and to create an atmosphere conducive to the promotion of amicable relations among all members of the city's community.
The Human Rights Commission is guided by O-20-03 (click here to view the Covington City Ordinance). The Commission is made up of nine members who are appointed by the Board of Commissioners for terms of three years. The membership shall reflect the various social, economic, ethnic, racial and religious segments of the City.| Current Members | Appointing Resolution | Expiration of Term |
| Charles Fann | O/R-151-11 | 07/13/14 |
| Linda Cobbs-Banks | O/R-150-11 | 05/21/14 |
| Don Smith | O/R-239-10 | 11/10/13 |
| Maher Sarieh | O/R-152-11 | 07/29/14 |
| Pamela Mullins | O/R-241-10 | 11/10/13 |
| Marie Braun | O/R-14-10 | 01/21/13 |
| Edgar Moralesjude | O/R-14-10 | 01/21/13 |
| Julie Hopkins | O/R-14-10 | 01/21/13 |
| Michael Monks | O/R-66-11 | 5/15/12 |
"When the drumbeat changes
The DANCE Changes"
The Millennium Odyssey...
A National Awareness Revival & Crusade Against HIV/AIDS STIGMA & DISCRIMINATION!!
In Loving Memory of Matthew Shepard, Ryan
White, Michael Dorobek, Arthur Ashe, Bobbi Campbell, "Bambi"...: and all those who have gone before us and their time..., especially Those UNACKNOWLEDGED AIDS Victims...
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