January 2008 Archives
On My Way BackBy on January 20, 2008 11:31 PM | No Comments
So I'm sitting at the SFO airport, waiting to board my red-eye flight back to Detroit. I'm also trying to recover from a flu-like spell that hit me Friday night, and is now reduced to mostly nasal congestion. Needless to say, my plans for a wacky weekend in SF were decimated by my sudden illness. I did manage to make it out Saturday night to see many of my friends in San Francisco, which was remarkable given my state of affairs Friday night (high fever, body aches, chills, etc). Gross!
But in happier news, the HIV "Risk, Behavior, and Agency" working group (I'm not really sure what to call it yet) that I was attending went pretty smoothly. It included officials from SF's Department of Public Health, the CDC, a smattering of activists, HIV prevention social scientists (Jeff Parsons, Barry Adam, Bob Grant, and many more!), and sexuality theorists (Gayle Rubin, John Gagnon, Kane Race, and others). David Halperin and Bob Grant co-organized the meeting. I can't (and wouldn't want to) speak for the group, but I found the 2-day intense gathering useful in considering the state of affairs for HIV prevention generally in America. Most interventions are currently failing, and so the idea behind the gathering was to brainstorm new approaches to prevention that might reinvigorate the field. I'm not sure we were able to make any firm conclusions, but we'll meet again soon hopefully to further our thinking.
Now, as I sit here at the airport, I feel just exhausted. I fly into Michigan (where it's negative 5 degrees) at about 5:00 AM. And then I have statistics homework to do, a crapload of reading I'm behind on, and a paper to write -- all before Tuesday! All with the flu and (at best) 3 hours of sleep.
Fuck. A. Duck.
Editorial in NY Times on Young Gay Men / HIVBy on January 14, 2008 2:57 PM | No Comments
There's an editorial today in The New York Times on young gay men and HIV. It was sent out today over a listserv I'm on run by NY's CHAMP (Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project), and I just blasted a critique of it back over that listserv. I was particularly peeved by this:
"Silence now seems to be winning the day. Nearly 6,000 gay men died of AIDS in the United States in 2005; still, many young men appear to have persuaded themselves that the infection is no longer such a big deal."
In particular, as a sociologist who has qualitatively researched young gay men's experiences with HIV (and as a young gay man myself!), their claim that young gay men have "persuaded themselves" that the disease isn't an issue any longer is totally Byzantine. As if! This is the problem with most people doing public health work around HIV in the US: they've been caught up in the dominant neoliberal health discourse that puts all of the responsibility for disease on *individuals* (e.g. "persuaded themselves") as if *structural* factors like, oh I don't know, abysmal sex education efforts around HIV; stigmatizing public responses to HIV, gay sex, and in particular anal sex; government crackdowns on public / communal drug consumption (which I would argue has led gay men out of the public clubs doing E and into their private bedrooms doing meth) combined with the general pattern of demolition we're seeing of urban gay dance spaces -- as if any of these more *structural* issues aren't playing a HUGE role in why young gay men (and in particular young men of color) might be testing positive more frequently.
The NYT's analysis is tired. It's time for a new approach to HIV - clearly the old responses aren't doing us much good. We need to throw out the "silence = death" / crisis rhetoric that worked in the 80s, but now sounds terribly cliche. It just doesn't work anymore.
Clinton for President!By on January 9, 2008 1:27 AM | No Comments
Clinton has won New Hampshire. Now, I've complained about Bill Clinton's presidency. But call me crazy - but I'm enamored with Hillary. I have been since day one. I think she has the guts and the experience to win. Barack is great - in fact, his idealism is pretty refreshing - but I just don't think he's ready to govern the country. I've changed a lot of the past few years, and in particular I've come to see national politics as requiring a politics of 1) compromise and 2) of strategy (two things I would have looked down upon just 2 years ago).
I think Clinton can navigate those complexities, despite all her naysayers. Her career as a First Lady is pretty impressive - more so than most of her colleagues in that department. I feel confident in her. I think it's time that we had a woman President. And she's the first viable female candidate in many moons (ever?). I support Clinton. It's a late call, but it's a call nonetheless. Go Hillary!
By on January 3, 2008 12:08 AM | No Comments
That's right - that's a screenshot of weather.com's current (midnight!) temperature estimate for Ann Arbor. FUCK! But, I have to say, I was just outside for a bit and it really didn't feel that cold to me! Call me crazy! My snot didn't freeze. My face didn't chap. Apparently I'm getting acclimated - 32 degrees feels like a tropical breeze!
And Happy New Year to all! I rang in the new year here in Ann Arbor with Andre and Cookie. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and some champagne and then lots more alcohol. Maybe that's why we stay warm in Michigan - we drink a lot!
And for your viewing pleasure, here's my car - caked in snow from the 12 inches that fell on New Year's Eve! Charming - but a fucking mess!
