Write a Comment
2 Comments
Dear Shawn, I just read your book, I found it at half price books, I enjoy reading people's true life stories.. Your wife is really beautiful, she looks mysterious and european as a brunette, but adorable as a blonde. And your family sounded quite amazing, and I liked the way you described your dad's outrages with proper fondness.. there was hardly any catty scrutiny in your book or sarcasm. It's hard to find writing so devoid of mean-spiritedness. I don't know how you managed to beat all the odds, it's incredible. When most people hear the word "AIDS" hard core images flicker through their minds. I think the stereotypes come from a subconscious negation of certain hard core truths in life. How else did denial (ironic isnt it) work so well for you in your teen years? And so stereotypes work well for people who live in a society where bombardment and over-stimulation is like a challenge: what do YOU hold simple? Or have you, too, lost the ability to hold anything simple? Images most people think of before putting a lid on their imagination: sweaty pulsating teenagers at raves caught up in a new beat and not caring about anything but "the moment, junkies using needles, those insane bathouses full of gays on crystal meth, sanatorum, the fear of dying, the love of death, the tragedy, the frailty. You definitely punctured through some of those images like a balloon refusing to burst, living one day at a time yet getting as high as it can and never losing its air. Your story is a lovely reminder that people need to hold onto the basics like love and family no matter what situation they find themselves in. I hope this is not a dumb quesiton.. you mentioned you guys get a lot of dumb ones. (I'm not going to ask about underwear transmission...) What do you think about those cases of people who transmitt on purpose? And if you had a son who was positive and sleeping around anyway because "well everybody should assume everybody has everything in the gay community" how do you make sense of this moral transgression? It's one thing if people dont get tested, but lately with cheating rates in marriage being really high, divorce rates being high, the word "trust" feels like it has a new meaning in the US. Or the new thread of people who supposedly WANT to catch it because, oh, maybe they want it over with, or they think the health benefits or security packages will be better than the life they are in now? (When I found out there were people who wanted to catch it I was taken aback.) And you never formally said you went from hiv to aids but.. did going on meds mean that you did? Is it sort of like cancer where you keep it in remission? How come I keep hearing from people that with the drugs they have now, people can live like they never caught it? And I live in Seattle, so i know they recently did a vaccine study and the results were that the vaccine suppoedly "increased" your risk of catching it.. from what you know about the virus, what do you think is the likelihood of a new vaccine? Sorry if this is too many questions.. Thank you for your time. Ivy I just read your book, I found it at half price books, I enjoy reading people's true life stories.. Your wife is really beautiful, she looks mysterious and european as a brunette, but adorable as a blonde. And your family sounded quite amazing, and I liked the way you described your dad's outrages with proper fondness.. there was hardly any catty scrutiny in your book or sarcasm. It's hard to find writing so devoid of mean-spiritedness. I don't know how you managed to beat all the odds, it's incredible. When most people hear the word "AIDS" hard core images flicker through their minds. I think the stereotypes come from a subconscious negation of certain hard core truths in life. How else did denial (ironic isnt it) work so well for you in your teen years? And so stereotypes work well for people who live in a society where bombardment and over-stimulation is like a challenge: what do YOU hold simple? Or have you, too, lost the ability to hold anything simple? Images most people think of before putting a lid on their imagination: sweaty pulsating teenagers at raves caught up in a new beat and not caring about anything but "the moment, junkies using needles, those insane bathouses full of gays on crystal meth, sanatorum, the fear of dying, the love of death, the tragedy, the frailty. You definitely punctured through some of those images like a balloon refusing to burst, living one day at a time yet getting as high as it can and never losing its air. Your story is a lovely reminder that people need to hold onto the basics like love and family no matter what situation they find themselves in. I hope this is not a dumb quesiton.. you mentioned you guys get a lot of dumb ones. (I'm not going to ask about underwear transmission...) What do you think about those cases of people who transmitt on purpose? And if you had a son who was positive and sleeping around anyway because "well everybody should assume everybody has everything in the gay community" how do you make sense of this moral transgression? It's one thing if people dont get tested, but lately with cheating rates in marriage being really high, divorce rates being high, the word "trust" feels like it has a new meaning in the US. Or the new thread of people who supposedly WANT to catch it because, oh, maybe they want it over with, or they think the health benefits or security packages will be better than the life they are in now? (When I found out there were people who wanted to catch it I was taken aback.) And you never formally said you went from hiv to aids but.. did going on meds mean that you did? Is it sort of like cancer where you keep it in remission? How come I keep hearing from people that with the drugs they have now, people can live like they never caught it? And I live in Seattle, so i know they recently did a vaccine study and the results were that the vaccine suppoedly "increased" your risk of catching it.. from what you know about the virus, what do you think is the likelihood of a new vaccine? Sorry if this is too many questions.. Thank you for your time. Ivy I just read your book, I found it at half price books, I enjoy reading people's true life stories.. Your wife is really beautiful, she looks mysterious and european as a brunette, but adorable as a blonde. And your family sounded quite amazing, and I liked the way you described your dad's outrages with proper fondness.. there was hardly any catty scrutiny in your book or sarcasm. It's hard to find writing so devoid of mean-spiritedness. I don't know how you managed to beat all the odds, it's incredible. When most people hear the word "AIDS" hard core images flicker through their minds. I think the stereotypes come from a subconscious negation of certain hard core truths in life. How else did denial (ironic isnt it) work so well for you in your teen years? And so stereotypes work well for people who live in a society where bombardment and over-stimulation is like a challenge: what do YOU hold simple? Or have you, too, lost the ability to hold anything simple? Images most people think of before putting a lid on their imagination: sweaty pulsating teenagers at raves caught up in a new beat and not caring about anything but "the moment, junkies using needles, those insane bathouses full of gays on crystal meth, sanatorum, the fear of dying, the love of death, the tragedy, the frailty. You definitely punctured through some of those images like a balloon refusing to burst, living one day at a time yet getting as high as it can and never losing its air. Your story is a lovely reminder that people need to hold onto the basics like love and family no matter what situation they find themselves in. I hope this is not a dumb quesiton.. you mentioned you guys get a lot of dumb ones. (I'm not going to ask about underwear transmission...) What do you think about those cases of people who transmitt on purpose? And if you had a son who was positive and sleeping around anyway because "well everybody should assume everybody has everything in the gay community" how do you make sense of this moral transgression? It's one thing if people dont get tested, but lately with cheating rates in marriage being really high, divorce rates being high, the word "trust" feels like it has a new meaning in the US. Or the new thread of people who supposedly WANT to catch it because, oh, maybe they want it over with, or they think the health benefits or security packages will be better than the life they are in now? (When I found out there were people who wanted to catch it I was taken aback.) And you never formally said you went from hiv to aids but.. did going on meds mean that you did? Is it sort of like cancer where you keep it in remission? How come I keep hearing from people that with the drugs they have now, people can live like they never caught it? And I live in Seattle, so i know they recently did a vaccine study and the results were that the vaccine suppoedly "increased" your risk of catching it.. from what you know about the virus, what do you think is the likelihood of a new vaccine? Sorry if this is too many questions.. Thank you for your time. Ivy http://www.nostoppingplace.blogspot.com/ PS. It goes without saying I admire your choice to put yourself out there although I'm curious what setbacks there might have been for you besides it not being as fun to have sex if you are talking about "the pet" the one kept chained to a tree on retroviral meds lol- all day. privacy. other crazy people yelling at you. etc.
Ivy
Hey "hemo" Sorry my message was duplicated.. keystroke messup, i should have pressed "preview." also, I didnt mean to ask what is the likelihood of them making a new vaccine soon; obviously that is coming soon; I meant the likelihood of a vaccine WORKING in the near future. How do you think this virus really started? and how close do you think we are to killing it? I wonder sometimes how dependant we are on viruses to keep us living. maybe they are the real beings and we are their hosts.. like you said about aliens early on in your childhood. Your ability to retrieve childhood memories at ease and select important but anectodal and funny ones was great. How has Gwenn helped turn you from a person who was going to go on stage and say "hi I'm shawn and I have aids" to a great speaker? thanks for listening, thanks for your book. I'm trying to get published right now, it is really hard.. all my background since the age of 3 is in music. classical. then composing. but writing.. is a huge passion. I was impressed by Augusten Burrough's comment- by either you getting him to read it or whatever transpired, but the quote on there was a genius marketing stroke and what he said was right. Plus his style also fits with or closely near your style. About the new election.. I'm worried about the candidates as well. I dont see enough people voting for Obama.. or Hilary. I'm worried that once again the democrats will lose.. Mainly, I'm worried about the environment and the economy right now. (Those two words should not even go in the same sentence.) It's not like NOBODY is paying attention, but that people are really not united by any one cause because I think each person's thinking has become miles away from another random person. I think it used to be easier to talk to a stranger. Now i turn to somebody in the city and it could be anybody and their internal reference is most likely going to be worlds away from mine..I could explain a lot further but my comments are already too long. Thanks again.
March 21, 2008