Literature of AIDS

Contrasting "Rent Reviews"

2005-12-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

A final note to this semester:

I loved the movie; I cried and it's very rare that I cry at movies

My brother called me Sunday night and asked me if I liked the movie. When I told him I did, he explained that he hated it because he couldn't form an emotional attachment to the characters and thus couldn't care about their troubles. They "became sick and were poor because of bad lifestyle choices." After trying explaining to him how that and other comments were offensive he still didn't get it, then I really understood the prejudice against AIDS.

Fall Festival

2005-11-24T09:33:00.000-05:00

We didn't get much attendence at the Fall Festival. One family with 4 children and a baby did come. I think they had a good time, the kids got a lot of prises. I think we had a lot of good activities, the children seemed to enjoy them, and Central Winds Park was a very nice location for it (a playground was right by the pavillion). I did wish more people could have come out, for a while there, we kept getting excited when a car would pull in, but then disappointed when it would turn around. I'm really glad we did it, I think that the children enjoyed it as well as the parents.

Interesting HIV Article

2005-11-16T10:29:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, check this out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4432564.stm

-Nichole

Office Hours

2005-11-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

I had done a second set of office hours in October. It is always interesting at the PLace of Comfort. I met a client of theirs as he spoke to Venus and I sat in conversation with both of them. I did a lot of filing for them, I did inventory of all of their Christmas party related goods so as to get them ready for the next party, and also made some phone calls for Venus.
Being in the office brings everything close to home. As I am filing for them, all of the words "Longwood" and "Altamonte Springs" puts a more tangible and real view on AIDS and how much it is around us. As mentioned in class, reading the books is still a distant view of AIDS, and when participating in Service Learning, it makes everything tangible and supports the message of the severity of the problem as read in the books.

Office Hours at Place of Comfort

2005-11-11T16:51:00.000-05:00

I just got back from volunteering at Place of Comfort. It was quite a long day. We were kept busy with a lot of office work and cleaning. We made a ton of phone calls informing people about the upcoming fall festival. At one point, I was instucted to give a survey to one of their clients over the phone. I had to ask whether the person was HIV +/-. I even told Travis before I got to the question that I was nervous about asking it. Yet, when I finally did, the client answered like it was no big deal. In addition, throughout the day (for confidentiality purposes I'll call her Mrs. P) Mrs. P was very straightforward about her HIV + status, and told us about her struggles with the illness. She wanted to make sure that we left our service learning environment with some type of new knowledge from the experience. She informed us about each client who came in and out of the door, and what his/her struggles were. She also had us look up "Faces of Crystal Meth" online (you guys should google it, it's pretty crazy) and she showed us what crystal meth can do to you... it's not pretty. Although the office work was a bit tedious, we learned a lot from the information Mrs. P provided us.
-Nichole

AIDS in South Africa

2005-11-11T11:23:00.000-05:00

When we think of AIDS, we think of the factors that attribute to this: culture, poverty, bad health care, etc. With these two poems, I am trying to explore a way of looking at the pandemic. I have tried to look at it in a single interaction - communication. Just signals being read and responses to signals.

Did People Die by the Millions Before?

Did it exist before it had a name?
Or was it just a gratuitous, economic and scientific claim?
Poverty,
political power,
and inequality.
No condoms,
a culture of extramarital sex openly.
Social factors, that sociologists predict with a survey
Cannot convey
Such a disaster. Instead reality, HIV,
Is created from social interaction freely.

How HIV Was Created

He removes his pants with passion,
Throwing the linen with force.
This tells me that he wants me.
He squeezes my loose breast
And tells me to remove my blouse.
His signals do not lack
No whispering, just commands.
His voice and readiness,
Hardness and haste
Intimidate me to ask about protection.
I respond widening my legs
And we interact.

This poem is in the voice of an orphan.

My Life Short Lived

I don not go to school
I live in a room
So tiny
I share with twenty friends
My age
Some die
But I get new playmates
soon after.
The doctor told me
That I’m sick
And so I cry at night
And cough a lot a lot
I don’t have a mom to help me
But I still play sick
With friends
And the doctor says
That I’m getting worse.

Poems in response to We Are All The Same

2005-11-11T11:21:00.000-05:00

Zululand

Meddling Mandela cut Winnie
loose, murder.
Sick with the thin
disease, murder.
Living in a non-existent
place, murder.
Where the zoo is solitary
and dead, murder.
And the dead are in Zulu
clinics, murder.
Where your means
end due to it, murder.
And from the salon you get
fired, murder.

The Kid

Not dead until summed up by his ancestors.
Knowing the pain suffered couldn’t they let him slide
Ointing the slick goat’s bile, cleanses and filters
Spoiled bits of a body left empty inside. It weighing only twenty pounds, his soul beside.

Service Learning

2005-11-10T17:10:00.000-05:00

My experience at Transition House was probably the most valuable component of this course so far. It is one thing to read books about HIV/AIDS and the people whose lives are affected by it, but it is another to shake the hand of someone who lives with it every day in your own little corner of the universe.

I talked to an animated man about his bad choices, his "character flaws" that ended up bringing him to Transition House; he was a bipolar, HIV-positive drug addict. He's still bipolar but now is on medication and in counseling. He is no longer using drugs and has regular doctors appointments for the treatment of his HIV.

This man could have been a character in any of the books we've read and he wouldn't have touched me half as much if he were. This course has taught me that no matter how much I love books and feel that I gain from them, they are a diversion from true life. One of my favorite bands said it best: Those books you gave us look good on the shelf at home/And they'll burn warm in the fireplace, teacher, when in Rome.

My personal Transition House experience

2005-11-10T16:06:00.000-05:00

Inspired by recent posting about Transition House, I felt the need to post my own views about my service learning experience there, if only because they seem to differ so radically. People in our class have been inspired by their time spent to think more about the plights of HIV, AIDS, poverty, etc, and some have even felt the need to do more work within these issues. I feel that my time at Transition House wasn't nearly as noteworthy.

As others have mentioned, I was nervous at first, when Dr. Bowdon mentioned the state of the center as chaotic and said that we couldn't make any plans beforehand because things were likely to change rapidly anyway. From descriptions, I had been expecting a large, menacing structure, where people shuffled darkly in corners and might be expected to lash out physically. Instead, what I found was a small building tucked into a historical district, with fewer than 10 residents in attendance, and they all very mellow and friendly (I realize, however, that we had come at a somewhat inopportune time, and that it might have become a very different situation if the whole house had been there).

We were expecting people who needed to write things as part of their program, and who might need help in this area, or in using the computer. When we got there, myself and another student were sat at a table with two men, one of which had just recovered from a stroke and wasn't speaking much, and another who was leaving that night for somewhere else halfway through his program. Whether the nearly-silent man was dealing with anything, we never really discovered, and the more talkative of the two was extremely critical of the place. His complaints comprised the majority of our conversation.

I do not feel as if I learned anything more about HIV or AIDS through this experience, except perhaps for the lack of awareness that is still prevalent. The talkative member of our little group knew very little about the condition, and was concerned because of the high number of residents who were affected. He knew, for instance, that transmission could not occur through saliva, but did now know if the same was true of sweat. We told him various methods of transmission and facts about transmission through mothers to children and whatnot, but that was really the only discussion of it that went on.

I realize that if everyone at the house had been present, the agenda would have been very different. But as it was, I feel as though either I got a very unusual case, or that I wasn't trying hard enough to ge the most out of my experience. Either way, I don't feel as though it made any significant contribution to my understanding of the class or the syndrome itself. I wish that I could say it had, but I am hopeful that my service learning at the Fall Festival will be more inclusive. So far, I have had limited phone-buddy experience (and while my experience was more than informative and entertaining, I could not juggle it with the other service learning, scholastic, and work requirements that I had), a neutral Transition House experience, and a fun Halloween on campus experience (which was exciting in terms of the information passed out, but not very interactive or comprehensive by any means). I am eager to have a Fall Festival where I can actually make contact with more members of the AIDS community, and feel as though I am making a difference, however small, in the lives of children affected by the condition.

Transition House

2005-11-10T14:37:00.000-05:00

At first, I was pretty scared about going to Transition House... knowing that everyone there had served time. But when I got there, everyone was very nice, and they all were just trying to find a way to put their lives back together. When we talked to one of the residents there, he seemed like he'd really rather not talk about his HIV diagnosis. We didn't ask, he just showed us a paper saying that he was HIV positive, and said "Yeah, I have that too" -- making an effort to avoid using the word HIV. We didn't really talk about AIDS at all, instead, we talked about everything from sports to politics to school. He mentioned that he had a rather rough childhood. The one thing that really astonished me was the fact that he had so much hope. He was so hopeful about putting his life together. This definitely gave me a different perspective on how PLWH/A feel about their future. A lot of them do accept the fact that they're going to die, but at the same time don't plan each day of their lives based on that fact- they finish school, they work hard to get the job they want, they fight to live their life the way they want to... the trip to Transition House made that concept really come to life.

-Nichole

My Poem about Transition House

2005-11-05T11:43:00.000-05:00

Feel free to critique it or just leave feedback.
I really enjoyed the experience and will volunteer again before Thanksgiving if anyone wants to join me.
-Meagan

Transition House 10.21.05

Go, type anything you want I told her,
her round face glowing red from her nappy hair’s
halo. hello my name is debra
no period, no caps.

Debra, fourty-three hadn’t typed since junior
high. 700-t cells last months and now
GED-bound she is determined to
rid herself of the real disease that consumes her mind.

this is my bookreport “coping with anxiety”
She types on with her two index fingers
while I listen to the rain hit
the window of the half-way house.

i was too involved with my mess to care
about my kids Cocaine, marijuana,
alcohol, crack cocaine – my addictions
she tells me between twitches.

Her hometown, Miami, same as mine I say.
You went to Miami Senior High?
So did my mom. She’s only a few years
older than you.
No, I lived in overtown she says.
Where people sleep under I-95, I think.

i become crazy anxious when i think
of the things i have done and the pain takes over.

Oh wait, she says, it’s 3:30, well I
will always remember the girl who taught
me to use the computer. Let’s keep in touch
now.

I show her how to save the document
to the disk, like a teacher reminding
a child to put the crayons away. Debra
swings her purse on, throws the yellow disk in,
takes out her smokes, and retreats to the porch.
Smoke break, our eyes never meet, but I kept
thinking my mom barely missed transition house.

Disturbing Website

2005-11-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

http://tooldoc.wncc.nevada.edu/aidsdx.htm

Check this out if your interested in the manifestations of opportunistic infections in PLWA.

The pictures are graphic, but I really got a sense of how much pain PLWA could be in.

Now, are more affulent peoplep usually medicated for these infections and never even get such horrific infections? I wonder about the social stratification of HIV/AIDS.

For World AIDS day, Sociology Club is going to research this topic, inequality of PLWA, and present it outside the student union.

Please come join us on DEC. 1st!

-Meagan A.

Candy and Condoms!

2005-11-03T23:36:00.000-05:00

Since nobody else has posted about the latest service learning project our class has completed, I figured I'd post about it. On Monday, which was Halloween, a group of us got a table in front of the Student Union at school so we could pass out candy and condoms in honor of the holiday. The event went MUCH better than the Mardi Gras fiasco, even though our table was sandwhiched between the tables of two Christian organizations. The Student Union has a lot of traffic during the day, which means we got a larger selection of students than those that happen to live in the dorms (as was the case with Mardi Gras).

The main purpose of the table was to hand out candy, condoms, and information. We actually distributed all of our condoms, most of the candy, around a hundred flyers, and various brochures provided by Place of Comfort and REACH (an on-campus group). We mixed individual wrapped condoms (rather than entire strips of three or four) into the candy, which allowed people to inconspicuously take condoms under the premise of getting candy, thereby allowing us to reach even people who would have normally been too timid to take advantage of our efforts. When students told us that they were saving sex until marriage, we encouraged them to read some of the information, so they could better understand the plight of those afflicted with AIDS in our community.

In addition to the candy and condoms, we put together a game: "Pin the Condom on the Operation Dude." We made a large poster on foam-core with a picture of the man from the popular children's game, Operation. We then blindfolded people who came up to the table and let them try to attach a (wrapped) condom in the groinal region of the man. The game itself seemed to have a good bit of appeal, causing people to play and then come back with some of their friends later, which was then compounded by the fact that we were offering prizes to those who won. Once people played, they were more willing to take information or condoms, since the game seemed to make people more at ease with the topics at hand.

Overall, the Candy and Condoms event was a success.

At-Home HIV Test

2005-11-03T23:28:00.000-05:00

The FDA is getting closer to approving an at-home HIV test that gives results to the user without them having to send blood or saliva samples to outside clinics. It's not that expensive ($15-$17) and is being used around the country at various clinics. The hope is that if it's available over the counter, more people will be willing to get tested. Interestingly, the major issue the FDA is having with making the test available is that the psychological impact upon people who find out they're HIV-positive. Since the test makes it so the consumer doesn't have to deal with any clinics, there's no sure way a person will get the counseling they need upon finding out their HIV positive. As a result, there might be an increased risk of suicide.

Source: CNN: FDA considering do-it-yourself HIV test

Service Learning

2005-10-12T08:52:00.000-04:00

I just completed 5 hours of office hours for the service learning. The Place of Comfort office was a lot larger than I had expected, and both Venus and Karen were there. I was also impressed by the large amount of supplies they had in their back room for their clients. Nothing escapes the careful attention of these two ladies.
I mainly worked on a press release for Karen, as the phone rang off the hook and they were both busy fielding important matters. I was worried about being in their way when I first got there, but they put me at ease. It was a fun experience and I look forward to completing the rest of my hours in office.

P.s. Their office hours are 10:00-6:00 if anyone was wondering.

Condoms at LEADS Mardi Gras

2005-09-20T20:24:00.000-04:00

I know Mike and Nichole already posted about this, but I figured I'd add in my two cents' worth. As they mentioned, we got very mixed responses to our table, which made me wonder how these responses reflected the demographics of the people we had passing our table and in the campus as a whole. Were these students more conservative than average or just a representative slice of the population? Were they on the young side, and still need time to come into their own opinions (I know many people's values change once they get out of their parents' house and are forced to think and act on their own)? Or, perhaps, were we expecting too much from them? After all, the LEADS people originally didn't sound too thrilled to have us, which might have been a result of the fact that they knew the majority of their students would have more conservative values about safe sex on the whole. On the other hand, there were students who did appreciate the information, and just because a person is against an idea initially doesn't mean they'll continue to be once they learn more about it.

Mardi Gras Condoms

2005-09-20T09:19:00.000-04:00

I wasn't really sure what kind of conclusions to make based on Saturday's experience. People refusing condoms makes sense to me. If he or she is not currently sexually active, but has a few condoms ready for a "just-in-case" situation, then there would be little need to take more condoms. I understand that those we gave away did not expire for over a year, but who wants to fill half a drawer with condoms? To do so might seem overconfident. Regardless, I don't think the event as a whole was as successful as we were hoping. I know I was only there for 30 minutes, but from what I saw and gleaned from people who were there longer the event was never busy. However, if we made at least one person think to use a condom before he or she has sex, then we had a positive impact on our community. Sappy, but true.

Mardi Gras Condom Booth

2005-09-18T16:42:00.000-04:00

Hey Guys,

Saturday didn't quite turn out as well as we expected. We were in the shade at first, but later ended up being in the hot sun. We got a few donations, and a lot of students took some condoms, but at the same time a lot of students gave us evil eye for asking if they wanted any. We had to be on the look out for parents because UCF was doing housing tours. No one really wanted to play our basketball game either. But a look on the bright side- we did get a few donations, some information was passed out, a lot of condoms were passed out, and we realized that we're gonna have to do it a little differently the next time we plan on doing it-- which I believe will be by the student union.

Take care and see you Tuesday,
Nichole

Myth about exposure

2005-09-07T19:12:00.000-04:00

I heard that if you have sex with someone who is HIV+ you will get it automatically. I learned that you actually have less than one percent change of getting it. Whereas, you have a 30% chance of getting Hepatitis B. ekk.

AIDS Terrorism

2005-09-06T08:08:00.000-04:00

I remember hearing about people with AIDS intentionally giving it to someone by using a syringe of AIDS-infected blood (or even of the virus itself) as a weapon. I also heard that someone had contracted it by being stuck with a needle that was left in the change slot of a payphone. I have no idea if this is true, but it left an impression on me either way.

Forrest Gump

2005-09-03T16:22:00.000-04:00

I can't say that I have ever really bought into myths about AIDS/HIV. I've always considered myself a pretty up to date person. That having been said, I did notice something that could be construed as a myth upon watching Forrest Gump last evening.
Maybe I'm completely off track with this, but it seems to be that Jenny died of AIDS. I didn't pick up on it until I saw it last night, but Jenny tells Forrest that she's sick- she has a virus that the doctors don't know anything about and can't do anything about it. Later on, her tombstone bears her death year as 1982. I think it all fits. It all fits except for how she is pictured as dying. Given, there is only one scene of her in bed sick, but in it, she looks fairly healthy and does not seem to be suffering from any opportunistic diseases. This could perpetuate a myth that people die of AIDS/HIV and that there are no associated problems, diseases, or causes of death.
I could be completely wrong about how Jenny died, but to me, it seems to be the correct assumption.

Myth

2005-09-02T09:44:00.000-04:00

I heard that mosquitoes could carry/deliver the virus if it had bitten an infected person. Still wonder if this is possible. A very ominous thought.

Anti-Rape Condom

2005-09-01T21:04:00.000-04:00

"South Africa anti-rape condom aims to stop attacks"

I just read this article and I thought it was pretty pertinent to this class. Basically, a woman in South Africa has created a female condom with barbs inside. A woman can wear it if she feels that a place is unsafe, and if she's raped, the condom will pretty much latch on to the attacker's penis and he won't be able to remove it without a visit to a hospital.

There are, of course, a couple of issues with this product thus far. One that's mentioned in the article is that it might incite attackers further, so they might cause even more harm to the woman than if she didn't have the condom. Of course, theoretically, the man will be in so much pain he won't be able to do much of anything, but if he were, there's little point to preventing the transmission of AIDS if the woman's going to die in the attack anyway (Not that I entirely believe this, mind you-- it's just one of the arguments against it).

Another problem is that it doesn't help with other forms of rape and sexual assault that could pass on the virus. I mean, obviously, it's still good that it's covering one of the major bases, but you have to wonder what will happen as the attackers become more aware of its existence. IE, will they turn to other forms of assault instead?

And, of course, there's always the issue of it being used for the wrong reason. Say a woman's husband goes off and has an affair, and the wife finds out. She gets really angry, but rather than talk about it, she just inserts this condom before sex. Such a scenario would have nasty repercussions.

Overall, I think this is a pretty good idea. No, it's not perfect, but theoretically, most forms of self-defense aren't-- a person with a knife is little match against a person with a gun, and an attacker could overpower a woman who does know self-defense (though I know proper self-defense training generally insures against it, but still). I'm interested in seeing what affect it has in Africa and if it will ever be approved for the US.

Myths we have heard about HIV/Aids

2005-09-01T11:56:00.000-04:00

The myth that I have heard is that two virgins who do not have HIV and have sex can get HIV. Some people believe it is automatically inherited as a punishment for having sex.

Expectations for Literature of AIDS

2005-08-30T02:17:00.000-04:00

I know Dr. Bowden mentioned this in class last week, so I figured I'd post something on the blog about my expectations and see what you all are expecting, too.

I'd actually heard about the class from a friend who took it a few semesters ago and really liked it. I was a tad bit worried about the whole "service learning" aspect of it, for the same reason I'm sure most people are, which is that it seems so time-consuming. Of course, I know it won't be, and it will be a way to understand the AIDS community better, so overall I'm looking forward to it.

In fact, understanding the AIDS community better is probably the number one reason I'm looking forward to this class. I've only heard some about it before, and then only in passing from high school sex ed or articles I skimmed in the newspaper. Heck, I haven't even seen Rent (or Philadelphia, for that matter). In short, I'm embarrasingly uninformed about the issue, though, I suppose, I'm lucky enough to at least come from a generation that's been pretty well educated about at least the basics of AIDS. However, text book knowledge isn't the same as reading about the life of someone who's HIV positive, and nowhere near the same as knowing him or her.

I'm really not sure what to add here, so I guess I'll open up the question to what everybody else in the class is expecting from this semester?

Welcome To Our Blog

2005-08-22T14:30:00.000-04:00

Two years ago, I incorporated a blog into my Literature of AIDS course for the first time. I found that the students who actively participated in it gained a lot from the experience. Making their opinions and experiences public shaped their perspectives in interesting ways, and helped them to better see themselves in the context of a complicated world. This semester I'm trying the blog idea again, but I'm adding the opportunity for people outside of our class to comment on our posts. The students and I invite readers to participate in our learning by interacting with us on this site. Here you can find out about what we're reading, watching, listening to, and doing and you can tell us what you think.

This course incorporates a wide range of activities, including reading, writing, listening to audio, watching movies, and, perhaps most importantly, working with real people who are affected by HIV. Each student in the class is required to participate in service-learning, a teaching approach that allows students to take their learning outside of the classroom by working in the community. Reflection is a key element of service-learning, and a lot of that will happen here, in our blog. We'll tell stories, share resources and invite interaction. We will not compromise the privacy of anyone we work with, engage in or respond to attacks on any stakeholder in the communities affected by HIV, or tolerate discriminatory posts.

Thanks for visiting and participating in our site.

Dr. Melody Bowdon
Department of English
University of Central Florida

Some Audio Files for Week One

2005-08-22T14:20:00.000-04:00

Below are links to several stories aired on National Public Radio in the past few months. The first three provide information about the current state of the epidemic and some epidemiological trends. The last one is a personal story of a woman living with HIV/AIDS. To hear them, click on a link, and then click on the "listen" button to start the audio. You'll have to have a compatible media player on your computer to hear the files.

NPR stories on epidemic
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4702405
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4704998
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4195152

Valerie's Story
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4194976