Election Tuesday started out early for me, headed to Stark County, Ohio, designated by various pundits and pollsters to be a “bell weather” county that would presumably forecast the outcome of the presidential race. On a last-minute assignment for a Chilean sunday magazine, the writer and I faced a minor logistical set-back: By the time we arrived around lunch time, most people had already voted and were at work. Downtown Canton resembled the set of a zombie movie, devoid of any surviving human extras. View the rest of this entry »

Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012: Chan Yin is a home health aide who looks after 93-year-old Liang Xiushi in the apartment she shares with her husband on the 7th floor of 16 Monroe Street in Knickerbocker Village. Without electricity, she is unable to operate Ms. Liang’s hospital bed to prop her up while feeding her, or to lift her out of bed. Their apartment has been without heat, hot water or cooking gas for almost two weeks now.

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Thinking of the wonderful Bob Franke, who passed away over the holidays at the age of 78. I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to interview this truly memorable and inspiring man about his fight against HIV discrimination in long term care.

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SPLC is launching a campaign to draw attention to the damage done – mostly to young people – by so-called pray the gay away “therapy” approaches that are supported by various religious denominations in this country.  As part of this media effort, I produced a series of portraits of Chaim Levin, an orthodox Jewish young man who has been an outspoken opponent of “reparative therapy” and sexual abuse in his religious enclave of Brooklyn.

Here’s a video (produced separately by TruthWinsOut.org) of Chaim and another young man recounting their experiences with Jonah, a – highly UN-orthodox – approach to attempting to cure Jewish youth of their same-sex attractions. View the rest of this entry »

For World AIDS Day, on December 1st, there’s lots of new material on the Graying of AIDS website: new video portraits on Bill, Robert and Sue; a new interview with Anna; a brand new blog on Artists Responding to Aging and to HIV/AIDS; and a first of many special “featurettes ” – themed, issue-driven resource guides and learning tools, this one on institutional HIV discrimination.

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Women’s Soccer World Cup begins in Germany. Can’t honestly say I am rooting for the home team…

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Graying of AIDS: Older Americans at risk for HIV infection.
Anna Fowlkes, 64, didn’t date for years after her husband, Sonny, died of a brain tumor. And after she finally did, she learned she’d become infected with HIV. View the rest of this entry »