blog

Aloha!

Tue, 11 May 2010 05:00:05 +0100

My name is Makana and I am a junior psychology and art major. I am from Hawaii, where the gay population is widely accepted. Through my current AIDS class I have learned just how ignorant I was. Much like an ignorant teenager, I thought that the idea of me contracting HIV was far fetched. I felt invincible. I realize there is still a lot for me to learn but I am more aware and better able to take the neccessary precautions to stay HIV negative. And I am better able to understand the faces who hold this disease. For those who are less fortunate, my prayers are with you and your families. I pray that one day there will be a cure. I am optimistic that miracles can happen. Please join me and my fellow classmates in the fight against AIDS. I believe that education is the easiest way to preventing the disease. So, please, spread the word! And have a blessed day.

African Americans and AIDS

Tue, 11 May 2010 04:53:20 +0100

I was stunned to find out that a large majority of the HIV/AIDS cases in the United States are from the African American community. I had no previous knowledge of this and frankly I was appalled to learn about the lack of effort to fight the disease. It is not something that is openly addressed in the community. The African American community needs to improve its efforts and the discrimination towards homosexual black males needs to cease. I encourage the African American students of Whittier College to stand up and discuss the HIV/AIDS epidemic with peers, friends and family members. I am the only African American student in my AIDS course and I feel that I need to help spread the word about what is going on to those who have never heard about it. It will take everyone to fight against the disease in order for the percentage of prevalence and the number of cases to decrease. When one person in the community suffers we all do.

~ Genesis Allen, African American student of Whittier College

I want more...

Tue, 11 May 2010 04:29:28 +0100

Hi everyone! This is Calvin. I cannot believe how ignorant I was on the HIV/AIDS issue especially as a young gay male in which I am a part of a community the disease greatly impacts. I believe there is definitely a generation gap between the young and the younger gay community partly because anti-retrovirals (drugs to treat HIV/AIDS) have been available and severity of the disease has been cushioned.

Before I started learning about the disease, I had the preconception that it was "us" against "them" meaning those with HIV/AIDS and those without. I was uncomfortable if I knew you had HIV/AIDS because I was ruled by fear and lacked information. Understanding HIV/AIDS better and the diverse groups it affects has reduced my stigma threefold. I cannot say I am 100 percent comfortable, but I have developed an open-mind to learning more about HIV/AIDS and the people with the virus.

As of presently, none of us have HIV/AIDS, which we acknowledge contributes to our inability to fully understanding the experience. Hopefully, if there are any comments or information that is inaccurate or offensive, please let us know and we would be more than happy to explore the issue. This website is a representation of our journey in getting to know more about the disease. I would like to open up this blog for questions that we can all further explore together.