Comments for My Fabulous Disease

Comment on Serosorting and Gay Sex Clubs by joe

joe — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:03:13 +0000

While I agree with serosorting, I must say and warn everyone that barebacking is very dangerous, yes, even for poz people. Why is barebacking still dangerous? Because re-infection is a very real risk and one may even become super-infected with different strains of the virus. In such a case, the disease becomes very difficult to manage. Please be safe and do not bareback if you have any STD at all. A promiscuous lifestyle comes with risks, hell, even condoms do not guarantee 100% protection. Please assume the consequences of such a lifestyle and be safe; always demand a medical certificate from your partners. STDs are no joke and they are not fun. NEVER bareback if you have HIV.

Comment on Five Things About HIV (They’re Not Telling You) by John Jordan

John Jordan — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:06:49 +0000

I’m positive with a CD-4 count of less than 200 my doc said to me and my wife to start using condoms every time we have sex so i stop trying to have ex wife my wife which almost ruin our marriage in fear of transmitting it to her and cause a rift between us but don’t worry we have had sex just oral sex me going down on her her not giving me BJ”s which i miss as well as penetration and a normal sex life drove me nuts just thinking about the life i once had my wife is negative thanks the lord:) it was a close call for me over a year ago was fairly sick but my meds helped so i live on with a new outlook on life i crave more info on HIV /aids, the reason she is negative is a birth defect at my end my doc tells me my sperm can’t get out but still experience per-cum in which they tell me i may give her HIV well if that’s the case she should have it right be have been together for over a decade and never used condoms so what the fuck just confuses me to no end really not scared of my illness now which helps my marriage we are so in-love so whats your take on this????sincerely J.J:)

Comment on Remembering, and Saying Her Name by Tom Donohue

Tom Donohue — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:12:50 +0000

Mark, I didn’t know Bonnie passed away. What a sad loss. She was a wonderful woman. It saddens me to hear about this so late. *hugs*

Comment on Remembering, and Saying Her Name by Bobby

Bobby — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:32:33 +0000

Thanks, Mark. Love your work!

Comment on The Man That AIDS Forgot: Safe Sex Architect Richard Berkowitz by Scott Mitchell

Scott Mitchell — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:32:05 +0000

I first encountered Richard when I saw the documentary “Sex in an Epidemic” and I was quite taken with what he had to say and what he had done in conjunction with Michael Callen and Dr. Sonnabend and the courage it had taken to express such views at the time. I was living in San Francisco in June, 1981 when that scary article appeared “Rare Cancer Found In 41 Gay Men” and I remember the fear and confusion that swept the community. I also remember how so many of us retreated into denial for far too long about what was going on and what we would have to change if we were going to have any chance of saving ourselves because certainly the Reagan Administration wasn’t going to do anything to help us. I remember people being called mysogynists because they dared to suggest that we had to “stop fucking around” in the way we had been during the wild late 1970′s. I remember how the whole topic of condom use was ridiculed and all the while the death toll climbed. I believe that what saved me was that very early on, certainly long before it was known as fact, I believed that there was a deadly new virus out there and I acted on that belief while many of my friends preferred to believe that it was a batch of bad drugs, or a C.I.A. or F.B.I. plot or that all those poppers were somehow to blame. They and so many more all died and if only more of us had listened to voices like Richard’s who knows how many would still be alive. I know I’m late to be commenting here but I’ve been trying to find a way to express my thanks to Richard for a some time and here was my chance. Thank you Richard. I hope you are doing well. I know what it is like to struggle to live on disability, to pay rent and doctors and the ever increasing cost of medications. You know I got tested for HIV when the tests were finally available and I was sure I would test positive, there had just been too many men, and I was shocked when the results came back negative. It somehow made me feel as if I had cheated or had somehow escaped my own mortality; but of course all the old diseases were still out there and in 2004 I was diagnosed with cancer. But I’m still here and very grateful.

Comment on Remembering, and Saying Her Name by Mommie Dammit

Mommie Dammit — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:47:50 +0000

I’m very grateful that many of us have been blessed with a Bonnie in our lives, those rare and wonderful people that see something beautiful in us and help us share it with the world around us.
Your last comment about our tokens of remembrance of these people was poignant, as I sit here looking at the ring I gave my beloved Danny on our first Yule. He came into my life at a time when I had completely shut down, opened a heart long used to its iron walls, and taught me Joy again. And there’s my Gram’s rocking chair, which her great-grandfather made and brought with him from Germany. It’s plain, simple, and the wood is nearly black with age – but it serves as a bond to the woman who taught me what real love is, and that I am a very special person.
Danny has been gone for nearly 30 years, and Gram for 20 this Thanksgiving. Both of these “tokens” are anchors connecting me to two people who brought about powerful changes in my life, and they are invaluable to me as remembrances.
So, my dear Mark, you keep hanging on to that broken camera. Some people, like the tokens they leave behind, are priceless treasures – no matter how far removed.

Comment on Remembering, and Saying Her Name by Subversive Librarian

Subversive Librarian — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:03:23 +0000

Thanks, Mark, for sharing this. I didn’t know Bonnie, of course, but I’m certainly grateful to her for sending you that camera — and for knowing talent when she sees it. You are a gift.
.

Comment on Remembering, and Saying Her Name by Czarina Flo

Czarina Flo — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:41:05 +0000

A touching tribute.
Bonnie sounds like she was quite a woman.

I do not ‘do’ video but I have carefully saved the last dozen voicemail messages my beloved Dad left me in the months prior to his last 6 months, when he was not feeling well enough to leave messages.
When it was time to change phones recently, I had the messages transcribed to mp3 format saved on my pc’s hard drive.
When I hear his “Hi, hon. Where are you? Late again?” it’s like he is still here.

Keep on keeping on, Mark.

Comment on The Unfortunate Pursuits of a Gay Porn Critic by Subversive Librarian

Subversive Librarian — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 04:49:46 +0000

I decided to do a little fact-checking, Mark, to keep you accountable to your loyal readers. And by golly, you’re right: There is no synonym for “scrotum.”

You will be happy to know, however, that scrotum does have a word that rhymes, and it would actually work quite well in a dirty limerick.

Hey. Always happy to help.

Comment on The Unfortunate Pursuits of a Gay Porn Critic by Chris Glaser

Chris Glaser — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:33:51 +0000

I had to look up the word in my OED. There is another spelling as well: perinaeum. Maybe the porn writer should alternate the spellings, since he used it twice. Somehow the longer word is sexier.

Good job, though I’m hesitant to admit I read someone who eats Raisin Bran Crunch.