(Photo illustration by Lynne Rhys. If you understand the reference you are the age of my target audience.)
Thank you for being a reader, my friend. I appreciate you being along for the ride.
Writing has been my outlet and my therapy. It began as a way to process my diagnosis in 1985, and only through some bizarre twist of fate have I stayed around to keep right on telling the story. After appearing in various LGBTQ papers in the 1980s, my writing moved largely to TheBody.com, where founding editor Bonnie Goldman gave my writing the title “My Fabulous Disease” about 25 years ago. The My Fabulous Disease website was created nearly 20 years ago.
You can find “the best of” My Fabulous Disease in my collection of essays released last year, My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor. This list is something else. It represents my personal favorites, the posts that flew under the radar or that were written years ago before you and I became acquainted. This list also includes video pieces that couldn’t be included in the book.
In no particular order, here are my favorites 25 posts, so far.
1. Shopping for Socks at the Mall with Larry Kramer (link here)
A rare, completely fictional piece that lovingly stabbed a pin into Larry Kramer’s volcanic public persona.
2. Premiere of the ‘My Fabulous Disease’ Video Blog (link)
The very first video episode of my blog, as it appeared on TheBody.com in 2008, under founding editor Bonnie Goldman.
3. Managing AIDS Grief in the 1980s… by Making Silly Videos (link)
The staff at the oldest AIDS agency in Los Angeles, the L.A. Shanti Foundation, managed stress and grief by creating silly videos for staff members when they left the agency. Here is one from the time capsule.
4. On Milford, and Finding Home Again (link)
Strolling through the idyllic town in Pennsylvania and finding the serenity I needed to return home and start again.
5. When Opposites Attract (link)
In one of my oldest pieces that still exists (1997), I announce my HIV status to a new boyfriend and hope for the best.
6. Did I Abandon Family for Gay Community? (link)
Among a group of southern gay men at an HIV retreat, there are lessons about those who leave home to find community, and those who stayed to enrich the lives they already had.
7. Into the Desert, After the Bomb (link)
A review of a documentary on gay long-term survivors in Palm Springs.
8. The Man Who Buried Them Remembers (link)
One of those most astounding interviews of someone I have ever had the privilege to conduct.
9. Spilling My Guts at the ACT UP NYC Forum for Long-Term Survivors (link)
This audio record of a speech about being a long-term survivor, at an ACT UP meeting in the room it was born, was an anguished outpouring of emotion and remembrance.
10. Will HIV Ever Be Safe Enough for You? (link)
An arch takedown of those who would willfully disregard the facts of HIV transmission.
11. The Beautiful Sadness of ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ (link)
My review of the Oscar-winning film and the emotions it created.
12. Stop Bludgeoning Young Gay Men with Our AIDS Tragedy (link)
An angry counterpoint to the tendency to club younger gay men over their heads with our queer history as a way of changing or influencing them.
13. The Fog of a Thousand Years (link)
My older brother David was my tormentor growing up, or so I thought. The truth is something very different.
14. The Fabulous Wizard of POZ (link)
A farcical piece that cemented my use of unbridled ego as both a comical tool and a mirror.
15. The Twilight of the Redhead (link)
Redheads are miraculous, beautiful, and, in my case, a little damaged.
An audio interview for a BBC podcast on the influence of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.” As you might expect, it has everything to do with AIDS.
17. Gilead Duped Me into Being Their Mouthpiece. Here’s How. (link)
The most infuriating example of how Big Pharma has co-opted our movement and the people who lead it.
18. Right After Testing Positive, She Found Her Voice at USCA (link)
A remarkable woman who had recently tested positive attended the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS. I captured her experience in a music video that still makes me cry.
19. Bruce Richman is Totally Hot and Other HIV Activism Truths (link)
Flirting and acknowledging the obvious are hallmarks of HIV activism. Here’s exhibit one.
20. The Many Children of Dr. Jesse Peel (link)
The Atlanta community icon left a legacy that will be building community for generations to come.
21. Oklahoma is Not Okay. These LGBTQ Leaders Are Fighting for Its Future. (link)
Days after a child died after bullying, leaders of the Oklahoma City queer community talked to me about what they were going through. A profile of pure, ferocious strength.
22. How Do We Support Black Women in an HIV Arena Once Run by Gay White Men? (link)
The most effective and the fiercest advocates in the current movement are Black women. Full stop. How can we support them?
23. The Thing About Being Naked with Damon Jacobs (link)
The PrEP advocate and happy provocateur got me naked in his bathtub. Here’s how that felt.
24. One Night with the Gay Man Who Slept with Thousands (link)
After my sex life became grist for the cybermill, a night with my husband put things in perspective.
25. As Timothy Ray Brown Faces Death, a Great Love Endures (link)
The HIV research icon, along with his beloved partner, shared the most intimate thing possible with me: his dying process.
