Our little summer camp for global AIDS advocates (and physicians, and commercial interests) has come to a close, and there are images that will be knocking around in my head for weeks to come (and some, forever).
The seven foot Mexican drag queen handing out condoms springs to mind, of course. The astonishingly talented performance poet Mary Bowman (right), showing us her heart and soul on stage. And escape artist Daniel Bauer‘s highly personal show mixing magic with confessions from his life as a gay man living with HIV. Seeing presentations by mentors I admire, such as Sean Strub and Edwin Bernard. The Australian chief justice with a gay partner of 43 years, giving me suggestions on maintaining a long marriage (“Give in,” he advised).
In this farewell video posting, I pay tribute to the people on the front lines who are the very essence of this conference. They are the ones with the “star power,” and they fill me with renewed commitment and energy that might possibly last until AIDS2014 in Melbourne, Australia.
Please be well,
Mark
Excellent wrap up of the Conference. Through the days in DC, you were able to put faces and voices to a changing world of activism, progress, and hopefully, a world working together in a common cause. Keep up your good writing..
Well done, Mark, well done! And you sound very refreshed and invigorated. Keep it up! Let’s all do what we can – Great job reporting. Thank You!
I hope you don’t mind my sharing your reports on Suncoast AIDS Theatre Project’s Facebook page.
Garry Allan Breul
Artist Director
SUNCOAST AIDS THEATRE PROJECT
Mark…you are an inspiration. Thank you for allowing those of us who work on the ‘front lines’ and communicty activists who were there but not at the conference, to have witnessed through your eyes and lense, history in the making. May God bless you and keep you healthy until and beyond the next conference. Rest, my new friend….rest!
(Syringe Exchange Coordinator at ACQC, Queens NY.
Thank you Mark!! I feel like I was there and I was in spirit 🙂