(Top) Devin Bernard, content creator; Darian Aaron, GLAAD; Tracee McDaniel, Juxtaposed Center; Steven Igarashi-Ball, Atlanta Pride; Jim Farmer, Out on Film; Benji Carr, writer and theater critic; (Front) Larry L. Scott-Walker, spoken word artist; Mark S. King)
At Out Front Theater on August 8, 2024, seven Atlanta community members performed essays from my new collection, My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor.
It was the last stop of a national tour that included events in Palm Springs, Ft. Lauderdale, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Oklahoma City and West Hollywood.
In each city, local performers and community notables read essays from the book. It was a great way to make the event about more than the book itself, as each reader shared their own perspectives after reading their essay.
Performers around the country included elected officials, drag queens, television personalities, and, most movingly, long-term HIV/AIDS survivors.
My adopted hometown of Atlanta made a fabulous final stop. Here is the line-up and the markers for their reading on the video:
0:00 Mark S. King, writer and survivor (“HIV and Other Fabulous Prizes”)
A story about winning a car on The Price is Right in 1980.
8:53 Darian Aaron, GLAAD (“Outliving My Father”)
When my father fell ill, a private wish I had would be fulfilled: I would outlive my father.
15:13 Devin Bernard, content creator and comic (“My Gonorrhea Nostalgia”)
Remember when getting an STI was a rite of passage and nothing more?
20:30 Jim Farmer, Out on Film (“Your Mother Liked It Bareback”)
Provocative for its time, the essay challenged judgments about sex without condoms.
28:43 Tracee McDaniel, Juxtaposed Center (“The Man Who Buried Them Remembers”)
A moving portrait of a priest who performed gravesite memorials for people lost to AIDS.
41:30 Benji Carr, actor and theater critic (“Probing My Anal Phobia”)
A hilarious episode of trying to bottom and an embarrassing douching disaster.
50:35 Mark S. King (“When Survival Ends”)
A new piece about survivors facing our mortality for a second time.
1:01:57 Larry L. Scott-Walker, spoken word artist (“Once, When We Were Heroes”)
A signature piece about the trauma survivors face in the here and now.
The evening was hosted by Steven Igarashi-Ball of Atlanta Pride. Video courtesy of Lynne Rhys.
Thanks for watching, and please be well.
Mark
