by Mark S. King | Mar 14, 2020 | Family and Friends, Gay Life, Living with HIV/AIDS, My Fabulous Disease, News, Prevention and Policy, Trump
People ask me if our lives today feel like the early years of HIV/AIDS, and I want to scream. There is no comparison. Just stop. No one cared about people dying of AIDS in the early years of the pandemic. The stock market didn’t budge. The President didn’t hold news...
by Mark S. King | Mar 12, 2020 | Book Review, Gay Life, Living with HIV/AIDS, Meth and Recovery, My Fabulous Disease, News
Somewhere well into Every Grain of Sand, the mesmerizingly sad and ultimately transformative new memoir by recovering addict and sex worker David P. Wichman, the reader might wonder just how much more they can take. There are harrowing accounts of childhood abuse, of...
by Mark S. King | Feb 25, 2020 | Gay Life, Living with HIV/AIDS, My Fabulous Disease, News, Prevention and Policy, Trump
(This essay appeared in the Jan/Feb 2020 issue of POZ Magazine. It plays off the fact that it was written in advance of publication, in late 2019, and how fast-paced the downfall of our democracy news cycle can be. One thing is certain: my Trump Trauma remains, and I...
by Mark S. King | Jan 28, 2020 | Film Review, Gay Life, Living with HIV/AIDS, My Fabulous Disease, News, Prevention and Policy
Something struck me, maybe halfway through the uproarious screening of the new, second season of the musical comedy web series, Merce. I surveyed the packed room at the LGBT Center in New York City, the audience laughing, clapping, cheering on the characters and...
by Mark S. King | Jan 13, 2020 | Gay Life, Living with HIV/AIDS, My Fabulous Disease, News, Prevention and Policy
The gay men online who get off on seeking HIV infection (“bug chasers”) aren’t exactly known for their thoughtful introspection. After all, they are eroticizing something that works exactly once — and has life-long consequences. So, a tweet posted a few weeks...