Not Your Grandfather's Mysterious Disease

In a world where people call themselves "clean" and "disease-free," it's a challenge finding positive words and images dealing with HIV/AIDS.

In a world where the media once labeled AIDS "the deadly disease," it's difficult to imagine scenarios better than worst-case scenarios for people living with HIV/AIDS.

In a world that ignores the idea of safe sex with someone living with HIV/AIDS, it's a bitch trying to find a suitable mate.

Sometimes I have to remind myself I'm still part of the American Dream, that people without AIDS are still capable of caring about people with AIDS, that the world has moved beyond the fear of the early days of the AIDS Panic (1981-1996).

Then it occurred to me: if others in the world can't imagine AIDS and people with AIDS in a better light, I'll imagine it for them.

Living with AIDS, Looking for Love

AIDS Monster Mash

Get hip to the fastest growing trend in sexual America, the Return of the AIDS Monsters.

Meet the great Count Randolpho de St. Mark Boyd, the infamous star of the classic AIDS Monster Movie series, in an exclusive Interview with the AIDS Monster.

Hitch a ride a buckle up for a most dangerous and daring journey through the Count's horrifying, insidious career. Relive his most frightening horror classics, from Dawn of the Disease-Ridden, to AIDS Summer Camp Revenge. From AIDS = EVIL to Toxic DJ Mix Master.

And don't forget the outrageous musical comedy Take My HIV, Please! And who could forget the heartbreaking Bridge of AIDS Monster and the timeless Teenagers from the Land of Poz?

It's all part of the fun and fear that is AIDS, so come along, if you dare, for the AIDS Monster Movie Marathon, a blog story told backwards in a car driving forward, now and forever on my author blog, Randy Boyd's Blocks.

Dream Positive

What the Funk Am I?

If a virus doesn't define me, what does? Check out these funky posts and decide for yourself:

Imperfect Bodies, Perfect Match
How Big Is My Dick?
My Buddy and Me: The Kind of Men We Are
When You See Me Smile
Funking Up Instigator Magazine
AIDS Is All In Your Mind
I Love Science!
Faggy Black Boys Have Dreams, Too

Three Core Beliefs for a Happy Life with AIDS

When I first learned I might have HIV/AIDS, I was a 23 year-old kid and scared shitless, and that was in 1985, when science didn't know shit! However, religious people thought they knew what was up: AIDS was God's referendum on fags.

Turns out, the religious people were wrong. HIV is a virus, not a condemnation. AIDS is a disease, not a death sentence. Wish I had known that back in the day. lol. Wished I'd known a lot of things.

What I did know served me well. The following were the three most important core beliefs that kept me going:

1. You're not guaranteed to die of AIDS.

2. Everything you've ever been through, every crisis, every bad day, bad week, bad year, every crushing blow, every heartache, every defeat, every loss, every thing, you've always managed to find a way to get through it and keep going.

3. Anything is possible (like science coming to the rescue).

Those three nuggets of truth have done me right for almost twenty-four years. Here's to many, many more years mining that gold in my soul, and living to tell, so that others may also live happily ever after living with AIDS.

• For more HIV/AIDS through my eyes, check out Semper Poz, here on my funky blog, and HIV-P.O.V. on my author blog, Randy Boyd's Blocks (.com).
  
  
• Also: check out my novels, all featuring main characters who are black and HIV-positive, all nominated for Lambda Literary Awards.
  

Positively Secure

I Love My AIDS-Infected Ass!

On Living and Loving with HIV ...
Semper Poz Since 1985
Charged Up: To Be or Not To Be
Let's Fuck, I've Got AIDS!
Happy to Be Living with AIDS
Neg Dudes: Show Me Some Love

Also on my author blog, Randy Boyd's Blocks:
AIDS = Love, or AIDS = Hate
AIDS Survivor's Guilt
My Own Personal AIDS Tattoo
That's So Dirty and Disease-Ridden!
Kiss Me, I Have AIDS
AIDS Monsters: A Menace