Once again, "apropos of nothing". I'm a bit sad today. An old friend of mine told me this morning that he sero-converted 2 months ago. He's actually been really sick. The irony is that we used to be HIV educators together and he was quite a leading light in the prevention field, as well as being a total honey.

What's really odd, it's like the past has irrepressibly risen up in some kind of "eternal return" - the swathe of people I knew who were hiv+ (with 2 exceptions) were all gone by the mid '90s. I know infection rates are increasing again, but I'm slightly in shock because I really thought it was something me and my contemporaries had put behind us and that people who had survived thus far were exempt. Why am I pouring out my heart here? Probably because the demographics of the particular So-cal, white bread, burbclave that I inhabit (all pee-wee soccer and vacation bible school) aren't going to produce a remotely sympathetic ear. I'm far from home and far from my friend and feeling so sad for him right now.