Best Blocks about Surviving HIV/AIDS

And now, the nominees for Best of the Blocks 2010 in the category Best HIV-P.O.V. Block:

How To Survive Being HIV-Positive in an HIV-Negative World: Survival tools for poz people from a black man living with HIV for 25 years.

Dear Ryan White, Wish You Were Here: Letter to the teenager who was hated, then loved, then died in 1990 as the worldwide face of AIDS.

Where Were You on AIDS Night In America?: Nostalgic look at the day Rock Hudson's AIDS announcement shocked the world, and how history is repeating itself 25 years later.

How I Became HIV-Positive: Black college graduate learns he's HIV-positive by looking at TV coverage of Rock Hudson's AIDS announcement in 1985.

This Day in History: Boy Meets AIDS: Black author's reflections of the turning point in America and his own life during the 1980s AIDS crisis.

23 Years Old and HIV-Positive in 2010: Poignant comparison between the HIV-positive young of today and yesteryear.

Three Core Beliefs for a Happy Life with HIV: Poz vet reveals three beliefs that have aided him while surviving AIDS.

Proud of Being Alive: A better way of thinking about yourself if you happen to be living with HIV/AIDS.

A New Way of Looking at a-i-d-s: Visual art that imagines ways to de-capitalize our collective fear of the AIDS virus.

Dear Magic Johnson, Thanks for Saving My Life: Former college cheerleader expresses gratitude for the basketball legend's contribution to the AIDS epidemic.

And the winner is ... every block labeled HIV-P.O.V., now and forever at Randy Boyd's Blocks!

World AIDS Daydreaming 2010

It's that time a year again when the whole world stops to acknowledge a disease so impactful, it's got its own day now. In honor of the world's AIDS day, here are some of my favorite postcards from my very own AIDS life.

Twenty-five years after Rock Hudson shocked the world, countless young men and women America are being infected with the virus daily. Find out three things you can do if you're asking yourself the question: What If I'm Young, Gay and Poz?

Would you use the term "disease-free" in front of Ryan White, were alive today? Who's Ryan White and why do I wish he were here? Find out in Dear Ryan White, Wish You Were Here

Magic Johnson is my hero, not for what he's done on the court, but for what he's done to help anyone infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Upon meeting the Lakers legend, I had one thing to say: Dear Magic Johnson, Thanks for Saving My Life

See life from my point of view all year long in the blocks labeled HIV-P.O.V., now and forever at Randy Boyd's Blocks.

Behold the AIDS Monster!

Living with AIDS in America is like starring in your very own monster movie. You get to play the sick and depraved villain, while everyone else is so afraid of you, they ignore you on the Internet and avoid you at all costs in real life.

The innocent victims in your monster movie are the townfolk living in your village. They've heard rumors about your kind. They've been warned by their elders about people like you.

The elders didn't give them much advice, just: stay away from those ghastly beasts, don't have sex with them and don't try to understand them. AIDS monsters are just plain wrong. Stay away from the AIDS Monster, kids! Make sure you stay clean!

"Anyone can become an AIDS monster."

And the townfolk got the message. They vowed to stay away from HIV-Poz People. They put up warning signs, like CLEAN and DISEASE-FREE ONLY, which means that AIDS monsters are dirty and disease-ridden.

But you don't feel dirty and disease-ridden. You, the monster of your own movie, feel misunderstood. You want to befriend the townfolk, maybe love one of them.

You want to tell the villagers that it's possible to touch an AIDS Monster and AIDS won't rub off. You want to show the world how people without HIV can have safe sex with people with HIV and the clean and disease-free can walk away ... still clean and disease-free.

You want to explain to the townfolk that anyone can become an AIDS Monster, if anyone has unsafe sex with anyone, even with so-called neg people. You want to teach them that everyone can avoid becoming an AIDS Monster, if everyone has safer sex with both poz and neg people.

But the townfolk turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the pleas of the AIDS Monster. They prefer ignorance. They'd rather reserve their compassion for others. Indeed, the townfolk would rather AIDS Monsters were a thing of the past.

But you are an AIDS Monster living in the present, and there are countless more monsters just like you living in America. And each dirty and disease-ridden soul belonging to the Poz People is starring in his or her own monster movie in the minds of the Neg People.

Why else would so many Neg People be so afraid of touching those who aren't CLEAN and DISEASE-FREE? UB2.

Are you afraid to look the AIDS Monster in the eye?

The AIDS Monster Movie Marathon, a Halloween tradition at Randy Boyd's Blocks. Ghoulish fun for the whole family, featuring the exclusive Interview with the AIDS Monster!

23 Years Old and HIV-Positive in 2010

To be 23 years old and HIV-positive in 2010 is not uncommon, but it's quite a shock to someone who was once 23 years old and HIV-positive. Twenty-five years ago in 1985.

Twenty-five years ago this month, Rock Hudson died of AIDS. The entire world was gripped in the AIDS Panic. The AIDS Monster was the number one terrorist worldwide.

At the time, I was 23 years old and HIV-positive. I was an AIDS Monster and couldn't tell a soul. I heard the AIDS Panic in people's daily conversations. I heard the AIDS jokes. When the entire world was obsessed with AIDS, I had AIDS and the world didn't know it.

And I survived, twenty-five years and counting. I survived to witness a second AIDS epidemic, currently infecting the youth of America. The difference in 2010: the AIDS Monster gets no hype, no media attention, no buzz.

But young kids in America are being infected daily, mostly because they possess very little training in the survival tool known as safer sex. The result: I, a longtime survivor of HIV/AIDS, now see young men and women on the net who are 23 years old and HIV-positive, as I was 25 years ago.

My heart breaks a little each and every time I see someone who's young and HIV-positive.

You can live a long, full life, I tell them, giving them a brief recap of my success story. Anything is possible. Keep dreaming big.

Thanks, they'll tell me. Many of them tell me that it helps, hearing my story. Seems to make them feel a little better about themselves and their chances for a happy, healthy life.

That alone gives me comfort when I think about the young men and women who are 23 years old and HIV-positive in 2010.

How To Survive Being HIV-Positive in an HIV-Negative World

Dear Poz People, don't let the negative bigots define you.

It's a tough, negative crowd out there. People call themselves clean and disease-free to distinguish themselves from those of us who are living with HIV/AIDS.

Bug free. No diseases whatsoever. Super duper clean. UB2.

Before, AIDS those phrases did not exist. Since AIDS, insensitive people have created an entire lexicon designed to keep out the virus and anyone with it.

As if doing so keeps them safe, or implies better worth.

"You do not have to apologize for living with HIV/AIDS."

Do not let them get away with it.

Tell your friends how it feels, hearing them use those words.

Call out websites and media outlets that permit that kind of language.

Make these words and attitudes unacceptable in your life.

Do not integrate these thoughts into your vision of your world.

When these words invade your world, see them for what they are: an invasion. Consider the source ill-informed, ill-willed or simply an invader.

Most important, don't let how the world feels about people with HIV define how you feel about people with HIV.

When communicating with others, don't frame your personal situation in apologetic words: I'm a great guy, the only thing is, I have HIV.

Too apologetic. You do not have to apologize for living with HIV/AIDS.

Or: I'm HIV-positive, if you can't handle it, move on

Too defensive. You are not on trial for having HIV/AIDS.

How about a better approach?

Oh, by the way, I'm HIV-positive, and I'm hoping you're educated enough to know about safe sex.

Hope you're educated enough to know I'm not a threat to your health if we have safe sex.

We can have a great sex life, even if you're HIV-negative, as long as you're open-minded, open-hearted and educated about safe sex.

I love to eat butt, but you must be educated about safer sex with poz dudes. Not here to eat dumb asses.

Reveal your status, not like it's a dark secret or deal-breaker.

Reveal your status with a confidence that says, I'm merely revealing something a little more intimate about myself, and I certainly hope, for your sake and mine, you're educated about HIV and safe sex.

Life with HIV/AIDS doesn't have to be full of gloom and doom.

Life with HIV/AIDS can be whatever you dream it to be.

Theme Week!

Thanks for stopping by the Blocks during HIV-P.O.V Week.

I love theme weeks. lol More to come!

Until then, you can always check out HIV-P.O.V., a blog column about my life with HIV/AIDS for 25 years and counting, now and forever at Randy Boyd's Blocks.

What If I'm Young, Gay and Poz?

Waaaaay back in 1985, I was young, gay and poz.

At the height of the original AIDS Panic, I found out I was infected with HIV/AIDS. I was a 23-year-old UCLA grad of one month.

Twenty-five years later, I'm alive and well, and posting my HIV-P.O.V. on this newfangled thing called the internet. lol

Yep, I've survived being poz, as it's now called, 25 years and counting. I've lived long enough to see a new AIDS Panic and epidemic among whole new younger generation of gay men, especially of color.

"Appoint yourself as the CEO of your health."

Twenty-five years after Rock Hudson shocked the world, countless young men and women America are being infected with the virus daily. I don't have all the answers as to why there's a sequel to the original AIDS Monster Movie, but as a longtime AIDS survivor, I do have some advice for those who are young, gay and poz.

1. Get tested. The more you know about your health, the more informed your life choices and decisions. The sooner you know about any health challenges, the sooner you can do your best to deal with it.

2. Find a reputable doctor who's been dealing with poz people and gets good reviews from other poz people. Appoint yourself as the CEO of your health. Appoint your doctor as your chief medical adviser. Maintain a good healthy partnership. Work together to manage your health.

"Gravitate towards people who see you in a better light."

3. Realize that you are not obligated to reveal your private medical information, including your poz status, to just anyone. Vanquish any idea that you are somehow tainted and must go around apologizing for something about yourself, or adding an asterisk to who you are.

4. If you decide to reveal you status to someone, vanquish any suggestion you're about to give bad news, or something cautionary, as if a dark secret or deal breaker or red flag is coming next.

5. Think of revealing your poz status as you revealing something very personal that makes you unique, a young person who's brave enough to share something so honest and revealing. That means you have guts, more guts than most people. That makes you an interesting person.

How did you get those guts? That confidence? That bravery? That ability to show your vulnerability? You must have a story to tell, a story that makes you interesting and special, a story others might benefit from knowing. Gravitate towards people who see you in a better light.

6. Know that you deserve to be with someone who's smart enough to know that you don't have to be a threat to their health and safely, someone who's educated about safe sex, or at the very least, open-minded enough to educate him or herself about the subject, not run away simply because a great person like you is living with HIV/AIDS.

7. And finally, for more tips like these and so much more, keep coming back to the Blocks to check out HIV-P.O.V., a blog column about my life with HIV/AIDS for 25 years and counting, now and forever at Randy Boyd's Blocks.

Poz? Be Sexy Poz

Behold the new fragrance for men who happen to be living with HIV/AIDS.

Let's face it: men who happen to be HIV-negative can act like highly insensitive jerks with their highly ignorant "clean" and "disease-free" attitudes. Why, it's almost enough to make a poz dude feel less special and worthy. Almost.

Don't inhale the negative thinking of neg dudes. Take a big honking whiff of yourself and realize: sexy is all in your head, not theirs.

Be U. Be sexy poz.

• This message brought to you by Funky Black Poz Jock, because Randy Boyd has Blocks and Balls.

Dear Ryan White

Dear Ryan White,

Wish you were here to give me some perspective on what your generation has made of the post-AIDS Panic world.

They came up with a term: Disease-free. They use it on this thing called the Internet.

Wish you were here to tell this modern world how it makes you feel, hearing people use the term, "disease-free."

—from Dear Ryan White, Wish You Were Here

Why HIV-P.O.V.?

To younger Americans, AIDS is a whisper in the dark. For the most part, they don't much about AIDS, nor are they informed about safer sex.

They simply know AIDS is a monster to avoid, and people who admit to being HIV-positive are the monster's vessel.

When I was a teenager fucking around with older men because that was the only way my socially retarded, alienated, low self-esteemed self could get a nut, HIV/AIDS was not on people's radar, but there were other sexually transmitted monsters lurking in the dark.

Did I heed those warnings? Did I do research to separate fact from fiction? Did I create a sexual game plan for my sexcapades? Did I talk to a doctor about my health concerns? Did I talk to anybody?

Does a young teenager who is dying to buy a motorcycle think he's gonna spin outta control and lose his life?

Some would call it being young and stupid, but if young and stupid people didn't take chances, we'd probably all still be cavemen who can't make fire. Or ride a motorcycle. Or fly to the moon.

Still, it's good to learn how to ride safely. It's also good to learn from the experience of elders. Fortunately, some of them have spun outta control and lived to tell.

HIV-P.O.V., a blog column about my live with HIV/AIDS, now and forever at Randy Boyd's Blocks.

Got Courage?

If you were living with HIV/AIDS, would you tell your family and friends?

If you were living with HIV/AIDS, would you tell the world?

HIV-P.O.V. Week, a whole week dedicated to HIV-P.O.V., a blog column now and forever at Randy Boyd's Blocks.

AIDS Panic II: The 21st Century Sequel

Living with AIDS in America in the early part of the 21st century is like starring in your very own monster movie.

You get to play the sick and depraved villain, while everyone else is so afraid of you, they ignore you on the Internet and avoid you at all costs in real life.

The innocent victims in your monster movie are the townfolk who happen to be the gay males living in your village. These men are terrified of you. They've heard rumors about your kind. They've been warned by their elders about people like you.

"Anyone can become an AIDS Monster."

The elders didn't give them much advice, just: stay away from those ghastly beasts, don't have sex with them, and don't try to understand them or figure out how they got that way. AIDS monsters are just plain wrong. And bad. Stay away from the AIDS monster, kids! Make sure you stay clean!

And the townfolk got the message. They vowed to stay away from HIV-Poz People. They put up warning signs, like CLEAN and DISEASE-FREE ONLY, which must mean that you, the AIDS monster, are dirty and disease-ridden.

But you don't feel dirty and disease-ridden. You, the monster of your own movie, feel misunderstood. You want to befriend the townfolk, maybe even find true love with one of them. You want to tell the village that it's possible to touch an AIDS monster and AIDS won't rub off. You want to show the world how people with HIV/AIDS can have safe sex with people without HIV/AIDS and the clean and disease-free can walk away ... well, still clean and disease-free.

You want to explain to the townfolk that anyone can become an AIDS monster, if anyone has unsafe sex, even with so-called neg people. You want to explain that everyone can avoid becoming an AIDS monster if everyone has safer sex with both poz and neg people.

But the townfolk, the gay males in the village, they turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the AIDS monster. They prefer ignorance. They'd rather reserve their compassion for others. Indeed, the townfolk would rather AIDS monsters were a thing of the past.

But you are an AIDS monster living in the present, and there are countless more monsters just like you living in America. And each dirty and disease-ridden soul belonging to the Poz People is starring in his or her own monster movie in the minds of the Neg People. Why else would so many Neg People be so afraid of touching those who aren't CLEAN and DISEASE-FREE? UB2.

Find out more, if you dare, in the AIDS Monster Movie Marathon, a blog story told backwards in a car driving forward. Fun for the whole family, featuring the exclusive Interview with the AIDS Monster!

When Magic Saved My Life

Your decision to go public in 1991 helped save my life. You single-handedly re-shook up the world, which had grown complacent and ambivalent towards AIDS since Rock Hudson's 1985 announcement.

Your announcement was a stimulus to global effort, as has been your simply walking this earth, being who you are, a sports commentator, a businessman, a former athlete--all the while owning your HIV status with a smile.

You, Magic Johnson, turned out to be the world's greatest cheerleader for conquering AIDS.

—from Dear Magic Johnson, Thanks for Saving My Life

When Magic Made History

In November 1991, Magic Johnson shocked the world when he announced his HIV status in a press conference that became one of those "where were you?" moments in television history.

Where was I? Glued to the TV like most people that day. Only unlike most people, I, too, had "HIV virus living inside my body," as the legendary Laker put it.

Go back in time and see how it felt during the height of the AIDS Panic to be Just Like Magic.

People with AIDS Have Dreams, Too

I dreamed a dream today.

I dreamed people stop using the term "fight AIDS," as if somebody's at war with me.

I dreamed of a world that learns to manage its fear of the virus, as I have.

I dreamed of a world that knows what I know about AIDS.

I dreamed a dream today.

I dreamed my life living with AIDS matters.

—from World AIDS Daydreaming

Four Novels About Four Men with HIV/AIDS

As a child, I imagined stories and movies starring someone like me. Rare was the chance to see a black man who thought like me, acted like me and with whom I could identify. And that was just in real life! On television, in novels and in the movies, I simply didn't exist.

Today, the entertainment world still turns a blind eye, as if they can't imagine someone like me being worthy of a plot.

Fortunately, they don't have to. As an adult, I can imagine it for them. Here now, my four novels to date, all featuring main characters who are more or less, just like me.

A young black man living with HIV/AIDS dreams of an alternate life where he is HIV-negative and lovers with pro football's greatest quarterback. Or is that, a young black man who is HIV-negative dreams of an alternate life where he's living with HIV/AIDS and never meets pro football's greatest QB? Your ticket is your imagination. Walt Loves the Bearcat, a Lambda Literary Finalist for Best Romance.

A famous but closeted black pop singer tests positive for HIV and plots to assassinate a homophobic US Senator, while a straight white FBI agent goes undercover, as a gay activist, to stop him. Which side will you be on? Uprising, a two-time Lambda Literary Finalist for Best Mystery and Best Small Press Title.

An HIV-positive, black gay businessman must save his business and a friend's life by uncovering a sinister plot to demonize all homosexuals. The mind is a terrible thing to fuck with. The Devil Inside. A Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Best Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, and a Gaylactic Spectrum Awards nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel.

A young black man tests positive for HIV, then escapes to Cancun, Mexico, where he meets two white teenage brothers who idolize him, not knowing he is living with HIV/AIDS. It's a friendship that will change all their lives forever. Bridge Across the Ocean, a Lambda Literary Finalist for Best Small Title.

Welcome to my world.

An AIDS Story 25 Years in the Making

July 2010 marks the 25th year of my living with HIV/AIDS. I found out I was infected the night Rock Hudson shocked the world in 1985. I was a 23 year-old college grad of one month. Life expectancy was 12-18 months. I thought I was going to die.

Twenty-five years later, I'm still here. Anything is possible. Miracles happen. You are not guaranteed to die of AIDS.

I first heard those words in 1988 at an HIV information meeting. The very idea seemed like science fiction, but ya gotta believe. You gotta believe that anything is possible. You gotta help those impossible odds by doing your best to stay healthy, live healthy and think healthy.

HIV-P.O.V. is a blog column at Randy Boyd's Blocks. This week on the Blocks, it's HIV-P.O.V. WEEK, featuring the best of HIV-P.O.V., plus new reflections on living more than half my life with HIV/AIDS.

Clean Your Disease-Free Mind

If you are educated, compassionate, open minded and open-hearted, there is no need to classify yourself as “clean” and “disease-free.” Only the ignorant, fearful and cold-hearted need use such words.

If you are not educated about HIV, google it, and consider what reputable health sites like the CDC have to say. And remember, calling yourself “clean” and avoiding others who are not “disease-free” in no way keeps you safe.

—from AIDS and Common Sense

Visual AIDS = Reality Shift

The same spirited moves I’ve done since childhood--the dancing that made me a cheerleader (and fag)--are now called “street dancing,” a cool unisex craze for kids today.

The “young, gay and horny” behavior that made me “sick” to my peers now gets equal time with the “young, hetero and horny” behavior on MTV.

By living long enough to witness subsequent generations, I see their behavior in my own and think: The first half of my life, I lived in a world where I felt wrong for being who I am. The second half, I’ve realized: There’s nothing wrong with who I am, and the world is catching up to understanding that same idea.

—from Halftime Show, an essay that appeared in the April 2008 issue of Poz Magazine.

Could You Live with HIV/AIDS for One Week?

What if you had to live with HIV/AIDS for one whole week?

What if you had to live with HIV/AIDS for the rest of your life?

HIV-P.O.V. Week, a whole week dedicated to HIV-P.O.V., a blog column now and forever at Randy Boyd's Blocks.