What if we ALL had AIDS?

Once in a while, an advertising campaign comes along that even ‘The Re-Edit’ has to praise for its ingenuity and authenticity. I first saw the engaging campaign posters for “WE ALL HAVE AIDS” plastered on subway stations and then went to the website (http://www.weallhaveaids.com/) to read up on it. The “WE ALL HAVE AIDS” mission communicates one thing: if one of us (in the world) has AIDS, then we ALL do. I commend this message because it has done what none that came before has done; it has actively attacked the STIGMA of being HIV/AIDS- infected and put it in the first person. It shifts the mental paradigm.

Firstly, it flies in the face of conventional wisdom concerning HIV/AIDS prevention/treatment. In the recent past, other campaigns have tried to remove the stigma of HIV/AIDS by showing the “cross section” of people whom the plague has affected; actual HIV victims. While this was brave and innovative, there was still a disconnect. People were able to look into the faces of these people fighting for their lives and know that this disease was real and tangent. However, there was still an “us and them” component to it that made it easy for people that weren’t actually affected by the disease in their daily lives to separate themselves from the atrocity. It allowed the viewer to empathize with those affected, but the urgency to step up and do something -other than perhaps contribute a few dollars to an AIDS charity like AMFAR- was missing. However, giving to a cause simply as a knee-jerk reaction to people dying doesn’t change the “those poor people” mindset. It still allows you to separate YOURSELF from the problem. “She has AIDS and I’m doing something to help HER” is different from saying “I have AIDS and I’m doing something to further the search for a cure for ME”. This campaign takes the “us and them” premise and goes after the “them” component, taking it out of the equation and declaring that the sole community affected by AIDS is “US”. While only some people belong to the “them” demographic, we all belong to the “us” demographic. This shift in mindset is genius and absolutely essential if we are to mount an effective battle against the worst healthcare crisis the world has faced in recent history.

It also negates the idea that the solution is simply to throw money at the disease (which is not necessarily a bad thing. If Reagan had “thrown money” at the disease at its inception, we would probably be 10 years ahead in the search for a cure. But anyway…). There is a listing of all the charitable organizations that you can contribute time and energy to that subscribe to the message of the campaign- everyone from nelsonmandela.org to rosiesbroadwaykids.org and youthaids.org. You can find out how these organizations enact different strategies and touch different demographics in the fight against AIDS. However, the genius in this campaign lies in the T-shirts designed to extricate the stigma that is attached to each HIV/AIDS victim. They enable the wearer to make a simple statement- We ALL have AIDS if even ONE of us has AIDS. There is also another, bolder t-shirt simply proclaiming I HAVE AIDS. The shirts, available at Barney’s, Fred Segal, Theory, Scoop, Louis of Boston and Kenneth Cole New York stores, cost $35- all of which goes directly to the WE ALL HAVE AIDS foundation to further HIV/AIDS education and eradication.

Keeping the AIDS pandemic in the "mental first person" keeps the battle fresh - especially with the rash of other tragedies that perhaps have taken the spotlight off of the fight. When asked does he think that in the United States HIV/AIDS has lost its position as a much-talked-about issue in mainstream America, campaign creator/designer/activist Kenneth Cole responded “Unfortunately, it has because we as a people, I guess, respond more easily to acute disasters than to chronic ones. We deal with them comfortably, be they tsunamis, be they hurricanes or wars of questionable relevance. But we have a hard time dealing with something that isn't packaged comfortably and isn't easily fixed. Especially if we don't find ourselves to be at risk”

How absolutely, unapologetically prolific!

"Third Girl From the Left"

Third Girl From the Left- Martha Southgate


What of dreams deferred? Langston posed this question to us a couple of decades ago. What happens to a dream deferred? I’ll tell you what happens to it- it keeps on living, the chances of it being realized becoming less and less likely with every passing day. And in between those days, life continues. Coming from someone who “SHOULD HAVE BEEN” one of the dancers in the Michael Jackson ‘Remember the Time’ video (looong story!), I understand somewhat the tragedy of the deferment of dreams. As you become less attached to the idea of achieving your vision or fully realizing your talent, you become more distracted by the insidious 525,600 minutes that become a year which, if you’re not careful, becomes a decade. The only redeeming factor would be if that decade bought forth SOMETHING that made the deferment of that dream all worthwhile. While “Third Girl From The Left” starts out as just your requisite “black lit” love story, its theme speaks more to dreams and aspirations- the yearning, the energy it brings into your life, the internal pride and passion that continually fuels you, the internal sadness that comes when you realize that perhaps what you THOUGHT would be your destiny is really going to be something else, the re-definition of what becomes important to you after the ‘death’ of your dream, and a new paradigm of what your life-your dream- will be going forward.

Side plotlines of experimental lesbianism, conformity, mother-daughter relationships, racial strife, family heritage and love in all its forms become woven into the tapestry of this earthen tale of three generations of women in one family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Southgate infuses camp, humor and self-referential parody while giving us a glimpse into the examination of each woman’s dreams and the realization/and or deferment of such. It makes a statement on the power of the movies to change a life (the title comes from daughter Angela’s “cameo” appearance in a Pam Grier blaxploitation movie as ‘Third Girl From the Left’), to renew familial pride (leading granddaughter Tamara to pursue a career in filmmaking and create a loving documentary), and to soothe psychological scars (patriarch Mildred escaped the painful remnants of the Tulsa race riots with weekly trips to the town’s movie house). Southgate offers one of the most interesting fusions of history and fiction I’ve read. She shows a reverence for the acting/moviemaking crafts and the passion that those who pursue them possess while simultaneously challenging the reader to further reach for his own dreams.

Open Mike- "Yelling at God"

For years I’ve been quietly weeping
I’ve been hoping against the obvious
Praying against the inevitable
Shaking my head at the ugliness we do, the unconscionable

I’ve been praying for my people
And crossing my fingers for things to turn out right
I’ve been quietly singing hymns and psalms and Old Negro Spirituals
And putting my heart and soul into every syllable

I’ve put on a happy face and smiled through the pain
And tried to realize that for every 3 sunny days
There has to be at least one day of rain

And I’ve done what I was supposed to do
And gave what was expected of me to give
And learned what was necessary
And listened to how a Christian is supposed to live

But through all of this giving and singing and praying and being and hoping…

I’ve tried my best to stifle this voice
That wailed at the idea of men damaging little boys
I’ve stroked it softly when it cried from its gut
When it heard about little girls in Thailand getting fucked
I’ve tried to reason with it when it couldn’t gage
How wonderfully creative people in the first world could still die of AIDS

How we could allow the savagery of clitoral circumcision
And be satisfied with international cultural tunnel-vision
How it's ok that people who sleep with their own sex have provisions
In our laws designed to keep them second-class citizens
How those poor souls were never served anything uglier and meaner
Than a ball of hell packaged with the beautiful name Katrina
How we don’t question what’s REALLY the matter
When given the choice of ‘Vote or DIE’- and we choose the latter

And so sometimes I find myself laying on my back staring at the ceiling
YELLING AT GOD!!!

Screaming like I have a right to question Him
Not in decibels full of contempt without fear of retribution
But in a blind, awkward and earnest attempt to obtain a viable resolution

Because MY God couldn’t be watching all of this go on and do NOTHING…

So my faith is being tested at a time when it could be stronger
‘Cause my patience is growing shorter and my emotions longer
And there’s only so much giving and singing and praying and being and hoping that I have left
Before I have to personally address these injustices and get something off my chest

And who knows what would happen then…

In the meantime, I’ll continue to try to lower this voice that speaks volumes of despair
And hope that sometime soon my God will take over and get us away from there…

Questions for the Zeitgeist- December 2005

1- Is anyone REALLY surprised that Sheryl Swoopes is gay? I hate to generalize, but a female WNBA player coming out is about as shocking as celebrity hairstylist Jose Eber taking off that beaded cowboy hat and proclaiming HIS homosexuality...

2- I’m all for equal access to fashion- you know, “fashion for the people”- but where is it going to end? First Told Oldham defected, giving rise to Isaac Mizrahi for Target, Karl Lagerfeld/Stella McCartney for H&M, and now…Fiorucci for Target!!! Yes, perennial Italian fashion powerhouse Fiorucci (as in ‘Sister Sledge’s “He’s the Greatest Dancer”---Halston…Gucci…Fiorucci!!!) has partnered with erstwhile up-and-coming fashion merchandiser Target to bring back- among other things- their signature “cherub” imprint and skinny jeans! Now, don’t get me wrong---its GREAT to see the cherubs again after all this time (and the fashion fag in me wants to cop the Fiorucci “hot lips” T-shirt

and pair it with some Evisu denim and rare Nike patent leather Uptowns), but all of this high/low-fashion collaboration begs the question---what’s next- Diane Von Furstenberg for Wal-Mart? Wrap dresses for EVERYONE!! (affecting my best Oprah imitation- “and YOU get a wrap dress, and YOU get a wrap dress, and YOU and YOU and YOU…!!!). Ironically, Von Furstenberg has already stepped outside of the apparel mart and (in cahoots with VOGUE) into the telecom business. Her new “couture-tech” line, which includes the DVF Mobile (a gussied-up Samsung SPH-A680 cameraphone)
and an accessory called the CityBand makes carrying the essentials (cellphone included) easier. Now if only Dirk Bikkenbergs would hook up with Century 21…but I digress…

3- Didn’t Charlize Theron adapt the Halle Berry School of Drama script hook, line, and sinker- by following up a fantastic Oscar win with a STUPID super(s)hero flop? Will Felicity Huffman do the same once she wins the Oscar for “TransAmerica”?

4- Now that they’ve finally ADMITTED that they have split (of course, The NY Post’s Cindi Adams scooped this MONTHS ago), can we finally admit that we never really cared about Nick and Jessica anyway?

5- With all of his drug struggles, his debilitating fight with Multiple Sclerosis AND his triple by-pass surgery, didn’t Richard Pryor’s death come as more of a relief than a tragedy? He was THE King of Comedy, hands down…


6- After all of this time and given all of the controversy surrounding Darwin (whom the American Museum of Natural History has just recently bestowed a rather extensive exhibit), isn’t it time for people to just pick what side of the fence they’re on (creationism versus evolution), stop arguing and just leave it at that?

7- Along the same "Get over it" lines... With all of this back and forth over whether to bid your fellow man "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays"- in the spirit of political correctness, why don't we just wish everyone a "Happy and Merry ChristmaHanuKwanzaakah" and call it a day?

8- Would Anthony Hamilton (whose new CD "Ain't Nobody Worryin", drops December 13th) be getting the props he deserves if he were, shall we say, more conventionally attractive?

9- With Cillian Murphy (“Breakfast on Pluto”), Felicity Huffman (“TransAmerica”), Eric McCormack (“Will and Grace”), Heath Ledger/ Jake Gyllenhaal (“Brokeback Mountain”), riding really high right now, how are Hollywood actors WHO ARE ACTUALLY GAY putting food on the table?

10- Even with the campaign to convince the producers otherwise, wasn’t Jennifer Hudson ALWAYS the best choice to play Effie in the film adaptation of

???

11- With a drug overdose inside and with over 2,000 people clamoring to get in the already crowded 3,000 person capacity space ON ITS OPENING NIGHT, is new uber-club PACHA (Ricardo Urgell’s first North-American addition to his 25 nightclub empire) poised to become the new Studio 54? Underage celebrities in various states of consciousness and sobriety, dancers gyrating in glass-enclosed showers overlooking the dance floor and cocktail waitresses sporting nothing but body paint…Sounds like a SCENE!! Now all the crazies from Suede (which is closing in January) and transplants from Aer will have someplace else to go… Get some at http://www.pachanyc.com/

Shoulda Woulda Coulda been America's Next Top Model...

Short and to the point...

Who SHOULD have won the competition (but who was unceremoniously and surprisingly DUMPED this week) ? Lisa!!! Out of all the girls, she showed the most model potential (flawless pictures, an understanding of the camera, complete synthesis with her body, ability to speak without sounding like a complete idiot, etc.). In addition, she actually had a PERSONALITY, which all of the remaining girls- with maybe the exception of Bre- lack. (Personality, or fearless nonchalance fueled by an alcohol addiction? Hmmmm....whatever, I DIG this chick!). I don't care about any of these girls anymore, and I probably won't be rushing home in the wee hours of Thursday morning to rewind the taped episode. Who am I kidding, of course I'll still watch- I'm addicted!!! I DO think Tyra Inc. fucked up by voting her off.

Who, in my estimation, is the most irritating?


I really thought I would give this to Jayla, the trashy cupie doll with the stripper's body (and walk). Then Nicole started in, and completely surpassed Miss "I only know how to give one blank stare" Jayla. In Bizarro world, Nicole would be the evil opposite of Nicole Kidman (hmmmm, didn't think about the name coincidence until now). However, whereas Nikki Kidman has a certain charm and elegance to go along with that milky white skin and stepchild red mane, 'babymodel' Nicole does nothing but extend those pouty lips, furrow those brows and whine. She takes DECENT pictures, but nothing that warrants booking a client from a go-see. I want her gone, NOW!!!

When all is said and done, who do I think is going to win (now that Lisa is no longer a threat)?

I saw this way back when, on week 2, when she delivered this knockout punch to the rest of the contestants...

THAT is a model!!!!! Although she is a little DRY in the personality department, what really matters is what u can deliver on celluloid. I mean, Naomi Campbell is no showstopper in the conversation department either, but you can't argue with the product she turns out. So, Nik is MY prediction for America's Next Top Model, Cycle 5.

digressing, digressing...

Questions for the Zeitgeist- November 19, 2005

1- What the HELL happened to Amerie? I had such high hopes for “Touch” , her second CD (her first CD, "All I Have", is an R&B ingénue CLASSIC as far as I’m concerned). “1 Thing” turned out to be just that. When an artist’s SECOND video (“Touch”) is even hotter than the first one, and it STILL doesn’t get play on the whole BET/MTV/VH-1 public-relations bullshit circuit, we have to question- who is making the decisions for this artist? BTW- for those that loved her first CD, there is a remix to “Why Don’t We Fall In Love?” on her second CD that is SICK!!! Get some...


2- Why hasn’t the world caught up to Octavius Terry? That boy has a voice AND something to say (www.octaviusterry.com). I ain’t mad at him at all. He has the vocal prowess equivalent (superior!) to any of the current John Legends/Anthony Hamiltons, et. al and the soul and raw guitar of India.Irie. I personally think he sings his ass off on "Miss Discontent"- a song every NON-hip-hop station should be playing. On top of that, when is the last time you heard a singer pen a song to his FATHER?!? Hello, J Records...




3- From Red Carpets to movie premieres and other prime photo opportunities---why do we only see Kimora Lee Simmons wearing Baby Phat clothing/accessories IN THE ADS? I mean, Baby Phat makes bags- why won’t she put down the Vuitton at least ONCE in a while? Kimora, your "baby daddy" is NEVER seen without rocking at least ONE piece of Phat Farm. If the DESIGNER for Baby Phat doesn’t believe in her own clothes enough to rock them, why should anybody else? UPDATE: Mrs. Simmons receives the ‘V-Style’ award for her Baby Phat line- AND DOESN’T WEAR BABY PHAT TO ACCEPT THE AWARD!!! She had enough time to dye her hair that RIDICULOUS shade of blonde, but not enough time to look through the Baby Phat collection for something to wear. Boy, I tell ya…






4- Didn’t Mariah Carey up her musical AND fashionista game with her“The Emancipation of Mimi” CD? After YEARS of bastardizing/raping old R&B standards, she’s back to ACTUALLY SINGING- and doing ORIGINAL material. Who knew? I’m back on the Mariah bandwagon. 4 million copies sold in the states and 6 million worldwide- and that’s BEFORE the "Ultra-Platinum" re-release.














HOWEVER….She looked like a complete WHORE at the Vibe awards.




C’mon Mimi, just when I was thinking you had learned from past mistakes…













5- Move over, Katie Couric. Isn’t CNN’s Nancy Grace the most irritating white woman on television? I don’t know what’s more insufferable- her drone, nasal voice or that ridiculous “1998 PRE- Jennifer Aniston Friends-like” combover/under/around that her hairstylist (who MUST hate her) insists on giving her.

6- Where the hell did Mehcad Brooks come from, and why is everyone on his dick?

7- Now that Robert Blake has been acquitted of his wife’s murder in the criminal trial and found 'liable' for said death in the civil trial, does that mean that white people finally have their O.J.? Its always amazing to me that someone could be set free when the criteria for guilt has to be “beyond a reasonable doubt”, yet be held responsible for the same death when all the prosecutor needs is a “preponderance of the evidence”…

8- Isn’t ABC’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (Sundays, 10 PM EST) some of the most REFRESHING television drama to come along since, oh I don’t know, ‘ER’? The cast is smart, the storylines engaging, and the writing superb. Y’all better get some, don’t say I didn’t tell u about it back in the day…

9- Where is Lil Kim’s second single from “Naked Truth”? I mean, I wrote her off a long time ago, but she definitely did her thing-the CD is BANGIN’, so shouldn’t Atlantic/Queen Bee just say “eeeny meeeny miney moe” and just release SOMETHING to radio? Give that chick her platinum plaque!!!

10- Ok, I said I wasn’t going to comment on this, because EVERYBODY had something to say about it…BUT--- If someone walks up to you looking like THIS…wouldn’t you just ASSUME he was gay?

Moreover, if someone approached you in Jamaica looking like THIS…

wouldn’t you think she was CRAZY? (Shouts to Rod 2.0 for the HILARIOUS Terry montage!!!)

But I digress…

Is Gay Sex "Dead"?

www.sexinthe70s.com

At the beginning of “Gay Sex In The 70’s”, artist and activist Barton Benes is sifting through pictures of some of the men he’s “come across” during his sexual awakening in the 70s. He has chosen to immortalize these images by affixing them to jagged pieces of hardened clay and keeping them on his coffee table. One of the interesting things is that the pile is quite high- filled with “cowboys”, “leathermen”, “trade” and other staples of the gay community that any fan of the Village People would be completely familiar with. This is his segue into the tawdry tale that is his experience as a gay man in the city that never sleeps during one of the most turbulent and storied periods in gay history- and he is not alone or unique. Cart out the procession of older gay men with their own versions detailing the freedom of being “happy, carefree, and gay” during a period about which they wax poetic with so much zeal that is almost seems made up. However, we are presented with irrefutable evidence that is most certainly is NOT made up. What is so titillating about this- and one of the reasons the film succeeds- is the cross-section of subjects that the documentary puts in front of the camera; from pioneers of the ACT UP movement and The Gay Men’s Health Crisis to Larry Kramer (author of “Faggot”) and Mel Cheren (founder of West End Records, whose recordings were a large soundtrack of the PHENOMENON of Larry Levan and The Paradise Garage).

“Gay Sex in the 70s” is chock-full of stories (and imagery) of the “libertine” period of homosexuality- and examines the rise of the “sex without guilt or consequences” dogma that many a present-day fag longs to return to. It is Gay Camelot- the time immediately following the riots of Stonewall (which mentally “freed” gays as a whole) and right before the discovery of “GRID” (which would be renamed AIDS once the bigoted medical community realized this new disease affected more than just gays). This period is brought to life by Benes and other “survivors” of this era. All of which is book-ended by historical references, stock film of “Vintage Gay NYC” (the mere mention - never mind the footage-of The Paradise Garage made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end), and thoughtfully-edited images of gay sex (dare I say classic porn?) that illustrate the bacchanalian revelry known as “gay sex” back then.

The film eases into the subject of STDs that became commonplace as a result of this “lifestyle” (is that where this expression comes from?), and tales of taking penicillin before a night of “partying” and such (one person’s re-telling of having gonorrhea of the throat was particularly NOT SEXY) lead us to the END of the fantasy. Benes talks about the “pervert” that asked him to wear a condom during sex. People start questioning whether they are destroying themselves literally with all the preoccupation with sex. It is then that AIDS rears its ugly head and, as one of the subjects put it, was “out the door before we could catch it”. Cue moral: gay sex in the 70s was GREAT, but would be greater if there were more of us around that could talk about it. Remember the irrefutable evidence that these tales were definitely NOT made up? Well, here goes. All of the men whose faces don the artistic clay chips on Benes’ coffee table- every last one of them- is now DEAD (it is inferred as a result of AIDS). Moreover, the stilts that held up the abandoned factories down at the pier (where footage showed men having anonymous sex by the hundreds) are now just a collection of thick wood pieces just barely visible above the water- a grim allegory for the hundreds of thousands of gay men that are no longer “above ground”.

The “RE-EDIT”…
Ok, the first thing that was interesting about this movie was that the vast majority of the audience attending the screening could have been in the movie. For the most part I was surrounded by older white homos out on the town with their lovers or ‘dates’. These were the people who nodded in agreement or who let out knowing laughs at points during the film that showed sex behind or in trucks parked down at the piers, orgy-parties on Fire Island, or taking a line of coke at Studio 54. No judgment- this just wasn’t MY experience (for the record, I wasn’t even OLD enough to be having sex during the 70’s!!!). . I knew that going into the theatre. I did, however, feel excluded from the discussion (as most black gay men can attest to when entrenched in conventionally “white gay” situations). I mean, black gay men DEFINITELY had sex in the 70’s, did we not? Maybe someone will make a documentary about THAT (hmmmm)

Another thing that was interesting was the arc of the film, and how it mimics the “gay” experience of the 70’s through present day. At the beginning “we” are titillated with erotic images of man-sex and Dionysian orgies. We are regaled with “I remember this one time…” stories that are fantastic in every sense of the word. We are shown how sex and sexual freedom changed our own perception of our homosexuality; it went from something to be ashamed of to something to be celebrated. I could almost feel the “pride” and freedom that was present during that time in the audience. However, when the onset of AIDS is broached, I can hear and feel a collective “sigh”- a feeling of the wind being taken from sails- in the voices of the movie as well as in the sorrowful moans of the audience members. This has to be what those that are still among us must be feeling about being gay BEYOND the 70s; a new-found sexual freedom “high” (which was really “the calm before the storm”), followed by so-called “consequences” of gaining said freedom, and a return to the restriction of such.

I wish I had made the earlier screening, because Joseph Lovett and other members of the cast were present afterwards to discuss the film. I would have asked about the idea that “gay sex in the 70’s” is just not that different from gay sex now. I mean, I know PERSONALLY that there is a large contingent of gay men out there at this very minute who are having indiscriminate “raw” sex with reckless abandon. The only difference now is that most don’t appear to be doing it with the freedom and license that those in the 70s seemed to; it’s been reduced to a subculture. Even as people are still having “gay sex” in the manner that is discussed herein, for the most part that behavior (which defined “gay” for a lot of people in the 70’s) is now reviled in the gay community- at least on the surface.

I think every gay person should cop this documentary once its released on DVD- put it on the shelf right next to “And the Band Played On” and “Paris Is Burning”.
But I digress…