Apart from learning about AIDS in my middle school and high school classrooms, I never knew very much about it in terms of how it affected my life. I knew the scientific aspects of the disease; I knew how it was transmitted, and how it infected those who got it. But I never thought about the AIDS rate in my town, or my county, or even my state. I can’t even remember when I first heard about AIDS. I have never met anyone with AIDS, so I can’t tell a story of a distinct moment when I realized what AIDS was. It was never a big secret, and no one ever tried to hide from me the truth about this disease, but I was still very under-informed.
