AIDS awareness has followed me since I took my first step in the Cleveland AIDS walk at age nine, through my years of education at Shaker Heights High School, and has a significant impact on my life today. When asked the questions concerning HIV/AIDS statistics in my hometown, I was completely unsure of my answers. Although my responses did not stray far from the correct percentages, I realized that what I envisioned AIDS to be was skewed. I live in a highly diverse but protected area which borders a city that contains one third of the total AIDS cases in the state (4).  My situation is unique. The reality of AIDS is clearer to me than others my age because of the environment in which I was raised in and the guidance provided by my father.

I read the newspaper daily and watch the news when I can, so it would be a lie to say that the media has not impacted me in some way. However, as I said before, my situation is unique. Because I have had so many direct influences and encounters with HIV/AIDS, the media is not so much of a driving force on my opinions about AIDS but is more of a support system of reinforcement on these opinions. My father and my community have had a mammoth impact on my image of AIDS, so when I read articles I look for evidence to support the ideas I already believe. My ideas about HIV/AIDS are derived from my father and my community. These factors are each substantiated by the articles I have read and although the impact of these components vary greatly, each one plays a role in what numbers I wrote down on that piece of paper on August 27, 2007.