Other Media...

Unfortunately the concept I had of AIDS, as a disease that only affected  "other" people, was further reinforced by television specials, plays, movies, and even my own health class. Although I can remember being vaguely aware of AIDS as a child in middle school, it was not until 9^th grade and my first viewing of “RENT” in New York City that I really began to understand the social and political elements of the disease. In the play, four of the seven main characters have been infected with HIV/AIDS either from homosexual intercourse or from intravenous drug use. Although the play did much to educate me on the turbulent emotions and social stigma associated with AIDS, it also solidified my belief that AIDS was a disease that did affect anyone in my white WASP-y community.

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Adding to this concept was the absence of any flyers, pamphlets, or notices about AIDS in my town. I never say a poster about an AIDS walk or read a flyer about an HIV support group. As far as I knew, there was no one in all of Weston that had AIDS. 8