In my third blog I’d like to reflect on some of the stuff that we have done in this class. This past week, we had to submit Module 2 and I must say it was a lot of work. There was a lot of information in that module that related to genetics and biology, which were two classes I really disliked taking so it brought back painful memories! So far I have been reading the book “What looks like an ordinary day” and I have to say that is quite humorous to hear the character curse in the way that she does because I’ve never read a book that had this many curse words. However, I really like the cursing because it shows the authenticity in the feeling and emotions behind the character. So far from what I’ve read, the book talks about a African American woman who doesn’t say who her name is, finds out that she is HIV positive but becomes stigmatized at her hair solon when someone exposed her illness. She decides to move back to Idlwild which is where she used to live because of all the stigmatization. The book has been very interesting to read by seeing how one person can go through so many struggles just because they are infected with HIV. Honestly, if I would have done the same thing if word got out that I had HIV because I know people would start seeing me differently and jobs would probably be to afraid to hire me because of my disease. There is a part in the book where I didn’t like what she did because I think the way she did it was very foolish. She sent out letters to the men she had sexual encounters in the past in attempt, in my point of view, to get revenge on which ever partner transmitted her the disease. Somewhere in the letter she wrote something like I think it’s time for you to get tested for HIV. I think that was foolish because a lot of those men probably have a girlfriend and imagine if you found a letter like that coming from your partner’s ex or a person they had a hook up with. The fact is that, the author doesn’t explain this; the man she was messing around with could have been single at the time that he gave her the disease and had no idea that he carried HIV in the first place had given it to her. This man could have been innocent in his unawareness of carrying the disease which doesn’t make it his fault that she was infected with it. With that letter, she pretty much said you might have HIV since I have it and since we messed around before in an indirect, uncaring way. She didn’t care if this ruined the love life of the guys she wrote the letters to. I look very forward though to continue reading this book and to see what happens with her daily life and her life period.
Did you know?.....
”About 91% of HIV-positive men incarcerated in Georgia's prisons last fall were living with the virus before they were imprisoned” (The Body, 2008). In the Georgia Department of Corrections in October 2005, 44,900 male inmates were being held in 73 facilities. There were eight hundred and fifty six of the inmates that were tested positive for HIV and out of those 780 of them already were HIV positive upon entering the prison. Sixty-eight of the 88 prisoners who were tested HIV negative upon entering the prison but later tested positive were surveyed. Their interviews were compared with those of HIV-negative inmates. The reults will be posted on next weeks bog so stay posted………
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Your book for the choice 3 assignment has a great authenticity to it. My book, Surviving the Fall by Peter Selwyn also has detailed scenarios that are very real. He is an AIDS doctor who is usually always surrounded by young adults dying well before their time. For instance, this doctor recalls being the emergency room physician, which is not his normal position. When he was seeing people in the emergency room, he recalled a man being admitted, who was going to have an operation to remove his finger. The man was very anxious and upset that he had to part with his beloved finger. Dr Selwyn recalls feeling repulsed and had the urge to cry out, “Big fucking deal! I have a thirty-year-old patient in the next room who is going to be dead before his son’s second birthday. Whose wife had already died of AIDS, and you’re upset about your stupid finger?” (Selwyn, 36). When I read this, I realized that even physicians have this natural reaction, and that they are people too. It’s easy to relate to a character that has realistic reactions like you and I.
ReplyDeleteSelwyn, P. A. (1998). Surviving the fall. New Haven: Yale University Press.
So how would you inform past partners about your infection if you became infected? She wasn't trying to be uncaring, she was trying to warn them so they could get tested. If the man didn't know about his own infection, then her letter would at least give him pause to get tested just in case. Imagine when the man who infected her, assuming he didn't know, would feel having given it to her. She did the correct thing. In fact in Florida the Health Department will want to know who your past partners were so they could be notified, if you couldn't do it yourself.
ReplyDelete