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american Heritage Caravan update # 17, and the epilogue.

Vaughn — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:12:00 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage Caravan rider November 6, 2005 Washington, D.C.,Last day of action Arriving here has become such a different story than any of us had expected. The American Heritage Caravan's cohesion has mostly evaporated. A core group of us still are camped out on the floor of a gymnasium. Across from me is a rider from the Seattle caravan suffering on the floor with a herniated disk. My friend Ricky also from Portland started to get sick last night, running a fever from the forced condition of sleeping upon a hard, cold floor. The price of a hotel room in this capitol city of business is well beyond many of our means. Caravan organizer Lonny who boarded in Salt Lake City after flying out to join us from Ohio has scheduled a hospitalization upon his return, as he is struggling to keep it together just to survive this last day. I had been curios as to why there was not the thousands that we were told to expect at the opening rally, why it was just us caravaners and a few people from the local community. Washington, D.C. has a large Gay/Lesbian/Bi/trans community, including one of the larger populations of those living with HIV/AIDS. Yesterday I transversed the local GLBT neighborhoods looking for visible signs about these four days of action for what we were told was to be a major national action once we all converged here in Washington, D.C. from our many corners of America. There were no posters posted, no billboards, no flyers tacked on community billboards or taped in the windows of GLBT based businesses and establishments. I scoured from page to page the latest issue of the Washington Blade, one of the oldest and best established GLBT newspapers in the country for any mention about these four days of action. Nada. Zip. No mention, not even in the calendar of events for this upcoming week. This is most queer,as the Washington Blade is one of the best for covering news related to HIV/AIDS, a goodly chunk of it's advertising base is for the very HIV/AIDS medications that we traveled across this nation to advocate for accessibility for all who need them to survive. So I started asking questions of the C2EA event co-coordinators and the Washington, D.C. organizing committee. When my questions were answered with a lot of hostility, I knew we were in worse trouble than I had begun to fear. I was told that the Gay community does not care any more about HIV/AIDS; The Gay community is apathetic; that there is some sort of nebulous conspiracy to silence our actions here; The Washington Blade was bought out by conservatives who are boy coting C2EA; The Washington Blade did publish C2EA related articles, that I needed to look better. All protests here in D.C. are only attended by those who come here from outside, that the locals are mostly "activist weary"; The local C2Ea organizers were to busy and overworked, that it was up to all of us to get the word out. I heard many variations of these excuses, and just got more and more befuddled. I walked in the Blade offices, had a friendly talk with one of the editors, was told that in the past the Blade had published C2EA elated events, but for these four days of actions no C2EA organizers had bothered to contact them with the information to publish. I was given the contact information on who to email future information to. On Sunday night there was a youth march and rally to Lafayette park across from the White House. This event began at Malcolm X/Meridian Park with a spirited drumming and rapper session to inspire the several hundred attendees. This odd, terraced park originally plotted by Freemasons using their monumental architectural embellishments is a regular night time hang out for groups of incense-wafting drumming youth of this area. The illuminated spike of the Washington monument stabbed the sky lined up in the distance. The messages spoken were about using condoms and clean needles, how odd that 25 years into this global pandemic that this simple message that is pr oven to save lives still has to be fought for. Forming an ordered line the marchers chanted through a tony neighborhood chanting and waving "End AIDS NOW!" signs". The chants, well practiced, also were about a supposed HIV cure that the Government has been suppressing, the same information that has buzzed this pandemic from the start. There is much good and provoking information to back up these claims available a google away on the Internet. As the marchers led by a the flash and sirens of a police escort worked their way down the street, clouds of small birds would erupt out of the trees flying panicked into the dark. Diners in trendy sidewalk eateries would momentarily put down their fork fulls of steak. The rally in Lafayette park was attended by about a hundred observers. The message was "not to keep youth in the dark" about how not to catch the HIV virus, and this government's complicity in the spread of the HIV virus. Today there were two planned civil disobedience actions. The first was at the Family research council where four trained activists chained themselves to a display in the lobby featuring the traditional wedding attire of suit and dress. As of tonight those arrested are still jailed awaiting a sentence before a judge. The second action was a march and die-in to the White House. This action had close to 300 marchers led by the obligatory giant paper mache' Bush puppet. The chant rants were such as "ACT-UP! Fight Back! We Must End AIDS NOW!" At 1600 Pennsylvania avenue in view of the back of the White House ( as was written in the Bible when God chose to appear before Moses, only the backside was visible) 29 protesters lay ed down on the sidewalk holding cardboard tombstones bearing the messages of death and grim statistics. The practiced park police like black armored spiders lined off the protesters with yellow police tape, and one by one the protesters were dragged, cuffed, photographed, and fed into two paddy wagons as their supporters cordoned off a street away cheered their support. 29 people were arrested at this one, all released by evening with the equivalent of a parking violation. The last to be arrested was Charlie from the Seattle caravan, wheelchair bound and veteran of the war the HIV virus wrought against his body, he was dragged and placed in a waiting medical van. Tonight Charlie is sleeping here on a cold, gymnasium floor. By Vaughn Frick American Heritage Caravan rider November 10, 2005 Portland, Oregon After eight hours flying back over the route that our caravan traveled for fifteen days I am back home to Portland, Oregon. The crisp, clean fall air of home is a tonic, as was when Delta flight passed over Mt. Hood and the Columbia river that both flank Portland. The last day of action for C2EA was yesterday, starting with an early photo-opportunity in front of the Capitol Dome so cental and imposing both on the hill and the land. Machine gun bearing Praetorian guard suited in black body armor were stationed about the grounds and recesses of the Capitol dome. There was a constant construction din of jack-hammer on concrete as rows of homeland security blast walls are erected as visible barriers of the 'War on Terror." About 75-100 C2EA caravaners and their supporters showed, and we held up the state flags of the United States and it's territories, the flags from states where no one traveled from were held by stand-ins. Several congressional supporters gave rousing speeches as this was the day we were to speak with our elected members of the House and Senate about the platform and concerns of the Campaign To End AIDS. Those are: 1. Fully fund quality treatment and support services for all people living with HIV everywhere in the world. 2. ramp up HIV prevention at home and abroad, guided by silence rather than ideology. 3.Increase research to find a cure,more effective treatments and better prevention tools. 4. Fight AIDS stigma and protect the civil rights of all people with HIV/AIDS everywhere. We were to talk with our representatives or their representatives about these core issues, and score them from their responses. So away from the flags and up the hill we walked to enter through the security gates to be totally revealed through X-rays before entering the marble labyrinthine catacombs of the hive that is the House and Senate office warren. First was a meeting with Matthew Canedy, a Professional Staff Member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee On Aging, representing the Committee Chair Senator Gordon Smith. Each of us talked about the different platforms of C2EA trying to give them a personal spin. My story is that I Got my diagnosis back in 1986, yet have never progressed into AIDS or suffered any opportunistic infections. Low normal T-cells, undetectable viral load, and have never had to take any medications. Even in flu season my immune system usually is able to fight off the current range of whatever gets coughed around each cycle of sickness. I was told in 1989 that if I did not take full doses of AZT that I would be dead in 6 months. Knowing the side-effects of drugs such as AZT upon our bodies, I saw no reason to take any potentially immune-compromising drug into my system. When and if I get sick, I will open that door and consider what's the best course of medications to pursue. Today if I would get sick, I would not be able to afford to open that door. I'm mostly self employed these days often balancing several jobs, none of which has any health insurance. I was fortunate to be able to buy a house years back when the housing market here was depressed, yet one bad illness would cost me my home and throw me into a tattered and ripped social service safety net, potentially costing more money than if I had been able to afford health insurance. There once was an Oregon Health Plan, but after a ghastly period of paring away vital services this State health plan stopped accepting new clients. Some months I end up sharing meals at Portland's HIV Day Center as after paying all the bills we must pay to live as Americans there is little money left and I have to cut back on food. The HIV Day Center faces closure if it's Ryan White Care ACT funds get cut. I also told of living in San Francisco in 1981 when AIDS first virulently exploded in the Gay Community, often killing people brutally in epic personal battles with there own bodies,battles against both their own bodies and cultural hysteria. lives often snuffed out in a mere score of months. This virus mutates and adapts, and already has bred the largest pandemic in recorded human history. How odd to see all this "Bird Flu" scare with HIV/AIDS there at our doorsteps. I talked of whole villages in Africa with most parents dead from this pandemic, such ripe fields to harvest for future terrorist interests. For Senator Smith's Aide I also appealed to the Senator's strong support for the value of human life. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon met us next, personally in his meeting lounge, then we told our stories and platforms to Stephanie Kennan, Senior Health Policy Advisor. For this talk I added a thank-you and acknowledgment to the Senator's strong history of supporting health care, and his strong support in senior citizen lobbies for doing so. It is important to support AIDS drug assistance programs through Medicare/Medicaid. Our next stop was at Congressman Earl Blumenhauer,s office, where and Aide rushed through our platforms while we were kept crowded in the lobby. Someone poked their head in who looked like the Congressperson, yet took one look at us and beat a hasty retreat as if opening an occupied bathroom stall. All we spoke with acknowledged our concerns, but also spoke of the challenge of this age from the latest political wars on Capitol Hill. I left to sit in the mist of a lovely rain-forest a block away in the National Botanical Gardens. In a multi-storied greenhouse rimmed with a catwalk where you can stroll among tree orchids and bromeliads high up in giant palm trees. Not too many people visiting this flowered sanctuary today, construction of blast walls without. Yes, you have to go through security and X-rays even to visit this urban piece of sanctuary. The expectation of invasion goes back to when this swamp town laid out it's streets spiking out in all directions, yet leading to the blast of strategically placed cannons. These circles today have grown old-growth tributes to Gods and Generals. This city of monuments such as the glass-black stone wall of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, inscribed with the names of Americans killed while darkly reflecting back the reflection of this wall's visitors. The unborn monuments and memorials to honor the war-dead yet born haunt this place. I'm reminded of Bob Fosse's "Cabaret" where people tried to live their lives and ignore the growing power and danger of the Nazis, till it was too late. "Tomorrow belongs to me....." And today we live this life of quiet desperation. For the last three weeks I have seen such as vast grass lands where antelopes dance, slept on All-Souls night in a church Sanctuary next to my boyfriend, and heard many stories of the lives caught up with and lost to this global pandmic, and the brave fight of many who believe America can and should be a better place. It is wrong to allow people to die on the streets just because of their fate or position in life. What ever this whole C2EA thingie was, it was an opportunity or way-station for a long and hard road to the end of this pandemic. What do we walk away with?

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan update # 16

Vaughn — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 18:35:24 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage Caravan rider November 6, 2005 Washington, D.C.: Day of Action # 2 The stew of smog has cleared from the D.C. skies today, the blue skies and relatively cleaner air has revived me a bit, as has the rest time I'm allowing myself today. Last night I started to get sick on the cold gymnasium floor, soaking my sleeping bag with sweat. For some reason the air conditioning is cranked up full blast all night, and we can't turn it down for a perplexing array of excuses. The more critically ill of this band are being housed in better situations now, I'm told. Those of us still in the recreational center's gymnasium had to sign a release and waiver "from any and all damages which may be sustained by me directly or indirectly in connection with, or arising out of my overnight stay at the facility..." How odd to be here advocating for the rights of the HIV/AIDS affected world community, yet to do so I must sign away my rights and protections. Washington, D.C. is all about this breed of contradiction, down to it's Spirograph street layout planned by French immigrants centuries past. I've also been assured that those of us who's health demands dictate regular meals will be provided with sack lunches when food is delayed. The big scheduled event here today later on will be a "Don't Keep Youth in the Dark on HIV" rally for effective HIV prevention. A march will begin at Malcolm X Park on Meridian Hill, culminating in a large rally across from the White House at Lafayette Park. Civil Disobedience training is underway as I type this. From the Washington Post in regards to yesterday's march, we are getting good media representation here: "Washington has a far higher incidence of AIDS-170.6 cases per 100,000 people, according to federal statistics-than other major US cities, including New York and San Francisco. An estimated one in twenty District residents is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. And that number climbs to an estimated one in seven among black men in the District, said Michael Pickering of RAP Inc., a drug treatment program that works with people who have AIDS." And I would like to thank all of my friends and readers of these blogs who have emailed me such kind words of support. Often I only have access to a computer for an hour or two, and dash these things out in a fast and sloppy gorilla journalistic manner. Special thanks to friend Rick who nearly daily responds with energizing words of hope. This was sent to me from my friend Steve who has been there for me since we attended Lincoln High School of Seattle way back in the day: "Inert Self Castration Okay, so during this entire trip the most attention you received and the most consideration you were offered were from high school kids and religious organizations who are about to have their funding pulled out from underneath them. How does the funding in this country compare with say, western Europe? How can any government be called wise that ignores something that spirals out of control out of ignorance and neglect? But of course this government was put there by the voice of the people (the people with bankrolls), and disseminated by a media that will cover whatever offers them the best short term gain. The only hope I can garner from these journal entries is the occasional group of enlightened individuals you have encountered on your travels. But without proper funding and considering the farcical amount of funding they have, how can it be enough? That, and there are individuals like me out here who feel helpless watching this shit every day. But that's part of the trouble isn't it, people who feel numbed and made apathetic by giving into hopelessness. Well, fuck me, and anyone else who feels that way...they put themselves in that position themselves. Your battle is worthy. Inert Self Castration Okay, so during this entire trip the most attention you received and the most consideration you were offered were from high school kids and religious organizations who are about to have their funding pulled out from underneath them. How does the funding in this country compare with say, western Europe? How can any government be called wise that ignores something that spirals out of control out of ignorance and neglect? But of course this government was put there by the voice of the people (the people with bankrolls), and disseminated by a media that will cover whatever offers them the best short term gain. The only hope I can garner from these journal entries is the occasional group of enlightened individuals you have encountered on your travels. But without proper funding and considering the farcical amount of funding they have, how can it be enough? That, and there are individuals like me out here who feel helpless watching this shit every day. But that's part of the trouble isn't it, people who feel numbed and made apathetic by giving into hopelessness. Well, fuck me, and anyone else who feels that way...they put themselves in that position themselves. Your battle is worthy. I know you are despairing right now. Just remember that this trip is not about the people who do or do not respond. You are doing this for yourself and your friends. The fault does not entirely lay with the people who choose to remain ignorant, although they do help it along with indifference. This kind of movement gets it's lifeblood from the media and the things it chooses to point it's fickle gaze at. People cannot help or join or follow if they don't know your there. As for the people whose attention you get and that do not respond except with ignorance? Do not feel bitter towards them but pity. Even a long life if it is one bereft of compassion and understanding is no kind of life at all. Don't look outside for satisfaction and reward, look to your own brave heart, because you have a mighty one my friend. Fuck it, shout in SPITE of the ignorant and fearful. Remember Frederick Douglass' admonition to a young student: "Agitate, agitate, agitate". Thank You, Steve.

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan Update # 15

Vaughn — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 03:34:24 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage Caravan rider. November 5, 2005 Washington, D.C. The first offense one is aware of when in Washington, D.C. is olfactory. Imagine varying levels of old fish tank, unwashed gym shorts, sewer methane,all stewing in a rank, sticky humidity even in November. I had expected more of an kitschy American mutant cousin of Disneyland. No Disneyland could ever be this foul and colorless. No Goofy could be as Goofy as President Monkey Face's mug sold on the street corners on tourist trash commemorative plates and buttons. Whatever struggling fall foliage allowed in hacked-back processions does little to paint this swamp whose primary colors are those of weathered monuments in neglected graveyards. Our American Heritage caravan disembarked the 26 surviving passengers at the Metropolitan AME Church somewhere in a tangle of intersections. Washington, D.C. was plotted to perplex and the streets layed out to befuddle and confuse any would-be invaders. It works. To find your way around, do not think logically, do not try and visualize a sensible grid, as you will become terribly lost in a terrain that can turn suddenly savage. We were fitted with day-glow orange wrist bands, handed a program book subject to instantaneous change. My boyfriend Dan and I set off to see the legend of this land in the flesh. The multi-national tourists flocked about as pigeons sure do like taking lots of photographs here. We did the standard monument walk-through, till the noxious waft of the goose-poo filled green and grey reflecting pond leading to the Lincoln Memorial sent us running for freedom. During this time the 250 strong group of activists that had marched on foot to Washington, D.C. from New York City led by one of the Campaign To End AIDS founders Charles King entered this capitol of capitol cities. This long march was one of the primary events of this action, this latest Mr. King orating as another Baptist King did on these streets echoed in the shadows of history not so far past. We enjoyed a most-filling early Thanksgiving dinner of Turkey,fried stuffing, green beans, and mashed potatoes served to us at the 1st rising Mt. Zion Church. I was very happy to see at least one African American based Church support the efforts of this caravan. We were set up at the Kennedy Recreation Center where we were to spend the night sleeping on a cold gymnasium floor. Across the street spread the ruin of a hollowed out church, project blocks ringed the facility. As we were unloading the bus hurriedly a drug deal gone bad erupted in gunshots on the next corner, the occupants of a car layed on the floor as their windows got shot out. We were rushed inside and barricaded. Several caravan riders freaked out, crying uncontrollably as the wail of sirens drowned out the night. Once it was safe, those who could afford to pay for hotel rooms left, almost half of our caravan. Those who were left, many struggling with various levels of illness, were told all was o.k. There were no promised cots, and we were told our only other option was to sleep on the streets. As best as we could we settled for a restless night on air mattresses upon a cold gymnasium floor. The showers were also cold. Today was the opening rally in a parking lot fenced off on the side of JFK stadium, and a march through the blighted neighborhood of Anacosta.The rally pulled in several hundred participants, far shy of the thousands that we had hoped for. It all was very self-congratulatory as the different caravans were introduced and their members shared the stories of their experiences upon the many roads from the far corners of America that led to this concentrated activist clot. The messages all were very powerful and moving, many stories from both long-term survivors and the newly-infected from the trenches of this new war against the spread of HIV and for the eradication of AIDS. Men, women, children,all races and sexual persuasions were here represented in this little microcosm of the largest global pandemic in human history. And then in a neat formation we marched bearing flags of all the United States down the tarmac of the Anacosta river walk. On the left was the overgrown bramble of the slow, green waterway, on the right an expanse of an old graveyard gone to seed. We marched 3/4 of a mile chanting and singing to reaffirm our message anyway, if only to ourselves and whatever resident spirits. Then we marched across the Anacosta bridge where our message received many honks of support from passing motorists driving both small cars and large trucks. The weather was sunny, warm, slightly humid. On the other side of the bridge the march split into two groups; one walking directly to a rally site in Anacosta park, the other through Anacosta proper as this neighborhood has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the country, either one in four or one in six men here carry the HIV virus hidden in their blood. An ignored aftermath worse than what followed Hurricane Katrina here lies ticking. The Senate just approved cuts in the billions to Medicaid drug-assistance programs for those in this population with no means to pay for their medications priced far above their financial realities. Tick, tick, tick..... The rally lasted for several hours, mixing music with message. The statistics that I've been ticking off in these blogs the last few weeks were repeated. The demands to reauthorize and fully fund the Ryan White CARE Act to domestically care for our sick and dieing. To fund programs to effectively prevent the spread of HIV nationally and globally. To get life-saving medications into third-world nations were the HIV/AIDS pandemic is burning through whole populations as a wildfire of death. After this rally we were bused then subway-ed to another church for a dinner that was delayed due to over-committed volunteers. Often these mostly young volunteers do not grasp that some of us need to eat on a regular schedule because of medication demands and health concerns, and we are further weakened by the stresses from our journeys here and the near-homeless conditions by which we are accommodated to attend these four days of action in Washington, D.C. I witnessed another American Heritage caravaner, Chris, start to grow faint from lack of food after marching in the sun and attending the rally. Chris is a former boyfriend so I intimately know his limits, and was able to catch his body before it hit the floor after he fainted from hunger while waiting in the dinner line. He came to and refused to go to the hospital, and after eating began to revive. We are already starting to drop here, as was just a few months back in the nightmare that was New Orleans.

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan update # 14

Vaughn — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 11:10:44 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage Caravan rider. November 3, 2005 Charleston, West Virginia to Richmond, Virginia. Last night our hosts at the Asbury United Methodist Church found homes (with BEDS!)for us all to rest in. David and Andy hosted nine of us in their spacious house. The Jacuzzi was wonderful.We all went to a friendly local Gay bar in a building that surely been a speak-easy way back in the day. As this caravan draws near to Washington, D.C., today my idealism waned. We had hoped to have hundreds of people joining us at this point.The number of riders on this caravan are 26. For some on this caravan it has been an opportunity to visit many Gay bars in exotic new cities between snippets of events and media exposure. For me today it felt like a big, lost opportunity. Two weeks busing through America's heartland has given us a unique story and perspective, and helped connect many groups and individuals, but all the big goals set beforehand feel a bit pie-in-the-sky. Many excuses live in this land of lost opportunities. Pushing the original caravan and it's planned events back a month because of hurricane Katrina severely taxed many already over-worked rural HIV/AIDS activists. World AIDS day now is less than one month away, another whole set of HIV/AIDS events. Probably what we have worked has accomplished some good, and made very evident the pit-falls for the C2EA planners of future actions or caravans. Maybe what happens in Washington, D.C. this weekend will turn things around. So here it is night and I sit in yet another church basement.This time it's the Metropolitan Community Church of Richmond, Virginia. We were supposed to meet up here for a big rally with the other caravans, only the Florida caravan showed, bearing four riders. Two other caravans due here tonight got delayed as both had to take riders to hospitals. As it was in Louisiana after Katrina, we are starting to drop off in the streets, will our deaths again go unnoticed? There was another church service here after we all were fed, then housed, by the generosity of yet another quirky little church congregation far out of the mainstream. Word from the site of actions is not good, the city of Washington, D.C. is throwing up hurdles against us, the riot police now are preparing for us with batons, rubber bullets, and tear gas. A Little band of sick HIV/AIDS individuals should be very easy for them to subdue, before our tattered little band disperses to die invisible off in their little dark corners in this land that was America. Less than ten days of what it costs to blow apart the bodies of the children of the cornfields of America could fully fund the Ryan White CARE Act. But that would be using tax dollars to keep people alive, to stop them from getting infected then sick in the first place. Silly, stupid, me- tax dollars are only for KILLING and DEATH. So this weekend all of you safe in your little corners of America, be very, very silent, as when the Angel of Death makes it's pass over your heads, you probably won't be noticed. I remember what that nice lady told us at that truck stop, that GOOD people don't die from AIDS. And you all are such good people after all, right? So here I sit in the dark of the dawn hours away from our fate in Washington, D.C. Instead of the garden of Gethsemane, this lone long-haired pagan hippy sits alone.The only garden for me is inscribed with the names of the dead, watered by tears. Somewhere off in the recesses of this basement I hear someone coughing with serious respiratory problems. No praying here, just the coughs of the dieing. Maybe you will see a little sound-bite about this on your televisions this weekend, the safety of your little remote in hand. Maybe this time the Angel of Death will pass you by, good people.

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan update # 13

Vaughn — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 04:21:22 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage Caravan rider. November 2, 2005 Louisville, Kentucky to Charleston, West Virginia. On the surface driving through the hills of Kentucky, this part of the country is a deceptively beautiful, clothed in fall finery of fire-red trees, yellows and oranges befitting of a raver's fashion. Crosses dot the highway medians,appear at regular intervals cresting on hillsides,empty, ready for new bodies to be nailed upon them. Where before on this journey we viewed antelope and cows, now we are in horse country. We arrived into Louisville at night, winding through a sleek business district; old world churches nestled next to shiny new temples of commerce. You do not have to go far here to find the ghetto.As we rode through Louisville's projects we witnessed open drug dealing,traveling through blighted neighborhoods bearing buildings hollowed out as skulls. Where we were to spend the night was at an old Catholic Parrish that the church abandoned, today known as the House of Ruth. The House of Ruth is an association of persons caring for families and individuals affected by HIV and AIDS. They provide advocacy and support for their physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs. From their brochure: "HIV/AIDS has the ability to shatter- not only the lives of individuals, but also their families. And that has an effect on the entire community. Although there is not a cure to-date,there have been great medical strides made in managing this disease. However, there remains a side to this illness that only those who are close to it can see- the emotional repercussions. Many HIV/AIDS infected/affected individuals often feel lonely, isolated, desperate and hopeless. House of Ruth can help alleviate these feelings by mending shattered lives. House of Ruth through its comprehensive program, believes that treatment of HIV/AIDS is not only found in a doctor's office, but is also found in the community. House of Ruth also believes that in order to treat an infected individual, it must start by treating the entire family." This is the safety net for the Louisville HIV/AIDS community,and it is getting torn to pieces as funding sources close and dry up. We were to sleep in the building gymnasium,which was unsuitable for our more frail caravan riders, as numerous bullet holes in the window and gaps in the ceiling made the space unheatable in the low 30 degree weather. A cascade of creeper vines had forced their entry into the building through gaps in the exterior. We slept in a heat able dining hall next door upon a concrete floor with air mattresses. Halloween decorations were strewn about leftover from a children's Halloween party; flaming paper skulls and glow-in-the-dark plastic skeletons, motion-activated ghosts that giggled and rattled little chains when their mechanisms sensed your approach. Disposable horror-holiday gew-gaws manufactured overseas probably by children much less fortunate. Two of our caravan riders who had boarded the bus in Chicago had to be flown back, as the rough conditions in the past days sent their health situations spiraling downward to where they had to be hospitalized. The number of riders on this American Heritage Caravan are 26. Organizing our stay here was an amazing one man show of an activist named Darrell Robinson. About seven years back he organized the first HIV/AIDS resource agencies in the state of Kentucky, a project he's fought to grow as the caseloads increase statewide,as denial and drug addiction throw more people into a system that is having it's basic funding cut and slashed. Kentucky only has started collecting statistics for those who are pre-AIDS but HIV positive this past year, they won't be able to release these statistics till about 2008. Out of this chaos Darrell made sure we were well fed for both dinner and breakfast by securing the funds to hire a caterer. Fried chicken, meat-loaf, mashed potatoes, and corn for dinner, eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy for breakfast. What is it like living with AIDS/HIV in Kentucky? I asked Darrell,who is the Education Director for the Louisville AIDS Resource Center : "As we go into our third decade of HIV/AIDS, though the medications may be new and improved, the stigma, the lack of education and the dis concern still lingers. The media keeps referring to HIV/AIDS as a controllable illness and that the need for concern is no longer there. In it self this is such a farce. There are at this time over 1.5 million people in the United States that are HIV/AIDS diagnosed. 40,000 newly diagnosed cases a year, 8,500 deaths a day world wide. Yet the State of Kentucky keeps wearing the blinders that belong on thoroughbreds during a race and sees nothing. They don't think HIV is in their community and their children are not at risk. Kentucky is second only to West Virginia for the most poorly formulated drug assistance program in the nation. Until 3 months ago Kentucky had a waiting list for over 300 people to even receive assistance with their medications, not to mention Housing,medical treatment, clothing, food and transportation. The state reports cumulative cases of AIDS through 2004 at 4,119 people. Yet we know that in Louisville their are over 100 clients at the WINGS clinic being served and the other seven HIV doctors are so full it is at least a six month wait to even See doctor for the first time. You do the math. Keep the Promise to End AIDS and join the Caravan to end AIDS today." We could not secure the permits needed for a public event, the local media totally ignored our phone calls, so we left Kentucky for our next scheduled stop in Charleston, West Virginia. The West Virginia hills reminded me of back-home in Oregon, it has been about two weeks since our caravan rolled out of the HIV Day Center there. We Arrived at the State Capitol Charleston and were received and fed by our hosts at the Asbury United Methodist Church. An interfaith service of prayer and healing open to the local community was held after dinner, over 50 people attended, as did reporters from two television stations.Readings from this service included those from the Baghavad Gita: " My devotee is compassionate towards all beings, bearing ill will toward none. You must look with an equal eye upon everyone, working for the good of all." Also from the Torah "The strangers who live with you shall be to you like citizens, and you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt..." After this service the whole group marched bearing candles two blocks away to a AIDS living memorial garden planted on a wedge of land at a busy intersection in the light of the Capitol building's gilded wedding-cake styled dome. We all shared the names and stories of our departed friends and family. Some names were inscribed on the bricks on the garden walkway. Many bricks were yet to be inscribed as the death toll will surely rise in this rural corner of America. This was another memorial service out of many where it was left to the church to remember the dead of their community. No one showed up from any of the State HIV/AIDS agencies, so I was unable to gather statistics in another small town where an invisible tsunami of death drew near. We did score two small sound-bites on the evening news.

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan update # 12

Vaughn — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:26:17 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American heritage caravan rider November 1, 2005 Columbus, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky. At daybreak this All-Saints day I awoke next to my boyfriend sleeping upon an air mattress on the Dias of the chapel in the Lamb of God Anglican Chapel down inside the basement of the Broad street Methodist church of Columbus, Ohio. A red votive candle had burned in a wall sconce above us, the old woodwork infused with the scent of frankincense incense. here in this Sanctuary far from home upon a difficult road, two Gay men fighting for their lives found peace this night when the veils of this world are the thinnest and our dead are there beside us. From this parish's mission statement: "To the Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered, we say that your love is sacred, your union is blessed." After all the hateful words aimed against our love and devotion to each other by those who have only enough religion to hate, not enough to truly love, that simple statement of affirmation wets my eyes with tears of hope. I found a card there, a "Prayer for the Decade of Nonviolence": I bow to the sacred in all creation. May my spirit fill the world with beauty and wonder. May my mind seek truth with humility and openness. May my heart forgive without limit. May my love for friend, enemy, and outcast be without measure. May my needs be few and my living simple. May my actions bear witness to the suffering of others. May my hands never harm a living being. May my steps stay on the journey to justice. May my tongue speak for those who are poor without fear of the powerful. May my prayers rise with with patient discontent until no child is hungry. May my life's work be a passion for peace and nonviolence. May my soul rejoice in the present moment. May my imagination overcome death and despair with new possibility. And may I risk reputation, comfort, and security to bring this hope to the children." The role of Christianity and this caravan has at times boiled over and become contentious. Some on this caravan have been severely abused by the Christian Church, the very mention of which dredges this pain and hurt up to the surface. As we travel across the heartland of this nation, what has been very effective is to speak from the heart of our personal experiences, whether it be Gay/straight/Bisexual/Transgendered/Black/White/Latino/Native American/Young/Old/ Male/Female/religious or non-religious. (Please forgive me for any unintentional omissions. when we speak from these personal experiences, the challenge has been to differentiate between the stated political goals of this caravan and our own unique perspectives. The American Heritage Caravan began in a church basement in Portland, Oregon, where our local HIV day center operates out of. If the Ryan White CARE Act is not fully reauthorized, the Portland HIV Day center will face closure,those of us dependent upon their services will be shut out in the streets. Portland's main HIV/AIDS social service agency, the Cascade AIDS Project, totally ignored this caravan, and gave us zero support. How interesting that a good share of their funding comes from the Ryan White CARE Act, that we are fighting to keep the funding to pay their salaries as services for the local HIV/AIDS community get slashed and ended. All along this road to Washington, D.C., often the only support that we have received has been from small Christian churches who have opened up their buildings for us to stay in, and have fed us. We have also witnessed major local HIV/AIDS support and prevention organizations like the Nebraska AIDS Project and the AIDS resource Center of Ohio who are there struggling hard in this climate of deprivation to meet the diverse needs of their client base. The American Heritage caravan riders and a few local supporters held a noontime rally around the lavish state capitol building in a cold rain. No local politicians showed up to hear us, and we were totally ignored by the local media. In the rain, drowned out by traffic and construction din,We chanted "End AIDS NOW!!" and spoke about the estimated 10,000 people who died yesterday of this disease, have died today, and will die tomorrow. Some of us with walkers and trailing oxygen tanks, our hand-held signs melting in the rain, we received a few car-horn honks of support, a few thumbs-up from passers by. What will it take to end this? At a truck stop one lady told us AIDS was of no concern of hers, as her children were "good" kids who would never catch this disease. Welcome to the United States of Denial. We entered back onto our bus to dry off, and drove off to our next uncertain stop in Louisville, Kentucky.

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan update # 11

Vaughn — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 21:09:38 GMT

By Vaughn frick American Heritage caravan rider. Indianapolis, Indiana to Dayton, Ohio. The events that had been planned for our caravan arrival in Indianapolis fell through at the last moment for a variety of reasons and excuses. We often don't know what to expect, when or if we will be able to eat, or even where we will sleep till our big bus rolls into the latest city on our long road to Washington, D.C. In Indianapolis we were able to get a brief clip on the local FOX news television station only after we called them while on the road and within hours of arriving there. A few days back in Iowa City the local media totally snubbed us and the community forum about the Campaign To End AIDS. After this event, we heard that people who had attended this forum where so outraged that they went and barricaded the parking lot of the local television station till they gave some coverage to the issues and goals of this caravan. Our next stop in Dayton, Ohio, progressed very well. Dayton is rich in history yet declining in population as it's job base shifts mostly overseas. It is here where those metal pop-tabs on soda cans were created, as well as those plastic twist-rings on bottled water. The Wright brothers had their bicycle shop here where the first airplane was built. Ten stories down in a secret bunker inside of Wright/Patterson Air force Base supposedly lie the bodies of aliens salvaged from Roswell, New Mexico. There was a large rally downtown at noontime at Dayton's Courthouse Square to receive us and bring our message to the people of Dayton, and for us to hear their concerns about HIV/AIDS to take with us to Washington, D.C. openly Lesbian Dayton Mayor Rhine Mclin spoke about the importance of education and HIV prevention programs in stopping this pandemic. People also spoke of their personal experiences living with HIV in this community where the specter of stigma haunts their lives. Keith Matthews said "I've been living with AIDS for 16 years, I lost my first friend to this epidemic 20 years ago last month, and I lost another friend just last month,and countless friends in-between. One day I hope to stand here and say that I've been cured of AIDS." Donald Woodward spoke as a heterosexual African American, and the message that he wanted us to take from him to Washington, D.C.," People here who are living with this, we have a lot of issues-including denial. Apathy is a joke, it's a normal human function to have sex. That is the reality of the world that we live in." According to the centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 15,000 people in Ohio are known to be infected with HIV, with an additional 5,000 who are infected yet do not know it. In the Miami Valley, where Dayton is located, 1,300 people are known to be living with HIV/AIDS,and approximately 500 here are infected and also do not know it. There are an additional 900 to 1,000 newly diagnosed (reported) cases added to these numbers each year. 22% of these cases are women. Bill Hardy is the Executive Director of AIDS Resource Center of Ohio, and is a strong advocate for HIV/AIDS services in an area covering 35 counties. Bill Hardy spoke of his battle in a recent ARC Ohio newsletter: " Earlier this year we learned that severe and disproportionate cuts to Ohio's HIV/AIDS programs were being considered. Our rapid and unprecedented combined efforts seem to have been successful in heading off the State's cuts, at least for now. But we continue to be told that there are no promises. For two decades we advocated for increased resources to address the "new" pandemic of HIV/AIDS. Now we're fighting with all our might just to make sure we don't slide backwards." When I asked Bill what it would mean to Ohio if the Ryan White CARE Act was not reauthorized and fully funded, and he said that vital programs such as emergency assistance,primary services, and basic medical care will go away. Dayton is a part of the "rust belt" of America where many manufacturing jobs have closed down or moved their production overseas. As these jobs and there workers leave this area or are unable to find new work, this also takes away the needed tax base for social services, including HIV/AIDS care and prevention. I was told of a former client of the AIDS Resource Center who recently committed suicide by jumping off a ten story building, where his body laid till found by a security guard. This is indicative of what will happen if we fail.

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage caravan update # 10

Vaughn — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 01:33:48 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage caravan rider October 30, 2005 Chicago, Illinois to Indianapolis, Indiana Last night at the Institute for Cultural affairs we met up with the Seattle caravan also on their way to Washington, D.C. Tired, hungry, grumpy, stinky, and road-weary,it was utterly wonderful to meet up with another arm of the body of this movement. Today our separate caravans will set off in different directions, next to meet in the belly of the beast of the United States of America. Today also we met the 9 people from Chicago who will join our caravan on this journey to save our lives and breath life, hope, and the will to end the AIDS pandemic. Many of us on this caravan have no health care or medical insurance, and as was with those who suffered and died after Hurricane Katrina, we tenuously live our lives but a few days away from disaster and death. I think of Lonny on this caravan who will loose the medications that keep him alive come the new year. If we fail, the new year will bring him death. His laughter that I hear today on this bus will be silenced. This is the reality of America today as many of us daily slip beneath the surface of utter destitution down into our graves, often alone in the cold night, invisible. I've met so many kind, generous, truly inspiring people on this long road of adversity lit by that eternal spark of hope, that this nation can be the America that was the dream we were told in our youth. The shadow-side of this dream today for many is nightmare; a bloody legacy of war, genocide, racism, and greed. This hope burns bright in the hearts of those who have joined us today in Chicago. The American Heritage caravan is 23 people strong now. To look around the table this morning when we met, where everyone had a seat at the table, there was no doubt that what we have been able to accomplish so far is historic. What started out as a caravan of mostly Gay white men has been doubled where the majority is now African American. We are represented now in this caravan by Latinos, by Native Americans, and by the strength of women. Many women had wanted to join this caravan, but the realities of their lives are that often they are the caregivers of their children and families, and it was difficult if not impossible to leave their families for the duration of this action. Yet today they are here with us, along with those with wheelchairs and oxygen tanks. This is what we must do to keep alive. Tonight there burns a flame of hope in America. To learn more of this campaign and caravan, and how you can help, please log onto: www.c2ea.org.

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan update # 9

Vaughn — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 12:42:23 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage Caravan rider October 29, 2005 Chicago, Illinois Our caravan was well recieved in this city so rich with a history of political activism, a city where so many people live with HIV, where so many have died. Our American Heritage riders were set up in comfortable accomadations at the Institute of Cultural Affairs. The Uptown neighborhood where we are staying is one of the most culturally diverse in Chicago, within blocks of where we are staying over 81 different languages are spoken. The Institute of Cultural Affairs Community Resource Center in Chicago enables 24 agencies to provide health, support, and homeless services to the Uptown neighborhood's diverse population. Over 120,000 persons are served by these agencies each year. ICA's International Conferance Center last year provided space for 167 different organizations from around the world for 180 conferences and numerous meetings for urban research, exploration and service. Today this center hosted such groups as Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and an organization of Ghanian taxi-cab drivers. For our caravan most of our stay here was one of rest, which for many Caravan Riders was touring the culture and sights of this international city. Part of this culture was the near-by Gay district, or "Boy's Town" along the stretch of Halsted street. What happened on Halsted street, stays on Halstead street. I hope. Later in the afternoon over half of the American Heritage caravan riders met with our local supporters at the Test Positive Aware Network housed in a neighborhood impacted by a high percentage of HIV infections. Test Positive Aware Network was founded in 1987 by Chris Clason and 16 other individuals who were HIV positive. They came together with the belief that through the sharing of information and personal experiences regarding HIV that they could help each other. They believed that self-empowerment and information would help them to live. TPAN is a community-based organization dedicated to providing services to persons infected, and affected by HIV. Service delivery is peer based, and the many needs of Chicago's HIV community is this groups only mission. The majority of both the staff and volunteers are HIV positive, to better understand the issues, emotions, and concerns faced by their client base. TPAN's motto is "Committed to living-committed to you." Life. Death. Tonight the season of ghosts began to play on Chicago's streets as Halloween nears, the time when our dead are near. To learn more about the Campaign To End AIDS, the American Heritage Caravan, and how you can help finally end the AIDS pandemic, please log onto: www.c2ea.org. To learn more about the Institute of Cultural Affairs: Chicago@ica-usa.org And to contact the Test Positive Aware Network: www.tpan.com

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage caravan update # 8

Vaughn — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 13:25:57 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage caravan rider October 28, 2005 Iowa City,Iowa to Aurora, Illinois to Chicago, Illinois Last evening we slept on the floor of a cold basement at Trinity Episcopalion Church in Iowa City after eating dinner at the local Salvation Army soup kitchen. After being together on the bus all day there was no facility for showering or cleaning up. For me this was a needed reality check as to why we are on this caravan. Imagine having to live this realty daily while saddled with a terminal illness. That is the realty and fate that many of the estimated one million people living with HIV/AIDS in this great United States will face if the Ryan White Care Act is not reauthorized and fully funded. This is why this caravan is bearing witness to the dire state HIV/AIDS services in the heartland of this country, why we will be participating in the four days of actions when all ten caravans converge in Washington, D.C. on November the fourth. Imagine being denied access to the medications which you need to live, to face death alone on the streets of America. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and those poor Americans left to die was a brutal wake-up call for all in this country unable to afford health care, for the hundreds of thousands Americans living on the edge with no medical insurance. Iowa city is a reflection of America; on the surface another college town that has the feel of a tourist trap with many bright and flashy bars and entertainment facilities. The children of those who can afford this lifestyle walk the streets in hundred dollar shoes partying with their friends at night, while the invisible of that community struggle to meet their basic needs. This morning I walked out onto the roof of the church where we stayed, my footsteps crunching into the sharp layer of frost formed from last night's freeze. Below and across from this church I saw where the homeless were sleeping, their bodies pulled into the landscape's shrubbery for warmth, for protection from the cold and the night. Several American Heritage Caravan riders in their lives have also been homeless, and struggle daily from slipping on the bureaucratic ice back into this urban kind of hell. To see this breed of abuse, of deprivation for them was as the fear of being trapped in an abusive relationship, one that leads to the morgue. Last night a community forum was called at Trinity Church for this caravan, where 16 people from the community attended. There was a banner made from a sheet and cloth paint with C2EA's logo on it, made by two local teen-aged girls. We have it with us now on our caravan bus. We promised to carry it with us on our journey to Washington, D.C. One of the American Heritage caravan riders, Joe, told a part of his own very moving story and related a telling conversation he'd had with his mother. "My mother asked me, 'Do you always have to fight other peoples battles?' I said, 'Yes. But the only difference is that this this time it's MY battle too.'" A local speaker, Tim, said that they get 10 newly diagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS each month. He told us that the majority of these people are going to need to access Ryan White funds and ADAP. Without those funds being available their futures shall be bleak. Still on the subject of those funds Tim said, "When I think about how we came from a 'gay cancer' which killed in weeks (of diagnosis) to today...I'm grateful for today." But one of his most poignant observations was that "if you make a friend of a person with HIV, you shall have made friends with your greatest source of information about HIV." So now you know. If you want to learn about something, go make friends with someone who's living it every day of their lives! Caravan counselor Jack spoke on a more global level. He spoke about the destabilization of whole countries in Africa due to the massive numbers of younger adults dying, leaving only the elderly and the children. Many of the children have no role models, parents to teach them cultural values and to give them a sense of belonging and place. With out that these children are ripe for being taken advantage of by terrorist recruiters and roving gangs. American Heritage caravan rider Chris spoke about the difficulties of reaching the black community with AIDS prevention here at home. The first issue he spoke of was that there is a general and historic sense of disenfranchisement amongst African Americans. The second issue he spoke about was the cultural bias against homosexuality and the way HIV is still associated as a 'gay disease'. When Joe spoke again he led us in a chant (the beat was 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2), w w w end aids now dot com! It was fun and people learned a valuable resource at the same time! our next stop was in Aurora, Illinois, the home district of Republican Speaker Of The House Denny Hastert. Inside the Fox River Community Center we arrived at the start of a meeting called with a representative from Denny Hastert's office to speak about the utter neccesity of reauthorizing and fully funding the Ryan White Care Act. One speaker said: "I have seen in other parts of the country people waiting for someone to die so they can get on services. I don't want to see Chicago come to that." A worker in the social services spoke about her experiences before the Ryan White Care act was created: "I met a homeless woman whom I could offer nothing but my friendship and business card. A week later I got a call from the morgue. They said 'We have a woman here with no I.D;just a card with your name and number on it.' I don't ever want to go back to that." This next part is reprinted from a joint letter to Illinois members of Congress about the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act: As individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS throughout the state of Illinois, and as organizations serving people living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS in rural, suburban, and urban communities, e write to express our deep concern regarding President Bush's Rtan White CARE Act reauthorization principles. The CARE act is the nation's flagship response to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic, having provided comprehensive medical and social services to poor,uninsured people who have no other options for healthcare since 1990. We wish to see the CARE Act continue in it's role of "safety net" by providing these lifesaving services to all individuals in need, regardless of where they live. HIV/AIDS remains a life threatening infectious disease and a significant public health emergency. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over one million people in the United States are living with HIV, including more than 405,000 with AIDS. Approximately 211,000 individuals need antiretroviral treatment but have no means to access them. Over 1,900 people languish on AIDS drug assistance program waiting lists around the country. The Institute of Medicine estimates that over 314,000 people with HIV/AIDS in the United States lack consistent care and treatment. Meanwhile, the demand for services grows steadily. Each year, more than 40,000 new infections occur in the United States;1,600 of those in Illinois. More than 30,000 AIDS cases and over 16,400 deaths due to AIDS have been reported in Illinois since 1981. After five years of flat funding and cuts for essential HIV/AIDS prevention and care services, and without a commitment for new funding, the Bush administration proposes to shift significant CARE resources away from hard-hit states to address HIV/AIDS in less populous and rural states. Rural areas, especially in the South, are struggling against longstanding healthcare access problems, which are exacerbated by increasing rates of HIV in their communities. While all individuals living with HIV/AIDS should have the ability to access quality care and treatment,, disparities in healthcare experienced by poor people in one part of the country should not be addressed at the expense of poor people in another part of the country. Stealing from Peter to pay Paul- and dismantling lifesaving services for vulnerable populations with no other means to access health care- is unacceptable. Illinois will withstand significant cuts in funding and will suffer diminished infrastructure and service capacity should the Bush administration's principles be enacted. Thousands of Illinoisans with HIV/AIDS will face life-threatening gaps in care if the Bush administration's proposal is enacted. We call on you to provide leadership necessary to ensure that geography does not determine access to essential medical and social services. We call on Congress to increase CARE Act funding by $594 million and to devise a plan to distribute the resources in a way that is fair and equitable to every American living with HIV/AIDS in need of healthcare, rejecting the Bush administration's faulty principles. We also ask for the maintenance of local control to determine the appropriate mix of vital medical and supportive social services in every jurisdiction that receives funding. Since it's inception in 1990, the CARE Act has enjoyed strong bipartisan support because of its ability to reach those in greatest need in both urban and rural communities. We look to you to continue the CARE Act legacy by reauthorizing the program, appropriating sufficient funding, and ensuring geographic equity so that Americans with HIV/AIDS-wherever they may live-can receive the rational and cost-effective out-patient services they need to survive. We then blew into the Windy City.

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan update # 7

Vaughn — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 01:27:49 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage caravan rider October 27, 2005 Omaha, Nebraska to Des Moines, Iowa, and Iowa City, Iowa. Last night American Heritage Caravan rider Lowen visited a Omaha bookstore near where we were staying at the offices of the Nebraska AIDS Project to attend a Poetry reading by local author Matt Mason. By coincidence the book was a collection of poems called "When the Bough Breaks," the bones and blood of this book is about the author's experiences from loosing his own father to AIDS. After the reading many of the attendees there came up to Lowen to share their own personal experiences and losses from 25 years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Matt Mason at the end of the evening chose to donate all of the money that he had raised that evening to the American Heritage caravan to support our goals and journey to Washington, D.C. Here's one of Matt's poems titled "Spring Break." What do I remember clearest? I remember running the electric razor along his cheekbones, his chin, throat, under his nose. Seeing the bright capillaries weave around his pores, smelling the light sweat as I erased a few days of stubble, leaving the individual whiskers which refused cutting. There aren't words for me to remember. My plane landed in Omaha after his last coughing syllables, after he'd fallen into a kind of sleep. My friends burned marshmallows on a beach in Oregon as I sat in a hospital, nervous, guilty over wanting to be somewhere else, farther away, miles from this skin, these hairs, the red lines ripe with virus, the pain dripping slow and constant. His one, open eye, reflected me, blue, and I don't know if the reflection went all the way through; if he sensed my hand in his; heard my stumbling biography; wept somewhere as his youngest son was at last close enough to touch his face. Copyright 2005 by Matt Mason from "When the bough breaks" published by Lone Willow Press P.O.Box 31647, Omaha, Nebraska 68131 We next drove through fall-painted swaths of trees lining a rolling landscape of cornfields and small rural communities. We were received in Des Moines by a few local HIV/AIDS activists at St. John's Lutheran church, and were fed a lunch of cornbread and chili. (Our last three meals were of chili, although all good, hazardously incendiary during a long bumpity bus ride of people already burdened with health concerns.) Iowa only began tracking HIV infection in 1998, an estimated 1,600 Iowans are today living with HIV/AIDS. The Iowa AIDS Project here in Des Moines last year serviced over 250 clients.Iowa AIDS project is staffed by 11 people, 3 in case management and 5 in HIV prevention programs. Case manager loads are severely stretched to nearly the breaking point. Nearly all funds allocated go to case management over other needs such as housing and health care.Simple things like getting transportation to doctors appointments are a concern, along with the big ticket vital necessities such as drug and emergency assistance and access to medical care. A large percentage of local infections are from recent immigrant communities, compounded by a lack of interpreters and cultural barriers. I spoke with Jay who is a client of Iowa AIDS Project, he got his HIV diagnosis in 1989, and today is battling just to receive the basic services which he needs to live. Out of gratitude he volunteers where he's needed when he is able to because of his health limitations. David Vitiritto is the Fiscal Manager/ IT Specialist for Iowa AIDS Project, and has been working to save lives here for 13 years. Sitting in the Church basement David told me his message to take with us to Washington is " Don't let us down, the need is greater than ever, there are still people dieing of this disease. We've held at least one funeral each month here. People think that HIV is manageable,that the available drugs have curbed this epidemic, and that is bullshit!" To learn more about HIV/AIDS in Iowa, contact: david@aidsprojectci.org To learn more about The Campaign To End AIDS, the American Heritage Caravan, and how you can help, contact www.c2ea.org

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan, updates 4,5,6

Vaughn — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 05:29:12 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage caravan rider October 24, 2005 Laramie to Cheyenne to Casper Wyoming Last night all 13 of our caravan riders slept upon sleeping pads and air mattresses in one large room donated to us by the University apartments community center across the street from the University of Wyoming. Before dawn I walked the campus grounds under the immense star-shot sky, the ground was covered in twinkling ice crystals mirroring the lights of the universe far above. A sky as wide as this land in middle America that our caravan is transversing on our journey to Washington D.C. Wyoming is still a frontier state today, where coal and bone turned to stone are dug out of the hills and bedrock eroded by Millenia. We ate breakfast in the student cafeteria and showered in the gym before leaving on our next stop at Cheyenne. We thank the generosity of John Wiggins and the Albany county AIDS project for donating the funds for our meals while we stayed in Laramie, and to Travis who as host met all of our needs, and who also looks very lovely dressed in his "I got candy" t-shirt. We arrived in Cheyenne at their local CBS affiliate KGWN newschanel 5 where we were interviewed for the evening news about who we are and our message of hope and life that we are taking to Washington, D.C. This was a very bittersweet stop for us, as we had planned on several events here organized by a tireless volunteer for this caravan named Jeff Palmer who had suddenly stopped communicating with us days before we set off from Portland. Jeff was one of the founders of an AIDS advocacy group called Positive for Positive,and in the end even though his illness was severe,he would spend hours on the phone organizing this caravan and action, inspiring many with his passion to make the Campaign To End AIDS a reality. A few days ago we finally learned that Jeff had died. Since he was the life for this caravan stop in Cheyenne, so also were the events here snuffed out prematurely. As we were filmed for the evening news we held hands and circled there in Jeff's town that he loved and remembered him. People are dieing needlessly from AIDS again, new people are still getting infected with the HIV virus. Tragically both of these grim statistics are so easily preventable by what we already know works. Our final stop for today was at Casper where we were greeted by members of a local church shared by two denominations, the First Congregational Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalists. A banner in their chapel reads: "We care more about rights than rites,"and this church has worked much to bring diversity and tolerance to the Faith based community of Casper. A pizza and pinata party, press conference, and candlelight memorial were organized here, all put together by a 17 year old 11th grade student named Caitlyn Metcalf. Caitlyn is the leader for the Youth Empowerment Council of Casper, and worked to see this event happen for the past two months, pulling together Wyoming AIDS project, the Matthew Shepard Foundation,and all the dedicated local people who came to this event. Last summer she attended a training by the Wyoming AIDS project, and was shocked by the prior misinformation she had been told about HIV. Before this she had never known anyone who had been infected by HIV. Based on her belief that she needed to do what was right, Caitlyn has become one of the leading AIDS activists for this whole area. American Heritage caravan rider Levi Ferns spoke to the media about his personal experiences living with HIV. In his own words " My Late husband Charles Morton Krayerdied of AIDS on June 5, 2005. His death was hastened due to a lack of access to adequate health care and medications. In 1990 Congress established the Ryan White Care Act to provide funding for vital services including health care. But now in 2005, the Care Act remains depleted in funds. People are on waiting lists for vital medications in several states. There is an across-the-board squeeze on vital services. Let's demand that Congress and Mike Enzi reauthorize and fully fund the Ryan White Care Act. Let's give it the 2.5 billion dollars it needs. For the candlelight vigil, 43 people circled in the dusk in front of the church, lighting each candle in a circle as each participant remembered a friend or family member lost to AIDS, or sharing a hope. One young boy said "I light this candle in hope that a cure is found." Wyoming. It's people proud of their land and community, a people very kind and generous to us. I met many wonderful individuals here who had left then moved back because in their hearts they love this place. A people dedicated to prevent another Matthew Shepard from dieing beaten and bloodied tied to a fence alone on a cold northern night. At around 7:30 the organizer for tonight's events had to go home to finish her homework for school tomorrow. For more information on how you can help with HIV/AIDS in Wyoming, please contact Pamela Reamer Williams at the Wyoming AIDS Project: wyaidsproj@wyoming.com To learn more about the Campaign To End AIDS and the American Heritage caravan, please log onto www.c2ea.org By Vaughn Frick American Heritage caravan rider October 25, 2005 Casper, Wyoming to Rapid City South Dakota. This morning I awoke nestled next to my boyfriend on a floor of a church along with my fellow caravan riders. The local media gave us very good coverage, both in the local newspaper and the evening news. We were fed a full breakfast prepared for us by an amazing group of church women who got up early to see us off. We all feel such gratitude for our reception here, and special thanks go to Pastor Charlene Hinkley and Pamela Reamer Williams of the Wyoming AIDS project. The weather here this season we've been told has been warmer and milder than usual,showcasing the natural beauty of this wide and open land of such diverse range and topography. Not long after crossing the border into South Dakota we stopped at a small rurally colorful diner called the "Fresh Stop" for a quick lunch, and encountered our first incident of open hostility. Portland caravan rider Paul who is African American and needs a walker due to a broken hip went to use the restroom, where two local yokels told him " There are three clan members here, and only two of you, and you better watch your back." Chris, our other African-American rider, returned to the bus fearing a conflict. We talked with the owner, and were assured that those who threatened us would be banned from that establishment. Back on the bus this was an opportunity to discuss how to handle threats and violence as we get closer to the home town of Fred Phelps, famous for disrupting funerals of those who died from AIDS by yelling through bullhorns "God hates queers" and far more ugly epitaphs. One of our caravan riders experienced Fred Phelps and his congregation disrupt the funeral of his partner when he passed in 1989. Some wounds cut so deep that we never are over them, so I held my friend as he wept as the grief from this trauma washed over him again. He told me how the Reverend Phelps tried to steal the memories of his beloved partner who's passing is still so close to the surface so many years later. We stopped briefly to view the giant Crazy Horse sculpture that's still under construction after over 50 years of work, a massive project carved into a whole hill visible for miles. We also paid a brief stop at Mt. Rushmore, that strange cultural icon with nearly biblical overtones. Upon arrival in Rapid City we quickly set up in the hotels arranged here by our hosts, then left for a dinner and informal meeting with local people in a city park.This event was hosted by Positive Approach, the local source for support, re feral, information, assistance, and hospice training for the needs of the local HIV/AIDS community. There are an estimated 400 people living with HIV/AIDS in South Dakota, roughly a hundred live here in Rapid City. I spoke with Marnee Morris, HIV positive now 17 years, struggling back from a severe stroke. Marnee showed up before today's event began to wash the picnic tables. She had been a ballerina, a soloist for the New York city Ballet company and had performed this art worldwide that she had dreamed of since a child. Today she still experiences those little cuts of discrimination that can bleed one to death such as being told that she should eat off of paper plates. Marnee gets the medications that she needs to live through Rapid City Community health, one of the many small, rural agencies that will go under if the Ryan White Care act does not get reauthorized, as is the wish of the Bush administration. Another local activist Tom told me that today he believes finally ending AIDS is a war that we can win, a sentiment he says that he would not have believed last year. For more information about this caravan, the Campaign To End AIDS, and what you can do to help win this war, log onto: www.c2ea.org. Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage Caravan Update #6 By Vaughn Frick American Heritage Caravan rider October 26, 2005 Rapid City, South Dakota to Omaha, Nebraska This morning we arose early as today a very long ride was ahead for us. We had to be in Omaha by 5:30 p.m. to speak at a press conferance set up for our caravan. Two of our hosts Glenda and Joan met us in the hotel parking lot bearing boxes of hot sticky buns, oatmeal, coffee, and juice. A brilliant red sun rose in the eastern sky as we began the long drive at 7:00 a.m. In South Dakota HIV/AIDS is still hidden and those affected and in need of public services must tread a dangerous path to stay alive. At last evening's meet, eat, and greet in a city park only one individual stepped forward as being openly HIV positive. When we circled and each participant told of their experiences around HIV/AIDS, all had personal stories of family and friends lost to this pandemic. I remember Amy who ten years back lost her 26 year old son. We do not forget these loved ones of ours lost to this battle, their memories walk with us, their loss leaves only tears and a hope to end this pandemic, a goal we have every right to expect to win. This battle will be won by the strength and courage of individuals such as had by another of our Rapid City hosts, Joan Goschke. At times nearly single-handedly through her organization Positive Approach she works to meet all of the diverse needs for the many in this area affected by HIV/AIDS. Joan is also a hospice nurse, and is caring for her own daughter who is dieing of cancer, a diagnosis she got within months of returning from China where she'd adopted a daughter. Armed with a determined, soft-spoken compassion, Joan's goal is to find homes for the 20 million orphans of AIDS in Africa alone. From a hand-out written by her grouo Positive Approach : " We see a gloomy future for these children. Al Qaeda is in Africa and would probably like to recruit children to become human missiles. What an incubator for terrorism. More important, these are children growing up in the streets. A teen-ager becomes head of the family if there are no grandparents available. Extended families are over extended and already impoverished." Joan's message is one of many that we will take with us to Washington, D.C. As this day's long journey progressed we passed from the Black Hills to grassland then the badlands, the plateus slimming down to the vastness of the Great Plains. Our bus drove into Omaha about sunset, where we recieved a warm greeting from our Omaha hosts at the Nebraska AIDS Project. 1,200 Nebraskans are believed to be living with HIV/AIDS, as many as who have already died here. This past year the Nebraska AIDS Project seviced 822 clients. Founded 21 years ago, Nebraska AIDS Project is among the oldest AIDS service agencies in the country and operates five offices throughout the the state, serving Nebraska and Southwest Iowa. It is a nonprofit organization providing social services and support for men, women, and children affected by HIV/AIDS, along with educational programs to reduce the transmission of HIV. Nebraska AIDS Project remains true to it's stated mission of prevention of HIV and providing support to those who's lives are affected by HIV/AIDS. One of the few statewide AIDS service organizations in the country, Nebraska AIDS Project is the only community based HIV/AIDS service organization in Nebraska. And community is exactly what we found here when this evening at the NAP center we met many clients and their friends who have worked tirelessly to provide education, prevention imformation, testing, counseling, and client services to anyone in Nebraska impacted by HIV/AIDS. All this aside, people still slip through the cracks of an imperfect system in an imperfect world. Donald Magnuson (whole name used at his own request) expressed frustration in his quest for medical treatment. Donald was first diagnosed with HIV in '96. He has just this month been diagnosed with AIDS. On top of this he has had hepatitis C for over 15 years. Donald tells us that he has tried hard to get on 'the cocktail' for years now. But he keeps hitting brick walls. Donald believes that the problem is two fold. The first problem is that of money...the money to pay for his scrips and overall care just isn't out there and on his $800 a month he certainly can't afford it. (Donald does get insurance at a cost of $78 per month, but that's only hospital coverage-not scrips or doctor's visits). The second part is a very difficult hurdle indeed. He's functionally illiterate. Donald says that he requires much more intensive help from his case managers than he can typically get. When they help him to access resources he isn't always able to get the follow through that he needs. To be fair, he says, the casemanagers do what they can, but they are not always able to do as much as he needs in his own case. His social worker, Harry, at the university hospital shall be retiring next month. "(Harry ) helped me get Boost for protein. He just helped me to apply for Title XIX." Title XIX is a program to help him to get his lifesaving medications. With Harry leaving, Donald worries that he shall slip through the cracks once again. "I've been through Hell all of my life," says Donald. "I would like to be on medicine but I'll probably never get it." This is a statement fom Galen, a Nebraska AIDS Project client that was published in a NAP fact sheet: "Moving back to Nebraska in 1995 when the doctors predicted my imminent death, leaving my job and my friends behind was a very lonely, scary time in my life. I left my comfortable, safe niche in life to face repeated hospitalizations, fear, prejudice, ignorance and anger from a lot of people I came in contact with. My salvation was my family and this quiet, pretty lady who came into my life one day saying she was from Nebraska AIDS Project. She was my Caseworker, I was told, but more importantly, she became my friend. With her support and care, my life started turning around. I was better able to receive the kind of care and respect I deserved. I made friends again through the support group in our area. She helped me become involved with Mebraska AIDS Project and with the State on various committees. I found a purpose for my life again, especially doing volunteer speaking around the state. She and her contacts made me feel worthwhile again. Today I have someone special in my life. I have the will to start a business and dreams of a future. So thanks, Barb, for being there. Thanks for the wonderful people you have brought into my life. Thanks for my life." -Galen, diagnosed in 1985, Central Nebraska To learn more about the Nebraska AIDS Project, log onto: www.nap.org To learn more about the Campaign To End AIDS and the American Heritage caravan,and how to help and donate the funds needed to keep this caravan rolling, or to access the other blogs in this series, log onto: www.c2ea.org

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage caravan update # 3

Vaughn — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 05:21:32 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage caravan rider October 23, 2005 Laramie, Wyoming This morning I awoke to the bustle of rush hour traffic around 6:30 a.m. Traffic so early on a Sunday morning? Oh. Still in Salt Lake City, Utah. Last night our field representative Katee who had flown out to Portland to help get us started for our first two days flew back home to Washington, D.C. to further prepare on-site for the days of action once all of the caravans arrive in Washington, D.C. on November the 4th. We all loved having Katee on board, her tireless organizing and dedication, overcoming many obstacles from this nationwide series of actions and events to raise awareness of the critical state of HIV/AIDS services in this country and beyond. We traded in our two cramped mini-vans for a delux Trailways tour bus, upholstered in a rainbow pattern and equiped with television, dvd player and a toilet. We all found Salt Lake City to be a friendly and welcoming place; a liberal blue bubble popping up in the reddest of states. Our caravan is thankful for all of the dedicated work by our Salt Lake City support crew. Special thanks to Stuart Merril, David Ward, Missy Larsen, Jennifer Nuttall, Carl Bateman, Toni Johnson, Heather Bush, Becky Porter, Juan Lopez, and a big hippy hug for Aaron Garrett. In Salt Lake City our caravan was joined by Lonnie from Chicago, and Darrell, Glenn, Bruce, and Jef from Salt Lake city, bringing our caravan number of riders up to 13. As waves of smartly dressed Mormons filed into Temple Square, our bus departed for the long road to Laramie, Wyoming. Hunting season also began this weekend. Alongside the freeway we saw dots of day-glo orange vests stalking the red-ochre hillsides hunting for game. More wide open grasslands spread out in all directions, stretches of sculpted hills and ranges mostly far away in the distance. Cows, Antelopes, and year-round fireworks markets. Oh yes, we were quite nervous entering the land where seven years back Matthew Shepard had his body broken by monsters who left his bleeding remains to die in the cold tied to a fence. When we stopped in a Wal-Mart (so sorry) to buy sleeping bags for several of our riders, empty shotgun shells layed in the parking lot like old bones. At about sunset we arrived at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where we were greeted by our host Travis. Since January of this year, eight students here have tested positive for HIV, a spike that has kicked up old ghosts of fear. There are only two doctors dealing specifically with infectious diseases in the whole state of Wyoming. There are about two hundred HIV positive people living in this stae, but considering the dodgy way these statistics are collected, the numbers very well may be much higher. Wyoming and South Dakota recieve the lowest amounts of HIV/AIDS funding in all of the United States. Wyoming has the lowest rate of new infections in the nation at 15% of the national rate. Part of the purpose of these caravans is to pick up new people and new perspectives from all across the land. Unfortunately the people dealing with HIV/AIDS in Wyoming are spread so thin that they couldn't spare the time to come on the caravan with us without neglecting those who depend upon them. But they did teach us some valuable lessons about the different needs of the rural communities as opposed to the urban ones which most of us come from. While Travis did point out one of his concerns was "Not letting people forget the differences between urban and rural (needs)" Bob also pointed out that "(an) advantage of being a small state is that we don't have a large bureaucracy to weigh us down." Considerations are thins like the distance between poz individuals (which inhibits networking and peer support) to lack of confidentiality when there's only one or two doctors in your town. And so many other similar issues we rarely think about except when thinking of sub-Saharan Africa or South America with their isolated populations. Wyoming, due to it's population being so spread out and lacking in needed medical providers must send new HIV/AIDS cases to neighboring states for basic care! This is outrageous! Can you imagine a pandemic as AIDS has become and there are whole counties and even states which are not able to take care of their ill for lack of medical providers with the basic needed skills for ending so much needless and preventable death. And we are over twenty years into this pandemic now. Last night in Laramie was held the first "Homegrown Drag Show" in a bona-fide cowboy bar (THE redneck cowboy hick bar in town, we were told) to benefit the Rainbow Resource Center. $1,150 dollars was raised, with a standing room only crowd. Only one crusty patron complained to the bartender, who told him to go sit back down, as the drag queens and their friends were far better tippers!

Campaign To End AIDS American Heritage caravan update # 2

Vaughn — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 01:56:13 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage caravan rider October 22, 2005 Boise, Idaho to Salt Lake city. This morning we awoke in Boise, Idaho and dined from a wonderful breakfast spread prepared for us by our hosts Duane and Kevin and their support crew created for this caravan. All of the caravan riders felt energized and enthused for the road ahead of us leading to Washington, D.C., thankful for all of the love and support given us by our supporters in Boise. We drove through the vast expanse of the Snake river plain, a lot more flatness than this Oregon boy is used to seeing. Marches of rolling pastel hued hills and canyons ringed the horizon, from desert earth tones of tans and reds leading to deep purple/blue ridgelines hazing out far in the distance away from us. These hills took on an almost sensuous mode smoothed by millinia of erosion, great sleeping forms curled into themselves. We drove through this plain at speeds of up to 90 miles an hour, as other vehicles sped past probably doing 100. Welcome to Utah, the reddest of the red states so colored from this last election. We got curious looks from other drivers on the road, no doubt reading the large "END AIDS NOW" magnetic signs on the sides of both the caravan vehicles. No honks or yells, pro or con. The strength of the Portland caravan I feel is it's diversity of background and experience. Though mostly gay and male, our caravan riders all come from a diverse cultural background: Black, white, Native American, HIV positive and negative, full onset AIDS, newly diagnosed and long-term survivors, new and seasoned activists, and three of our riders have worked directly with the very social service agencies that provide the vital safety nets that those living with HIV/AIDS need to survive, so we do not drop dead in the streets from neglect as were the victims of hurricane Katrina in George Bush's America. In the next couple of weeks during the life of these blogs I'll tell each of the American Heritage caravan's riders stories. We arrived in Salt Lake City to a memorial and rally in the plaza at Library Square in the historic part of town. As was on the steps of the Boise capitol building the day before, thousands of empty shoes were lined up in rows covering a sizeable chunk of courtyard to remind everyone there of just how many people in Utah have died of AIDS. Since 1985, an estemated 4,000 people have been infected with the HIV virus in Utah. Over 1,000 of these people have died. One in four people infected with the HIV virus don't even know that they are infected, exposing yet more people to the grave risk of contracting this disease through unknown exposure. I spoke with Seanna who is one of the many volunteers who stepped forward to work on this action. The volunteers would engage people passing by in dialogue about the Campaign To End AIDS and it's goals in finally ending this global pandemic that each day kills over 8,500 men, women, and children. Where Seanna was stationed were dozens of pairs of children's shoes neatly laid out to symbolize that it's not just adults engaging in high-risk behaviors that contract and die from this disease as is the common stereotype. When a baby is born infected with HIV, it's chances to reach adulthood are slim at best. She told of young children with hearts aged as if they were fifty from the constant medications needed to keep them alive, but rob them of their childhoods. She told of grandmothers who would start to weep when she told them what all of those little empty shoes represent. "These are not adults, they are children, and they are dieing every single day because our elected officials refuse to keep the funds desperately needed for research and services." At the rally Salt lake city Mayor Caroon spoke about how breakthroughs can also come through education and anonymous testing, that in America over one million people are estemated to have HIV/AIDS, of these 250-300 thousand can not afford healthcare or medicine. HIV/AIDS advocate Stuart Merril spoke that if the Ryan White care act is not re-authorized, the only thing that will be left to cut will be people's lives. Ricky, Chris, and Lowen spoke from the American Heritage caravan. Openly gay Utah state Senator Scott McCoy promised to bring the message to the legislators on capitol hill and educate them that these vital services need continued funding to keep those affected alive, and to end this pandemic. Several hundred people walked through the Library Plaza today and saw this message, and many filled out cards supporting the goals and mission of this caravan, cards that we will deliver to their elected officials in Washington, D.C. during the first week of November. After the rally the American Heritage caravan riders and their local support crew were treated to a catered feast at the Jubilee Center by Lavendar Catering and Construction. Dinner was Chicken En Croute, Caprese Bruschetta, Fall Pear and Gorganzola Salad, Garlic Smashed Potatoes, and Sauteed Fall Vegetables. And you don't have to be over 21 to drink coffee in Utah. For more information log onto: www.c2ea.org To learn more about HIV/AIDS in Utah please contact Stuart Merrill,HIV/AIDSadvocateat: stuartamerrill@hotmail.com

Campaign To End AIDS caravan update # 1

Vaughn — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 15:34:01 GMT

By Vaughn Frick American Heritage caravan rider for C2EA. This morning began with the caravan riders and their Portland support crew converging at the HIV day center for a send-off breakfast before the nine of us fit ourselves and our gear snugly into two vans to drive to our first stop in Boise Idaho. Our field coordinator Kaytee had joined us after flying to Portland from Washington, D.C. to help get us started. The caravan riders are Chris, Dan, Jack, Levi, Lowen, Paul, Ricky,and Vaughn. Through a breaking morning fog we drove east as the wooded cliffs of the gorge smoothed into rolling hillscapes, arid summer-burnt desert dotted with color-ripened trees turning towards winter. Late season rains washed the hillsides with a light green velvet before winter's snow. We arrived in Boise at 5:00 p.m. in time for the start of a rally to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in Idaho held on the front steps of the state capitol building; a grand, white marble domed wedding cake edifice built in the old federal style. Laid in rows across the wide steps leading up to the main entrance were 1,245 pairs of empty shoes to represent each person in Idaho living with HIV and AIDS. This event called "Walk in Our Shoes" was created and hosted by Allies Linked for the Prevention of HIV and AIDS {A.L.P.H.A.}to address the financial crises facing those living with HIV and AIDS, of our government's obligation in assisting a vulnerable part of our community, and the day to day reality and necessities that those living with HIV and AIDS need to survive. Postcards were available for event attendees to write a message to their congressional leaders about their concerns for continued funding for HIV and AIDS support services and research to finally end the pandemic. These cards will be sent along with the caravan to present to these leaders in the House and Senate: To demand full re-authorization of the Ryan White care act; To ensure that Medicaid programs continue to meet the vital needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and all other Americans who need this safety net to live; To strengthen the worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS by fully funding the the global HIV/AIDS prevention fund; To back debt relief for nations severely gripped by the ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic; And to restore and enhance effective HIV/AIDS prevention worldwide based on the best science, instead of fear and regressive ideologies. After several passionate speeches by local officials and activists, each of the American Heritage caravan riders spoke of their personal experiences of living with or assisting in the care of those whose lives are challenged by HIV/AIDS. We told our stories, our hopes, and goals: all spoken from the heart. After the rally ended we all had a lot of empty shoes to collect off the state capitol steps. Around sixty five people attended this rally. We then enjoyed dinner donated by Red Robin across the street in the state capitol park, entertained by two local fire-dancing troupes: Almaen Fuego and Kitty Club Burlesque. The group Drum Central played out a background beat as these talented fire dancers spun flame and carved symbols of fire into evenings approach. Special thanks to our host Duane Quintana, Patricia Kempthorne, wife of the Governor of Idaho, and State Representative Nicole LeFavour.

Campaign To End AIDS caravan

Vaughn — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 15:37:17 GMT

I'm one of the riders on the American Heritage caravan for the Campaign To End AIDS, leaving Portland for Washington, D.c. on October 21st. Ten caravans are leaving from different parts of the country, stopping at over 150 cities before we converge in Washington, D.C. on November the fourth for four days of actions and protests. The Portland caravan (American Heritage) will stop in 23 cities in 13 states across the northern states of America's heartland. The Bush administration is trying to gut what's left of the Ryan White care act, which will kill many vital AIDS programs and services in the smaller population areas that don't have the resource bases to keep these programs and services alive so people can live. The four top goals( of a wider platform) are: 1) Reauthorize and fully fund the Ryan White Care Act. 2) Keep Medicaid strong for people with HIV/AIDS and all other beneficiaries. 3) Strengthen the global fight against AIDS by fully funding the global fund and backing 100% debt cancellation. 4) Restore and enhance effective HIV prevention worldwide based upon sound science, not ideology. On Wednesday, October the 19th, there will be a send-off party for the Portland (American Heritage) caravan at Augustana Lutheran Church at 2710, NE 14th Ave. Live music by Miso Chavez, Chris Robinson, and Jesse. The food and festivities begin at 7:00 p.m. -Vaughn (Angie O' Sperm) For more info please link: WWW.ENDAIDSNOW.ORG