A couple months ago, I joined Jake’s family in the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Walk at MoA. It was my first “walk-for-something,” and it was a TON of fun.
Jake and I adopted Carl, our cat, from the Minnesota Humane Society, and wanted to walk in their annual “Walk for Animals.” Unfortunately (though not really), Jake is graduating from Augsburg that day. So, one day, while riding the bus, I saw an ad for the MN AIDS Walk, and thought, hey! I’m not doing anything Sunday, May 20th! I can do that! I asked Jake if he’d like to, and of course, he said yes, so I made us up a team (The Indigo-Go’s–from Majora’s Mask) and got the ball rolling.
The super-sweet Indigo-Go's. Don't ask me why there's an apostrophe in their name (it's a secret to everybody).
The issue of AIDS is important to me because, as a sexuality/sexual studies researcher, AIDS is an issue that frequently crops up in my literature and my courses. It began as a kind of “LGBT-only” issue back in the day, but, contrary to even some current media portrayals, it actually affects a HUGE number of very different people–women, mothers, children, and people in developing countries, for example. Current estimates say that over thirty-three million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS. No one is immune, and all it takes is one instance of being exposed to HIV (which, for those who don’t know, HIV is the virus that turns into AIDS) to contract it. It is currently incurable, and once you get it, if you’re lucky and have health insurance, you can manage to live a relatively long life with it–but only by taking oodles and oodles of cocktail drugs which help keep full-blown AIDS at-bay. If you can’t afford the drugs, you’re screwed.
All donations raised for the MN AIDS Walk go to the MN AIDS Project, which administers programs that help prevent new infections, and help people already living with HIV/AIDS cope. So, if you can spare a few dollars (or more!), and want to help me raise money for the MN AIDS Project, head over to my personal MN AIDS Walk page and click “Donate Now!”
Thank you for reading, and for your generous donations. :)
