My Journey with AIDS

Requiem for an old, neglected Empress

The Yonge-Downtown BIA, which sees the value of heritage buldings, is framed wth sad irony as water is poured on the former Empress Hotel today. Oh, your Highness, The Empress Hotel, I didn’t know you, not even your successor The Edison....

Published Mon, Jan 03 2011 5:32 PM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: activism, politics, Toronto, architecture, Empress Hotel

Engaging more in my mental health care

The mass shootings in Tucson, and the evolving picture of the mentally deranged man being held responsible, continue to both intrigue and inform me. I eagerly watched three of the Sunday morning news shows: NBC’s “Meet the Press”, ABC’s “This Week”...

Published Sun, Jan 16 2011 8:44 PM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: media, mental illness, bipolar, bipolar II, stigma, Tucson shootings

There’s enough insanity to go around

Even some of my best friends…can be described as having, at least, a nodding acquaintance with mental illness. While, as far as I know, a police check would not flag me as mentally ill, I probably owe that more to the fact that my only direct personal...

Published Sun, Jan 09 2011 1:21 PM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: mental illness, politics, bipolar II, stigma, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), Gabrielle Giffords, Tucson Arizona shootings, Feministe, Vaughan Bell, Jared Lee Loughner, brain trauma, Slate, Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic

The mystique of Montréal’s magnolias

Have I mentioned that I love magnolias…and Montréal? One of my favourite spring walks around Toronto is in search of the beautiful flowering tree and, with Montréal on my itinerary every May, there are wonderful opportunities to see magnolias at...

Published Sat, May 12 2012 10:42 AM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: photography

My 3 entries in “Touched By Fire” 2012

I’ve just entered three photographs in Touched By Fire, a non-profit program “to celebrate, support, and inspire the work of artists with mood disorders such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. An initiative of the Mood Disorders...

Published Thu, Sep 06 2012 4:49 PM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: autobiography, photography, mental health, bipolar II

Sarah Palin has a tough week on the “Going Rogue” book tour Colbert, Letterman, Conan, Ferguson, Fallon & Kimmel have great fun at Sarah Palin’s expense (thanks to MSNBC’s Countdown for the montage). Afterwards, fans converge...

Published Sat, Nov 21 2009 10:19 AM by My journey with AIDS

Filed under: Uncategorized

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day

Tomorrow, December 1, is World AIDS Day. Let us remember that HIV/AIDS remains an issue the world over 364 other days of the year. Promising treatments have extended the survival of people in the wealthiest nations of the world but, where available, are...

Published Mon, Nov 30 2009 7:19 AM by My journey with AIDS

Filed under: activism, AIDS and HIV, politics, human rights, social justice, Planet Earth has AIDS, YouTube, World AIDS Day, Ev'ry Time We Say Good-bye, Annie Lennox

The moments that made Canada believe (before Sunday)

The moments that made Canada believe (a montage played on CTV in the hours before the gold medal hockey game. Read More...

Published Sun, Feb 28 2010 1:21 PM by My journey with AIDS

Filed under: media, youth, 2010 Winter Olympics, Team Canada Winter Olympics 2010

Beaten senseless, Windsor man adds his story to the archives of insane gay-bashings

I’m angry, I’m sad, angry, sad, angry, sad… The Windsor Star’s account includes a video of the young victim, who clearly understands the value of personal story-telling, holding a press conference to describe the beating he endured and...

Published Sun, May 23 2010 4:58 AM by My journey with AIDS

Filed under: activism, politics, sexual orientation, homosexuality, social conservatives, gay-bashing, Chris Rabideau

Ambulance chasers aside, World AIDS Day provides an important focus

By “ambulance chasers” I mean media who wish they could report on the illness, the meds, a cure and some drama all in about 52 seconds. And they try. This year, rather than run to the annual UNAIDS report on HIV prevalence (good news and bad...

Published Wed, Dec 01 2010 6:32 PM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: grief, writing, autobiography, AIDS and HIV, photography, World AIDS Day, Toronto

December 6, 1989 – Université de Montréal’s École Polytechnique

Fourteen women…killed en masse because they were women Geneviève Bergeron, 21, was a second year scholarship student in civil engineering. Hélène Colgan, 23, was in her final year of mechanical engineering and planned to pursue her master’s...

Published Sun, Dec 05 2010 9:57 PM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: grief, activism, Montréal, gender, Dec. 6

Montréal’s former Lachine Canal now a real gem

Lachine Canal looking east towards Montréal’s Vieux-Port Originally uploaded by Kenn Chaplin One of the areas of Montréal which, until this most recent trip, I had not explored is the ever-evolving lands adjacent to the former Lachine Canal. The...

Published Sun, May 16 2010 5:28 AM by My journey with AIDS

Filed under: photography, Québec, Montréal

Easy Does It

It was not for lack of Vitamin D, absorbed during a short photography walk yesterday, that I awoke before dawn today coming out of an unusually coherent dream and gasping for breath. I knew my blood glucose had crashed; no need to waste a test strip on...

Published Wed, Apr 21 2010 7:56 AM by My journey with AIDS

Filed under: autobiography, personal journal, AIDS and HIV, photography, type-II diabetes, hypoglycemia

PM Harper’s New Year’s Toast to Canadians

Stephen Harper has shaken a bottle of champagne sparkling cider, held it against the collective ass of Canadians, and let the cork fly into our nether regions with a monotone “Bonne année Canada, happy new year Canada.” At this time last year Canadians...

Published Sun, Jan 02 2011 10:00 AM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: activism, AIDS and HIV, politics, Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime, Conservatives, Stephen Harper, Peter Milliken, Tony Clement, Carolyn Bennett

What to call this: P.C. f#@$s denial?

This story from Xtra! Vancouver infuriates me. AIDS groups remove ‘AIDS’ from their names. If “AIDS” still carries too much stigma, which it does, that is what to work on, not re-branding! I responded with this: It’s behaviour...

Published Mon, Jan 31 2011 7:37 PM by My journey with AIDS...and more!

Filed under: activism, AIDS and HIV, politics, stigma, public health

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