AIDS Walk Goal Met… Walking As a Lemon
September 28, 2009
Check out the thermometer below- Gwenn and I met our goal of raising $2000! Thanks to everyone who donated to the AIDS Walk DC, which is this Saturday. Of course, the fundraising isn’t over yet- Team Supersnack never stops, and is currently #2, trailing only behind the great Whitman-Walker Clinic themselves.
One of the ways our team have decided to get motivated- and motivate sponsors- was to challenge ourselves to do something extra stupid this year. We have Sara Bunting of Tomato Nation walking in her famed tomato get up, which inspired Nathan “Remember Me, Kenneth?” Cotter to go as a ketchup bottle. Gwenn has encouraged the pageant and non-pageant on our team to go in evening wear, coming out of retirement for the 10-year anniversary of her reign as Miss Powhatan.
But I had nothing…
As we neared our goal, I got lazier- why challenge myself? Then I realized I won a Courage Award dammit, and I was exhibiting anything but courage in not accepting the Supersnack Challenge ‘09. So, I will be walking….
As a lemon.
But not just any lemon! I will be walking as LemonAIDS! Because, when God gives you AIDS, you make lemonAIDS. Why? Because really, what other choice do you have?
So, Team Supersnack marches on. This will prove to be our motliest year yet, and the fundraising isn’t over: for every donation Gwenn and I get this week we’ll be entered into a Supersnack lottery to get a matching donation. So a $5 donation could turn out to be a $10, $20 or even a $50 donation in the end.
The math geeks are handling the logistics.
I just know the deal is awesome.
Thanks again to all who have supported us, financially, in spirit or just with a “keep up the great work”.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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I’m In The Washington Post Today
September 24, 2009
I disappeared from the blog for a few days for a much-needed writing excursion, spending four days away from home and focusing on fixing the
project I shall never blog about because I care about having readers of the blog.
(Hint- the project is the second book that, yes, I’ve said I’ve finished several
times already.)
But that’s boring.
What’s interesting about today is that I’m in the Washington Post! Thanks to the AIDS Walk DC folks, who awarded me with their annual Courage Award, which goes to someone living with HIV. I’m honored to represent the positoids this year, and promise not to make a huge ass of myself at the AIDS Walk.
To read the Post article, entitled “HIV-Positive Blogger Aims To Inspire and Spread Hope”, go here: Washington Post Article. It’s not every day when a lazy blogger can sit back and let the Post do their heavy lifting!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Remember It Now Beta Trials
September 18, 2009
I was recently contacted by Alex, who has become my most faithful blog commenter (thanks, Alex!), about passing along an offer to join their beta trial for a service that is intended to make life for positoids a lot easier.
If you are interested in participating in their free trial, learn about Remember It Now by going here.
Here’s a bit from the site:
“Our simple to use, personal health care management service is available online. There is no software to download, or upgrades to manage.
We’ll help you remember to take your medications, create a care community, get organized, provide long-distance care, and much more.
Our software is designed to be simple to use and to make your life easier. We believe you should spend more time doing the things you enjoy, and less time worrying about taking medications, remembering appointments, tracking prescriptions, reordering supplies and scheduling care.”
I thought it sounded like a cool thing- I was supposed to write about this offer a week ago. But, well, I forgot!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Ethan Zohn, A Better Man
September 18, 2009
Friend and HIV/AIDS advocate Ethan Zohn was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, and just got some bad news that the cancer has returned. He’ll be starting on a new round of intensive stem cell treatment…
I’d blogged about him recently, he’s such an ally to the community and just a very cool guy. Not many people would win a million dollars on Survivor and then turn around and start a foundation to prevent the spread of HIV in Africa with the money. When he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease, he went public with what that meant, and encouraged others to pick up on the warning signs… once again advocating only, sadly, this time from a first person account.
For this, and many reasons, Ethan Zohn has been nominated for GQ’s Better Man award. All the nominees have done great stuff, really. But Ethan’s my guy. I hope you consider voting for him, and please keep him in your thoughts.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Team Supersnack Cracks the Top 5!
September 15, 2009
I may have fallen out of the Top 5 individual fundraisers (for now!), but my Team, Supersnack, has shot into the Top 5 with a bullet. Currently, we are at Number 3! Very cool news…
So, I’m inspired to put some fundraising incentives out there. The next person to donate $50 (or more) to Gwenn and I gets a Dragon*Condom! Bob G, you donated twice, so if you want one just say the word buddy.
Last night, Gwenn and I attended a fund raising dinner at Orzo, a very nice restaurant here in Charlottesville that is co-owned by one of our favorite local baristas, Katie, pictured below. Her husband, Charles, made some excellent pasta, and there was also a silent auction, wine and appetizers.
Two hours of awesomeness.
I’d had a couple of glasses when it came time for me to speak about the Ryan White Clinic, where I get my medical care. My doctor also spoke. I credited him in particular for helping me regain my health a decade ago when I first met him, t-cells falling out of my pocket on the way into the office. (I had 38, I believe.) The main objective of the fundraiser was to raise money for gas cards to be used by people who travel a great distance to get to the Ryan White Clinic, and to also support a camp for people who are affected by HIV. Fellow Team Supersnacker and current Miss Virginia, Caressa Cameron, was also there to help raise money!
I found out that Orzo also donates 10% of their revenue on every Tuesday in December to the Ryan White Clinic. As that draws nearer, I’ll remind all you townies. So thanks again to Orzo, and Katie for being a Decker’s Daily favorite over at Calvino Cafe!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
PS… remember, all through September all $5 donations to Decker’s Daily go to the AIDS Walk Washington DC! ($15 total thus far- thanks to Dragon*Condom Queen Nina, and sexual assault awareness duo Kelly and Becca (pictured below, click to check out their site and learn more about what they do when they’re not sponsoring their mooch friends for coffee.)
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The Story of the Dragon*Condom
September 11, 2009
The primary mission was always clear at Dragon*Con- get as many people to Bella Morte’s show and merch table as possible! Gwenn and I helped organize a Bella Morte “Zombie March” on the *Con before the show, with signs and tons of cool folks who volunteered to chant things like- “What do we want?” “BRAAAAAAINS!” “When do we want them?” “…. BRAAAAAINS!”
But a secondary mission revealed itself…
When Gwenn and I did that internet radio interview with Poz I Am last month a young positoid named Nina Martinez called in. Nina is an educator and, like me, found out she was positive as a kid. She lives in Atlanta, and somehow Dragon*Con came up during the conversation. I made a joke about making Dragon*Condoms to hand out at the conference.
As it happened, the National Conference on HIV Prevention was two weeks earlier. Nina went, scooped up some condoms, and painstakingly made 200 boxes, each one stamped with a dragon symbol and a sticker on the bottom which read: “Dragon*Condoms: Shawn Tested, Gwenn Approved!”
Friday night, Nina delivered the box of Dragon*Condoms to the hotel where Bella Morte were stationed. The Zombie Parade had just concluded, and there was an hour or so before Bella Morte’s set. To get from the merch table to where Bella Morte were performing, you had to walk through one hotel, cross a street and enter another giant hotel…
It’s a good hike, I figured we could give out a few condoms along the way. My friend, Katie, carried the box and I grabbed a Bella Morte sign, calling out, “Get your Dragon*Condoms!” and telling people the band was about to play.
Now, I don’t do a lot of condom hand-outs to strangers, but I was surprised by the positive response. People loved the design, as well as the opportunity to get free condoms. “Can I take one for my friend? She’d love this!” By the time Bella Morte went into their first song, my inner geek, as well as my inner educator, had been satiated.
The next day, I met Nina for coffee and as it turned out we had more than our HIV status in common. She, too, is a geek, and had spent her Saturday morning at the Con marching in the Dragon*Con Parade as part of the Periodic Table of Elements. She was platinum or, more creatively, “Platinum Blonde”. Here we are enjoying a Decker’s Daily together.
Nina wouldn’t let me sponsor her for all the hard work in putting those condoms together. “It’s Decker’s Daily,” she argued. Someone start Nina’s Daily, she’s earned it.
In so many ways Dragon*Con was a success. I didn’t expect HIV advocacy to follow me to Atlanta, and missed out on the National HIV Prevention conference that had just happened.
But thanks to Nina, I got to show folks that, no matter what you are dressed up or who you are pretending to be for the weekend, the condom is best addition to any outfit. And keeping people dressed up as the dead- and not threatening their own lives with unsafe behavior, is a reality we can all live with.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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The Wrath of *Con Crud
September 9, 2009
Two years ago after Dragon*Con there was a steady stream of internet messages about “Con Crud”. Basically, Con*Crud was series of colds that were passed around, merely because of the fact that over 15,000 people were in close quarters for three days.
This year was different- *Con Crud happened preemptively.
At least it did for Gwenn.
We were all set to leave town on Thursday afternoon, and around midnight on Wednesday we were up at our friend Andy’s (lead singer of Bella Morte, the band whom Gwenn manages and we were going to Dragon*Con to help out). We put some extra boxes of merch in our car so the band would be able to fit all of their instruments in the van… which was leaving town at 7 am.
At around 8 am- an hour after the band left town- Gwenn woke up sick. I won’t go into graphic detail, but I will say that the trip for her was in serious jeopardy. She said she didn’t need to go to the hospital, but I wasn’t quite so sure. She went back to sleep, and stayed in bed past our original departure time, which was totally fine. The problem for me was two-fold- I wanted to help Gwenn feel better, but I also had a car being packed with Bella Morte paraphernalia, as well as a friend who was going to be riding to Atlanta with us.
It was one of those terrible situations. What to do?
We decided to push our departure time back so that Gwenn could get some more rest and assess how she felt afterwards. I knew that a few friends could stay with her if need be, and that I could drive to Atlanta, drop off the stuff, then drive back on Friday. At the last moment, Gwenn decided to go- she felt a little bit better and hated my plan, which involved 16-hours of driving in a little over a day.
Few things in life suck worse than traveling when you are sick. On the drive down, Gwenn slept for a few more hours. Then after we dumped the merch off at the hotel where Bella Morte were stationed, we went back to our own hotel and she got a nice chunk of sleep; to my relief she woke up more refreshed and had an appetite again- albeit a small one. Andy was happy to see some more natural color on her face after the long night’s rest, too, and admitted that she looked a little green after the 8-hour drive from Virginia.
Of all the superhero costumes I saw over the weekend, none of them compared to the hero move Gwenn pulled in getting to Atlanta. I’ll be posting pictures from the trip, in which many people are dressed up as their favorite fictional heroes from various sci-fi movies and comic books. But I felt like, before doing so, I had to share a story about my favorite real-life super hero of all-time.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Down, But Not Out
September 8, 2009
So the trip to Dragon*Con -which I’ll be blogging about more tomorrow- cost me my Top 5 spot in the AIDS Walk Washington DC standings. Since I wasn’t out there hustling for donations, some other guy came in and knocked me out of the top five by about $300…
I’m not sure how far I’ve fallen, since they don’t list the ranks outside of the big Top 5, an elite club to which I no longer belong. What I do know is that this stings. Almost as bad as being told I had HIV at the tender age of 11. Being “kicked out” of the Top 5 feels like being kicked out of school for having HIV all over again.
If that moves you, donate $5 and help me climb back up to where I belong, in the Top 5.
To remember the good times on top, I’ve been staring at this screen shot I took last week. For the purpose of the blog and your viewing pleasure I have enhanced the image in Photoshop with Outer Glow (my favorite effect) and that happy day of coffee when I learned Gwenn and I were Top 5…
No, no, I haven’t given up. I’m going to rise again!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Ranked #5 in AIDS (Non)Apathy Walk!
September 3, 2009
In the last few days Gwenn and I have become the #5 fundraiser for the entire AIDS Walk DC. For reals! I am beyond humbled by the response to the last blog entry, which I was hoping would get at least a hundred dollars in donations: instead, we got close to $500.
Wow. Just look at how much the blood tube has risen! It’s a beautiful sight. (I left a shadow effect so you can see where it was before this week.)
The money raised between now and October 3 will help out my fellow positoids in a huge way. Thanks to Gabi, Allison, Bob, Shari, Becca, Jennifer and Kevin for your donations. In addition to a generous donation, Jennifer also sent along this video to inspire the fight to raise even more money, to rise higher in the ranks… she also thought a Team Supersnack remix of this video would be fun.
This video is great because it isn’t the confidant Rocky we’re used to seeing in the ring. This is thinking-about-serious-shit-while-driving Rocky. That’s how I kind of felt when I posted the last blog entry. No, I hadn’t just witnessed my best friend being bludgeoned to death by a Russian hopped up on roids, but I was concerned about whether I still had the goods after last year… after beating Kenneth Cole (Clubber Lang)…
Like Rocky, I’m getting in my own car for a long drive tomorrow to Atlanta for Dragon*Con, an incredible sci-fi geek heaven conference. I’m going to have fun and support my friends in Bella Morte. I’ll be posting awesome pictures and updates on my Twitter account and Facebook, so drop in there for mini-updates.
Have a great Labor Day weekend.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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