Straight, Christian Woman Dancing At A Gay Bar

My friend Kathy does it again, putting some excellent, simple perspective on the basic and honest living of life.

Keep dancin’….

Beatification of Pope John Paul II

The only Pope I ever met, served Mass for- and who touched my face more than once, is now being moved closer to sainthood– with the current Pope’s gratitude for his predecessor doing most of the heavy lifting in the past 40 years, apparently.

I really liked the man personally, and found him to be very kind and genuine in every encounter we had (hence the photo- I love that he was playful). Being a liberal, I would have liked him to be more like myself, but don’t we all want that?

But, more to the point, this beatification is an excellent sleight of hand- especially with the church fighting for survival in so many places. John Paul’s popularity and personal charisma is such a stark contrast to the man in the chair now, that I can’t help but think this will backfire.

Maybe it’s the fight that’s the problem. The church always did have a weakness for warlike metaphor….

On the HIV vaccine front:

Jan14 by D Gregory Smith

Science Daily is reporting that research is promising in the early development of anti-HIV neutralizing antibodies- which means good news on the HIV vaccine front. Excerpt:

…a major stumbling block in the development of an effective vaccine against HIV is the inability to elicit, by immunization, broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). These antibodies bind to the surface of HIV and prevent it from attaching itself to a cell and infecting it. However, a fraction of people infected with HIV develop broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) capable of preventing cell-infection by diverse HIV isolates, which are the type of antibodies researchers wish to elicit by vaccination.

The full article here.

The Experiment

Jan14 by D Gregory Smith

During my sojourn in Seattle, I took only my iPad (well, along with clothes and toothpaste). In part, I wanted to see if I could do most everything with it, instead of lugging my MacBook, my Kindle, and my iPad.

The short answer is no.

I couldn’t update my blog very easily, and I certainly couldn’t do email and responding to facebook posts with the ease with which I was accustomed. So, there’s the explanation for the silence. I’ll be getting a few good things together this weekend.

By the way, all but one of my blood tests are back- and it looks like I passed…. 🙂

It’s never just HIV

Jan3 by D Gregory Smith

For people with HIV, medical care is about knowledge, self-advocacy and creating a meaningful relationship with your medical provider. We have to know our risks, talk to our doctors and do some work. People who are not practicing safe sex also need to know it’s not just about HIV- there are increased risks of disease across the board if a person has HIV.

An excellent reminder from Sean Strub’s blog at POZ.com.

When you get HIV, it’s never just HIV. You’re at a higher risk for dozens of diseases even if you take medications, diseases like osteoporosis, dementia, and anal cancer.

There are a lot of issues to be aware of if you or someone you love is HIV+. Do yourself and/or your HIV+ friends a favor and go to Sean’s blog and read the pos t.

Now.