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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-12-02, Page 8Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - Page 7 Opinion HIV/AIDS not just a metropolitan problem To the Editor; When you think about HIV (Human im- munodeficiency virus) and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), do you be- lieve it only lives in places such as Toronto, Vancouver and other metropolitan areas? If you do, you are not alone. The reality is: HIV affects many commu- nities, both urban and rural and HIV lives in Huron County. In fact, the rate of infec- tion for rural areas, Huron specifically, is on the increase. Eighty per cent of all the HIV positive results completed at the London Options Clinic in 2007 were from Huron County. In Canada, every two hours, there is a new HIV infection. Thirty per cent of the population do not know they are HIV positive. Since 2002, in Ontario there has been a 60 per cent increase in heterosexual trans- mission of HIV and women and youth continue to experience the highest rates of infection in all communities. Education and awareness about HTV is important for anyone who is sexually active, experiment- ing with drugs or contemplating a tattoo or piercings. As the Executive Director for the Huron County HIV/AIDS Network, many people I speak with are curious about Huron spe- cific data such as rates of infection, how many people in Huron are actually living with HIV/AIDS etc.? These are challeng- ing questions to answer since not everyone living with HIV in Huron seeks HIV spe- cific services. People living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) struggle in smaller communities with a lack of privacy. Oftentimes people in smaller, rural towns have personal connections to those who may be . providing them with health care services. this has implications for an individual's confidentiality. Seeking information about a highly - stigmatized medical condition such as HIV and remaining anonymous becomes dif- ficult in a smaller community. The term AIDS-related stigma refers to the prejudice Redemption Tennis legend Andre Agassi has just written his autobiography in which he reveals a lot of personal incidents most people would rather see buried and for- gotten. In his memoir, Open he admits to using illegal drugs like crystal meth and lying to the World Anti -Doping Agency after failing a drug test (Unlike so many sports confessors before him, he does not admit to using Roger Cle- mens' butt as a dart board for steroid injections.) I was wondering why Andre Agassi would make public such a personal failing until I noticed the $5 million advance he got for the book as well as the telling words of his public relations rep. "It fits in with the story arc of his re- demption," said Gene Grabowski, an expert of spin. You see it's no longer enough for a famous person to tell his or her story (in the case of Chastity Bono that's first her and now his life story) without sin, scandal and immoral behaviour for which you seek the reader's forgive- ness. And of course the reader forgives famous people because... they're fa- mous! (What is there, an echo in this column?) So tennis legend Andre Agassi ad- mits to heavy drug abuse and in her book High On Arrival, Mackenzie Phil- lips fesses up to a ten-year incestuous relationship with her father John Phil- lips of Mamas and Papas fame (In the io► and discrimination directed at people living with HIV/AIDS because of the communi- ties with which people assume they may be associated. As a result, PHAs may experi- ence rejection from their home community, be shunned or discriminated against. Each year on Dec. 1, millions of people throughout the world commemorate world HIV/AIDS Day. World Aids Day raises awareness of HIV and AIDS. The Huron County HIV/AIDS Network has a key role to play in education for HIV prevention and advocacy for universal treatment, care and support. Local secondary school students have been invited to participate in a poster or poem contest to show their knowledge of HIV in Huron County. The finished work was displayed at the Suncoast Mall in God- erich, Nov. 27 -Dec. 1. It is also be available for viewing at youthspark.ca- a web site for youth created through the Huron County Health Unit. If you have questions about HIV/AIDS, the Huron County HIV/AIDS network or would like information about how to vol- unteer with HCHAN — pleas contact Sandy Garnet, Executive Director at 519-482- 1141, email hchan@cabletv.on.ca or check the website at hchan.ca. Sincerely Sandy Garnet Submissions to getter to the Editor must dude fug name, address and phone number of sender for v!on purposes. Letters should be 500 words or less and The Signal -Star reserves the right to eat for length and clarity Address letters to Goderich Sim -Star, Box 220, 120,Hudcins St, Goderich, N7A 4B5 Or, e g.st.coss or via fax at 519-524-5145. A memoir, mv life storj tobacco growing areas of West Virginia the title of Macken- zie's book has been changed to Roll Your Own.) Look for David Letterman's mea coulpe memoir in book- stores by the fall. Letterman will officially ask America's forgiveness for offering some of his female employees a highly unusual advancement plan. The arc of redemption — first the sin and then the saviour. In the beginning establish wicked ways until — and the book advance has to be at least seven figures — you offer up your deliverance from evil in the third act. First you stray and they you pray, from sin to win and back again under the golden arc. From transgression to absolution — it's the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift — HAL- LELUJAH! Believe me, if stupidity is a redeem- able sin, Sarah Palin's new book will outsell the Bible. In a totally unrelated publishing event my own autobiography will be released in the spring detailing what few high- lights I can remember from a rather drab and uneventful life. The title? ROCKY ROAD AND NO, I'M NOT TALKIN' ICE CREAM — ONE MAN'S JOURNEY FROM VICE TO VINDI- CATION DURING LOVE IN THE All the World's A Circus... TIME OF SWINE FLU AND ATONEMENT. Catchy, huh? My story, sorry , the over- arching narrative of my wick- ed, wicked ways began along time ago when I kidnapped the Lindberg baby. Who knows why men commit such heinous crimes but remember I was a heroin addict at the time. And an orphan. I needed somebody, anybody and there was this famous kid of this fa- mous aviator. Anyway, in my drug -addled state of mind — I was doing opium by them — I tried to sell the Lindberg baby to Amelia Earhart, thinking that if she was unsuccessful in her attempt to fly solo around the world she'd at least be consoled by having a famous aviator's child. When Amelia turned the deal down I showed great forgiveness by giving her a set of aviation maps in which I had switched the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. I'm told she used My maps on her around -the -world flight and has never been heard of since. "I've never been sorrier in my life than for this transgression," I say in the book to Marilyn Monroe, with whom I had a brief affair. I'll always remember that sex - charged night at the Watergate Hotel in Washington. Suddenly there was a great commotion — glass breaking, banging on the walls, screaming and moaning. It sounded like a break-in. Turns out Mackenzie Phillips and her father were staying in the room next to us. I wrote Marilyn a poem that night and when I was handcuffed by J. Edgar Hoover and escorted out of our room — wait, I think I was already handcuffed when he arrived — anyway, I realized I was being used as "beard" for Presi- dent Kennedy. And I lost the poem in the chaos. It went like this: "Now I've heard there was a secret chord. That David played, and it pleased the Lord. But you don't really care for tuba music, do you?" Yes I'll never forget that night at the Watergate — I wore boxers, Mari- lyn wore baby doll pajamas and J. Ed- gar Hoover had this cherry red chif- fon gown that went all the way to the floor. I heard later that Leonard Cohen found my poem and turned it into a hit song. But I forgave him just as I for- gave Forest Gump for stealing my story arc of redeemable and historical events. I'm hoping Andre Agassi whom I sold heavy drugs to in the 90's will write the forward to my book. For the real reason I called in sick when I was a security guard at Logan Airport in Boston on the morning of 9 /11 you'll have to buy the book. Hello Oprah. Hallelujah. I am the "Redemp- tion Guy."