Podcasts about aids crisis

Pride Month is a time to celebrate accomplishments of LGBTQ+ individuals, and commemorate the ongoing fight for the whole community to gain equality and justice. It's also a time to remember and honor those we've lost. That includes the millions of people that have died of AIDS-related illness.That's the aim of the Peabody award winning documentary project, ‘When We All Get To Heaven.' With archival tape it tells the story of one of the first gay-positive churches, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco during the height of the AIDS crisis in the 80s and 90s. The 10 episode series brings to life a community facing personal, social, and political trials, including the deaths of hundreds of its members. It premiered in October 2025. And KALWs Crosscurrents host Hana Baba spoke with the host and co-creator of the series Lynne Gerber. 

The claim that real change is enabled by grassroots, community-based movements might seem a distant ideal, but Dr Geraldine Fela shows such assertions are far from hypothetical. Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis (UNSW Press, 2024) shows that grassroots movements were what made Australia's response to the AIDS epidemic better than elsewhere. HIV and AIDS devastated communities across Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. In the midst of this profound health crisis, nurses provided crucial care to those living with and dying from the virus. They negotiated homophobia and complex family dynamics as well as defending the rights of their patients. Bringing together stories from across the country, historian Geraldine Fela documents the extraordinary care, compassion and solidarity shown by HIV and AIDS nurses. Critical Care unearths the important and unexamined history of nurses and nursing unions as caregivers and political agents who helped shape Australia's response to HIV and AIDS. In addition to this NBN interview Geraldine Fela has a podcast episode on the ABC Rewind series, 'Blood Prejudice and Nursing' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The claim that real change is enabled by grassroots, community-based movements might seem a distant ideal, but Dr Geraldine Fela shows such assertions are far from hypothetical. Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis (UNSW Press, 2024) shows that grassroots movements were what made Australia's response to the AIDS epidemic better than elsewhere. HIV and AIDS devastated communities across Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. In the midst of this profound health crisis, nurses provided crucial care to those living with and dying from the virus. They negotiated homophobia and complex family dynamics as well as defending the rights of their patients. Bringing together stories from across the country, historian Geraldine Fela documents the extraordinary care, compassion and solidarity shown by HIV and AIDS nurses. Critical Care unearths the important and unexamined history of nurses and nursing unions as caregivers and political agents who helped shape Australia's response to HIV and AIDS. In addition to this NBN interview Geraldine Fela has a podcast episode on the ABC Rewind series, 'Blood Prejudice and Nursing' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/medicine

The claim that real change is enabled by grassroots, community-based movements might seem a distant ideal, but Dr Geraldine Fela shows such assertions are far from hypothetical. Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis (UNSW Press, 2024) shows that grassroots movements were what made Australia's response to the AIDS epidemic better than elsewhere. HIV and AIDS devastated communities across Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. In the midst of this profound health crisis, nurses provided crucial care to those living with and dying from the virus. They negotiated homophobia and complex family dynamics as well as defending the rights of their patients. Bringing together stories from across the country, historian Geraldine Fela documents the extraordinary care, compassion and solidarity shown by HIV and AIDS nurses. Critical Care unearths the important and unexamined history of nurses and nursing unions as caregivers and political agents who helped shape Australia's response to HIV and AIDS. In addition to this NBN interview Geraldine Fela has a podcast episode on the ABC Rewind series, 'Blood Prejudice and Nursing' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/lgbtq-studies

The claim that real change is enabled by grassroots, community-based movements might seem a distant ideal, but Dr Geraldine Fela shows such assertions are far from hypothetical. Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis (UNSW Press, 2024) shows that grassroots movements were what made Australia's response to the AIDS epidemic better than elsewhere. HIV and AIDS devastated communities across Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. In the midst of this profound health crisis, nurses provided crucial care to those living with and dying from the virus. They negotiated homophobia and complex family dynamics as well as defending the rights of their patients. Bringing together stories from across the country, historian Geraldine Fela documents the extraordinary care, compassion and solidarity shown by HIV and AIDS nurses. Critical Care unearths the important and unexamined history of nurses and nursing unions as caregivers and political agents who helped shape Australia's response to HIV and AIDS. In addition to this NBN interview Geraldine Fela has a podcast episode on the ABC Rewind series, 'Blood Prejudice and Nursing' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The claim that real change is enabled by grassroots, community-based movements might seem a distant ideal, but Dr Geraldine Fela shows such assertions are far from hypothetical. Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis (UNSW Press, 2024) shows that grassroots movements were what made Australia's response to the AIDS epidemic better than elsewhere. HIV and AIDS devastated communities across Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. In the midst of this profound health crisis, nurses provided crucial care to those living with and dying from the virus. They negotiated homophobia and complex family dynamics as well as defending the rights of their patients. Bringing together stories from across the country, historian Geraldine Fela documents the extraordinary care, compassion and solidarity shown by HIV and AIDS nurses. Critical Care unearths the important and unexamined history of nurses and nursing unions as caregivers and political agents who helped shape Australia's response to HIV and AIDS. In addition to this NBN interview Geraldine Fela has a podcast episode on the ABC Rewind series, 'Blood Prejudice and Nursing' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

The claim that real change is enabled by grassroots, community-based movements might seem a distant ideal, but Dr Geraldine Fela shows such assertions are far from hypothetical. Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis (UNSW Press, 2024) shows that grassroots movements were what made Australia's response to the AIDS epidemic better than elsewhere. HIV and AIDS devastated communities across Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. In the midst of this profound health crisis, nurses provided crucial care to those living with and dying from the virus. They negotiated homophobia and complex family dynamics as well as defending the rights of their patients. Bringing together stories from across the country, historian Geraldine Fela documents the extraordinary care, compassion and solidarity shown by HIV and AIDS nurses. Critical Care unearths the important and unexamined history of nurses and nursing unions as caregivers and political agents who helped shape Australia's response to HIV and AIDS. In addition to this NBN interview Geraldine Fela has a podcast episode on the ABC Rewind series, 'Blood Prejudice and Nursing' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies

Jonathan Tepper joins Frank Schaeffer to discuss his memoir Shooting Up: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Addiction.The conversation explores growing up in Madrid during the AIDS crisis, missionary life among heroin addicts, the loss of Jonathan's younger brother, literature, homeschooling, faith, suffering, and the role empathy plays in shaping human life.Frank and Jonathan also reflect on Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, prayer, grief, and the troubling loss of compassion inside modern American evangelical politics._____LINKShttps://jonathan-tepper.comShooting Up: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Addiction_____I have had the pleasure of talking to some of the leading authors, artists, activists, and change-makers of our time on this podcast, and I want to personally thank you for subscribing, listening, and sharing 100-plus episodes over 100,000 times.Please subscribe to this Podcast, In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer, on your favorite platform, and to my Substack, It Has to Be Said. Thanks! Every subscription helps create, build, sustain and put voice to this movement for truth. Subscribe to It Has to Be Said. The Gospel of Zip will be released in print and on Amazon Kindle, and as a full video on YouTube and Substack that you can watch or listen to for free.Support the show_____In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer is a production of the George Bailey Morality in Public Life Fellowship. It is hosted by Frank Schaeffer, author of The Gospel of Zip.Learn more at https://www.thegospelofzip.com/Follow Frank on Substack, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and YouTube.https://frankschaeffer.substack.comhttps://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16https://twitter.com/Frank_Schaefferhttps://www.instagram.com/frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.threads.net/@frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.tiktok.com/@frank_schaefferhttps://www.youtube.com/c/FrankSchaefferYouTubeIn Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer Podcast

Peter Hujar's career flew mostly under the radar during his lifetime. Active from the 1950s through 1980s, his work straddled the bohemian, creative worlds of downtown New York City. After acquiring an extensive archive, The Morgan Library & Museum has been bringing this work to a wider audience. I talk with curator Joel Smith about Peter Hujar's life and work and the upcoming exhibition "Hujar: Contact."Links:Hujar: Contact exhibition at The Morgan"Peter Hujar's Day" filmThe Peter Hujar archive

Dr. Paul Benson is the founder, owner, and Medical Director of Be Well Medical Center in Berkley, Michigan, a family medicine practice established 45 years ago. He is proud to share he was the first LGBTQ physician to open a medical practice in Metro Detroit, creating a safe, affirming space for patients of all backgrounds, especially those too often overlooked or mistreated in healthcare. While he did not set out to become an HIV specialist, the timing of opening his practice in 1980 placed him at the very beginning of the AIDS epidemic, when fear and stigma kept many providers from treating gay men. What began with caring for friends quickly grew into a trusted medical home for LGBTQ patients and a lifelong commitment to HIV medicine and advocacy.In this candid conversation, Dr. Benson and Dr. Joe Kort reflect on the early years of the epidemic, the loneliness many patients endured, and the enormous changes that arrived as treatments evolved and prevention became possible. Dr. Benson explains why HIV care is an intellectual challenge, not just medically, but emotionally and psychologically, because great care requires seeing the whole person, including mental health. They also discuss today's realities. PrEP is highly effective, but many people who could benefit from it still are not using it consistently. Dr. Benson shares optimism about long acting injectable prevention options and the future of cure research, and he gives a clear, reassuring answer to a question Joe hears often. If someone is not having intercourse, do they need PrEP or other HIV prevention medications? His answer is no.The episode also dives into gender affirming care and what responsible, ethical transgender healthcare actually looks like in a primary care setting. Dr. Benson talks about his decades of experience providing hormone therapy, why careful lab monitoring matters, the risks of using higher than recommended dosing, and his measured approach to puberty blockers and surgical interventions for adolescents. He closes with a message he wants every listener to hear. Mental health is a vital part of total healthcare, and patients deserve a strong support team, including providers who collaborate and patients who advocate for themselves, and who cancel appointments when they cannot make them.Listen to this Smart Sex, Smart Love episode as Dr. Joe Kort talks with Dr. Paul Benson about LGBTQ affirming primary care, the evolution of HIV treatment and prevention, the reality behind transgender medicine, and why mental health support belongs in every healthcare plan.Support the show

All month, KALW's Queer Power Hour will be airing a special series called ‘When We All Get To Heaven.' With archival tape it tells the story of one of the first gay-positive churches, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco during the height of the AIDS crisis in the 80s and 90s.The series brings to life a community facing personal, social, and political trials, including the deaths of hundreds of its members. It's hosted by Lynne Gerber. Here's Lynne speaking with Crosscurrents host, Hana Baba.

This year, for the first time since it was established in 1988, the U.S. did not commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1. That's despite more than 630,000 deaths from HIV-related illnesses in 2024, according to the World Health Organization. This week, we're traveling back in time, to visit a queer church that provided refuge and support to San Francisco's gay community during the height of the AIDS crisis. We're bringing you the first episode of a new podcast called We All Get To Heaven, which draws on sound from 1,200 cassette tapes – recordings of songs, memorials, and sermons from the Metropolitan Community Church.  It brings to life voices of loss, and of faith, of people who refused to abandon their spirituality or their queerness, and who built a community that could hold both. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our latest deep dive tackles how comics confronted (and often struggled to confront) the AIDS epidemic throughout the 1980s and 90s. There's everything from groundbreaking moments of compassion to outrageously offensive books. We check out what the medium got right, what it got very wrong, and why these stories still matter. 

Neurologist Dr. Carolyn Larkin Taylor, MD joins Frank Schaeffer to talk about her powerful new memoir Whispers of the Mind — a life in neurology, grief, intuition, near-death stories, medical gaslighting, and one extraordinary golden retriever named Prancer who became a four-legged healer in the clinic._____LINKShttps://www.carolynlarkintaylorauthor.com/Whispers of the Mind: A Neurologist's Memoirhttps://bookshop.org/a/99692/9781647429362_____Across three decades of practice, Dr. Taylor has walked families through ALS, Parkinson's, dementia, addiction, traumatic brain injury, concussions, and devastating strokes — including the massive stroke that took her own brother. She and Frank go deep on:How women are routinely dismissed and “gaslit” in medical settingsHer own almost-missed endometrial cancer, brushed off as “just stress”The emotional cost of telling families the worst news a human can hearWhy she nearly quit medicine after her mother died in an ICUThe hidden danger of youth sports concussions and second-impact syndromeNear-death experiences, souls, and why she believes something comes after this lifePrancer the therapy dog: intuitive diagnoses, comforting the paralyzed, and angels in furI have had the pleasure of talking to some of the leading authors, artists, activists, and change-makers of our time on this podcast, and I want to personally thank you for subscribing, listening, and sharing 100-plus episodes over 100,000 times.Please subscribe to this Podcast, In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer, on your favorite platform, and to my Substack, It Has to Be Said. Thanks! Every subscription helps create, build, sustain and put voice to this movement for truth. Subscribe to It Has to Be Said. The Gospel of Zip will be released in print and on Amazon Kindle, and as a full video on YouTube and Substack that you can watch or listen to for free.Support the show_____In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer is a production of the George Bailey Morality in Public Life Fellowship. It is hosted by Frank Schaeffer, author of The Gospel of Zip. Learn more at https://www.thegospelofzip.com/Follow Frank on Substack, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and YouTube. https://frankschaeffer.substack.comhttps://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16https://twitter.com/Frank_Schaefferhttps://www.instagram.com/frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.threads.net/@frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.tiktok.com/@frank_schaefferhttps://www.youtube.com/c/FrankSchaefferYouTube In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer Podcast

In LGBT and Christian communities, Ron Koustas has seen a lot. When his longtime partner was diagnosed with AIDS—in the early years before life-saving medications were available—Ron became his partner's caregiver. As he revisited the Christian faith of his youth, Ron eventually joined and then served in ministries to gay folks in New York City. He's seen ex-gay churches try to help people “become straight.” He's seen churches love gay people well, and also poorly. He's been part of several close “chosen families.” He's been asked hurtful questions, been defended by church people, been asked to defend himself, and has continued to serve and support fellow believers through the process.We are fascinated by Ron's story over the years and encouraged by his continued, joyful pursuit of Jesus and his church.★ About Our GuestRon Koustas, now retired from federal service, has spent over 30 years leading AIDS outreach efforts in NYC and Northern NJ churches, including playing a pivotal role in Hope For New York's AIDS Ministry. His ministry has been featured in Christianity Today's Leadership Journal and Michael Slaughter's book unLearning Church. More recently, prompted by pastoral encouragement, Ron has embraced the Side B community and now actively engages with younger members through his NJ Revoice Chapter. He continues to serve as a breakout speaker at the annual Revoice Conference.—Note: This episode uses the terms “Side A” and “Side B” (and X, Y) as shorthand quite a bit. If you're new to the conversation, you might find it helpful to check out episode #3, where we talk through the four “sides”: ⁠#3 - A-B-Y-X | 4 Sides on SSA/Gay Sexuality⁠—★ Timestamps(00:00) #67 - Ron Koustas's Testimony of Staying: Caregiving and Church Ministry in the AIDS Crisis(01:42) Ron's story: supporting his gay partner with AIDS(21:07) "Ex-gay" church ministries: "Are you gay or a Christian?"(30:42) Moving out of ex-gay spaces and into Revoice circles(45:15) What is good (still?) about loving your partner?(52:28) Joining a new church: "If you're gay, what are you doing here?"(57:21) Advice for feeling settled, chosen families—★ Send us feedback, questions, comments, and support!Email: communionandshalom@gmail.com | Instagram: @newkinship | Substack: @newkinship | Patreon: @newkinship—★ CreditsCreators and Hosts: David Frank, TJ Espinoza | Audio Engineer: Carl Swenson, carlswensonmusic.com | Podcast Manager: Elena F. | Graphic Designer: Gavin Popken, gavinpopkenart.com ★ Get full access to New Kinship at newkinship.substack.com/subscribe

Wallis Annenberg was a titan in the world of philanthropy. An heir to the Anneneberg family fortune, she served as chairman and president of the Annenberg Foundation since 2009, giving away more than $3 billion in charitable grants to a variety of causes, including the arts, wildlife, seniors, and inner-city youth. But the obituaries celebrating her life and lauding her achievements failed to mention that she was well-known in LA's LGBTQ+ community as a lesbian, and she had given significant and critical support for LGBTQ+ causes. It was a noteworthy example of queer erasure – the tendency to remove LGBTQ groups or identity from the historical record.  The queer erasure so bothered her former partner Karen Ocamb – a noted chronicler of the LGBT civil rights movement and the HIV/AIDS crisis that she took to Substack to write about – in a column titled “When Lesbian Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg Helped Save The Gays.” The article drew immediate praise from members of LA's queer community, who were shocked that news outlets failed to mention Annenberg was a lesbian. I interviewed Karen Ocamb about the Wallis she and so many others knew, and about the work Wallis Annenberg did for the LGTBQ+ community. When Lesbian Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg Helped Save The Gays by Karen OcambLA Times Obituary: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2025-07-28/wallis-annenberg-dead-philanthropist-obituaryNew York Times Obit: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/us/wallis-annenberg-dead.htmlLA Times follow-up story: "Inside Wallis Annenberg's final days: Opioid stupor, abuse claims and a bitter family feud"The Suppression of Lesbian ^ Gay History by Rictor Norton: https://rictornorton.co.uk/suppress.htmHollywood Turns Out for AIDS Benefit (New York Times, 1985): https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/20/us/hollywood-turns-out-for-aids-benefit.htmlGay & Lesbian Elder Housing: https://www.gleh.org/Project Angel Food: https://www.angelfood.org/LGBT History: The Briggs Initiative - a Scary Proposition: https://www.glbthistory.org/briggsLGBT History: Lesbian Solidarity During the AIDS Epidemic: https://www.youthco.org/lesbian_solidarity_during_the_aids_epidemicLGBT History: The Blood Sisters - the Unsung Heroes of the AIDS Crisis: https://diva-magazine.com/2024/02/08/the-blood-sisters/LGBT History: Meet Pioneer of Gay Rights Harry Hay: https://progressive.org/magazine/meet-pioneer-gay-rights-harry-hay/LGBT History: The Lavender Effect: Ivy Bottini: https://thelavendereffect.org/projects/ohp/ivy-bottini/What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Frank Schaeffer  In Conversation with Writer, Historian, and Ethicist, Nigel Cameron, exploring his work and the themes of his new book, Dr. Koop:The Many Lives of the Surgeon General._____LINKShttps://drkoop.biohttps://nigelcameron.substack.comhttps://www.facebook.com/nigelcameronhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelcameron/https://x.com/nigelcameronhttps://www.lovechildrenplanet.com/events/it-has-to-be-read-dr-koop-by-nigel-m-de-s-cameronI have had the pleasure of talking to some of the leading authors, artists, activists, and change-makers of our time on this podcast, and I want to personally thank you for subscribing, listening, and sharing 100-plus episodes over 100,000 times.Please subscribe to this Podcast, In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer, on your favorite platform, and to my Substack, It Has to Be Said. Thanks! Every subscription helps create, build, sustain and put voice to this movement for truth. Subscribe to It Has to Be Said. Support the show_____In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer is a production of the George Bailey Morality in Public Life Fellowship. It is hosted by Frank Schaeffer, author of Fall In Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy. Learn more at https://www.lovechildrenplanet.comFollow Frank on Substack, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and YouTube. https://frankschaeffer.substack.comhttps://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16https://twitter.com/Frank_Schaefferhttps://www.instagram.com/frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.threads.net/@frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.tiktok.com/@frank_schaefferhttps://www.youtube.com/c/FrankSchaefferYouTube In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer Podcast

Join artist and photographer Lola Flash for a six-part podcast series exploring New York City during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and ‘90s.  In this final episode, Flash takes a quick trip north to Harlem, where Idris Mignott and Pamela Sneed discuss the impact of AIDS on Black and Brown folks in the city. Then, she concludes with a reflection on the state of AIDS today, calling upon the perspectives of a queer elder who lives through the crisis and a younger person who was born after its peak.  Learn more about Lola Flash, her work, and the stories shared in this project at https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1222

Join artist and photographer Lola Flash for a six-part podcast series exploring New York City during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and ‘90s.  In this penultimate episode, Flash concentrates on a single site: St. Vincent's Hospital, which, in the 1980s, housed the first and largest AIDS ward on the East Coast. In conversation with friends Pamela Sneed, Idris Mignott, Agosto Machado, and Aldo Hernandez, Flash shares how this hospital touched their lives. She also introduces us to a new friend—someone with a different relationship to St. Vincent's.  Learn more about Lola Flash, her work, and the stories shared in this project at https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1222

Join artist and photographer Lola Flash for a six-part podcast series exploring New York City during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and ‘90s.  For episode four, Flash wanders through memories of Christopher Street and the queer histories that took shape there. She's joined by fellow artist Agosto Machado, as well as familiar friends Pamela Sneed and Idris Mignott, to discuss different places and spaces along the street. They share memories of the people they met on Christopher Street, and the ways love and loss shaped their lives during and after the AIDS crisis.  Learn more about Lola Flash, her work, and the stories shared in this project at https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1222

Join artist and photographer Lola Flash for a six-part podcast series exploring New York City during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and ‘90s.  Episode three looks at the ways people built community during the epidemic, and how these communities mobilized to spread knowledge, resources, and care. Flash is joined by friends Aldo Hernandez, Pamela Sneed, and Idris Mignott to discuss two organizations: the Clit Club and the Hetrick-Martin Institute.  Learn more about Lola Flash, her work, and the stories shared in this project at https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1222

Join artist and photographer Lola Flash for a six-part series exploring New York City during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and ‘90s.  Episode two reunites Flash with her longtime friend Aldo Hernandez. They discuss their involvement with ACT UP and two sites that helped shape their activism: the LGBT Center in Greenwich Village and Aldo's apartment near Tompkins Square Park.  Learn more about Lola Flash, her work, and the stories shared in this project at https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1222

This lads kick off pride month by revisiting an oft-forgotten but foundational play in the queer canon: William M. Hoffman's As Is. Topics include the history of the AIDS play, Hoffman's exquisite weaponization of comedy in the face of overwhelming tragedy, and the legacy of a 90 minute play that inspired an entire genre of theater. Want more TWOAPW? Get access to our full back catalogue of premium/bonus episodes by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall! Media Referenced in this Episode: As Is by William M. Hoffman. 1985. AIDS-Involved Drama Syndrome by William M. Hoffman. Poz Magazine. February 1st, 1997. Acts of Intervention by David Roman The AIDS Show Warren by Rebecca Ranson “Playwright Rebecca Ranson's Journals Reveal Turmoil in Atlanta's Queer Community During the AIDS Crisis” by Oli Turner. The South and the Archive. October 31st, 2023. As Is script As Is movie Interview with William Hoffman TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com Interstitial: “Writer's Block” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Feat. A.J. Ditty as “A.J. Ditty” Additional Voices for As Is Excerpts: Anne Huston, Eleanor Philips, Dara Swisher and Brent Shultz

Join artist and photographer Lola Flash for a six-part series exploring the sites, sounds, and stories of New York City during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and '90s. In this first episode, Flash introduces the series and the people you'll meet along the way.  Learn more about Lola Flash, her work, and the stories shared in this project at https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1222

In this episode, Rhea Temmermand and Jeremy Heiner (editor of the Nagelhout Nurse Anesthesia textbook) dive deep into the under-discussed but vital topic of cognitive aids and crisis checklists in anesthesia. You'll learn how tools like the Stanford Emergency Manual and the Nurse Anesthesia Crisis Checklists can sharpen clinical decision-making during high-stress scenarios like anaphylaxis or hypotension. The episode explores how our brains make decisions under pressure, the difference between intuitive and deliberate thinking (System 1 vs. System 2), and how to develop better clinical heuristics. Plus, they walk through a real-world case of intraoperative anaphylaxis, using a step-by-step cognitive framework to manage the crisis. Stay tuned to the end to discover a powerful breathing technique Navy SEALs use that can also help anesthesia providers stay calm and focused under pressure.

Margaret continues talking with Andrew Ti about the mutual aid and solidarity offered by lesbians in the 1980s. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/ward-5b-documentary/ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/14/us/ward-5b-a-model-of-care-for-aids.html https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/26/736060834/1st-aids-ward-5b-fought-to-give-patients-compassionate-care-dignified-deaths https://www.reddit.com/r/Actuallylesbian/comments/16uyn8i/are_there_more_nuanced_accounts_of_lesbians/ https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/gay-bisexual-men-can-donate-blood-new-fda-rules-rcna83937 https://gcn.ie/lesbian-blood-sisters-crucial-1980s-aids/ https://womensmuseum.wordpress.com/2019/04/10/the-blood-sisters-of-san-diego/#:~:text=Wendy%20Sue%20Biegeleisen%2C%20Nicolette%20Ibarra,in%20at%20least%20130%20donations. https://www.thebody.com/article/candy-marcum-therapist-since-aids-early-days https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Wellness/nurse-cared-aids-patients-1980s-epidemic-explains-fight/story?id=63970606 https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/we-are-everywhere/page/why-are-women-invisible-in-the-aids-pandemic https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/we-are-everywhere/page/lesbian-aids-activism https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/07/us/aids-definition-excludes-women-congress-is-told.html https://www.acon.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Ann-Maree-Sweeney-today.pdf https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/the-lesbian-blood-sisters-who-helped-save-gay-mens-lives-235100?srsltid=AfmBOorQfWpzL-6iOSpigFOpkO8TeyPRA03Z7I1qPQELuO1cW9hVbTPy http://www.thedallasway.org/stories/written/2017/11/24/howie-daire https://www.texasobituaryproject.org/081983daire.html https://time.com/archive/6703557/guerrilla-drug-trials-the-underground-test-of-compound-q/ https://www.quietheroes.net/about https://www.cscsisters.org/holy-cross-quiet-heroes/ https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/aids-epidemic-lasting-impact-gay-men/ https://www.workingnurse.com/articles/the-nurses-of-ward-5b/ https://www.npr.org/2019/12/01/783932572/how-the-catholic-church-aided-both-the-sick-and-the-sickness-as-hiv-spreadSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Margaret talks with Andrew Ti about the mutual aid and solidarity offered by lesbians in the 1980s. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/ward-5b-documentary/ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/14/us/ward-5b-a-model-of-care-for-aids.html https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/26/736060834/1st-aids-ward-5b-fought-to-give-patients-compassionate-care-dignified-deaths https://www.reddit.com/r/Actuallylesbian/comments/16uyn8i/are_there_more_nuanced_accounts_of_lesbians/ https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/gay-bisexual-men-can-donate-blood-new-fda-rules-rcna83937 https://gcn.ie/lesbian-blood-sisters-crucial-1980s-aids/ https://womensmuseum.wordpress.com/2019/04/10/the-blood-sisters-of-san-diego/#:~:text=Wendy%20Sue%20Biegeleisen%2C%20Nicolette%20Ibarra,in%20at%20least%20130%20donations. https://www.thebody.com/article/candy-marcum-therapist-since-aids-early-days https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Wellness/nurse-cared-aids-patients-1980s-epidemic-explains-fight/story?id=63970606 https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/we-are-everywhere/page/why-are-women-invisible-in-the-aids-pandemic https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/we-are-everywhere/page/lesbian-aids-activism https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/07/us/aids-definition-excludes-women-congress-is-told.html https://www.acon.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Ann-Maree-Sweeney-today.pdf https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/the-lesbian-blood-sisters-who-helped-save-gay-mens-lives-235100?srsltid=AfmBOorQfWpzL-6iOSpigFOpkO8TeyPRA03Z7I1qPQELuO1cW9hVbTPy http://www.thedallasway.org/stories/written/2017/11/24/howie-daire https://www.texasobituaryproject.org/081983daire.html https://time.com/archive/6703557/guerrilla-drug-trials-the-underground-test-of-compound-q/ https://www.quietheroes.net/about https://www.cscsisters.org/holy-cross-quiet-heroes/ https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/aids-epidemic-lasting-impact-gay-men/ https://www.workingnurse.com/articles/the-nurses-of-ward-5b/ https://www.npr.org/2019/12/01/783932572/how-the-catholic-church-aided-both-the-sick-and-the-sickness-as-hiv-spreadSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FROM THE VAULT: In the 1980s and '90s, the AIDS epidemic devastated communities around the world—yet governments, media, and society largely turned a blind eye. In this episode, we uncover the early days of the crisis, the devastating loss of life, and the fearless activism that forced the world to pay attention. From the rise of organizations like ACT UP to the scientific breakthroughs that changed the course of the epidemic, we explore the human stories behind one of the most tragic and transformative public health crises in history.

In this recap of our season's coverage of AIDS, we weave together the different voices of our guests — and their memories — of surviving the AIDS Crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The progressive and disruptive social movements of the 1960s and 70s had a huge impact on the Broadway Musical and were reflected back into the culture by them. These include the Civil Rights movement, Women's Liberation, Black Power, and the Gay Liberation Movement. The Stonewall Rebellion in 1969 brought gay issues into the mainstream and during the 1970s LGBTQ+ people would become “out, loud, and proud” in significant numbers. Of course, it makes sense that this new visibility and feeling of liberation would be felt on Broadway where there had always been a large representation of queer people throughout the industry, including in positions of leadership. As a result queer characters and stories began appearing on Broadway -- especially in plays -- but also in a few musicals as well. In this episode I explore the growing visibility of openly queer content on Broadway in musicals such as Hair, Coco, Applause, Seesaw, A Chorus Line, La Cage Aux Folles, and the works of William Finn. I also recount the devastating effect that the AIDS Crisis had on Broadway during the 1980s and 90s when a whole generation of creative talent was eliminated or sidelined by the disease.  AIDS claimed the lives of hundreds of actors, singers, musicians, stage managers, production assistants, and designers -- as well as scores of dancers that had been trained by Bennett, Fosse, Champion, and Tune and might have one day become influential directors and choreographers themselves. The devastation of AIDS opened the door to the “British Invasion” that would soon dominate Broadway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The most healing thing for me now has been the support of other adoptees." -- Dave Sanchez-Brown Read the transcript of this episode here: https://app.swellai.com/t/tp_01JJD8EF1R7VJ6J0V5GXRWXJY4  =============== EPISODE SUMMARY: In this episode of Unraveling Adoption, I had the privilege of speaking with Dave Sanchez-Brown, an adoptee who has bravely navigated the complexities of adoption, mental health struggles, and addiction. Dave shared his adoption story, which took a significant turn after he read Dani Shapiro's memoir Inheritance. Inspired, he decided to take a DNA test, leading him to uncover his biological family and the trauma associated with his past. He discussed the overwhelming emotions that surfaced as he connected with his roots, including the discovery of a family history marked by addiction. Throughout our conversation, Dave highlighted the importance of community and peer support in his recovery journey. He emphasized that finding others who share similar experiences has been more therapeutic than traditional therapy. We also touched on the stigma surrounding addiction and mental health, and how society often lacks empathy for those struggling. As we wrapped up, Dave offered valuable advice for adoptive parents, urging them to be aware of their children's emotional needs and the potential for feelings of alienation. He encouraged parents to seek their own healing to better support their kids. This episode is a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of connection in healing. I hope Dave's story inspires listeners to seek support and understanding, whether they are adoptees, adoptive parents, or anyone affected by mental health challenges. Thank you for joining us, and remember to stay safe and connected. ===============

Ken Lustbader is a historic preservationist and co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project — which has identified nearly 500 historically queer sites in New York. He reflects on how becoming a historian was motivated by living through the loss of the AIDS Crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bill Glenn is the author of I Came Here Seeking a Person. A Vital Story of Grace; One Gay Man's Spiritual Journey. In the 70s, he trained to be a Catholic priest, but left the seminary at 29. But just as he left, his priestly gifts of love and compassion would be needed to get him — and the thousands of queer people he touched — through the AIDS Crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

World AIDS Day is coming up on Dec. 1 and leaders in the HIV/AIDS field are taking this time to reflect on the enormous progress the medical community has made to reduce the spread and improve the lives of people living with HIV. That progress was made in no small part from the shift in public narratives around the disease. A Minnesotan is exploring the life of Randy Shilts, a little-little known leader from those early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Shilts was a pioneering journalist from San Francisco who worked to change the narratives and reporting around the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Michael G. Lee is a professor at Saint Mary's University and the author of a new book about Shilts' life called “When the Band Played On.” He joins MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about it.

Send us a textRoommates Daniel (Gen X) and Julio (Gen Z) welcome their first Baby Boomer guest. Austin weatherman and public address announcer for various University of Texas sports, Rich Segal, joins the podcast to share stories of navigating being gay during the very closeted 60s, finding and losing the love of his life in the 70s, surviving the AIDS crisis of the 80s, and building his chosen family in Austin in the 90s. Support the show

Every once in a while, a book comes along that brings back memories, inspires us with its message and makes us think. John Garrison has written just such a book. John is an author with seven books and numerous feature articles in major publications to his name. Now he has written an incredible story mixing the impact of an iconic album produced in 1990, early activism around the AIDS crisis and a personal memoir about his own experience of coming out. His book is called, Red, Hot and Blue and John joins us to share all about it. You won't want to miss hearing this touching story from the author who wrote it.

There is no lack of complex challenges when delivering health care in the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS crisis. On the show today, we have Echo VanderWal who is the Co-Founder and Executive Director at The Luke Commission in Eswatini. Echo joins Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke for a conversation about calling, the pain and loss created by the AIDS Crisis, the irreplaceable impact of PEPFAR and what it looks like to provide holistic care in rural communities. With over 20 years in the country, Echo points us to what excellence looks like as follow Christ's example of humble service. Podcast Sponsor Get support for yourself or for your team with Canopy International Resources and Links from the show The Global HIV/AIDS Conversation The Luke Commission Online Conversation Notes 4:00 - What do Jesus, Conor McGregor and Osama Bin Laden all have in common? 5:35 - The importance of having the support of your family when being called to serve God overseas 6:55 - Following Christ's example of service in loving our global neighbors 7:50 - The reality of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa during the early 2000s inc consideration of the cost of transport, lack of medicine and poor treatment 11:35 - Pursuing professional investment in the national team that is delivering life-saving support in their own country 17:00 - The reality of inner pain and the orphaned spirit when family is lost 21:30 - Seeking care at scale within rural areas of Eswatini 23:35 - Eswatini has the rate of HIV/AIDS in the world - a resounding 26% and why we don't want that number to go down 25:45 - The importance of international partners that provide anti-retrovirals 26:45 - How PEPFAR has positively impacted Eswatini, the work of the Luke Commission and what it looks like on the ground.  29:10 - The dire reality of potential extinction when HIV/AIDS first expanded in Eswatini 31:35 - The erosion of bipartisan support in US politics and how it is now undermining the delivery of life-saving HIV/AIDS support for millions of people 35:00 - The risks that face people if PEPFAR pulls out 38:30 - The importance of comprehensive healthcare and tracking trends to help an array of health issues that arise across a population 47:00 - Don't wait to take the first step when it comes to engaging or even moving overseas to pursue God's heart for justice in the nations

What a CreepSeason 26, Episode 4President Ronald Reagan and the AIDS crisisWhen the AIDS epidemic started in the early '80s, the Reagan administration's response mainly involved making jokes in the daily press briefings. Throughout his two terms as president, Reagan and his administration didn't even do the bare minimum to help. According to The Atlantic, almost 83,000 cases of AIDS were confirmed while Reagan was in the White House, and nearly 50,000 people died of the disease.  Reagan, what a creep. Trigger warning: HomophobiaSources for this episodeThe AtlanticBuzzfeedHistoryHIV.govThe New YorkerPBS“The Reagans,” a documentary series on Showtime"When AIDS Was Funny," a short film directed and produced by Scott CalonicViceVoxWashington PostWikipediaWikipediaBe sure to follow us on social media. But don't follow us too closely … don't be a creep about it! Subscribe to us on Apple PodcastsTwitter: https://twitter.com/CreepPod @CreepPodFacebook: Join the private group! Instagram @WhatACreepPodcastVisit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreepEmail: WhatACreepPodcast@gmail.com We've got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

What a CreepSeason 26, Episode 4President Ronald Reagan and the AIDS crisisWhen the AIDS epidemic started in the early '80s, the Reagan administration's response mainly involved making jokes in the daily press briefings. Throughout his two terms as president, Reagan and his administration didn't even do the bare minimum to help. According to The Atlantic, almost 83,000 cases of AIDS were confirmed while Reagan was in the White House, and nearly 50,000 people died of the disease.  Reagan, what a creep. Trigger warning: HomophobiaSources for this episodeThe AtlanticBuzzfeedHistoryHIV.govThe New YorkerPBS“The Reagans,” a documentary series on Showtime"When AIDS Was Funny," a short film directed and produced by Scott CalonicViceVoxWashington PostWikipediaWikipediaBe sure to follow us on social media. But don't follow us too closely … don't be a creep about it! Subscribe to us on Apple PodcastsTwitter: https://twitter.com/CreepPod @CreepPodFacebook: Join the private group! Instagram @WhatACreepPodcastVisit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/whatacreepEmail: WhatACreepPodcast@gmail.com We've got merch here! https://whatacreeppodcast.threadless.com/#Our website is www.whatacreeppodcast.com Our logo was created by Claudia Gomez-Rodriguez. Follow her on Instagram @ClaudInCloud

A special episode where we hear from listeners of the show who were lovers, nurses, relatives, students, and friends of people who died from AIDS. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to Blueland for supporting the show. For 15% off a better way to clean, head to https://www.blueland.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Underdogs often respond to systemic oppression through collective care – acts of mutual aid and cooperation with the goal of meeting people's basic survival needs when the state fails to do so. Some people feel collective care is just what we should do as decent human beings, but that it isn't a strategy for systemic social change. Others are more critical, noting that collective care can turn people away from strategies to change systems through organizing and political action. But when we (Stephanie and Deepak) taught our graduate class on Power & Strategy, one of our students, Walter Barrientos, an experienced organizer in the immigrant rights movement, argued that collective care is a strategy that movements have used effectively for centuries around the world. The more we read and discussed the topic, the more we became convinced, and we included collective care as the 7th of our “Seven Strategies to Change the World” in our book, Practical Radicals. In this episode, we look at collective care through the lens of the AIDS crisis and the remarkable work of the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC). Our guest, Tim Sweeney joined and later ran that essential, underappreciated organization during some of the worst years when AIDS ravaged the LGBTQ+ community. After queer communities gained unprecedented visibility in the 1970s and early '80s, AIDS brought despair and decimation. (By 1995, one gay man in nine between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four in the United States had been diagnosed with AIDS, and nearly 7 percent had died. By comparison, COVID-19 has killed 0.3 percent of the U.S. population.) GMHC encouraged gay men and their allies to turn their grief and anger into action to help the sick and dying (with their buddy program), fight bigotry and misinformation (with their hotline and safer sex education projects), and advocate for better policies at every level of government. Although the better-known ACT UP is sometimes seen as a more radical alternative to GMHC, Tim explains that the two organizations actually complemented each other — with the care and community building of GMHC providing a ladder of engagement that helped foster self-confidence and led many to take part in ACT UP's headline-grabbing direct actions. In fact, as we discuss in the book, the first ACT UP meetings were co-facilitated by Tim Sweeney, and GMHC provided financial support to ACT UP at key points. We conclude that collective care done well is a strategy that can make all other strategies, such as base-building and disruption, more effective. When opportunities for systemic change seem to be foreclosed, collective care provides a path for people to achieve tangible change – and often discover new ways to achieve social transformation. Episode 10 transcript 

MICHELLE'S BIO Michelle Caruso-Cabrera's three decades of experience has been anchored at the nexus of finance, economic development, and communications. Michelle was the first Latina anchor at CNBC where she is now a Contributor and also served as the network's Chief International Correspondent for over a decade. These trailblazing roles were preceded by serving as a news producer at Univision and she currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Wendy's and Del Real Foods (a Palladium Equity owned company), and is President of the Board of Ballet Hispanico. She spent 20 years covering economic crises and international markets, has interviewed presidents, prime ministers, and CEOs, and has reported live from Ukraine, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Greece, Italy, and Mexico, among many other locations. In 1993, she received an Emmy for a series she co-produced on the AIDS Crisis and Hispanic magazine has named her one of the most influential Hispanics in America. She is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of NY, and the Latino Corporate Directors Association. In 2020,  she challenged AOC as a moderate alternative in New York's 14th Congressional District's primary.  Michelle was born in Ohio of Cuban and Italian roots, she earned a BA in economics from Wellesley College. CHRISTY RELATED LINKS Wikipedia CNBC Profile On Cuba + China + Mozambique Wendy's Board Profile Twitter GENERAL INFO| TOP OF THE GAME: Official website: https://topofthegame-thepod.com/ RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/topofthegame-thepod/feed.xml Hosting service show website: https://topofthegame-thepod.podbean.com/ Javier's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/javiersaade  SUPPORT & CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/96934564 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551086203755 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOPOFGAMEpod Subscribe on Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/site/podcatcher/index/blog/vLKLE1SKjf6G Email us: info@topofthegame-thepod.com   THANK YOU FOR LISTENING – AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PLATFORMS

Abby and Patrick are joined by academic, journalist, and critic Sara Marcus, author of the 2023 book Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis. After recalling their own experiences of political letdowns – infantile, adolescent, and all-too-recent – they explore how Sara's notion of disappointment as “untimely desire” involves something other than disillusionment or a loss of faith. Rather, as Marcus explains, disappointment involves an ongoing relationship towards an object, and can be a simultaneous opportunity for mourning, determination, creativity, and more. They unpack experiences of such disappointment across the twentieth century, tracking in particular their musical and audio archives – from the “Sorrow Songs” studied by W.E.B. DuBois to the exquisite nonverbals of Lead Belly to the monologues and Tracy Chapman bootlegs recorded by the artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz. And they also get into the traps of utopianism, Melanie Klein, and the possibility of a “good enough” political subjectivity, with cameos by Fleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi, Peter Paul & Mary, and more along the way. Have you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you've traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! 484 775-0107  A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media:  Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappiness Twitter: @UnhappinessPod Instagram: @OrdinaryUnhappiness Patreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness Theme song: Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1 https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO Provided by Fruits Music

By 1986, almost 40 percent of people diagnosed with AIDS in the United States were either Black or Latino. As the full contours of the crisis became apparent, a group of Black gay men began to organize in cities across the country, demanding attention and support for the people dying in their midst. This effort required them to confront big, important institutions in both the medical establishment and the government — and it meant they had to stare down racism in the broader LGBTQ+ community. But perhaps their most pressing and consequential challenge was the most difficult to name: the rejection of their own community. As men, women and children within the Black community began falling ill, essential institutions — the family, the church, civil rights groups — which had long stood powerfully against the most brutal injustices, remained silent or, worse, turned away. Why? What made so many shrink back at such a powerful moment of need? And what would it take to get them to step up? In this episode, we meet some of the people who pushed their families, ministers and politicians to reckon with the crisis in their midst. We hear the words of a writer and poet, still echoing powerfully through the decades, demanding that he and his dying friends be both seen and heard; and we spend time with a woman who picked up their call, ultimately founding one of the country's first AIDS ministries. And we meet a legendary figure, Dr. Beny Primm, who, in spite of some of his own biases and blindspots, transformed into one of the era's leading medical advocates for Black people with HIV and AIDs. Along the way, we learn how one community was able to change — and we ask, what might have been different if that change had come sooner? This episode contains a brief mention of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, there's help available. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is open 24 hours a day by calling or texting 988. There's also a live chat option on their website. Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine. Listen to more episodes and subscribe to Blindspot here. Tell us what you think. Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here. We're also on Instagram and X (Twitter) @noteswithkai.

Journalist Michele Norris has spent the last 14 years collecting what she describes as "an archive of the human experience" with The Race Card Project. She wanted to see how Americans really talk and think about race, so she asked people to share their thoughts in six words. Norris adapted the project into a memoir called Our Hidden Conversations. Also, we'll hear from Kai Wright, host of the WNYC podcast Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows about the early years of the AIDS epidemic, when so little was known about HIV, and so much was misunderstood.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

By 1986, almost 40 percent of people diagnosed with AIDS in the United States were either Black or Latino. As the full contours of the crisis became apparent, a group of Black gay men began to organize in cities across the country, demanding attention and support for the people dying in their midst. This effort required them to confront big, important institutions in both the medical establishment and the government — and it meant they had to stare down racism in the broader LGBTQ+ community. But perhaps their most pressing and consequential challenge was the most difficult to name: the rejection of their own community.As men, women and children within the Black community began falling ill, essential institutions — the family, the church, civil rights groups — which had long stood powerfully against the most brutal injustices, remained silent or, worse, turned away. Why? What made so many shrink back at such a powerful moment of need? And what would it take to get them to step up?In this episode, we meet some of the people who pushed their families, ministers and politicians to reckon with the crisis in their midst. We hear the words of a writer and poet, still echoing powerfully through the decades, demanding that he and his dying friends be both seen and heard; and we spend time with a woman who picked up their call, ultimately founding one of the country's first AIDS ministries. And we meet a legendary figure, Dr. Beny Primm, who, in spite of some of his own biases and blindspots, transformed into one of the era's leading medical advocates for Black people with HIV and AIDs. Along the way, we learn how one community was able to change — and we ask, what might have been different if that change had come sooner?Voices in the episode:• George Bellinger grew up in Queens, New York. He's been involved in activism since he was a teenager. He was an original board member of Gay Men of African Descent and also worked at GMHC and other HIV and AIDS organizations. He says his work is to “champion those who don't always have a champion.”• Gil Gerald is a Black HIV and AIDS activist and writer, who co-founded the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays.• Cathy Cohen is the author of “The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics,” which is considered a definitive history of the epidemic in Black communities.• Governor David Paterson is the former governor of New York State and a former state senator. He is the son of Basil Paterson, who served as state senator from Harlem in the late 1960s, secretary of New York State in the 1980s, and was a longtime member of Harlem's political establishment.• Pernessa Seele is an immunologist and interfaith public health activist. She founded the Harlem Week of Prayer to End Aids and the Balm in Gilead.• Maxine Frere is a retired nurse who spent the entirety of her 40-year career at Harlem Hospital. A lifelong Harlem resident, she's been a member of First AME Church: Bethel since she was a kid.• Dr. Beny Primm was a nationally recognized expert on drug addiction and substance abuse treatment. His work on addiction led him to becoming one of the world's foremost experts on HIV and AIDS.• Lawrence Brown was Dr. Beny Primm's protégé who worked as an internist at Harlem Hospital and at Dr. Primm's Addiction Recovery and Treatment Center in Brooklyn. Brown served on the National Black Commission on AIDS, American Society of Addiction Medicine and took over for Dr. Primm as Director of ARTC (now START) when he retired.• Jeanine Primm-Jones is the daughter of Dr. Beny Primm, a pioneer of addiction treatment and recovery. Primm is a clinical social worker, abuse recovery specialist and wellness coach, who worked with her father for decades before his death in 2015.• Phill Wilson is the founder of the Black AIDS Institute, AIDS policy director for the city of Los Angeles at the height of the epidemic and a celebrated AIDS activist in both the LGBTQ+ and Black communities since the early 1980s.Audio from the 1986 American Public Health Association annual conference comes from APHA.Dr. Beny Primm archival audio comes from History Makers.This episode contains a brief mention of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, there's help available. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is open 24 hours a day by calling or texting 988. There's also a live chat option on their website.Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine.A companion photography exhibit by Kia LaBeija featuring portraits from the series is on view through March 11 at The Greene Space at WNYC. The photography for Blindspot was supported by a grant from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes coverage of social inequality and economic justice.

Kai Wright's WNYC podcast, Blindspot, revisits the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, focusing in particular on populations that are frequently overlooked — including the pediatric patients at Harlem Hospital.

It's an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Sara Marcus, assistant professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, about her recent book Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis. Then, Emma is joined by Zoya Teirstein, climate change and health reporter at Grist, to discuss her recent reporting on climate change-related illnesses. Emma starts off by highlight reporting in Bloomberg that showed how the city of Minneapolis had beaten back inflation in no small part due to a concerted effort to build more affordable housing in the city. Emma also touches upon Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro's visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, as he surveyed the absolutely evil conditions Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had set up at the Southern border to control and deter migration. Then Emma is joined by Sara, and they begin their conversation by specifying what the moments of "political disappointment" in American history are per her scholarship, and what are the specific characteristics that makes these moments correlate with one another. As Sarah explains, these moments (starting with Reconstruction and ending with the response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980's) bear similarities in the cultural responses to them. Emma notes that the moments that Sara highlights, that of "political disappointment" aren't monocultural historical moments from the 1960's, but ones that center on marginalized communities. Sara observes how the narratives of "progress" perpetuated in American history are ones that are clearly rebutted and contradicted by the experiences of marginalized communities, as writers like WEB Dubois observed in their writings. They then touch on another moment outlined in Sara's research, the Civil Rights Movement, and how her thesis manifested in ideological and strategic conflict between Martin Luther King Jr. & Stokely Carmichael, and how that conflict was ultimately exacerbated by the people reporting on and historicizing it. They jump back in time to Sara's research on the 1930's, specifically the quarrels that characterized the politics surrounding the New Deal, specifically within the American Communist movement in the fight against fascism, and how the factionalism at the time complicated and blurred the lines of racial coalitions at the time. Emma reflects on how some of these notions that Sara outlines, and how they show some strong parallels with some of the disaffection of young voters on the Left who, galvanized by Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, are unsure of what may come in the future that may replicate that, if anything. They touch on the feminist movement in the 1960's and 1970's, before ending the conversation on Sara's section on the AIDS crisis. Then, Emma speaks with Zoya, and asks her to react to some of the footage coming out of the island of Maui in Hawaii, that's been besieged by raging wildfires. Zoya observes that this summer has been a summer of weather extremes across the country, and that the situation in Maui is no different. Emma asks Zoya if she thinks there's been a larger media reckoning in how climate change has been covered, seeing now that, in the context of the air quality issues in New York City earlier in the summer, that extreme weather issues have come home to everyone nationwide as opposed to the protection from them some may expect on the East Coast in urban centers. Emma and Zoya then dive into her reporting in Grist, and how Samoa and its residents, as well as its physicians, have been on the forefront of climate-related illness, both experiencing it and treating it, and, in Zoya's estimation, it'd be a mistake for medical practitioners to not try and emulate early treatment methods that Samoan doctors are developing. Emma asks Zoya what she thinks are some heat and climate-related illnesses may become more and more prominent as extreme weather events begin to become more and more common. Emma asks how some of these climate-related illnesses, like fungal-based illnesses or illnesses like dengue fever, are able to migrate when they may have been previously unable to, and how lower-income areas with less supported water and sanitation infrastructure can be even more adversely affected by this disease migration. They end the conversation by touching on Zoya's most recent piece, about the heat-related illnesses found in people in Phoenix, Arizona, after 31 straight days of over 110 degree heat. Zoya, trying to stem the tide of doomerism, ultimately does qualify that there have been serious and encouraging medical breakthroughs to help mitigate these issues (whew!). And in the Fun Half,  Emma is joined by Brandon and Binder as they break down Michael Knowles hawking an abortion reversal pill, Fox News highlighting a Mom on TikTok...bemoaning American capitalism??, Matt Walsh complains that people care more about the fate of hummingbirds than the fate of white people, and Twitter flack Linda Yaccarino tries to claim that X (??) is even safer than it was a year ago (Binder, you'd be surprised, doesn't agree with this!). Plus, your calls & IM's! Check out Sara's book here: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674248656 Check out Zoya's reporting at Grist here: https://grist.org/author/zoya-teirstein/ Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

Every June, Pride month is a time for self-expression and celebration. But the road here was paved with struggle and sacrifice.From confronting police during the Stonewall Uprising, to fighting to stay afloat during the AIDS crisis, to battling in the courtroom for the basic rights of citizenship, generations of LGBTQ people have faced gains and losses.  Of the frontlines of each of these fights have been queer baby boomers.On this episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee speaks to elders of the Black community: Naomi Ruth Cobb, a Black lesbian activist from Florida, and Phill Wilson, of the Black AIDS Institute, based in California. We hear two stories, from opposite ends of the country, and learn what it means to find community, grow older, and never back down in the fight for equality. Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.For a transcript, please visit our homepage.For More: Pride in the Bible BeltThey lived a 'double life' for decades. Now, these gay elders are telling their stories.Black, Gray and Gay: The Perils of Aging LGBTQ People of Color

Writer Thomas Mallon talks about his diaries that were recently published in the New Yorker, titled Finding My Way– and Staying Alive — During the Aids Crisis. Mallon's latest novel, Up With the Sun, is based on the life and murder of Dick Kallman, a closeted actor in the 1950s and '60s. Critic John Powers reviews the film Return to Seoul.Also, we hear from Dr. Farzon Nahvi. He has a new memoir about his experiences in the ER, and his frustrations with American healthcare during COVID. It's called Code Gray: Death, Life and Uncertainty in the ER.