I learned how to ride a motorcycle, and to get my motorcycle license I had to bring my motorcycle back into New York, ‘cause the test was easier in New York than it was in Connecticut where I was living. So I needed to tell my mother that I was coming home with a motorcycle. […]
It has totally changed my life. Before, I was a free spirit and, you know, loved to date. I still like men and dating someone, but that’s not such a focus anymore.
My mother was scared of me. I was cooking, and I cut myself – ‘cause I was always the cook in the family. And I rinsed my hand off, and she went to put a band-aid on, and I went like this, and she jumped… You know, I love my mom, and until today she
When you’re going through menopause, and you’re a seasoned woman, and you’ve been through three really serious relationships and the last one you thought would be forever, and to wake up alone, and… it’s hard. It really took me a long time to get over that depression. You know, I covered it up with super-volunteerism.
I would like to be able to tell what is AIDS, and what is aging. That would be really wonderful, if you could tell me which one was which. Doctors can’t tell ya. I had what the doctor called “Sudden Onset AIDS-related Arthritis.” Now, is that really what it was, or was that an age
I became openly positive to many of my friends and my family first, and then as I became more comfortable, I started becoming more open to almost everybody I met, including people I wanted to socialize with. And I started finding more people who were also positive, so that made me feel more comfortable.
I sort of don’t have a person that I can say, “Just take care of me.” When I know I don’t feel well I stay home, I do more internal healing. Some days when I’m irritable and changes are going on with my body, I won’t get out in the public. I know to tell
I believe some people are born with their glass half full, and some are born with their glass half empty, and mine is kinda full and brimming – more than full. So I would say that I have kind of a positive outlook. I’ve been positive since 1988. I learned about my status when my
In 1985, I was incarcerated at the women’s correctional institution in Columbia, South Carolina. And during intake they take your blood and they run these tests, and then usually after two weeks your blood tests come back and you go out on the compound. Well, I stayed down almost four weeks, and I’m like, “What’s
The doctor said, “You’ve tested positive for HIV, it must be wrong. Come in Monday, we’ll retest you.” I think, as a white woman in the suburbs in Cleveland, they didn’t– that was MY stigma. Um, no one had ever asked me if I was divorced. When I mentioned I owned a tavern and a
