December has not always been my favorite time of year. I know that, for others as well, the last thirty-one days of the year are the most dreaded: fighting the hordes of holiday shoppers, seeing relatives that you don?t talk to but once a year, and, as World AIDS Day leads off the month, thinking about what you have and haven?t done to help end the AIDS crisis.

Giving fifty dollars to a local AIDS charity, volunteering to wrap presents at Borders to help AIDS-aware gift givers raise funds, or writing a letter to President Bush asking him to not be Scrooge-like this holiday season and forget about the millions of AIDS orphans whose situation is a direct result of the West?s unbelievable apathy toward those suffering from the effects of the spread of HIV around the globe. This ?to do? list haunts my thoughts while I am wrapping up another year of publishing A&U. That?s why I say, in earnest, that the holidays are not my cup of egg nog.

While everyone seems to be having a good time at office parties or raising badly needed funds at AIDS charity events, it is the almost Dickensian thought that millions of Tiny Tims are dying of AIDS that tends to dampen my holiday spirits. Without one dollar of the billions promised yet delivered to nations most afflicted by AIDS, it seems that the West?s empty promises are the coal in everyone?s stocking this year. It seems that America has out-scrooged even Scrooge! Forgive me if I say that wishing joy to the world has a bit of a false ring to it.

But then, when all my negative energy threatens to cloud my thinking, the folks who make creativity their business come to the rescue. This issue features just a few of their visions for a better world. This holiday season HBO is premiering a landmark moment in television: Angels in America. Filled with a stellar cast that includes Emma Thompson, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, and Justin Kirk (interviewed in this issue) and directed by a former A&U cover story, Mike Nichols, Angels promises to remind us about the health crisis that hasn?t gotten any better. According to the CDC, HIV infections are increasing rapidly, especially in the gay and minority communities. And CMV retinitis, an opportunistic infection that can affect many of those living with HIV/AIDS, has been given its due in a Visual AIDS-sponsored art show, Share Your Vision, wrapping up its New York City exhibition and now set to tour the country. Across the pond, watch for a major MTV concert from South Africa (with the likes of Eurythmics, Queen, Bono, Beyonc?, and dozens of others from rock?s royalty) that should help speed much needed money and attention to a nation in the grip of this terrible health crisis.

And individuals, like this month?s cover story, Gloria Estefan, also prove optimism is the best medicine for those who feel out of sorts with their spirits so low. A survivor of a major medical crisis herself, Ms. Estefan?s positive attitude about beating the odds and surviving the toughest of physical challenges proves that one should never give up, no matter how dark it can get. Ms. Estefan?s continuing AIDS activism, charitable events, and powerful message aimed at millions of America?s young about the dangers and denials surrounding HIV only goes to show how much power the arts have in this country, as they do everywhere, to bring members of a community together, lift their spirits, and make their voices heard on high.

Perhaps we will wake up on New Year?s Day to realize that there are angels, and not all of them coming out of the sky, but out of our television sets, CD players, and, most importantly, our very own front doors.

December 2003