Still Crystal-Clear

Frontdesk by David Waggoner

Fifteen years ago, HIV was a different disease. In 1991, the year A&U (then known as Art & Understanding) was established, over ten million people worldwide were infected. With 450,000 AIDS cases reported, probably less than a million knew their serostatus. Most of those who did know were not nearly as hopeful that HIV could be a chronic and somewhat manageable condition as people are today. Now, forty-five million are HIV-positive, and while many are living and thriving with the virus, about one in ten of those living with HIV/AIDS has even been tested and knows that he or she is infected. Sadly, people continue to live in fear that their infection will not only harm their own status in society, but also those they care for.

I’m not surprised that the basic threat of AIDS has not changed, and, in many ways, has gotten a lot scarier. But hopefully that is about to change. Rock stars like Bono and mega-philanthropists like Bill and Melinda Gates are just a few examples of how attaching a famous name to an infamous disease and constantly beating the drum of awareness can make a difference. Because of rock stars and software moguls, perhaps the AIDS crisis will finally receive the persistent attention (and funding) it deserves. Witness how mainstream publications like Time are honoring these celebrity-driven efforts to eradicate HIV, malaria, and TB.

As this magazine’s editor for fifteen years, I have been given the opportunity to meet thousands of men, women, and children from dozens of nations abroad and hundreds of communities within this country who have also been steadfast in their attention to HIV/AIDS. They have shown that fears, when united, become hope. In turn, they have worked to dispel the myth that having HIV is about losing hope.

Part of that new-fashioned optimism has been the success of such activist groups as ACT UP and TAG, and such arts organizations as Visual AIDS and Broadway Cares, as well as the tens of thousands of workers in the AIDS services field. But Noël Alumit, whose column From the Trenches is being launched in this issue, knows, as we all do, that this optimism has been hard-won. In this column, he will profile AIDS workers and the ways in which they struggle to recommit their energies to a cause that still lacks full governmental and public support. They have taught us that perseverance in the fight against AIDS does not demand perfection. Acts of caring for oneself or others are riddled with moments of emotional burnout, frustration and rage, even self-doubt. But caring also brings rewards—gaining knowledge about how to solve problems, the camaraderie in the thick of diversity, the simple satisfaction of seeing life go on when it might have been cut short.

Magazines offer a superficial model of persistency; month after month, they arrive in our mailboxes like clockwork. But A&U keeps time a different way—by telling the stories of people who perservere by simply bringing what they have to the table day after day. That might be political insight. An innovative fundraising strategy. A way to deliver services with more cultural sensitivity. Or testaments to injustice. But it’s A&U’s readers, ultimately, that have made this magazine a success story. Your continued support, readership, and word of mouth have given A&U and its writers a reason to turn on their computers every morning and edit their stories into the wee hours of every night.

It’s crystal-clear to me that with a loyal following such as ours, HIV doesn’t have a chance. It’s just a matter of time before HIV will just stop. It doesn’t have a stand if we fight it together. Your belief in this magazine is a form of literary activism. And we thank you for it.

January 2006