Eyes Open Festival

Many thanks to Jamie at Stuff Queer People Need to Know for the heads up on this one...

Whoa -- I didn't even realize something like this, but it promises to be a huge day. They have movies, including Brooklyn's Bridge to Jordan, Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis at 100, The DL Chronicles: Boo, and Noah's Arc: Jumping the Brooms, as well as performers and art exhibits. And only $15.

To my fellow local queer bloggers: I say we make a day of it, yea?

Check out their Myspace page.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Dock still open

The story that never was...

Texted Joe from the Dock. His response to the rumours about the Dock closing? "Stupid rumor." 

Dixie Crystals sent me the MySpace bulletin about the same issue:

OUR DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ! I AM SURE U HAVE BEEN HEARING THINGS THAT THE DOCK IS CLOSING AND AS ALWAYS ITS NOT TRUE. WE ARE ONE OF THE LONGEST RUNNING GAY BARS IN CINCINNATI.

WE ARE GOING ON OUR 25 YEARS AND PLAN ON HAVING MANY MORE!! TO TO PUT YOUR MIND AT REST WE ARE NOT CLOSING ! AT THIS TIME WE ARE OPEN THURSDAY NIGHTS FOR YOUR EBM, 80'S , ALTERNATIVE NIGHT FROM 10 TILL 3 AM FRIDAY NIGHTS ARE THE SHOWS WITH THE GREAT JESSICA DIMON AND ALL HER GUEST ALOG WITH DJ DOUG STRONG, OPEN 10 TILL 4 AM

AND SUNDAYS IS DA BEST HIP HOP SPOT IN CINCINNATI WITH DJ BLAK CHERRI FROM 10 TILL 3 AM. SO NOW WE GOT THAT OUT OF THE WAY LETS PARTY AND HAVE A GOOD OLD TIME... SEE YA TONIGHT

So there. Case closed. Um. So... yea...

Non-story :-). Go, drink, dance, make-out. Have fun. 

And make sure you tip friends of the blog, Mykey and Dan, who bartend down there.

HEALTH: Genomics lecture

I went to this Genomics lecture this evening at school that was being offered by Dr. Amoils of the Alliance Institute for Integrative Medicine, a member of the Bravewell Collaborative, on genomics and holistic health.

Their point, I think, was to teach us up-and-coming nurses about the new fields that are developing in health. Dr. Amoils made some excellent point -- in that most of healthcare is based on fixing a problem rather than prevention. I agree with that 100%, and I think that his aims are genuine. I believe that he is an intelligent man who genuinely believes in what he says.

However, the "quack radar" went off a couple of times. A couple of my problems that rang in my head:

1) He said that western medicine is best for acute issues, and lacks real depth in problems that last for 2-3 months or more. I call bullshit. HPV, HIV, and cancer are all long-term issues and we seem to have made great strides in helping out. (To his defense, pain management is something we still lack in, but how much of it is real and how much of it is addiction issue, actually?) For most chronic conditions, Western medicine does offer help, but it's up to the patient to follow up properly, though the idea of "patient responsibility" is pariah in health care these days.

2) He claimed that it's really difficult to study his methods because they include "whole person" approaches which does not fit into the randomized, double blind studies that dominate medical science these days. So, the point here is that you can't isolate the benefit of anything he's offering. Oh, right.

3) It's really expensive, and only partially coverable by insurance.

4) Though there is proof that herbs, processes like acupunture, and other approaches off help, I have to wonder one thing (and one thing he did not answer when I asked): why is there not more scientific evidence or study; and, if there is, why isn't it published all over the media? I always wonder about situations where people "pharmaceutical conspiracy." It doesn't ring right.

5) Agreed, we should have a whole-person approach to medicine and health and wellness. However, why did it take 50 minutes for him to mention the key role exercise plays into this equation? The "Meditteranean diet" (which he pushes big time) may be beneficial, but I'll bet you it will do nothing compared to people getting off their asses on a regular bases. And, btw, Dr. Amoils, five minutes six times a day does not equal 30 minutes once a day. It is more helpful than nothing, but it is not enough.

6) Anytime you talk about weight loss for another condition as a result of treatment, I hear dinging. You know why? Because when someone says "this helped people lose weight!" I immediately buy in and think "oh yea? hrmm..." I'm sure most of diet-crazed America is on my side for this one.

7) Fetishizing 5000 year old treatments, or European styles, will not pass here. One, we're not Europe. Two, the average life space 5000 years ago was, what, maybe 30 years old? I think age is against you on this one.

8) There was also quite a bit on genetic marking and testing ... which, and I'm not educated that much, sounded really convincing, but he blanched over the science so much that I'm still not sure I get it, nor do I think I understand what he was talking about when he said "x pt was double-plus for breast cancer." It rang bad.

I did approve of his "matrix" focus -- how one piece of health affects the rest. More attention should be paid there... especially mental and social health. So, in that, he's completely right.

The rest of it is a little "uhhhh..." to me.

So this was a blog I posted years ago on the AVOC Myspace about the same subject...

And don't forget to check out one of my favorite websites -- Quackwatch which offer the following articles on genomics and related issues: 1, 2, and 3.

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Ok, so this issue is one of my (again, Barry, one of the educators) personal pet peeves: health fraud. We live in an age of instant fixes and instant gratification. Guess what? When it comes to your health there is nothing you can do but take it slowly. (I lost 70lbs, trust me, slow is better although painful and annoying)

Why does this matter when it comes to HIV/AIDS and/or sexual health? Well, people tend to see things in this light and don't recognize that reported cures and reported "ways to help" or "ways to protect" do not work. Period. So, I thought we'd do a little edu-ma-cation and see how to easily spot a health fraud (this is all adapted from a pamphlet published by the FDA).

Easy Ways to Spot a Health Fraud

This Product Helps Everything
Diseases have different causes and different effects no single anything will cure everything. A lot of these diseases do not have a cure, and the product may only help with treatment. Does any medication -- from tylenol to echinacea -- help everything? No. It may de-stress, it may boost immunity, but how can one thing solve everything? Hell, we can't even agree on a computer operating system.

Personal Testimony
This is merely hearsay, and offers no real evidence. We've all seen the late night diet/weight loss "miracles." Look closely. Do they look the same? Or, better yet, do you see the little statement that says "Results not typical?" DUH! Different things work for different people.

Quick Fixes
Theres no such thing especially for long-term, debilitating diseases like HIV or cancer. Always question the time frame. Remember, God created the world in seven days and were still debating how long that was. This is just false hope, and I hate to burst people's bubbles. We can't cure you.

Natural
Natural does not mean safe (poison ivy and poisonous mushrooms are natural). If something can work, then it will cause side effects in some people.

Time-tested (especially ancient remedies)
The world is different than it was in 200 BCE, and we are aware of many changes in strains of diseases. More importantly, the average lifespan until the 20th century the golden age of medical science was barely under 50 years old. It is now 76 in the United States. Do you really want to go back to the ages of cocaine-laced Coca-cola (bad example), snake oil, and leeches? Yes, of course, some of these do work, but you gonna risk it?

Breakthrough cure
If it is such a breakthrough, why is it in the back of a magazine and not on the front page of the New York Times?

Paranoid Accusations
Think about it realistically: can you believe that there are millions of people, all of whom are healthcare workers, out there looking to make millions off of sickness and death? Or is it really more reasonable to believe that people are genuinely interested in helping others? If you discovered something great that would cure millions, would you hide it and let people die, or would you go out, spread the word, and become an international hero?

Medical Jargon
If you dont know what it is, look it up and see how it relates to the issue youre investigating. Thermogenesis has little to do with weight loss, I understand.

Lack of Scientific Evidence
Look for more than one study and make sure it is independent. Dont assume that a study done by the company promoting a new treatment will be valid.
Remember: if its too good to be true, it probably is. And always, always research anything you are taking or planning to take. The doctors are there to help you and are not trying to harm you.

Last thing: there is more money in a cure than a treatment. Gonorrhea and chlamydia are curable, but there are still over 5 million new cases a year. Besides, if you cured HIV/AIDS, you wouldn't have to do a lick of work for the rest of your life... you'd be so busy being flown all over the world, treated to dinner, meeting important people, and being thanked for saving people's lives -- 40-50 million people to be exact. If you hid it in a vast conspiracy, then you'd have to work to hide it and keep on keeping on at the same damn job for the rest of your life. (Besides, honestly: a cure for AIDS? why hasn't there been a leak... you think Merck and Bristol-Meyers is killing off every person who might want to help people? doubtful).

Just use your common sense.

------

A great article on that Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About book.

PS Most of the se places sell a couple things as their cure: a more balanced diet, more/better nutrition, vitamins, and exercise.

So, yea...

HIV/AIDS: My story...

I wrote this a long time ago on the blog I wrong for the then AVOC (and you can see the original post over there at their myspace account ). I was back reading for another blog I'm working on this evening and I found this, and it always bears repeating...

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MyStory: Why I am where I am -- Barry's story

My brother introduced me to HIV. We were both in high school and he had donated blood at some student council event. I couldn't donate because I was having sex at that point, and really enjoying it (and the American Red Cross would not accept the blood of a man who has sex with men). I had been finding myself in places and situations my mother most definitely would not approve, and doing behaviors that I now identify as "high risk." No one had talked to me about condoms at that point.

But it was my brother, the senior, who said the letters H-I-V to me first. I suppose I know what they meant because I didn't ask, but this is the first memory I really have of understand.

So I remember my brother, standing in the kitchen and laughing at the letter that was sent to him from the American Red Cross: "I don't have HIV." My mother laughed with him. I shrugged it off. I didn't connect HIV with sex, drugs, or even gay people at that point.

Four years later, I was a sophomore in college. I was a closeted out gay man. Everyone knew, but I didn't know anyone and I had fallen into the trap of gay.com. I was using the web service as a means of finding some sort of connection with other gay men. My roommate was there all the time, so my furtive searches were few and far between, but they were there every moment that I was alone. And every time I found something -- because who could turn down a lonely, somewhat attractive, energeetic, eager-to-please 19 year old college student?

I'm not saying I was preyed upon, but I made myself the prey.

I met a guy. We'll call him Hugh. He must have been 38 and suffered from psoriasis of the skin, but he was somewhat attractive, owned his own house, was interested in dating me (imagine me, finally dating after not having anything I could call a boyfriend since I was sophomore in high school). I would have a boyfriend.

Of course! Of course! I would love to! Of course I would love to come over every day! Of course I'll ignore you comments that demean and degrade me! Of course I'll ignore that I am completely dependent upon you for my mobility! Of course! Of course! Of course!

I let him fuck me.

I had never had anal sex before. I was a 19 year old with 150-200 sexual partners, most of whom I couldn't remember and 99% of whom I didn't even know the first name of, and I had never been fucked. And he did. And I bled and I bled and I bled.

But no one had talked to me about HIV and I didn't know, but I knew I could get something... I think. Right? Something.

I remember the first time running to the bathroom and trying to wash it out. There was no condom; no one had ever talked to me about condoms. I tried to douche with soap and water; no one had ever talked to me about anal douching. I know I did a lot of crying that first time -- it did hurt -- but it went away. And it happened again. And again and again and again.

That was me, a 19 year old getting fucked for three months without a condom by a guy literally twice my age with psoriasis.

But it's ok, he says he likes me and wants to date me.

(All of this would come back years later, when I thought I was stronger when I accepted the constant comments on my size from a new boyfriend -- how wonderful my fat was, how much fatter I was than most, how much he loved my fat and could I have more -- and developed my own little case of anorexia. Things that go around...)

But we never dated, although I asked again and again. He just fucked me. Sometimes once a week, sometimes seven times a week. And each time, I think I bled. I remember blood, but it may simply be the stain on my memory and a fear that lingers with me.

Finally he said, ok, we can date, if that's what you want. Three months later, him promising to date me, and it's now what I want. But let's get tested first. I guess we missed a step in there.

It was my first time being tested and I was negative, but I remember being scared. I remember telling the cute blonde girl at student health services everything I was going through and everything I had gone through and letting it feel cathartic. And although I don't remember her responding to me, I remember identifying for the first time: I have a self-esteem problem.

Self-esteem is a funny thing because it's so masked in social work and that kind of feel-goodisms some people get into. I had a real self-esteem issue and I was following a 38-year old man with psoriasis around because he was the only one who I thought would love me.

I was negative. It was beautiful day, and the sun was shining. I remember feeling like it was ok, like the world was ok -- sure the lady said come back in six months to get tested again just in case, but I was negative.

This is the situation with a lot of people who get tested for the first time, save for one major difference:

He was positive.

He was positive.

He was positive.

And I cried because I remembered the cum and the sweat and the blood (oh god, the blood... and could you get it from tears or sweat because there was a lot of that too). I thought I was crying for him, but I wasn't.

He was postive, and he was 38.

And I was negative, and I was 19.

And I never saw him again because now he was concerned about me getting it.

Now he was, because I was negative and nineteen.

And he was positive.

BLOGGING: Anniversaries and New Pieces

First of all, if you haven't RSS'd me or subscribed to my blog, I think you should at this point. I'm really fabulous like that. I also blog a LOT, so that's probably the best way to keep up with me.

Second, I have an anniversary coming up; Aug 4 will be the one year anniversary of this blog. What's fun is that at the Cincinnati Blogger's Convention, a lot of people asked "how long have you been blogging." I had to answer "about a year," but then I realized that wasn't true.

My MySpace Blog open August 31, 2005, and I have well over 200 entries over there. So, as part of my anniversary celebration, I'm going to start back-reading that blog and posting interesting bits that I find. Now, mind you, that was an intensely personal blog, so there's lots of blah-stuff on it. But I'll start you off with the very first posting I did... August 31, 2005...

It has begun, children. I have officially begun my myspace site (due to the somewhat weak success of my job-related myspace -- www.myspace.com/avoc). *sigh*

I am currently holding world on my shoulders and ignoring my coworkers. If you do not encourage this kind of behavior, then too bad. I plan to continue on as if living in a state of delusional mania -- that I'm rich, that I'm a stud, that I'm a playa, that I'm an old black lesbian, meanwhile driving myself over the cliff of financial debt and burdensome obligations.

But I keep a positive attitude -- and that's what matters right :-). Oh, and to allay the rumors: yes, I am looking at a house, and this is what it looks like:

Oh never mind. I have to attach it to a hyperlink?! Thank you very much I can find otherways to do the same damn thing. :-) But imagine this: Barry -- Homeowner. I think it is a bit scarier than Valerie -- married woman.

The reason for back-reading, btw, is that I'm about to close down my myspace account because it's boring and I don't do anything with it anymore, and I want to make sure the good blogs are saved.

There's some stuff coming up, btw, that I'm going to be posting in my "personal" category, but I think all of you might find it interesting if you want to keep reading. :-)

CINCY GAY SCENE: Bullfishes' Returns -- Take 2

Yea! Not only did I break news with the Bullfishes announcement (and rise to one of the top read stories for the past few days on Cinplify). I was right, on most counts.

The party re-starts on May 30th at 4023 Hamilton Avenue at 8pm.

Myspace page has been re-upped (thank you, Juliet & Juliette), and there's a Facebook announcement.

And I spelled her name right. Syndy Peterson is the new owner.

Welcome to the life, Syndy.