An illness that has somehow got too much and not enough coverage

No other words convey better how I feel after having learned about AIDS since I started the blog for the course. I believed my basic knowledge of where it started its devastating wake (Africa, around 1950) and that millions today carry it in their blood and it could kill them from catching a cold covered my bases.

Boy, what a misconception. Browsing through the other blogs, I can only shake my head at the wealth of information available to anyone who cares to muster the energy to do the research and ask pointed questions to the men and women who live for curbing the epidemic. And yet, that same wealth seems like so little in the face of how new people still fall prey to the virus every day and the discrimination they face in different regions. I also have to confess that I am yet to interview anyone who has tested HIV positive, but reading other blogs and entries, it is clear that it can be an eye-opening, harrowing and at the same time beautiful, experience. Reading these personal testimonies gives this serious problem a face and shows exactly how it is ruining lives. That kind of knowledge cannot possibly exist in a rigid, essay-like format or be dissected into bullet points or statistics. Without people wanting to be interested in what the men and women, boys and girls infected with HIV have had to go through since they got it - and in some cases all their lives -, all the hard data out there will only seem like an obstacle to understanding how deep AIDS has ingrained itself in modern society. Without that human interest, this epidemic will only seem like a headline in a newspaper for a place far, far away.

This came after reading other people's own impressions and research on the topic. But my own investigation did not leave me cold either. Learning that some AIDS programs are currently surviving with the barely necessary funding and for how long such aid has existed for HIV-positive people in South Florida showed me that they do have some support out there. It also let me know of places and people to contact in case I need clarification on issues that I would not be able to get otherwise. The people I spoke to may not remember my name, but thanks to the assignment I've already made inroads toward educating myself - and others - by employing as many resources as possible.

The class has also introduced me to the concept of other media in order to make better and more impacting news items. Granted, I have not yet shot my first second of film of made any sound recordings, but I have started finding out places where I can go and get footage that can compliment an informative piece. I am not there yet, but I am preparing myself as thoroughly as possible at this point.