Went to a house party

Went to a house party to benefit two friends of a friend who will be riding in the AIDSRide from Minnesota to Chicago. All of the anniversary AIDS stuff this week has me quite moody. I rarely ever think of AIDS as an issue in my life or a risk – I’m safe and, like everybody should, get the quarterly HIV test. But some of the statistics they were rolling out this week were just deafening. That AIDS is the leading cause of death for young black men in this country…. [O]f the 36.1 million people infected with HIV worldwide, 26 million of them live in Africa. That 1/3 of the gay/bi population is infected. I just find that hard to believe – it would seem everybody I know has HIV. Maybe they do and they’re not telling – even more disconcerting. In the Caribbean, AIDS is the leading cause of death among people ages 15 to 44. It just gives me pause.