FINDING MY WAY AROUND

It's been a while since I had a chance to sit down and tell you what's been going on. I found some information from the Arkansas Aids project about support groups in Pulaski, Faulkner and Lonoke counties. I went to one in the city and have recommended others to also go to support groups. Some of them I know will go, because that's what they really need and others...well I'm still trying.
A lot of times in minority communities it is hard to join a support group for HIV/AIDS when you really didn't have a support group for just being LGBT. I personally think that it would be a lot easier if there was a LGBT support group in these communities, that way there would be a connection of feeling like the person was included.
It's hard to be gay, but believe me, depending on where you live and your social status, it's even harder being gay in black, latino and asian communities. And also very isolated, that's why it's no surprise to me that there is a lot more "downlow" activity in poorer communities.
But now back to finding help, after Labor Day weekend I plan to put a schedule in order and report to you what I find and what I don't find. also i am thinking about asking other organizations in bigger cities what they had to do in order to start support groups in their communities.
In the mean time and in-between-time, hope U have a good weekend and i'll get back with you soon!

Today I am here

This morning I watched the sun break the clouds down and push its way into day. The sky so wide and so beautiful, I almost didn't get this picture. It's one of the many things I like to do, get up early in the morning and watch the sun come up...for me, there is nothing more humbling. I'm not a religious person, but I am spiritual and so I rise with the say and give thanks to my higher power. I spent the morning in my garden, because I do my baking and blogging at night, but my thinking early in the day. I think about the many people who need my help. Some need Rx's filled, others need monthly check-ups. I have to set up rides for the month, find school supplies for some of the children of families who cannot get out because of sickness. During my visits I make my usual pleas to eat more fruits and vegetables, to go and see a doctor or to try to help some get off the streets. Sometimes it get's really hard, there are those who have STD's and HIV. It's a struggle between trying desperately to talk them into needed medication and out of using the money for alcohol and drugs.

But I always say if you are going to do something you have to keep doing it (or was that my auntie?)

Anyway about starting my support group. I spoke to a lot of people that I work with and all of them said it woud be a great idea to have a gay support group. I asked my volunteers, and they all said they wanted to help. Over coffee I decided to put together a mailing list, local, state and national to ask for suggestions in starting a LGBT support group. I know from experience that when people feel comfortable in one kind of group they will be more inclined to get involved with other groups. This would work great in minority communities who also need HIV/AIDS support groups. I wrote down a lot ot questions and put them together on my mailing list. I plan on mailing out next week and following up with phone calls.

Lastly now that I have my "to do" list, i decided to contact everyone i have on my e-list and invite them to this blog. I WANT TO HEAR YOUR OPINION AND IDEAS TOO. How about you? Do you have an suggetion or thought on how I can start a LGBT support group? Get 2 me!

LOVE BIG JAY

A Brand New Day

Today I sat down in front of my computer screem scanning through a host of "directories" trying to find what other resources I can use to help the people that I volunteer with. See I have been volunteer in Faulkner, Lonoke, White and Pulaski counties helping people who live with HIV/AIDS. Here in our "bible belt" there are people who are suffering. They suffer because they are invisible...sentenced to ignorance, hatred and fear from their families, friends and communities. For me it started 3 years ago, with a favor fo a friend. she was called into work a new shift and needed someone to watch her brother who was in his final stages of AIDS. She knew that I had worked with people with HIV/AIDS before I moved south. She was a good friend ( and you don't get many of those) so I said "yes." For this story I'll call him "Mike". when I met Mike he was a young man, just 29 and very sick, pale and fragile. Mike was on oxygen because of constant pneumonia and breathing problems. the first few days were hard on him, he hadn't eaten much in two days and had no bowel movements in three. I fed him potato soup, and we talked (well I talked) for a long time. After a while, I found Mike to be a very loving person, he had the ability to laugh, joke and talk openly about his homosexuality and disease. During one of our talks I found out that he loved "The Twilight Zone". (I AM A MEGA FAN OF ROD STERLING!) One weekend I went to visit Mike to see how he was doing, armed with the Blockbuster complete series of "the zone" and (too much butter) Orville's popcorn. I thought it would make him happy, and it did, it brought Mike to tears. Mike told me that he "felt ashamed that he had AIDS and because of that he sat in his room all day with nothin to run through his mnd but regrets." "I avoided delaing with ahving HIV, I just didn't want to think about it...or believe it," he told me. We took all day watching DVD's over that popcorn as Mike laughed out loud, jumped at all the scary parts and was stuck with a smile after 10 hours when I finally had to leave. Over the next months I brought other movies, sometimes books or music from the library and my own collection. Mike died 9 months later, "complications from pnemonia". He left me a note that said, "My shining star, I love you, now go and help someone else." there was a list of four names and addresses on the paper. It started out as just a favor for a friend, and I met another friend and another. All are in different stages of HIV/AIDS, all from different backgrounds with different stories. The one thing they all have in common is not the disease, but that they are alone. Mike was lucky that he had a sister, but most of the people I meet have no family, friends or connection to help them. They live in shame, fear and depression; some have been abandoned and some have runaway and many more commit suicide through drug abuse.

Yet "they", as "we", are all human, we all have that light inside of us, the desire to laugh, the need to cry, to be held, fed or just to hear a voice, a story...a song. We must never forget that. Now time has gone by and I have two other part-time helpers and many more people to help. i am looking for other resources that can help people with HIV/AIDS. People are looking for real and true information about the disease, like how to schedule services with a doctor. They should know what kind of new treatments are available and learn new ways to live a healthy life style. People want to know what legal right they have and information is open to the public and other privacy issues.

We need support groups, not just for HIV/AIDS but open to the whole LGBT communityl, all of it, queers, intersexed, ALL! I wonder what groups are out there, if they are there, and where are they? I wonder if there is anyone else interested in starting a LGBT suppport group? OK so heres's my project...I am on a mission to find and/or start a support group. What do you think, can there be equal support groups for the LGBT community in a bible belt state like Arkansas?