NOVEMBER 25, 1994 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 27
BOOKS
'The epidemic didn't have to be this terrible'
Practices of Freedom:
Selected writings on HIV/AIDS by Simon Watley Duke University Press
Reviewed by Bob Boone
"So many bad and misleading and inadequate books have been published about HIV/AIDS, often by the politically motivated and religious bigots, that it is important to record and pay attention to community-based experience, which is all too frequently forgotten, ignored, or otherwise marginalised."
Such is the basis on which HIV/AIDS educator and activist Simon Watney justifies publishing a compilation of his selected essays. The result, Practices of Freedom, deserves to be read. Issues which Watney effectively addresses in the book are remarkable. With a monthly column on HIV/AIDS in Britain's Gay Times which is the longestrunning of its kind in Europe, he has actively involved himself with the issues on the worldwide scale.
His observations on the racism apparent in much of the reporting on AIDS in Africa is powerful. Citing example after example, Watney shows how certain elements of the media have maliciously created a separate "African AIDS" which "infests" the unbridled "orgy" that seems to grip the continent. Such gross misrepresentation thereby “equates black Africans and Western gay men as willful 'perverts' who are equally threatening to 'family values.""It follows that in the face of such a threat, the demise of these two groups thus becomes justifiable.
Watney's commentary on the total journalistic response to HIV/AIDS is none too positive. He convincingly demonstrates how most "straight" media tend either to inundate us with inaccurate scientific data (often accompanied by a greater-magnified photo of the mis-labelled "AIDS virus") or to portray the gaunt AIDS "victim," shrouded in death. The chapters on photo-journalism are especially effective at encouraging the reader to question everything he or she reads, sees, or hears on HIV/AIDS. With what becomes obvious examples, Watney explores how
SPORTS
Powerlifter tops her record
by Brad Burget
Four-time World Powerlifting Champion and open lesbian Amy Weisberger recently improved upon her gold-medal winning performance at the 1994 Gay Games by placing first in her weight class at the World Powerlifting Champion-
ships, held November 5 in Columbus.
lifting 374 pounds, bench pressing 209 pounds and dead lifting 369 pounds--a 61 pound increase since the Gay Games.
Weisberger said she was not athletic in high school. With the goal of toning up her body and getting in shape, she started lifting weights in 1988. That same year, she entered
The support for powerlifting
In the sport of powerlifting, an athlete at the Gay Games was
is scored on three lifts; overwhelming, and the
the squat, the bench press,
and the dead lift. At the crowd at the Carmine Street 1994 Gay Games, Recreation Center in Weisberger was true to
form as she completed a
downtown Manhattan was
303 pound squat, a 203 louder than any she's ever pound bench press, and a
308 pound dead lift-and experienced.
this was in the women's
123.5 pound weight class. Weisberger said that the support for powerlifting at the Gay Games was overwhelming, and that the crowd at the Carmine Street Recreation Center in downtown Manhattan was louder than any she's ever experienced. She hopes to see even more top athletes at the next Gay Games to be held in Amsterdam in 1998.
On November 5 in Columbus, Weisberger again placed first in her weight class, squat
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her first competition, placing second in her weight class. She has been involved in competitions ever since. Weisberger continues to train, working out in a private powerlifting club on the west side
of Columbus, and is currently working with one of the premier coaches in the
sport. She will be competing in the nationals in Dallas, Texas in July, and then plans to compete in the World Championships to be held next year in Italy. She is hoping to find individuals and organizations willing to sponsor her so she will be able to travel to these upcoming events. For more information on sponsoring Weisberger, call 614253-4038.
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photos, charts, phrases, and captions can launch debilitating attacks on our consciousness. It is with great skill that he calls into doubt so many otherwise easily-accepted details without a sense of paranoia, but the security born from his painstaking education of the is-
sues.
Practices of Freedom is a collection of essays beginning in 1986 which unfolds with the occurrence of events instead of responding to them retroactively. The anger and frustration with government inaction during the 80's is vivid because it is authentic to the times. It is painful to read and remember the abhorrent behaviors of the Reagan-Bush and Thatcher governments, their refusals to
which were accurate of the times. One can see the frustration in the early chapters, shocked at government's blindness and cruelty. Initial essays are filled with statistics as if to terrify the sleeping giant to action. But as the lesbian and gay community responds and seizes the initiative to fill the
SIMON WATNEY
PRACTICES
OF FREEDOM
SELECTED WRITINGS
act and their not even thinly-veiled contempt for individuals in any of the "high risk groups." Frighteningly, Watney concludes that Britain is five years behind the United States in its reaction to HIV/AIDS. When in fact the British government did attempt to react, the Chief Medical Officer had to smuggle copies of the Advocate and the New York Native "for some of the most updated information on HIV/AIDS" into England in diplomatic bags to circumvent seizure of the magazines at British airports due to obscenity laws.
Unfolding too throughout Practices of Freedom are Watney's own attitudes, as well as his writing style. Choosing not to edit history, he allows that he included in the book opinions which he no longer holds, but
ON HIV/AIDS
void, Watney's attitudes reflect a new strength. He is knowledgeable and determined. When government and other interests desperately attempt to usurp the authority of gay organizations that are proving effective in their battles against the epidemic, Watney confidently responds to the need to keep these organizations focused on their true and intended purpose.
Most sobering are the evolving statistics that Watney quotes throughout the book. The number of people living with AIDS and those that have died grows and grows through the pages. It is tragic to read the initial statistics and wish that they could have remained no larger. At one point, Watney cites that someone in America dies from Aids every thirty minutes. It seems a small number of pages before the time is revised to every ten minutes.
More tragic is to read of a subsequent government educational commercial which showed a man rolling a sock up his foot to try to suggest the use of a condom, but never once daring to use the word condom. It is no wonder that Watney concludes that "the epidemic didn't have to be like this. It didn't have to be this terrible."
11 11
חיייי
The Cleveland Play House
and
NORTH COAST MEN'S CHORUS
CLEVELAND OHIO
present
When We No Longer Touch
A Cycle of Songs for Survival
Kristopher Jon Anthony, Composer
With text by Peter McWilliams and the Latin Requiem
The North Coast Men's Chorus Timothy Robson, Music Director Adele Crawford, Soprano
A memorial concert in observance of
World AIDS Day
December 1, 1994, 7:00pm
The Cleveland Play House Drury Theatre
•
Limited tickets for reserved seats available now. The Play House Ticket Office, 8500 Euclid Ave.,
by phone (216) 795-7000.