[Peckers_Pics] Hair Wars; Nov 29, 2010 - Safe PICS For All Ages, Rated G

 

Hair Wars; Nov 29, 2010

Safe PICS For All Ages, Rated  G

 

Diet & Fitness:

• Reminder: Did you complete your Diet Journal today?  Get it done!
• Did you do any physical activity?  If not, make a point of it by tomorrow! Own a bike?  Ride it to lunch, work, park, lake!
• It is our hope that our male fittness photos shall inspire you!

Today's Health - Wellness / Exercise / Reflections:

Five faces of life with HIV

By Julia Edwards, Special to the Tribune / Nov 28, 2010

 

As World AIDS Day approaches Wednesday, Chicagoans living with HIV and AIDS today know a different world than those who were infected 15 years ago, when AIDS deaths reached their peak.

Today, an HIV-positive diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. Because people who have HIV are living longer due to medical advances, the number of people with HIV or AIDS continues to rise. According to data released Monday by the Chicago Department of Public Health, the number of Chicagoans living with HIV and AIDS was 20,871 in 2008, the most recent data available. That's up from from 8,500 in 1995.

Outside of World AIDS Day events, marathons and fundraisers, the virus takes a back seat in conversation, people living with HIV say.

Johnathon Briggs, a spokesman for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, said not talking about the disease increases the stigma that keeps many people from seeking treatment. Those who don't seek treatment are more likely to spread the disease.

In the spirit of World AIDS Day, five Chicagoans living with HIV or AIDS agreed to share their stories.

Joann Montes, 46, patient advocate at CORE Center, a clinic for infectious diseases.

Montes contracted HIV from her late husband, who did not tell her he was HIV-positive. At the time she was diagnosed, the topic was still taboo in the Latino community, she said. Today, Montes tells her story in Latino churches from Chicago to New York.

"There was this thing of, 'How did this happen? I am a Latino woman doing what I'm supposed to do.' I didn't have sex before I got married. I follow all my church's and my religion's guidelines, and I did everything that I knew to be right and I still got HIV. And hearing that news, it is a devastating diagnosis, it is devastating news to hear."

Patricia Johnson, 48, case manager at Lawndale Christian Health Center.

Johnson is a grandmother of 10 and mother of eight. She contracted HIV when she was raped in 1989. Johnson did not know she had the virus until her newborn son tested positive three years later. She first found solace in support groups.

"I started going to support groups and I didn't say a lot. I just sat there and listened. And a lady, she's passed on now, she said to me, 'You don't have to say much, honey, just be here.' And she grabbed my hand, and thewomen in that room became my new family.

"Now my world is brand-new, wide open. I'm going different places from state to state speaking. It's scary, but I know when I leave the message is clear: that I'm HIV-positive and this is my face."

Richard Cordova, 32, spin class instructor at a fitness center and project manager at Test Positive Aware Network, where he plans special events for AIDS awareness and outreach.

Cordova is a former drug abuser. He said he does not know if he contracted the virus sexually or through intravenous drug use. By the time he was tested, his HIV had progressed to AIDS. He continued to struggle with drugs and depression until he came across an ad to run a marathon to benefit AIDS research. He ran in that marathon and five others after that. Since the moment he committed to running, he said he has been staying clean, healthy and treated.

"The marathon, for me, was like my rock. You train with a pace group, and my pace group was just phenomenal and it was like every Saturday, that was my rock. I needed that. It was like no matter what was going on in my life, I saw that next Saturday as my next minigoal to get to. I have now run six marathons and done three 200-mile charity bike rides."

Steven Carter, 59, retired travel agent.

Carter, who is gay, said he contracted HIV from sex in 1988. At that time, Carter was convinced his life would soon end, so he kept it from friends and family and did not seek treatment. It took a friend, who noticed Carter was losing weight, to persuade him to get tested.

"My mother was the first person I told. I said, 'Mama I got something to tell you. I have AIDS.' She said, 'No you don't. You're HIV-positive. And it's not the end of the world.' I said, 'Well I have to take medication for the rest of my life.' She said, 'Well, join the club. I have high blood pressure and I have to take medication for the rest of my life. Be glad that there is medication that you can take.'

"And here I am, I'm still alive. All I had to do was follow my regimen, and I can live a healthy life."

Arick Buckles, 38, outreach worker at CORE Center.

Buckles believes he sexually contracted HIV more than 5 years before he was tested in 2005. When he learned of his diagnosis, he said he was trying to beat a drug addiction and bouncing between homelessness and jail. He was reluctant to get treated until someone he trusted told him life with HIV was possible.

"The turnaround for me was my last stay in prison. I met a social worker there who was HIV-positive and an advocate. She gave a face to AIDS when she revealed her status to me. At that point I was visibly ill and the doctors were telling me, 'You really need to treat this,' but I was afraid of facing it. When she opened up and shared her story with me I could not believe it. This was a peer, someone who was actually living with HIV. That was the turning point in my life."

 

Video: http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/67b9d02e-1450-468f-bbfa-552f05b20531/News/Faces-of-HIV

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• Boycott Arizona the home of senile - Sen. John McCain: because of their Hateful anti-Immigration Law that encourages racial profiling and increases hatred towards minorities.  A remedy: Demand Republicans to  support Immigration Reform. Further, Their Senator McCain voted against ending DADT and blocked Immigration reform!  We shall hold the voters of Arizona responsible!
• NEW: Boycott Target and Best Buy for donating money towards anti-gay political candidates/organizations.
• NEW: Boycott Gold's Gym for donating loads of money to anti-gay candidates. 

And Now, Our War of the Fittest!

This group is called "Peckers PICS."  The English -  slang definition of "pecker" is to pluck at the truth. Therefore, we peck at items such as Gay Men's Health, Male Fitness, Gay (LGBT) Politics & Issues.  In this section you may peck at each photo in order to decide the winner of the "war of the fittest!"  Whereas, you should select the guy that may inspire you to exercise and "get fit!"   Warning: This may stoke you!

Remember your participation in discussion of health / news articles - appearing in this message is greatly appreciated.

1

Ben Cohen

 

1a

 

1b

 

2

Frankie Amato

 

2a

 

2b

 

2c

 

3

Tom Burst

 

4

Nathaniel

Click Me

 

5

 

6

 

7

Carlo Massi

 

8

Wagner Limeira

 

9

Ari Levanael

 

10

Peter

 

11

 

12

 

13

Click Me

 

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You Decide!

Brighton, Uk - Gay Pride; Aug 7, 2010

Stoked?

Brighton, Uk - Gay Pride; Aug 7, 2010

'Burlesque's' Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Talk Gay Bullying

By On Top Magazine Staff / Published: November 28, 2010

 

Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci and Cam Gigandet – the stars of Burlesque – talk gay bullying in a just-released video.

In the video from gay website Towerland, Tucci says the bullying directed at gay teens is a backlash against an increasingly gay-accepting society.

"Don't you think it's a reaction to a more open society, in the sense that as this society starts to create new freedoms and people start to feel more comfortable coming out, that there is going to be a reaction to that. An equal reaction to that would be the bullying," Tucci says.

Cher disagrees, saying that maybe this generation is "less kind."

"I mean you see it on reality shows, the paparazzi is much worse …," the Academy Award-winning actress says.

Twenty-nine-year-old Aguilera, who is interviewed seated next to Gigandet, says she's a longtime proponent of gay rights.

"Your individuality is the most important thing and you have to be able to rise above anything," Aguilera says.

"Tell the bullies to f-ck off," Gigandet adds.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ0SpbhhPnE&feature=player_embedded

"Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."

....Jake

URGENT:  Boycott Gold's Gym, Target and Best Buy for donating money towards anti-gay political candidates/organizations and to Proposition 8 (California) to prevent gay marriage. I would not purchase "Blood Diamonds," nor should a person / organization be contributing funds to both Hitler / Nazi's and the Jews at the same time!   Obviously giving money to the Jews and not Hitler/Nazi's was the right thing to do.   Hence, these companies violated my trust and well-being.   They gave money to my enemy who would terminate me from my job, deny me housing and send me to a Internment camp.  Therefore, goodbye Gold's Gym, Target and Best Buy!  The CEO's of these companies have been insensitive to our reaction and do not even comprehend their actions!  What takes so long to "fire" these Neanderthals?

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"Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."

...Jake (Moderator)

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