Eros smiles seductively
and takes the seat next
to mine.
He caresses my thigh
and whispers a filthy
secret: to know him
is telling
in a thousand
unspeakable
ways.
(c) Rob Goldstein November 5, 1985
Category: The AIDS Epidemic
My Time of Dying
I wrote this poem in December 1984.
San Francisco’s gay men were hit hard by the AIDS epidemic: the sick and dying were everywhere and no one really knew how HIV was transmitted.
As the number of cases increased most of the healthy men I knew thought they were they were going to sicken and die.
The press called us the worried well.
With cases of AIDS becoming more widespread every week, the United States is undergoing a second, related epidemic–fear of AIDS. The Chicago Tribune August 1985
I was 31. This is how I wanted to die.
If now is my time of dying
let it be a time of giving
a time of joy
an exchange of one gift
for another
to be part of the plan
aware of the plan
God grant me grace
in this interlude
this movement foreword
this final act of life.
‘My Time of Dying’ Rob Goldstein 1984-2019
Portrait of Rob Goldstein by Nina Glaser
Each one Teach One: How do Russia’s Lies Distort our Perceptions
The previous video, Meet the KGB Spies Who Invented Fake News, breaks down a Russian lie about the origin of the AIDS virus: it was a lie that distorted my view of the Federal Government for decades.
The lie was the U.S. Government created AIDS and used it on Gays.
Reagan’s homophobic response to AIDS gave power to Russia’s lie.
I could believe his government used my people to test a weapon.
In truth, Ronald Reagan was simply a homophobe in a culture of institutional homophobia.
Reagan was a man of his time.
The #LGBTQ community continued to challenge the law and the Constitution prevailed: we won the right to serve our country and legally marry.
One of the goals of Russian information warfare is to create a society in which we can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction. Brookings
This second video from the New York Times dissects the seven point strategy Russia uses when it launches a cyber attack.
How did Russia’s lies distort your perception of our government during the 2016 campaign?
I urge you to watch the third video, ‘How Disinformation Is Taking Over the World’
I do not own the video or images in the post.
There’s Nowhere to be When You’re Being Here Now
28 August 1999 (you got less than a month, right?)
Hey Dude,
Today be Jamie’s birth date day, and we’s havin’ a barbecue
in his honor if he ain’t drunk an’ if he shows up.
Jack be doing the cookin’, I’m on the eatin’ committee.
Maybe we can do it again when you get out, in your honor.
(Oops, I didn’t mean that your honor. No, I won’t reproach the bench.)
I had me one of them birth date days too, 4 days ago.
It was ho-hum, which they get after the first six years.
An I didn’t get no cake… an I didn’t get no party neither…But I turn 38 in 2001 so mark your calendar. (I bet that’s one thing you got good at.)
What did I get, you ask.
Lessee, mmmmm oh yeah! I got a couple of CD’s, an ooh! Ooh! That reminds me–you ain’t seen my stud-o-saurus yet.
He don’t walk softly but he do carry a big stick.
Where was I, oh yeah, the “loot.”
I got myself a couple of pairs of REAL GOOD sunglasses, a DVD, an a
headache.
You got me worried with talk of Bactrin and Pentantamine.
Is the prison doing this for prevention or did you come down with AIDS?
Did I mention Jake FINALLLLLLLLLY moved in, lock, stock, and porno?
I gave up but suu-prize, suu-prize, suu-prize.
Jake was in solitary for 8 months.
Eight months!
I hope they named a tile after him.
I guess I better work up an appetite by staring at food for a while.
Them pills my doc gives me don’t work so good.
I hate it when the present is the past and the future is now.
I guess what I mean is there ain’t no place to be when you’re being here now.
Got that?
Laters dude!
9c) Rob Goldstein 1992-2018
I found this on an old hard drive. The file is dated 1999
Art by Rob Goldstein 