HIV Sesame

I'm impressed with the decision of Sesame Workshop to introduce an HIV+ Muppet on Takalani Sesame, the Sesame Street show in South Africa.

Sesame Street, in the US has often been a source of educating children about fears, and diversity, at the same time about imagination and hopes. It's not perfect, but then, what is?

I applaud the Sesame educators for this decision. I'd love to get a tape of the first episode when it airs...sometime in September.

Mumbly Jumbly

1. People are pathologically incapable of reading directions. Especially on their medication. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to put that chemical into my body unless I know a little more about it than take it twice a day or whatever.

2. I've stopped one of my allergy meds. It doesn't feel all that awful, but I think I'm going to get them to switch my regular allergy medication to one that will do that which I was taking the second medication for. I feel better on it, but I haven't been off it more than about 48 hours, so I'm giving it time. And no, I didn't ask the doctor about it.

3. I'm wary of relationships that are playing themselves out online. There's one particular person in a community I read who seems to make me uncomfortable with the way she gushes about her partner. It's not even because of my current situation; it's something that I noticed a while back. Ah well, this isn't usenet, I can't killfile posters.

4. More ramblings about bisexuality. We were debriefing at our staff meeting about the cultural competency stuff we were doing last week. It was mentioned that we have a bisexual board member (I didn't know that! I'm glad. Visible bi people are important!) and that person is married. It was also mentioned that people feel like it's okay to ask this person all kinds of relatively personal questions about bisexuality of this person, and how weird and uncomfortable that is. And why do people think it's okay to ask? I got a couple of interesting looks from the other end of the table, from people who know that I've been asked these questions here at work and from people who've asked some of them. I've been told that I'm the only bisexual person that someone knows...all that. (I have no idea if the person making this point at the meeting knows that I'm bi...then again, anyone who's read my resume, and I know he has could probably pick it up from there.)

(Okay, I think it's important to ask the questions, and to answer them...but that's an aside.)

Is it a feeling that bisexuality is "weirder" than homosexuality? Is it that there's a feeling that "this person is kinda like me so it's okay to ask?" Is it just too hard to understand that "grey" is just as valid as "black" and "white"?
--------------------------------------------------------------------


"And I don't know if I believe in me, but I still believe in my friends"