james nunn | blog

On PBS tonight, FrontLine will be showing the first of a two part series called “The Age of AIDS.”  If you are in the DFW area, this will be shown on KERA13 at 8PM.

More information can be found by clicking on the link (or on the the logo).  Also, to coincide with this program, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released its 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic earlier today.

While the report outlines some progress in the treatment of HIV/AIDS throughout the world, one area which is not improving is the level of HIV prevention education that is being made available to those at greatest risk.  One figure from the report, states that “only 9% of men who have sex with men received any type of HIV prevention service in 2005″ – nine percent!  Education is an important – if not the most important – component of an effective treatment against the ongoing spread of HIV, so why is this number so low?

I always find it amusing that you can say one thing one day, and then be reading it in the newspaper the next   Yesterday, I chatted with Linda Stewart Ball from the Dallas Morning News about the increase in HIV infections that have occured in the Collin and Denton county areas.  Today, there are some of my words.

It appears that a preliminary report was released earlier this week that indicated that HIV infections had increased in Collin County about 60 percent in 2005. A similar increased was shown to have occured in Denton County as well.

Another person interviewed was Dr. Ron Aldridge, executive director of AIDS Services of North Texas, who expressed a similar thought to me – and a common belief (in my view) – that with the increase of availability of antiretroviral therapy drugs, which “treats” HIV, too many people erroneously believe that HIV is not an issue anymore.

My contribution to the report related to the age group that showed the largest increase (between 30 and 39) was:

“It's surprising that it's in that age group,” said James Nunn, 37, who founded Frisco Pride, a gay social and support group. He wondered how many of the people who tested positive were married and don't consider themselves gay because they have only occasionally slept with a man.

As I said to Linda, for many people in that age group, we lived through the time when HIV/AIDS was most prevalent, and many of us saw how it affected friends and our community, so I was baffled why gay men in this age group would have such a steady increase, then it became clear that maybe the increases were not amongst gay men, but this other category of “men who have sex with men.”  Some people believe that if you are a guy that has sex with another guy, then your gay.  I disagree.  A number of men experience sex with another man, but still identify as heterosexual.  A recent “phenomena” that supports this is African-American men who were “on the down low” (a term used for men who discreetly have sex with other men while in sexual relationships with women).  Perhaps the practice of this is becoming more prevalent amongst white men.

Another factor which I discussed, was the reality that there are also a number of men who are in this age group who have married, and possibly had children, who were conditioned to this lifestyle based on societal expectations.  These men are now realizing their true sexuality and experimenting, and in some cases, are probably doing so in an unsafe manner. These men didn't “live” through the first stages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, so probably weren't exposed to a lot of the information or education that was made available, especially on how to reduce risks. This is made more likely given that the second largest increase in infections were in the 40-49 age group.

Of course there are gay men out there who are in these age groups who actively seek HIV positive men to have sex with, in the “hope” that they will get infected, so that may sway some of the figures a little.  Still scratching my head on this one.

Politics & The Supreme Court: These past few days have not actually been busy, per se, just been keeping a low profile on the blogging front.  Wondering why?  The Samuel Alito confirmation hearings are on, and in an effort to educate myself about some of the doctrines that influence this country's supreme law, I've been watching CSPAN as they show uninterrupted coverage of the hearings.

Yesterday, I drifted in and out as I did laundry.  For those not in the know, our dryer joined the holiday takers just before New Years, and it finally got fixed yesterday. So from the moment it returned refreshed, until dinner I did 7-8 loads of laundry (this is just for myself and Chris), and in between I watched the Alito hearings on CSPAN.  Of course, I learned quite quickly that my education on the constitution and the man himself was not going to improve greatly.  Unlike the Roberts hearings, this one is full of Republicans filling their allotted time with praise, and “don't you agree” statements, and the Democrats actually pussy-footing around asking real questions.

Today, it got a little more interesting as Senators Kennedy and Specter exchanged some heated words over whether Specter had received a letter sent from Kennedy.  (365Gay.com reports that this interaction occurred just after Kennedy read some material from promotional material from a group that Alito was a member of while at Princeton University that was hateful towards gays and women.) Senator Kennedy released details of the letter later today, and Senator Specter acknowledged that his office, not himself personally, had received Senator Kennedy's letter (all up, Specter looked a little worse for wear given his comments).  I guess we have a few more days to look forward to.

Health & Fitness: In other news, I ordered an elliptical machine last week, and it's due to be collected tomorrow.  I've decided that I need to loose weight, and as I'm not a runner, jogging is out of the question.  I've been using an elliptical at Collin's gym, and liking it, so this was a huge factor in my decision to get one in the house.  I'm looking forward to getting it, as when the semester starts it will be a little more difficult to find time to get to the gym at either UNT or Collin, so I'm hopeful that having it stare at me in the morning, or afternoon will enthuse me to hop on for 30 minutes each day.

Travel: It appears we are going back to Key West in June – YAY!  Tonight Chris, Bobby, Ian & I sat down for drinks and snacks to discuss the travel plans, and more details will be coming soon. Oh yeah, this is happening while we are there.

Education: One week to go until classes start, and I'm actually looking forward to this happening. I'm not looking forward to the trip to Denton at least twice a week, but I keep telling myself that it's only for a couple of years (urgh, did I really say that).  I at least know who is leading my classes, and have heard back from two of my professors (one is the same one I had during fall).

Community: Our HOA is in the process of fixing some parts of the fence that run along the back of our home, and its taking forever.  I'm still not convinced that this is the best use of our funds, but I'm resigned to the fact that its probably in the best interests of those homes that it affects (we are not one of them).  The HOA has its annual meeting next week, and sadly this will be the first one I will miss. It appears someone who follows in my footsteps will be running for the committee I am on, so that should make for an interesting 2006.

Entertainment: Ian has been kind enough to loan me the full season one of Desperate Housewives, and my friend Damir (link), has all the episodes for season 2 on his DVR – so in a week or so, I hope to be up to speed on what is really happening on Wysteria Lane.

Next, I have to catch up on what is happening on the blog-o-sphere.  More posts later.

Today I attended a Health Fair at the college. First time I've had my cholesterol tested – not good. I'm not a doom or gloomer but I have to say I felt pretty depressed by the news. My triglycerites are at 532 (way over) and my ratio is 6.7 (should be lower than 4.5). Need to exercise, and now I have a reason to do it. Blood pressure is high – 140/100, so another reason to get off my fat ass and do something about it.

On a better note, I resigned from the LRC position yesterday, though it probably wasn't read until today. I think it's a good decision, and I'm happier about it. Still concerned about getting income in… but things always work out it seems, so I'm going to cross my fingers.

SGA looks like it could be an interesting year. We are going to get a new advisor – Kathrine, so that should set us in the right direction.

Well my new year resolutions are kicking in.

1. Loose Weight / Tone: Need to drop about 25 pounds, would like to drop 30. Body fat is too high, would like to see that down to about 12-14%, and then we'll work on getting it lower.

2. More Social: Decided that I need to be better at keeping in touch with people, and spend quality time with my friends.

3. Finish College Degree.

Will keep track of these on here through 2003.