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AIDS 2.0 by Avram Finkelstein

A member of Gran Fury on why the numbers of AIDS documentaries and gallery exhibitions are on the rise.

Even in the earliest moments of AIDS, and from deep within its swirling vortex, the outlines of its cultural meaning were detectable. Playing out as it did in the public sphere, it was impossible to overlook. So assumptions about it formed quickly in our shared spaces, and almost as immediately, they began to crystallize into canon.

Read more… http://www.poz.com/articles/avram_finkelstein_2676_23355.shtml

Wounded AIDS Warriors Suffering, Dying on Their Own by John Voelcker

The death of Spencer Cox prompts a cofounder of the Medius Institute for Gay Men’s Health to speak out.

The death of notable AIDS activist Spencer Cox last month, at age 44, was a wake-up call — a blaring alarm — that highlighted once again the critical need for mental health programs and studies of the powerful trauma experienced by gay men in their 40s through 70s who’ve lived through the loss and destruction of entire communities due to AIDS.

Read more… http://www.poz.com/articles/john_voelcker_spencer_cox_2676_23351.shtml

The Private War That Killed Spencer Cox

AIDS did not kill Spencer Cox in the first, bloodiest battles of the 1980’s. It spared him that.

The reprieve allowed Spencer’s brilliance as co-founder of the Treatment Action Group (TAG)  to forge new FDA guidelines for drug approval and help make effective HIV medications a reality, saving an untold number of lives.

Such triumph by a man still in his twenties might have signaled even greater achievements ahead. Instead, Spencer found himself adrift in the same personal crisis as many of his contemporaries, who struggled for a meaningful existence after years of combating the most frightening public health crisis of modern times.

Read more of Mark S. King’s blog: http://blogs.poz.com/marksking/2013/01/the_private_war_that.html

Specialty Pharmacies Unscripted

by Larry Kramer

The founder of ACT UP fights back after being told he couldn’t use his pharmacy of choice.

On November 19, I received a curt letter from Empire BlueCross BlueShield, which has insured me since I worked as a trainee at Columbia Pictures in 1958 or so.

“Our records show that you are getting the medicines(s) listed below from a retail pharmacy. It is important to note that beginning 01/01/2013, your medicine must be filled through our specialty pharmacy, CuraScript … If you stay with your retail pharmacy, the medicine won’t be covered.”

Enclosed was a list of most of my anti-HIV and hepatitis B drugs that I am taking. It is a complicated list. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of complicated illnesses. My pharmacist at Bigelow knows me and my list and my doctors well. I rushed over to show the letter to Bruce, who shook his head sadly. “It’s happening all over the place.” Bigelow is the oldest apothecary in America. I asked him, “But why are you being punished, instead of the greedy drug companies? Why am I being punished?” OK, we’ve been here before.

Read more: http://www.poz.com/articles/larry_kramer_curascript_2676_23317.shtml

Eye of the Tiger: How To Survive A Plague

Watching the new and highly-acclaimed documentary How To Survive a Plague was very strange for me. I think that’s because the film’s story — the fierce battle against the AIDS epidemic that was fought in the late 1980s and early 90s by AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) and its offshoot the Treatment Action Group (TAG) — is my story.

http://blogs.poz.com/spencercox/2012/10/how_to_survive_a_plague.html

A blog by Spencer Cox

Former Mayor Ed Koch Reviews HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE
A blog by Peter Staley

Amazing how he fails to mention his own shameful role in this film, or this history.

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Larry Kramer added a comment : “What is this evil man up to as he approaches his death? Is he trying to make up to us? National Medals of Freedom from the White House! Would these provide a big enough enema to clean out his rotten insides? …”