Tampa Do-Gooder: April 2012

4.30.2012

Civics Lesson 3

As nerdy as I some times appear, I still don't know a lot about Congress and what the heck goes (or doesn't go) on there. So I really dig Megavote, a daily email that tells me who voted for what.

There's a lot of resources on their website, run by the CQ Roll Call news group, for aspiring advocates & informed citizens.

4.20.2012

World Book Night

Monday night is the first ever World Book Night in the U.S. The celebration began a year ago in the UK to "spread a love of reading and books."

Literary-lovin' volunteers have committed to picking up (free!) books this weekend and distributing them by Monday to adult readers in need of inspiring stories, like at the Alpha House, a licensed maternity home for new mothers & pregnant women in crisis.

Locally the effort includes Inkwood Books' Carla Jimenez, who wrote in a recent email that she "was thrilled to be asked to serve on the committee selecting the titles," which includes some of my favorite novels ever:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
The Stand by Stephen King
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
and a bunch more.

There's also nonfiction, like the so-very-awesome science/social justice story The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Just Kids by Patti Smith
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The latter three sit on my own bookshelf but I have yet to make time for them. In the spirit of this wonderful celebration I'd be happy to pass them along.

I don't think there's a better gift in the world than a book.

4.16.2012

Community News

I met Bill Sharpe in 2006-ish through the local blogging community. In the years that followed, the more I was out & about looking for stuff to write about (or just living the good life), the more I saw Bill.

He published the South Tampa Community News & last year launched the Tampa Epoch in response to the ban on panhandling.

The Epoch benefits our homeless & near-homeless neighbors. It received considerable coverage from the local mainstream and alternative press and blogs.

"I'm doing the right thing," Sharpe said on Rob Lorei's Radioactivity call-in show late last year.

Bill passed away earlier this month. Again all forms of media in Tampa Bay covered his work, life and death. The local circles on social networking sites continue to rattle with condolences. Both online and off, this is a community at its finest. It's unbearably sad, however, that we're one citizen less.

Celebrate Bill Sharpe Tuesday, April 17th at 5 p.m. at the Hyde Park United Methodist Church, and after 6 p.m. at MacDintons.

Civics Lesson 2

The Judeo Christian Health Clinic in Tampa turns 40.

"It's us, or they don't get health care."

Video courtesy Michelle Bearden/TBO.com.

4.09.2012

Civics Lesson 1

4.03.2012

Happy National Public Health Week!

View the story "In Memoriam" on StorifyIn MemoriamIn observance of National Public Health Week 2012, this is an homage to journalist Randy Shilts & the members of the scientific community who fought to contain & cure AIDS since its start over 30 years ago. This is dedicated to those who have fallen & those who continue to fight. Storified by Dawn Morgan · Thu, Mar 29 2012 18:52:06Sciencesavsabrina

Randy Shilts’ book Andthe Band Played On was published in 1987. It’s the story of the start of AIDSin America.

Randy Shilts warned early about 'baffling diseases' in gay menEditor's note: When he first wrote about it, it was called GRID, for "gay-related immuno-deficiency diseases." Later, we would call it AI...The film version followed in 1993. I remember not understanding too much back then about the politics surrounding the issue. I was about 15 at that point, just afew years older than the epidemic. And The Band Played On (1993)supaflyrobbyMy first love was media, with an emphasis on journalism. Now public health takes a close second. Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence ServiceThe story begins with a classic public health parable: Two physicians observe people floating down the Brown River. Some were alive and s...

A public healthparable, as told by Beth E. Meyerson:

“Two physicians observepeople floating down the Brown River. Some were alive and struggling, but witheyes glazed. The doctors spring into action, pulling as many people as possiblefrom the river. As the flow of bodies continues unabated, the epidemiologistjumps out of the water and begins to run upstream. Her colleague protests, “ForGod’s sake, help me save these people!” Instead, she ventures upstream to determinethe cause of this carnage.”

The commonality that links the two fields for me is that they both help protect mass quantities of people. Randy Shilts Interview, 1987 - Part Oneednayarkspay

At over 600+ pages And the Band Played On is literally a heavy book, not to mention emotionally cumbersome. I knew before I startedreading it that many of its real-life characters would fall victim to thedisease, as did its author Randy Shilts, the first full-time reporterassigned to cover the AIDS beat.

Randy Shilts was gutsy, brash and unforgettable. He died 10 years ...Feb 17, 2004 ... Randy Shilts was gutsy, brash and unforgettable. He died 10 years ago, fighting for the rights of gays in American soc...

The Story

While the American Sexual Revolution of the 1960’s & '70's was in full swing, across the world in Africa, Ebola struck but was quickly quashed. It was followed by another mysterious illness.

#fridayreads Almost halfway thru the 603 pg. 'And the Band Played On.' already my fav public health/journalism book http://pic.twitter.com/IKfDDFHkDawn Morgan

Sex had become arecreational sport, and with the advent of gay bath houses, a commercializedenterprise.

play it safesavsabrina

No one wants to be toldhow to live their lives or have their civil liberties trampled, but when risky sexual behavior put lives at risk, doctors,public health officials & other concerned citizens wanted to warn peoplethat they were harming themselves and others.

This was a difficult challengefor allies of the gay community & even gay doctors.

Dritzsavsabrina

At first the gay community refused to acknowledge the problem.

kramer1savsabrinaThe government didn’t want to fund research for a cause, much less a cure, and the mainstream media didn't want to talk about it. band1savsabrina

From the beginning,writer Larry Kramer was living in New York, the epicenter, and watched thedisease grow and decimate. In a 2011 interview with CNN, Kramersaid, “Most people have not wanted to know the truths about AIDS.”

AIDS is a plague allowed to happenHere are 10 realities about AIDS, and I've learned them the hard way: 1. AIDS is a plague -- numerically, statistically and by any defini...Some people really tried to help, to do their jobs well. They werethwarted again and again.wsjsavsabrinaA Glimmer of Hope? AIDSsavsabrinaIt’s not every day that a new disease is discovered. AIDS changedlives, career paths, and slowly, our culture.careerssavsabrinaHow AIDS Changed America - The Daily BeastMay 14, 2006 ... The plague years: It brought out the worst in us at first, but ultimately it brought out the best, and transformed the...

But back in 1981, beforeall this would be revealed, researchers at the CDC had no budget to hire thescientists needed to study the new disease or to buy the necessary labequipment.

What are we waititng forsavsabrinaMeanwhile reporters needed help “selling” the disease to their editors. They begged to have another angle, a straight angle, to have the story go mainstream.
give us something elsesavsabrinaFemale-to-Male Transmission of AIDS, August 23, 1985, Haverkos and Edelman 254 (8): 1035 - JAMASince this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text. Excerpt To the Editor.- Dr Redfield ...Young politician Bill Kraus, who had been an aide to city supervisor Harvey Milk, tried to raise funds & awareness of the disease from inside the system. band2savsabrinaIt didn’t even have an official name yet.No NamesavsabrinaI’m half way thru this massive text but I already know that there won't be a happy ending. Sure, there's medication that has moved AIDS from a deadly disease to a chronic one that can be managed.

But that's not good enough. We've lost too many people and will lose more. And the loudest voices at times are those still preaching hatred, evil & sin.

Band3savsabrinaIn 2005 my good friend Michael was diagnosed HIV+.
Video: Through ink and blood, acceptanceI thought we were past this, my generation being unsafe, but when I examined my own habits, I saw they were often less than careful. Many people still think this can't happen to them, or don't think at all. Reproductive and Sexual Health | APHA National Public Health WeekReproductive and Sexual Health Download fact sheet Routine screenings and education can go a long way toward helping Americans improve re...From STD's to obesity, most of us choose the overall health of our bodies. We get to decide whether or not we'll practice safe sex, receive vaccinations, eat whole foods, and refuse to text /drink & drive. But humans do not tend to plan that far ahead. CDC EPR | Social Media | Preparedness 101: Zombie ApocalypseImage of Zombie Novella ... follow Todd, Julie, and their dog Max as a strange new disease begins spreading, turning ordinary people in...Public health people know that behavior is the hardest thing to change.

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