AIDS…

I have grown up Among dancers. My mother was a dancer, I have been a dancer myself. In this profession there tends to be a little more of a trend towards the homosexual side of things among the men than in most other venues. I have absolutely no problem with this. In fact, I have met, worked with, and have become good friends with many “gay” guys (and gals). It is my personal opinion that a gay guy makes an even better friend than a straight guy, because you always know that they are being straight with you (no pun intended) that they aren’t trying to get into your pants.

The only bad thing about having many gay guys as friends, is this horrible disease called AIDS. I can no longer count on two hands the number of people that I know who have died from AIDS. I have a video of my mother dancing, when I was only a little girl. She is doing this beautiful dance with three guys. Two of them are dead now. Both from AIDS. I did the Nutcracker with a guy who is now dead. AIDS. I hate this disease. I know that there are other diseases out there, and that they might even cause more death statistically speaking. But these are people I know, dying from a disease we know almost nothing about. If you get it, it is a death sentence.

Tonight I went to see a dress rehearsal for “Evita” at a local dinner theater. I knew a few people in it, and the choreographer is my dance teacher. So I was talking to her during intermission and I found out that Larry, the director that I was a stage manager for, has AIDS, and that he is not doing good. He is dying right in front of everyone’s eyes! Larry has a very special place in my heart, because he gave me a chance to be something that I never would have thought that I could be. And because of it, I found out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. And now he is dying!! I always had this dream that one day, when I was running my first show as a professional stage manager, I would send him a letter, or give him a call, and he could come and see my show. And I would tell him that all this was due to him. And now that will probably never happen! I HATE this f**king disease!!! This world is just messed up. Absolutely messed up.