#a&e editor

http://aztecpressonline.com/2015/04/treat-hivaids-patients-with-more-compassion/

By KATIE VACIO

When it comes to the taboo subject of HIV/AIDS, people as a whole still react by dehumanizing the sick.

Instead of trying to understand the illness, people stay ignorant because of its history. HIV/AIDS carries a stigma because of its association with homosexuals or drug addicts.

“Patients who are infected are still treated with shame, stigma and hate,” says Robert Knight, a peer counselor/case manager with the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation.

Much of the reaction stems from lack of education and understanding, Knight adds.

“Too many still believe this is still a gay disease and that you can get it by touch and-or close proximity,” he says.

Cultural perception plays a role as well, says Vera Bowlby, the SAAF manager of case management services.

“It also depends on the culture background,” she says. “The Latin and Spanish communities have different reactions than here. The stigma is still there.”

The local AIDS foundation still deals with some stigma, Bowlby adds, but it is not as bad as it used to be. In the past five years, it has become much easier for clients to access services and treatments.

“When someone is newly diagnosed, it comes free of rejection and the shame because of how most people got infected with the virus,” Bowlby says.

Some people who are infected with HIV/AIDS rise above the obscene scrutiny.

Russell Collingwood, 46, who has the illness, says it doesn’t define who he is as a person.

“Most of my friends and all of my family know my status,” he says. “The two partners in the relationships I’ve been with since my diagnosis are both HIV negative.”

Collingwood doesn’t try to hide his situation.

“I think because I’m so open about my status and don’t let it define me or make me a victim, I don’t get treated any differently,” he says.

The more knowledge that people have of the disease, the less discrimination, hate and stigma will be felt by people with HIV/AIDS.

Anyone can get infected. Famous personalities include singer Freddie Mercury, actor Rock Hudson, basketball player Magic Johnson and hemophiliac patient Ryan White, who was expelled from middle school in 1984 after he contracted the disease through a blood transfusion.

The virus can spread in different ways, from having unprotected sex to using the same needle as an infected person to an unfortunate accident.

Collingwood’s partner of 12 years died from the illness, and Collingwood became infected while caring for him.

“I was changing his IV, and he had a seizure,” Collingwood says. “Blood was backing up into the IV tube and the IV needle tore his vein. His arm swung around and hit my hand holding the IV needle and it ended up slicing the back of my hand open.”

Society also still thinks of HIV/AIDS as a death sentence, which fuels fear and ignorance.

“It’s really no different today living with HIV than it is living with diabetes,” Collingwood says.  “You have to take care of yourself, see your doctor and most importantly, take your meds every day.”

Collingwood wishes “happiness and love” for anyone living with HIV/AIDS.

The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation has adopted a new focus and direction without losing its core mission and value, Knight says.

He believes the changes helped unite the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and allied communities.

http://aztecpressonline.com/2014/09/stop-blaming-victims/

BY KATIE STEWART

When unfortunate events happen, society tends to blame the victim.

The public can be insensitive and quick to condemn the vulnerable. No matter what vulgar or vicious act a perpetrator commits, it is somehow always the victim’s fault.

On Aug. 31, an unknown hacker posted stolen celebrity photos on the website 4chan. The postings included nude photos of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton and countless others.

After the hacked photos were widely publicized, the celebrities were bombarded with uninvited scrutiny.

Then came the inevitable backlash, and the victims were blamed and shamed for their indecency. Never mind that the private images were never intended for public consumption.

The true fault lies with the person who had the audacity to hack into the celebrities’ personal lives.

Another incident started on Feb. 15, when former Baltimore Ravens football player Ray Rice was arrested and charged with assault toward his then-fiancée Janay Palmer.

A video posted by the celebrity news website TMZ showed Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer out of an elevator. Rice lost his job after a second video surfaced from inside the elevator that showed Rice throwing the knock-out punch.

Fox News “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade mocked the incident, saying “I think the message is, take the stairs.”

His so-called joke once again blamed the victim by providing a “solution” instead of putting the blame where it belongs, with the perpetrator.

Other examples of placing blame: telling a rape victim that she should have worn more decent clothing, or telling an abused spouse that she shouldn’t have made her husband mad.

People should be allowed to do what they want to their own bodies without the fear of having someone taking advantage of it. And blaming the victim for an abusive relationship is just ridiculous.

We must stop being insensitive to victims and quit looking the other way with perpetrators. Instead, let’s teach people how to be decent and not to take advantage of others.

http://aztecpressonline.com/2014/09/edge-of-eighteen-shows-education-from-teens-perspective/

BY KATIE STEWART

Academy Award filmmaker Alex Gibney and Al Jazeera America’s award-winning documentary strand will be premiering their latest TV documentary, “Edge of Eighteen” on Sept 7 at 9 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. PT, with six hour-long original episodes airing Sunday evenings through October.

The “Edge of Eighteen” documentary is about teens and education in the United States, a provoking, informative documentary series that takes a look at a portrait of life as a teenager in United States which is filmed by the students themselves.

Gibney along with producers Dave Snyder and Amy Kohn sent out a call for 17 and 18-year-old students willing to document their lives from the start of 2014 until their high school graduations.

The series is told through a first person’s arc of the students’ lives and raises many important questions about the United States educational system.

The six part documentary series inquire into the educational issues kids face and how their personal lives tie into their ability to make decisions about their future.

“This series is more than anything a portrait of a generation,” Kohn said. “We were interested in looking at how teens on the edge of adulthood were facing the issues of the day in our highly connected, ever changing and fast paced world.”

What they found was the new generation interests was of a variety of issues such as education, financial aid, gay rights, separation of church and state, violence in their communities, teen pregnancy, bullying and much more.

Al Jazeera America inspired approached with Jigsaw about doing a series on education.

“Our goal was to show the educational environment of teens through their own eyes and experiences so the world could see how the people living within the system viewed and experienced it,” Kohn said.

“As we worked with the teens, we found that issues of education couldn’t be separated from all of the other challenges, triumphs, and issues that they faced on a daily basis,” she added.

The “Edge of Eighteen” series follows the tradition of verite documentary, exploring real lives as they unfold and through this process they discovered an abundance of issues and ideas.

They contacted thousands of students, received hundreds of applications and narrowed it down to the 15 students represented in this project.

“We did extensive outreach to schools and organizations working with teens to try to find a group of students that represented the economic, religious, racial, ideological, and political diversity of this country,” Kohn said.

The students featured were founded to be bright, engaged and concerned about their communities and their futures but the resources they needed to get the education they want and fulfill their dreams aren’t always there.

“Certainly this series shows that teens today are dealing with a lot of very challenging issues. Education is expensive. Financial aid isn’t easy to get or available to everyone,” Kohn said.

Kohn added that this generation has very different views from their parents about issues such as gay rights and faces new issues related to things such as cyberbullying which previous generations never faced.

“As hard as teens fight for what they want to build their future, they face a lot of challenges and we definitely saw that the resources you are given at home, from your school, and your community make a huge difference,” Kohn said

Kohn added that their purpose was to paint a picture of this generation by letting the students tell their own stories.

“We felt that by giving them the camera and letting them define the agenda, that we would get something powerful, raw, and real,” said Kohn. “So much of what is on TV today is reality TV – but this is a documentary and we really let the students speak for themselves.”

They hope their powerful words, ideas and images will get people talking and thinking about what it means to be a teen and an adult today.

Kohn added we also examined what challenges these teens face today and how they uniquely and creatively work through them to get the most out of their experiences.

The students came to New York for a quick course in documentary filmmaking from Gibney, director Alexandra and editor Sam Pollard.

Each student received Canon XA10 cameras, tripods, microphones and other essential gear along with the knowledge of storytelling, interviewing skills, cinematography, sound recording, and editing.

The students then returned home to tell their own stories, the honest portrayals of their lives, by documenting events and doing weekly video diaries and interviews with parents, teachers, and other people in their lives.

Professional producers shuttled among the students, often filming alongside them and working with them to sharpen their stories.