Monologues personalize disease, epidemic

Practicing for "T-Cells and Sympathy: Monologues in the age of AIDS" wasn't emotionally draining for Jennifer Fish, even though she's known seven people who've died of AIDS. \nOnly when senior Jen Dover's character recounted taking care of a dying AIDS patient did the memories of a friend who died of AIDS come rushing back. \n"It's sad to see a disease eat someone up," said Fish, 28, a Bloomington resident. "Feeding them, cleaning house -- it feels like a TV show until the person's not around anymore."\nThe Monologues, taken from a book by Michael Kearns, were the first event in a series that will lead up to World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. The performance will take place again 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Indiana Memorial Union Georgian Room. \n"What's wonderful about this performance is that it really doesn't hold anything back," senior Dan O'Neill, a performer said. "AIDS revels in issues that make people uncomfortable. Sexual relationships, parent/child relationships to a generation being wiped out in Africa. It teaches everyone something whether they want to admit it or not." \nThe performance began with three people eulogizing "Bob," a stiletto-wearing gay man with a flair for language. The actors spoke of his antics with sparkling eyes and recounted his decline with eyes filled with tears.\nFish's character was a heterosexual woman who contracted AIDS after a blood transfusion. O'Neill's character came to grips with his prognosis -- even someone as beautiful and 'clean' as himself could get AIDS. \n"I hope this will put a face and a story to AIDS," Sharlene Toney, director of the Monologues and GLBT office employee said.\nToney picked eight monologues from a book and said the production was inspired by the Vagina Monologues. "It's wonderful to go to the theatre," she said. "People enjoy and they don't even realize they're learning something new."\nShe introduced the production noting that 36.1 million people worldwide are infected with HIV/AIDS. Right now -- according to the Center for Disease Control -- nearly 900,000 people are living in the United States with HIV, and one third of them don't realize it.\nToney also hopes people will honor the suggested $5 donation to Positive Link, and learn something about the Bloomington organization located at 333 E. Miller Drive. Positive Link offers health, psychological and educational resources to people with HIV/AIDS, as well as anonymous HIV tests for $5.\nO'Neill said he was attracted to work in AIDS awareness campaigns after learning of the multitudes of people dying in sub-Sahara Africa, where 2.4 million people died of AIDS in 2000. \n"People are removed from the problem and there's an increasing sense of complacency in Bloomington," he said. "They're tired of hearing about safe sex so there shouldn't be a rise in the pandemic when it should be under control by now."\nOther events leading up to World AIDS Day include an AIDS Awareness display today at the IMU Commons Desk, a Wednesday reprisal of the Monologues and a service 6 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Trinity Episcopal Church, 111 S. Grant. The day was first observed in 1988 to raise tolerance and information exchange regarding AIDS. The of theme for this year's day is "I Care, Do You"