Mailbox

Gotta Love It
I found the theme of your February/March issue—finding love and romance when you’re positive—deeply motivating. I’m a 54-year-old HIV negative male who has been in prison for the past 26 years. I’ve been in two powerful relationships with HIV positive women. Each relationship ended and left me emotionally wrung out, so I understood the similar feelings of Millie Malave, the woman on your cover. But Millie found love, and I am still hopeful, not only about being granted my freedom, but also about finding a soul mate.  

How About Us?
I read your “10 Black AIDS Warriors to Watch” article (February/March 2006) on your website, and I wanted to say that there are more than just ten. I am the coordinator of the admissions/outreach department at Project Samaritan AIDS Services, where we provide services that are saving lives. I, for example, have been positive since 1993, and I give back to my community on a daily basis. My organization treats substance abusers who have AIDS. I work here because I love helping those who are living the way I used to live. If it was not for the warriors who came before me, I do not think that I would be alive today.  

When you did the story on leaders in the black HIV/AIDS community, you forgot my husband, William A. Johnson, MD. He is the medical director for the Luck Care Center, the only African American–owned and –operated HIV clinic in Illinois. It would be nice to see a story on his work.

My Inner Valentine
I just finished reading “Love Yourself” (February/March 2006), by Michael Smith. What an appropriate time to come across these powerful paragraphs. I have lived with HIV for more than 18 years, and I have been on the “bridge” that the writer talks about jumping off of during hard times. I now call those of us dealing with AIDS members of the “Angels in Disguise Society.” I believe we are
here to save others from the fear and despair that HIV brings.

Correction: In “Border Patrol” (POZ April 2006), Different Avenues is a nonprofit serving youth and young adults with unstable housing situations. It is not, as stated, a sex worker advocacy organization.