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Power Surge
by Bob Ickes
Collin Burke, a high school
senior from Madison, Wisconsin, says he took art
class “by accident.” The teacher soon had Burke and his
classmates entering the “What If It Were You?” AIDS-poster
contest.
“We had to demonstrate ‘What would you
do if you found you had AIDS,’ ” says Burke, 18. “My poster
expresses that I would try to make the world understand the
facts. You know, like a lightbulb going on.” He took first place
out of 100 competitors; the poster
(left) will decorate buses, hair salons and diners
throughout Madison. Says activist Bob Bowers, who sponsors the
program through
HIVictorious.org, “We picked Collin’s poster and thought we
knew everything about him—until he was interviewed by the media
and we found out that his uncle died of AIDS before he was
born.” Says Burke: “I wish I had known him.”
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ARTICLE ONLINE
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Students
learn
to stay
HIVictorious
Katjusa
Cisar
Correspondent
for
The
Capital
Times
— 11/14/2007
What
if it
were
you?
What
if you
were
HIV
positive?
Collin
Burke
would
"teach
the
world
to understand."
A senior
at
Madison
Memorial
High
School,
he is
the
first
place
winner
in the
second
round
of the
"What
if it
were
you?"
poster
contest,
a project
of the
local
AIDS-awareness
group
HIVictorious.
Winners
and
runners-up
in the
contest
are
being
announced
today
in a
ceremony
at Memorial.
Burke's
poster
depicts
a light
bulb
with
a red
AIDS-awareness
ribbon
instead
of a
filament
-- "like,
'Oh,
I get
it,"
he said.
At 18,
Burke
has
never
known
a world
without
the
AIDS
virus.
His
uncle
was
one
of the
first
in
Madison
to die
of
AIDS,
before
Burke
was
even
born.
"I never
knew
him,
but
it's
been
with
my family.
It's
just
slowly
sunk
in,"
he said.
Kids
in
high
school
now
weren't
around
for
the
disease's
devastating
first
decade,
and
this
has
led
to a
generation
gap
in
awareness,
according
to
Bob
Bowers,
who
leads
HIVictorious
and
several
other
AIDS-awareness
initiatives
in the
area.
 |
| As the rate of HIV infection reaches highs in Dane County not seen since 1992,
Bob Bowers (bottom center) reaches out to students, such as this La Follette High School class, to have them confront a disease that got the most attention before they were born. |
Complacency
set
in with
the
advent
of life-lengthening
protease
inhibitor
drugs
in 1995,
and
as a
result,
"kids
think
medication
is the
cure,
so they're
apathetic.
They
think,
'I can
just
take
one
pill.'"
This
dismissive
attitude
among
teens
could
be dangerous.
In 2004
and
2006,
Dane
County
had
the
highest
rates
of new
HIV
infections
since
1992,
and
one
in five
of these
infections
were
in the
15-24
age
range,
according
to the
Wisconsin
Department
of Health
AIDS/HIV
Program.
And
despite
advances
in AIDS
treatment,
medication
isn't
just
a quick
pill-pop.
It's
a toxic
cocktail
of drugs
that
ultimately
offers
no cure,
costs
up to
thousands
of dollars
per
month
and
can
make
you
feel
even
sicker.
Bowers
would
know.
He's
been
HIV-positive
for
25 years,
on
disability
since
1986.
He
vomits
regularly
after
taking
his
morning
mix
of pills.
The
vomiting
used
to happen
so often
and
so violently
that
he needed
hernia
surgery.
He's
been
in and
out
of emergency
rooms
for
years
and
dealt
with
excruciating
side
effects.
You
wouldn't
know
it to
look
at him:
the
man
has
tattoos
wrapped
around
his
beefy
arms
and
torso,
and
thick
biceps
the
size
of small
rotisserie
chickens.
A former
personal
trainer,
he's
been
told
he looks
like
a "pirate
that
eats
small
children."
It's
all
image,
he protests:
"I'm
the
most
sensitive
guy.
I was
in a
fight
when
I was
in third
grade
and
when
I was
19.
I'm
Jewish
-- I
worry
about
everything."
A
candid
message
Image
helps
when
Bowers
gives
presentations
to high
school
students,
which
he's
been
doing
more
than
20 years.
He also
tells
his
story
to the
art
classes
involved
in the
"What
if it
were
you?"
contests.
At a
recent
presentation
at Middleton
Alternative
Senior
High,
he wore
a long
basketball
jersey,
big
rings
on his
fingers
and
a chain
hooking
his
wallet
to his
pants.
But
emulating
a hip
teen
image
seems
less
important
to students
than
his
candid,
no-nonsense
approach.
He comes
right
out
with
what
everyone
wants
to know
but
is afraid
to ask:
he
contracted
HIV
in January
of 1983
in a
hotel
room
in Los
Angeles
while
shooting
up crystal
meth
with
his
girlfriend
and
another
couple.
"I'd
never
seen
a
syringe
before
in my
life.
I knew
I was
doing
the
wrong
thing,
but
I didn't
want
to be"
seen
as a
wimp,
he said.
He recalls
his
girlfriend
pressuring
him,
telling
him
sex
would
be great
when
they
were
high.
Two
years
later,
his
barber
noticed
swollen
lymph
glands
while
cutting
his
hair.
Bowers
combines
this
candidness
with
blunt
safe
sex
tips
and
arresting
statistical
comparisons
("Three
million
of our
brothers
and
sisters
died
in 2006
from
AIDS.
That's
20 fully-loaded
jets
crashing
daily
for
a year").
Educating
kids
about
HIV/AIDS
and
condoms
is something
federal-funded
organizations,
like
AIDS
Network
of Madison,
can't
do easily
because
of funding
restrictions
that
limit
their
education
efforts
to
high-risk
populations.
"Currently,
the
feds
don't
believe
that
high
school
kids
are
at risk.
The
other
restriction
we've
seen
is the
trend
toward
funding
abstinence-only
messages.
We believe
that
it's
important
for
people
to get
info
regardless
of where
they
might
fall
on a
risk
scale,"
said
Bob
Power,
former
executive
director
of the
AIDS
Network.
What's
so powerful
about
Bowers,
he added,
is that
his
message
can
remain
unhampered
by these
restrictions.
Bowers
wishes
the
government
would
broaden
its
scope:
"Federal
money
only
wants
to target
men
having
sex
with
men,
women
of color
and
drug
users.
They're
not
giving
funding
to the
general
public.
As liberal
and
compassionate
as we
are,
there's
not
everyday
awareness
beyond
a couple
token
days
a year."
Poster
power
The
poster
project
is a
"proactive
way
to carry
the
message,"
said
Bowers.
Each
contest
targets
four
area
high
schools.
The
first
one
took
place
last
spring,
and
500
copies
of the
winning
poster,
by Shaina
Langlois
of
Shabazz
High
School,
went
up around
Dane
County.
"We
smothered
State
Street,"
he said.
Langlois
drew
a crying
girl
accompanied
with
the
words,
"I would
smile
through
the
tears."
Now
a liberal
arts
transfer
student
at Madison
Area
Technical
College,
she
says
Bowers
is a
"great
person
to head
such
an
organization.
He's
been
through
it."
Sixteen-year-old
Kacey
Montgomery
of
Memorial,
who
won
an honorable
mention
in the
current
contest,
said
would
follow
in the
footsteps
of
Bowers
if she
were
HIV
positive.
"Live,
love
and
educate"
was
the
message
on her
poster,
under
a
computer
animation
drawing
that
distorted
the
silhouettes
of Flea
and
Anthony
Kiedis
from
the
Red
Hot
Chili
Peppers,
her
favorite
band.
After
hearing
Bowers
talk
to her
art
class,
she
said
"He's
not
like
a motivational
speaker.
Kids
can
relate
to him
more.
I definitely
think
it's
a good
group
to target.
We're
young
and
once
we learn,
we'll
know
how
to protect
ourselves
in the
future."
If
Bowers
could
to go
back
to that
moment
in the
Los
Angeles
hotel
room
when
he was
19,
he said
he wouldn't
change
what
happened.
"It's
my gift:
to wake
up every
day
and
do my
best.
It makes
me realize
how
precious
life
is."
Besides
the
poster
contest,
HIVictorious
has
also
been
soliciting
local
politicians
for
answers
to the
question
"What
if it
were
you?"
Congresswoman
Tammy
Baldwin
responded,
"I have
had
dear
friends
who
died
courageously
with
this
disease
over
the
years.
In all
my actions,
I would
strive
to live
every
day
with
their
spirit
leading
me."
THE
WINNERS
These
Dane
County
high
school
students
were
awarded
for
their
entries
in the
"What
if it
were
you?"
poster
contest
to
promote
HIV
awareness.
First
place:
Collin
Burke,
Memorial
Second
place:
Kevin
Julka,
Memorial
Honorable
Mentions:
Kacey
Montgomery,
Memorial
Liz
Novoa,
Memorial
Bailey
Wallace,
Wisconsin
Heights
High
School
Kendra
Barman,
Wisconsin
Heights
High
School
Kali
Weber,
Wisconsin
Heights
High
School
Amber
Pirus,
La Follette
High
School
Masha
Pavlova,
La Follette
High
School
Emily
Payne,
Operation
Fresh
Start
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Collin Burke, winner of round two
of "What if it Were You?" poster contest and HIVictorious' President Bob Bowers
stand proudly in front of our bus ad to promote ever day awareness of HIV/AIDS
in Madison, Wisconsin |
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Made possible
through the
generosity of:
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HIV/AIDS
Facts and Statistics in Wisconsin:
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In 2006, 408
new cases of HIV infection
were
reported in Wisconsin,
a 9% increase over 2005
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9,523 cases of
HIV infection
have been reported in
Wisconsin
since 1983
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Approximately 5,900
people are presumed
living with HIV/AIDS
in
Wisconsin
today
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20% of new cases were
among
young people ages 15-24
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22% of new cases were
among
women
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HIV infections
have been reported in
all 72
counties in Wisconsin
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sponsors!
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