Originally posted on My journey with AIDS…and more!: Would it be much of a surprise, even to the casual reader, that I am a mental health client? I have been since soon after my conclusive HIV diagnosis in 1990, although I wish now that I had sought such accompaniment long
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My journey with AIDS…and more!: 1,013 followers – questions?
I don’t know who you all are, but the blog machine tells me there are 1,013 of you following me here. You can also find me, Kenn Chaplin, on Facebook. You’ll know that I haven’t been writing much lately so, might I ask, if you have any questions for me?
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS…and more!: Reprise: A human wreck at ‘Wreck Beach’
It was my first visit to the west coast, that summer of 1996, and – given my fragile health – I was determined to make it the trip of a lifetime. I would fly to Vancouver and then take the train across Canada to return home. My purpose in being
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS…and more!: No offence to ‘black dogs’ but I got real today
Bright and early this morning, before I could slip into dishonesty, I volunteered to my diabetes specialist that I was depressed. Actually it was more like joining in conversation with her as she wondered aloud if any ‘black dogs’ were about. There’s always something cathartic about admitting this after circular
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS…and more!: Remembering “The Romans” – The Romans II Health and Recreation Spa
just an illustration🙂 I found it in the Yellow Pages, which I was checking out at the Toronto Coach Terminal on Bay Street. I had just arrived from Niagara College. It was 1979. I was 19. I thumbed through the book, checking “Baths”, which brought up bathroom fixtures mostly, then
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS…and more!: I’m back, breaking my blogging fast
Facebook, with its at-best superficial ways of linking me to my world, has taken me away from greater reflection possible in this blog so…I’m back – on my journey here. The past few weeks I have been involved with the Youth/Elders Project, a joint effort of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre,
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS…and more!: Time Stamp: Blog Writer’s Block
As of late, I’ve ‘got nothing’. Facebook has ruined my blogging.
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS…and more!: I am reminded
I am reminded of December 6, 1989 at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique. I am reminded of February 5, 1981 – Toronto’s bath house raids, the catalyst for my coming out. I am reminded of stolen innocence as a child at the hands of a strang…
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS…and more!: Medical update: It’s all good
While showing me a graph, with the trajectory of my health over the past few months, my endocrinologist remarked, “I wouldn’t have sold you life insurance in January!” Point taken. It was a rough patch, to be sure. But now… …
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS…and more!: Out for 35 years
Reading something which noted that 1981 was 35 years ago jarred me into realizing that it was three-and-a-half decades ago this very month that I officially came out of the closet, by which I mean letting my family know that I was gay. It was in the co…
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Walking the walk – with assistance
First there was the pre-Christmas illness. Then, while in Perth, I went for only one walk – to the pharmacy – in a town which normally calls out for long walks. I even felt unsteady on my feet roaming around Mom’s big old house. Mom…
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Chasing the HI on a glucose meter
I spent the afternoon yesterday in the Emergency Department of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital after a drug overdose, albeit accidental, when I tried to eliminate a “HI” reading on my glucose meter with two, then three times the recomm…
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Honours from ACT
It was both an honour and a pleasure this past Monday to receive an award for 25 years of service at the AIDS Committee of Toronto’s Annual General Meeting. I must confess to feeling like I have drawn on more services than I have provided but the 25 years is
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: May 9, 2007
The assignment for this week (Sept. 28, 2015) at the Mount Sinai Narrative Writing Group was “Write a story about a decision you have observed or experienced.” May 9, 2007 The indicators of Craig’s brain activity were not at all promising more than two weeks after his fall. He
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: ‘Times Have Changed’ at 40 Wellesley St.E. #HIVnow
The latest ambitious awareness campaign by the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), #HIVnow, “asks big questions, puts forward honest answers and issues clear calls to action”. The “Times have changed” theme comes to mind as I watch the slow demolition of 40 Wellesley Street East, a medical offices building where
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Leaving Unit 503 upright
I am surrounded by boxes, both packed and empty. This week I am changing units within my housing co-op, moving house for the first time since 1992. When I re-located to this building 23 years ago I thought, with good reason, that my death was imminent; that I would be
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Re: How a change of heart led to a backlash from the ‘Church of Nasty’
How a change of heart led to a backlash from the church of nasty Dear Mr.Coren, I have been a follower, if not always an admirer, for many years. Your change of heart, more quantifiable with each successive column I read from or about you, has touched me a great
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Keeping Kenn Zeller’s name alive
I listened politely a couple of weeks ago as the woman told a roomful how she had been influenced so positively by a school librarian years before. “I was going through a rough time – abuse and all kinds of shit at home,” she said. “Then he was murdered in
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: United Church of Canada Moderator to receive Craig Chaplin Memorial Award
The three Colleges of the Montreal School of Theology – comprised of The United Theological College, The Montreal Diocesan Theological College and The Presbyterian College, Montreal – are gathering together May 7 to celebrate 100 years as the MST. The Right Reverend Dr. Gary Paterson, Moderator of the United Church
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