World AIDS Day 2019

World AIDS Day falls on December 1, an important day for me, personally, for a couple of other reasons. And for those reasons, this year’s WAD was in particular a tough day for me. But, as they say, “the show must go on.”

Therefore, I spent WAD 2019 lighting candles, remembering loved ones, and remembering Mom.

Also, remembering last year’s December 1, and the opening night of Kurt Weston‘s photography show, REMEMBER: An AIDS Retrospective.

Wearing the bracelet, and not only on World AIDS Day:

And thinking of other related artwork, and the Undetectable flash collective I’m so humbled and honored to be a part of:

While thinking of some of the inspiring HIV/AIDS activists I’ve covered this year:

And also throughout the years:

And many others….

And so, this December 1 I thought of personal loss, and of a more universal loss caused by the AIDS epidemic, and wondered about hope…or as author and activist Joel Rothschild calls it, “the very fine line between disaster and triumph, called hope.”

So, this December 1 and throughout the last month of this year, I wish you hope, and, as always, thank you for stopping by.

Alina Oswald

Also, to learn more about World AIDS Day, feel free to check out the following articles published in A&U Magazine–America’s AIDS Magazine, one written by yours truly, and others that included my thoughts on World AIDS Day:

What Does World AIDS Day Mean to You

A World AIDS Day Gallery by Chael Needle, A&U Managing Editor

Reading Names on World AIDS Day, Frontdesk by David Waggoner, A&U Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief