Greetings from Memphis, TN
Yesterday we spoke at the University of Memphis. Memphis itself has been interesting and I've met a few characters, but the students last night were amazing. I spoke on the panel last night with two of our other speakers, Shelton and Tim. For Tim it was his first real speaking engagement in front of a decent size crowd and with Hope's Voice and I must say he did excellent. I watched him like a proud mama would and in a way I am kind of the mama in Hope's Voice so it was appropriate.
We did a bit of HIV 101 all together in the beginning before kicking off into personal stories and the three of us have such different stories I think it really helped the kids to see such diverse backgrounds. We laughed, we cried, we educated some people so all in all it was a successful night. One thing I was really proud of was that there were a lot of men in the audience and a few couples. The Q&A was great and we actually had to end with quite a few people that didn't get their questions answered. We stuck around and hung out after to mingle and ended up staying an hour after the presentation ended.
My favorite questions from last night:
What can we do on campus or around the country in general to get people more interested and involved?
What do you think needs to happen in the black community so they will no longer make up such a huge part of the newly infected?
How does your family react to you being +?
Do you ever have trouble taking medicine?
Does being + affect your sex life?
I love when the audience feels comfortable enough with us to ask bold questions. Sure, sometimes it may be a little awkward and uncomfortable but we answered every question last night. If you don't ask then you'll never know.
We did a bit of HIV 101 all together in the beginning before kicking off into personal stories and the three of us have such different stories I think it really helped the kids to see such diverse backgrounds. We laughed, we cried, we educated some people so all in all it was a successful night. One thing I was really proud of was that there were a lot of men in the audience and a few couples. The Q&A was great and we actually had to end with quite a few people that didn't get their questions answered. We stuck around and hung out after to mingle and ended up staying an hour after the presentation ended.
My favorite questions from last night:
I love when the audience feels comfortable enough with us to ask bold questions. Sure, sometimes it may be a little awkward and uncomfortable but we answered every question last night. If you don't ask then you'll never know.