mandalay

social graces

so i've been reading a book that patrick recommended and lent to me entitled my own country, by Dr. Abraham Verghese. the book is written about this tennessee doctor's experiences with AIDS from its onset and his role as the AIDS expert in his community. i'm currently about 1/4 of the way through the book, which is excellent thus far, and i started thinking about and decided to watch the movie and the band played on, which i first saw on tv about 7 years ago. like in the name of the father, the pianist, or american history x, it is a movie based on an important social event or period in history. while none of these leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, they are excellent forums to gain perspective on events that precede us and the factors that affect our freedoms. and the band played on is the story of the doctors who first struggled to identify and comprehend the HIV virus in the eighties. it also shows how much time passed between the initial clues that it was an STD and when a course of action was actually taken to reduce contaminated blood supplies and alert the public about its dangers. if you haven't seen this or any of the other movies and are like me and can't watch the history channel for very long, check them out. i think you'll be glad you did.

posted by amanda @ 4:26 PM