George Michael’s quote in yesterday’s post about “the years when HIV was a killer” reminded me that I’ve been meaning to share the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Last Men Standing” project.
The Chronicle described its package of print and digital stories and film this way:
“They outlived an epidemic, but San Francisco’s AIDS survivors are still fighting for their lives. And the city that once helped save them is ill-prepared to serve them now.”
The men profiled had every reason to expect to die decades ago. Somehow, they didn’t, while more than 21,000 other people in San Francisco did. One of the survivors, Peter Greene, tested positive in 1985 and, as Chronicle reporter Erin Allday wrote, “Since then, he’d lost not just his lover and his friends, but his livelihood, his community, his home.” Greene said, “I’m the luckiest unlucky person in the world … No one wants to be the last man standing.”
This is heartbreaking but important reading about an era that too often seems to get swept under the rug. I encourage you to take the time.
CLICK HERE TO READ “LAST MEN STANDING.”
The related feature-length documentary, also called Last Men Standing and the Chronicle’s first such project, premiered last week in San Francisco. I hope to get to see it soon.