Until the cure …

According to the CDC: “About 1 in 7 people with HIV in the United States do not know that they are infected. In 2015, an estimated 1,335 adults and adolescents were diagnosed with HIV in North Carolina. North Carolina ranked 8th among the 50 states in the number of HIV diagnoses in 2015.”

Further, “North Carolina is home to two cities on the CDC’s list of the top 25 cities with the highest HIV infection rates: Charlotte and Greensboro. There’s an estimated 36,700 people living with HIV or AIDS in North Carolina, and of those people, an estimated 4,900 people are unaware of their status.” (NCAAN.org)

On this 37^th annual World AIDS Day, there is still no cure for HIV disease. There is no cure for AIDS. So that means that if you do not have HIV disease, you need to know how to not get it. And if you do have HIV disease, you need to know how to not spread it.

• Get tested.
• Know your status.
• Wear a condom.
• Communicate with your partner.

Until the cure …

New semester, new venue!

I’m excited that my Business of Writing for Children class took this semester at Central Carolina Community College. It’s fun to be at a new school, in a new county, in our new community. Fresh faces smiled back at me last night as we kicked off what promises to be an interesting couple of weeks.

New Semester, New Writing Courses!

I can honestly say that I’m never bored. But 2016 will go down in history as one crazy, busy year. We traveled to Barbados; sold our house of 19 years; we built a new house; our son graduated from high school; we traveled to San Diego, CA; we traveled to NYC; our son started college; my mother sold her house in a day; and we moved my mother in with us while her house is being built (expected completion: June 2017). WHEW.

It’s a good thing I like to be busy. One of the upsides of moving to a new county and a new community is finding fun new things. Like Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro. I’ll be starting this spring as an adjunct instructor in their Creative Writing Program. AND I’ll also be continuing to work as an adjunct instructor in Wake Technical Community College’s writing program. 🙂 Check it out:

Introduction to Grantwriting
Wake Technical Community College
Tuesdays : March 21 – May 2, 2017

The Business of Writing Romance
Central Carolina Community College
Thursdays : March 23 – May 4, 2017

Sign up today!

So long, house!

In 1997, my soul mate and I kicked off an adventure in a little town called Apex, in a beautiful little house on Acorn Hill Lane. Nineteen years, one son, three dogs and three cats later, we’re moving on to a new adventure half an hour down the road in a new little town. When we moved into this house, I was four months pregnant; I had breakfast one morning with my husband, went to work, and came home to a different house in a different town. Today, our son woke up and had breakfast with us, went to school, and will come home to a different house in a different town. I’ve passed the torch. I’m going to miss our house, where the most exciting (the birth of our son) and the saddest (the death of my father-in-law) events have occurred.

But we are nothing if not adventurers, we Sickles Three, and anticipate that our new house on two acres in the meadow will bring with it more of the good stuff, and likely more of the sad stuff … eventually. Either way, we face our new adventure head-on, where being together makes any house a home.

So, so long house … and thanks for all the fish!

World AIDS Day 2015

The time to act is now.

Did you know that HIV disease is a communicable disease spread through semen, vaginal fluids, blood, and breast milk? It’s spread through shared needles during intravenous drug use. It’s spread through sexual contact when one partner isn’t aware of their positive status. It does not discriminate based on gender, race, culture, age, economic status … it affects everyone.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “an estimated 36.9 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide … Around 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the United States, and 1 in 8 don’t know it.” There were 1,566 new HIV diagnoses in North Carolina in 2013, and there were 541 deaths due to HIV disease in 2012.

HIV disease is preventable, and it’s treatable – but it’s not curable. Yet. If you have HIV disease, you need to know how to not spread it; if you don’t have HIV disease, you need to know how to NOT get it. If you have young people in your family, love and respect them enough to get past the discomfort of discussing sex, disease prevention and responsibility, and provide straight talk. It’s unrealistic to assume your children are waiting because it’s what Jesus would do, or through the sheer force of YOUR will. Kids are smart nowadays; educate them as to why they should wait until they’re more mature to handle the emotional side of being sexually active, and how to be as safe as possible. Teach them to protect and respect themselves, and in turn to protect and respect their partner. The smart choices need to be present in the quick, stolen moments when intimacy will occur, and your conversations are only a memory.

So know your status; knowledge is power. And wear a condom. Every time. Until the cure …

Learn more about HIV disease

• How Can I Prevent HIV Transmission?
• What is HIV?
• The Body – The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource
• AIDSVU – North Carolina
• World Health Organization
• CDC – World AIDS Day 2015
• National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States

HIV Test Locations

• gov
• CDC
• STD & HIV Screening Recommendations

 “Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

– St. Francis

Sign up today for the Business of Writing for Children

Put your thinking caps on … it’s time to sign up for The Business of Writing for Children!

The Best Last First

 

“You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!”
–   Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

42

Over the weekend, I turned 42.

It seems this might be the year that I learn the answer to everything. Which is good, because I have a thousand questions … like, a day.

In case you were wondering, there’s a fun list of 42 things that are focused on 42 on The Independent. Here are some of my favorite 42’s:

–   Buzz Lightyear’s ship
–   Fox Mulder’s apartment
–   Harry Potter discovers he’s a wizard on page 42
–   Michael Jackson’s album, Thriller, lasts 42 minutes
–   Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland has 42 illustrations

Romance author, Becky Moore, turned 42 this weekend … and so did children’s author, Dolly Dozier!

Got a question?
Lemme know.