Author: paulattinello
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Sandy
My eldest sister Sandy (Sandra) died this afternoon – about an hour ago – in the hospital; her husband and daughter were apparently there. I will arrange to fly home this weekend – I assume there will be a funeral or memorial before Christmas – when my younger sister and brother and their families were…
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Big darkness
In the past couple of days, the news on my eldest sister Sandy and her illness has gone from waiting to concern to finality – she went to the hospital this afternoon, in northern Virginia where we grew up, and chose to sign a DNR (do not resuscitate) form. Her husband is with her, and…
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happy birthday to…
It is admittedly slightly peculiar to make much of birthdays, at my age – I don’t mean how many years (yes, 51 today), but the birthday itself, the person’s own self-celebration. Yet I always have cared about them, mine and those of others – I keep a lot of friend’s birthdays in my running electronic…
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In northern England, on a winter night
After a long day, during a semester with a number of long days; a semester with lots of small successes, and some unpleasant failures; a semester where I was conscious the whole time of aiming towards the freedom of the end of January, when I’ll go on research leave, and won’t let anyone ask me…
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Scorpio
Small, annoying things: the bus that never shows, the canceled appointment, the report due three weeks earlier than the deadline I’d planned for. No surprise: the days coming up to my birthday on Sunday are typically annoying, frustrating, and emphasize anything that makes me wait or ignores my presence – then on the day itself…
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Witness
[Speech for World AIDS Day, 2007] Today is the twentieth World AIDS Day; the first was held in 1988, after the UN named December first as our day to remember, witness, and celebrate the lives of people with HIV and AIDS. Of course, every year World AIDS Day has a theme; this year it’s a…
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W.A.D.
Happy World AIDS Day. Merry World AIDS Day…? Have a very merry, holly jolly World AIDS Day? – hmm doesn’t quite work, does it. We definitely need a different way of talking about our holidays. I am, as anyone might have expected, still fussing over my unwritten speech for today. I was first asked to…
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Oz
A busy, successful two weeks: seminar in London, then here on my home turf; attending several student concerts, one quite inspired, the other beautifully produced – amazed at the capability of our kids, and wish I could have participated at that level at their age; and then tonight was a fine Late Thanksgiving – four…
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A puzzlement
I’ve realized something a bit peculiar about the London responses to my presentation about music and AIDS. One of the questions – really a sweeping statement – was from someone who said they had a friend who hadn’t liked to tell people he was HIV+. (Amusingly, I could figure out from his elaborate circumlocutions that…
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In Train
Headed home on the late morning train – pretty crowded but I can still manage a pair of seats to myself. (Hmm, that may be a fairly selfish choice; but I’m feeling tired/wonky enough (gastro again) that I think I deserve some space to myself (especially after the shared bathroom at the hotel – which…
Paul Attinello 