Outstanding, but I'm biased. This story could be about me, my experiences as a young gay man in California. I was also 30 in 1991, and this show captures the myriad emotions, fears, hopes, that occupied my mind at the time. AIDS killed so many of my cohort or clique and while slaughtering them it really f#cked with the minds of those it didn't kill.
This series sorts all those conflicting memories feelings and emotions out. It reminded me how we sank into the realization of what AIDS was, how we tried to deny it, tried to deny the power it had over us, and how we coped once we overcame our initial dismay. The camaraderie of good friends who became warriors against the disease and ignorance and bias that it seemed to draw into focus. The caring, caregiving, and love we dredged out of ourselves as we all simultaneously redirected our lives in order to be present to the vast suffering.
Thank you to all involved in this production for making by far the hardest most soul-sucking, painful, and sad era of my stupid little life a little easier to remember and appreciate. I saw friends I have forgotten about in each character, a trait here and there, speaking out and forcing me back to those heartbreaking AND heartwarming experiences. Still a lot of pain, and perhaps compartmentalized into too small a space in my mind. But thank you for giving them a little bit of life again.
This series sorts all those conflicting memories feelings and emotions out. It reminded me how we sank into the realization of what AIDS was, how we tried to deny it, tried to deny the power it had over us, and how we coped once we overcame our initial dismay. The camaraderie of good friends who became warriors against the disease and ignorance and bias that it seemed to draw into focus. The caring, caregiving, and love we dredged out of ourselves as we all simultaneously redirected our lives in order to be present to the vast suffering.
Thank you to all involved in this production for making by far the hardest most soul-sucking, painful, and sad era of my stupid little life a little easier to remember and appreciate. I saw friends I have forgotten about in each character, a trait here and there, speaking out and forcing me back to those heartbreaking AND heartwarming experiences. Still a lot of pain, and perhaps compartmentalized into too small a space in my mind. But thank you for giving them a little bit of life again.