Bruce G.

I was 23, and living in West Hollywood in 1981. In 1982, I sat across from a group of friends at dinner, and read from a NYT article describing a mysterious illness effecting gay men in the West Village. Within 6 months of that article, two of those dinner companions were gone. One from pneumocystis, the other, kaposi sarcoma. Within five years of that article, I would attend over 50 'celebrations of life'. For those of us that survived this era, we carry an odd mix of memories; youthful discovery, heartbreaking losses, and often, a sense of guilt stemming from our very survival. I felt this series did a wonderful job of capturing the many intricacies of navigating coming of age in the time of AIDS. I was particularly touched by something many gay men can relate to - Often our true families are not those we're born into, but rather the ones we create for ourselves.