Get A Taste For Life!

What are you doing for breakfast, lunch, or dinner today?

If you're cool like me, you will be out supporting your local AIDS Service Organization (ASO) by eating at a restaurant participating in A Taste For Life!

What is A Taste For Life, you ask? Well, it's an annual fundraiser where people like us go out for breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert/drinks to a participating restaurant, and 25% of our food and drink bill goes to our local ASO. It's a great way to fight HIV/AIDS in your local community.

If you're in the Cambridge/K-W/Guelph area, get out there and support ACCKWA or the AIDS Committee of Guelph. If you're not in the Guelph/Tri-Cities area, get out there and support your local ASO!

Maybe I'll see you there!

:)

 

ACCKWA Online Charity Auction

Hey folks!

As you may know, I volunteer at ACCKWA - the AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area.  ACCKWA is busy doing lots of great stuff for our community, including educational workshops, advocacy and outreach to people at risk of or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Starting TODAY (NOVEMBER 1) through to NOVEMBER 9, ACCKWA is hosting their annual ONLINE CHARITY AUCTION. This auction helps to raise valuable funds to support ACCKWA in serving our community.

Take a few minutes to check out the items, and maybe bid on a few yourself! Simply go to Ebay and search for "ACCKWA". Place your bid and check back daily to see if you're still in the lead!

Let's raise money for a great organization!

Candice :)

Professional "pimping" ...

One thing I have learned from working independently in the sexuality field is that networking is absolutely essential. I do it all the time. In fact, I'd say I am shameless when it comes to "pimping myself out" to other professionals and potential contacts.

Prime example: my partner recently sold his iPod off of Kijiji; the purchaser was friendly and told us that he is a high school teacher. I asked what the sex ed programming is like where he works and within seconds had given him both of my business cards and told him a bit about what I do.

Like I said -- shameless.

I've found LinkedIn to be another great source of like-minded contacts. There aren't too many of us (relative to the overall population) -- but we sexuality educators find ways of connecting and sharing info and ideas and I've recently joined a LinkedIn group to do just that.

The BEST networking method I've found so far? Volunteering. Without a doubt. I have met more professionals and made more connections through volunteering than any other way. I think it's because when I'm volunteering for something, I'm engaged and I'm showing just how passionate I am about the cause and about what I do. Now that I've settled into life in Cambridge, I've signed up to volunteer at ACCKWA - The AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area.  You should check them out!

Anyway, I'd better get back to my shameless self-promotion ... :)

- Candice

How many HIV infections will it take?

News has recently emerged that yet another performer in the adult entertainment (aka porn) industry has tested HIV+. As a result, porn production in Southern California has been put on hold, while the person undergoes re-testing to confirm the diagnosis. A similar shut down took place late last year, when porn actor Derrick Burts tested HIV+.

Pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry. Sex sells, and adult entertainment offers lucrative opportunities for performers. As a society, we really like porn ... there wouldn't be so much money to be had if we didn't! So why isn't this industry more heavily regulated? Why isn't safer sex -- aka condom use -- a fully enforced requirement for all porn production?

As long as the demand is there, people are going to continue to work in the industry. How many HIV infections will it take before we put the same value on health and safety in the porn industry as we do in other workplaces?

HIV tests look for HIV antibodies in the blood. It usually takes about three to six months before the body produces enough HIV antibodies to be detected in testing. That means that a person will be infected for at least three to six months before they know about the infection. In the case of adult performers, that's three to six months of unprotected sex -- three to six months of infecting other people with HIV without knowing it.

 

A few facts about HIV:

• The Face of AIDS is changing. Once labelled ‘the gay disease’, the majority of new HIV infections around the world are through heterosexual contact.


• You can’t contract HIV from hugging, touching, kissing or loving a person who has HIV/AIDS. Only blood, seminal & vaginal fluids and breastmilk have been proven to transmit the virus.


• Anyone can be infected by HIV no matter their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion or ethnic origin.


• There is no cure for HIV or AIDS.


• People are most often infected by acts of unprotected sex, sharing needles and pregnancies where the mother is infected with the virus.

Sources:

ACCKWA - The AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area

ACT - The AIDS Committee of Toronto

The Huffington Post -Porn Shutdown over HIV Test