Reflect on the Ways in Which Your Life Has Been Impacted by Hiv/Aids

Coming into this project, I did not know what to expect. This was certainly a topic that I was familiar with, but at the same time, I realized I did not know much about the subject at all. To make a contribution to this project, I would have to be open-minded and willing to become a student. Many of the facts that were presented to me over the next few weeks shocked me. I was a little alarmed to say the least, but I learned a great deal in the process and became much more aware. People typically have a natural fear of what they do not know or what they do not understand and I think that the AIDS virus is something that falls into that category.
    On the one hand, you have individuals who see Magic Johnson opening up movie theaters and think that because he is doing well that the disease is not really that bad (albeit he was only diagnosed with HIV) and it is not as serious as it is made out to be. Then, you have individuals who think if a person with HIV/AIS bumps into you or sneezes near you, that they may contract the disease. So you are left with two absurd extremes and a bunch of folks in the very foggy middle. I felt that by enlightening myself with more information I could pass it on to less informed individuals, with the hope of dispelling some of the myths or rumors that circulate around HIV/AIDS.
    Initially I thought that this process would be very difficult because I had not previously dealt with anyone who had the illness in my own family or even people I knew. I didn’t know how I would react to meeting someone who was infected with such a serious disease. I wanted to make sure that I did not approach the situation with any preconceived notions or use any generalizations to categorize whoever the subject of the webisode series may be.
    Upon meeting Damaris Cruz, I was struck by how attractive she was. I was sincerely taken aback by her beauty and her presence. Right off the bat I was thrown through a loop because she looked like any other...