edited by David G Taylor with Jon Keay, Email news, listings and product info to us at eye@positivenation.co.uk
The
life and work of the extraordinary Josephine Baker is brought
into focus in a season of films and talks at the National Film Theatre to
mark Black History Month.
Baker was a US-born performance artist, anti-segregationist and muse who was
decorated for her work for the French resistance. She once wowed audiences
at the Folies Bergere by dancing in a miniskirt made of 16 bananas, accompanied
by her pet leopard wearing a diamond collar.
Now in its 30th year, Black History Month each October celebrates the achievements
of the black community and uncovers its history. Highlights include an evening
with playwright, poet and critic Bonnie Greer at Cineworld,
Wood Green Shopping City, hosted by David Lammy MP, and an exhibition charting
the often overlooked experiences of African World War Two veterans at the
Imperial War Museum North (http://north.iwm.org.uk),
in Manchester. Free throughout October. Bonnie Greer evening: mail@davidlammy.co.uk.
www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk
TB and HIV activist Paul Thorn is looking for personal stories from people
who have survived TB and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) for his website.
“My personal experience of MDR-TB was very lonely and isolating. I knew
of no one who had been through the same experience and didn’t know who
I could talk to or where to turn,” said Paul.
Paul is author of the The Tuberculosis Survival Handbook which was republished
in its second edition earlier this year. If you would like to share your stories
and help others, email paulthornlondon@hotmail.com or visit the website.
www.tbsurvivalproject.org
As the number of Aids orphans tops 11 million in sub-Saharan Africa, a new
project is bringing hope to the young and vulnerable by helping to build homes
to secure a brighter future for the kids.
The KwaXimba Aids Orphan Project, launched in 2005, is part of The Valley
of a Thousand Hills in South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal region. In March,
the charity Habitat for Humanity began taking out teams of volunteers to help.
Their nine-day SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY CHALLENGE is a regular
series of sponsored trips where volunteers work with local people under skilled
supervision to build accommodation for the orphans. For more info, contact
the Global Village Co-ordinator at Habitat for Humanity UK on 01295 220 188.
www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
Worldwide travel insurance specialist ROTHWELL & TOWLER
have launched their new website. Unlike most insurers, they offer cover to
people with pre-existing medical conditioners including HIV and have been
insuring positive travellers, their friends and family for over 10 years.
Screening takes into account CD4 and viral load counts as well as the age
of the traveller and destinations visited. Their new in-house medical screening
facility means most other medical conditions can be covered in just one call.
All policies include cancellation, curtailment and travel delay as standard.
For details call the World First team on 01404 41234, visit www.world-first.co.uk
or email info@rothwellandtowler.co.uk
STAND UP is a chance to set an official world record by being
part of the greatest number of people ever to Stand Up for the Millennium
Development Goals which include fighting the spread of HIV, TB and malaria.
Monitored by Guinness World Records, the Stand Up challenge will take place
between 10am on 15 October and 10am the next day. The event has already recruited
thousands of people all over the world in schools, universities, offices,
sports events and concerts.
Join an existing event or create your own, while those unable to stand through
disability will be able to symbolically raise a hand wearing a white band.
To be included in the official count, organisers must register their event.
Do this at www.millenniumcampaign.org.
Meet
HIV positive characters, drag queens, rappers, drug dealers and preachers
in RHYMES, REASONS & BOMBS ASS BEATZ at London’s
Oval House Theatre. Gay actor and writer Harold Finley, who you may remember
as Delight O’Toole in BBC1’s Casualty, stars in this self-penned
one-man play. Watch Finley transform into a cast of ten diverse personalities,
male and female, in this darkly comic production set to a pumping hip-hop
soundtrack. Runs 3–21 October, Tues-Sat, 8pm. Tickets
£12 (£6 concs), 020 7582 7680. www.ovalhouse.com
Assembled
from medical refuse, packaging, pills and bandages, the evolving travelling
art show PANACEA arrives at Manchester’s CORNER
HOUSE GALLERY this month. The exhibition functions as a laboratory
where the artists mastermind solutions to health and lifestyle problems and
is the result of a collaboration between artists Michael Pinsky, Zoë
Walker and Neil Bromwich. New specially commissioned artworks now included
in the show are Si-Fi Hot Tub and Healing Wall. Runs 6 Oct-19 Nov,
closed Mondays. Free entry. www.cornerhouse.org
GMFA’s infamous ARSE CLASS is going on a national tour.
The HIV charity’s workshop gives gay men tips on making arse play both
sexy and safe. Learn how to get maximum pleasure, stay healthy and get the
low-down on HIV and your arse.
“Whether top or bottom, gay men can learn loads of practical tips that
will help them improve their sex lives,” says GMFA’s James Bensley,
“and have a lot fun learning.” Each class runs 10am-5pm. Places
are free, but must be booked in advance by calling 020 7738 3712.
Tour dates: 30 September, Bristol and Leeds; 7 October, Southampton and Manchester;
14 October, Sheffield and Birmingham.
www.metromate.org.uk/arse
On the anniversary of his death, one of Britain’s best-known female
impersonators, Phil Starr, is remembered with a charity screening
of one of his performances. This rare, full-length feature film, recorded
at Brighton’s Pavilion Theatre in 1991, boasts a classic performance
from Starr and a host of fellow drag queens including Dave Lynn, Maisie Trollette
and Dockyard Doris.
Screening 17 October, 7.30pm, Hove Town Hall, 0870 900 9100.
Tickets £10 with proceeds to Phil’s charity, Sussex Beacon, which
provides support and respite to people with HIV.
Molton Brown’s plant-based technology is legendary and with
eight new products in the men’s range you will be spoilt for choice.
Tantalise your senses with invigorating extract of the silver birch, the detoxifying
effects of black pepper oil, and give your skin an anti-oxidant boost with
cactus stem. We recommend silver birch body wash (£15, 300ml), papain
daily face wash (£16, 125ml) and skin defence daily protector (£25,
75ml). Buy online at www.moltonbrown.co.uk
or call 0808 178 1188. JK
Scotland’s annual festival of queer arts, GLASGAY,
celebrates its 13th year with a cultural programme that includes dance, theatre,
film, clubbing, visual arts and literature. Highlights this year include the
first Scottish production of Alan Bennett’s play Talking Heads, drag
king Diane Torr with a homage to her late brother in Donald Does Dusty, comics
Jason Wood (Strictly Come Dancing), Zoe Lyons and Barbara Nice (left), and
screening of Filthy Gorgeous: The Trannyshack Story. Various Glasgow venues
16 October-12 November. www.glasgay.com
What’s your addiction? Food? Love? Sex? Fags? Booze? Drugs? Say yes
to any of the above and you may just benefit from watching Kundalini Yoga:
The Addictive Personality Part 1.
Earth mother Carolyn Cowan guides you through the ancient
Indian art, focusing on physical and spiritual tools to calm anger and depression
that can lead to addictive behaviour, including excessive eating, smoking,
drugs, alcohol and sex addiction. Carolyn battled addiction herself through
yogic practice and meditation. In this video she takes you on a journey of
self-discovery to return you to your inner self and resolve issues of dependency.
To book a session or to purchase the DVD (£17.95) go to www.devotion.co.uk
JK
05 LONDON Feeling creative? Positive East’s next set
of Thursday workshops for gay/bisexual/MSM runs from 5 October till 23 November,
including photography, video/film and creative writing skills. Call Ajanu
on 020 7791 2855 or why not visit www.gaymenswellbeing.com
09 LONDON DFID is holding a series of lectures
at the London School of Economics starting with Women and Aids: From Here
Where? with Dr Geeta Rao Gupta, president of the International Centre for
Research on Women. She will trace progress made in understanding women’s
vulnerabilities in the epidemic and review key historical events, scholarly
efforts, and community responses and pose uncomfortable questions about this
record. www.lse.ac.uk/collections/LSEAIDS
13-14 LONDON BHIVA conference at the Queen Elizabeth Conference
Centre. Key event for HIV doctors and nurses in the UK. www.bhiva.org
26 LONDON DFID lecture at LSE: A Lethal Cocktail: Multiple
Concurrent Sexual Partners and Lack of Male Circumcision Drive the Explosive
HIV Epidemic in Southern Africa. Presented by Dr Daniel Halperin of USAID,
a leading advocate of male circumcision for prevention. Details as above.
PN treatments editor ROBERT FIELDHOUSE is touring the UK
to report back from this year’s World Aids Conference. 03
London: Oasis North London, 7pm • 04 Sheffield: SHIELD,
1pm • 05 Shropshire: THT • 06 London:
The CARA Trust, 2:15pm • 09 Cambridge: DHIVERSE, 7.30pm
• 10 London: HART, 1pm • 10 London:
Positive Place, 6.30pm • 11 Liverpool: Sahir House,
2pm • 12 London: Winkfield Resource Centre 5.00pm •
19 Leeds: THT Yorkshire • 19 Manchester: George House Trust,
6pm • 23 Cardiff: THT Cymru, 6pm • 25
Stoke-on-Trent: Staffordshire Buddies, 1pm • 26 Coventry:
THT Midlands, 6pm • Contact individual venues for more info.
UPDATE
NAT has published HIV AND YOUR DISABILITY EQUALITY SCHEME,
a free practical guide advising senior public sector managers on how to address
HIV discrimination and inequality. www.nat.org.uk
THURSDAYS The Latin American Community Association offers
free legal advice at The Lighthouse Centre, 111-117 Lancaster Road, London.
Lawyer James Allie, of Alan Edwards & Co, offers professional advice on
immigration, benefits and housing. Thursdays, 6.30-8.30pm. Email latcauk@hotmail.com
or call 020 7352 2553.
TUESDAYS Oasis North London is starting a regular Tuesday
women’s keep-fit class for people living with HIV. Reshaping, strengthening
and stamina building: runs 12.30-2.00pm. Call Pauline or Alan on 020 7485
2466.
THE SOHO SATURDAY workshop programme has been created by
Naz Project London’s POSITIVE CHOICES project to educate and empower
black and minority ethnic LGBT people. Six free workshops start with My Family
Pride, on 23 September and run throughout October. Forthcoming topics include
lesbian and gay parenting; getting the sex you want; and religion, homosexuality
and me. Visit www.naz.org.uk
or call 020 8741 1879.
THE FOOD CHAIN holds its annual fundraising dinner on 11
November at the Royal College of Surgeons building at Lincoln’s Inn
Field. A glitzy event with champagne reception, dinner, auction and entertainment.
Tickets £115, email lizad@tiscali.co.uk or call 020 7272 7272.
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING: that’s what you
get at a new monthly theology discussion group run by The Metropolitan Community
Church in east London. It’s a forum allowing LGBT and straight people
of faith to think clearly about matters affecting their lives in a safe and
non-judgemental atmosphere. 7.30pm, every third Wednesday of the month. Call
020 7473 2206 or email www.mccchurch.org.
