Changing Faces

Editor,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your staff for the wonderful job in the June 24 edition of Echo Magazine, specifically the work done on “Changing Faces.”

I commend you for your interviewing and writing skills. The article put a new spin on HIV/AIDS in the world of today. I appreciate and thank you for your ability to write the article sending a message with both dignity and respect to all.

HIV/AIDS is a delicate subject and difficult for some to speak about. Often times, it seems to be an out of sight, out of mind subject. However, it's a reality that people live with. Awareness, education, conversations and testing will hopefully change the mindset in our society.

I appreciate the way you focused in on HIV/AIDS, living with it and the reality of being infected. Hopefully, the readers will gain a new or different perspective on HIV/AIDS. It's not going away anytime soon!

I would also like to thank Edward Lannin for his artistic photographic abilities. His work is amazing!

Also, I do appreciate the professionalism, kindness and sincerity that I was given by you and the other members of the staff — a heartfelt thank you to all.

John Zielinski
Avondale

Living with HIV

Editor,

Thanks for the articles in the last issue regarding HIV. Like the four that disclosed their positive status, I have found that being able to put a face with some that are positive is the best way to help others understand the virus we live with every day.

I recently had the opportunity to teach a middle school class about HIV/AIDS. Their questions and knowledge showed their openness to learn and to avoid the mistake of thinking like I did — “it will not happen to me.” I used interviews from a Web site of kids closer in age to them with what they wanted others to know about living with HIV. The sad thing is there are some young people out there that are “germ chasers” and want to get infected.

I have disclosed my status in the hope it will be a warning to others to always play safe. It helps me to know that maybe some good can come from being positive. A common reaction is “but you don’t look positive.” If there was a way to tell by looking at someone, I would not be positive now.

A good question is not to ask if someone is positive, but to ask when he or she was last tested. The guy that infected me did not know, and I made a bad decision. I cannot blame him. I love the words of Cookie in her interview, “I’m going to live until I die, I’m not gonna let the self-esteem part get me down.”

Philip Ward
Phoenix

A Good Haircut

Editor,

I am delighted to see that you've added a new advertiser to your publication; A&D Barbershop. I am a five-plus year resident of the Valley and like many gay men, I'm very particular about my hair. I spent the first two years here bouncing around from one hack barber to the next until I finally "found home" with A&D. It's not just another barbershop — it's an experience. The shop is classically masculine, refined and the barbers are all top notch and gay-friendly. Sometimes a hyper-masculine setting like a barbershop can be unsettling for gay boys —with lots of scraggly butch men and girly mags — not A&D.

The barbers are welcoming and pretty good-looking to boot. Most importantly — they "get hair." Regardless of your style or hair type, they employ a myriad of scissors, razors, electric shavers and straightedges to clean you up right. And it's not just a dime-store haircut. Each haircut includes pampering services including a cold beverage, hot towels, hot lather straightedge shaves to keep your neck tidy and clean, and the whole experience is topped off with a relaxing hand massage. If you're in the mood to indulge yourself (I do this for myself once a month and also give gift certificates to my lover for Christmas), go for the full treatment including a cooling mint facial, shave, shampoo and scalp massage.

Last summer the pizza joint next door to this Camelback staple caught fire and the adjoining businesses were forced to close for renovations. Just like our city's namesake, A&D has risen, like a Phoenix from the flames to once again provide the best darn male grooming services in the city. I've been to other so-called "male salons" in the city and no one compares to A&D for the overall masculine experience. You go in looking like a schlep and walk out looking like a million bucks. I'm thrilled to see them welcoming our community in your publication and encourage our community to check them out.

Josh Yeager
Phoenix

Peace, Love and Tolerance

Editor,

While I'm very discouraged with the letter that was written to you (Echo, June 24), it brings to light a point that has been bothering me for a very long time. The gentleman says that we should be paying more attention to the things that really matter and this is true. However, personally, I look forward to reading your magazine just as soon as it hits the stands. I really enjoy most of the articles that you print. You see, I am considered a cross-dresser but I am not gay. I have a wonderful wife, and two kids but I enjoy wearing women's clothes. The really hard part about this is I am absolutely scared to death (literally) to get dressed up and go out for the evening, or maybe go to a mall dressed in a dress or skirt and blouse. The reason being, I could end up six feet under, just because. That is a very real fear for cross-dressers. I can't even walk out my back door and get into my car with out being afraid of being shot for being called a “faggot.” Girls can wear guy’s clothes and barely get a look. Most people think it looks really good, but if a guy puts on a dress or a skirt he literally takes his life into his own hands.

The reason I enjoy the GLBTQ community so much is that it preaches what I believe everyone in this world should practice — peace, love, and tolerance. I see that in most of the stories that I read, and I don't see too much of it outside the GLBTQ community, or at least I don't think I do. Your stories make me cry, laugh and hope. I hope that someday I will be able to walk with the rest of you who are just now beginning to find tolerance among some of the general public. I am so envious. At any rate, I enjoy all your stories although I do lean towards anything to do with cross-dressing.

Please don't change a thing. We as a community need to hear the good, the bad, and the funny. Thanks ever so much.
 
Sharon
Phoenix

Go Charlotte!

Editor,

I have just carefully cut out Charlotte Strayhorne’s article from the July 10 edition, “The Arizona State Legislature is Full of Stinking High Thinking.” This is so right on! She has hit this nail directly on the head, and has said it beautifully. I had previously written to my congresspeople to protest that this measure even be dealt with, since we had worked so hard to see that it was defeated in 2006, and when I read all those names who voted for it, plus those Democrats who weren’t even there for the vote, I was livid! I wrote more angry letters and e-mails. The upshot is, however, that none of us can afford to be “non-political” any more. When I hear someone in the GLBT community say: “Oh, I’m not political,” it fills me with horror, because I think it’s a cop-out to say that. We need to all care about the rights of each other. We must each make it one of our top “duties” to become informed citizens locally, if not nationally and globally. We must turn this mess around, and we’ve got one huge job to do. It will take us all, and I truly see more hope in our community than elsewhere.

Charlotte, you have once again spoken for a bunch of us, and your words will hang on the bulletin board over my computer for many days to come. You spoke to PFLAG several years ago, but these written words will stay with me even longer. Thanks for writing them. I don’t know how any person can invalidate ANY other person’s love, but I do know that we all need to stand as one and say we aren’t going to take it any more. We must stand together.

Donna Ellis
PFLAG Mom
Chandler

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