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jawnbcWelcome to the dog and pony show, a/k/a the biennial International AIDS Conference. It's the third time Canada's played host (Montréal '89, Vancouver 96), and I must say it's going to be another opportunity to be proud to be Canadian. Aside from that ideologue who thinks he's got a majority when he doesn't the Prime Minister skipping out, Toronto, Ontario and Canada are shining. Even with 20,000 in attendance, it's all well run and well organized from where I sit. Without being tense or terse or pissy.
Regardless me feicin' legs err tarr'd.
This is my 4th, so I'm something of an ould whore here. This morning I slept in, toddled down to the convention centre for 11am (at which point the queues are largely gone). I grabbed my bag and promptly tossed out 1/2 of it (mostly evil big pharma marketing schtuff). Then I waddled down to the exhibition level to see what was of interest to a post-structural educational sociologist whose interests include queer youth and injection drug users. Remarkably little, as it turns out. My favourite moment was the plain clothes security personnel at the $200,000 pharma booths taking notes on who looked uppity/activisty (hint: look for the non-gay marine clones in polo shirts and 32" waist Dockers. Every time). Guess what buddy? There's still a 50/50 chance your booth is gonna get trashed. So why don't you fuckers spend less on the damned things (and marketing in general), so your pills are more affordable?
Bastards.
Waddling then moved on to the Poster exhibitions for today. There were well over 1,000 in 5 tracks (basic/lab science, clinical research, epidemiology & prevention, social/behavioural/economic research and policy). Tonight they all come down are replaced with another round. Lather, rinse, repeat 4 times over 4 days. The posters are often the most interesting, even the most rigorous--you'd be surpised how political the process is for selecting actual live (oral) presentations. Three stood out for me: one on doing ethnographic (qualitative) research in a field dominated by statistics (vis à vis AIDS), one that simply said "email me for the proper paper" (again, qualitative), and one handwritten sign that said "Air Canada lost my poster 3 days ago." I think the last one was really from a WestJet owner. My poster, in all its glory, is Wednesday but you can download it here, 'cause you're special. But it's a big file to print--so read it on your 'puter instead. And please don't disseminate unless I tell you it's OK. OK?
I had no appetite today (jet lag, sadness, missing my husband...a lot), so I skipped lunch. I ran into some folks, spent some time in a couple of oral sessions. One of my heros is the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson; she keynoted a session on girls' education and HIV risk. She was very good if not brilliant. I heard Jeff O'Malley (ex-pat Canuck who leads the International AIDS Alliance) do an amazing job synthesing 3 disparate presentations on HIV stigma. What an ambassador for Canada, even though he's worked in international development nearly 2 decades. I also caught the tail end of a session on HIV policy and the military. Almost interesting to me. Almost.
I also visited the Global Village. Which is the kewlest thing ever! Dozens of NGOs, chill areas for specfiic communities (African diaspora, sex workers, queer men, South Asians, drug users, Eastern Europe...you name it), groups selling their wares to make $$ for their programmes back home. Oh, by the way: if you wanna buy their hat or t-shirt or poster don't be an asshole and haggle over the price. Your extra $5 might feed someone for a couple of weeks. Or give someone's daughter another month of primary schooling. Really. The Global Village is full of sound, colour and life. Folks living with HIV, folks working in HIV, folks building, supporting and strengthening communities. You won't see anything quite like this at most academic conferences.
All of a sudden it was 18h00 and I was plotzed. We all get transit passes for the week, so I waddled to the Subway and then walked the 3 blocks to our accomodation. On scholarship we're in a student residence. My roommate is from Alberta and a nice fella. I'm off shortly to dinner with one of the other ethnographers here (so few, so few). Then a chat with my husband before bed time!
Regardless me feicin' legs err tarr'd.
This is my 4th, so I'm something of an ould whore here. This morning I slept in, toddled down to the convention centre for 11am (at which point the queues are largely gone). I grabbed my bag and promptly tossed out 1/2 of it (mostly evil big pharma marketing schtuff). Then I waddled down to the exhibition level to see what was of interest to a post-structural educational sociologist whose interests include queer youth and injection drug users. Remarkably little, as it turns out. My favourite moment was the plain clothes security personnel at the $200,000 pharma booths taking notes on who looked uppity/activisty (hint: look for the non-gay marine clones in polo shirts and 32" waist Dockers. Every time). Guess what buddy? There's still a 50/50 chance your booth is gonna get trashed. So why don't you fuckers spend less on the damned things (and marketing in general), so your pills are more affordable?
Bastards.
Waddling then moved on to the Poster exhibitions for today. There were well over 1,000 in 5 tracks (basic/lab science, clinical research, epidemiology & prevention, social/behavioural/economic research and policy). Tonight they all come down are replaced with another round. Lather, rinse, repeat 4 times over 4 days. The posters are often the most interesting, even the most rigorous--you'd be surpised how political the process is for selecting actual live (oral) presentations. Three stood out for me: one on doing ethnographic (qualitative) research in a field dominated by statistics (vis à vis AIDS), one that simply said "email me for the proper paper" (again, qualitative), and one handwritten sign that said "Air Canada lost my poster 3 days ago." I think the last one was really from a WestJet owner. My poster, in all its glory, is Wednesday but you can download it here, 'cause you're special. But it's a big file to print--so read it on your 'puter instead. And please don't disseminate unless I tell you it's OK. OK?
I had no appetite today (jet lag, sadness, missing my husband...a lot), so I skipped lunch. I ran into some folks, spent some time in a couple of oral sessions. One of my heros is the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson; she keynoted a session on girls' education and HIV risk. She was very good if not brilliant. I heard Jeff O'Malley (ex-pat Canuck who leads the International AIDS Alliance) do an amazing job synthesing 3 disparate presentations on HIV stigma. What an ambassador for Canada, even though he's worked in international development nearly 2 decades. I also caught the tail end of a session on HIV policy and the military. Almost interesting to me. Almost.
I also visited the Global Village. Which is the kewlest thing ever! Dozens of NGOs, chill areas for specfiic communities (African diaspora, sex workers, queer men, South Asians, drug users, Eastern Europe...you name it), groups selling their wares to make $$ for their programmes back home. Oh, by the way: if you wanna buy their hat or t-shirt or poster don't be an asshole and haggle over the price. Your extra $5 might feed someone for a couple of weeks. Or give someone's daughter another month of primary schooling. Really. The Global Village is full of sound, colour and life. Folks living with HIV, folks working in HIV, folks building, supporting and strengthening communities. You won't see anything quite like this at most academic conferences.
All of a sudden it was 18h00 and I was plotzed. We all get transit passes for the week, so I waddled to the Subway and then walked the 3 blocks to our accomodation. On scholarship we're in a student residence. My roommate is from Alberta and a nice fella. I'm off shortly to dinner with one of the other ethnographers here (so few, so few). Then a chat with my husband before bed time!
