POZ I AM Radio

Brotherhood Retreat is a 3-day retreat is an international gathering of gay and bisexual men who seek to enrich their lives through deeper insights, awareness and connections to both the community and oneself. We will be learning about physiological, psychological and spiritual tools to help create healthier and more fulfilling lives while forging bonds and friendships with other men from different parts of the world. The program will include informational and instructional sessions as well as exercises and participation by all the attendees with attention given to the full body-mind-spirit connection. We will also have plenty of time for social activities and relaxation. There are a variety of different techniques used at the retreat including meditation, transformational breath work, healing touch and much, much more. The retreat was originally created to help support those who are living with HIV, but over the years it has evolved to a spiritual retreat that is open to all men who are attracted to other men. As modern medicine is making serious advances, the gay community is finally beginning to heal the split between HIV-positive and negative men. We are thrilled be a part of that healing in whatever way we can support it. We all need each other to be strong, healthy and happy. Learn more

Join Robert as he returns live with Larry Frampton, Brady Dale Morris and Mark Grantham. These 3Tennessee HIV activists are on a road trip together driving to the HIV Is Not a Crime National Training Academy. They will be sharing their thoughts on HIV criminalization and what thay are hoping to get out attending the #HINAC3 Traning Academy.

Shane, 33, from Mountain View, Missouri was diagnosed with HIV when he was 26 years old.  Shane grew up in a physically, and emotionally abusive household that was not accepting of his sexuality when he came out as gay at the age of 18. He was the first openly gay person in Mountain View where being gay was not a social norm. When Shane first found out he was positive, He thought his life was over, but little did he know, Shane was given a reason to live. Just this past week Shane accepted a position at the World AIDS Museum & Educational Center. In this role He’ll be going into schools throughout Broward County in South Florida educating students about HIV, and dispelling the many stigmas often associated with it.

Donning his running shoes, Jamil Eric Wilkins triumphantly races for his life against HIV. Athleticism has become the hallmark by which he thrives over his condition and the stigma associated with living with HIV.

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He often thinks back to his  first week on the track team when his knees gave out and he chose to continue his pursuit anyway. That same strength presented itself years later when he was on the cusp of advancing from HIV to AIDS. "My emotions had more calluses than my feet, but I refused to give up on myself, as I didn’t in the beginning," he said. Along with running being an outlet to earn his right to live, Jamil feels that his running mastery gives him the authority over his condition to make it happen. "We run races counterclockwise on a track, which meant that each time I placed one foot in front of the other I felt I was turning back the clock just enough to reclaim the power over my life," Jamil says.

Jamil feels that the moment we are presented with a life-changer and we make the choice to rise above it, we are setting the tone for what’s to come. His athleticism led him to the Braking AIDS Ride and the Positive Pedalers, whose mission is to eliminate the stigma behind HIV by being a positive public example. After 14 years of running, Jamil gets to take on new, hopeful challenges and show others what living with HIV can look like.

Kevin Maloney, the founder of Rise Up To HIV will return live with Robert this Sunday. Call the show live with your comments and questions (929) 477-3572

The “No Shame About Being HIV+"” campaign was inspired by an image of Chelsea Clinton holding a sign for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. My vision for this campaign is to mobilize people across the United States and the world who are willing to stand up in an effort to reduce HIV stigma. Participants are empowered by the act of pairing a simple statement with their personal story and photo. There is no greater feeling or power than being able to stand up to your fears, not being held hostage by your diagnosis, being amongst people who understand and being knowledgeable or gaining greater understanding of something you may have thought you had no control over but actually do. Rise up to HIV and help end the stigma! Be part of #TeamNoShame.

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Known for his deeply Southern accent, Brady Dale Morris is a national HIV advocate and public speaker living in Nashville, Tennessee.  After receiving an AIDS diagnosis in July 2009, Brady began a downward spiral into drugs, alcohol, and depression that led him down a path that ended in several suicide attempts. While recovering from his last attempt, an acquaintance approached him and told Brady he too had recently been diagnosed and needed help in what steps he should take next. That was Brady’s “light bulb” moment and from that day he has dedicated himself to helping those newly diagnosed with HIV and combating the stigma directly felt by others living with HIV.  As an independent advocate, he uses his online reach to promote factual and accurate health information about UequalsU and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP.)  Additionally, Brady works in several large capacities with big organizations including: Tennessee AIDS Advocacy Network (TAAN,) Tennessee Association of People With AIDS (TAPWA,) Community HIV AIDS Partnership (C.H.A.P.,), is a founding member of the National Steering Committee for Prevention Access Campaign’s #UequalsU message, and has served as the Co-Chairman of the Nashville Regional HIV Planning Council for the past two years.

I'm a 47 year old single mother of 3 kids (17, 14 and 10). I've been working as a substitute teacher for 10 years and take jobs for any subject and any grade (kinder through senior year). In the last 18 months, I have been taking many jobs with the special needs kids and find these to be my most rewarding of days. In my free time, I'm an avid skater (skateboarding), surfer and now HIV Advocate/Activist. On 2/15/16, I was diagnosed with HIV, about a week later, I was told I had AIDS. My life changed in a split second. I decided to share my diagnosis with my Facebook family as many knew I had been very sick. It was met with immense support. During the next 5 months, I struggled with not knowing one other soul with HIV. The support I received from my Facebook announcement along with this need to connect with another woman like myself, gave me the courage to make my first YouTube video in August of 2016. I told my story to let people know that HIV could reach anyone, that you could lead a normal life with the virus today and I hoped to find some connections along the way. Boy did I! My video went viral (lol, that has always been a funny joke). Within months, I had almost 1000 subscribers, tons of new connections and a new voice I never imagined in the world of HIV. Today, I run a private page through Facebook for HIV+ women. I started it a year ago with roughly 15 women and we are 94 strong today. I blog for The Well Project's, A Girl Like Me website. I attended USCA in September of 2017 and began my U=U activism

Stephen Bloodworth is the founder and president of Team Friendly Tennessee, a nonprofit organization serving Tennessee since 2013, an extension of the Mr. Friendly campaign. Locally, Stephen’s HIV education and advocacy work led him to serve at the request of the mayor as board member of the Nashville Regional HIV Planning Council. He also lobbied state legislators during HIV Day on the Hill. Nationally, Stephen attended AIDS Watch in Washington, D.C., where he met with members of Congress to educate them about the important issues facing people living with HIV/AIDS. Stephen lives north of Nashville, Tennessee, where he enjoys spending time with his dog, Russell.

Michael Hager was diagnosed with HIV in November 2002 when he was just 22 years old. Already grappling with Crohn's Disease at the time, Michael was completely unprepared to handle HIV and finish his coursework and forge ahead to medical school. He decided to lean into HIV and started working for the Boston Public Health Commission AIDS Program to learn more about his circumstances and others in similar situations. He was there for five years in multiple capacities from managing Ryan White Part A primary care, mental health, and transportation contracts to helping to manage the Boston HIV Services Planning Council. After completing his public health degree, he briefly worked in India on several projects, including Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria Round 8 proposal writing. In a whirlwind.  Michael has been with the NY AIDS Institute National Quality Center where he has led several national campaigns, including the in+care Campaign and end+disparities Learning Exchange in addition to key multi-state learning collaboratives, including the HIV Cross-Part Care Continuum Collaborative (H4C). In his spare time, he has been building a charitable social community of gay men living with HIV in New York called, impac+NYC and overseen its transformation from a weekly happy hour into a formal 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with multiple community activities and social outlets. In addition, he has been ramping up his own private consultancy to launch on September 1, 2017, which will focus on domestic and international peer learning around HIV and quality of care. 

Michael is the President and CEO of Hager Health, LLC and the Executive Director of impac+NYC and is based in New York, NY. He has a master of public health degree in epidemiology and a master of arts degree in comparative public health policy.

Mary Bowman is an internationally recognized motivational speaker, singer, and poet native to the Washington, DC area. Drawing from personal experience, both transparent and vulnerable whether, in poetry or song, her words allow her access to spaces that aren’t traditionally artistic. From local open mic nights to international conferences and beyond, Mary shares herself openly and proudly.

 

Mary’s life and work have been featured in various mediums; print publications, as well as broadcast television and radio networks. Her powerful performance caught the attention of the editors of A&U Magazine and led them to invite Mary to grace the cover of the August 2016 issue.

 

Mary is humbly continuing to carry out her vision to inspire people to find their own personal empowerment and freedom through her art. Mary has three projects available for purchase, ‘LOTUS’ the 2010 collection of poetry, LOVE B.O.A.T.S. the ep, released in 2014, and EMERGE the 2017 collection of poetry.

Book Description:

Emerge is a front row seat to the last 28 years of Mary Bowman’s journey through life, exploring her relationship with love, pain, and triumph. It is an honest and raw, first-hand poetic account of what it means to Emerge; To rise from an inevitable death in order to freely live. Sort of how a caterpillar dies intentionally to both its title and cocoon, emerging the butterfly that always was, always is, and always will be.