#Lodi news sentinel 1984 reagan update
#Lodi news sentinel 1984 reagan upgrade

Much has been written about Gaétan Dugas, his sexual exploits, and his controversial refusal to obey the recommendations of public health officials in the early 1980s. “It is always a great please to read you,” Dugas confided, “and look forward to your letter.” He ended the message by noting that he was waiting for the weather to improve so that he could visit his family who lived in a small community on the outskirts of Quebec City “but as I speak to them regularly, my parents send you all their Best Wishes for this New Year! Love & Affection Gaétan oxo.” 3 Dugas cultivated a cutting-edge look even while undergoing chemotherapy the animal print of his headband was one of the most fashionable patterns that month “Notes on Fashion,” New York Times, June 16, 1981, B14.Įvidently, he drew a warm comfort from their correspondence. There, according to Redford, Dugas had written, “All my affection to you Ray, Gaetan June 1981.” Photograph courtesy of Ray Redford (scanned image emailed to author, January 7, 2008). Although the photograph appears to have been professionally produced, no copyright markings appear on the verso. Gaétan Dugas, Kaposi’s sarcoma patient, 1981 black-and-white photograph, 22.8 cm high by 15.3 cm wide, Ray Redford’s personal papers, Vancouver. ,” underlining this thought with a single stroke of his pen. “I feel nude,” he wrote, “& too many people turn around when I walk in the city.” He added, “I feel like an Dugas noted that he could only have “gathered very few informations off that article,” but attributed this lack of knowledge to the generally poor level of research about the disorder: “it was writing by the only sources they had!” He added that he found taking vitamin A to be “very good, so I overdose myself everyday.”ĭugas thanked his friend for an invitation to visit him in Vancouver, adding “I will hurry to grow my hair-even if you think a look better.” Having shaved his head in anticipation of chemotherapy, Dugas felt self-conscious without his usually immaculately styled blond locks, a fact that compounded his altered sense of self from being sick with cancer (see Figure 1).

#Lodi news sentinel 1984 reagan upgrade

I must upgrade my attitude towards a full recoverage-but you know, there is always the storm that strike you when at least less expected.”Įvidently Redford had asked, in a previous letter, some questions about “gay cancer” based on an article he had read. Thank you for your encouraging letter-it is the best medicine so far.-You are

#Lodi news sentinel 1984 reagan update

Really Handsome!!” He continued-with words and spelling that hinted at his acquisition of English as a second language-by providing his friend with an update on his health, and thanking him for his concern.

Has beautiful eyes & an inviting moustache. “Obviously all the hot men are on the West Coast. As he hurried through the snow-filled streets near the city’s emerging eastern gay village, Dugas may have pondered the contents of the message he was sending, in which he had reflected on his recently troubled state of health.ĭugas began his letter by complimenting Redford on his attractive new partner. On a sunny but bitterly cold winter’s day in late January 1982, Gaétan Dugas left his apartment in downtown Montreal to post a letter to Ray Redford, a former lover in Vancouver with whom he remained friends. The article also traces how Shilts’s highly selective-and highly readable-characterization of Dugas rapidly became embedded in discussions about the need to criminalize the reckless transmission of HIV. Instead I argue that scientific ideas in 19 about AIDS and the transmissibility of a causative agent were later portrayed to be more self-evident than they were at the time. I oppose the assertion that Dugas, the so-called Patient Zero, ignored incontrovertible information about the condition and was intent on spreading his infection. The article presents a more balanced consideration-a “patient’s view”-of Gaétan Dugas’s experience of the early years of AIDS. Published over twenty-five years ago, the book and its most notorious character, “Patient Zero,” are in particular need of a critical historical treatment. This article contextualizes the production and reception of And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts’s popular history of the initial recognition of the American AIDS epidemic.