Craig McLaughlin

Category: HIV

  • The Fox Demon

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    Craig
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    In the summer of 1986, eighteen months after my HIV diagnosis, my friend Susan said she wanted to drive to Seattle. “I don’t have anyone to go with,” she said, “but if I have to, I’ll go alone.” That was all the invitation I needed. Little did I know that during the trip, a Japanese…

  • A Great Disturbance in the Force

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    Craig
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    NOTE: I first performed this piece on Feb. 6, 2013 at Fireside Storytelling in San Francisco. The theme was “Bad Medicine.” One morning many years ago, I was standing over the sink, getting water for my coffee, and I was overcome by the sudden bout of sobbing—that shoulders-heaving, unable-to-fill-my-lungs, abdominal-muscles-cramping, random-guttural-sounds-escaping-from-my-throat kind of sobbing. As…

  • Passing on Curves

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    Craig
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    When I am in the woods for more than a day or two, everything slows down. I stop talking, I enter a trancelike state. My friends once made the mistake of letting me drive home like that. I was on a narrow, winding highway, a cliff face on one side and a steep drop on…