ABSTRACT

Educator Patti Lather and psychologist Chris Smithies observed and chronicled support groups for women diagnosed with HIV. Whether black, Latina, poor, or middle class, the women in these groups share the common bond of living with HIV/AIDS, and they describe how it affects their lives in terms full of practical reality and moving poignancy, as they fight the disease, accept, reflect, live and die with and in it.

part 1|60 pages

Life After Diagnosis

part 2|59 pages

Relationships

part 3|27 pages

Making Meaning

part 4|27 pages

Living/Dying with AIDS

chapter 14|10 pages

“We Are the Teachers”

chapter 16|7 pages

“We Had a Real Nice Life”: Louisa

chapter 4|3 pages

Death Makes Angels of Us All

part 5|36 pages

Support Groups

chapter 17|13 pages

“It’s Taken Me Years to Get Here”

chapter 18|10 pages

“We’re Supposed to Be a Support Group”

chapter 19|3 pages

“Seize the Day”: Lori

part 6|25 pages

Epilogue