Into The Body, Into the Spirit

The arts can be a powerful force to connect, heal, transfor and reform communities and people living with HIV. This even brings together voices from across the city that find inspiration and strength/ fears of HIV in poetry, prose and photography.

Performers include Mary C Lewis, Tuong Nguyen and Michael McColly. Mary C. Lewis is a writer and educater. her work incluedes Herstory (African American Images, August 1997) essays anthologized in Sleeping With One Eye Open and the upcoming In Praise of Teachers. Tonight she will read from her new memoir Night Watch.

Writer and instructor from Northeastern University Michael McColly traveled with photographer Tuong Nguyen in Vietnam as a part of a journey that took him from South Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and back to his own community in Chicago to chronicle the work of AIDS activists, doctors, and religious leaders while reflecting on HIV’s transformative political and spiritual power in these diparate but similarly affected communities. Michael’s essays and reporting on the AIDS pandemic has recently appeared in Salon, Ascent, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, and Chicago Tribune. He reads with Nguyen’s projected photography to close the evening. The night begins with an open mic for those who want to give voice to what life is like in the world of positivity.