travel

Today, President Bush is likely to re-authorize PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). As it stands, PEPFAR contains a provision that removes a 15-year statutory ban on the entry of people with HIV/AIDS into the United States, a discriminatorily restrictive policy for HIV positive immigrants and travelers. Many advocates are hailing the provision as a significant achievement in immigrant justice. Dr. Nancy Ordover, founder of the Coalition to the Lift the Bar and member of the International Task Team on HIV-related Travel Restrictions, attests, "Two and half years ago, we were told it couldn't be done. We were told to abandon HIV positive immigrants and focus on extending waiver options for short-term travelers with HIV. We rejected that division, and I believe that our adherence to human rights and social justice principles is what got us this far."

But How Far Have We Really Come?  read more »

After spending the morning trying to navigate the Merced, the city’s enormous market crowded with venders selling just about everything (as well as a few dogs tearing into large scraps from the butchers and a kitten curled up in a pile of mangos), I walked along a street named Emiliano Zapata, eating watermelon doused in lime juice, salt and chili powder. I was headed for the Zocalo, wondering what my first blog before the conference might be about. I could go into how looking through the conference programme and the schedule I’ve sketched out, often dictating I attend five events at once, is overwhelmingly exciting but, at the same time, also occasionally prompts me to say, “That’s it?!”

Anxious about my first contribution, I approached the Palacio Nacional, and thought, Well, I just hope the blog doesn’t sound too much like travel writing. (It already does.)

Back on the street after marveling at the Diego Rivera murals in the Palacio, a man tapped me on the shoulder. He had helped me on the security line inside. He told me he is a painter and Rivera is his idol. For purposes of this blog, I will call him Miguel.  read more »