Randy Shilts wrote And the Band Played On; the fourteenth book I have read since the first of the year. His dedication to his subject was evident in his writing and it inspired me to find out more about him.
He grew up in Illinois, one of six boys, in a working-class family. He went on to study journalism at the University of Oregon. Randy Shilts was not just a writer, he was a true journalist. It is evident in his commitment to research and detail. He paid homage to his topic of choice ... defining it, looking at it from all angles, dissecting it and pulling apart the pieces as if trying to put together a puzzle. So, that by the end of reading his book, with all the pieces in place, you could have the full picture.
Shilts is quoted as saying, "I can only answer that I tried to tell the truth and, if not be objective, at least be fair; history is not served when reporters prize trepidation and propriety over the robust journalistic duty to tell the whole story." (Source: Wikipedia)
Shilts became a spokesperson for gay rights. He came out as a gay man at the age of twenty. After several years of freelance journalism, he was hired as a national correspondant with the San Francisco Chronicle in 1981. He was the first openly gay reporter in the American mainstream press, and he dedicated himself to covering the story of the AIDS epidemic as it unfolded.
So, as a girl who longs to be given an assignment, I began to wonder how Shilts managed to organize all his notes. He must have had countless journals/notepads filled with the details/information he accumulated while researching And the Band Played On. And, although the book was written succinctly and chronologically, I am certain that the information was not collected in that manner. I'm sure that details of some occurrences were learned long after they actually happened. So, in an age before the widespread use of computers, how would one manage to organize all the notes and journals and sources of information? Because a control freak like me, would really like to know.
I have this image of boxes of papers piled in a room ... could be a spare room at his house or a corner in his office/cubicle - I suspect they would be kept in his home because they would be too precious to leave lying around the office. I would have kept them at my house. They would be out of order - dated and well-recorded but needing to be put into some kind of sequentially organized structure. Some pages interesting but unnecessary; other pages critical to the story. And, it is your job to go through it all, and make it easy to understand. Ugh ... I would be overwhelmed. (I have been overwhelmed trying to put together my blog posts about all the information contained in this book.) The stress of getting it right; including all the crucial information, while making it interesting to read. But oh ... the sense of accomplishment when it was all done, would be fantastic. Something you could feel truly proud of; something you could look at and say, "I did that." I have this same feeling when I look at my children ... of course, sometimes it is said with a very big smile and sparkling eyes; other times, it is said with a scowl and a crinkled-up nose.
So hopefully, your desk would look like this ...
... because this in inviting and conducive to excellent writing. But what if your desk looked like this ...
I have had some messy desks in my day, but nothing like this. Oh my God, it would make my stomach turn walking into that every day. How could you be productive, in any way, in that environment? I am just going to assume that Randy Shilts was a little more organized than this.
Shilts has a clever way of infusing individual stories in the details of political reporting. He introduces us to the faces of those who were affected by the AIDS epidemic early in its emergence. I am thinking of Gary Walsh, a psychotherapist who was the 164th person to die of AIDS in San Francisco; I cried when I read about his death. His long-time friend and an ex-lover both nursing him until the end; their sorrow and grief was heartbreaking. I will never forget Bill Kraus, a prominent gay leader in San Francisco who worked in local government. He died in January 1986, almost two years after Gary. And outspoken, Larry Kramer ... who could forget Larry? Larry is still alive and fighting for the rights of the gay community.
I have written about the role of the media before. For me, it is important to consider ... and Shilts does so, throughout the book. It is the media that ultimately decides what you read about and what is covered on the evening news. I imagine a meeting, around a large conference table, where discussions take place about what will be reported at 6pm. Or, what will be the feature story for next Saturday's Weekend Edition. In the early 1980s, the newspaper editors did not want to publish stories about homosexuals and gay sex - if you wanted to get something published about the AIDS epidemic, the reporters insisted they needed an angle that was "legitimate." I will discuss the issue more in my next post, but when there was cyanide discovered in Tylenol capsules in October 1982, it was front page news across the United States. According to Shilts, The New York Times wrote a story about the scare every day for an entire month; and there were twenty-three more pieces written in the two months following that. Comparatively, The New York Times had written only three stories on the sick and dying homosexual men in all of 1981, and three more stories in 1982 - none made the front page. During these same years, more than half of all the cases (of AIDS) recorded in the United States lived in New York City; and, yet, one could have lived there without even knowing an epidemic was happening.
This is the power of the media. And, I believe Randy Shilts wanted to change that. He was prepared to present the facts and let the public come to their own decisions.
It makes me wonder, what is being discussed around that big conference table today. What is being tossed aside? Because it might affect us, you and I; and we might not find out about it until it is too late.
Randy Shilts had taken an AIDS test, but refused to learn the result until after he had finished writing And the Band Played On. He did not want the result to impact on his impartiality as a reporter. I wonder if he sensed what the result would be. He died in February 1994, at the age of forty-two, of AIDS.
You know, I found myself thinking back to something I read in High Fidelity. Looking at a photo of someone of as a child evokes a feeling of happiness or sadness. Nothing else. Just happy or sad. I immediately have the image of Corey Haim, who recently died at the age of thrity-eight, after years of addiction - sadness is all I feel when I see his photo. But, I don't know how to feel when I look at the photo of Randy Shilts. He was a wonderful man; a man with intergrity and intelligence and the ability to make you think; he accomplished great things in his life - this makes me smile. But his life ended too soon ... taken by a ravaging disease that left his body weak and in pain. Tragic - this makes me feel really sad.
Can his accomplishments overshadow his unfortunate death? You decide.
Image of Randy Shilts was found at audible.com.
All biographical information about Mr. Shilts was found at Wikipedia.
He grew up in Illinois, one of six boys, in a working-class family. He went on to study journalism at the University of Oregon. Randy Shilts was not just a writer, he was a true journalist. It is evident in his commitment to research and detail. He paid homage to his topic of choice ... defining it, looking at it from all angles, dissecting it and pulling apart the pieces as if trying to put together a puzzle. So, that by the end of reading his book, with all the pieces in place, you could have the full picture.
Shilts is quoted as saying, "I can only answer that I tried to tell the truth and, if not be objective, at least be fair; history is not served when reporters prize trepidation and propriety over the robust journalistic duty to tell the whole story." (Source: Wikipedia)
So, as a girl who longs to be given an assignment, I began to wonder how Shilts managed to organize all his notes. He must have had countless journals/notepads filled with the details/information he accumulated while researching And the Band Played On. And, although the book was written succinctly and chronologically, I am certain that the information was not collected in that manner. I'm sure that details of some occurrences were learned long after they actually happened. So, in an age before the widespread use of computers, how would one manage to organize all the notes and journals and sources of information? Because a control freak like me, would really like to know.
I have this image of boxes of papers piled in a room ... could be a spare room at his house or a corner in his office/cubicle - I suspect they would be kept in his home because they would be too precious to leave lying around the office. I would have kept them at my house. They would be out of order - dated and well-recorded but needing to be put into some kind of sequentially organized structure. Some pages interesting but unnecessary; other pages critical to the story. And, it is your job to go through it all, and make it easy to understand. Ugh ... I would be overwhelmed. (I have been overwhelmed trying to put together my blog posts about all the information contained in this book.) The stress of getting it right; including all the crucial information, while making it interesting to read. But oh ... the sense of accomplishment when it was all done, would be fantastic. Something you could feel truly proud of; something you could look at and say, "I did that." I have this same feeling when I look at my children ... of course, sometimes it is said with a very big smile and sparkling eyes; other times, it is said with a scowl and a crinkled-up nose.
So hopefully, your desk would look like this ...
Shilts has a clever way of infusing individual stories in the details of political reporting. He introduces us to the faces of those who were affected by the AIDS epidemic early in its emergence. I am thinking of Gary Walsh, a psychotherapist who was the 164th person to die of AIDS in San Francisco; I cried when I read about his death. His long-time friend and an ex-lover both nursing him until the end; their sorrow and grief was heartbreaking. I will never forget Bill Kraus, a prominent gay leader in San Francisco who worked in local government. He died in January 1986, almost two years after Gary. And outspoken, Larry Kramer ... who could forget Larry? Larry is still alive and fighting for the rights of the gay community.
I have written about the role of the media before. For me, it is important to consider ... and Shilts does so, throughout the book. It is the media that ultimately decides what you read about and what is covered on the evening news. I imagine a meeting, around a large conference table, where discussions take place about what will be reported at 6pm. Or, what will be the feature story for next Saturday's Weekend Edition. In the early 1980s, the newspaper editors did not want to publish stories about homosexuals and gay sex - if you wanted to get something published about the AIDS epidemic, the reporters insisted they needed an angle that was "legitimate." I will discuss the issue more in my next post, but when there was cyanide discovered in Tylenol capsules in October 1982, it was front page news across the United States. According to Shilts, The New York Times wrote a story about the scare every day for an entire month; and there were twenty-three more pieces written in the two months following that. Comparatively, The New York Times had written only three stories on the sick and dying homosexual men in all of 1981, and three more stories in 1982 - none made the front page. During these same years, more than half of all the cases (of AIDS) recorded in the United States lived in New York City; and, yet, one could have lived there without even knowing an epidemic was happening.
This is the power of the media. And, I believe Randy Shilts wanted to change that. He was prepared to present the facts and let the public come to their own decisions.
It makes me wonder, what is being discussed around that big conference table today. What is being tossed aside? Because it might affect us, you and I; and we might not find out about it until it is too late.
Randy Shilts had taken an AIDS test, but refused to learn the result until after he had finished writing And the Band Played On. He did not want the result to impact on his impartiality as a reporter. I wonder if he sensed what the result would be. He died in February 1994, at the age of forty-two, of AIDS.
You know, I found myself thinking back to something I read in High Fidelity. Looking at a photo of someone of as a child evokes a feeling of happiness or sadness. Nothing else. Just happy or sad. I immediately have the image of Corey Haim, who recently died at the age of thrity-eight, after years of addiction - sadness is all I feel when I see his photo. But, I don't know how to feel when I look at the photo of Randy Shilts. He was a wonderful man; a man with intergrity and intelligence and the ability to make you think; he accomplished great things in his life - this makes me smile. But his life ended too soon ... taken by a ravaging disease that left his body weak and in pain. Tragic - this makes me feel really sad.
Can his accomplishments overshadow his unfortunate death? You decide.
Image of Randy Shilts was found at audible.com.
All biographical information about Mr. Shilts was found at Wikipedia.
1 comments:
I read this book a long, long time ago but I still have it (somewhere). I remember being totally appalled and stunned. It's a great book. Jake has it on his reading list for school, which I find kind of strange.