AIDS Memorial

Many people who live in Key West and don't drive up the Keys have a tendency to forget things are cleared up everywhere like they are in the tourist centered city. But even here a few signs of hurricane damage linger, like the drunken lamp atop the post at the AIDS Memorial at the White Street Pier;

A couple of months ago it looked, not damaged but raggedy, so its been quite nicely spruced up to hide any evidence of the passage of a  Category Four storm.

Rest Beach was made whole after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 with beds of sea oats and nice landscaping but all thta has been shot to hell once again.

The AIDS Memorial was a response to the deaths of hundreds in that distant era when Gay Related Immune Deficiency was slowly transformed into AIDS and all too often proved fatal. It was a time when Gay Liberation was a notion nationally and a reality in a few small corners of the country. Key West being one and thus susceptible to a vastly disproportionate number of deaths from this weird new plague that terrified everyone. 

So they organized a memorial with lots of plaques and many words and names and thoughts concentrated into this small space. Small because there isn't a lot of space on this tiny strip of land.

I wonder what the memorial means to people too young to remember. Nowadays AIDS is just another nasty illness treated with many expensive chemicals and is no longer the sudden nasty death sentence it once was.

I did not live very long in Key West in the 1980s so I had the pleasure of living with the unfolding drama in California in another town with a high gay population ( I do do that don't I?). In fact I lived in the house where the first AIDS related death in Santa Cruz county took place so I got a ringside seat at the rapid and total destruction of a human being by the mystery virus. Perhaps that's why this place means something to me. That and the fact I did know some few of these names and remember them as people.

There are lots of them.

And there was corporate money to help build this monument. AIDS was profoundly political in the early days, another sore point for those who witnessed the plague  amid official indifference.

The artistic representation of the Florida Keys:

A celebration of lives lived and cut off early is how I see it. But then I'm not very good with the sugarcoat.

Near Normal

Sandy's after the hurricane dispensing good cheer till supplies ran out

I got the 13 year old ET4 out of storage in Marathon and rode it to Key West after I put a few pounds of pressure in the tire. I stopped by my wife's temporary classroom which came within three feet of being flooded. The leaves mark highest surge up the ramp which looks longer in the picture than it really is. She is supposed to get a new Adult Ed classroom of her own next  year when the county builds a new library in Marathon...

I put a few pounds of air in the tires from the compressor I carry in my car and took off. I had forgotten my helmet so the 60 mph breeze was a bit uncomfortable and I forget my sunscreen so in keeping with the chaos of post-Irma life I was a bit scatter brained but it all came out in the end. Crossing the Seven Mile Bridge:

With the orange Vespa giving me fits in the replacement of the drive belt I am riding the 2004 ET4 150, the original automatic Vespa in the US and I like this scooter a lot. The paint is still thick the engine runs smoothly and after the recent tune up and new suspension it is full of get up and go. My wife following me home said she had trouble keeping up in the car.That's what I like to hear. If however you want an idea how slow clean up is check out he Aids Memorial:

 The road is still closed at Higgs Beach where flooding and sand invaded Key West as usual. I turned north on White Street and checked out the new city hall. I was one of the apparent minority who supported this project, a pet of Mayor Cates. he took a  lot of flak for the $20 million construction job,but I think he was right to put city hall here in the old school. It's centrally located with lots of parking and it is apparently strong enough to survive a Category Four Hurricane.

 Last stop on the way to work: Sandys. Now pen with an extensive menu.

I celebrated a return to near normal with bacon in my cheese bread and a quiet spot to read the newspaper on my phone:

Even the rooster respected my need for quiet contemplation in a hurricane world, by staying quiet for once.

I remember this Key West...

White Street Pier

August and September are the hottest months in the Keys, though daytime temperatures rarely rise above 90 degrees the air is thick and close, especially in the city but even on the canal where I live outside town. I don't mind these two hardcore hot months as much as some people do, but I am a fan of air conditioning. The a/c at work failed last week which caused the entire building to smell dank and warm like a locker room after a lot of showers, and it was frankly horrible. Dispatch however got two window units to carry us (and our radio equipment which has to be kept cool, thank heavens) through the crisis. It's hard to imagine that by mid November some people will be feverishly pulling winter clothes out of storage, long pants, socks and heavy shirts mostly. Right now our canal where we swim most afternoons is as hot as bathwater.

Taking a lunch break at three in the morning is s hock to the system as night time temperatures don't generally drop much below 85 degrees and stepping out of the building one finds oneself sweating pretty fast. Getting on the Vespa doesn't do much good as it feels like you're riding into a hot hair dryer. For most people in temperate climes winter is the time to stop riding but around here some people hang  up their riding gear in summer and take to their air conditioned  cars. Not me, I rode to the White Street Pier for some fresh sea air and peace and quiet.

The pier sticks out in an ell shape straight south from the end of White Street and makes a 90 degree right turn at the end about a quarter mile out. Basically its a fishing pier and the waves tend to pass underneath except when they are big when they break over the pier in spectacular fashion. To walk on the pier is like walking on a well paved runway with street lights and benches.

Some people like to come here at dawn and gather to talk, drink coffee and bore their dogs while waiting to see if the sun plans on coming up. Its not a bad place to do just that as you get an uninterrupted view up the south shore of the island. So far the sun has come up each day as far  as I can tell.

The pier is being renovated as part of this frenzy of island wide construction. Roads, sewers, street surfaces and now the pier are  all being repaired all at once it seems like. Happily the pier is frequently open in the middle of the work as they are closing off only the bots that are actually getting work done so much of the pier is available for silent contemplation, fish killing and in some cases sleeping, until at least they get caught.

The Pier is sometimes used as the butt of a joke at the expense of the gullible when they are told that it is the rump of the former bridge to Havana, now closed down by the endlessly stupid Embargo against Cuba.

Its a good place to walk to dissipate  some of the tension that builds up from answering 911 calls all night. The breeze is at its strongest and the walk out and back is easy. I was standing around at the end of the pier minding my own business enjoying the inky darkness of the ocean when I was startled out of my reverie by a voice asking me some damned fool question, like how was I doing or something. Apparently a man and a woman had decided to do some star gazing on the pier, or at least that was what they called it and they were lying in the shadowy darkness behind a ramp between segments of the pier. Its difficult to find a spot to be absolutely alone in Key West. I tried to be polite but I think I failed, stumping off wondering why people can't leave you alone.

Then, if you want to be alone too much, there is the AIDS memorial at the inland end of the pier. It should be a healthy reminder that for quite a few people life got cut short a bit too early. I daresay these folks wouldn't mind getting their time back and to spend some of it engaged in fruitless small talk with strangers. Had I had the time I felt inclined to stroll back out and try to engage with the star gazers. 

I have to say it is a bit startling to see a name here you recognize as a formerly fully functional human, but even more startling is it to realize that there are endless rows of names that mean nothing more to you than the names listed in a phone book.

In the midst of life, as the Good Book says, we are in death, though happily not every 911 call has a tragic outcome. 

Posted with Blogsy