I started my fall tour last week in St. Louis and then Detroit. Both were amazing conferences. In St Louis it was the National Family Planning Council and Detroit, A Positive Women’s Conference. I performed on my first Riverboat in St. Louis, quite exciting. I realize how much I love to do straight on out comedy without worries of being PC. It was almost hard the next day to do the closing keynote and behave but I managed to do the keynote and sort of behave.

I had two days in between the two events so I came home did the laundry, repacked, got in my car drove to the airport, parked, opened the hatch to get out my bags and wella, I had left all my luggage sitting on my deck. This was a first in 18 years of being on the road! The good side was I realized I need very little to travel. I think my bags will be a lot lighter in the coming months!
In Detroit at the Women’s Conference, I was asked to do a combination opening keynote/comedy show. Sometimes we just have to start the day with a good laugh. Actually that is how I like to start everyday!

Since I had no props (they were safely packed in my luggage sitting on my deck) I stopped by the exhibit hall to borrow some things from a safe sex table. They had the usual barrier items; dental dam, female condom ( I got the glove from the kitchen). At this table were demonstrating how to use said items, I use them to show why most people do not want to have safe sex. Barrier sex is why it is so difficult for people to have safe sex consistently. We advocate for people to have conventional sex; anal, vaginal, oral sex and then throw a latex barrier on it, yuk. No wonder it is so hard (or not) to get people to be safe.

The best safe sex comes from more organic thinking. What turns you on? And go from there. Sex is a buffet, a smorgasbord there are so many enjoyable things to do without using barriers. By shifting your thinking you can having better sex by being safe because you have to communicate with your partner and you get more creative and specific about what you like.

The most difficult part is to be brave and talk when it comes to sex. Most of us just wish our partner would figure it out. Most the time this is not going to happen. So speak up break out an outfit, a toy or the baked beans and have fun!

next trip

It is a really busy schedule this year. (http://www.riverhuston.com/calendar-/) Next blog I will talk about how that happened!


 

I just returned from Vienna and I am happy to be back to my paintings, chicken, and dogs! It was an amazing trip. I was concerned about performing in front of an international audience but it all worked out. I thought for sure that once I started, the audience that filled the auditorium would look confused and make their way to some of the many other options offered at the 18th International Conference on HIV/AIDS. Fortunately they were in the mood for my brand of irreverent humor and soon the isles and floor were filled with people looking to laugh and maybe cry, just a little. I feel blessed to have been chosen to perform as well as have the premiere viewing of my film, A Positive Life: Portraits of Women Living With HIV.

 

International conferences can be daunting and I had stopped going to them a few years ago, okay, a decade ago, because most the information I can get online and sometimes it just feels like too much AIDS talk! I live with it so it is always lurking in the back of my mind and to be hit with 4 days of fun packed AIDS activities can be a little much for my small brain! But this time around was great because I saw many old friends and met so many new people from around the world.

 

I’m always fascinated about how other countries deal with this disease and what it is like to live in different cultures, I met people from the Middle East, Russia, Nepal, China and it was fascinating, though often sad. Especially in the Middle East where women barely have the right to exist let alone have the right to protect themselves from STDs or even get treatment without prosecution.

 

There were some brave women from this region of world, who found their way to the conference and are persevering, even with the threat of death, to fight for women's rights as well as prevention and treatment of HIV. I was in awe of the work they do as well as so many others from around the world.

 

Below are websites of some of the people and groups I met. The websites give you perspective on the breath and depth of this epidemic as well as the effort to find ways to deal with it. Take a look, buy some stuff or make a donation. The smallest amount from each us can make a huge difference in the lives of many.

 

 

http://www.payvand.com/news/10/jul/1192.html

 

http://www.aidscaretrust.org/act/ Namibia

 

http://www.alcsmaroc.ma/ Morocco and MENA (Middle East, North Africa)

 

http://www.network.org.ua/home-en/ Ukraine

 

http://kyrgyzlabrys.wordpress.com/ Kyrgyzstan

 

http://www.hivtri.com/istanbul_09/team.html Istanbul

 

http://www.jazas.rs/index.php?change_lang=en Serbia

 

http://www.ysauganda.org/default.aspx Uganda

 

http://www.saveindianfamily.org/ India

 

http://www.icw.org/node/459   International

 

http://swannet.org/node/238   sex workers of Europe, Eastern Europe and central Asia

 

http://www.mh-center.org/en/ Kazakhstan

 

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=84385   Global group

 

http://www.nswp.org/ UK

 

http://www.flosjewelleryandgifts.org/Project%20Kenya%202010%20-April%20Newsletter.pdf Kenya

 

http://www.yabonga.com/site/index.html South Africa

 

Here are some groups raising funds through jewelry and crafts. They are absolutely awe-inspiring in the work they do:

 

http://www.beadforlife.org/indexS.html

 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=272461024730#!/group.php?gid=272461024730

 

http://www.facebook.com/GlobalGiving

 

http://www.orphanbracelet.org/   (really nice bracelets)

 

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=172301434668 Cool bags

 

Oh if you want to read about my encounter with a Nazi go to:

http://www.thebody.com/content/news/art57866.html

 

 

 

 

 

Today is World AIDS day and my 25th year of living with HIV. 

Today is a day to remember the millions of people who have died, to think about how we see HIV and to realize we are affected in some way.

Below are slides from a book I wrote about women and HIV.  I initially wrote the book to break stereotypes. This disease continues to be misunderstood, stigmatized and often filled with judgment and blame.

HIV is a virus, a disease, that is all. Not a curse, a gift, or a punishment. It is preventable. It is not about abstinence, it is about education. It is not about condoms it is about knowledge. For women and men around the world who do not have a choice we need to develop methods of prevention such as vaginal and anal microbisides. And ultimately a cure.

For all of you who do have a choice have great sex, just be safe. There is no orgasm in the world worth this STD.

Best wishes and a special thanks to everyone who continues the work in prevention, research, treatment and education. Without your dedication and continued focus I would not be here today. River Huston

 Why can women have multiple orgasms and men can’t?

Because God loves women more than men. That is what my friend Paula says but really it is because men have a refractory peroid between orgasms-you could call it the the reloading phase during which men are very unlikely to become erect or ejaculate again. It appears to be influenced by hormones, neurotransmitters, and nerve excitability, and is seemingly absent among most women.