Did you have any storytelling advantages as someone who actually lived in San Francisco during the epidemic?
The night before I conducted my first interview, I had a touch of panic as I realized that I had no prepared questions, no piles of research to guide me. But the panic very quickly subsided as I reminded myself that the storytelling would be emerging from my own experiences living in San Francisco in those years. I had been connected in some way with almost every aspect of how San Francisco was affected by AIDS and thus I was able to conduct my interviews with the insight of a participant rather than the more academic approach an outsider might bring. I think this also made the interviewees far more comfortable and open than they might have been with someone who hadn’t shared that same history.


What combination of factors – social, political, or otherwise – made San Francisco’s response to AIDS so singularly effective? During the 1960s, and even before, San Francisco became a beacon for free spirits, activists, spiritual seekers and idealists of all stripes. And in the 1970s, gays and lesbians flocked there from all over the country to participate in the creation of a truly “out” and politically active gay community. When the epidemic hit, there were so many people in the healthcare system, in activist organizations, in city government who were not afraid to speak out, to get involved. And there was tremendous volunteerism, and creativity in responding to all kinds of unique needs created by the unique challenges of AIDS.