CONFERENCE REPORT: Mike Greenly's "Chronicle"
by Stefanie Kott

"Chronicle" (A Walk Through the Shadow of AIDS), a Mike Greenly special report appearing on Parti on The Source, might better be subtitled a Tour (de force). Mike opened "Chronicle" before Rock Hudson was known to have AIDS with the following quote:

The more I learn about the AIDS epidemic, the more I
realize it's one of the key stories of the decade.
Ironically, the human and personal side of the story--
and its accelerating effects on our society--is
largely ignored and unreported...


Mike takes "Chronicle" readers along as he creates a human and personal side of AIDS by interviewing doctors, patients, patients' friends, lawyers, researchers and the public. He reports on AIDS benefits and theatre that deal with AIDS as a theme. And he weaves in and out of his themes, back and forth from one "Chronicle" highlight to another.

For those of us who are unfamiliar with the disease, Mike interviews Dr. Ron Grossman, who labels AIDS an epidemic and says that "the 10,000 cases in the U.S. today could become 1,000,000 cases by 1990-2000." Grossman discusses the evolution of the disease from its first-known occurrence in 1961, and explains research currently under way with a drug called isoprinosine.

Readers meet "Cliff" who speaks about his relationship with his lover "Aaron" both before and after Aaron learned he had AIDS. Among the terrors Cliff and Aaron faced as fear of AIDS spread was the rumored five-year incubation period and the calculation and recalculation of their time of mutual fidelity. We learn how they discovered Aaron's disease and how they shop for a cure. And we listen to Cliff as he says to his unknown audience:

I have been struck by how helpful it has been to me
for people in my office, people I know casually, to
just acknowledge that they know it's difficult, that
it needn't be hidden. One of the hardest things about
the disease is the underground quality of it. That
somehow it's not legitimate.


Mike lets us see how difficult it is for doctors to deal with AIDS patients in his interview with Dr. Paul Stepak, who points out the human angle on doctors:

My impression is that many in the gay community are
suspicious that medical doctors in general are not
sympathetic to AIDS patients, and to problems of gays.
I can say that, beyond any problem of gay people, it
is extremely difficult to deal with p-e-o-p-l-e who
would otherwise be young and healthy and who are under
a death sentence... That is very hard to cope with.


Wade, a gay prostitute, rivets the "Chronicle" audience with his bravado and seeming lack of concern for either his vulnerability to AIDS or the possibility of his being a carrier of it. In graphic detail, Wade unveils the ins and outs of hustling before and after the AIDS phenomenon. We also meet one of Wade's clients, who explains why he values Wade, while he also questions the plausibility of continuing to see him in light of the AIDS threat. And in a later interview, we learn his decision.

At any moment, "Chronicle" readers might sign on to POTS (Parti on The Source) and find a new, unpredictable twist in Mike Greenly's "walk through the shadow of AIDS." Or at any moment readers might write or read "Chronicle Public" comments. "Chronicle Public", the forum Mike created for his readers to discuss his articles and the AIDS phenomenon, has many high-key moments, as gays and straights hash through the issues.

Many of Mike's readers join him in hoping that the human and personal accounts that make up "Chronicle" become a book.

Unquestionably, if there were a public-service award for online journalism, "Chronicle" would be the frontrunner on the list.