Mindful Messages

the long version

Mindful Messages skillfully scans complex social and issues through a poetic healing conscious and mindfully intervenes with some simple solutions. That healing conscious is spoken word. In particular it focuses on the social and cultural impact the HIV/AIDS pandemic is having on the black community as it races across the country and around the globe. Fact: There are over 42 million people around the world infected with the HIV/AIDS disease. (29 million are in Africa) In the United States approximately a half a million people have already died and another million are living with HIV/AIDS. In recent years, African Americans have been over 50% of the new reported cases, and the virus is continuing to spread. Mindful Messages "breaks the silence" and sends an urgent message of "mindful intervention" to all African American parents and teens advocating abstinence and safe sex to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Mindful Messages brings awareness on the issues of peer pressure, sexuality and relationships and the need for more sex education (life skills) training and information to empower African American youth. It also points out the consequences of not intervening. The book also explains how alcohol and drugs can contribute to "at risk" behavior and the rise in HIV/AIDS and other STD’s in the black community. And it seeks more awareness and compassion for those African and African Americans who are living with the HIV/AIDS disease.