The California Kid

Hi Readers!

Welcome back to another edition of our blog! My name is Taylor Stephan and I will also be blogging for Boulder County Aids Project (BCAP), spreading awareness and sharing my views and perspectives about HIV/AIDS. I hope to be as honest and open minded as I can while I blog for BCAP.  Besides that, here’s a little background information about myself. I am a business student at the University of Colorado-Boulder and studying for a major in marketing. I am a white, 20 year old male, with no particular religious beliefs. I was born and raised in Southern California in a pretty liberal environment. My family and I enjoy the ocean and other outdoor sports such as tennis, skiing, and mountain biking. I do read certain blogs on the internet but I personally have no experience when it comes to writing one.

As my knowledge pertaining to HIV/AIDS goes, I know very little and don’t personally know anyone who is infected with the disease. Some information that I do know off the bat about HIV/AIDS is that it is transmitted through direct contact, not through the air, and the disease severely weakens ones immune system.  I feel that many people my age don’t know that much about HIV/AIDS. Whether this is because they grew up in an environment that didn’t stress learning about this disease or that there simply wasn’t available information to everyone, I’m not too sure. I’m not an expert on the subject of HIV/AIDS by all means but after sitting down with BCAP at our initial meeting, I really learned a lot and gained a broader, more in depth view about the subject. I learned that besides the disease being physically devastating, it can be financially devastating as well. HIV/AIDS medication is very costly and puts just as much of a burden on the victim as does the physical disease, among other things.

I hope to learn more throughout the semester by working with BCAP and researching with my group I can help spread awareness and better educate myself as well as the general public about HIV/AIDS.

For More Information Please Visit www.bcap.org