June 15th, 2009


Services for Oliva Cater will be held at the United Methodist Church located at the northwest corner of Highland and Franklin in Hollywood on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 2pm.
Please join us with Darnel for the Service in the Sanctuary at 2:00 and then after in the adjacent Grand Hall for further celebration with Olivia and Darnel’s greater family…
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June 12th, 2009


[tuesday, june 9, 2009] good morning president garcetti, distinguished council members. my name is richard kearns. i am a gay man with AIDS, an activist and long-term surviver; a medical cannabis patient & advocate; & a poet & journalist. it is my joy to stand before you today another year older; i am now 58.. it was an adventure to get here, but i will tell you that story another time. here is my poem to celebrate today’s occasion:
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May 21st, 2009


chers—
i am pleased to invite you to a series of poetry readings in my new neighbothood (& around town too). i want you to come listen. i want you to come read. i want you to come have coffee, dinner or deserts while we’re doing it, at the atomic cafe, down the street from my new residence. annette & tony are putting together a special menu for the sunday night rmid-city LA readings. the first two are scheduled may 24 and june 7.
also join in & help celebrate my 58th birthday (5-26-long, long, ago).
in addition, i will be reading poetry friday, may 22 at pure life alternative healing anniversary (registered patients only), & saturday night at cafe audrey (6701-B Hollywood Blvd. @Las Palmas, Admission is FREE, $2 parking at the Kodak w/validation). naps between performances.
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April 24th, 2009


chers—
after closing the facility & evacuating an
estimated 130 residents march 23 to “other
locations” throughout the LA assisted care
system, hancock park assisted care is
scheduled to relocate me friday, april 24, to
an interim assisted care facility named
westside manor, until such time as the
hancock park facility itself re-opens. if they
re-open. without attempting a rate increase
for its fixed-income population. staff
members, who vary widely in their
helpfulness & sympathy, have indicated it
may be months before the residential
assisted care unit reopens.
i have stayed in three separate motels in los
angeles over the last 31 days, living out of
suitcases & bags & boxes, each motel
progressively further away from my my
primary care physician & my hospital, which
were my top two primary healthcare
requirements articulated to & ignored by
hancock park staff seeking to relocate me.
my t-cells have slipped under 200 again, &
my viral load has jumped a log, according to
results from a blood draw last week.
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Posted in aging and HIV/AIDS, aids, aids & bubonic plague & 1918 flu, americans for safe access / la, apla, asian-pacific hiv/aids, beingALIVE-la, black msm gay hiv/aids, black women with aids, ces (coalition for economic survival), champ, citizen journalism, contains rks original photography, graphic art, criminalization of HIV/AIDS, cultural activism, first nations indigenous hiv/aids, gay guys with aids, gay issues, global aids, harm reduction coalition, health justice, healthcare for veterans, hepatitis c, hiv, hiv & assisted care, hiv and veterans, hiv disease, hiv in prison, hiv/aids, hiv/aids in california, hiv/aids stigma, hiv/aids vaccine, hivers over 50, la county ca hiv/aids, lag&lc, latina-latino hiv/aids, lgbt, los angeles city, medical marijuana, national AIDS strategy, pan / patient advocacy network, poetry, politics, public health policy, schac, shamanism, social justice, social marketing, transgender hiv/aids, weho--city of west hollywood, women & girls w/hiv/aids, women's issues | No Comments »
March 23rd, 2009


[march 20, 1009]
ho-dah ha-fez [my mangled pronunciation of
a farsi greeting]. what a joy it is to be alive to
see another naw ruz. richard kearns, poet
activist, fifth district. i have given the clerk a
copy of my prepared remarks as well as an
article about eric holder’s 2nd set of clarifying
remarks last wednesday halting DEA raids
on legit medical cannabis dispensaries
i stand before you today to advocate for all
the many nested communities in which i am
a stakeholder. who am i? what am i? i am a
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March 23rd, 2009

You’ve heard that old canard. “The dictionary defines marriage as…” Well guess what? What’s good for the goose is now good for the gays. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, that descriptive dictionary born with the american revolution, defines marriage this way:
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March 23rd, 2009


[march 10, 2009]
good morning president garcetti,
distinguished council members. richard
kearns, poet activist. i have given the clerk a
copy of my prepared remarks.
thank you for extending the medical cannabis
interim control ordinance for 6 months here
are some specific suggestions about actions
we can take to move the entire regulation
process along both in spirit & letter
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Posted in McCAB, McNC, aging and HIV/AIDS, aids, aids & bubonic plague & 1918 flu, americans for safe access / la, apla, asian-pacific hiv/aids, beingALIVE-la, black msm gay hiv/aids, black women with aids, champ, citizen journalism, contains rks original photography, graphic art, criminalization of HIV/AIDS, cultural activism, faith-based activism, first nations indigenous hiv/aids, gay guys with aids, gay issues, global aids, harm reduction coalition, health justice, healthcare for veterans, hepatitis c, hiv, hiv & assisted care, hiv and veterans, hiv disease, hiv in prison, hiv/aids, hiv/aids in california, hiv/aids stigma, hiv/aids vaccine, hivers over 50, la county ca hiv/aids, lag&lc, latina-latino hiv/aids, lgbt, los angeles city, marriage equality, medical marijuana, national AIDS strategy, pan / patient advocacy network, politics, public health policy, same-sex marriage, schac, shamanism, social justice, social marketing, transgender hiv/aids, ummp, weho--city of west hollywood, women & girls w/hiv/aids, women's issues | No Comments »
March 19th, 2009

Obama Administration to Stop Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensers
By DAVID JOHNSTON and NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: March 18, 2009
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday outlined a shift in the enforcement of federal drug laws, saying the administration would effectively end the Bush administration’s frequent raids on distributors of medical marijuana.
Speaking with reporters, Mr. Holder provided few specifics but said the Justice Department’s enforcement policy would now be restricted to traffickers who falsely masqueraded as medical dispensaries and “use medical marijuana laws as a shield.”
In the Bush administration, federal agents raided medical marijuana distributors that violated federal statutes even if the dispensaries appeared to be complying with state laws. The raids produced a flood of complaints, particularly in California, which in 1996 became the first state to legalize marijuana sales to people with doctors’ prescriptions.
please click on this sentence to see the entire nytimes article
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March 18th, 2009
Posted in aids, citizen journalism, contains rks original photography, graphic art, hiv, hiv/aids in california, hivers over 50, la county ca hiv/aids, los angeles city, pan / patient advocacy network, poetry, politics, politics&poetry, public health policy, shamanism, social justice, social marketing | No Comments »
March 18th, 2009


chers—
three sets of studies of medical cannabis and HIV/AIDS. hep-c (a third of all HIVers have hep-c) & alzheimers disease. bookmark this page!
namaste
—rk
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Posted in McCAB, McNC, aging and HIV/AIDS, aids, aids & bubonic plague & 1918 flu, americans for safe access / la, apla, asian-pacific hiv/aids, beingALIVE-la, black msm gay hiv/aids, black women with aids, champ, citizen journalism, contains rks original photography, graphic art, criminalization of HIV/AIDS, cultural activism, faith-based activism, first nations indigenous hiv/aids, gay guys with aids, gay issues, global aids, harm reduction coalition, health justice, healthcare for veterans, hepatitis c, hiv, hiv & assisted care, hiv and veterans, hiv disease, hiv in prison, hiv/aids, hiv/aids in california, hiv/aids stigma, hiv/aids vaccine, hivers over 50, la county ca hiv/aids, lag&lc, latina-latino hiv/aids, lgbt, los angeles city, marriage equality, medical marijuana, national AIDS strategy, pan / patient advocacy network, politics, public health policy, same-sex marriage, shamanism, social justice, social marketing, transgender hiv/aids, veteran's issues, weho--city of west hollywood, women & girls w/hiv/aids, women's issues | No Comments »