Christopher Zyda - The Storm: One Voice from the AIDS Generation

this is a genuine rare bird book

Rare Bird Books
453 South Spring Street, Suite 302
Los Angeles, CA 90013
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Copyright 2020 by Christopher Zyda

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever, including but not limited to print, audio, and electronic. For more information, address:
Rare Bird Books Subsidiary Rights Department
453 South Spring Street, Suite 302
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Set in Minion

epub isbn : 9781644281888

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Zyda, Christopher, author.
Title: The Storm: One Voice from the AIDS Generation / Christopher Zyda.
Description: Includes index. | First Hardcover Edition | A Genuine Rare Bird Book |
New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA: Rare Bird Books, 2020.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781644281680 (Hardcover) | 9781644281888 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH Zyda, Christopher. | Gay menUnited StatesBiography. | GaysUnited StatesBiography. | AIDS (Disease) | Los Angeles (Calif.)Biography. |
BISAC BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
Classification: LCC HQ75 .8.Z92 2020| DDC 306.76/62092dc23

This book is dedicated to Stephen, the first love of my life; to my sister, Joan;
to my friend Bryn; and to everyone else who was lost during the storm.

Contents

Preface

T his book is my true story. I know, becauseagainst all oddsI lived through all of it. This book is a memoir, not an autobiography, because it focuses primarily on fifteen years of my lifethe years of 1983 through 1998and not on my entire life. And memoirs have rules. In todays Age of Truthlessness, I want to disclose the rules that I have followed in writing it.

Most of the people in this memoir are referred to by their first names. For persons who I am certain are dead, who constitute most of the people in my story, I have used their real first name as a means of honoring their memory and legacy in my life. For persons who are still alive, or who possibly still may be alive, I have also used their real first name unless they are villains. Villains are not referred to by their names at all, only by their roles in my story. I have used the full names of all public figures. There is one non-villain whose identity I disguise in order to protect him and his family.

I have painstakingly, and quite painfully, recreated this period of my life based upon notes, writings, interviews, photographs, home movies, obituaries, ticket stubs, invitations, scrapbook contents, Post-it notes, therapy notes, legal filings, income tax returns, address books, memory boxes in my bedroom closet and my warehouse, family genealogy research, Social Security Death Index searches, Google searches, discussions with family members and friends and former work colleagues, Billboard Magazine s annual top 100 songs lists, and historical events (AIDS medical and social history, US history, California history, and Los Angeles history)but most of all, my memory . I have tried to be accurate and honest and also fair, even with respect to the villains and with respect to events that portray me in a negative light, because truth-telling is powerful. My memory is much better than I thought it would be when I embarked on this writing journey, but please understand that it is not perfect and these events happened a very long time ago.

In the passages with actual dialogue, the content and tone is accurate, but these may not be the exact words that were said.

There is one section in which the narrative delves into fantasy, which I clearly state.

In the sections in which I write about my inner thoughts, please know that these sections convey my thoughts at the time but also layer in a more seasoned perspective as I look back from the vantage point of an older man. After all, one of my goals in writing this memoir was to contemplate this story of my youth, examine my flaws, and to understand how my life experience shaped me into the man I am today. This process was incredible therapy for me.

Finally, my story is just one of many stories from the AIDS generation. In it, I speak only for myself, and not in any way for the gay and lesbian community, not for AIDS activists, not for any other groups, not for anyone else. I speak only for myself and my own life experience. As you will see, I dont look very good or even likeable in several parts of this memoir, but I admit that I am a flawed human being. This story is the way it all happened and it is my history.

Acknowledgments

M ichael Wieland, my husband, for believing in me and for supporting me whole-heartedly while I wrote this memoir.

James Devoti and Karen Kraft, for convincing me that this was a story worth telling.

My friends and family members who provided feedback and encouragement on various chapters along the way: Marc Albert; Robert Amend; Max Angst; Guy Baldwin, LMFT; Dana Baron; Marty Bartolac, MD; Hal Bastian; Jackie Black, PhD; Sonja Beals-Iribarren; Elizabeth Boykewich; Gail Boykewich; Stephen Boykewich Jr.; Stephen Boykewich Sr.; Vera Boykewich; Lynn Bukowski; Dillon Ceglio; Terri Chapman; Wayne Chavez; Megan Chernin; Peter Chernin; Barbara Cimaglia; Karen Coler-Castaneda; Trevor Coran; Briana Corcia; Valerie Cohen; JoAnn Cort; Michael Cort; Carol Costanzo; Drew Dees; Stephanie Dees; James Devoti; Marcia Diamond; Mindy Dodge; Douglas Dye; Jane Eisner; Michael Eisner; Caleb Ellis; Jane Engle; Mary Estrin; Robert Estrin; Kristina Forest; Connie Frank; Lowell Gallagher; Roslyn Gaudin; Erica Giovinazzo; Ruth Gitlin; Gregg Gonsalves; Chuck Gordon; Larry Gordon; Lynda Gordon; Maggie Gordon; Bryan Gregory; Scarlett Hammett; Tom Hansen; Hope Heaney; Ursula Heise; Andy Henry; Judy Hofflund; Jeff Hoffman; Virginia Hough; Nike Irvin; Sandy Itkoff; William Jarvis, MD; Janine Jason, MD; Gigi Johnson; Lynsy Karrick-Wikel; Barbara Kellams; Dorcas Kelley; Karen Kraft; Richard Kron; Joel Lambert; Adriel Lares; Robert Laurita; Andrew Marsh; Michael Marsh, MD; Christine Masterson; David McCarthy; Martha Miller; Francois Mobasser; Alexandrea Morelock; Ryan Morelock; Sarah Murphy; Marcie Musser; Robert Musser; Richard Nanula; Larry O Shell; Linda Palmor; Erika Pardo; Frank Paschal; Christopher Plourde; Noel Plourde; Tamer Qafiti; Natacha Rafalski; Jason Reed; Marsha Reed; Daria Roithmayr; Karen Rowe; Suzanne Russell; Kelley Ryan; David Schaberg; Greg Scott; Margaret Snow; Parsa Sobhani; Melrose Sprague; David Thompson; Jeanne Thurber Tierno; Rus Tokman; Evan Tompkinson; Valerie Townsend; Liz Tractenberg; Stephen Tschida; Mark Tucci; Elizabeth Wall-Macht; Louise Wasso-Jonikas; Kim Wieland; Michael Wieland; Shirley Wieland; Steve Wieland; Meryl Witmer; Gloria Wolper; Israel Wright; Elaine Wynn; Gillian Wynn; Kevyn Wynn; Cid Zaima; Alysa Zyda; Fred Zyda; Greta Zyda; Michael Zyda; and Tyerin Dennis Zyda.

My friends and family members who helped me remember pieces of my history: Robert Amend, Hal Bastian, Jane Engle, Andrew Greenebaum, Joan Hemmann, Nike Irvin, Sandy Itkoff, Erika Pardo, Noel Plourde, Margaret Snow, Dan Wolf, and Tyerin Dennis Zyda.

For helping with medical terminologies, references, and footnotes: Leslie Weinstein, MD.

For editing my manuscript: Dan Wolf.

My agent, John Mason, and Mary Bonventre at Copyright Counselors, LLC.

My publishing team at Rare Bird Books: Tyson Cornell, Guy Intoci, Hailie Johnson, and Julia Callahan.