AIDS education and a Sex Buffet don’t seem like subjects that would go together, but at the Third Annual Southeastern AIDS Summit on March 28 both were part of the day-long program.

First-year Gerina Auguste captivated the AIDS Summit’s audience by strapping on a dildo to demonstrate how to put on a condom.

Auguste’s demonstration was part of the Sex Buffet workshop led by Guilford AIDS fellow and co-president of Community AIDS Awareness Project (CAAP) Trevor Corning. Corning took attendees through the appetizer, the main course, and the dessert of sex.

Appetizers included foreplay items like feathers and handcuffs. The main course was where Auguste’s demonstration took place and the dessert focused on showering and properly disposing of the condom.

Even though the tone of the workshop was upbeat and fun, Corning urged its participants to “Do these things only with a partner that you trust and that you feel safe with.”

In line with the theme of the conference – AIDS education and awareness – Corning emphasized that conversations about previous sex partners and diseases needed to take place before the sex-act.

“Get straight to the point,” said Corning. “You are putting your body out there.”

Guilford AIDS fellow and co-president of CAAP Amanda Pressley added, “If you are willing to physically engage with someone, then you should also intellectually engage in conversation.”

Pressley introduced the conference and led a group workshop where each person shared their experience and understanding of AIDS to another person. After several minutes of sharing, the person listening demonstrated the story through a body pose.

The poses illustrating people’s experiences with AIDS resulted in curled-up body positions that appeared withdrawn and internalized.

In contrast, when Pressley asked participants to demonstrate why they came to the conference poses, were more open and welcoming.

Pressley used this exercise to emphasize the Summit’s purpose of enacting strategies for community action and change through the speakers and workshops.

Participants chose two of four other workshops to attend.

One workshop consisted of a panel of people who shared their own personal experiences with AIDS.

“The stories of people saying ‘I have AIDS’ are more effective than just hearing a number,” said sophomore Naomi Lewis. “It makes a difference when you look in the person’s eyes.”

“The panel shared about the community of people that have helped them, and so I realized that I could be part of someone else’s community and that I could actually help.”

Other workshops included one led by Assistant Professor of Biology Michele Malotky, who discussed “AIDS in the Body.” This session was designed to educate the participants about how the virus infiltrates cells.

“There has been a stigma about the people who originally began spreading the disease,” said Malotky. “But the people who spread the disease didn’t know they had it.”

“Oftentimes when people get the virus they don’t know they are sick because it can sit in the body quiet and latent for 10-15 years.”

Malotky said that tests for the virus today are more likely to detect the virus even in its latent stage, which is important because even in latency it can be spread from one person to another.

Two additional workshops were offered that focused on AIDS in the black and queer communities.

The workshops made a difference for first-year Adam Watkins, who recently joined CAAP.

“I am very inspired by the speakers today,” said Watkins. “It made me want to be more active. I always wanted to do community work.”

In addition to the workshops, Director of Community Learning and CAAP staff advisor James Shields ’00 spoke.

“Whether you have religious difference, moral difference, or indifference – get over it,” Shields said. “You’ve made yourself a part of this Guilford community for four years, and you need to seek out a place where you can serve. Service helps to empower. Service is the rent you pay to live on earth.”

Representatives from different organizations that use volunteers were present and included Equality NC, Gay-Straight Advocates for Education, Guilford Community AIDS partnership, NC Harm Reduction Coalition, Project STYLE, and Triad Health Project.

All of these organizations have Web sites that indicate areas of service opportunities for individuals and groups.

In addition, keynote speaker Todd Murray, ambassador for the U.S. campaign of Does HIV Look Like Me? offered inspiration to participants to serve no matter what their focus or degree.

He said that you didn’t have to have a degree in social work in order to help in the community.

Murray, diagnosed with HIV at age 19, majored in marketing and communication and so began using these focus areas to become an activist for change and began a campaign of education in the community.

He felt that this was important because of the ineffectiveness of the education he received as a teenager.

“My sex-ed teacher was about 150 years old and here was my chance to learn something, but I didn’t listen to anything he said,” said Murray. “My father put in a sex-ed VHS tape and fast-forwarded it through most of it and that was it.”

“Because of this, I ended up not having the information I needed to have conversations with my sex partners.”

Murray said, “When I went for my AIDS test, I was sure that I didn’t have it, because I didn’t believe AIDS looked like me.”

“But at age 19, I had to learn to deal with living with a disease that had no cure,” said Murray. “What is important about this conference is to identify the one emotion that you have today and commit to do something about it. You can start by just thinking and talking.”