The Word Cloud we did together is complete!  Below is a graphic of the results.  It was really fun watching them come in: thank you for participating.  I’d love to hear if any of the words surprise you or, if you contributed and want to share your thoughts behind the words you listed, please do so!  If you don’t want to talk about it publicly, you can certainly just reply to the email to let me know but, in the interest of sparking greater discussion amongst us, you can also add it to the comment section here:  I have added the results graphic to the page there as well!  

To kickstart the conversation,  my daughter Breathe submitted the phrase sealed loyalty for this exercise.  I thought that was interesting:  how is keeping a promise similar to showing loyalty to someone?  And, if we apply this word to a school where, based on the research above, we have to assume a decent percentage of kids are experiencing some time of bullying, how is the name Covenant High ironic?

1995 was a significant year for me.  I was a freshman in high school.  The first time I ever taught a classroom (which would later prove monumental in my life) was when I sought out permission from my French teacher, Mr. Cotham, and my principal, to basically skip French class every Friday so that I could teach Mrs. Speck’s third grade class French.  It was the year I was actively bullied.  And country music was very important to me. I listened to the radio so often I knew every song that came on.  The DJs felt like friends: Gerry House and The House Foundation in the mornings, followed by Hoss Burns. Hoss was my favorite DJ.  I called him several times – sometimes to request a song, and sometimes to just chat.  He seemed to genuinely care.  I went to the radio station to meet him.  I’d been listening to him for a couple years when, one morning, my mother sat me down and gave me a newspaper article.  The headline said that local DJ, Hoss Burns, was retiring from broadcasting because he had AIDS.  In 1995, I didn’t know much about AIDS… except that it was scary because it meant that the person had a noncurable, usually terminal, disease. I cried. Hoss went on to become an advocate for AIDS… and he lived for another 20 years before dying in 2015.  You can hear the Christmas song I heard every year on Nashville’s 98WSIX by Hoss here. 

In these chapters, we learn River’s secret:  he has HIV.  It is undetectable, which means he is “safe”, and stastically, unable to pass the disease to anyone. He is on medication to keep it “asleep.”  Below is a chart that shows the risks of HIV transmission when the viral load is undetectable.  The chart comes from the CDC here and was last reviewed in 2023. 

In the story, we see River struggle with the decision to tell Brielle about his HIV-positive status.  As of December 2023, 34 states have laws that criminalize exposure to HIV — many of these laws are outdated. They were implemented when the disease was not well understood and criminalize behavior that science now knows cannot transmit the disease. See here and here for state specific information. 13 states require people living with HIV to disclose that information to sexual partners — even if they have an undetectable viral load and, if they do not disclose that information, they can be criminally prosecuted and sentenced to ten years (or more). In Texas, they can face sexual assault charges if they do not disclose.  

Speaking only of those people who, like River, have an undetectable viral load, do you think it should be legally required to disclose medical information to partners for the purposes of consensual sex?  While debating this with himself, River explains he’s had sex with four girls and not revealed his diagnosis. Jonathan, his father, advises him “not to make a mountain out of a molehill” and says, “why make a problem where there isn’t one?”  to which River ultimately responds, “because it’s the right thing to do.”  Consent means you willfully and voluntarily agree to a proposition — such as, for sex.  Is it still consent if someone has an undetectable but present disease and does not disclose this to you?  

It’s your turn!  Please add your

response in the comments below!

This is one of many sensitive topics and questions within this book.  Please note that while I encourage your honest opinions and welcome all sorts of responses – positive and negative – comments are not made public until I approve them, and I will not approve any that are not worded respectfully.   Again, I honestly want discussion and welcome all sorts of viewpoints.  Agreeing with someone is not necessary.  Treating people respectfully and with compassion is.