Human Interest
The World & I Magazine: A Nifty program
Fifteen years ago Steve Mariotti was about to call it quits. He paced the hallway just beyond his roaring high school class, having been driven from the room by a flurry of spitballs. His situation was a teacher’s nightmare:
He was threatened and cursed at, radios blared, and kids danced in the aisles. One student had actually set fire to another’s coat! Mariotti had tried all the traditional methods to get control of his class to get them interested but nothing seemed to work.
Modern Drug Discovery Magazine: Thailand on the Eve of an Aids Vaccine Trial
A man sits before a television watching Thai soap operas in a hospital waiting room. He looks on, occasionally glancing at a nurse’s table where another patient is receiving an injection. When asked his age, he must think for a minute. He is 39 years old and heroin user for the past 24years and the telltale signs of his addiction, needle tracks, scar his forearms. He lives in Bangkok as a social pariah. He has no family, and his only human contact is with other addicts. When he lost a friend to AIDS a few years ago, he became afraid for his life. As a hard-core intravenous drug user at high risk for AIDS infection, he realized he had to quit. His plan is simple. First, he wants to quit; then he hopes for a normal life to become an auto mechanic and start a family.