SEBASTIAN JUNGER

VANITY FAIR

The Never-Ending War
THE BONDS of BATTLE

Vanity Fair,
June 2015

In his June 2015 piece in Vanity Fair, Mr. JUNGER helped me connect a few dots. Not his dots. Not your dots. My dots.

Dot 1. Most Vets return home to isolated areas - out in the country, in small towns or big cities - it doesn’t make a difference. They miss the common purpose they had with their comrades.

Dot 2. Vets are traumatized before they deploy.

COMMON PURPOSE

Dot 3. AIDS sparked condemnation from the right wing Christian politicians and preachers. HA. Then gay men got pissed off. Then Lesbians got pissed off. Call it a Day…

Dot 4. Then Larry KRAMER got pissed off. Act Up. A swell of folks circling a common purpose, a swell of folks, gay and straight, who wanted to live and could not believe their friends were dying within months of getting sick. A swell of folks that started a medical movement which to this day continues to advance the treatment of immune deficiency diseases.

Larry Fucking KRAMER.

{Dot 4.1. I had coffee and scones with Mr. KRAMER at a cafe in Pioneer Square sometime in the late 80s. I was living on Vashon Island at the time. He radiated fury. It turned me on. I got a boner. But we didn’t sleep together.}

Dot 5. AIR BNB. UBER. LYFT.

To be continued…