Turns out, it was pneumocystis pneumonia, histoplasmosis, and thrush. “In the weeks leading up to that day, I’d been terribly sick with what I thought was a mean case of bronchitis. 4, I was rushed to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences emergency room,” he writes. “Sixteen years ago, I was living in Arkansas, Little Rock to be precise, when on Nov. For instance, last fall he penned an insightful and at times funny piece about the most recent anniversary of his HIV diagnosis as well as some recent health struggles. As a contributing editor for, he interviews HIV activists and other newsmakers, but he also shares openly about his travails living with HIV. This drive toward self-definition shines through resoundingly in his journalism, which includes feature writing and personal essays for, an HIV information and news platform, and other publications.
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Ultimately, though, it is able to define itself on its own terms, something Sanchez has learned how to do for himself over the years, from his youth in Phoenix, Arizona, to his current status as a New York City-based writer, director, musical director, performer, and advocate. Merce marries the ebullience of Hairspray to the drollness of Sordid Lives. It’s fearlessly zany, fearlessy heartfelt, and it hits its HIV points not with a sledgehammer but with a xylophone mallet. The show normalizes the virus by presenting various topics related to living with HIV (doctor-patient communication, dating, sexual health, mental health) in the stream of someone’s everyday life. It’s a stylized world that mixes drama and comedy, and there’s always time for a musical number. Recent recipient of the Audience Award at the Kaleidoscope Film Festival and Best HIV/AIDS Content at America’s Rainbow Film Festival in 2016, among other awards, Merce follows a winsome gay man living with HIV and his circle of friends and family. If Merce hits a bump in the road, he may be temporarily shaken (and need an infusion of ice cream), but he always finds a way to bounce back-and bounce back higher.
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I felt a bit like Merce, the titular character that Charles Sanchez created and plays in the web series from Skipping Boyz Productions (Season Two premieres January 21). My head pounded but I soldiered on, knowing that the pain would subside. After Charles made sure I was okay, we seated ourselves and opened the glossy menus that were bigger than the tabletop. For when Charles arrived and I bounded up to greet him, I conked my head on the edge of its unforgiving frame. Maybe if the TV’s volume had been on I would have remembered it was there. Yes, a flatscreen was suspended over my head but the sound was off. And neither did the percussive mechanics of the cash register intrude. The booths filled with lunchtime patrons were far down the way and out of earshot.
Having arrived first, I had stationed myself in a corner two-top for the quiet. On a sunny November day, more summer than winter, Charles Sanchez and I had agreed to meet at a neighborhood diner in New York City for the magazine interview.