When You Arrive

From the minute you enter the meeting room until the minute you leave, it is March 13, 1989 and you are your persona. Please do not break character.

Before entering the room, take a minute. Think of all of your own friends in your 20s and 30s. Now imagine that ten of them have died terrible, early deaths, and twenty of them are sick and expected to die the same way. And the government is doing nothing about it. The meeting will oftentimes be focused on logistics and minutiae. And, even in the midst of a holocaust, the people at the meeting have found a way to cope through anger, purpose, friendship, and humor. But never forget that the stakes of this meeting are truly life or death for your persona and most of the people your persona cares about.

No one had cell phones in 1989, so please don’t take yours out during the meeting. We are all addicted to our devices, and it will be VERY DIFFICULT for you to resist the urge. But that will immediately take you and everyone else out of the world of the meeting, so please, please, please don’t.

Please make sure you have read all of the preparation materials: How It Works, Background Information, and your Persona profile, which you can look up at Persona Assignments starting about a week prior.

ACT UP meetings would tend to thin out over the course of the meeting. So if your persona is bored or needs to leave, by all means leave (though if your persona is on the agenda, they would probably get someone to cover for them).