My 15 Minutes

In the winter of '87, I was a college freshman at the University of Tennessee and believed that I was fairly savvy about the world. I was waiting for my girlfriend in the common area of her dorm when I was approached by a woman with a microphone. Over her shoulder I could see a man with a Channel 8 news camera. The woman asked if I knew about the AIDS symposium that had just ended in the dorm's meeting room. I said sure and she asked me a few simple questions about who I was and where I was from. Then she posed the query "Why didn't you attend the AIDS symposium?" Keeping in mind that this was 1987 and there was a lot of confusion about the disease (at least where I lived), I thought I gave an intelligent, well thought out response. My reply was "I'm not a hemophiliac, an IV drug user or a homosexual. I am currently in a monogamous relationship and I really don't think I'm at risk for being infected." She thanked me, the lights on the camera went off and shortly after, my girlfriend came down from her room. I told her about my little interview and let her know that after the 11 o'clock news aired that night I would be famous.

I made it back to my dorm room in plenty of time to watch the lead ins for the news. You know, those little clips that they air to inform you of upcoming stories. I was quickly rewarded with the anchor announcing the AIDS symposium and it's poor attendance. She then teased the audience with the obligatory, "More on that story later in the broadcast" and then my moment of fame arrived. My picture was flashed onto the screen big as day with the caption below it reading "IGNORANCE ON THE UT CAMPUS." My phone rang non stop for the next several hours and I never even got to see my interview.

And now you know about my 15 minutes.