The AIDS epidemic provides the excuse for gangs that like to beat up people. When I was a boy, I would announce to my mother my latest startling sociological findings, some of which she believed any boy with one eye and half a brain should have known long before _ like how white people tend to be mean to black people. On those occasions she would look at me in mock wonder and say: "Look at hi

1. 130,000 Americans have died of AIDS. 2. More Americans have died of AIDS than the combined war deaths in Korea and Vietnam. 3. Approximately 100,000 adolescents are infected now, and about 2,000 have already contracted the disease. Heterosexual sex is the primary way teens get infected. Some simple, overlooked risks may include girls sharing needles when piercing each other's ears; and boys

When Leanza Cornett was crowned Miss America in 1992, she wasn't thinking of the fame and fortune that came along with the title. She was thinking of something more serious - AIDS. After being crowned, Cornett began a national tour called "AIDS Affects All," making speeches promoting AIDS awareness. Cornett got involved in volunteering with AIDS patients when she was 20 years old. "The reason

When Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, 78, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, is interviewed, he speaks with passion and twirls around in his chair. Tutu, who remains energetic and effervescent, recently visited Indianapolis to speak at Butler University's commencement ceremony. For more than 25 years, he has helped unite South Africa and fight against apartheid, its system of racial segregati