Author Archives

Virally Suppressed is a progressive blog and outreach movement centered around matters of HIV & social justice in America and across the globe.

• The Drug Dealer in the Cupboard: How The Prescription Drug Epidemic Revived Heroin in America

  By Drew Gibson on August 2, 2014 • ( 8 )

  

  It pains me to say this, but after more than 5 years of continuous sobriety—5 years in which I lived in rehabs and halfway houses, worked in the drug and alcohol treatment industry, and spent thousands of hours attending 12-step… Read More ›

• Let Them Drink Pop: Detroit’s Water Crisis & The Fight For Basic Human Rights in The Motor City

  By Drew Gibson on July 21, 2014 • ( 0 )

  

  During the Super Bowl earlier this year, Chrysler unveiled the latest iteration of the “Imported From Detroit” advertising campaign that has been such a key part of their rebranding efforts in the wake of their filing for bankruptcy in 2009…. Read More ›

• No Justice, No Peace…But We Do Have Photos: The Turn on the Water Detroit Rally

  By Drew Gibson on July 18, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  Today, I made the drive up I-75 from Cincinnati to the Motor City to attend the March & Rally to Turn the Water On in Detroit, which was put on by National Nurses United, Robin Hood Tax USA, Moratorium-MI.Org and… Read More ›

• Fractured Communities: How Fracking Is Widening The Gap Between The Haves & Have-Nots in Rural Ohio

  By Drew Gibson on July 11, 2014 • ( 9 )

  

  Now’s the time we smile. Well, not just smile. We have to nod too. Smile and nod. Wrinkle our brows and scribble down notes all sharp and hasty so he feels important; so he thinks we’re hanging on his every… Read More ›

• Coal, Corporate Personhood & The Twilight of Labor Unions in America

  By Drew Gibson on July 6, 2014 • ( 5 )

  

  In light of the Supreme Court’s recent rulings in Harris v. Quinn and Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services v. Hobby Lobby Stores, which have dealt another body shot to organized labor and further entrenched the idea of “corporate personhood” in our… Read More ›

• We Are Our Mountain’s Keeper: The Fight for the Soil & Soul of Appalachia

  By Drew Gibson on June 27, 2014 • ( 5 )

  

  West Virginia is no country for young men. Nor is it a country for old men, brown men, poor men or women. West Virginia is a country for rich men; men with no names and no faces who live far… Read More ›

• Kandahar Journals: Documentary Spotlight

  By Drew Gibson on June 25, 2014 • ( 0 )

  

  4,645 days have passed since Operation Enduring Freedom was launched in Afghanistan in October of 2001. Over that period of time, 3,453 coalition soldiers and 21,000 Afghani civilians have been killed while the United States government has spent more than $727 billion on what is far-and-away… Read More ›

• Real People, Fake Weed: A Slice of Life High on Spice

  By Drew Gibson on June 18, 2014 • ( 3 )

  

  There are few things in this world that feel sketchier than meeting up with a person you’ve never met before in a random gas station parking lot. One of those things happens to be meeting up with a person you’ve… Read More ›

• We Promise This Will Never Happen Again: Freedom Industries Spills More Waste In West Virginia’s Rivers

  By Drew Gibson on June 13, 2014 • ( 1 )

  

  Sometimes, when I come across a story about a chemical spill or environmental disaster in West Virginia, my thoughts lead me to story of the Greek Titan Prometheus. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus was humanity’s architect and benefactor. He was the… Read More ›

• Rage, Rage With West Virginia Against the Dying of Their Right to Clean Water

  By Drew Gibson on June 8, 2014 • ( 11 )

  

  In May of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave the commencement address at the University of Michigan and first laid out the framework of what would become his vision for America’s “Great Society.” In the speech, LBJ reflected on the… Read More ›