Case here, so this character is a bit of personal catharsis on my part. In 1995 I lost a dear sweet funny friend to AIDs and it was obviously very difficult.  Recently another very close friend of mine who has HIV found out that his T-cell count was dropping and it has made me think back a lot to the friend I lost and how much I wish modern medicine had been so advanced back then.  In any event, Jackson is an attempt by me to process some of that through writing.  So, I don't know if this attempt to play a character so close to me personally will pan out but I am interested to try.

Jackson Hailey moved to New Orleans after being diagnosed with Stage I HIV in 1995 in an attempt to lose himself in the transient city.  He has no family because his parents disowned him when he came out to them at the age of seventeen.  He has a degree in English Literature, but currently works two part time jobs.  He is a practicing Buddhist and lives in the attic room of a house near the Garden District with some very odd room mates.  His disease has now progressed to late Stage II and his T cell count borders on the 200 mark.

My idea was to enter him as a staple of the local scenery already.  So if anyone wants to pretend they already know him from around town that would be totally fine with me, just let me know and we can sort out the details.  He is easy to miss but hard not to like.