46 BCALA NEWS Volume 41, Issue 3

Summer 2014

in another facility for incarcerated teens in Virginia. Future plans are to work with other high schools in juvenile justice systems in the southeast, and these facilities tend to have a significant number of Black students. Finally, we are also reaching out to national public health agencies that have HIV/AIDS prevention programs for this target population, as well as other teens.

P.C.: Dr. Albright mentioned in a New York Times feature on this piece that some academics have questioned this book’s lack of mention of gay sex or prison sex, which are relevant pieces of the HIV/AIDS transmission discussion. Why does this work specifically tackle teenage, heterosexual sex?

K.G.: It was the teens’ decision to make this a heterosexual storyline. They wanted it to reflect their lives and the lives of teens like them. They never broached the subject of homosexual transmission of HIV/AIDS when discussing the plot.

P.C.: Anything else that you’d like to say about this work?

K.G.: This was one of the most rewarding things that I have ever done in my career. I had worked in a pretty rough high school when I was a school librarian, and I came in with the expectation that it was going to be a difficult and challenging process working with incarcerated youth. My experience was quite the opposite. Their teachers had these students well prepared to work with us, and it was a pleasure working with them. I learned a lot from them. They truly enjoyed the process of creating a graphic novel, and it was inspiring seeing the teens come to consensus about the plot and the characters. They were proud of their ability to collaborate with each other. It is extremely rewarding working on a project to try to make a difference in HIV / AIDS prevention in SC and nationally.