Heads and tales: Do it yourself

stress Positive outlook: Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are telling HIV-positive mothers to relax. That’s because stress hurts the body’s ability to fight off infection. The pioneer MOMS (Making Our Mothers Stronger) Project is a National Institute of Health study. Says one researcher, “The person who can roll with the punches, who can confront the stressor and who can solve the problem is gonna do much better, and their immune system is going to commensurately be more adaptive.” [audio version]

Free HIV tests around Birmingham today. No needles, just a mouth swab. Maps: AIDS Alabama | Jefferson County AIDS in Minorities | The Phoenix | UAB Recreation Center | UAB 1917 Clinic

• The MOMS Project [WBHM (90.3 FM)]

God is my architect: A church in Thorsby is facing the wrath of God and government. Members of Cedar Grove Methodist Church completed construction on their homemade church in September. Last Thursday, an 80-foot span of roof came crashing down on the unoccupied sanctuary. A church member, browsing photos of other churches online, printed out the pics to use as blueprints. Apparently, no building plans or permits were approved by state agencies. Pastor Jeff Carroll said, “If the state and the church are separate, I don’t understand why they think they’ve got jurisdiction.” The (ungodly) state is sending inspectors to determine the cause of the collapse. We’re guessing lack of faith and/or prayer.
• Pastor says he was unaware of church building requirements [Birmingham News]

Gender bender: Alabama prohibits marriage between two men or two women, but what about a woman and a woman who used to be a man? Or in this case, a transgender woman who didn’t have the operation and is still physiologically a man? While you ponder that, just such a couple married in Chilton County — after an Elmore County judge refused to perform the ceremony. They wed on June 6, the day voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. We’re OK with the marriage — so long as they still had groom’s cake.
• Transgender woman weds in Alabama [Montgomery Advertiser]

Behold the power of the Oprah: One of our favorite authors, Monroeville’s Harper Lee, has penned a letter for the July issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. The letter discusses how she became a reader in 1930s rural Alabama. Lee never gives interviews and hasn’t published nearly anything since her masterpiece novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She writes, “In an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books.” She mentioned us! She mentioned us!
• Harper Lee writes item on reading for Oprah’s magazine [Associated Press]

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