Before During and After AIDS

Biography

Joan Thomas (Kleski) Nelson grew up in a normal yet humble household in Dwarf, Kentucky. Along with her older sister Winnie. she experienced a lively and outgoing family life headed by her father Dewey Thomas. She once described the atmosphere in her home as "pretty much all free will." Her mother, Lorene Salyers Thomas, was a genuine presence in her life; she seems to have been emotionally pleasing. Joan is said to have characterized her mother as the sort of mother "to whom you could go when you are troubled." Both parents raised Nelson to be a principled person who would one day be responsible for a family of her own. Her father attempted to persist in her reading books that might "flourish" her mind, for the most part her Education. Nelson’s personal character and self-confident knowledge allowed her to fall into step with the traditional decency, family, and social duty approved by her father and mother. Her father was a coal miner and steel worker, he belonged to the Union and her grandfather was also a coal miner.

In the early fifties Nelson’s family moved to Dennison, Ohio. The family grew in size during the fifties. Eleven years after the move to Ohio; Two brothers were added to the family (Dewey and Kelce). Joan’s sister Winnie got married and had a son (Philip). Joan went on to get married in the sixties and had three children, (King, Ivory and Lori).

Nelson found sarcasm, persecution, and rejection lurking in the simplest and commonest experiences, while she cared for her son during his illness. The materials and subject matter of her book is quite inevitable. These materials represent the range of what she experienced in and around the community. She used them because they constituted so much of her life and, more importantly, because she found meanings masked in them. Though her world was without airs, it was also difficult in its viciousness and its anxiety. Her book captures impressions of particular moments, scenes, or moods, and she more often than not focuses upon topics such as secrets about immorality, death, faith, doubt, pain, and the person.

Though her background was tolerant, she was willing to break whatever writing principle stood in the way of the passion of her thoughts and descriptions. Her realism, frustration, and opinions are tightly packed. Clearly she offers her explanation by way of one or two descriptions that reveal her thoughts in a convincing manner. She once characterized her unhurried writing "My subject matter is deliberate." Her motive is to reveal the hopelessness of persons who are living and dieing with the HIV/AIDS virus. By encouraging qualified questions with images that will not complicate health encouragement. In her book she describes her thoughts this way: "Tell The Truth and Shame The Devil.” This might well stand as a working definition of Nelson’s experience.

Nelson’s book is challenging because it is uncompromising and progressive in its negative response to ongoing government help for medical treatment. Her book requires active engagement from the reader, because she seems to leave out so much with her direct style and significant unspeakable descriptions. What might seem intimidating on a silent page can surprise the reader with meaning when heard. It's also worth keeping in mind that Nelson was not always rational in her views and they can change from paragraph to paragraph or page to page, depending upon how she felt at a given moment. Nelson was more concerned in getting answers to questions than she was in examining and exploring their "boundaries."

Today, Nelson is regarded as a published Author, she has written a book about her son (King) living and dieing with the HIV/AIDS virus. The title of the book is:
Before, During and After AIDS/
A Mother's Love and Memories