After a stint in the 1970s in the Peace Corps in Chad, Michael Varga became a Foreign Service officer, serving in Dubai, Damascus, Casablanca, and Toronto. He served as the desk officer for Lebanon and was a Pearson Fellow at the World Trade Center in Miami. He is a...
When I was a sophomore in high school, I was cast in a production of the musical play, Guys & Dolls. I was Gambler #3 and I had only one line to deliver. During a game of craps, I was supposed to get into a tussle with Gambler #6, yell “You cheated!” and slug him. When we rehearsed the play, I was confident I could make it look like my fist was making contact with his face. The director had said that I was supposed to swing my arm as if to hit his face but position my back so that the audience wouldn’t see my hand sliding just beyond his right cheek.
In 1995 the doctors told me I would probably be dead of AIDS by April 1997. I had retired early from the U.S. Foreign Service, and AIDS patients were dying rapidly. There was no effective treatment for AIDS or HIV. It was a grim time, and I had no reason to think I would be any different than the hordes of patients who had already succumbed, who were deprived of a normal life span and the opportunity to grow old.
In 1986 I was the vice-consul at the American Consulate General in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was my first assignment in the U.S. Foreign Service.
Some villagers brought medications with instructions in English, Russian, French or German. They could read none of these languages, so I translated them as best I could. For the Russian medicines, I would tell them that—like them—I couldn’t read these labels. Others...
“How soon can you get out of Canada?” asked the administrative officer at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto in October 1995 when I was informed that my application for disability retirement—due to my advanced HIV/AIDS—had been approved. “What?” I asked. “Now that you’re...
Originally published in HIV Plus Magazine. You can read the original here.
Originally Published in Literal Latte Spring 2011. You can read the original here. Second Prize, 2010 Literal Latte Essay Award. When I was a child and my parents argued, my father used to escape to the basement and listen to his short-wave radio. Growing up in...
Originally published in The Foreign Service Journal October 2009. You can read the original here.
Originally published in Notre Dame Magazine Autumn 2005. You can read the original here.