Shownotes
On September 11, 2001, a gay man living with HIV made a decision that had nothing to do with self-preservation. He ran toward the World Trade Center and spent 24 hours in the pile. Neil Adams met Michael Dorian in New York in the early 1990s and their friendship lasted nearly 30 years. Now he has written the book Michael asked him to write. From the Pile is a debut biography that covers Michael's childhood in poverty, his HIV diagnosis at 16, his life built on compassion, and the choice he made on the worst day in modern American history. This episode is about what it means to show up when it costs you everything.
Key Takeaways:
- Who Michael Dorian was before 9/11 and what shaped his decision to respond
- What it meant for an immunocompromised man to spend 24 hours at Ground Zero
- How a decades-long friendship between two gay men became the foundation of a book
- What Neil learned about compassion, empathy, and showing up from a man younger than himself
- Why Michael's story was featured in a New York Emmy-winning profile and Spike Lee's 9/11 documentary
- What this story says about the older gay male community and the conversations we are not having
About Neil
Website
Instagram - Neil's
Instagram - The Book
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