Happy New Year, everyone. It's Mary. For the past week or so, we have been

rerunning episodes that really stuck with us this year. This is the last of

those. Tomorrow starts a new year, and Monday we'll be back with brand new

episodes of What Next. But we wanted to close out 2020 with a show that both

honors the past and reminds us that it's possible for regular people to work

together and save each other. It's an obituary of a sort. One of thought about a

lot over the past few months.

When I think about Larry Kramer, the AIDS activist who died last week at the age of

84, I can hear his voice loud, urgent, filled with this righteous anger. Play! 40

million infected people is a f***ing plague and nobody acts as it is. This is a

clip that started making the rounds last week. It was recorded 30 years ago.

Larry is expressing this frustration with the pace of HIV research and drug

development. We are in the worst shape we have ever ever ever been in. Nothing is

working. None of that s*** you saw on that screen is working. One of the funny

things about Larry Kramer though is that until he opened his mouth, he didn't

read as particularly angry. Visually what you can picture is a very

unprepossessing looking white Jewish man with a thick set of glasses and a

fringe of white hair. Mark Harris is a journalist and a cultural critic. I heard

he wore overalls a lot. He wore a lot of big turquoise jewelry. So the visual

does not quite match the fire brand that you might imagine. The last time

Mark saw Larry, it was at a benefit for the gay men's health crisis. An organization

Larry founded to fight AIDS. Larry was winning some kind of lifetime achievement

...