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" IN SEPTEMBER 1998, ESQUIRE STARTED CONTACTING PEOPLE ABOUT APPEARING ON THE COVER OF THIS ISSUE. TOM HANKS WAS THE FIRST TO SAY YES. For Hanks, who earned his first Academy Award by portraying a lawyer dying of AIDS in Philadelphia, the reason for appearing on this cover in support of Laurie Garrett&amp;#039;s story was simple and clear: &amp;quot;I think by and large everybody thinks AIDS went away.&amp;quot;  Hanks was photographed in New York with Lauryn Hill, Natasha Richardson, and Dr. Mathilde Krim, who is the cofounder and chairwoman of the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Hill, who this year was nominated for an extraordinary ten Grammy awards, has long been active in children&amp;#039;s charities. She admitted to some surprise when she heard of the gravity of the crisis that will face America as the century ends but immediately set out to educate herself. And then she agreed to appear on the cover.  Richardson, who caused a sensation on Broadway in Cabaret in 1998, has been deeply involved in supporting AIDS research since her father, film director Tony Richardson, died of AIDS in 1991. Like many, she was heartened by the apparent success of combination therapies. &amp;quot;Unfortunately,&amp;quot; she says, &amp;quot;these drugs aren&amp;#039;t working long term. People have the impression that the worst is past and that if they haven&amp;#039;t got a cure, they&amp;#039;ve come up with something effective.&amp;quot; Like the others, Richardson is aware that the next year will be crucial in the fight against AIDS. The optimism generated by the recent decline in death rates is likely to run into the reality of faltering drugs, declining resources, and the undiminished pace of HIV infection. The result could be alarming. &amp;quot;The public has overinterpreted the good news, and that&amp;#039;s where the danger lies,&amp;quot; says Krim. &amp;quot;It has been damaging. We find that many people feel there are other emergencies, other more urgent causes. This is very worrisome. This is not the time to stop. Ten years from now, we may end up where Africa is today.&amp;quot; Four days after the New York shoot, Madonna, Sharon Stone, Grant Hill, and Chris Rock were photographed in Los Angeles. Stone, who has been the campaign chairwoman for AmFAR for the last three years, showed up in the wee hours of the morning to support Garrett&amp;#039;s story and to encourage Americans. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a little like the Super Bowl and we&amp;#039;re at halftime,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;People are tired. We have to get people to want to finish the game.&amp;quot; Grant Hill, who followed Stone into the studio, has seen both the caution that followed Magic Johnson&amp;#039;s announcement that he was HIV-positive and, recently, the growing feeling that there&amp;#039;s nothing to worry about. &amp;quot;People see someone like Magic, who&amp;#039;s doing well and seems healthy, and they think everything could be okay for them, too. I worry that there&amp;#039;s a lot of reckless behavior out there.&amp;quot; Madonna and Chris Rock spent more than an hour in the studio together. Madonna, who has been an AIDS activist for many years, fears that America has grown bored with the disease.  Rock had a simple message: &amp;quot;When you think the fight&amp;#039;s over, that&amp;#039;s when you really get your ass whupped.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a1465/why-here-0399/>