This reflective essay examines the relationships of place, community, narrative, and art making in the lives of those who are seriously ill with HIV/AIDS. It explores the possibility of creating a supportive place in an impersonal institution, and it suggests the role of such a place in the healing of discontinuities in the lives of class members. In addition, it suggests and illustrates the efficacy of a literary, autoethnographic approach to writing as a means of exploring the complex nature of research both with people who are seriously ill and with those who are not. (Contains 59 notes.)