Student group brings AIDS quilt to IU

IU students will soon join people worldwide from Taiwan to Uganda, in having the opportunity to view the AIDS Memorial Quilt, when the commemorative work of art drapes the floor of Alumni Hall later this month.\nThe AIDS Memorial Quilt honors the lives of AIDS victims and reminds viewers the HIV virus kills people of all ages, genders and religions worldwide. Each six by three foot section of the quilt represents the life of one person killed by AIDS and is made of materials ranging from Barbie dolls and bubble wrap to cremation ashes, mink and wedding rings.\nThirty panels of the AIDS Memorial quilt will be on display at IU in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union from Jan. 28 through Jan. 30.\nThe quilt, which has previously been on display at the Washington National Mall and other locations around the world, reminds people of the pain and devastation caused by the disease, while honoring the individuals' lives. \nThe IU chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign organized the event, which will kick off Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. with a memorial performance in Alumni Hall. The ceremony will feature the African-American Dance Ensemble, local singer-songwriters, IU music performers and dance groups from the Health and Physical Education and Recreation Dance Department. \nDan O'Neill, a board member of the IU SGAC, said his organization aims to increase awareness of AIDS by bringing the quilt to Bloomington. \nIU SGAC acquired financial support by writing a Commitment to Assist Student Initiatives grant to have the project funded through the IU Student Association. In addition, a number of organizations, including the Boards of Governors from every dorm except Eigenmann Hall and Willkie Quad, contributed to the fund.\nIn addition to the quilt and the memorial performance, the local HIV/AIDS support network, with help from the Bloomington Hospital, will be hosting free testing all week and provide information on how to help people with HIV in the community.\n"At IU, we have a complacency toward this disease that needs to end through increasing awareness of AIDS' presence in the world," O'Neill said. "The AIDS Quilt will hopefully help to facilitate this process."\nThe AIDS Memorial quilt was created in November 1985 when San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones organized an annual candlelight march commemorating the 1978 assassinations of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. \nAfter learning over 1,000 San Franciscans lost their lives to AIDS, Jones asked each of his fellow marchers to write on placards the names of friends and loved ones who had died of AIDS. At the end of the march, Jones and others taped these placards to the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building. The wall of names resembled a patchwork quilt, which inspired Jones to create the AIDS Quilt.\n"The AIDS Quilt is a powerful and emotional medium through which to convey the enormity of the AIDS crisis and how it affects all people of every race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status," O'Neill said. "It is not a trite symbol of this problem, but a very personal account of the lives touched by this terrible disease."\nToday, the quilt is 1,270,350 square feet -- the equivalent of 47 football fields. It has helped raise $3.25 million to support people with AIDS.\n"AIDS affects us all, regardless of who we are," O'Neill said. "We need to get tested, become aware and educated -- we'd be amazed how many people have HIV and don't know it. When we disregard another's humanity, we fuel the fires of discrimination off of which this pandemic feeds."\nThe quilt is preserved and cared for by the NAMES project, a non-profit foundation based in Georgia.\n-- Contact senior writer Alli Stolper at astolper@indiana.edu.