Historic Display of Iconic AIDS Memorial Quilt to Be Held June 11-12 in San Francisco

The largest display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in years will be June 11 and 12 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. For those who aren't aware, the idea of a quilt honoring those who we have lost to AIDS was conceived in 1985 by activist Cleve Jones during the annual candlelight march in remembrance of the 1978 assassinations of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. The quilt, which weighs an estimated 54 tons, is the largest piece of community folk art in the world, which doesn't even count its emotional weight. 

The National AIDS Memorial will mark the 35th anniversary of the AIDS Memorial Quilt with an historic outdoor display in Golden Gate Park that will feature nearly 3,000 hand-stitched panels of the Quilt. More details HERE.

Leftover Scraps From the AIDS Memorial Quilt Are Now Being Used to Make Coronavirus Masks

This touching story comes from People magazine:

Gert McMullin has been with the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt from almost the very beginning.

The idea originated during a candlelight vigil in 1985, when activist Cleve Jones asked friends to write the names of loved ones who had died from AIDS on placards. Upon seeing the posters all taped to a wall, he got the idea for a quilt. Given that at the time many men who died of AIDS were not able to even have a funeral due to stigma, he realized a quilt could also function as a memorial.

In early April, the National AIDS Memorial was going to display the quilt, to celebrate the 48,000 panels -- as Jones and McMullin put it -- “coming home.” The ongoing coronavirus pandemic put those plans on hold.

Around the same time, McMullin began feeling echoes of the past -- and symptoms of PTSD. She knew just what to do. She returned to her sewing machine. McMullin started sewing masks.

Her masks are made from leftover scraps of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. They are being used at facilities run by Bay Area Community Services, which serves the homeless and people suffering from addiction. The face masks are helping both employees and residents. They are also helping McMullin.

“During the AIDS crisis, I could go and do something,” she says. “But now, I can’t. I’m not sued to sitting around and helping people.”

Keep reading HERE.

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📽 from @the_kitten_coop "Life gets really rough when you have to start pooping on your own. Honestly though, when you are Cuber Mike, anywhere is good for a cat nap." 😍😍😍😍😍

A post shared by Sweet Cat Club (@sweetcatclub) on Jul 18, 2019 at 2:02am PDT

Hot Cat of the Day: Been there, kitty. Been there.

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How to Make an American Cry

I've had the privilege of seeing the AIDS Memorial Quilt a few times in my life. Happy to see it lives on, like this recent display of some of its panels in Mississippi. Read HERE.

Love and Pride (When We Needed It Most)

The year 1995 always stings because it's the cutoff point (in my life) between friends with HIV living and dying. The "cocktail" came along and things have been monumentally better as a result -- and I never thought I'd live to see something as miraculous as PrEP -- yet this charming cache of old photos taken at L.A. Gay Pride festivals between 1987 and 1995 makes me strangely nostalgic for a time I'd never want to live through again. See more HERE.

UPDATE: It's nice to hear that even in the despair there are some happy endings ...

How to Miss an American Quilt

I feel fortunate to have gotten to see the AIDS quilt several times in my life -- most recently at the March on Washington in 1993 -- but I must confess I'm bummed I never heard it was returning to New York for two days. Read about its brief return to the Empire State HERE.

Read my post about the 1993 march HERE.

Blanketed in Love

 Can't make it to Washington to see the massive AIDS Memorial Quilt this week? No worries -- you can view it online right HERE.

President Obama paid the world's most heart-wrenching textile a visit, which is on display in sections around the city -- including the East Wing of the White House -- in conjunction with the International AIDS Conference.