Dear Ess

Abduction of Persephone:

OH, COME ON, ZIB! Can you at least pretend you enjoy the party!? We've done all this for you!?!

Fine. Whatever.

Her: That is too much energy

Me: It iiiiiis fake!! 😀

Each panel in the AIDS quilt memorializes a life lost to the disease. Each panel is 3′ x 6′ (approximately 1 meter wide and 2 meters long), the approximate dimensions of a cemetery plot. The quilt, which then consisted of 1,920 panels representing 1,920 individuals lost to AIDS, was first displayed in Washington DC in 1987. The public response was immediate, positive, and overwhelming, and the quilt began taken around the country to be displayed in more cities. At each stop, the names of the dead were read out loud. At each stop, more panels were added.

By the time the quit returned to the US capital in 1988, it had more than 8,000 panels.

The quilt continues to grow. Today, it has over 50,000 panels memorializing over 100,000 of our dead. It’s too large now to physically display in its entirety, but you can view the entire thing online. There are also curated virtual displays of just panels which honor the Black and native people killed by the virus because in the US (and likely abroad, although I don’t know enough about public health elsewhere to say so with confidence), communities of color are disproportionately impacted by epidemics, as we have seen time and time again.

The quilt is made up of several panel, each panel itself consisting of 1 to 8 quilts.

Here’s a screenshot of the whole thing:

My kids are growing up in the age of PreP and a wide variety of antiretrovirals that can bring a viral load down to nothing. We have condoms in the home that they don’t have to ask for and that they won’t be shamed for should they need to be replaced. They had access to a wonderful sex ed book, The Pride Guide, plus we talk about safer sex at home pretty openly.

My sons are 22, 17, and 14. They have to see the Quilt to understand it. They need to read the names. They need to see the dates. They need to understand our government was willing to let our community die horribly and that they are ready to do the same at a moment’s notice.