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"We're not calling the cops. Two hostages means they can kill one to make a point."

The AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington DC (USA) in 1996. Photo source: AIDS Memorial Quilt social media.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt was started in 1987 in the USA to show all the lives that were lost to AIDS representing them humanely and not just as a statistic. It was nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. The idea spread to other countries, and it was also done here in Catalonia starting in 1993.

An event with the local AIDS Memorial Quilt in Barcelona (Catalonia) in the 1990s.

Other parts of the quilt. Photos from Catalonia History Museum.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is present in over 40 countries, where about 100,000 tapestries have been made to commemorate loved ones who died due to this illness. It is the largest piece of community folk art in the world.

The Quilt has the objective of keeping alive the memory of the people who died of AIDS, but it also has an educational purpose, showing the diversity of people who were affected by it. AIDS was an extremely stigmatised illness because of its association to gay men, drug users, and prostitutes (even though it affected -and still affects- other people, too), that led to some religious leaders and conservative politicians to state that it was divine punishment and that nothing should be done to help the ill people. People with AIDS, their friends and family, and the queer community as a whole had to fight just to be treated like other ill people would.

Nowadays, it is known that the most important tool to not get or spread HIV is to be protected during sex and not share needles. If a person catches HIV, it can be treated with medication that slows down the virus from developing into AIDS so much that it extends the life expectancy to a standard level, so a person can have a normal life while being HIV-positive. For this, it's important to be tested to find it early. For this reason, the people most affected by AIDS in the present are people from countries with little medical resources, with the highest death rates in Africa.

Barbara Stanwyck, July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990.

House Democrats grill Vought over DOGE’s CFPB Data Drives

“Do you even know the extent of the data held by the CFPB that Elon Musk and anyone else associated with DOGE had access to?” the California Democrat asked. “Do you have a record of all the data that was accessed? Have you done any investigation into whether CFPB’s data is secure? Yes or no.”

“Congresswoman, we had a Department of Government Efficiency, it’s something we’re very proud of …” Vought said before Waters reclaimed her time and followed up with additional yes-or-no questions that the Office of Management and Budget director didn’t answer.

Do yourself a favor and check out Swanson's Fabrics! The physical location is in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, USA, but the online shop will ship to you!

I can't remember who first told me about Swanson's, but they're a textile thrift shop that collects and repurposes donations of unused sewing supplies. Their physical location, The Stash House, offers community sewing resources and a studio. For non-locals (such as myself), their online shop offers fabrics, patterns, and notions. The shop restocks on Thursdays, and they have a constantly-rotating collection of items. If you like thrifting secondhand craft materials, Swanson's is for you!

Via their official "about" page:

Swanson’s Fabrics and notions are gifts from retired sewing stashes. They are the fabrics and supplies that sewers and fiber-artists naturally accumulate. I had a suspicion that the reason we all collect so much is that we didn’t have a place “good enough” to take it. So I made the place. Turns out I was right, and thanks to my community (and yours) of makers and crafters, I can resell these fine materials at a low, approachable cost. ALL FABRICS ARE $5.00/yd, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE MADE OF. REALLY. I MEAN IT. I KNOW. UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE! As we come to grips with the climate crisis, interrupted supply lines, and our dependency on slave-labor in far away countries to produce our cotton and fiber goods, we need another way to approach the fabrics in our lives. We have a massive resource of textile goods in our country and it is time to tap into it. Our attics, basements, thrift-store donation bins, and dumpsters are brimming with discarded fabrics. It is time to start making and trading for the things we need, and stop buying so much new stuff we don’t. We need to see ourselves as trash-rich. Customers at Swanson’s can pay for goods and services with goods and services. I accept trade of sewing and fiber supplies/materials, and trade for help in the shop. I hope to inspire you to make your own clothes, to mend the ones you have, to shop second-hand and alter things to your taste. There is a lot of power in dressing yourself. Custom is king, and you can’t have a revolution in your master’s clothes…. ❤️💪🏻 -Kathryn

The CovidSafeCosplay blog and its admin are unaffiliated with Swanson's Fabrics, and are simply sharing the resource.