Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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combat AIDS. Temple ' s display took place April 18-21 in the Great Court of Mitten Hall, featuring 248 handmade, multi- colored 3-by-6-foot rectangles. Events during the week included quilting bees, safe sex educational programs and speakers, including AIDS educa- tors and persons with AIDS. An estimated 3,600 people viewed the panels. Speakers read names of people who had died of AIDS while visitors milled through the sunlit rooms in silence to view the panels that covered much of the Great Court. Some took advantage of the boxes of tissues placed on the comers of panels diplayed on the floor to wipe their eyes. Others seemed oblivious to the tears streaming down their face. Timothy J. Johnson, assistant direc- tor of Housing and co-chairman of the Quilt Host Committee was credited vdth bringing the Quilt to Temple. He initiated the idea after participating in a University of Georgia workshop that focused on the Quilt ' s effects on stu- dents and members on Georgia ' s cam- pus. According to Johnson, Temple went through a lenghthy application pro- cess with the NAMES Project ' s San Francisco headquarters to be ap- proved to host a portion of the Quilt. To achieve approval, Johnson said two primary goals must be met: the Quilt must be available to a large number of people, and it must present RANR S£PT.2U955-m 2b.l9n ' AIDS Quilt Events LIFE 29

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AIDS Touches Us All by Tracey I. Johnson In just a short amount of time. Ac- quired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) introduced itself with a ter- rifying impact on our lives. Conta- gious, incurable and devastating, over 152,000 Americans have already died of AIDS, and another one million are estimated to carry the Human Immu- nodeficiency Virus (HIV). AIDS touches us all, indeed. The NAMES Project AIDS Memo- rial Quilt illustrates the magnitude of the AIDS epidemic. At Temple, AIDS Touches US All was the theme of a four-day community awareness project sponsored by Tem- ple ' s Division of Student Affairs, which focused on a display of some of the panels from the Quilt. The AIDS Quilt is an international memorial dedicated to the people who have died of AIDS and their caregivers. The entire Quilt has more than 23,000 panels, representing 14 percent of all U.S. AIDS deaths and 2 percent of AIDS deaths worldwide. The Quilt originated with six panels after Cleve Jones founded it in 1986. By the time it was first displayed in October, 1987, it had grown to the size of two football fields. Today, the AIDS Quilt has been displayed in over 500 cities worldwide and would cover 14 football fields in its entirety. It rep- resents the largest community arts project in the world. Over two million people have seen the Quilt, and more than $1 million has been raised to 28 LIFE Events AIDS Quilt

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an educational opportunity. The Quilt is such a moving ex- perience, like no other project, he said. This is the largest event Temple has ever done to raise awareness about AIDS. This project is meant to provide a positive means of expres- sion for those grieving the death of a loved one, and to raise funds for peo- ple living with HIV and AIDS. The Quilt illustrates the enormity of the AIDS epidemic by showing the lives behind the statistics; provides a positive and creative means of expres- sion for those whose lives have been touched by the epidemic; raises vital funds for research, and encourages support for people living with AIDS HIV and their loved ones. Each panel starts as a loving me- morial, but once it is stitched into the Quilt, the NAMES Project says that the life it commemorates prompts us not only to remember, but to respond. While on display at Temple, fifteen new panels created by students and commuruty members were added to the Quilt. Terri L. Scanlon, director of Hous- ing, coordinated the panel-making for the project. 1 think it was emotion- ally difficult for the students to make their own individual panels because of the feelings involved, Scanlon said. She hoped that the Quilt ' s pres- ence on campus would put a more humane spin on things rather than focusing on the statistical side of the AIDS issue. A cherry-red panel made to rep- resent members lost from the Temple community includes a quote from Temple founder Russell Conwell ' s fa- mous Acres of Diamonds speech, a flower to represent the Ambler cam- pus and its horticulture program, a microscope to represent the Health Sciences Campus, the Bell Tower to represent the Main Campus, and a painter ' s palette to represent the Tyler Campus. Janet Bland,a graduate creative writing student, made a panel for her friend, Sean Humphrey, which incor- porated his favorite olive green silk suit, shirt and tie into the design of the ecru canvas panel. She added a gold starfish to show that society is not like a starfish that grows another arm to replace the one that is lost. If you lose a man, there is no identical per- son to replace him, she said. Sophomore Tara Mellon made a panel in honor of her late father, Bert. The green panel includes the word Dad in stark, white letters. Working on this quilt is such a wonderful thing, she said. It has been ther- apeutic for me. It has helped me keep my father ' s spirit alive. For Joyce Fiorito, a freshman art student, her panel honoring Kevin O ' Dea Rizer was a labor of love. I wanted to remember my friend Kevin and also make a tribute to his life, she said. A lot of people who do the Quilt feel they owe it to the person to commemorate their life because AIDS is still misunderstood. Fiorito fashioned a panel for Rizer, who bred golden retrievers, with a burgimdy and creme-colored woolen material, laid canvas and backed with plastic. A golden retriever ' s silhouette in brown felt is placed beside a small body of water bearing its reflection. She ironed Rizer ' s name in large let- ters alongside a quote from the poet Dylan Thomas; Do not go gentie into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Quilt monitors dressed in white were responsible for safeguarding both the Quilt and its visitors. They directed visitors to the specific panels, manned an information table offering 30 LIFE Events AIDS Quilt