other stuff
AIDS Memorial Quilt
The
idea of the AIDS
Memorial Quilt
began in 1987, when a man named Cleve Jones painted the name of his best
friend onto a 3-foot by 6-foot piece of cloth, the size of a coffin.
Marvin Feldman had died of AIDS. That piece of cloth became the first
panel in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.Cleve and a group of volunteers formed
the NAMES
Project in
San Francisco.
Soon people all over America began adding panels to the Quilt – people
who have lost a partner, relative, friend or colleague through HIV or AIDS
remembered their loved ones by the making of memorial quilts. There are
now over 35 countries world-wide involved in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Some years ago a
group of people in North Yorkshire
who had lost a loved one to AIDS decided to make a quilt to remember
everyone who has died in the county from HIV/AIDS. Each symbol on the
quilt represents a person and each year it is updated from records that
have been kept since 1982.
Whenever the quilt is shown people have the opportunity to write in the Book
of Remembrance
and visitors from all over the world have created a moving record of their
loved ones lost to AIDS and their loving concern for others who are
affected. The Quilt reminds us of those we have lost and the importance of
their lives. It also offers us a focus – as our act of remembering we
can assert our determination to overcome HIV, to stop its spread, to work
towards better treatments and care and to hope for an eventual cure.
“I
sewed my heart into the quilt.
My heart and his.”
If
you would like further information about the
North Yorkshire AIDS Memorial Quilt
contact North Yorkshire AIDS Action
|
|
December 1st 2006
The red ribbon is a loop of silk, typically fastened on a lapel or pinned to a shirt, and shows the wearer to be sympathetic and supportive of those with HIV/AIDS. Designed by the graphic arts activist group Visual AIDS to increase awareness and promote action to combat AIDS, the red ribbon symbol was introduced in the United States at the 1991 Tony awards ceremony by the group Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
You can obtain red ribbons from NYAA or download a virtual red ribbon from the World AIDS Day site. Simply paste the following text into your website HTML code.
<a href="http://www.worldaidsday.org/default.asp" title="Link to the official World AIDS Day website"><img src="http://www.worldaidsday.org/images/virtualribbon.gif" width="120" height="40" border="0" alt="Support World AIDS Day" /></a>