The AIDS quilt unfolds at Pomona a few of its 43,000 panels and the living memories they preserve.
Memories in Cloth
Yards and yards of colorful fabric, miles of thread, heartfelt poems written on T-shirts and laminated photos are just some of the materials that make up one of America's best-known memorials. The AIDS Memorial Quilt, whose 43,000 panels commemorate the lives of 86,000 AIDS victims in the U.S., recently made a stop at Pomona thanks to the Claremont Colleges' Student AIDS Awareness Committee.
As visitors squatted near panels to read about the lives that are celebrated on the quilt, members of the colleges' community read names of victims to the silent crowd that wandered through Edmunds Ballroom in Pomona's Smith Campus Center during the three-day visit in early April.
"It was really moving," said Frank Bedoya, assistant dean of campus life at Pomona and a member of the planning committee that arranged the quilt's visit. "There were people who came to visit their relatives' and friends' panels, and people who had never seen the quilt before."
The display opened with a stirring ceremony that included a music interpretation piece by students of Pomona's dance department and the unfolding of panels like the petals of a blooming lotus flower. Proceeds from donations for the display went to the Foothill AIDS Project and Bienestar, both serving AIDS patients of the Inland Valley with transportation, housing and counseling services.
More than 1,300 visitors quietly meandered through the aisles between 30 12-by-12-foot sections arranged on the wood floor and hung on the walls of the ballroom. Members of the AIDS Awareness Committee spoke to a group of fourth-graders from a Claremont school about the disease and how it spreads. The children then walked by pairs through the display, stopping at times to point out photos to each other.
The memorial, begun in 1987 by a San Francisco gay rights advocate, has traveled throughout the world, spreading a message of education, remembrance and prevention.
The AIDS Awareness Committee wanted to host the quilt to educate young people about the disease and its continuing presence in America and around the world. "People tend to think AIDS has been cured, but it's far from gone," said Martin Adams, volunteer educator for the Foothill AIDS Project. He and his colleagues participated in the unfolding process and dedicated a new panel to the quilt. "It was like walking through a graveyard, and at the same time a celebration of these people's lives."
A photo of a smiling young girl named Meghan caught the attention of many.
"Her mom and grandmother came to visit her panel," said Bedoya, "and I remember at the end of the first day, as Meghan's mom was leaving with young kids in tow, a little boy turned around at the door, probably Meghan's brother, and waved over to the panel, saying 'Bye-bye, Meghan.' That really got me."
--Sarah Dolinar
