Adrian Apollo’s Queer Current Blog

 Source #1:  Naming Names: The Art of Memory and the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt, written by Peter S Hawkins, published by University of Chicago Press Some things I took note of:      - the action of recalling a deceased person's name here in the means of the quilt, or repeating their name, is meant to conjure them up, allow them to live on, honor them, dignity to the dead, Speak to dead, leave offerings and messages, name is a medium of communication to the other world, quilt is medium to speak to the dead - similarities between the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., names themselves are the memorial     - Cleve Jones (founder of quilt) wanted to demonstrate the tremendous loss that occurred because of the AIDS crisis, evoke numbing sense of loss like Vietnam Veterans Memorial     - Patchwork quilt for Jones reminded him of one his family had used to comfort those that were ill or housebound, quilt project meant to b...

  Source #2: Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt documentary   Some things I took note of:      - Rock Hudson's name on the quilt brought a lot of attention towards the AIDS crisis, one of most famous names on quilt     - 1% of health care funding went to AIDS crisis in America      -  American Red Cross recalling blood transfusions because AIDS patient had given blood at an undisclosed donation center     - LIFE magazine “we should all care about AIDS bc it can affect all of us”     - AIDS became leading cause of death for hemophiliacs      - Eddie Murphy: “Im not antigay Im antiAIDS” (yikes)     - Public service AIDS announcements, no specific information, no presidential mention of AIDS until specifically asked, no action taken, prevention is cure, thank u Reagan for doing literally nothing     - National debate to tend to epidemic, years of death ...

  Overall narrative/main goal of information and slides: What makes a memorial effective? What about the NAMES quilt memorial sets it aside from other memorials? A general overview of the quilt, and what effects it had on those involved in it and those who witnessed it.   slide 1(image of ACT Up protest):  AIDS had a tremendous impact on American life, the death rate from AIDS was growing with every minute, and fear of dying or fear of spreading AIDS were at an all time high. There were countless and tireless efforts to bring forth awareness, action, and federal/government assistance.  slide 2(image of people walking among quilt):  How can you heal from this tremendous amount of loss, and do so in a way that also brings dignity back to those we have lost? slide 3(quilt square image):  The quilt was able to tell the stories of those lost from AIDS. It brought a sense of humanity to the issue, and it brought awareness to those lost, showing America that ...

  I have had the pleasure of viewing Paris is Burning on multiple occasions and was looking forward to watching it again. We spoke about considering an alternative perspective of queer life other than what was shown in the documentary "How to Survive a Plague". It can often be seen that in media relating to queer culture that reaches large audiences including straight people, the queer people being shown are white. The experiences and voices of queer people of color are often overlooked or disregarded. "Paris is Burning" gives a voice back to these people, and displays a view of queer life that is missing from media like "How to Survive a Plague".  A good amount of people that were shown in this documentary struggle financially, most struggle to obtain adequate housing. Those within these circumstances often go unrepresented, they lack support and resources. Here, community is cultivated and an outlet is created to go against the circumstances of reality....

  March 19th: Watch Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt documentary, and read Hawkins's text, apply information from How to Survive a Plague Documentary to information obtained as well, reflect upon visual media to utilize within exhibition, develop an outline of important key points of these sources and how to display them accordingly in exhibition   March 26th: Watch the United In Anger documentary, and reflect upon different perspectives of queer people at this time, who’s story gets to be told within this quilt? Does the quilt reflect a true demographic of those affected by AIDS or are some people missing from this?, how does what we have read in Queer America apply here?, how can we reflect the perspectives of those within ACT UP through the quilt?, reflect upon visual media to utilize within exhibition, develop key points outline and how they will be displayed  April 2nd: Read article about the history of the quilt, What has been done to preserve the quilt...