(a)partly for your love of yogurt

Here are the photos I took today. It was on the lower floor of the former Tower Records and filled the entire space. There were two gentlemen at the front who greeted you and tables near the doorway with photos and information. The flyers had generic information found on their website (I just checked) and there was a pamphlet on how to contribute now (also found on their website) to the quilt. Boxes of kleenex were found throughout the exhibition. There was a smattering of people, milling through the room, while a woman read names at a podium in a corner. There seemed to be a video presentation area as well, where an older couple sat not watching anything. The first photograph was one I took intentionally and one I immediately felt guilty about, because he was so clearly there to commune with someone the quilt was evoking. Whether it was the panel right in front of him or the overall feeling of seeing these lives represented, I don’t know. The experience was overwhelming and I found myself close to tears a couple of times. The cathartic aspect of the quilt makes visceral sense when viewed in person but it also leaves a lingering sense that there’s so much so many people could have done and continue to not do. I can understand why ACT UP were so against it at the time and I’m so glad that the quilt exists then and now. It’s an important symbol, an important story that reflects so much of what the modern gay community is founded upon. Jason and I left discussing these things and I decided we didn’t need to visit the other spots exhibiting the quilts because I wasn’t sure I could handle more. I just typed “guilts” instead of “quilts” and I find that a seriously perplexing typo. I hope this information helps on some level and that the pictures can be useful. The exhibition closed today so I’m glad I made a point to see it before it left.

It also made me so grateful to have you here and now and not thirty years ago.