Tomorrow is World Aids Day.

November 30, 2000 8:52 AM

Tomorrow is World Aids Day. How are you participating?
posted by bkdelong (15 comments total)

well i certainly won't be online
and i will be lighting a candle in conjunction with other celerations and vigils for all those who passed

i don't know if i can't make art
i figure that since it's for myself
it's my own act of requiem
posted by ethylene at 9:21 AM on November 30, 2000

oh, i just posted the bradlands link on some boards
some friends of mine have lost people
not to aids but all the same
we're lighting candles for all
posted by ethylene at 10:08 AM on November 30, 2000

I do a lot of peer education work around HIV/AIDS, so the past two or three weeks have found me speaking to college and high school students in classrooms and community centers, sometimes with panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt in tow. On World AIDS Day, three websites I administer for local arts organizations will be taking part in the Day Without Art Web Action and, of course, The BradLands and a bunch of new friends will also be observing A Day With(out) Weblogs with bunches of linky love. Friday evening, there's a multi-faith prayer service here in St. Louis at Central Reform Congregation and, finally, my theatre is -- ironically, for A Day With(out) Art -- opening Yasmina Reza's play ART with a moment of silent remembrance, a lobby exhibition by local artists and educational activities by local AIDS service groups. (I hope, at some point, to get a little shut-eye before and after. :-)
posted by bradlands at 10:43 AM on November 30, 2000

also
(hope i'm not being too verbose)
I just entered a story for a contest on holidays on the writer's bbs about this being a holiday
posted by ethylene at 11:29 AM on November 30, 2000

By hugging my brother.
posted by likorish at 12:29 PM on November 30, 2000

By having unprotected sex.
posted by fable at 1:40 PM on November 30, 2000

i don't know your definition of sex
but you suck
};P
posted by ethylene at 4:42 PM on November 30, 2000

By posting information on my weblog about diseases that people who are educated and rich enough to read a weblog don't know about? I.e. stuff other than H.I.V.?
posted by davidgentle at 4:47 PM on November 30, 2000

I'm not.
posted by Mr. skullhead at 5:17 PM on November 30, 2000

So far, I think I like Cecily's idea best of all. I'm hoping for lots of hugs tomorrow too. ;-)
posted by bradlands at 5:31 PM on November 30, 2000

World Aids Day? How sick.

Holidays are supposed to be for celebrating something worthwhile. Mother's Day celebrates mothers. Valentine's Day celebrates romance and love. World AIDS Day celebrates the fact that we have a plague killing people even as you read this.

Do we have an E Coli Virus Day? I'd hate to see the happy hour.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:14 PM on November 30, 2000

I don't think it's a holiday, so much as it's a day for reflecting upon the ways in which this plague has changed our lives and made us revisit a few of our previously held notions. Perhaps "celebrating" is the wrong word here -- would "commemorating" be a better choice?

posted by likorish at 7:18 PM on November 30, 2000

As part of Day Without Weblogs, I put up a quote from a writer with AIDS. It's from 1991, and reflects the deep anger that surrounded the disease at that time, pre-protease inhibitor "cocktails." But given that we may be moving into a government that will be a bad carbon copy of the one we had then, it seemed appropriate to be reminded of where we've been, so as hopefully to not go back there.
posted by dnash at 9:32 PM on November 30, 2000

valentine's day and mother's day are commercial "holidays" both initiated by hallmark or some such

commemoration is an apt word but it's not aids being celerbated but the people, aids is just getting on air time

other commemorations are also enprocess for remembrance, period. To celebrate or merely take pause for anyone who has passed, whether from illness, violence, or whatever.
veteran's day
memorial day
the day of the dead

the only reason i construed it as a holiday was to get a story in as an entry for a story contest whose topic was holidays
holy day
meaning this particular family on this particular day was celebrating it was a holiday
becuase i didn't feel like writing about christmas, etc.
and i was trying to get another link back to everyone else observing it

so there

now that's just me
(and i'm all techy from cramming for this other contest i was suppose to enter that happens to be a major pain in the ass...)



posted by ethylene at 9:55 PM on November 30, 2000

By telling stories.
posted by fraying at 11:23 PM on November 30, 2000