AIDS quilt to visit Macalester

Three panels of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed on Macalester's campus as part of World AIDS Week, from Dec. 1–7. The panels will be displayed on the second floor of the Campus Center and in the Chapel. Also, a memorial service will be held on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day,

The quilt is was created in 1985 by San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones, who was inspired by a march he participated in commemorating the assassination of gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. The goals of the quilt are to provide a creative means of remembrance and healing, to increase public awareness of and education about AIDS and to raise funds for community-based AIDS service organizations.

The quilt is made up of panels created by the friends and loved ones of AIDS victims and currently comprises creations from 34 countries, and all 50 states and the territories of the United States. More than 84,000 names are included, which make up 19 percent of the total AIDS deaths. The quilt would stretch 50 miles if its panels were laid end to end; it continues to grow each year.

The quilt has won the Nobel Peace Prize and has been the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary. It is the largest community art project in the world and has raised almost $1.85 million for AIDS service organizations.

Also commemorating AIDS week, there will be a World AIDS Day Forum at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Representatives from the Minnesota AIDS Project will address current AIDS issues and policies. There will be a question and answer session and a showing of a video made by the Faces of AIDS, which remembers those who have died of AIDS.

Macalester faculty member and alumni appear in New York Times articles

Two of Macalester's own, Dean of Academic Programs Ellen Guyer and alumnus Siah Armajani '63, appeared in articles in the New York Times on Sunday, Nov. 17. The first was an article about the trend of undergraduate students double-, triple- and quadruple-majoring. Guyer's contribution appeared in the last section of the article and was presented as a contrast to the other institutions quoted in the article. Guyer said that while one-third of Macalester's graduating class double-majored last year, Macalester tended to discourage the practice in order to promote the broadening of students' academic experience.

The other article was a profile on noted Minneapolis artist Armajani and his newest exhibit. The profile discussed his upbringing in Tehran, Iran, his emigration to the United States to study philosophy at Macalester and his rejection of the last shah's repressive rule and subsequent naturalization 35 years ago.

The focus of Armajani's work was described as the "blurred boundaries" between several different art forms—painting, photography, architecture and sculpture. Armajani's best known works are his lyrical pedestrian bridges, the most recent of which will open next year in Nashville and Strasbourg, France.