AIDS Quilt Conveys Important Messages

A feeling of sadness overcame Cal State Northridge student Lien Huynh as she viewed a 12-by-12-foot portion of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt through a glass display case in the lobby of Sierra Hall on campus.

“That one with the picture is very depressing,” said Huynh, 21, a senior sociology major, as she pointed to a section of the quilt with a photo of an AIDS victim who died at the age of 32.

Alongside the quilt is a condom exhibit put up by the on-campus student group, EROS, an acronym for Education and Resources on Sexuality.

The display is part of a national collegiate effort to raise awareness of sexually transmitted diseases organized by the North Carolina-based American Social Health Assn., said Amy Reichbach, health educator for the CSUN Student Health Center.

“The message we’re trying to get out is that [sexually transmitted diseases] are a problem and to let people know that those who have AIDS have families and friends who love them,” said Reichbach, who is an advisor for EROS.

The portion of the quilt, representing eight people who died of AIDS, was on loan by the Los Angeles chapter of the NAMES Project, she said.

“The quilt personalizes the AIDS epidemic in a way that I have never seen anything else be able to do,” Reichbach said. “It allows us to know that these people are loved and lost and no longer with us and how enormous this tragedy is and how we might be able to do something about it.

The quilt and the condom exhibit will be on display through April 10 in Sierra Hall, located on the west side of the CSUN campus.

For more information, contact EROS at (818) 677-3696.