400 PANELS OF AIDS QUILT ON DISPLAY AT HOUCK THROUGH SUNDAY

Those who view panels of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt this weekend should remember what they will see is a tiny segment of the entire quilt.

The 400 panels that are on exhibit now through Sunday in Houck Field House in Cape Girardeau are part of the 14,000-plus panels that make up the international memorial to those who have died of AIDS, says Ronda Herzog, a volunteer quilt display coordinator with the Names Project.

The exhibit here is sponsored by the Southeast Missouri State University Student Activities Council as an educational tool to help the university and citizens of Cape Girardeau in understanding the magnitude of the AIDS health crisis.

The council is also using the exhibit as a means to raise donations for the Southeast Missouri Regional Consortium on AIDS, a local organization whose purpose is to educate the public and support people in the community with AIDS and AIDS-related illnesses.

Herzog is a social worker now involved in Project Lazarus, a residence for people with AIDS in New Orleans' French Quarter.

Herzog says AIDS and the horror and pain it inflicts on its victims and others has become a very real and personal thing to her.

"I have personally sat with and known over 200 people who died from AIDS in the New Orleans area," Herzog said in an interview Thursday, prior to the opening of the exhibit.

"The horrible thing with AIDS is it is a horrible way to die, " she continued. "People get all different types of illnesses, so they die in different ways, none of which are very pleasant. Just the horror of AIDS ... seeing people I lived and cared for wasting away and dying touched me in such a way that I needed some way to handle my own grief. The quilt was a way of doing it."

Herzog said the idea for the AIDS Memorial Quilt came in November 1985 from Cleve Jones, a longtime gay rights activist in San Francisco. In June 1987, Jones and others joined together to organize the NAMES Project Foundation.

Herzog said the three goals of the foundation and the purpose of the AIDS Memorial Quilt are:

To illustrate the enormity of AIDS by showing the humanity behind the statistics.

To provide a positive and creative means of expression for those whose lives have been touched by AIDS.

To raise funds and encourage support for people living with HIV infection or AIDS, and for their loved ones.

Herzog said this is the sixth regional display of the quilt panels she has participated in. She has attended every display of the entire quilt in Washington since it was created nearly five years ago.

"There are now over 14,000 panels that make up the entire quilt," she said. "Each panel measures 3 by 6 feet. If the entire 14,000 panels were laid out together, they would fill 8.75 football fields with walkways."

The total weight of the quilt is 31,500 pounds, or 16 tons. There are panels from 26 countries, each one a memorial to someone who died of AIDS.

Materials used in the memorial panels include a part of a 100yearold quilt, afghans, flags, stuffed animals, photographs, and wedding rings.

Herzog said the impact of the quilt panels is the same no matter how many times they are viewed.

"For those who have seen it for the first time, or tenth time, is the same," she said. "All of a sudden, it makes AIDS a personal thing, not just statistics, or something you hear on the nightly news.

"You're looking at panels that are memorials to real people who have died. You see their name, maybe their favorite teddy bear on their quilt panel, or some other personal items that meant something to them during the lives."

Herzog said viewing the panels gives one a much more personal sense of the tragedy of AIDS. "He's not just number 2,031," she continued. "He's Jim, who played music. Who had a teddy bear he slept with. Who had a mom, dad, sister, brothers, or others, who cared for him. Who made this panel as a memorial. It's a caring and moving thing."

Herzog said the quilt panels offer a way for families or friends who have lost someone to AIDS to express their loss. "Families in the smaller communities who have lost a member from AIDS and cannot talk about it for fear of the stigma, now have a safe way to come and remember the person and talk about them, and celebrate their life."

Herzog said as long as people continue to die from AIDS the quilt will continue to grow. She said several families in Cape Girardeau are preparing quilt panels that will be displayed this weekend.

Herzog said the entire 14,000-plus panel quilt will be shown again in Washington during the 1992 Columbus Day weekend.