World AIDS Day by Ed Marx

World AIDS Day has been honored since 1988 on Dec. 1. It is a day of bringing messages of compassion and understanding about AIDS to every person, community, and country in the world. The concept originated in January 1988 with the World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programs for AIDS Prevention. Today, 22 years later, it continues to be supported by many organizations including the United Nations, World Health Assembly, and many governments and individuals worldwide.

So come and celebrate World AIDS Day to show your care, remembrance, and concern about HIV and AIDS. Please join the NAMES Project Houston in its observance of this most important day by participating in the candlelight march and attending this year's panel dedication ceremony at The Menil Collection on Nov. 30. Then on Dec. 1 join in Houston's own Tree of Remembrance ceremony at Stages Repertory Theatre. Bring your family and friends for their support and commitment to raising awareness of HIV and AIDS on this special day of coordinated international action against this pandemic.

Pete Martinez and the Houston NAMES Project
by Ed Marx

Panels, panels, panels, everywhere! Pete Martinez is surrounded on all sides by AIDS Memorial Quilt panels at the NAMES Project Workshop at 4617 Montrose Boulevard.

You see, Pete has been with The NAMES Project for about 12 years and has served as a board member for the past 10. He is the manager of the local NAMES Project Workshop. It is his job to coordinate the activities as they relate to making these memorial panels to be entrusted to the NAMES Project Foundation's AIDS Memorial Quilt. For all these years, Pete has devoted his life to ensuring that his friends and all of our friends are not forgotten, that each year they are remembered by this community of which they were a part. His commitment today is as strong as it was in the beginning. He not only is a pillar of the organization but also is a reminder that the commitment and dedication of even one person can make a difference. Over all these years Pete has befriended and consoled families and friends by assisting them in making their panels.

Pedro Martinez Jr., better known as "Pete," is a gentle, quiet-spoken man, of "uncertain" age, of Mexican/Spanish background, born and raised in Houston's West End, and just a half inch shy of five feet. Pete is a happy-go-lucky kind of person who lives day-by-day and lives by the philosophic credo, as he says, "Whatever happens, happens." For the past 14 years, Pete has run his own housekeeping and catering service, as well as being involved with interior decorating and upholstery endeavors.

When Pete is not working, he spends most of his spare time with his volunteer work at the NAMES Workshop, and then, he says, he goes home and crashes. Before he became involved with the NAMES Project, Pete had been active as one of the first volunteers at the AIDS Foundation where he was part of the fundraising committee setting up card tables or standing in bars asking for donations for the foundation for friends dying of AIDS. Then in 1988 he became involved with the NAMES Project.

The Workshop is open to the public for viewing of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and for individuals interested in making a panel for the quilt. They may do so at the workshop or at home. They can obtain fabric, sewing materials, and supplies, including use of the four sewing machines at the workshop. In addition, they can obtain assistance in designing and sewing their panels. Once eight panels are complete, they are sewn together into a 12-by-12-foot square by the workshop staff (usually Pete). The workshop is open every weekend from 1 to 5 p.m. It is also available on weeknights by appointment for special sewing needs. It is estimated that over the years, more than 1,000 panels have been made in the Houston workshop, including some 36 panels during the past year alone.

The workshop has been at the Chelsea Market on Montrose Boulevard for the past three years. Before that it had been at the corner of Woodhead and Fairview for five years until it outgrew that facility. It is now more centrally located where it occupies a roomy ground-floor space. Pete has a dedicated core of five or six steady volunteers; when there is a special event, hundreds of people turn up to participate.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a living tribute to those who have died of AIDS. The making of the quilt is a worldwide activity coordinated by the NAMES Project Foundation of San Francisco. Each panel of the quilt has been made by lovers, family, friends, caregivers, and colleagues to commemorate the lives of loved ones who have died of this illness. These panels are made by various techniques including appliquÈ, paint, stencil, collage, and photo. Since the quilt is folded and unfolded many times in its travels, durability is crucial. Each panel measures 3 by 6 feet. Eight panels are sewn together into a 12-foot by 12-foot patchwork square.

Actually, there is one quilt in the United States and there are 35 quilts in other countries around the world where they are made and shown locally. As of January 2000, the U.S. portion of the quilt was comprised of 42,960 panels (weighing over 50 tons!), and representing 83,279 names. These names represent approximately 20 percent of all HIV/AIDS deaths in this country. The U.S. quilt has been displayed in its entirety in Washington, D.C., on five different occasions, the last time in 1996. Sections of the quilt are displayed over 1,600 times each year in various parts of the country. Those who submit a panel to the NAMES Project can request that it be displayed when the quilt travels to their community.

The quilt was started in San Francisco in 1987 by gay rights activist Cleve Jones and a group of volunteers to express their grief over the deaths of loved ones and to make the public aware of the devastating effect of this disease. Their initiatives led to the formation of the NAMES Project Foundation.

The NAMES Project Houston extends an invitation to all interested individuals who wish to volunteer to make a quilt or participate in the World AIDS Day events. Please contact the workshop at 713/526-2637 for more information.

World AIDS Day Events in Houston

The NAMES Project will hold a candlelight march starting at 6:30 p.m. from the NAMES Project Workshop to the Menil Collection, 1515 Sul Ross (at Mandell), on Thursday, Nov. 30. At the Menil, there will be a dedication ceremony at 7 p.m. for all the new panels to be incorporated into the AIDS Memorial Quilt, followed by a concert featuring a performance of mezzo-soprano, Katherine Ciesinski, of Da Camera.

The NAMES Project will be commemorating the 13th annual World AIDS Day with their annual Tree of Remembrance at Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway, in which anyone who has lost someone to AIDS may place an ornament on the tree. This ceremony is unique to Houston and was first introduced in 1989 by Larry Ropogol and Pete Martinez. Since then, over 4,000 ornaments have been placed. Starting at 6 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 1, this somber event is marked by contemplation and the reading of the names of those lost to this epidemic. Everyone is invited to bring an ornament to remember loved ones.

This year's events are chaired by Jerome Godinich who serves on the board of the NAMES Project Houston. Committee members include Claire Ellington, Teresa Ford, Pete Martinez, and Alec Soto. For more information, call 713/526-2637.