Aragon hosts AIDS Memorial Quilt

“That’s what Quilt is about, that’s what quilts are about,” Vince Bravo, an English teacher and advisor of the Gender Sexuality Awareness Club on campus, said. “If anyone has grandma’s quilt, you have grandma’s quilt as ugly as it may be, because it’s grandma’s quilt and it holds a story. These hold stories in so many different ways.” 

For more than 20 years, Bravo has helped bring the quilt’s message to students, seeing how it has grown — both in physical measurements and impact. Today, there are around 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 individuals, making up a 54-ton tapestry in total.

Various panels of the quilt have visited Aragon every few years, an intentional effort from Bravo. 

“I do think it’s important that all the kids, at some point in their high school career, have some exposure to the Quilt,” Bravo said. “One of the things that the Quilt asks us to do is to say names, and to read names and remember people.” 

Though stigma surrounding topics such as sexually-transmitted diseases and queer identities, and misconceptions about how one may contract HIV have evolved, Bravo said the need for education and awareness remains necessary. 

“When I talk to students about the advancements in medication, their ignorance to that is shocking to me, to know that students don’t know that there are preventative prescriptions, preventative shots that allow people to live with security,” Bravo said.

Aragon High School has an extensive health curriculum for its freshmen that includes sexual health, but Bravo said more can be done to continue the conversation. 

“In some ways, freshman year is a great time — and I would argue with anyone who says that that’s too soon — but to that I’d say that’s not enough,” Bravo said. 

The Quilt was on display for public viewing Wednesday, Dec. 4, but students have been able to take in its significance through class visits. After, students were asked to leave their takeaways on Post-it notes, reflecting on the emotional impact the memorial had. 

“Aragon High is honored to display three sections of the AIDS quilt, which is such a meaningful symbol of both remembrance and advocacy,” Principal Michael Jones said in a statement. “This is a unique opportunity for students, our educators and community members to engage in powerful conversations to promote awareness and education about HIV/AIDS.” 

This year, Bravo specifically requested one block of the quilt featuring a panel made by Duane Kearns Puryear, made of white cloth with black capitalized sewn-on letters. 

“My name is Duane Kearns Puryear,” the panel reads. “I was born on December 20, 1964. I was diagnosed with AIDS on September 7, 1987 at 4:45 p.m. I was 22 years old. Sometimes it makes me very sad. I made this panel myself. If you are reading it, I am dead…”

Two other blocks were on display, one featuring a memorial for Gregory John Cava who died in 1989 and was buried in San Mateo County. Bravo said students have resonated with the panel’s connection to their own lives. 

The memorial was first conceived in 1985 by San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones — who has previously spoken at Aragon. A San Francisco storefront transformed into a workshop filled with sewing machines as a place to process the grief felt during the height of the epidemic. 

“Luckily, that need has subsided to some extent, but in the moment, the origins of the quilt, the need for a place to hold space and remember people and create a lasting memory, Cleve felt it just had to happen,” Bravo said. 

Bringing this quilt around for students helps ignite conversations not only about health, but also about how community one another, how we support our neighbors, Bravo said. 

As someone who is not particularly hopeful and much more of a realist, Bravo said the Quilt is an honest reminder of the positive that can arise in times of distress, fear and sadness.

“With the world that we are about to enter, in a lot of ways, people think it’s mysterious and unknown — it’s pretty well known,” Bravo said. “I want to make sure our kids are informed about what good can come out of something that’s pretty bad.”