PfeRy OF a .
The carefree days of Everyday we search They operate the The work has made my 1
simple vacationing are for the Tiberius bust boat while Leo and body hard and tan I
'onfl 6or,e-Tims hair with two drunken I dive. Tim is the suspect Ive become
'* start,n6 to $row fishermen Leo hired map maker somewhat of a sex
to assist us. symbol to the local
I tease them but none We work all day Sometimes our ass- They fight until one
of them get any play then we drink Tio istants drink too of thern throws up
because Im too Pepe and watch the much and get mto from overexertion,
busy with work. sun set over the a fist-fight Spain is beautiful
_£Sean
^ _ a 8. it
AIDS
Facing the unseen enemy
I went to Washington, DC.
last weekend with my mother,
Jean, and my older brother, KC,
to see the AIDS Names Quilt. It’s
huge—about 15 acres and grow
ing — made of panels bearing
the names, dates, pictures, me
mentos, poems, images and
wordscommemoraiing individu
als who have died of AIDS.
It nearly filled the west side of
the grounds around the Wash
ington monument.
This was the first international
display and probably the last
time it will all be shown in one
place because it’s gelling so big.
In this one weekend it grew from
about 22,000 panels to more than
27,000 panels with the panels
brought from around the world
for the occasion. The additions
included the panel my brother
made for JC, his partner of 14
years who died in July, just a few
days short of his 45lh birthday.
Not everyone who hasdied of
AIDS has a panel on (he quilt. In
the United Slates there have been
226,281 reported cases (June ’92);
over 150,000 of those have died.
In Nebraska (through Septem
ber) 299 people have been diag
nosed with AIDS; 207 of them
have died.
It cannot be known how many
other people carry the virus but
have not yet been diagnosed.
The World Health Organization
estimatcsthercareSmillion to 10
million cases worldwide (World
Press Review, Jan. ’92, “I low other
nations suffer and cope”).
The nu mber of people infected
with the virus include my brother
who tested HIV positive nearly
five years ago. He’s one of the
lucky ones so far, but he eventu
ally may die of some AlDS-re
lated infection. It angers me that
some people find something
amusing about that, but that’s
not the point here.
Besides the effect that AIDS
will have on the human popula
tion — some kind of dent in the
growth curve — it shares some
thing else with the global threats
more commonly considered "en
vironmental.” It is one of an
increasing nurmjcr 01 mings mai
can effect us — things that can
kill you — that you can’t sec,
can’t feel, can’t immediately reg
ister with your physical senses.
The Industrial Revolution in
cluded an enormous increase in
the knowledge and use of phe
nomena that arc, in a sense,
‘‘extrasensory.”
We’ve been- messing around
with things that require special
instru ments to mcasu re or detect
at all: from metallurgy t(> preci
sion engineering; chemistry to
particle physics, from electronics
to telecommunications and mi
croscopy to molecular biology.
Hut there is something all loo
human about the way we tend to
ignore what our unaided senses
can’tdetect.even when we know
belter.
I suppose that is related to the
way people can behave as if the
minor impact of one piece of
litter, one cigarette, one baby, or
one vote won’t really makemuch
difference.
It’s easy to ignore the fact that
a minor impact multiplied by
hundreds of thousands, millions
or billions can become a global
impact.
Our brains are not equipped
to perceive that many things a*
once. And to conceive of that
many things requires an intellec
tual process without the support
of confirming evidence from our
five senses.
Maybe that ability represents
a milestone of development simi
lar to the awareness of “object per
manence" when an infant realizes
that things don’t disappear forever
when they slip out of visual range.
I think there’s something
wrong with an education that
fails to make these lessons slick
Sometimes such lessons can
be learned by actual ly seeing the
cumulative effect of things too
small to perceive. A small part,
1,100 panels, of the AIDS quill
will be displayed at the Civic
Auditorium in Omaha the week
end of Dec. 5. There’s no charge
for admission though donations
are welcome to support educa
tion about AIDS/IHV.
— Dan Clinchard
SundayDinner?_
i
Use Your Noode!
Stuff Your Face
• Choose from one of our ten sauces. /-v
• Al the spaghetti you can eat (Cal about]
• Piping hot garlc bread & Salad Bar ^ party
Meals startins at $3.99 475^00
228 ft 12tMJxoh .Just 2 Blocto From Campus
