AIDS has mixed publicity

Once upon a time, there were many healthy people in the world and no one had AIDS. It was a grand place. However, good things are not meant to last. Somehow, AIDS got into the system. It started killing people of every ethnicity, class, sexual preference and profession. Everywhere. It became a human disease no limited to specific communities.

The arts community has been heavily struck by the epidemic. AIDS has seriously affected every community in the world, but the creation of something called Day Without Art (DWA) on Dec. 1, 1989 chose to focus on how the virus has specifically affected the arts community.

And this week is the eighth annual international observance of that Day Without Art. Understandably, most places in the world probably just have one day of observance, but this year we make a difference at Oberlin by stretching DWA into a whole week. Why? Because most people were gone from campus on Dec. 1 and would have missed the observance of DWA if it had been held then. But certain members of the Oberlin community recognized the importance of AIDS awareness and decided to dedicate a whole week to the cause.

Funny thing is, no one at Oberlin seems to know what the hell Day Without Art is. Some people have heard of it but still have no clue what it's all about. This isn't helped by the fact that we have more arts events on campus this week than we've had just about any other week this semester. Go figure. And even though it's a whole week observing DWA, it fits Oberlin status quo: last year we did the one-day-observance thing and still had a whopping eight arts events that evening.

Maybe one day we'll realize that DWA deserves the recognition we presently devote to the wonderfully commercialized holiday of Xmas. Until then, DWA awareness will remain low. Furthermore, the important message relayed by DWA will continue to be confused and undermined if we continue to have assloads of arts events during the week observing DWA. Someone's gotta take blame for this. Who to blame? Let's see... no one. We can't blame the programmers of these arts events because they often have to plan several months ahead of the actual event. It's not so easy for them to cancel the event on the spur of the moment; after all, lotsa people have already made plans to come from far-reaching foreign places (such as Elyria) to attend the multitude of theater and musical events.

Actually, it's a sort of vicious cycle: if DWA was recognized the same as other important days - Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, etc. - then program planners would have avoided scheduling events at Oberlin during this week. This means awareness of DWA would have to be much higher than it is. But the continuing existence of arts events during this week prevents the increase of awareness. Quick and fun solution: just cancel these events. Just think about how that would piss people off. And make 'em think too. Man, I wish all of life was that simple.

The thing is, if you KNOW about all the stuff that's been done for Day Without Art on campus, then you can't deny that these actions should raise the awareness of the AIDS epidemic significantly. Walk into Allen Memorial Art Museum. There's something wrong. The lights in the center of the building are dimmed and all the pieces are shrouded in black. Pretty grim.

In addition, the plug sculpture outside the museum addition, the rocks in Tappan Square, the obelisk piece outside of Wilder, and the Falling Man   painting in the library have been shrouded. Did anyone notice? What about all the posters around campus? You know, the red ones with a picture of a chair on them.

Maybe it was too much trouble for you to read the words. I mean, there's so much lettering that you've gotta stop to read it to catch the meaning behind DWA. But that's difficult for us busy students. Then there is the mailing that we all received in our mailboxes. That's OK, I don't read most of my mailings either. Oh yes, here comes that key summarizing word: ignorance.

But that's sure as heck not the fault of anyone at the museum or on the Art Students Committee. Those people have worked their booties off to increase AIDS awareness through Day Without Art. In fact, the Art Students Committee even asked the Review not to publish our Arts section this week in recognition of DWA. A reasonable request which we're not honoring because it's our responsibility to report on all the arts events occurring this week. Hey hey.

And here's another irony: although we make mistakes, we do try to be disseminators of information around campus. But in this case maybe we could have communicated the importance of DWA more effectively by not publishing the Arts section.

So what can we do to increase awareness? Hopefully, you're reading this. Hopefully, you read the posters or the mailings. Hopefully, you realize that the AIDS epidemic is a more serious problem than your studies are. Shit, classes are going to end in a week. The epidemic sure as hell isn't. Maybe next year program planners will remember that Day Without Art happens every Dec. 1 and is not something to merely give lip service to while they go on with their lives and continue to plan art events on that day/week.

OK. See you at Rumble in the Bronx.  It's a great escapist flick about martial arts. It has nothing to do with real life. Thank God.

Mike Oleson is a photo editor for  the Review.