Stitching a Revolution: The Making of an Activist

Cleve Jones has done many wonderful things for the gay community. Now he adds this wonderful, heartfelt memior. This volume is more than "just" a memoir, it's a rich and rewarding history lesson, an eye witness account. Throught the past twenty-five years Jones has been a witness to murder, a victim of hate crimes, an activist for gay rights, a rioter, a mourner, a survivor and a an ambassador of hope and good will. This is the story of the AIDS Quilt, from its beginnings to its eventual recognition as an international symbol of peace, reconciliation and unity. Cleve Jones takes a refreshingly candid, warts-and-all approach to telling his story. He depicts himself as an ordianry man responding to extraordinary circumstances in the only way he knew how. Past imperfect, but always willing to do whatever was necessary to bring his message to the people, Cleve helped to put a human face on AIDS.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt has been the most humanizing, uplifting and unifying symbol of the battle against the AIDS virus. As an activist, viewer of the Quilt, and twice a volunteer, I read Mr. Jones book greedily. People need to know what he has to say. People need to know the impact their actions can have on world perceptions; that they can make a difference. People need to know the history of the epidemic - reflected in the experiences of a person immersed in the culture impacted first: how the gay community, so brutally attacked, fought back and set up the protocols now being used by all sectors of society all over the world.The book is a good read, very accessible, as simple as the concept of the Quilt and as insightful. I thank Cleve Jones for giving humanity the Quilt and this telling of how it came to be.

As an AIDS activist, I would implore everyone to read this account of how one man can take an idea and turn it into a world-wide reality.Cleve Jones writes honestly and from the heart - not about sex, not about dirt, but about the true experience of growing up as a gay man, coming out, and dealing with AIDS from the beginning up until now.His vision in making the Quilt a reality, and the many stories that go with it bring tears and laughter, while pointing out the universality of both AIDS and The AIDS Memorial Quilt.If his book tour comes to your town - run to that book store. His speaking skills are extrordinary as well.If only this could become required reading for our youth - the generation that most needs to hear the message and is frighteningly under-educated about a disease which can end their lives.

While the emotion of experiencing the Quilt cannot be confined to mere words, this inspiring journey to activism and openness is a fascinating read. In 1995, while in San Francisco to say a heartbreaking goodbye to my dearest brother, I entered the NAMES project offices and was instantly overwhelmed by the raw emotion--not just sadness, which is the obvious response, but also a healing, a unity and a strength. I have never been so moved--until I traveled to DC to witness the 1996 display. A part of me travels with my brother's panel wherever it goes, and this book was a cathartic reliving of some of my most grueling and gratifying moments.'Stitching a Revolution' is a treasure, a reminder that we often forget the power of one voice, and the staggering, wondrous results of bringing together disparate peoples.

I read this book from cover to cover in half a day, despite taking breaks a couple of times when I started to cry, my emotions overcome by the power of this amazing story. Cleve Jones has an inspiring tale to tell, and his ghostwriter Jeff Dawson has put the pieces together in an extremely accessible manner. The book chronicles Jones' unlikely journey as a true American hero: his happy middle class childhood, his entry into politics as an acolyte of Harvey Milk, his Quaker religious influences, his emergence as a grassroots leader in the turbulent gay politics of San Francisco, his own struggle with Aids and how one night an epiphany came to him with the vision of a huge Aids Quilt. However, my favorite stories in the book are the anecdotes about the individual people who came from all walks of life and how they were brought together and transformed by the Quilt - a quiet dignified mother from Appalachia who took the bus to San Francisco to deliver a panel for her son, a US marine and his wife from Texas who memorialized their son's friends, and a man who made a quilt for his lover shortly before dying himself. These stories come out of the text and hit an emotional nerve that help us to understand the power of the love of all those affected by AIDS and shows exactly why the quilt is such an important touchstone.Jones is upfront about his anger, at those who opposed him from the extremes of the left and right, and especially Presidents Reagan and Bush - it wasn't until 1996 when the Clintons and the Gores came to see the display and were moved by seeing the panels of people they had known that a president had even acknowledged the existence of the Quilt. Larry Kramer also comes in for some severe and surprising criticism.I was a volunteer at the 1996 DC national display and memories of that time came rushing sharply back to me as I read this book - the emotions and the pain of the loss all around, but also the sense of connectedness, spirituality and even hope embodied by the quilt and the people there to see it. I remember a white-haired woman in her 70s sitting in a portable chair all day next to her son's panel, a particularly beautiful work of art, smiling with gratitude when people asked her about her son. Cleve Jones writes about his own transformation from a wild gay youth with a bullhorn to someone who understood how much we are all, young or old, gay or straight, rich or poor, connected together in ways we never imagined. My one complaint with the book is that there is not much self-examination into why exactly Cleve Jones was chosen to receive this vision and follow this particular path. Maybe it doesn't matter however - heros aren't supposed to know all their inner workings and this is a truly inspiring hero's journey.