March 27
What About AIDS? Community Night
Lecture Discussion: Emerging Viruses
7:30 p.m., McBean Theater
Killer viruses have been the subject of Hollywood films, made-for-TV movies, cover stories in Time and Newsweek, and best-selling books in recent years. Should we be scared? Well, yes and no. Noted epidemiologist Dr. Donald Francis will explore the seemingly unending supply of opportunistic microorganisms, such as Legionella, Ebola, and the HIV virus. Journalist Lisa Krieger talks about how media coverage and human nature cause news of small outbreaks of exotic disease to create panic while larger outbreaks of less dramatic--but equally deadly--epidemics inspire apathy. A look at risk perception and public health, based on thirteen years of covering the AIDS epidemic.
April 17
What About AIDS? Community Night: Fifteen Years of an Epidemic
Panel Discussion: Evolution of an Epidemic
7:30 p.m., McBean Theater
Can you remember when you first heard about AIDS? Think about how your first impressions were formed and how they have changed through science, the media, and community activism. Join a discussion with local AIDS activists, medical historians, and observers of cultural trends to examine the different ways in which the AIDS epidemic has been represented and perceived.
April 20
What About AIDS?: Fifteen Years of an Epidemic
Telling the Story
1 p.m., McBean Theater
People's accounts of how they contracted and live with AIDS have been a powerful force in learning about the nature of the disease and in educating young people in order to prevent the spread of HIV. Media artist Wendy Clarke will talk about and show excerpts from her interactive media installation, Remembrance, a collection of short videotaped stories of people's experience with AIDS. The local performance group Bay Positives will showcase its latest oral history/theater piece.
April 21
What About AIDS?: Fifteen Years of an Epidemic
Reinventing Memorials
1 p.m., McBean Theater
As AIDS changes our ideas about dying and death, the nature and function of memorials have evolved. From the AIDS Memorial Quilt to Golden Gate Park's AIDS Memorial Grove to film tributes, speakers and audience members will see and discuss ways in which the AIDS epidemic has influenced memorials in our society.
