It got to me. There was something about the uplifting, child-like innocence of the sidewalk chalk. ... I was, for a moment, overwhelmed.
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Totally unexpectedly, I get a text, "Come to Annie's!" I went to 17th St., like many gays for many years have done — seeking comfort.
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I found comfort in friendship tonight—sitting w loved ones, laughing, joking, hugging—even as I thought about the memorial & those gone.
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That is, I remembered, what we do.
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I thought back to when I was younger. Another memorial. Commemorating other losses. Amidst other connections.pic.twitter.com/jx0sf8kiMr
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It was 20 years ago this fall that I, as an undergrad, volunteered for the unfurling of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt on the Mall.
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It was one of those moments that youth, at least mine, precluded me from realizing how important it was to me.pic.twitter.com/lJOSf5iioi
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We got up, bright and early — my boyfriend and me and many others — to help unfurl the entire Quilt at the time all over the National Mall.
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Once we got down there, though, the simplicity of opening up a quilt was replaced by The Quilt and The Mall.pic.twitter.com/n51oXOQVFU
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My boyfriend at the time and still one of my best friends,
@ATLJono, is kneeling on the far left. I'm next to him.pic.twitter.com/CbAJCXH7BH
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It was so powerful, watching the entire National Mall go from green to becoming a literal patchwork quilt.pic.twitter.com/1yyKb1hKu0
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Then, at some point, it hit you that this enormity was all loss. That each panel was a person no longer contributing wonder to our world.
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You saw the panel for ROGER HORWITZ. The "
PAUL MONETTE" reminded you of the power of gay love in the AIDS era.pic.twitter.com/i6qB9vWAkG
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Then, you saw the panel for PAUL MONETTE, and you broke down. ... Even then, gay lovers were buried together.pic.twitter.com/9CjSx2X7Es
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VP Al Gore and Tipper Gore came out at one point, to view some of the thousands of lives commemorated with fabric.pic.twitter.com/VJC3tfordR
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The Quilt is a beautiful horror. Each panel is created with such love — yet the vast number of them is too much.pic.twitter.com/8gcWDmWLGG
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As a memorial, it was unforgettable. I learned so much — about specific people, but also about perspective and scope and how much we lost.
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I found comfort in my young love that weekend — even as I thought about the Quilt and those gone.pic.twitter.com/CSN8nkJZbh
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This picture is one of my favorites of me and
@ATLJono. It is pure earnestness, in all of the best ways. -
The romantic relationship is long over between us, but our relationship, our friendship, is stronger than ever.
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Jono, an earlier riser than me, was the person who called me to wake me up on Sept. 11, 2001. ... On Sunday, he called me again.
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When I got home from the newspaper I was working at in Ohio on Sept. 12, 2001, I called him and we talked until I could sleep.
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As Sunday night turned into Monday morning, we talked again.
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He has known me more than 20 years, we dated, he took me to my first gay club, he has helped me when I lose my path.
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He's probably also the person who taught me that walking around the Dupont Circle fountain with a guy will always be beautiful and precious.
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There's a lot floating around in my head tonight—21 years of living as an out gay man—but support and love and relationships are everything.
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For 20 years going, support and love and relationships have gotten me through everything.pic.twitter.com/fKXPWWWQtA
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I've gone on too long, but it's probably the week for that. Seriously: Talk to each other; support one another; if you can, love others.
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That's all I got. Bed time. ... Night, all, and let us be good to one another.pic.twitter.com/SksFLAthAk
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