{"id":1006,"date":"2017-10-14T02:02:43","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T09:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/?p=1006"},"modified":"2017-10-14T02:02:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T09:02:43","slug":"collection-based-narratives-act-upla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/2017\/10\/14\/collection-based-narratives-act-upla\/","title":{"rendered":"Collection-Based Narratives : ACT UP\/LA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unpacking the Narrative<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The record collection of focus today is on the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power\/ Los Angeles<\/a> (ACT UP\/ LA). Such a collection is comprised of an assortment of financial records, membership details, photographs, press releases, fliers, and other various forms of paperwork. Starting in the late 80’s, ACT UP held itself as an organization that utilized peaceful protest in order to enact positive changes around AIDS in public and governmental spheres. In particular, ACT UP members were seeking to improve the AIDS healthcare services through this increased media awareness.<\/p>\n

Based off the number and description of documents, court orders, and filings within this collection, one can start to form the narrative that AIDS awareness was a tooth-and-nail struggle. Documentation of various forms of peaceful protest, such as sit-ins and marches, paint the picture of ACT UP as a very hands-on organization. Rather than stand behind a desk and strictly push paperwork, ACT UP members made themselves physically visible to the public eye. The large number of arrest reports indicate that such visibility and disruption was often met with contrasting attempts to silence these voices.<\/p>\n

Missing Perspectives<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

However, it would be difficult to have a more complex understanding of the AIDS Crisis occurring during this time period if the ACT UP collection was all one had. Due to the lack of general news articles in the collection, it is hard to understand the logistics of what was happening with AIDS at that time. General statistics on mortality rates, percentage of patients that received hospital care, and public policy measures before ACT UP began would shed light on this. Without this information added to the narrative, the issues that ACT UP were fighting against lack the sense of urgency that was felt during the 80’s and 90’s. Additionally, raw statistical data allows for a greater framework of context to be established (social\/governmental ignorance of AIDS), thereby lending credibility to the impact ACT UP had.<\/p>\n

Filling in the Pieces<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In order to build a more balanced narrative, one needs to first lay the groundwork of understanding for the AIDS outbreak. For example, one could look at death records from hospitals at that time to understand the sheer number of people that were dying from AIDS. Additionally, newspaper media clippings from before the creation of ACT UP could be compared to the current collections clippings as a means to discern any notable increase in AIDS awareness.<\/p>\n

Secondly, one needs to understand how the opposing forces against ACT UP and AIDS rationalized their stance. Even when one is looking at a polarizing issue like AIDS, it is important to have evidence from both sides in order to form a more complex narrative. This could be done by looking at old legal documentation and dissenting courtroom opinions from local\/federal officials. Doing so would allow at least a brief glimpse in to the mindset of those that ACT UP had to rally against in the name of greater visibility and healthcare reform.<\/p>\n

-Alex Gernes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unpacking the Narrative. The record collection of focus today is on the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power\/ Los Angeles (ACT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f17\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}