24-Hour "Medicine Wheel" -- World AIDS Day

MON 11/30 to TUES 12/1

Midnight to Midnight
Medicine Wheel
at Cyclorama, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, Boston (South End)
FREE

Maybe you won't be able to sleep tonight, and you'll want to commemorate World AIDS Day.

You could start early at 11:30pm with the procession from Eliot Norton Park (about 285 Tremont St) to the Cyclorama where you can help carry the shrines and pedestals that are the mainstays of each year's installation.

The exhibit changes every year, for instance you'll see a 22-foot high lantern that incorporates photos of people that have been affected by AIDS.

For a full 24 hours, one can reflect on the impact of the disease in a quiet, safe, and beautiful place. It's dimly lit, and most people are respectfully quiet; but there are periodic performances (on the hour).

As someone who thankfully has known only a few who've lost their lives to AIDS but is old enough to remember the immense fear people of all orientations felt, my visit a couple years ago was a heavy experience. There's something special in the air.

Anyone is free to "leave an offering (personal object, letter, picture, jewelry, poem...) for the healing and remembrance of all affected by HIV and AIDS."