Miami Herald - Monday, November 26, 2001
Steve Rothaus (srothaus@herald.com)

"Every one of my friends I grew up with has passed away," said Vincent Contrastino of Fort LauDerdale. "I'm 45 years old, and everyone I grew up with is dead."

Contrastino, himself HIV-positive, took time out from the loud festivities at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens to quietly look at 1,000 black rocks set up in a circle around a hand-written poem -- each rock inscribed in white with the name of someone killed by AIDS.

"Everybody else has their memorial," he said. "Why shouldn't we?"

The rocks originally were part of a multimedia exhibit called Storm by artist Rosemarie Chiarlone and poet Susan Weiner.

"It's awesome," White Party-goer Jocelyn Kleiman said. "It's absolutely beautiful. It's important to remember the people who died."

Storm also included photos of body parts and blown-up pictures of the AIDS virus. As the images flashed on-screen, a half-dozen people with AIDS spoke their stories on a 20-minute audiotape.

One man recounted the day he told his mother he had AIDS: "When I told her, there was silence. It wasn't, 'Don't worry, I'll be there for you.' She said, 'This is what happens when you sin.' "

'THERE FOR HIM'

"In the recording, you hear him weep," Chiarlone said. "Several days later, she sent him a letter apologizing and saying that she is there for him."

When they exhibited Storm in September at the Green Door Gallery in downtown Miami, Chiarlone and Weiner -- a pathologist who works with AIDS patients at North Shore Hospital -- encouraged viewer participation.

"We had three galvanized bins with black river rocks," Chiarlone said. "People realized they could go to the bin and pick up the rocks, and they wrote."

With white-ink pens provided to them, they inscribed the names of lovers, friends and relatives who died of AIDS.

"Some people wrote what they thought of the person, like 'your sparkling eyes.' It was very compassionate."

GIVEN TO AGENCY

After the exhibit closed, Chiarlone and Weiner gave the rocks to Care Resource, Miami-Dade County's leading AIDS service agency.

Care Resource displayed the rocks Sunday night at the agency's 17th annual White Party fundraiser.

Single tickets cost $150 each.

For the first time in years, the internationally known circuit party for gay men fell a few hundred short of selling out its 3,500 tickets, said Eric Sanders, Care Resource's development manager.

He and others blamed the shaky economy after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Everyone seems very happy, but there doesn't seem to be the level of interest as in past years," said Barbara Shack, who helped start the White Party with her husband, Frank Wager. He died in 1994 of AIDS complications at age 42.

DIFFERENT MOOD

Saskia Font, who owns a Lincoln Road clothing shop called FunkySexy, said the whole mood of this year's party seemed different.

"Before, it was a big party, and everyone was trying to outdo each other," Font said. "This year, it was a big cause and whether they could afford to go. Everyone had trouble paying for their tickets."

This week, Font's store was dedicated to White Party, with six mannequins in the front windows dressed -- barely -- in white feather boas, thongs and bras.

FunkySexy won this year's official White Party window dressing competition, and Font sold about 35 White Party outfits, she said.

Some customers sought more subdued outfits, she said.

"This year, it's more chic and glamour than just being skimpy.

After everything that happened, people are more calmed down and down to earth."

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