Weekend Top 6 Picks for December 14 and 15, 2019

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Saturday December 14, 2019

9am to 3pm Free. Holiday Amaryllis Festival. Nehrling Gardens, 2267 Hempel Ave, Gotha, FL 34734. Pictures on the porch with Santa and Mrs Claus. Hybrid Amaryllis Bulbs and blooms. Nature themed vendors. Eco activities for kids.

6:30pm to 8:30pm Free. 7th Annual “Violectric Holiday Show”. Walt Disney Amphitheatre at Lake Eola Park located at 99 N Rosalind Avenue, Orlando, Florida. Following
another electrifying year of performances alongside legends like Wayne
Newton, Lady Gaga, Tim Burton, Morgan Freeman and Emeril Lagasse,
renowned “Vinylinist” and Founder of “Violectric” Michelle Jones will
join the talented musicians of the Central Florida strings. Free and open to the
public, the LIVE concert, presented by the City of Orlando Department of
Families, Parks and Recreation, will feature traditional holiday songs
like, “O Christmas Tree,” “The First Noel” and “Hanukkah, O Hanukkah”
mashed up with classic rock tunes and modern hits like “Born to Run,”
“Heroes” and “Sweet Dreams,” delivering a fun-filled, energetic and
highly-unique holiday show unlike anything seen and heard before.  Plus,
Violectric has teamed up again with Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando for
the pet-friendly show.  Attendees are encouraged to bring their pets, a
pet supply or make a donation to Pet Alliance.  View Pet Alliance “Wish
List” at https://petallianceorlando.org/ways-give/wish-list/.  

7:30pm to 9:30pm $50 Premium Seating (seating in front and center sections – Floor 2, Floor 3 and Floor 4 – and some CFCArts merchandise), $25 Premium Seating (seating in front and center sections – Floor 2, Floor 3 and Floor 4), $15 Prime Seating (seating in the center floor or center balcony – Floor 7, 8 and 9 and  Balcony 5) $10 Advance Standard Reserved Seating, $15 At-Door Standard Reserved Seating, Children 3 and under free. Tis the Season: A Holiday Extravaganza! Northland Church, 530 Dog Track Rd, Longwood, FL 32750. This joyous holiday concert will have
you dashing into the most wonderful time of the year! Enjoy your
favorite holiday classics like “O Holy Night”, and “Deck the Halls”
while rocking around the Christmas Tree to some modern holiday hits!

. 

Sunday December 15, 2019

9am to 11am $10 for Guests, $5 for Mennello Museum Members. Yoga in the Mennello Museum Sculpture Garden.  Mennello Museum of American Art 900 E Princeton St, Orlando, Florida 32803. Fall is in the air and The last Sunday of every month is Yoga in the Sculpture Garden at Mennello Museum of American Art!
Start your Sunday morning out blissfully with a relaxing lakeside flow.
Practice is suitable for beginner to moderate levels and will be led by
certified instructors from Full Circle Yoga, Winter Park. Don’t forget
to bring your own mat and water to practice.
Learn more about becoming a museum member » mennellomuseum.org/support.

Your
practice also includes a complimentary pass to enjoy the museum’s
indoor exhibitions at your own leisure during our operating hours.

Full Circle Yoga Instructor: Sarabeth Jackson.

10am to Noon. Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32811. The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources. 

Noon to 3pm Donation based. Music at the Casa. Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum, 656 N Park Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789. Members
of the public are invited to visit our historic home museum on a Sunday
afternoon to listen to live music and take a tour of our historic home
museum and the James Gamble Rogers II Studio by trained docents. 

Phantasmagoria: Through a Christmas Darkly

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Pam and I went to a performance of Phantasmagoria: Through a Christmas Darkly at The Center for Fine and Performing Arts at Seminole State College. This wasn’t you usual Christmas fair with 3 ghosts of Christmas, it was much darker. Students form Seminole State got to work with the actors of this critically acclaimed acting troupe. The Victorian Horror Troupe recently celebrated their 10th year of production. I have had the pleasure of watching this company grow through the years. They used to perform each Halloween but have since grown to include the main stage show, a mini touring group and appearances at events throughout the year. They have grown from Central Florida to Saint Louis Missouri, and Atlanta Georgia.

The premise is simple, members of the troupe must pull a story from a box, and once a story is started it must be finished. Some stories are so sinister that just telling in itself can be dangerous. This performance was tight and polished, with each character seeming very comfortable in their role. Hawthorn (Cory Volence) was trying to begin a tale but Alteza (Camille Vela) was overacting her part as a dark sinister apparition with a black cloak. Every time Hawthorn tried to speak she let out an unearthly wail. This offered a hilarious reprieve as Hawthorn finally had to drag her off stage under one arm. Each character in turn had their moment to shine as they shared the horrors of the season.

The show culminated in a horrific retelling  of the Krampus myth. I saw children get out of their seats and stand on tip toe to get a better view of the demon best known for putting coal in stockings and much worse for those that misbehave.

Be sure to catch Phantasmagoria’s A Christmas Carol – Orlando Performances at The Shakes (812 E Rollins Street Orlando Fl.) Performances are on December 13, 14 and 16th at 8pm each night. This show offers a uniquely dark adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale “A Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas”.

Tickets: – Adults – $25.00 / Student/Senior/Military – $15.00
Also availability for Will Call CASH ONLY at the door by calling the Phantasmagoria Hotline: (407) 476-5121 and leave a voice mail.

Additional Performances on Tour
DELAND: Athens Theater – December 18th
MOUNT DORA: Mount Dora Community Center – December 19th
OCALA: Reilly Arts Center – December 20th
SANFORD: Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center – Dec 21st
EUSTIS: Historical State Theater – December 27th and 28th

41 Annual Christmas in the Park

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Pam Schwartz and I met at Winter Park‘s Central Park (150 W Morse Blvd, Winter Park, FL) for the 41st Annual Christmas in the Park hosted by The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art and the City of Winter Park.

At 6:15 p.m. nine century-old Tiffany leaded-glass windows were lit. They were scattered across the lawn with two framing the chorus on stage. When I arrived I voted against muscling my way up to the stage, instead I was fascinated by the lines of people who would needed to shoot cell phone photos of the stained glass. I recognized the docent who was cheerfully talking to people about the history of the stained glass panel.

On the Central Park main stage the 160 voice Bach Festival Society Choir performed. I was seated behind a hedge and a secondary stage so I never actually saw anything that happened on stage. However the constant stream of people pressing close to the stained glass was just as entertaining for me.

Anyone who stopped to read the tombstone label was illuminated a ghostly green from below. This particular Memorial Window created  in 1909 was for a chapel for the Association for the Relief of Respectable Aged, Indigent Females which provided housing and pensions for poor elderly women. The ARRAIF was located at 891 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, N.Y which was founded in 1883 and closed down in 1974.   In 1908, a Mrs. Sage gave the association a gift of $250,000, that was used to  extend the building south to the corner of West 103
Street. The architect for the addition was Charles Rich. The addition
included the installation of Tiffany windows to the Chapel.

Tiffany wanted to return the art of glass making to the glory days of Medieval churches. Each piece of glass has a variety of color, tone and texture that became known as opalescent. The glass has imperfections, streaks, bubbles and folds that become a part of the beauty of the finished piece. The design was symmetrical yet elements within that design stepped outside of the symmetry creating some tension. I love any art that accepts imperfections as part of the process.

The crowd on the lawn came prepared for the occasion. Some had entire picnics with bottled of wine and Christmas lights to decorate the tableau and themselves. One of the songs was of course Jingle Bells and people knew to come to  the concert with their own jingle bells that they jingled and jangled in time to the music.

Rigoberto Torres

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Rigoberto Torres began working at his uncle’s statuary and mold factory doing religious-themed pieces. He was trained in using air brushes and mixing colors. In 1980, a cousin introduced Rigoberto to artist John Ahearn who was doing live casting of peoples’ faces. He went to school, while at the same time helping John do his live casting. He learned that he is good at working with people.

He asked John if he could borrow some of the equipment and do some live casting in his neighborhood. He did a sculpture of his friend named Felix out in the street of his neighborhood in the Bronx. It was good to do things out in the open because more people can get involved. Less explanation is needed. John was living on 10th Street and Rigoberto asked him if he wanted to move out to the Bronx. They then worked together for more than 30 years. They rented a studio and had a store front.

Throughout the years they improved their technique of casting. A table must be set up and 2 straw are put in the nose while a shower
cap covers the hair. The entire face is covered with the mold material
with a gap at the back of the head so it later can be peeled off. They used to use straws that point out and switched to the newer straws that were curved up. They used to use a Vaseline but people complained because it would not wash off for weeks. They used to have the person wear one shirt but then for girls they decided to use 2 shirts so one could be cut off, leaving the other in place. They then decided to cut the shirt up the back beforehand so it was easier to come off. They learned to work faster. They found a material that would set faster and in time people could be done in less than 20 minutes.

Every weekend on Friday or Saturday, they would use the studio window to get a table out onto the sidewalk. On the side of the building the super allowed them to hang a series of finished busts. People would stop to ask how they could get involved. It was a way to interact with the community. The more you do the more they want. Kids who have seen casts being made in the street for months and months, then decide they want to be involved. It is a good feeling when they go after you.

Rigoberto has created so many busts and sculptures that he has lost count. Many he gave away as well. They are happy when they carry their own piece home. If they break them or scratch them he fixes them up. Sometime he makes a deal, if he makes a new one he gets to keep the old one. He makes three copies from any mold. One for the gallery, one for exhibition, and one for his collection. John did a cast of a boy named Thomas, he was 5 years old. Rigoberto wanted to top that, so he did a cast of his daughter at 2 years old. He tries to do things to improve himself as an artist.

He moved to Orlando after experiencing medical issues in the Bronx. A cat scan showed a blood clot at the back of his scull, pressing on his brain, which caused memory loss and blindness. I can think of nothing worse for a visual artist than to experience blindness. After more than 6 months however, he was able to regain his eyesight. He joked that the one thing he continued to have trouble remembering was the named of who he owed money too.

Virgo’s Narcissa Beach Party

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Local actress, Michelle Papaycik, hosted a mermaid-themed photo shoot party at Driftwood Boneyard  (Big Talbot Island, Jacksonville Fl). Photographers and beach lovers were encouraged to spend as long as they wanted taking pictures and soaking up the sun. Usually, photo shoots are a challenge to sketch since models vogue quickly for the camera and then change poses incessantly. I figured that a mermaid might not move around quite as much on the beach since the large tail might slow her down.

Half way on my drive to the beach I got a message that the main contingent of people going were running late. I had seen pictures of the beach and decided it was worth the trip just to take the time to sketch the driftwood beach. I brought along a tent to keep myself out of the sun while I worked. There was a nice long sandy trail that lead down to the beach, and once there it really felt like another world. All the plentiful driftwood created wonderful patterns against the sand.

I figured I could beach a few mermaids in my sketch once hey washed ashore. Unfortunately, mermaids never appeared. But I had a decent sketch and decided to get back on the road to Orlando. My passenger side mirror had been demolished by a garbage can, so I was a bit blind when people passed me on the passenger side. So, on the drive I stayed in the right hand lane and just accepted that I might need to slow down on occasion as cars entered and exited from the highway. I’ve since fixed the mirror which is wedged in with an eraser. This amazing beach was well worth the visit.

1920 Ocoee and Beyond

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An event was held at Valencia West building 8, Special Events Center (1800 South Kirkman Road, Orlando, Fl) in honor of the people who lost their lives in the Ocoee Massacre. On November 2, 1920 the day of the United States Presidential Election, a white mob attacked African-American residents in Ocoee, Florida. As many as 35 African Americans may have been killed during the
riot, and most African-American-owned buildings and residences in Ocoee were burned to the ground, while others were later killed or driven out on threat of more
violence. West Orange was incorporated in 1922, and Ocoee essentially became an all-white town. The riot has been
described as the “single bloodiest day in modern American political
history”.

Perhaps the most horrific thing about this event is that we concretely know so little. We do not actually know who started what, how many African-Americans were killed, who ran to where, and whose property was stolen versus later sold, and whether or not for a fair price. There are many many versions of the narrative surrounding the Ocoee Massacre/Riot and little verifiable source documentation to back it up. Generally, the story goes as follows.

Mose Norman, a prosperous African-American land owner, tried to vote but was turned away on Election Day for not having paid his poll tax. In anger and frustration, Norman returned to the to the polling place. allegedly with a gun and tyring to get the names of the people who were illegally trying to
keep him from voting. He was sent packing again. Norman took refuge in  the home of Julius “July” Perry, another prominent African American land owner.  

Colonel Sam Salisbury, a prominent white native New Yorker and a former chief of police of Orlando, led a group of white officers and other men to find and presumably punish Mose Norman. He later proudly lauded his part in the massacre that followed. Sam knocked on the door of July Perry and July came out. When July was grabbed, a shot rang out injuring one of the white officers.  Suddenly bullets were flying. It is unknown how many people were inside the house, how many were armed, and who actually was shooting, but in all, we do know that several white men were injured, 2 white men were killed, and only have any sort of proof that July Perry was seriously wounded along with his daughter Coretha. She escaped with her mother and children out the back door into a cane field.

The whites laid waste to
the African-American community in West Orange. Fires burned a reporeted 18 or more black homes, two churches, and a lodge.  July Perry was reportedly taken to the Orange General Hospital (now Orlando Health), then to be taken to the jail. It is unclear whether he was taken by a mob en route to the jail or whether he was pulled from his cell, the jailor overwhelmed by the mob. Accounts vary from his being drug behind a car, his body being riddled with bullets, and being hung from either a pole or a tree. The location of said hanging is also very unclear and ranges from Church Street to up near the Country Club.

Norman escaped and relocated to New York City, eventually selling all of his land in Ocoee. Hundreds of other African Americans
fled the town, leaving behind their homes and possessions.

Descendants of July Perry were in the audience of this Ocoee and Beyond event. Two of them are in my sketch seated at the table in front of me. They got up to talk a bit about their family’s experiences through the years. Being two or three generations removed, they didn’t have any direct commentary about July Perry. Their families fled Ocoee, moving to other states and the family continues to thrive. The evening was filled out with music and dance. Pam Schwartz of the Orange County Regional History Center was there because the museum plans to mount an exhibition about the Ocoee Massacre around the time of the 2020 elections. In front of the History Center, a historic marker was put up to remind modern residents about the Ocoee Election Day Massacre.

This event was not about placing blame or  anger at the past, but to find ways to heal and grow together as a community moving forward. It was a look at Central Florida’s past so that we do not repeat it.

The 1920 census listed the following African American land-owing families, though there were more than 250 African Americans living in Ocoee at the time.

Anderson, Garfield and Janey Bell; two children; eldest son Sidney

Battsey, Randolph and Annie; daughters Alice and Bessie; owned farm

Blackshear, Martin and Candyce; four children, oldest son Morgan

Blue, Sanborri and Lilly

Dennys, Thomas and Lavinia

Dighs, Edward and Willamina

Edwards, John and Genie; oldest son Usteen

Frank (or Franks), Daniel and Carrie; four children, oldest son Allen

Green, Sally; six children, oldest son, Jeremiah; owned farm

Hampton, Jackson and Anna; owned farm

Hightower, Valentine and Janie; three children; owned farm

Johnson, Stephen and Julia; three grandsons, oldest James

Langmede, James and Eva; son Starland

Lynch, Richard and Fanny

McRae, William and Doda

Penzer, Kerry and Elisa; three children, oldest son Edson

Moore, Rocky and Daisy; five children, oldest son William

Nelson, Stephen and Julia; two children, son Edward

Perry, Julius P. and Stella; five children, oldest son Charles; home listed as “contested”

Surrency, Jessie and Grace; four children, oldest son Damott

Slater, Victoria; son Mason

Warron, Wade and Rhina; five children, oldest son Porter

The Spitfire Grill

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I went to a dress rehearsal for The Spitfire Grill at Mad Cow Theater. The show is based on the film by Lee David Zlotoff. The music and book are by James Valcq with Fred Alley on lyrics and writing. The wonderful thing about a rehearsal is that the actors have fewer worries since they are not in front of an audience. I  am used to hearing actors exercising their voices with scales and vocal calisthenics. For this run, a loud burp echoes from back stage. The mood was set for a classy Midwestern musical.

A Stage hand was working on the moon made of wooden planks cut into  a circle. He called out to director David Lee to see of it was straight. David asked Pam Schwartz and I if we thought it was straight. I had just drawn the moon and the slats in my sketch were straight, so I shouted back, “Yep perfectly straight.” David then called back to the stage hand saying “I just asked a straight couple and they should know.” David explained that his lead singer Kari had been
the understudy for Evita at the Shakes and she had to take on the lead roll
twice in one day with just 45 minutes notice.Actors in the show also doubled as the band performing on banjo

The play opened with Percy Talbot (Kari Ringer) sitting on her suitcase. She had just been released from prison and was hoping to start life over. Based on a page from an old travel book, she ended up in the small town of Gilead, Wisconsin. Kari’s singing voice immediately dominated and the song of hope for new beginnings certainly resonated with me. The local sheriff, Joe Sutter (Sean Powell) who was also Percy’s parole officer, found
her a job at Hannah’s Spitfire Grill, the only eatery in the
struggling town.

It turned out that Pecy wasn’t much of a cook and the town gossip Effy (Leesa Castaneda) talked about her behind her back. Shelby Thorp (Brittany Halen) stepped in to also help out at the grill. Her husband, Caleb (Jason Blackwater) a quarry Foreman, however felt a woman’s place is in the home. She had to fight for the independence needed to work outside the home.

Hannah (Jac LeDoux) had wanted to sell the Spitfire Grill for years. But with no interested buyers, her two worker bees talk her into raffling it off. Entry fees were $100, and the best essay on why you want the Grill wins. Percy, a feisty parolee, winds up in Wisconsin and lands a job at the Grill. Soon, things start heating up as mail arrives by the wheelbarrow-full.

I loved every gruff Midwestern character and lost soul hoping to find home. They reminded me of the big hearted but callous and cautious people I come across when traveling to Iowa. The Spitfire Grill is an inspiring celebration of fresh starts and positive influence of any one person. It was a fabulous uplifting show and a great way to kick off the holiday season. “Say what you want, say what you will, somethings cooking at the Spitfire grill.”

The show runs through December 29, 2019. Tickets are $20 to $42.

Second Saturday Matinee: Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019 at 2:30 p.m.

Discounted Monday Nights: Monday, Dec. 16 and Monday, Dec. 23, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

Ken Carpenter Talk backs: Take place after
each regular Thursday and Sunday performance. Talk backs are free to
audience members and are open to the public at no extra cost.

Group Discounts: Save 20% off full-price tickets with parties of 10 or more.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for December 7 and 8, 2019

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Saturday December 7, 2019

8am to  1pm Free. Parramore Farmers Market. John H Jackson Community Center, 3107, 1002 W Carter St, Orlando, FL 32805. Purchase
quality, fresh and healthy food grown in your own neighborhood by local
farmers, including Fleet Farming, Growing Orlando, and other community
growers.

10am to 4pm Free. Sanford Farmers Market. First and Magnolia Sanford Fl.

8pm to 10pm Free. Shuffleboard. Orlando’s Beardall Courts, Beardall Center, 800 Delaney Ave Orlando FL. 1st Saturday of each month. Free fun!

Sunday December 8, 2019

9am to 11am Yoga in the Mennello Museum Sculpture Garden. Yoga in the Mennello Museum Sculpture Garden. Mennello Museum of American Art 900 E Princeton St, Orlando, Florida 32803.  Start your Sunday morning out blissfully with a relaxing lakeside flow.
Practice is suitable for beginner to moderate levels and will be led by
certified instructors from Full Circle Yoga, Winter Park. Don’t forget
to bring your own mat and water to practice.
Your
practice also includes a complimentary pass to enjoy the museum’s
indoor exhibitions at your own leisure during our operating hours. 

Full Circle Yoga Instructor: Sarabeth Jackson

1pm to 4pm Free. Family Day on the Second Sunday. The Mennello Museum of American Art, 900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32803. The
make-and-take craft table is open from noon-2:30 p.m., and docents are
available to give mini-tours of the museum. Then it’s open house in the
galleries until 4:30 p.m. 

10am to Noon. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee, 929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL. Free comedy show! Come out and laugh, or give it a try yourself. 

Team Slam at Milk Bar

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The Orlando Poetry Team Slam was hosted at The Milk Bar Lounge (2424 E Robinson St, Orlando, Florida 32803.) Joe XO acted as the MC for the evening. Sign up started at 8 pm, and the Slam started at 9 pm.

There were two rounds with 3 minute poems, involving no props or costumes.
Round One had 12 teams, with the top five moving on.
Round Two had 5 teams, with the best poem winning. The winner received $50 and bragging rights. Solo pieces were not allowed. Every poem had to be a group piece. There had to be 2-3 people per team.

The Featured Poet for the evening was Jay Salazar. Salazar is a spoken word poet out of New Jersey and New York City. He writes about food, addiction, alcohol, and family. When he is not writing he is probably cooking, working out, eating, or binging some netflix show that isn’t that good. It was Jay that I decided to sketch behind the microphone. I loved that there was a simple smiley face poster on the far wall that said, “Be a good human.” I also loved that the Milk Bar’s dog was curled up on stage with the performers.

Mercedez Marisol Flores

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 This post discusses the shooting that took place at the Pulse
Nightclub on June 12, 2016. It contains difficult content, so please do
not read on if you feel you may be effected. 

This article and sketch have been posted with the express written
permission of the interviewees. Analog Artist Digital World takes the
privacy and wishes of individuals very seriously. 

On the dining room table were photos of Mercedez. She was 1 year old in one photo, 15 years old in another, and in a third she had graduated high school. A memory box
contained dried flowers and a photo of her. The Flores family had gathered to share just a fraction of the memories from Mercedez Marasol Flores‘s life.

Mercedez loved parties. She was very independent and protective of her friends. Her friends were everything to her. She planned her 16th birthday party herself. She rented a house and that was the first party she planned from scratch. She wanted to become an event planner and was always the life of the party.

For the Superbowl, Mercedez and Amanda Alvear came to the Flores home to cook for everyone. Marisol made a spinach and artichoke dip. It was super cheesy. Amanda brought her nieces. They were all dancing and having fun. That was the last time that the family spent with both of them. It was such a nice day.

Mercedez father, César H Flores, Sr. had a dream where he went to a river with his daughter. He told her not to go in the water because there were alligators. She went into the water anyways. He saw the alligators starting to swim quietly towards her and he snapped awake. He recalled that it was a very bad dream.

Mercedez’ mom had been
having a few conversations with Mercedez
and Amanda, letting them know it wasn’t safe anymore to go out every
weekend. They had promised her that they would at least calm down and
not go out so much. But they loved going to Pulse, it was like home
to them.

On June 12, 2016, César Sr. worked a night shift at his job starting at 11:30 at night until 8 in the morning. On the night of the shooting everything he did at work went wrong. He started to sweat profusely, his body shook. He needed a break and he stopped to watch TV for a moment. News about a shooting at the Pulse Nightclub flashed on the screen. He felt sorry for all those people. At 7am his son called him saying his sister had not come home. Her car wasn’t in the driveway. Then he remembered that she had gone to a nightclub to celebrate someone’s birthday. He immediately went home, then to the hospital with his two sons to get answers. They didn’t get answers from anyone. Someone called and said she was on the injured list. The name on that list was someone else’s but their hopes had been raised.

That night Nancy Flores had seen some Snapchat posts from Amanda and Mercedez. She saw the whole night unfold with them having fun and having drinks. Mercedez was always so happy with her friends.  Nancy woke up at 7am, and for some reason went back to Amanda’s story and it was really scary. She heard gun shots at the end of the video. She thought, Oh my God what happened, and that is when they started getting all the phone calls. While dad and the sons went to the hospital, Nancy tried to comfort mom.

That morning César Flores Jr. had been watching the news and he saw the commotion and it occurred to him that his sister was at Pulse. They called Mercedez multiple times on the phone and also tried getting a hold of Amanda, then they reached out to all her other friends through social media. They knew that some people had gotten out of the club, but at 8:30 in the morning they were not getting any answers. The first thing they wanted to do was go to the police department. Then they drove around the Pulse Nightclub area. They couldn’t get close. An officer told them to go to the nearest hospital. That is when they started putting 2 and 2 together. They were then directed over to  headquarters by the Amway. They saw young kids that were injured, bleeding. Others were crying giving their testimonies to the officers. There was chaos. They gave Mercedez name to multiple officers and detectives there, but couldn’t get any answers. Then they were told they should go down to the hospital because the injured were there.

They rushed to the hospital and stayed in touch with mom and Nancy. When they got to the hospital they started seeing how huge this was. There were crowds of reporters, and hundreds of people. They were taken to a holding area where the doctors were careful to only give solid information. There, they saw Amanda’s family. Amanda’s dad was in bad shape. Amanda’s mom said, “It could be our girls too.” They couldn’t get any answers.

They were moved to a hotel somewhere and then the doctors came in. People were enraged that they couldn’t get any information. It was the worst feeling. Names were read of a few survivors and people that were critically injured, and they were praying to God to hear Mercedez’ name. There were a few times where César Sr thought he heard her name. But it wasn’t her. They finished the list and there was a commotion. A high ranking officer got on a chair and shouted, “Please go home and come back tomorrow. We will have some sort of an answer then.” That moment is when a chill set in. They had to accept the tragedy for what it was. The three of them just walked towards the car with no hope. At that moment they knew.

Everyone was broken. No one could sleep, just laying in bed. A police officer came to the Flores house and he confirmed that Marisol was no longer with us. All hope was gone. Then they wanted to know about Amanda too. They were together that night. Amanda had lost her brother when he was very young, and now her parents had to face loosing another child. The dream about the river had tried to tell César Sr something. The
last time he saw his daughter was about 2 in the afternoon.

Mercedez and Amanda were such close friends and they spent their last moments together. They must have felt such fear, but from that moment they began to watch over both families and they continue to watch over them. Even as we sat at the dining room table, César Jr could still imagine his sister storming into the living room and shouting to mom. The last time we saw her she was rushing into the house because it was a Friday and she needed her nails and her hair done with Amanda. It felt like she was still at work.

César Jr. and his dad went to court to learn what happened that night. The gunman’s wife was on trial as an accomplice. They were there every day except the day the shooter’s wife was found not guilty. The worst was when they showed the machine gun, it was then easy to see what had happened. The funeral director told them more about what happened to Marisol than the police. She explained how she received the body and the cause of death and injuries. She advised the family not to see her before the preparations, that that is a memory that can not be erased and that it would be better to remember her as she was. After all  those days of not knowing, the family finally got to see her. She had a tattoo of a cross and the entire family was considering getting the same tattoo. Pam Schwartz at The History Center put them in touch with a tattoo artist who had done many Pulse related tattoos, they have since gone as a family to put their memory of Mercedez in permanent ink. The family was given all the personal items of Mercedez. She was buried in Guatemala where her parents plan to retire. She had actively helped bring together fractured branches of the family.

On her birthday, the Flores family went to Pulse for the first time. They saw the support and the love that people had left there and the stories that they shared. There was something for everybody. Going to Pulse was different now and they felt at peace. Mercedez God daughter was wandering around and she found a little Popsicle stick with Mercedez name on it. It gave them so much joy, it changed the mood. They read so many notes and found it very comforting.

Mercedez worked for Target. The family one day found the courage  to go back to Target after she was gone. There was a corporate meeting and everyone wanted to meet them. The co-workers had stories about how they met and how Mercedez helped them out or how she got them the job. Such beautiful team members. They gave her so much love, such as she had given to them all. 

6 Months after the shooting the family walked in the Pride Parade. They felt the mutual respect that Mercedez had for everyone. She helped open so many people’s eyes to accept everyone for who they are, to try and make a difference in other people’s lives. In the 26 years she was here, she managed to make such an enormous impact.