After Pulse: Chevalier Lovett

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Chevalier Lovett didn’t go to Pulse often but the club meant the world to him. He would celebrate two events each year at the club, one was his birthday and the other was a celebration of identity. On June 11, the day before the shooting, friends were insisting he go out since he hadn’t yet celebrated his birthday, he decided they should go to Pulse. Everyone was on board. He changed his mind, later that night, and texted everyone that he was going to stay home. He suggested that they should go to City Walk instead.

Chevalier turns off his phone when he goes to bed. He woke up at 8AM to 101 text messages and about 72 voice mails. One message said, “I hope you are safe, turn on your TV.” He doesn’t own a TV, so he checked the news on his phone. People he hadn’t heard from for a while were texting and since his phone was off there was more anxiety to the messages.

He started searching his group texts to see which of his friends might have gone to Pulse. They were all a City Walk when the shooting happened at Pulse. On Sunday, there were so many phone calls and comforting. The names of the 49 victims came out Sunday and he knew five friends who were on the list. He went to the vigil, where multiple news outlets interviewed him. Of the seven or so interviews NPR stood out as the most genuine and heart felt.

in 2004 Hurricane Charlie hit. In a time of disaster that is when you see a community come together. The way the community came together after Pulse eclipsed that. Pulse changed his life. It is everyone’s history.

COVID Lung Damage

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Lungs are the main organs affected by a COVID-19 infection. A study published in Radiology showed that there is Persistent Lung Damage after recovering from COVID-19. The study of COVID’s long term effects are being studied as more people suffer from Long COVID. Researchers in Germany evaluated changes in lung structure and function in 54 pediatric COVID-19 survivors and nine healthy controls aged 5 to 17 years using low-field MRI. Twenty-nine patients (54%) had recovered from their infections, 25 (46%) had long COVID, and all but one were unvaccinated at the time of infection. Four COVID-19 patients had asymptomatic acute infections. The study findings show that lung abnormalities persist among children who have experienced COVID-19 illness.

Long COVID can cause lingering health problems and wreak havoc for months. Long COVId can include symptoms like, shortness of breath, fatigue and brain fog. The symptoms can come and go, but have an impact on the person’s everyday functioning, and cannot be explained by another health problem. Long COVID can happen in people who have mild symptoms. COVID can cause damage to the lungs, heart, nervous system, kidneys, liver and other organs.

A bad case of COVID-19 can produce scarring and other permanent problems in the lungs but even mild infections can cause persistent shortness of breath — getting winded easily after even light exertion.

Many people recovering from COVID-19 suffer from long-term symptoms of lung damage, including breathlessness, coughing, fatigue and limited ability to exercise. COVID-19 can lead to inflammation in the lungs due to the infection and the immune system’s reaction to it. The inflammation may improve over time, but in some people it persists. Lung recovery after COVID-19 is possible, but takes time. Experts say it can take months for a person’s lung function to return to pre-COVID-19 levels. Breathing exercises and respiratory therapy can help.

Egg

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I had an Elite Animation Academy student who wanted to learn how to draw realistic portraits. I picked a reference from the internet and we both sketched the face. I pointed out my basic premise of breaking the face into halves to get the general proportions right. My student got the general outlines in place and then didn’t know what to do next. This is true of many beginning art students, they get a few lines in place and freeze up. I suggested adding value.

For some reason this idea of value as opposed to line is often a bridge too far for students. I scribbled in some darks with the side of my digital pencil, but then advised my student to just paint an egg. We painted the egg one color and then added a highlight and shadows. I then copied the egg and simply slid in under the drawing I had already created. All that was needed then were a few brush strokes to define darks on lips and the nose.

I don’t know if the lesson hit the mark, but it was fun to find new ways to simplify the creative process.

After Pulse: Barry Miller

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Barry Miller founded the 49 Fund, an LGBTQ youth scholarship in the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Barry believes he was at Pulse on opening night. It was a nice place to go, the white room was really exotic.

After the shooting his phone lit up. Everyone wondered what could be done. Monday was the vigil at the Dr. Phillips Center. The magnitude of what had happened didn’t really sink in until that vigil. He walked home after the vigil and just sat on the steps of his condo and it sunk in. How could this happen, and how could it happen here? Then he realized he needed to do something. The community needed to do something. How could some good come out of this? That is when he thought about the 49 Fund.

Barry came from an education family. His father was the first in his family who earned a college degree. Education was very important. What better way to memorialize those lost lives than to have their memories go on forever than to give college educations through scholarships.

The fund was founded through the Central Florida Foundation which manages about 400 non-profits in Orlando. He also partnered up with the Center to create the 49 Fund. Leadership is important, Infrastructure for that leadership is important.

The goal is to give out 10 scholarships for $4,900 each. One year after the shooting the first scholarships were given out. The ultimate goal is to raise 1 million dollars. With that much money, it becomes an endowment. Just the interest in the investment should raise the $50,000 needed for the scholarships. Most people didn’t thing it could be done.

AP picked up the story about the fund and we were in 600 news outlets around the county. There was a lot of attention. Most contributions were small. Students could give $4.90. A small business could give $4,900. Every dime raised goes into the scholarships. There is no overhead.

Anyone is eligible in the six county metropolitan area. Applications are online. The need needs to be shown and an essay and letters of recommendation need to be included. One of the questions asked of applicants is, ‘How did the Pulse tragedy affect your life?’ Anyone who gets the scholarship needs to commit to taking a role in the leadership of the LGBT community in the future. If something like the Pulse nightclub shooting happens again we need to have leaders in place who are ready. The age range was from 17 years old to 37 years old.

 

 

 

COVID Hairy Tongue

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The New York Times reported that There might be some COVID symptoms you have not heard about. Pandemic minimizes love to claim that the virus is no worse than a cold of flu. They are mistaken. COVID can manifest in strange and unexpected ways, such as pins and needles, purple toes and hairy tongue syndrome. These symptoms are less common but very real.

A loss of taste and smell was a confusing symptom from early in the pandemic. Other unexpected symptoms have included, ringing in their ears, sore eyes, rashes, red welts on their faces or lips, hair loss and unusual joint pains. So why do some people develop these rare symptoms? She short answer is that no one really knows. It is thought that the virus may get into the blood stream of some people and then harm other organs other than the lungs. Some think that simple stress of a COVID infection may result in such symptoms as hair loss.

Tongue cells are supposed to replace themselves often. In rare cases older cells linger forming a thick fuzzy growth across the tongues surface. The growth may be accompanied by a burning sensation in the mouth. A tongue scraper is then needed to trim back the growth on the tongue’s surface. The condition, with proper oral hygiene it believed to be temporary.

 

After Pulse: Quilts for Pulse Project

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Mary Whitaker is the community outreach coordinator for the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild. She is involved in the sub committee that is involved in the legacy for the Quilts for Pulse Project.

The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild is fairly new, having started in about 2012. It started small but now there are over 100 members. It has become a responsible non-profit. Meetings are once a month with the usual treasurers report and minutes for every meeting.

There are at least two dedicated outreach projects each year. They educate and push themselves through activities and supporting one another to finish projects. Each meeting ends with a show and tell so members can share what they are doing. Sometimes an instructor comes in from out of town.

Mary lives close to Pulse, she was out of town at remote spot when the shooting happened. When they went into town, her phone suddenly started exploding with messages when she got reception. They poured over the news and messages from a distance.

Every quilter in the guild immediately felt they needed to make quilts. It is how they show warmth, comfort and love. It is also a way for each quilter to work through their own thoughts about the situation. The quilters decided on a heart shaped block pattern, each being 2.5 inches in rainbow colors. The goal was to make 102 quits originally, one for each victim’s family, and one quit for each person injured. Blocks stared coming in fast along with finished quilts.

They hadn’t though of how overwhelming the repose would be. They didn’t realize they would end up producing over 1800 quits. A label was sewn onto every single quilt that points it out as being special to the project. Businesses and individuals made donations to the project. Support came in many forms. Thank you notes were sent to everyone. Every single state in the United States helped with the project along with 23 countries.

COVID Disenbarks

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A cruise ship with 800 COVID-19 infected passengers docked in Sydney, Australia. The Majestic Princess cruise ship was about half way through the scheduled cruise when the infection spread among the passengers and crew like a wildfire. There were 4,600 passengers and crew passengers and crew on board. Infected guests were isolated in their staterooms being separated from non-infected guests.

The infected passengers were escorted off the ship and “advised” to isolate for five days. What passenger will self isolate when they are on vacation? You can bet the infected are rushing out to every restaurant and crowded venue in Sydney. They will justify their mindless and violent, act saying they are only mildly infectious.

This seems to be the new normal, knowing that you will likely be infected when you book your dream horror cruise. The New South Wales Ministry of Health has recorded 19,800 new cases of Covid-19 and 22 deaths in the past week. In America, the new normal is over 300 deaths due to COVID every day.

At least three other ships within the company’s Princess fleet, the Ruby Princess, Diamond Princess, and Grand Princess – experienced outbreaks earlier in the pandemic. A spokesman for Carnival Cruises said, Fuck the health of the passengers, they are mindless brain eating zombies, give us your god damn money.

After Pulse: Angie Gallo

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Angie Gallo as two children and is the legislative chair for the Florida PTA. After The Pulse Nightclub shooting advocacy and legislative groups banded together to build a legislative coalition for gun safely regulations.

On June 11, 2016, Angie and her family were traveling to Destin. She first hear about the Pulse Nightclub shooting on Twitter. Scrolling, she found out that the shooting was in Orlando, her backyard. Her phone started ringing and she called people. It was just awful.

While in Destin she got a phone call within days from Patty Bringham with the League of Woman Voters, who is the gun safety chair of the state. She said, we have to do something, we have to form a coalition. She asked if the Florida PTA would be on the coalition. That wasn’t Angies call, she spoke to the president who was absolutely on board.

Conference calls followed where they defined their mission and goals. They agreed that background checks should be expanded, and assault weapons should be banned.

The coalition kept growing. Angie was asked to be on the steering committee on behalf of the PTA. She attended a big press conference for the release of the assault weapon ban bill on the steps of the courthouse. There were some survivors from Pulse who spoke.

She feels that people in Orlando have become a little bit kinder, a little bit more aware of different view points and different people. A dialogue was started that should have been started a long time ago with gun safety and mental health.

After Pulse: Anthony Mauss

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Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Tony Mauss, was the husband of the writer, activist, and incredible columnist Billy Maines, who passed away on July 21, 2017 at the age of 45. It was always an event to be with Billy. When Billy moved from his job at the Orlando Weekly to Watermark, life got busy. Everyone wanted to speak to him. He knew the issues inside and out. He always had fun at the forefront but was happy to discuss any issue. He could make a point the way an Olympic gymnast could land a perfect floor routine.

When Pulse happened, things changed. Tony was up at 1AM on June 12, 2016. He saw what was happening on Facebook. He was getting texts as it was happening. Their home is just two or three blocks from Pulse so the sirens could be heard. He made the conscious decision to not wake Billy up. He knew As Billy woke up, Tony asked him not to look at his phone. OF course Billy had to look at his phone.

Pulse changed Billy. It pulled him in. Things got very serious. The second he woke up he went to the scene of the shooting. Billy’s writing went on to become the vulnerable face of Pulse. He wrote that the shooting was a hate crime and that he was frightened and that he could not believe it happened here in Orlando. He was honest and sincere in facing the tragedy. He gave everything.

After Pulse: Dr. Tracy Wharton

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Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Dr. Tracy Wharton is a social work faculty member at the University of Central Florida and a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Florida and Alabama. After the Pulse shooting Dr. Wharton was involved in organizing and providing volunteer counseling for survivors and victims families.

Tracy’s phone started pinging early, before the sun came up, the night of the shooting. The third time it pinged, she had to pick it up. Facebook had pinged with the mark yourself safe feature. Her sister left a message making sure she was OK. Other friends started to text. Her sister texted “Get up and turn on the TV.”

The Knights Clinic is literally around the corner from the club so she was familiar with Pulse. She had driven by it 100 times. All the residents at the hospital immediately went back to help. Faculty started texting one another.

By early morning she was in contact with social worker colleagues. They started to figure out how to plug in and organize to help. She knew families would be showing up. There would be people at the barricades. She went to the memorial that afternoon.

The next day she began work and it didn’t stop for weeks. There was a Google Doc spreadsheet that pointed out different places needing support. There were a few dozen names to start, 48 hours later there were 300 or so people, a week out there were 600 people on the sheet who wanted to volunteer time. There were about 13 different locations where social workers were needed and people would sign up for time slots.

A lot of people went to clubs to support patrons. Club owners wanted social workers there. Bartenders were feeling stressed out. She was called on to go to Southern Nights. There was a flamboyant sparkling fundraiser going on at the club. She let the bartender know she would be outside should anyone want to talk. It was too loud to talk inside.

Moms were waiting outside as well, sitting on the curb all night. There is something terrifying about the mindset at the time that moms felt the need to wait outside to make sure their kids came out alive. Police were on hand with wand metal detectors and they were great. But the moms felt the strong need to protect their children.

She realized that social workers would need some way to be identified. An artist donated the rainbow graphic and a local business donated pins. About 80 were created. She wanted to give pins to Spanish social workers who were working with victim’s families directly. When she showed the pins she was asked, “Do you have any in Spanish?” She hadn’t thought of it, so she decided to pay for another print run out of her own pocked to make it right.