Creative Isolations Rehearsal

Posted on by Thor

I sat in and sketched the first Creative Isolations rehearsal on Zoom. This is a fascinating show put on by a group of graduate students from the University of Central Florida, who partnered with Orlando Story Club and the Downtown Arts District. The show was only staged on the video conferencing platform Zoom and YouTube. All the various slam poetry pieces and monologues are organized around the premise that a Shakespearean  acting troupe is looking for a way to have their voices heard over a digital platform. The performance was on Monday April 6, 2020 at 8pm.

Of course with the tech lags of video streaming and audio the first read through was a bit rough but it was possible to see the diamond in the rough. My series of pandemic illustrations will appear during one of the readings. And of course the illustration I did based o a written monologue about a sand sculptor will appear during that reading.

This is an amazing combination of tech and art and it should be truly unique to watch. Actually by the time this sketch goes live the performance will have already happened. I hope you got the word with my previous posts and had a chance to tune in.

Creative Isolations Team Meeting

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I have been contributing to Creative Isolations: The American Artists Project Performance.

On April 1, 2020 there was a zoom meeting for all 20 artists who are contributing to the project. Each artist in turn discussed their contribution to the project. I quickly sketched the Zoom meeting with the added challenge that people kept moving to new positions on the Brady Bunch screen.

I had done an illustration based on a short story about a sand sculptor. Because of the pandemic the sculptor was forced to work in his home sandbox. At first I thought the sandbox would be in the back yard, but then I took inspiration from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and I had the sculptor working in his living room.

Creative Isolations is a group of graduate students from the University of Central Florida, have partnered with Orlando Story Club and the Downtown Arts District for a celebration of artists in America. We have gathered stories about how artists’ lives have been altered by COVID-19 and selected artists to create original works based on those stories. Now, the artists are ready to share their creations with you!

The live, online performance will be on on Monday, April 6 (Tonight!) at 8pm Eastern Time (US and Canada).

Artist contributors include painters, actors, designers, singers, sand sculptors, composers, leather artists, and more.

The performance is free of charge. However, since social distancing has made it difficult for artists to make money, any funds raised will go straight back to the participating artists.

The Downtown Arts District and Orlando Story Club are proud partners of this project (6% of your donation will be used for an administrative fee).

LINK TO YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1swgTahl0or-KNaCYFCjZg?view_as=subscriber

LINK TO DONATE:
https://downtownartsdistrict.com/product/make-a-donation/

Creative Isolations: The American Artists Project

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I am one of 20 artists who have been selected to participate in Creative Isolations: The American Artist Project as a creator. I joined this journey by creating original work in response to other artist’s stories. The results of these collaborations will culminate in a live broadcast online for free on Monday April 6th at 8pm Eastern Time (US and Canada). Any tips or donations will be divided between the creators. The artists include painters, actors, designers, singers, sand sculptors, composers, leather artists, and more.

I was given two stories and asked to illustrate one. I was fascinated with the story of a sand sculptor who was a 2D artist who became obsessed with sculpting with the heavy medium of sand. Clients were lining up and 2020 looked like the first year where he was completely booked to do conventions, festivals, weddings, parties, and resorts, then the Covid-19 virus closed the country. He was suddenly faced with having to work from home in his private sand box. Despite the endless uncertainties, he continued to create art that others might never see. His story very much parallels my own experience. As I am locked down and creating in my own private vacuum while listening to my inner demons. Lock down has become a time of feverish creation.

Artists have been asked to keep their individual contributions to about 5 minutes in duration. Rehearsals start April 3 and I might sketch the Zoom conference meetings that result.

Here is the breakdown of the performers in the Creative Isolations cast: 

          3 male actor/singer

          2 male actors

          1 medieval musician (multiple instruments)

          1 female actor/voice actor

          1 female comedian/actor

          1 male dancer  

Creative Isolation’s consists of a group of graduate students from the University of Central Florida, have partnered with Orlando Story Club and the Downtown Arts District for a celebration of artists in America. They have gathered stories about how artists’ lives have been altered by COVID-19 and selected artists to create original works based on those stories. Now, the artists are ready to share their creations with you!

The performance is free of charge. However, since social distancing has made it difficult for artists to make money, so funds will be raised by passing a virtual hat for the participating artists via PayPal during the event. 

The performance is free of charge. However, since social distancing has made it difficult for artists to make money, any funds raised will go straight back to the participating artists.

The Downtown Arts District and Orlando Story Club are proud partners of this project (6% of your donation will be used for an administrative fee).

The Performance is Monday April 6, 2020 starting at 8pm to 9pm.

LINK TO YOUTUBE CHANNEL:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1swgTahl0or-KNaCYFCjZg?view_as=subscriber

LINK TO DONATE:

https://downtownartsdistrict.com/product/make-a-donation/

Nature Art Show opening in a Pandemic

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This sketch may seem innocuous. It is the usual art show opening scene I might depict on any given day. I had two pieces accepted into this art show and the opening was slated for March 14, 2020 which also happened to be Saint Patrick’s day. Since my art was in the show there was an expectation that I would show up to the opening. One drink was on the house at the paid bar. The two paintings I submitted were, I thought, Pandemic appropriate. The theme of the show was “Nature”. Rather that submit beautiful landscapes I submitted two painting of mean and dying gnarly and decomposing trees.

The day before the opening, the Covid-19 Pandemic was officially announced by the World Health Organization. The situation was fluid with new announcements every few yours. On March 14, 2020, there were 156,000 cases of Covid-19 in America with 5,819 deaths. Despite these facts the art opening was still scheduled to happen. Pam Schwartz joined me and together we quickly looked at the art on the wall and then I settled in to self isolate on a couch and sketch.

People at the opening definitely did not stand six feet apart. People hugged and kissed and sipped drinks while telling stories just inches apart. It was terrifying. I listened for every cough and watched as someone touched their face and then shook hands. The second my sketch was done, Pam and I made a quick exit. On March 21, 2020, The Barefoot Spa closed in the best interest of everyone’s health. All the art work is still hanging, but the space is empty so the work will not be seen. Artists were told they might be able to pick up their work at the end of April but that might change depending on the state of the pandemic at that time. This is the last sketch I did at a public event. After this opening, I committed myself to self isolation in the studio. My work has become darker and more focused on the short-sighted politics that allowed the virus to spread so rapidly in America, though it could have been stopped in its tracks.

Choir of Death

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In Mount Vernon, Washington a choir decided to go ahead with a rehearsal in early March and now dozens of members have contracted the Covid-19 virus and two have died. With the virus spreading quickly through the state, leaders of the Skagit Valley Chorale debated whether to go ahead with weekly rehearsal. People were already dying in the Seattle area an hour’s drive to the south. But in Skagit county it was business as usual with no reported cases and no prohibitions on gatherings yet announced.

On March 6, 2020 Adam Burdick, the choir’s conductor sent out an email to the 121 member chorus saying the rehearsal would proceed as scheduled on March 10, 2020 at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church.

60 singers showed up. Choir members were offered hand sanitizer at the door and everyone refrained from the usual hugs. The 2 1/2 hour rehearsal went smoothly with everyone trying to maintain some level of social distancing. Everyone had their own sheet music and they avoided social contact. On March 10, 2020 I was also going about business as usual here in Orlando. I entered a crowded sold out theater that night to sketch.

Three weeks later 45 of the singers developed symptoms and have been diagnosed with Covid-19. At least three singers have been hospitalized and two are dead.

No one at the rehearsal reported seeing anyone coughing or sneezing. Someone must have had the virus and yet not yet exhibited any sign of the illness. Some members did help set up and remove folding chairs and there were some mandarin oranges which people helped themselves to.

On infectious disease expert said that the act of singing might have resulted in fine particles being dispersed as people sang. It is possible the viral particles suspended in the air can be infectious for up to three hours. It apparently could spread without touch and among people who were asymptomatic.

The next choir performance was going to be in late April for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival which attracts more than a million people. As of March 31, 2020, Tulip Festival organizers implored all tulip fans to follow the directives of the governor and the president. Stay home, stay healthy, stay alive. There are no services in Skagit Valley. Not even portable toilets! No open restaurants. Many public buildings are closed. All festival events were canceled. Organizers are asking people to enjoy the tulips virtually. #togetherwetulip

__________________________________________________________________________________

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a “Safer at Home” order which went into effect Thursday night, April 2, at midnight. The order instructs people to stay home except for those working at essential business. The order was meant to follow the CDC guidelines to “Slow the Spread” which recommended restrictions to certain establishments conducive to mass gatherings and congregations. The order will last for 30 days.

On Monday March 30, 2020, a Tampa Florida mega church pastor was arrested after leading packed services despite the “safer at home” order issued in Hillsborough County. Sheriff Chad Chronister said up to 500 people were in attendance at Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne‘s Sunday services. The pastor was charged with unlawful assembly and violating public health emergency rules of isolation and quarantine. He paid the $500 bond and was released 40 minutes later.

At a press conference Monday afternoon the sheriff said, “Pastor Rodney Howard-Brown’s reckless disregard for human life put hundreds of people in his congregation at risk and thousands of residents who may interact with them this week in danger.”

The goal is not to stop anyone from worshiping but to have them worship safely. The Church has a steaming service that can allows parishioners to see the service from home. At a church service on March 15, Howard-Browne said he would not close his church’s doors until the Rapture, when believers will be lifted up to heaven, according to evangelical theology. Brown claimed his church was an essential business, like Walmart.

State Attorney Andrew Warren referred to Mark 12:13 “There is no more important commandment than to love your neighbor as yourself. And loving your neighbors is protecting them and not jeopardizing their health by exposing them to this deadly virus.”

As of this writing there are over 1,000,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US resulting in over 51,000 deaths. In Florida there are 7717 confirmed cases with 128 deaths.

Stay home, stay safe.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis added a loop hole in his “Safe at Home” order allowing church services. This is insane! DeSantis puts the DUH in Floriduh.

In the Florida order “Essential Activities” means and encompasses the following:

1. Attending religious services conducted in churches, synagogues and houses of worship; (Is this limited by the more sane CDC mandate that only 10 people can congregate?) and

2. Participating in recreational activities (consistent with social distancing guidelines) such as walking, biking, hiking, fishing, hunting, running, or swimming; and

3. Taking care of pets; and

4. Caring for or otherwise assisting a loved one or friend.

DeSantis issued a second executive order that says statewide rules will “supersede any conflicting official
action or order issued by local officials in response to COVID-19.” Meaning cities that are suffering from higher rates of infection can not issue stricter guidelines to save lives.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Requiem 

Lyrics translated from Latin:

When the accursed have been condemned

And doomed to the searing flames,

Summon me with the saved.

Suppliant and prostrate, I entreat you,

My heart as spent as ashes,

Have care for my fate.

Pre-Pandemic: Four First Names Comedy

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz and I went to Dragonfly Studio and Productions, 129 West McKey Street Ocoee FL to see Four First names Comedy. The acclaimed improve team featured Richard Regan Paul
and Chris Barry, for a monthly residency of improvised music, scenes,
and conversations. The evening featured as well,  some of Orlando’s best and most active independent improv
teams; The Runaways (Carolyn Fin and Rebecca Walters Penguin), Knife
Fight (Crystal Gray and Danny Loeken Marvy), Lemons (Laura Davis and
Jillian McNamara) and The Business Women (Rachel Dabney and Ray
Cartegena). Dragonfly Studio and Production’s owner and executive
producer Elaine Pechacek joined in the festivities at the piano.

Since the Covid-19 Pandemic had made live theater impossible for now, Elaine Pechacek has set the stage for virtual comedy and is asking for performers to submit video auditions. This theater is looking ahead to a bright future.



CALLING ALL ARTISTS!

MUSICAL THEATRE SINGERS / IMPROV PERFORMERS / MUSICIANS / AND THOSE POSSESSING any MUSICAL ABILITIES!

AUDITIONS are now open via video submission from now thru April 10, 2020 for 3 new musical improv teams! Submission packages MUST include all 3 of the following segments including the application form via the link at the bottom of page.

Call-backs will take place in person mid-May, COVID-19 permitting. Please note, once all teams are cast, they will be training for 3-4 months prior to any performances. Performances are slated to begin in September 2020.

VIDEO SUBMISSIONS MUST INCLUDE:

1. One minute or less of you singing a song from any genre you choose with track or live accompaniment. A cappella will not be accepted but self accompaniment via guitar, piano, uke, etc is acceptable.

2. Two minute video of any form of storytelling (for example: poem, self-written work, conversation with your mother, answer a phone call, talk to your cat, solve world peace, anything goes!)

3. Thirty second video of quick facts about yourself.

EXTRA CREDIT (NOT MANDATORY):

One to Two Minutes of any additional musical skills!

(For example: guitar, piano, tuba, dancing, rapping, beatbox, interpretive dance)

CLICK HERE FOR APPLICATION and MORE INFO about teams:

https://dragonflystudioandproductions.com/improv-auditions

You can submit videos either as Youtube link(s) or as direct video files in the following formats: .mp4 / .mov / .avi

You can print and fill out the application and take a pic and send it back as a .pdf or .jpg if the download doesn’t allow you to fill it out online. We will also accept read aloud versions of the application since I know some may not have access to their normal office equipment in which case just include that video with the rest of your submission.

LEADERSHIP TEAM:

Executive Producer: Elaine Pechacek

Associate Producer and Host: Mallory Robson

Creative Consultant and Host: Francisco J. Laboy

Please email all videos to Dragonflystudiosimprov@gmail.com. All materials, including application, are due: APRIL 10, 2020.

Must be 21 or older to submit.

*Separate files and links are acceptable as long as they are all within the same email

*Please include your name in the subject line of email along with team preference. (We will consider people being cast in multiple teams)

__________________________________________________________________________________

On March 25, 2020 Phoenix Tears Productions is presenting Ophelia Staged Reading Livestream.

Due to the current state of the world and public health, the staged reading of new musical Ophelia is moved to being a live-streamed reading. 


Tickets can be purchased via the ticket link below. Anyone who purchases a ticket will be sent a link to watch the LIVE STREAM on Wednesday, March 25th at 8pm. The following morning you will be emailed a link to the recorded show which will be viewable for ONE WEEK. We thank you for your patience and flexibility at this time.

Season ticket holders will be contacted about being in a small in-person audience. If you have purchased a ticket prior to this change and would like more information feel free to email mallory@phoenixtearsproductions.com

More about the Show:
Follow the story of Shakespeare’s Ophelia as she falls for Hamlet, fails to connect with her family, and tries to figure out who she is and what she wants to be.
A new musical by Jeremiah Gibbons.
This is a staged reading that will include a talkback where we ask for audience feedback.

Nathan Orozco

Posted on by Thor

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 interviewee and is summarized from their own interview. Analog Artist Digital World takes the
privacy and wishes of individuals very seriously.  

At the time of the Pulse shooting Nathan Orozco was 18 years old. To celebrate his birthday he and friends were doing a club a night.  He had been waiting years for the chance to step into a club. It was his first night going Pulse.

He was not familiar with the club. He got there about 11:30pm. The exits he saw were blocked off. There was the hip hop room, the main stage, and outside, and he spent most of his time outside.

Nathan isn’t exactly sure when the shooting started, but about 1am there
was one last call for alcohol. When two friends went in to the hip hop
room for their last drinks, he heard the first gun shots from outside. Everybody dropped to the floor.

When the shooting started he found his way to the employee hallway. There were so many people crushed into that one hallway. That is when he heard the AR-15. Had the shooter turned to shoot down that hallway he would have shot at least 150 people.

Once outside, Nathan had to break the fence and jump over to the mechanic shop next door. There was another guy who managed to punch through the white fence as well. Many people made it out though there. The shots got so close. From outside it was possible to tell where the shots were coming from, but in the club it was a lot harder to tell because of the echo. Nathan also had to jump over the mechanic shop fence to get across the street and get out. People were trampling each other. He did all this while carrying Ross, who was one of the dancers that night. Ross who is tiny, was wearing nothing but a jock strap. People were jumping over him. So Nathan carried him across the street. When Ross was safe, Nathan went back to find his friends who both survived.

Once outside, the police were already flooding the streets. Across the street was the 7-11 and a Einstein Beagles. Everyone was moved to the back of Einsteins Bagels. At that time an explosion went off in order to break through the wall of the club. After that, bullets were flying towards the survivors so they had to move them to the back of the neighborhood that was behind the 7-11. From there he waited it out. A bus came to pick everyone up and bring them to the police department where they gave their statements. It was a surreal experience.

He didn’t get to the police station until 8 am. That means that for about 7 hours he stood outside the club witnessing everything.  The cops were doing all that they could, but they should have moved survivors further back because bullets were still flying.

The next day at 2 am a friend texted and told him which friends had died. Nathan has a tattoo which depicts three birds to represent his friends, a skull in a tree, and the Pulse symbol. The tattoo continues to evolve. He watched one friend, who had been shot like 6 times, die right in front of him that night. His friend lay there for about 10 to 15 minutes and it seemed like an eternity before his body was loaded into an ambulance.

Nathan was grazed by one bullet which cracked two of his ribs.  The
doctor decided to let the ribs heal on their own. Nathan didn’t notice
the wound until a year after Pulse, when the rib pains started. He would
touch them and found the ribs to be soft like mashed potatoes. The doctor felt
they would harden in time. One friend he was standing right next to that
night passed away. They had been dancing together. As soon as everybody
dropped to the floor, he never saw that friend again. 

The Pulse survivors and their stories helped Nathan get through it all. No one knows what you are going through but the people who went through it with you. It is not hard to find yourself again when you are around the right people. He tries to avoid survivors who used the shooting to make a name for themselves. He only went to one Pride event in Boston where 23 survivors spoke about the need to curb gun violence. It is never easy. He still has flashbacks. Loud bangs can cause it all to flood back.

Watching all the police and military going in suited up to save peoples lives was inspiring. He decided to take a pre-Asvab test for the navy and he passed with an 86. Now he just needs to get his diploma so he can be in the navy. 

Ventilators in Short Supply

Posted on by Thor

In severe cases of people infected by the Covid-19 virus the lungs fill with fluid and it becomes difficult to impossible to breath. Ventilators help patients breath by pumping oxygen directly into the lungs, while removing CO2. This machine makes the difference between life and death. In Italy, doctors had to make the gut wrenching decisions every day about who could go on a ventilator and live and who would die. The ventilator can keep someone alive long enough to fight off the virus.

In 2018 it was estimated that there were about 160,000 ventilators in the United States. Up until now that has been enough machines to serve anyone who needed one. The American Hospital Association estimated that up to 1 million Americans will need a ventilator due to Covid-19. Patients might need a ventilator for a matter of weeks before they recover.

So were will all the much needed ventilators come from? The machine can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Now with this virus affecting every nation, everyone it trying to buy ventilators all at once. They can not be found. The companies who make the ventilators are ramping up production.

Auto makers, Ford, General Motors and Tesla in the United States are offering to help with mass production. The problem is that it might take months for these companies to start producing ventilators. Chinese companies are also producing ventilators, but considering the trade war with the United States it is hard too imagine Trump bowing to get help form the East. He continues to go out of his way to blame the virus on China.

Dyson, a vacuum machine manufacturer in Britain signed a formal contract last week, when it announced an order for 10,000 of its CoVent prototype, which was designed in about a fortnight. CoVent is yet to secure final regulatory approval, and may not reach production for weeks.

Ventilator Challenge UK, a consortium of 14 firms including Airbus and
Rolls-Royce, is expected to say that it has secured a formal order for
two types of machines with twin code names of Project Oyster and Project Penguin. The goal is to produce 10,000 machines for England to help battle the virus. These design are more likely to get quickly approved because they incorporate two existing designs.

3D printers are being used to create ventilator parts, and engineers are designing open sourced DIY machines with 3D printed and of the shelf parts. They are envisioned to be used in a worst case scenario.  It is possible to intimate a patient and then manually pump air into their lings with a small hand held pump. This could be dangerous if done wrong. To much air can damage the lungs.

Public health expert have estimated that there are 12,000 ventilators in the national stockpile, which is far to few to the coming demand in about 14 days. New York Mayor Andrew Cuomo explained that in New York, they are trying to use one ventilator to treat two patients at once by splitting the tubes.

On Friday, March 27, 2020, President Donald Trump announced he was invoking the Defense Production Act to require GM to “accept, perform, and prioritize” federal contracts for ventilators.Switching from making cars to making ventilators however takes time. The machines sophisticated software and specialized parts, and companies that seek to
manufacture them face several hurdles, including intellectual property
rights, the need for specially trained workers, regulatory approvals
and safety considerations.For now the auto makers are teaming up with existing ventilator makers to help them ramp up production. New York Mayor Cuomo however said that getting ventilators in a month or two months will not help save lives since the virus apex is in just 14 days. The city hospitals are full and overflowing with patients.

There is no solver lining to this pandemic. America is unprepared and having leaders ignore the science has not helped. Calling the pandemic a hoax cost many their lives. Ignoring science is not the way to keep Americans safe. Things are getting very real in America’s hospitals right now.

As of this writing, there are 777,286 cases of Covid-19 in America with 37,140 deaths. The US has surpasses Spain and Italy for the most confirmed cases of the virus. I have been watching what has been happening in those countries hospitals closely online. Things are about to get very real and ugly here in America. There is no miracle cure and there is no wishing it away. Now Trump is spinning the ultimate Covid-19 death toll saying, “if the death toll stays at or below 100,000, “we all together have done a very good job.”

Stay home. Stay safe. Self isolate.

Cherry Blossoms

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The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C., is one of the world’s great celebrations of spring. The 2020 Festival, March 20, 2020 – April 12, 2020 was to include four weeks of events featuring diverse and creative programming promoting traditional and contemporary arts and culture, natural beauty, and community spirit. After the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, festival organizers announced that based on an abundance of caution they will cancel the 2020 National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade. In addition the following events were postponed: The Japan America Society’s Sakura Matsuri – Japanese Street Festival, and the Anacostia River Festival, produced by the 11th Street Bridge Park and National Park Service. In the past, the event drew more than 1.5 million visitors to D.C. each year.

To help maintain social distancing the organizers encouraged people not to go in public to walk under the gorgeous blooms. Authorities strongly discouraged people from visiting the Tidal Basin. Instead they set up rooftop bloom web cams so that people could see the blooms from home. 

Despite
this virtual solution people showed up in large crowds to see the
blooms and many were not in any way practicing social distancing. The weather was unseasonably warm, with temperatures reaching into the 80s, which could’ve been a factor in drawing people outdoors.

The iconic cherry blossoms reached peak
bloom on Friday, March 20, 2020, and should stay that way for about 10 days. Saturday, March 22, 2020, brought a surge in visitors that convinced authorities to take extraordinary steps. Washington’s Metro system closed down a pair of stations nearest to the Tidal Basin in the hopes of lessening crowds. D.C.-based celebrity chef and philanthropist Jose Andres took to Twitter
Sunday morning to plead for community compliance in avoiding the Tidal
Basin. Under the hashtag #StayHomeCherryBlossomsChallenge, Andres pledged to “cook a huge Paella for thousands of Washingtonians” next year if they kept the number down. 

Ultimately, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, called in the National Guard to help restrict access to DC cherry blossoms. One of her team members who worked in the office of legal counsel, has died from the virus. She set up new restrictions included prohibiting pedestrian and bicycle traffic around the National Mall. Additionally, road traffic remains closed around the Tidal Basin which
includes the Jefferson Memorial until further notice after the local
government requested the National Park Service to close the area. The very idea that the National Guard is needed to curb peoples callous indifference and stupidity is evidence that there are rough times ahead.

This points out the difficulty of enforcing social distancing in this public health emergency. People are going stir crazy and don’t see the threat of the virus to themselves or their friends and relatives until it is too late. People are quick to carve out exceptions for their own behavior. Some, encouraged by the lies of the POTUS still think the whole pandemic is a hoax.  

Stay home, stay safe. Consider your own health and the health of those you love through these crazy times.

History Happy Hour

Posted on by Thor

Staff from the Orange County Regional History Center have been working from home in order to self isolate and flatten the curve of the Covid-19 virus.  They meet each morning to plan the day’s work and to check up on each other. Work continues on an Ocoee exhibit that might, virus allowing, open August 29, 2020. The exhibit called, Yesterday, This Was Home: The Ocoee Massacre of 1920, is about the election day race riot that remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S.
citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was
turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came
to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman.
Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually
lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered,
and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the
black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

Suddenly having the staff working from home created challenges. Everyone had to adjust to video conference calls on Zoom. Some staff love the one on one interactions that can be found in the workplace. To help staff adjust to this digital divide, Lesleyanne Drake, the curator of collections initiated a once a week Happy Hour. Staff get to meet on Zoom and share a drink and stories. It is not about work but instead a chance to socialize. Pam Schwartz, the Chief Curator, suggested that each week someone might come up with a short presentation and she volunteered to give the first such presentation. I sketched while she told her story to her staff while sipping a prosecco. 

___________________________________________________________________________________


Her mildly nearly drinking history was about Queen Boudica (Boo-di-cah) of the British Celtic Tribe the Iceni. She was a badass. She was described as having tawny hair down below her waist, a harsh voice and a piercing glare. She habitually wore a large golden necklace, a colorful tunic, and a thick cloak fastened by a brooch.


She married Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni people (now the Norfolk area of England) and they had two daughters. They ruled as an independent ally of Rome and when the King died, he left his kingdom to their children. However, his will was ignored by Rome who went ahead and took all his stuff. The Romans and their slaves flogged Boudica and raped she and her daughters.


In 60 or 61 AD when the Roman Governor Paulinus was campaigning on the island of Mona off of Wales (a refuge for British rebels and a Druid stronghold), there was ongoing mistreatment of Britons by the Romans, even those that were allied to them. Boudicca, led a revolt of the Iceni, Trinovantes, and other tribes. They destroyed Camulodunum (Colchester), a settlement of discharged Roman soldiers.


The Roman Governor hurried on down to Londinium (London) and realized he was up the creek without a paddle without enough men to fight this lady who was headed that way. Tacitus, a scholar of the subject, wrote, “Those who were chained to the spot by the weakness of their sex, or the infirmity of age, or the attractions of the place, were cut off by the enemy.”  He took whoever would join him and fled.


Boudica led her now large army, including random farmers who joined along the way, and burned Londinium to the ground. It is estimated that some 80,000 Romans and Brits were killed in the 3 cities conquered by Boudica, many were tortured. Cassius Dio, another scholar, said the most noble of women were impaled on spikes and had their breasts cut off and sewn to their mouths.

Roman Emperor Nero basically panicked over all of this and almost pulled all of his Roman troops out of England. Boudica led her growing troops from her chariot. The Roman Governor regrouped, put together a whole new legion, and posted up, waiting along a Roman Road now known as Watling Street. Though greatly outnumbered, they moved into a wedge formation with auxiliaries on their flanks atop a defile. They charged in, lances set, many of Boudica’s common folk, unskilled in battle, went to flee, but their women and children who had come to watch what they assumed would be a sweeping win, lined the rear of their battleground with wagons, making it impossible for anybody to escape and her troops were slaughtered.


It’s not 100% certain how Boudica died, but, after the battle she may have taken poison, as well as given it to her daughters, to kill them all rather than go through being beaten, raped, and tortured again. She died c. 60 or 61 AD.


After this brutal tale the staff continued to socialize. Welcome to the new age of digital storytelling as we sacrifice through social distancing to try and stop the spread of Covid-19.