Viral History and Human Behavior

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People have always responded the same way to plagues and pandemics. When faced by the tragic forces of nature most people stand by and watch. With an earthquake or hurricane maybe 10% of the people do the right thing and help. Another proponent do the opposite they actively impede recovery. Most people however wait to be told what to do. They are the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. Rather than panic or gear into recovery mode, they mellow out and pretend nothing is happening.

When the twin towers were hit, most people didn’t immediately run to the stairwells. They sat back down and waited to be told what to do. Many who waited died. Today we are still experiencing a 9/11 worth of death every week from COVID and most have mellowed out, pretending nothing is happening. Those who wear masks and social distance are treated with suspicion. They break the illusion promoted by top officials that the pandemic is over.

During the Black Death of the 1830s, the rich stole from the poor and vulnerable and scapegoated people of other socioeconomic classes, along with the sick and disabled. Families abandoned the dead. In general hatred of “others” took hold. Those with money believed themselves to be safe from infection. Leadership in general denied the reality of what was happening. In Europe. the Jews were blamed for purposefully infecting Christians. Doctors advised patients that “the best way to protect against disease, causing bad air, was to expose oneself to more bad air.” Rumors and misinformation flourished.

The 1889 Russian Flu was known for a post-acute stage that caused “nervous disorders” including depression that lasted years. In 1893, Edvard Munch, still suffering post-flu, painted The Scream.

Austrian artist Egon Schiele died October 31, 1918 from the Spanish Flu. His wife, Edith Schiele who was 6 months pregnant died two days earlier.

As bodies piles up in 1918 officials insisted there was no cause for alarm. Propaganda fueled by the WW I war effort had little regard for a statements truth or falsehood. Citizens were considered the mental equivalent of children. The president at the time, Woodrow Wilson never made a statement about the virus.Woodrow Wilson had a bad bout of the Spanish Flu and later suffered a stroke which parallelized his left side and caused brain fog. His inability to focus kept him from promoting his peace treaty at Versailles.

By ignoring the unfolding tragedy terror settled into the populace. As the director of public health in Chicago said, “It is our job to keep people from fear. Worry kills more than the disease.” A war drive parade was held in Chicago despite warnings and there was a huge surge of 8,000 deaths that followed. Mass graves had to be dug. San Francisco on the other hand promoted the use of masks and the weathered the influenza outbreak much better with 1,857 deaths.

9/11: Falling Man

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On 9/11 when the Twin Towers were attacked by terrorists, New Yorkers gathered to watch in horror as the top floors burned. Some people went into local shops and bought up all the portable cameras to bear witness.

On the top floors windows were broken open to let out smoke and people faced the choice of being burnt alive or jumping. Many chose to jump. Richard Drew shot photos as one man fell. How many photos can be shot before the inevitable impact?

Photos like these were not shared widely on national media. What most people saw was a long shot as the towers burned and then fell. Americans don’t witness death. It is instead ignored and denied. 900,000 graves have been dug so far due to COVID. People protest for their freedoms rather than find ways to help the family’s who have been irreparably devastated because of this virus. Misinformation and ignorance continue to kill as the latest wave  subsides. We are all falling.

After Pulse: Nancy Rosado

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Nancy Rosado was is native New Yorker. She is a retired sergeant from the New York Police Department. She was in New York City when 9-11 happened. She moved to Florida in 2008. She became involved in politics and community activism.

Sunday morning June 12, 2016 she got a phone call which woke her up. “Oh my god, 20 people are dead.” She turned on the TV an brought herself up to speed. Her partner said, “This is not going to be a good day.”  Nancy was immediately thinking ahead to the psychological effects on a marginalized community. It had been Latin night. It would have a huge impact on the Latino community.

On Sundays Nancy goes to church. She got ready for church. On the drive to church, she had to take a detour to the LGBTQ Center. She met friends and let others know how she could help moving forward. She did get to church for a minute but had to leave and she went to the hospital.

The mood a the hospital was like a funeral. Here people looked like her. She and a friend started talking to people inn the room in Spanish. People were so relieved. Everything as being said in English. Latino names were massacred. A politician and a police chief were in the front of the room. She asked why they were addressing people just in English. Both languages could be used. Most people in the room were Spanish. They asked everyone to move to the Hampton Inn. No one wanted to move to the Hampton Inn. Their loved one might be in the hospital. The police chief made the announcement to move to the Hampton Inn in Spanish and there was an audible sigh of relief in the room. She advised the politician to pray and you could hear a pin drop as everyone grew silent. It became a smoother process to move everyone to the Inn. There were a lot of cooks in the kitchen at that point. She left for a while but could not stay away.

She was hoping there would be some order when she returned and maybe she could help somehow. She returned later in the evening. A large group of her friends were there to help. They agreed that what was happening was culturally insensitive. It was also an LGBTQ issue.

She helped found Somos Orlando but once it was up and running, she stepped back. The four women founders had one mission in mind, that this was a crime committed against Latinos. 23 of this who passed away were Puerto Rican. 68 Latinos were injured. Where are the organizations to back these people up? The four founders remained behind after a press conference and realized their message could not end there. So Somos Orlando was born. It started as a hashtag. The Hispanic Federation gave money and it picked up steam. A huge office space was rented to build capacity in Orlando.

Nancy always wanted culturally and linguistically competent delivery of services to the community and most importantly mental health. Nancy has first hand experience about what happens when PTSD is left to fester. PTSD can pop up 5 years out or 10 years out. It could be the sight of something it could be the smell of blood, it could be anything. These marginalized communities do not have the resources to pay for mental health.

 

Pre-Pandemic: O’Hara’s Pub near Ground Zero

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O’Hara’s Pub, on Cedar Street, badly damaged during 9/11, is a testament to the resiliency of New York City and its people. The pub was badly damaged in the wreckage of 9/11 but built itself back up to become a haven for first responders and tourists alike.

The bar became home base for ground zero recovery workers after 9-11. We found a tight little corner booth near the rest rooms to share drinks and stories with several museum staff.

The walls are covered with thousands of patches from the uniforms of firefighters and rescue workers which cover any free space throughout the bar. The tradition was established just one year after 9/11 when a construction worker ripped the patch off of a firefighter’s uniform and stapled it proudly to the wall.

Michael Keane, the owner, and five of his employees were there when the towers were struck. That day windows burst from their frames and dust engulfed the establishment. Keane watched the tower fall from the roof where he’d set about putting out small fires that erupted when the first plane hit.

It took the bar about a year to get back up and running. Regulars were slow to return, but construction workers from ground zero began to call the place home after the long days of work.

Pre-Pandemic: New York City Subway

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In October of 2019, Pam and I traveled to NYC because she was meeting with colleagues at the 9-11 Museum. I got to attend the 9-11 museum for the first time, but don’t have a window in which to get a sketch done. The huge 9-11 Memorial reflecting pools inhabit the footprints where the towers used to stand. They were a moving tribute to those who were lost. Names were etched in the granite surrounding the dark voids. Photos never quite capture the immensity of this memorial.

I believe this sketch as done as we went up to my old neighborhood, Washington Heights to visit the Cloisters. Pam was disgusted by what she saw on the subway ride. Some guy using his cell phone, wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand, then pinched more snot out of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. He then played with his phone and reached out with the snot covered hand to grab a support bar. As she said, “He was F%&king gross.” She said she could never live in the big apple after seeing that guy on the subway.

We both got sick on this trip with what we called the plague. It was a really bad cold that lasted for months. It started to clear up by New Years day of 2020. Who knew that 2020 would be the start of the very real world wide plague of COVID-19.

The Trump Virus

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2606 New Yorkers died on September 11, 2001 when the twin towers were attacked. 3352 Americans died during the Republican National Convention between August 24 – 27, 2020. About 1,500 largely mask-less people gathered on the South Lawn of the White House so President Donald Trump could accept his party’s nomination. Uncomfortable looking white folding chairs were placed inches apart from one another, with no room for social distancing, in violation of president’s own public health recommendations. Only people the White House expected to be in “close proximity” to the president and vice president were tested for COVID-19. Guidance sent to those invited to the event specified that masks would not be required on the South Lawn. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House Trump accepted the Republican nomination on the South Lawn.

Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech speech Wednesday August 26, 2020, delivered in front of about 100 mask-less people, including wounded veterans, at Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Already 4 people who attended the vice presidents speech have been confirmed to have COVID-19. Pence was seen shaking hands, and exchanging fist bumps. No one appeared concerned about social distancing. An assassin would not need a gun, a simple hand shake could suffice.  Dozens of secret service officers have contracted COVID-19 in the struggle to keep the president and vice president safe.

The president pretends there is no virus in his struggle to get re-elected. People had to sit together for hours listening to Trump’s insanely boring speech which sounded like a Wikipedia summation of American history. It was hard to keep track of all the lies.

Hosting the campaign event from the White House South Lawn and the Rose Garden also violated federal ethics law called the Hatch Act which prohibits federal employees from engaging in most political activity inside federal buildings or while on duty. More important, to Trump, the TV ratings tanked. He was more concerned about the ratings numbers rather than the number of Americans that have died.

Enakai Mpire

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 interviewees. Analog Artist Digital World takes the
privacy and wishes of individuals very seriously.  

His stage name is Enakai Mpire and he worked at Pulse Nightclub. He grew up an army brat in Fairfax County Virginia near Washington DC. In fifth grade, school recess was canceled because of the DC Sniper who was terrorizing the region. His aunt taught him to walk in a zig-zag pattern to avoid being shot. He was taught to avoid being outside altogether. He had to get from the school to the bus and from the bus to home.

His father worked for the Pentagon and on September 11, 2001 his father stepped out of his office in the army department around lunch time, and that is when the plane hit. Having survived 9-11 his father decided to retire from the military and move to Florida to leave all that behind.

Enakai was 14 when the family moved to Orlando. He loved theater. In 2015 he started working for Southern Nights and then began working for Pulse. He was a shot boy or cocktail server at Pulse. Unlike bartenders, he was able to walk around and serve drinks to guests. He got to know everyone  . There were regulars and tourists, he loved working there. He grew connected to the other shot boys, they were like family. There as also a VIP shot girl. Dancers had their dance dressing room, bartenders seemed connected, and the shot boys had the kitchen. He loved the staff at Pulse.

He worked Wednesdays and Saturdays at Pulse. Wednesdays were college nights and Saturday were Latin Nights. Saturdays were problematic. It got so packed, and everyone was dancing Sensa and Meringue. Imagine trying to navigate that crowd with a tray of shots. He ended up covered in his own shots. It was so hard to walk through that sea of dancing people.

Gay days had motivated Enakai to want to work more nights at Pulse. He had talked to his manager about coming in on a more regular schedule. On that Saturday he had gotten dressed to head out to Pulse. For the first time, his mother stopped him in the kitchen. She said, “You worked a lot this week, you worked outside and are getting sick.” This was true he had worked through Gay Days getting body painted at a pool party and was getting a cold. She wanted to go to Downtown Disney with his father and dance, so she asked if he could stay home with his brother. She never made such requests, so he didn’t go out.

About 2am he started getting phone calls from friends. One was from David who had walked out of the doors at Pulse just about 2 minutes before the shooting started. He left in a Uber and got home and didn’t know what to do. He had heard about the shooting as he was heading home. He didn’t know who the shooter was.

Enakai had just broken up with a possessive boyfriend. Several days before the shooting that X went to Pulse and assaulted an employee. With that in mind Enakai feared that the shooter might be his X. He decided he had to go to Pulse to hopefully calm the situation. David picked him up and together they drove to Pulse. They arrived after the shooting. Everyone was already in the hospital. From the hospital he was directed to the Hampton Inn across the street where concerned family members were assembling. No one had any information.

He turned on Facebook Live and began recording. A form was being handed out, on it there was a spot where you could put a picture of the person you were looking for. He asked people to share photos with him and he sent the picture out into the world via FB Live to see if anyone knew where that person was. He had never seen so many followers before on FB Live. Media began contacting him.

The shot girl had last been seen entering the kitchen at Pulse. He tried so hard to find her. Since he hadn’t been there when the shooting happened, he thought wherever she was is where he would be. It ate at him not knowing where she was. She didn’t answer her phone. He asked about her on FB Live. There were a lot of people looking for her. Someone said she had dropped her phone. He remained hopeful. No one knew how many had died at this point. It was so chaotic. Finally someone wrote back, “She is with me, she is fine.” That news brought him so much joy. He could relate to others who could then tell her family that she was fine.

He continued making connections online. “Your son is OK, he is at this place, go get him.” Then came a point where he wasn’t getting any news back. All that remained were missing people. He had done what he could. About 10:30am a friend showed up with phone chargers for everybody. A lot of phones were dying that night. At this point there was nothing to do but wait.

A sheriff came out with the chief operating officer from the hospital and they read a list of names of the people they had sent home or who were in stable or critical condition. Fifty two people had entered Orlando Regional Hospital from the club. Nine had died on the operating tables. Forty three were alive. There were also eleven people alive at Florida Hospital as well. Enakai turned on his FB Live to record the names as they were read. If a loved one’s name was read then one or two family members could go to the hospital to visit them. By the end of the list, it got real quiet in the room.

One woman finally stood up and said, ” Those names you didn’t read, are you telling me those are the ones that are still in the club? Are you telling me they are dead?” There was no response. A heavy weight settled on everyone. It was like a war zone all of a sudden. People started screaming and punching walls. The people right next to Enakai were looking for their daughter and they fainted. He tried to help the father up. Looking into his eyes he realized he was not there. He had never seen someone go into shock before. He froze not knowing what to do. People were falling all around him. Something clicked on inside of him. He started yelling, “I need an EMT here!” He began commanding people to help. “This person needs water, put that person in a wheel chair.” At that moment her grew up. His entire life changed.

Everyone was asked to leave and return the next morning. But how could they go home, not knowing? He stayed around as long as he could. There was a vigil that night at Parliament House. He went, but was concerned. Here he was again in a club the night after the shooting. During a moment of silence, he could not close his eyes. He looked around for possible treats. He had to go.

The next day family and friends were told to go to the Beardall Senior Center. Once again he went live on Facebook. His Pulse manager said he had to barricade himself into his house because media were trying to get answers from him. So he tuned into Enakai’s feed as well. Media could not get close to the Center. Enakai felt a sense of responsibility to record. When family left the Beardall, every media camera would turn on them hoping to see them cry. The community stepped up. A leader from a church brought volunteers over to protect them from the media cameras. They surrounded the family so they could walk to their cars without being filmed.

For the first year or so after the shooting a lot of staff member were getting tickets for events. Norman who had been held hostage in the Pulse bathroom that night had survived. Enakai wanted to make sure survivors were also invited to events. He started a Survivors Facebook group and invited people he knew who had survived, they invited more survivors and family members. Over time it developed into a large support group. He was able to get Sia tickets to survivors who wanted them. He continued creating events for survivors for healing. He got a tattoo that says, “It could have been me. It could have been you. Don’t forget that.”  He started a group called First Responders Survival Unit. He has worked non-stop trying to help everyone recover. By helping others, he is also helping himself.

The Dreyfus Syndrome

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This small Winter Park home has sported red white and blue for years. Grover C. Walker was a former army and air force intelligence officer who also served as a special agent for the Pentagon. In September 1965 he was assigned to the secretive 7113th Special Activities Group at Rhein-Main, Germany. He soon found reason to suspect there were corrupt and subversive activities being carried out possibly by his superiors. he threatened to “blow the whistle” on what was going on, he was
whisked-off under guard to a superficial psychiatric exam that lasted
only a few hours but branded him “chronically paranoid.” He was as sane as any man and in an instant had been labeled crazy. He
says it was a conspiracy to discredit him if he spoke out.
“Who will believe you when you’ve been labeled?” His story parallels closely the 1894 case of Alfred Dreyfus, Jewish
lieutenant in the French army, who as the result of a conspired
political injustice was sentenced to Devil’s Island.

A sign on the front lawn defines the Dreyfus Syndrome: Character liquidation. As a tyranny in the midst of freedom. It stands as a treat to us all. Assassination of the mind where conscientious sanity is cast into the hole of inanity, and there is no way out. Whistle blowers in government are the primary target. It is alien to the norms of the American System and recognized human rights. Hundreds of thousand of American lives have been destroyed spanning decades.

The large American flag used to be hung upside down as a universal sign of distress. After the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center it was decided to hand the flag right side up again. For decades, Walker flew a giant
flag upside down on the 90-foot flagpole in front of his Winter Park home, painted red, white and blue, and staged loud protests and publicity
stunts that often ended with him, and his children, behind bars.

His family stamped protest messages on millions
of dollar bills that circulated around the world. When the county threatened
to take his home after he refused to pay steep fines levied for his protests,
Walker threatened to fill the house to the rafters with concrete. An Orange County official once asked Walker
when he would end his protest, and he answered, “When the world ends! When
hell freezes over!”

There used to be far more signs on the lawn but the city of Winter Park fought the family at every turn to downplay their private property protest. Only 2 signs remain. The family was brought to court multiple times and Grover Walker and his wife were arrested and put in jail. His wife collected seeds from the food in jail and planted her own garden she also swept up the cell block every night. She was missed when her incarceration was over. The son I spoke with had also been in jail over this protest and while incarcerated he found that he had a talent for sketching.

When Grover Walker died in 2005 several of his seven children wanted to sell the property but one son, decided instead to take up the charge and keep the property and it’s display of protest in tact. He chatted with me as I sketched. He showed me a photo from the 1970s of the entire family raising their hand in oath as they faced a court hearing about their property. Grover said that someone can take your property and you can recover but if they take your identity than there is nothing left to recover. I was seated in a small triangular park between three streets and found out that it had been landscaped beautifully by the present home owner. There were milkweeds to attract the many Monarch butterflies andBromeliads which had red flowers that attract hummingbirds every afternoon. This property is a reminder of an American protest over 50 years old while also being a quiet and beautiful oasis if  you take the time to soak it in.