Painting Demo

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Winter Park Paint Out Artist Steve Andrews gave a painting demonstration in Downtown Orlando at the Orange County Administration Building Sculpture Garden (201 South Rosalind Avenue Orlando FL). He set up on the lawn facing the Orlando skyline. This was a free event so anyone was invited to attend. As I arrived, Rachel Frisby and several assistants were setting up the Albin Polasek Museum banner and a tent. I paced around an tried to figure out what I should sketch as they set up. I finally realized I should sit back a bit so I could include the sculpture of a man trying to fly with I-beams and very non aerodynamic wings. It seemed fitting in that it implied to me that most of man’s aspirations though well intentioned can be futile. I had every intention of doing a good sketch but it always seems that circumstances are always set in place to keep me from the task of taking flight.

Several people approached as I set up the scene asking well intentioned questions that stole time as the sun raced towards the horizon. Terry Olson who heads up the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs stopped to say hello. He then checked out Steve’s progress and headed on his way, probably to another cultural event. I see him everywhere I go. A security guard from the Orange County Building approached and asked if I was with the County. It was clear he was looking to stop my sketch in progress. I told him I was, to buy time, and kept working. My mistake had been to say hello to him as he did his rounds. He approached a second time and asked to see my credentials. I showed him my Winter Park Paint Out badge and told him that this was an event that had been approved with a permit. He told me he had not been informed and I assume he went back inside to call around to see if he could get the artist/anarchist off of the city property. I must have seemed an easy target since I sat apart from the crowd. His main concern was that this would be an isolated event. We don’t want artists running amok downtown, now do we?

Steve began blocking in his painting as everyone sat on the lawn to watch. The biggest challenge was looking straight into the setting sun. Instead of using line, he boldly blocked in the shapes in oil always being able to refine a shape as the painting progressed. He told a story that his father had been a doctor during world War II and he was one of the few doctors who stayed in Orlando during the war effort. Orange County Regional History Center curator Pam Schwartz made arrangements to get his fathers oral history.

The crowd gathered to watch Steve paint broke out into laughter. I didn’t understand why at first. Rachel later explained that her dog had taken the moment to squat in front of the artist and take a lingering dump right in the scene he was painting. “Everyone is a critic!” Steve mused.

Today is the last day of the Winter park Paint Out, so it is your last chance to see all the paintings that have been created this week in the “wet gallery”. Admission to the Albin Polasek Museum (633 Osceola Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789) is free for the paint out until 5pm. Tonight is the Paint Out Garden Party from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. This is the big blow out gala which showcases all of the art from the event. Over 400 patrons are expected to attend dressed in cabana chic garden attire. Tickets to the Garden Party are  $100 in advance or $125 at the door. Each ticket enti­tles the buyer to $50.00 off the pur­chase of a paint­ing dur­ing the Gar­den Party! (Limit one ticket per paint­ing val­ued at $300 or more)

“Merging Art and Language in Museums”

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Sergio Bessa gave a talk titled, “Merging Art and Language in Museums” at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, (1414 Art Center Ave, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168). I figured this was a fine subject to  bring along Pam Schwartz, the chief curator at the Orange County Regional History Center. The Atlantic Arts Center of the Arts is like an artist camp set out in the woods at the edge of civilization. Boardwalks interconnect communal cabins. We were at a loss to find where the talk would take place and we finally asked another artist wandering about, and he guided us there. The lecture hall was about the size of a small basketball court with stadium seating for the attendees. We sat in the front row to get a good view of Sergio. Perhaps a dozen or so people filed in to listen.

Sergio Bessa is the director of curatorial and education programs at the
Bronx Museum of the Arts, which he joined in 2003. A scholar of concrete
poetry, Bessa has published several volumes on the subject.  At the Bronx Museum, he has organized several exhibitions including
Joan Semmel: The Lucid Eye (2013), Paulo Bruscky: Art is our last hope
(2013); Martin Wong: Human Instamatic (2015), in collaboration with
Yasmin Ramirez, and later this year he will present Gordon Matta-Clark:
Anarchitect, organized in collaboration with Jessamyn Fiore.

The talk was all about concrete poetry, which is poetry organized to fill specific shapes and structures. Concrete poetry has developed from a long tradition of shaped poems in
which the words are arranged in such a way as to depict their subject. The talk was a dry and in-depth look at concrete poetry in its early days in Brazil. Without digital tricks the early poets had to rely on typewriters with different colored ink tapes and extensive use of actual cutting and pasting of text. A poem by Augusto de Campos, titled “here are the lovers,” is meant to depict nude lovers copulating. 

Other audience members must have had a solid week of exposure to concrete poetry because they interpreted the work with reflective and deep interpretation as if their grade depended upon it. Personally, if I want to depict something on a page, I  would much rather sketch it with line and color  than be limited by the linear structure of words. Now that I am firmly aware of this form of poetry, it seems I can’t escape it. Pam and I ran across a concrete poetry exhibit in Miami shortly after the talk. Every poem was arranged the the shape of a cube. What did it all mean? I don’t know. I don’t think I am esoteric enough to let this poetry affect me deeply. I  just like to draw stuff. Pam was just surprised that the talk had absolutely nothing to do with museums.

Little Shop of Horrors in Eustis

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Clandestine
Arts in conjunction with the Bay Street Players presents the hilariously
kooky musical favorite, “Little Shop of Horrors” as part of the State
Theatre Studio Series. Derek Critzer produced and directed the show while also taking the lead role. This was a herculean task and he pulled it off. Pam Schwartz and I rushed up to The Historic State Theater (109 N Bay St, Eustis, Florida 32726) after I had taught my weekend Urban Sketching class. We negotiated our way into seats in the very back row feeling our way in the dark. We had missed some of the first act, but I was intent on getting a sketch. The soundtrack to the musical Little Shop of Horrors with music by Howard Ashman and lyrics by Alan Mencken got me through some rough times as I struggled to survive as an artist in NYC. I always felt I was trying to escape from skid row. As an artist you are always trying to make magic happen on a shoe-string budget.

When we arrived Audrey (Savannah Pedersen) was on a date with Orin Scrivello the dentist (Robb Ross). His maniacal laughing was unnerving and abrasive. As he suffocated in his laughing gas helmet I felt claustrophobic for him. Could he get enough air in that fish bowl of a helmet? Seymour Krelborn (Derek Critzer) who raised the mysterious plant gets the girl but needs to feed the plants insatiable appetite for blood in his hope to keep her. The meek, plant shop apprentice is thrown into the public eye.

The voice of the plant (Eduardo Rivera) was silky and enticing. One trumpet player in the live orchestra kept blatting out his notes and some voices in the cast seemed worn. In some ways this was fitting for the urban grunge aesthetic, but the 3 woman chorus (Camila Camilo, Nyeshia Smith, and  Felichia Chivaughn Wright) was on point doing a stellar job.


Overall this was a fun day of theater, well worth the drive. 

Remaining show dates are today and tomorrow, 

Tickets are $21 

Saturday April 14, 2018

8:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Sunday April 15, 2018

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Phone: (352) 357-7777
Email: boxoffice@baystreetplayers.org
Website: http://www.baystreetplayers.org

Prosecutor’s Opening Statement in the Noor Salman Case

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There is some sensitive content and disturbing details included within.
If you feel you may be affected, please do not read this post.

Case notes by Pam Schwartz

When I arrived early to secure my spot for the opening day of Noor Salman’s case, I was the ninth person in line and the 8th public member let in as per my blue public identifying slip of paper. As we began to be seated in the room, the prosecution, defense, and defendant were already all seated. Twelve boxes of paperwork and evidence were lined up next to the prosecution in front of the jury box.

James Mandolfo began his opening statement for the prosecution
(statements as given by prosecution, may or may not be actual fact as revealed
by the court hearing and jury deliberation). He began with a verbal illustration of Bobby Rodriguez being locked in a bathroom stall with Orlando Torres, when somebody who had been shot tried to crawl in with them unde the bathroom stall. Bobby tried to play dead for nearly three hours under the body of that person who died while Omar Mateen was hiding from police in the bathroom and terrorizing victims trapped inside with him.

Mandolfo claimed Noor knew that her husband Omar Mateen would do this, and that she gave him the “green light”, they had spent thousands of dollars in preparation for this night. Noor

aided and abetted Mateen with
his plan to support ISIS. He said that she knowingly obstructed justice. Every step taken was a step to help him with his plan, and every step after was an obstruction of justice. As part of the trial we would hear from FBI Agents, law enforcement, witnesses, experts on terrorism, and people who had communicated with Mateen within the weeks before the shooting. We would see bank statements, receipts, GPS data, cell phone information, laptop information, and more during the case.

May 22, 2016 Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, a spokesperson for ISIS
called for attacks in America during Ramadan. Omar watched the footage
on June 4, 2016 just 8 days before the Pulse Nightclub attack. Mateen referred to himself as an Islamic soldier for ISIS. At 2:00 am on June 12, 2016 right before he entered the club and began shooting, he posted on Facebook that America and Russia needed to stop bombing the middle east and that he supported ISIS.

While inside the club Mateen stated that he had help, that there were bombs, and that there would be more attacks. While attacking, his SIG Sauer MCX assault rifle jammed, he also had a Glock handgun as a back up. He was finally killed by police at 5:14 AM. At the time the FBI was busy looking for co-conspirators, researching possible ongoing attacks, and helping victims and survivors who had been shot multiple times. 

Lieutenant William Hall was dispatched with his team of officers to go to Mateen’s apartment in Port St. Lucie, he was warned that there could be possible booby traps and explosives. At 5:45 AM Special Agent Christopher Mayo of FBI came to the apartment and initially talked to Salman in Hall’s police car in the parking lot of the building before taking her and her son to an FBI building at 7:15 am. 

The prosecution listed several ways they felt Salman attempted to mislead law enforcement, thus obstructing justice. Law enforcement had not told her of the shooting in Orlando at a gay nightclub. When asked if her husband had enemies? She replied that he likes homosexuals and he likes America. When asked why she brought up homosexuals? She said he likes homosexuals because both homosexuals and Muslims are discriminated against. When asked about their ideology? She stated that she and Mateen were moderate but later stated that he was an extremist and had started wanting to commit Jihad. She stated he only had one pistol but that he didn’t have it with him, but later said that he had multiple weapons and ammo when he left the house. She said he had deactivated his Facebook account several years earlier and that he didn’t use the Internet at home, later she said he would watch violent Jihady materials daily. When asked why at the age of 30 she had just gotten her driver’s license for the first time? She started to say, “God rest his soul” and corrected with “God bless his soul” though the FBI had not yet told her that her husband had been killed. The FBI felt she had given a staged answer: that Mateen couldn’t have died because he had just bought them all plane tickets to go to California to see her family the next month and he had just paid all of the bills, she had even just gotten him a father’s day gift.

At 11:00 AM Ricardo Enriquez, a polygraph examiner from Miami, was called in. A polygraph was cancelled the next day and never conducted though she had consented to doing one. Though Noor’s statements were not recorded by video or audio, he said she stated the following… She was asked if there was any evidence Mateen would do it. She told him Mateen had been viewing Jihady material every day and that at some points she had to pull her son away as it was so violent.

They had been on several trips lately.Together they went to City Place in West Palm Beach and Mateen had asked her, “How bad would it be if a club got attacked?” They went to Disney Springs and Mateen disappeared for 20 minutes, came back and asked, “What would make people more upset? An attack at a club or an attack at Disney?” She said she had asked him about the rifle in his trunk and he said that is was for work. 

On June 11, 2016, the day before the
shooting, they went on a spending spree to Kay Jewelers, Victoria Secret, they also got ammo and a rifle. Mateen
had recently added her as the beneficiary of his checking and savings
accounts, giving her $1,000 in cash. She stated that her husband left home at 5:00 pm on June 11, 2016 and was going to see his childhood friend Nemo for dinner, to go to the Mosque to pray, and then come home and that he left with guns and black bag full of ammo. Enriquez asked her questions and wrote down the answers for her to review and initial in agreement. Then she chose to write a separate statement in her own hand that stated that she was sorry and that she wished she could go back to be able to tell his family and the police what was going to happen.

In another statement, Salman said Mateen had been talking about committing Jihady for several years and that she saw his buying guns and going to shooting ranges as a “green light.” He texted her at 4 am and she knew he had done it. Mr. Mandolfo stated that the evidence will show where and when they were as they made plans leading up to the shooting, as well as her encouragement and support of it. Mateen had been investigated several years earlier by FBI because of extremist comments to a co-worker. 

On May 31, 2016 Mateen and Salman went to a Walmart in Vero Beach and he bought 200 rounds of ammo for what he said was his work gun. On June 1, 2016, Mateen put Salman as the Payable at Death Beneficiary for his checking and savings account of which she previously had no access. They were expecting a $4,000 IRS deposit to that account shortly after the shooting. On June 4, 2016 Mateen spent $1,800 on a SIG Sauer MCX assault riffle and watched the Abu Mohammad al-Adnani video calling for acts of violence in America during Ramadan. 

On June 4, 2016, Mateen and Salman visited family in West Palm Beach, leaving at midnight to go further South to Delray Beach with their 3 year old son in tow. They drove around Delray for 45 minutes. At 2:00 AM a Chevron Gas Station surveillance footage shows them in Palm Beach with their child. They didn’t return to Port St. Lucie until 4 am. On June 5, 2016 Mateen purchased his Glock handgun. On June 6, 2016 Mateen and Salman went to Treasure Coast Mall and spent $8,000 at Kay Jewelers on jewelry, including a wedding ring though Salman already has one, $1,200 at Best Buy, $10,000 in total in just about 3 hours, all on credit cards and with store credit completely in Mateen’s name only. In 11 days, they spent $30,000 which was that family’s annual income. On June 8, 2016 Salman got her Driver’s License for the first time and they went to Bass Pro Shop in Orlando to purchase three magazines for Mateen’s SIG Sauer MCX assault riffle. They went to the Florida Mall and spent $800 at Zales on jewelry, $300 at Victoria Secret, and $600 at Michael Kors. They then drove to Disney Springs. The prosecutors described these trips as scouting missions.


On June 11, 2016  Mateen got a rental van and went to a shooting range where he purchased more ammo. He left his security job at G4S to take out $4,000 from his checking and $1,500 from savings. He purchase flights for the family to California for the next month and gave Salman $1,000 in cash. That evening after he left to murder 49 people in Orlando, she drove to Bank of American to deposit $500 of that cash. She bought a steak and also a father’s day gift for her husband before going home.


That night, at 5:41 PM Salman called her husband with no answer, so she texted him and instructed him to tell his mom that he was going out with Nemo and that she wanted to stay home. The text was to maintain the alibi. Mateen had his phone turned off until 7:20 pm presumably so that the FBI would not be able to track him. After all the missed messages and calls, at 7:27 he called his Mom to relay the alibi Salman had shared. At Mosque, Mateen’s Mom saw Nemo’s mom in the mosque and related that their sons were out together. Nemo’s Mom said, “No, Nemo is in medical school in Maryland studying.” Mateen’s Mom became aware that her son was lying. Mateen’s Mom left the Mosque and tried to contact him. 


At 10 PM Mateen was at the House of Blues and bought a t-shirt which he later threw away. There was apparently a strong police presence outside of the House of Blues that evening. Afterwards Mateen googled downtown nightclubs on his phone. After passing up Eve, at about 1:30-1:40 he is in the area of Pulse Nightclub where he went inside and purchased a ticket for cover and went up to the bar. Noor Salman’s Internet activity showed that she was awake and not trying to stop the attack, but was shopping for a leather biker jacket. There was evidence that she deleted some of the text messages between she and her husband before the police obtained her phone.

Valentine’s Concert at Leu Gardens.

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Pam Schwartz and I went to Harry P. Leu Gardens, (1920 N Forest Ave, Orlando, FL 32803) to see a concert featuring  Ricky and the Buzzcatz. We packed a picnic basket and a couple off lawn chairs along with a sparkling red wine. Although members, we found out that the members parking lot was blocked off from use. Street parking was packed and we ended up parking a few blocks away on Iowa Place. Pam is from Iowa so that seemed a happy accident.

The stage was set up in front of a small hill which is usually set up as a botanical clock. Two red hearts made from illuminated tubes defined the heart shapes. Most of the stage lighting was red for the first set, and I stayed with the limited palette since I could barely see the sketch page. The songs in the first set were mostly mobster ballads by crooners like Frank Sinatra and  Tony Bennett. Between songs the musicians would occasionally break into the Godfather theme song and everyone was supposed to take a drink. The wine we had was sweet, bubbly and delicious so I looked forward to the Pavlovian Godfather theme.

I finished this sketch in the first set and when done, we broke open the picnic basket. It was an old school basket with the two hoop handles and a flip open hinged top. Those two handles however aren’t comfortable to hold. They pinch the palm as you carry it. We ended up lamenting not bringing the roller cooler (as it seems less romantic than a woven basket). Regardless we had a handsome feast of sandwiches and fruit.

The second set was far more lively with contemporary songs that got us up and dancing. Theatrical smoke billowed out from behind the stage and stage hands ran around with fans trying to contain and direct it. The evening’s billowing breezes had other plans and being close to the stage, we were engulfed. The sidewalks leading to the stage became the dance floor. Only occasionally would someone dance on the grass. One lady just darted around on the lawn, she was comical to watch. It was a very cool night, and I felt bad for the women who decided to dress in tight skirts and high heels. Pam and I tried a few spins and danced traditionally for the slow songs. We joked that we might knock another couple out with our gesturing. If I wasn’t  graceful, at least I was having fun.

A female singer sang “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. It was announced as an anthem for women but any man experiencing separation and a new life can be equally inspired to dance with abandon and conviction. When the music ended we all walked out of the gardens in formation. It was a fun night and Ricky and the Buzzcatz must be a very popular wedding band.

The Inbetween Series at Avalon Island.

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Elizabeth Baker presented “Headspace/I Found a Pearl in the Wall This Morning” at The Gallery at Avalon Island, (39 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL 32801). This was a new work by new renaissance artist Elizabeth A. Baker, which
unfolded as a sonic and movement ritual exploring the meditative state of
opening the mind and vulnerable action of opening one’s heart. The work
incorporated interactive electronics, fixed media, lighting, dance,
Indian harmonium, toy piano, and found objects.

For the first half of the performance the artist, dressed in what appeared to be a bathrobe moved from instrument to instrument.I  sketched her in the various locations incorporating her multiple times into the sketch. The audience sat in two rows of chairs on either side of the open performance space. As it grew dark outside, the dozen or so candles on the floor were the only illumination. Sounds were recorded and repeated to achieve hypnotic effects. 

The program described the
performance of an “Autonomous Controller” who prompted  the Automaton range from musical
instructions to movement instructions to interaction with the audience
and performance space. The Automaton constantly carried a tablet to see the prompts from the Anonymous Controller. I can’t claim to understand what was happening, but it was visually fascinating to sketch. Pam Schwartz and several other members of the audience were given drum sticks to tap a beat on the floor. I passed on the interactive opportunity since my hands were occupied.

There was a short intermission and then Elizabeth came out dressed head to toe in a golden jump suit with a Mexican wrestler style golden hooded mask. She performed on the tiny piano like the one used by Schroeder in the Peanuts cartoon strip. Red lights projected patterns on the walls. Wires snaked everywhere on the floor. I left scratching my head, but, perhaps that was the point.

Something Fishy Seafood Restaurant.

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Pam Schwartz and I went to a media tasting at Something Fishy (2107 E Semorian Blvd, Apopka, Fl 32703) organized by Ilene Lieber of Passion PR. This small restaurant is a family affair organized by the team of chef Terence Phillips and his wife Patrice Phillips. Their niece created the logo and handles the marketing. The chef grew up in New York and used to travel often to the Hampton’s and Montauk where he got the idea for the theme for the restaurant. The restaurant is celebrating its two year anniversary and the staff that started on day one is still helping the restaurant grow today. There will be a block party at the restaurant this weekend Saturday, February 24th from noon to 4PM in celebration and all are welcome!

The evening started off with a cup of red wine as we waited for the appetizer to arrive. The opening course was a light and subtle Lobster Bisque. There were a few chunks of lobster on top. I happen to be a fan of bisque so I sampled it as I started the sketch. Patrice kindly offered Pam a vegetarian taco since she is not a fan of sea food or cilantro (both prevalent in the menu). The second course was a fried fish slider with cilantro mayo, hush puppies, and fries. The sandwich was light and crispy. The hush puppies were sweet and delicious with actual sweet corn inside, some of the best Pam said she had ever had. I let Pam eat most of the hush puppies and fries since her main course hadn’t come out yet.

The next course was a pan seared shrimp taco with house slaw, back beans, corn salsa and avocado aioli. This was my favorite item from the night. I sampled a couple of the shrimp separately and they were delicious. Tthen I ate the soft shell taco as it should be eaten and the flavors blended nicely. The next item was a mini crab cake with slaw. They offered wasabi slaw but I didn’t want the heat, so they substituted a more tame slaw. The crab cake was sweet and flavorful. Pam’s spicy cauliflower taco with aleppo pepper arrived and she let me have the avocado slices that were on top. This was her favorite item from the night. The cauliflower tasted perfectly spicy, adding a nice warm crunch to the taco.

The one item that I didn’t manage to finish eating was a seared Ahi tuna bowl over a bed of jasmine cilantro lime rice. The tuna was spicier than I can handle so I let the dish sit. The evening was capped off with cupcakes which came in carrot, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. I sampled the carrot and got a surprise when I bit into it. The center was hollowed out and filled with a light cool frosting. Apparently there were, in fact, carrots and even raisins in the cupcake, but I ate it so fast I didn’t see them.

The bottom line is that Something Fishy is a restaurant that I would return to.

Indie Folk Festival at the Mennello Museum.

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Flynn Dobbs invited me to exhibit a few of my painting along with three other artists at the annual family-and pet-friendly event, the Indie Folk Festival on February 10, 2018. The fourth annual Indie-Folkfest was presented by PLR Florida at the Mennello Museum of American Art. Pam Schwartz and I got there around 11:30 AM to get set up. Flynn had the tent ready and there was just enough room for my 6 framed paintings. Sprout, who is Pam’s scruffy pup was excited to experience all the new smells.

The event showcased local, national and regional art, music and culinary talent.

Last past February, in 2017,  the event welcomed nearly 5,000 guests to the museum grounds. Guests enjoyed beautiful weather, local music, food, beverages and art.

This annual free event serves as a gift from the Museum’s City-Appointed Board of Trustees in an effort to promote local art and community. A portion of all proceeds benefit the Mennello Museum of American Art’s education and family-friendly programs.

Each artist in our tent was active painting at some point during the day. I sketched our tent to document the day. Loren Berry set up a table and started doing some marbling. She poured multiple colors on the panel and let the colors swim together as she rotated the panel letting the paint flow across the surface. Then she lay the panel flat and used her gloved fingers to create pointed divots in the flow. This was followed by blowing the paint to create even more pattern. It was a fun process to watch and I sketched frantically. Her results, resemble the cloud formations on the planet Jupiter.

Terri Binion opened up the main stage with her unique folk music styling. She was followed by Beemo who got the folks gathered on the lawn warmed up to dance away the afternoon. The musical afternoon was capped off by Eugene Snowden who brought the crowd to his moving gospel of song and a crowd gathered in front of the stage to dance.

Memorial Task Force Potluck and Annual Review

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A Task Force Potluck and Annual Review was held at Christ Church Unity Orlando (771 Holden Ave Orlando, FL 32839) in December of 2017. There were several posters at the front of the room that showed the design Dix Hite had proposed for an Interim Memorial, which helps to clean up the site and added some new landscaping. The interim memorial will provide areas to leave messages and will include seating, shade, lighting and trees. The iconic sign will be enhanced but not removed. A new fence will be placed around the perimeter of the nightclub itself, which will remain standing until a decision is made in the future regarding the permanent memorial design. The new fence has a section which allows visitors to see the damage to the building from the police breach of the wall on the evening of June 12, 2016. Much of the labor involved will be completed off-site and new elements will be installed at the site with minimal impact on the surrounding community.

The Task Force is working towards keeping the meetings inclusive. Pam Schwartz set up Zoom (a digital video conferencing system) which allowed distant survivors and families of victims access to the meeting. Many of the faces in the room were familiar and I was pleased to be seated at a table with Terence Hickey who was involved in the comfort dog program at Orlando Regional Medial Center after the shooting.

Results from the memorial survey sent out to families and survivors were complete and the results would be discussed at the next Task Force Meeting. The survey was set up to gauge what families and survivors felt they would like to have done at the site. The task force is still in its infancy and they are working towards completing their mission and vision statements for the future memorial and museum.

Nikole discussed the events planned for 2018. Town hall meetings would be held at regular intervals to keep everyone apprised of the progress moving forward. Also on the calendar are a Family Day, a Community Rainbow Run, the Annual Remembrance Ceremony and of course PRIDE. The Orlando One Pulse Task Force will also be involved in bringing the Laramie Project to Orlando.

The Laramie Project (2000) is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. The murder was denounced as a hate crime and brought attention to the lack of hate crime laws in various states, including Wyoming. The play draws on hundreds of interviews conducted by the theatre
company with inhabitants of the town, company members’ own journal
entries, and published news reports. It is divided into three acts, and
eight actors portray more than sixty characters in a series of short
scenes. The play will run June 1, to July 1 of 2018.

Viatnamese Tết Festival at the Orlando Fairgrounds.

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(Thor) When Pam Schwartz and I arrived at the Tết Festival, I immediately sat down to sketch the preparations for the dragon dances. As a drummer and symbol set the beat, the acrobats practiced leaps and standing on each other’s shoulders. They all put on bright green t-shirts and bright pants which matched the colors of the dragons. There was a blue, red and yellow dragon each. A red rope was hung from a bamboo tree with a red beam that had two red tassels. Long red strips were unrolled on the ground and each was tied up to the rope from the bamboo tree. At the top of everything were octagonal firecrackers. An electronic firing device was rigged up in a Tupperware and the fuses snaked to various places on the field. After rehearsing, the dragon dance performers told everyone gathered to go to the main hall to see the show on stage. Pam and Lesleyanne Drake went on a food tour as I sketched.

(Pam) While Tom sketched the fantastical dragon heads outside, Ricky Ly of Tasty Chomps offered a free food tour at the Central Florida Fairgrounds during the 2018 Vietnamese Tết Celebration. He gave a small group of foodies a bit of background on Tết before taking us inside the food court. As we browsed from stand to stand he pointed out different dishes and Vietnamese specialties. I tried to pick up and remember each of the unique names as he said them, but it was nearly impossible through the roar of the main stage to our backs. From colorful gelatin desserts and fried banana cakes to pork on stick and a variety of delicious looking noodle soups, the stands were an absolute feast for the eyes.

Lesleyanne Drake and I, both incredibly passionate about food, began making a mental list of all the things we NEEDED to try before we were too full to go on. We began with a few light bites because we knew Tom could join us for the main course. The more friends you bring to a food fair, the better. You get to try more dishes at a lower cost and don’t fill up quite a fast as you would otherwise. It’s a win-win situation for all! The first thing we ate I had no anticipation of liking, was Chuoi chien, or fried bananas. It was light and crispy on the outside but warm and gooey on the inside. It was surprising because I really hadn’t planned to like it, I like bananas…just not things made from bananas. We also tried a pork skewer (there were just pans and pans of them all over the place) and egg rolls to start.

For the larger portions of our meal we divided and conquered, myself getting Mi Quang (a pork and prawn noodle soup with delicious chewy turmeric noodles, topped with peanuts and these incredible little sesame crackers that soaked up the broth and tasted delicious), Lesleyanne got Nam Vang (a Cambodian-Chinese inspired soup with assorted types of noodles, a quail’s egg, a little heat, and all sorts of fixings), and Tom focused on two types of pork, one from the north (the favorite choice) and one from the south, as well as a Bánh Tôm (a sweet potato and shrimp fritter). We were all surprised by how “airy” the fritter was. There were many MANY more things we wanted to try, but we will have to reserve those for next year. I grabbed a Cà phê sữa đá (coffee with sweetened condensed milk) and we all got a bag of Chuoi chien to go.

(Thor) As I tried dishes with Pam and Lesleyanne the dragons took to the main stage but their performance was brief. They were followed by groups of female dancers and then the Vietnamese national anthem and the United States national anthem. Everyone in the audience remained standing for a long ceremony for the ancestors. When we went outside there was a large crowd gathered where I had sketched before. It was time for the main dragon dance ceremony. The crowd surrounded the field. It was too crowded to see from my previous vantage point, so we went to the far side where the crowd was thinner.

The dragons came alive, with one acrobat in the head and one in the rump. A fourth dragon was animated by a group of acrobats with poles. It is the year of the dog, so an actor in a dog costume rudely sniffed and bumped the rumps of the dragons.

The fuses were lit and the entire field erupted with the rapid blaze of firecrackers. All of the red streamers were long lines of firecrackers wrapped in red paper. A huge plume of smoke engulfed us, and I could feel the hot shrapnel hitting me. We had misjudged the wind direction. We turned away from the smoke and many ran back for cover. Pam and I stood our ground squinting into the smoke. The rapid fire explosions seemed to last forever. Then they all lifted upwards towards the top of the bamboo tree. The silence afterwords was deafening. Then the dragons danced among the ruins looking down at the red carnage. They then broke free into the crowd and made their way back to the main stage. Our small group decided that we had seen enough for one day.