Parkland Collection Effort Townhall Meeting

Posted on by Thor

On Valentines Day, February 14, 2018 a student entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida and began a shooting that killed 17 people and wounded 14 others. In March almost one month after the shooting Jeff Schwartz from the Parkland Historical Society invited Pam Schwartz from the Orange County Regional History Center went to Parkland to give advise on how items left at the Parkland Memorial might be collected and archived.  Several memorials had formed in Parkland following the shooting. One was at the high school along the fence that ran along the road in front of the school and another at the main stage at Pine Trails Park. An event was planned for the park so the memorials needed to be removed. A similar situation was faced in Orlando following the Pulse shooting in that makeshift memorials at Lake Eola had to be removed because of July 4th fireworks the following month.

The Parkland Historical Society is a small organization so they did not have the same resources that the Orange County Regional History Center had in Orlando. Instead of trained museum staff they needed rely on volunteers to collect and store memorial items. Pam offered practical advice on how to collect and preserve. A City hall employee took notes and a discussion began on the best practical approaches. Emotions ran high at the meeting since there is no one right answer about what is best for the community.

Volunteers dismantled the makeshift memorials on March 28, 2018. They took
away the 17 white crosses and Jewish stars bearing the names of the
students and faculty killed in the Valentine’s Day shooting. At this City Hall meeting it was decided that it made sense for students, parents, and friends and family of victims, to take part in the effort. Teddy bears, posters, and hand written letters and poems were stored in cardboard boxes. They went to climate controlled storage at Florida Atlantic University and will be saved so that 100 years from now the memories will always remain alive.

Zachary Knudson, a sculptor who has done several public works of art and memorials, teamed up with other volunteers to donate their time and resources in planning a permanent tribute. There was talk among Parkland Historical Society members of vacuum sealing some memorial tribute items inside a glass container. However humidity and the intense Florida Sun make even vacuum sealed items impractical to preserve. This sculpture proposed by Zackery is more like a 15 foot tall prism or stained glass sculpture. Kevin Roth, the CEO of the
Vistaglass Direct, a glass fabrication company is donating glass for
the project. There have been talks of possibly placing the sculpture at Stoneman Douglass High School.

On February 14, 2019, one year after the shooting the community gathered at Pine Trails Park (10559 Trails End, Parkland, FL 33076) to remember and honor the 17 victims with a moment of silence. The
City also hosted a brief Interfaith ceremony for the community. The park was be open both before and after the ceremony. Therapy dogs
and counselors were be onsite throughout the day. In lieu of
mementos, cards, flowers, pictures, or other such expressions of
condolences, people were asked to bring a canned food items to support efforts as a day of service.

The Legislature passed a package to address school safety in wake of the
mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the package
included $1 million for a permanent memorial to the 17 victims at the
high school in northwestern Broward County.

Parkland, Florida Memorial

Posted on by Thor

I spent the morning sketching jury selection for the Noor Salman Trial here in Orlando and then Pam Schwartz and myself drove south to Parkland, Florida where 17 students and faulty had been killed on Valentines Day in a mass shooting. Now, one month later memorial  items had to be cleared because an event was planned for this main stage in Pine Trails Park. The first impression of the town was that it is highly manicured giving the impression of suburban affluence. Seeing the memorial of course immediately reminded me of Pulse. 17 angels stood on stage with golden wings. I read the names of those killed on poster boards for the first time. In the field behind me there were 17 event tents protecting the 17 crosses. Some crosses had been switched out for stars of David.

It was a very windy day. Several tents had been blown over and more would do so as the storm progressed. Loose paper items from the memorial were blowing around, only stopping when they got wedged up against a fence. I heard that someone from a home in the neighborhood brought back items that had blown into her yard. Pam inspected the memorial and then began to return items and anchor them down.

Two high school students were looking at the memorial as I sketched. The girl collapsed to her knees. The boy put his hand on her shoulder waiting for her to regain her composure. It had only been about one month since the shooting. Then he approached me. I braced myself, he might consider my sketching to be disrespectful. Most people don’t understand why I do what I do. What he said took me off guard. He said, “I appreciate that you are sketching. We need to remember. People view sketches differently than they view photos. Thank you.” Considering that he must have been in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on the day of the shooting, this was an incredibly enlightened view. I got choked up, but cleared my eyes so I could finish the sketch.

Jeff Schwartz who heads up the Parkland Historical Society had invited Pam and I to stay at his home for the night.  Later that evening we would be meeting at City Hall so Pam could share her experiences and offer advice on how to collect and preserve the items from the memorials in Parkland.

The Orange County Regional History Center Clears the Pulse site to make way for the Temporary Memorial.

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In February, just 11 days after the mass shooting in Parkland Florida that killed 17 students and faculty, the staff of the Orange County Regional History Center cleared the Orlando Pulse Nightclub site of the last of the memorial items left there. It was a hot day, and the media was out in force. As the staff placed items in archival boxes the cameras rolled. 49 potted succulents had survived months in the intense Florida heat, one for each victim of the mass shooting here in Orlando. A large three dimensional rainbow included the names of the victims. At either end of the rainbow were two clouds created with spray can foam. Those clouds had soaked up the many Florida rains becoming insanely heavy and attracting a small army of palmetto bugs.

This collection day was relatively easy compared to the 31 days of constant collecting that occurred the weeks following the first vigils here in Orlando in the summer of 2016. Organic matter would be slated for compost and the last of the memorial items would go to the off site storage facility of the Orange County Regional History Center. Rose pedals strewn on the pavement ended up looking like blood spatter when added to my sketch.

The rainbow colored fence covering, with designs by local artists, was rolled up and it was one of the last things loaded up onto the U-Haul truck the History Center had rented for the day. TV News camera men were looking for anything to film and they ended up shooting over my shoulder as I worked on my sketch. I have been told that footage was on the news that night.

Shortly after the final collection, a new construction fence was erected much closer to the street. Dix Hite Partners redesigned the area around the nightclub with input from the onePULSE Special Task Force to include far more landscaping along with new trees for shade. That project would progress over the next two months.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

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The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh is definitely not for the faint of heart. This is the 15th and final production by Beth Marshal Presents at the Winter Garden Theater (160 W Plant St, Winter Garden, FL 34787.) The play is a very dark comedy about extreme Irish nationalists who are willing to spill blood for the smallest cause. The playwright said of this play, “I was trying to write a play that would get me killed.” The program lists a blood specialist and a blood director, so I knew going in that things might get messy.

Padraic (Zack Lane) was a street smart and violent Lieutenant of the Irish Republican Army. His one love in life is his black cat named Wee Thomas. The cat was in the care of Davey (Joseph Fabian) and Donny (Don Fowler), two innocent well meaning fools who open act one as they inspect the mangled body of a dead black cat. Davey brought the cat back to their place on his bicycle and they both realize they are in very big trouble because of Padraic’s violent temper. In the next scene Padraic is torturing a suspected drug dealer so his ill temper is confirmed. It was quite uncomfortable watching an actor hang upside down while he is threatened with having a nipple cut off.

Davey and Donny try and gloss over the issue of the dead cat by finding another cat and using boot black to try and make the cat black. On his return, Padraic is met by Mairead (Rachel Comeau) who attracts him by being as violent and crazy as he is. When they argue he aims a gun at her and she aims her air gun right at his privates at close range. The stand off garners respect.

Davey and Donny are blindfolded and bound ready for execution by Padraic as they kneel on the living room floor. Violence is interrupted by more bloody violence. Three “splinter group” IRA foot soldiers are blinded and then shot in the head at point blank range. This was incredibly uncomfortable to watch especially after the recent high school shooting in Parkland Florida. I found myself lurching with each blast of the theatrical guns. It was surprising that many in the audience would laugh as someones brains were blown out. The death of the cat resulted in four other senseless murders. The loss of a pet is a harsh reminder of our mortality. In the last act Davey and Donny discover that Wee Tommy, was actually alive. They both point their guns at the cat ready to kill it after all the violence they had just witnessed. They can’t pull the triggers and they give Wee Thomas a nice big bowl of cat food.

The play clearly points to the futility and pointlessness of violence and killing. Yet its comedic tone is confusing. Change the Irish accents to southern drawls and the play could be set in our backyard. Perhaps only in America can we laugh at staged violence a week after 17 children are murdered in a south Florida school. The pointless violence in Ireland has been going on for decades and it is a harsh mirror to look in as we see how violent America is. Our love of guns is a joke to other nations of the world. The play resulted in a long discussion on the drive home followed by a radio broadcast about the gun legislation that died a senseless death. Among the bills that died were ones that would have banned assault weapons sales and expanded background checks.

The play runs through February 25, 2018.