Ben Johansen: The Ribbon Maker

Posted on by Thor

This post is about 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. Analog Artist Digital World takes the
privacy and wishes of individuals very seriously. 

Ben Johansen moved to Orlando in 2006. He was 34 years old. The city has grown a lot since then. There was a shop in town called Century Costumes. Ben had lost his long time job in an insurance company and he was a regular customer at Century. The business was up for sale. Ben got a call asking if her would buy the business. If he didn’t buy it, then the shop would close down completely. He talked it over with his husband Tim Vargas and they ended up buying it. Embelish FX has been open for 5 years now and it has been steadily growing. Ben loves the place. No day is ever the same.

He and Tim went to Pulse on many occasions for events and fundraisers. They were very involved with Pulse since Tim was the president of the board of directors. Ben has known Barbara Poma the owner of Pulse for years. The day before the shooting he was at a Make Up Show at the Convention Center. Life was good.

Tim doesn’t sleep very well. He is always awake at 4AM. On the early morning of June 12, 2016 Tim had turned on the TV in the living room. He went into the bedroom and turned it on there as well. He shook Ben and said, “You’ve got to get up.” Ben isn’t a morning person, he was very groggy getting up, the dog licked his face. Tim was very animated, he said, “Open your eyes and look at the TV.” All that was visible was the red glow from the TV, and the breaking news banner at the bottom of the screen. In his fog, Ben asked “What is going on?” Tim responded, “There has been a really bad shooting.” He started to cry. Ben got up and asked “What happened?” “There was a shooting at Pulse, there are many dead.” Tim said. Thoughts flew to friends. Tim urged Ben, “Take a quick shower we have to get to The Center.”

Tim drove. On the way to the Center it was still dark. Ben looked at his Facebook feed as he sat in the passenger seat. He was trying to figure out what happened. He couldn’t read the small screen through his tears. At the Center they met Terry DeCarlo who was the executive director at the time. People came with crates and crates of water and food. Volunteers kept showing up. The Center became the drop off point. They sent water to Camping World Stadium and the long lines at blood banks so that people didn’t dehydrate. That was the one thing about that week, it was so hot, like being on the surface of the sun. There was nothing anyone could do about it, but just keep on going. That week was a blur.

Ben explained, “The first day, I was lost. I didn’t know what to do, but I needed to do something.” He called his dad who was a police officer who loves everybody but doesn’t like to show it. Ben called just to say he was alive, that he hadn’t been in the club. That call is where the idea of the black swatch came from. As a child he remembered seeing his dad with a black swatch across his badge any time an officer passed. Ben called it the respect bar.

He found himself at Michael’s craft store to clear his head and wandered towards in the ribbon section where thee were rolls of rainbow ribbon. He brought a rainbow ribbon roll, a black ribbon roll and a box of pins. He had about enough supplies for  30 ribbons. At the Center he set himself up a small station to work with a laptop computer so he could keep watching the news. There were so many people, and he just didn’t want to get in the way. He started making ribbons. He pricked his fingers so many times that they were bleeding, but he didn’t care. He would give one to each volunteer pinning it over their heart and giving them a hug. As people dropped things off at the Center they noticed the ribbons and started asking for them. Ben had a small stash. When friends came to visit and hug him he would give them one.

He realized he was going to run out so he headed back to Michael’s. They only had two more rolls of rainbow ribbon left, so he had to put out an APB on social media. “Please bring rainbow ribbon.” People showed up with bags and bags of rainbow ribbon rolls, black ribbon and pins. Volunteers kept offering to help but Ben wanted to do it alone, he needed to do something. It helped alleviate the sense of loss and uselessness. But so many people wanted ribbons that eventually he needed to let people help. Now everyone helps. They started with one ribbon and the other day they hit the 700,000 mark. Rainbow ribbons are bought in 100 yard rolls. That is how he can keep track of how many are made. Soon Ben hopes to have met the 1 million ribbon mark.

A friend helped Ben set up a website where ribbon orders could be placed. Orders started coming from all over the world. Ben had put $7000 of his own money into ribbon supplies. The supplies and postage were wiping him out. A Go Fund Me Page was started which raised about $15,000 which helped with supplies. Orders range from 1 ribbon to 8,000. Every order was fulfilled. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, George Takai, Alan Cumming, and Hillary Clinton have worn the ribbons. He would still love to get one to Michelle Obama someday.

The rainbow ribbons have become a symbol around the world for love
and hope. This small gesture wasn’t intended to get so big but Ben is
glad it did. Every ribbon is a conversation starter. If he is wearing
one and is outside Florida someone will ask, “What is that for?” He
tells them the story and gives them a ribbon. He has a rainbow ribbon
tattooed on his arm. He can always see it and it brings life back into
focus.

Ben knew 12 people who died at Pulse that night. You never expect this to happen in your own back yard. It was a wake up call to Orlando. At the big candlelight vigil at Lake Eola there were 50,000 people. Ben remembers where he was that night, how he held the candle and cried uncontrollably. At the one year remembrance he stood in the exact same spot with close friends and managed to smile.  Peg O’Keef was reading a monologue from O-Town: Voices from Orlando on the Disney Amphitheater stage and she mentioned the ribbon maker in the monologue. At that moment a rainbow appeared above Lake Eola. It was a moment of reflection and hope. Perhaps we are going to be OK.

Orlando Love: Remembering Our Angels at Lake Eola.

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Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan and other community leaders and elected officials will hold a one-year remembrance ceremony at Lake Eola Park. The ceremony, Orlando Love: Remembering Our Angels, will include remarks by community leaders, musical performances by Olga Tañón and Sisaundra Lewis along with a memorial reading of the 49 names of those who were taken during the June 12 tragedy.

Actress Peg O’Keef recited the opening monologue from O-Town: Voices from Orlando. This was likely the largest audience to see this performance. The audience was silent as she described our quiet little town that would be so much different the day after the Pulse Massacre. Orlando stood up to the challenge, rising up, and refusing to let hate or divisiveness be a part of the recovery. People lined u to give blood, a homeless man would relight the thousands of candles at memorial sites. Crosses would be driven across the country to be left at Orlando Regional Medical Center, each to honor one of the 49 victims.

Pam Schwartz and I found a spot on the lake within sight of the rainbow colored Disney band shell. Walking past the standing room only seating area we saw the glitzy projected graphics above the stage. Buses parked in the street blocked any opportunity to view the stage from a distance. They might have been parked there to block potential hate groups. Two women cuddled in front of us as we listened to the city officials. Back stage 49 angels could be seen struggling to get on their PVC and white fabric wings,

Buddy Dyer spoke in his soothing southern accent and the crowd responded with applause. To our left were two men and one was disgruntled. When Mayor Teresa Jacobs spoke, he started flipping the bird and cursing her name. We were far enough away so that his anger didn’t reach the stage. His friend said,”Come on, lets get out of here, you don’t need to be listening to this.”  Eventually they did leave.

Patty Sheehan spoke in Spanish, so I am not sure what condolences she might have offered. My general impression of the evening was that it was too polished a production. Turn out was less than a year before but it had been raining all afternoon, so only lie-hards were here. It felt a bit like it was Disneyfied, with too much sugar and not enough substance. It was reassuring however to be in a crowd of so many beautiful people who all stood for the cause of love over hate.

The Lady’s of Eola Heights take the Abby by Storm.

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I went to a dress rehearsal for The Ladies of Eola Heights at The Abbey. I contacted Beth Marshall who plays the part of Pearl. This is the first time in a long time that she wasn’t producing or directing a show. She felt a bit at ease just being an actor rather than worrying about the overall production. Beth introduced me to the director Kenny Howard who thankfully knew of my work and was enthusiastic to have me sketch. He warned me that none of the actresses would be wearing make up. The set wasn’t finished yet as well, still needing a railing near the steps and a blue wall behind the center archway.

This is an original play written by Michael Wanzie. The estranged Locksdale sister reunited at their family home, in the historical Eola Heights neighborhood of Orlando, Florida, to plan their daddy’s funeral. It seems fiery-tongued Ruby (Blue Starr) dressed in a hot red zebra stripe dress, has taken to loose living and hard drinking, while older sister Opal (Peg O’Keef) has become a born again Christian. Matriarch Pearl (Beth Marshall) has gained weight and  had a Home Shopping Club addiction. In the opening scene Beth drove onto the set with one of those motorized scooters with an oxygen tank. It was a hilarious moment as she tried to parallel park it next to the dining table while Ruby waited.

As the sisters interacted for the first time in years, their dark past surfaced and it became clear that they are all dealing with their horrible past in their own ways. Each scene is punctuated by an appearance of their brother (Miss Sammy) who danced down stairs in gorgeous gowns to light hearted show tunes. His way of coping was to live in a beautiful fantasy world as a woman. Although the sisters are all polar opposites, they come together to bury their past.

The show is as funny as it is touching, a comedy with serious themes that take the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride. I was laughing out loud throughout the show and yet identified with themes that affect many estranged families. The abuse that surfaced at the heart of the show happens all too often in Central Florida.  I had a friend who couldn’t cope with that past. Don’t miss this locally grown gem.

The show runs July 10- July 28 at the Abbey (100 S. Eola Drive Orlando, FL) tickets are $30 to $45.

33 Variations

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On March 28th I went to The Winter Garden Theatre to see 33 Variations written by Moises Kaufman and staged by Beth Marshal Presents. I had been to a dress rehearsal and hopefully that write up generated interest for this incredible production. Though it was the second to last performance, I had to see the set and lighting to feel the shows full impact. Aradhana Tiwari directed this stellar cast in this show about Beethoven’s struggle to create late in his career as he went deaf and a modern day researcher obsessed with understanding his motives as her health also fails. The 33 variations were written by Beethoven based on music written by a lesser known composer and music publisher.

I was touched by the idea that the music researcher felt the need to travel to Vienna to see and touch Beethoven’s original sketchbooks. I wrote out every compositional idea, so the sketchbooks were a way to see his every thought. The minimalist set acted as a multi media projection space at times covered in notes and in one scene becoming a bustling subway. At one point a ghostly silhouette of Beethoven was projected walking from stage left to stage right. The sound, lighting and projections became a creative escape into two tortured minds.  Modern day events and historic Viennese events overlapped and intermingled. I was swept away.

Peg O’Keef who played Katherine Brandt, the music researcher, did an astonishing job performing with the advancing stages of sclerosis. After the show, she explained to me that she had found a series of You Tube videos made by a gregarious and vibrant man who recorded himself repeatedly as he succumbed to the muscle debilitating illness.  In one daring scene Peg disrobed for an MRI. In the nude isolation, she and Bethoven were back to back.  The magical moment wag gone in a flash.

After the show, Aradahna hooked her arm in mine and asked me to have a drink with the cast at the bar next door. I only stayed for one drink but the party was just starting. It seems sad that such an amazing show should have such a short run. But, like Beethoven, a creative life can’t last forever. The music and inspiration does last forever. There is a link above to all of the 33 Variations. I suggest you listen to it while your surfing the web or social media. They are inspiring in their entirety.