After Pulse: Candice Crawford

Posted on by Thor

Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Candice Crawford is the CEO of the Mental Health Association of Central Florida. She is a member of the board of the Plaza Live as well. The night before there was a shooting of singer Christina Grimmie at the Plaza Live. The board came to this board room to try and deal with the repercussions of that tragedy. They were pretty shaken up about it. That board meeting happened all afternoon on the Saturday before the Pulse massacre. An 8am conference call was scheduled for 8AM Sunday morning 12 June 2016.

She got up just before 8AM and got a cup of coffee. When the conference call began the conversation was about the mass shooting. At first she thought the mass shooting might have happened at the Plaza, but no, they were talking about the Pulse Nightclub. What in the world is happening?  It was quite the weekend. She called several members of her staff after the conference call ended. They needed to have someone at the Mental Health Association to answer the phones. Phone call could be forwarded to one of the staff members in case anyone called looking for help. There were lots of calls.

The next day they needed several counselors in the offices. On the first day one person came in and the next day 4 or 5 came in. She decided that a Pulse directed counseling program would be needed. She realized there would be a lot of young people at that club who did not have insurance and they would need counseling. Fundraising began to get the program up and running.

Orlando United Assistance Center (OUAC) gave referrals and others sough help on their own. Everyone who has sought help has gotten help. At the time of the interview 118 people had participated in the counseling program. Confidentiality was of the utmost importance.

After Pulse: David Thomas Moran

Posted on by Thor

Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content. Post written with narrator’s consent.

David Thomas Moran co-founded Gays Against Guns in the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting. He participated in a sit-in for the 49 lives lost and was arrested.

David first became an activist in college. The Pulse hate crime and Donald Trump’s election made the stakes higher than ever for him. He feels marginalized people are being scapegoated and targeted for everything.

The day before the shooting at Pulse, a friend had returned to Orlando. He picked his friend up from the airport and his friend wanted to go out that Friday before the shooting, but David was tired and so stayed home. His friend went out and saw Drew Leinonen and Juan Guerrero at Southern Nights, another club in Orlando. That was the same night Christina Grimmie was murdered at the Plaza Live.

Saturday morning, David walked to Plaza Live to pay his respects to her. That night he had to work at the restaurant again. After work, he asked his friend if he wanted to go out to Southern Nights or Pulse. However their car battery kept dying. They struggled in the parking lot to jump the battery and by the time they got a charge they decided they were done for the night. They went home.

David didn’t sleep well that night. He noticed some vibrating. He got a text message that said, “there has been a mass shooting at Pulse.” What? He went to CNN and the top story was the shooting. It did not make sense. At the time the news said that 20 people had been killed. Searching Facebook he found a post from Brandon Wolf that said, “Eric and I were there, we got out.” If they were there then other friends might have been there. Drew might have been there. Are they OK? he started to message friends. He had already texted his family to let them know he was OK. When he reached Brandon Wolf he was told, “We got out but Juan has been shot and we don’t know where Drew is.” A friend sent a link to a news clip and it was of Drew’s mother. She was at the hospital trying to figure out where he was. David froze.

Drew Leinonen and Juan Guerrero had planned to have a pool party on June 12, 2016 and they had invited David. He was considering going. The whole day he kept thinking, this is just supposed to be a pool party. The news announced that Juan was one of the first three who was confirmed dead. Juan and Drew’s pictures were being plastered all over the media.

David decided to walk to The Center and he got there around 9AM, then spent the whole day there. He posted updates and let people know where they could donate blood. He managed several Facebook pages that addressed peoples’ needs. At the Center, everyone stood and listened as President Obama came on the TV. He said it was an act of hate and terror. Moran felt some were calling it a terrorist attack to justify militarizing the police and anti-immigrant legislation, all of which he feels does not honor the lived experiences of the people who were victimized by this act of violence.

He left the Center and biked to Ember. He had originally met Drew at Ember. It was hard. Everyone was crying and grieving. There was a candle light vigil. We still didn’t know at that point who had been lost. Nothing was 100% confirmed. David went to Drew’s wake and funeral.

Much later, after the Dallas police shootings, Ida Eskamani contacted him and told him there was going to be a sit-in on gun safety reforms. They wanted to address intersectional concerns around racism, wage inequality, anti-immigrant sentiment, and Islamophobia.  Though he had worked with OPD through Bike Walk Central Florida, and had a good experience with that, he was hesitant to participate in this sit-in. He got to the sit-in just in time to walk in with protestors at 10AM. When he was arrested, he only had the red hat and a red heart in his pocket that you see in the sketch above. He had nothing else. That experience made him aware of the solidarity awareness movement coalition in Orlando. Various organizations sat in solidarity. After most people left, he stayed behind to sit-in with Ida. The sit-in made him realize that he had the power to save himself. The sit-in was largely about politician Marco Rubio‘s inaction. Rubio was confronted by David the next week. The Pulse shooting targeted people he did nothing to help. He used their oppression as an excuse to run for office again. He did nothing for gun safety laws, he did nothing for LGBTQ+ equality, and did nothing to alleviate the oppression of workers across the state.  Rubio was the epitome of the exploitation of the Pulse hate crime. People saw that confrontation. The Advocate dropped the story and it received a lot of coverage. That is when Gays Against Guns reached out to David about starting an Orlando Chapter.

Josephine: a Burlesque Cabaret Dream Play Rehearsal

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Josephine: a Burlesque Cabaret Dream Play is a one-woman musical biographical play about the iconic Josephine Baker. Created by Tymisha Harris, Michael Marinaccio and Tod Kimbro. Book and Musical Direction by Tod Kimbro, performed by Tymisha Harris. Directed and Produced by Michael Marinaccio

I went to a rehearsal just prior to the Fab Fringe 2018 Fundraiser to be held at the Plaza Live (425 N Bumby Ave, Orlando, Florida 32803) on March 5th. Josephine,
combines cabaret, theatre, and dance to tell the story of the iconic
Josephine Baker, the first African-American international superstar and
one of the most remarkable figures of the 20th Century. Josephine
shatters stereotypes of race, gender roles, and sexuality
in this intimate, charming and haunting cabaret with a twist. Born in
St. Louis in 1906, Josephine Baker achieved only moderate success in the
United States but became an international superstar after moving to
France in the early 20s. She starred alongside white romantic leading
men in films in the 30s, had multiple interracial marriages and
homosexual relationships, and performed in men’s clothing before the
term “drag” existed in the lexicon. Her adopted country of France gave
her the opportunity to live freely without the racial oppression of her
home nation, though she never stopped yearning for acceptance in
America.

The rehearsal was in a small Orlando bungalow just south of Greenwood Cemetery. The band squeezed into the small  living room. There were drums, a guitar, Todd on Piano, a violinist and bass along with an accordion. The conversations between sets offered plenty of saucy humor and the show itself offered the same. I don’t believe I saw the entire run through so I will not venture a review. But I could tell this was going to be a very fun musical review with a serious message.

Party @ The Plaza

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The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra has officially bought and moved into the Plaza Live Theater (425 N. Bumby Ave, Orlando, FL). The Plaza Live Theater has a long standing reputation of bringing world renowned musical talent to Orlando. Terry and I have gone here in the past to hear Michelle Shocked, Beau Soleil, The Mummies, and Gordon Lightfoot. The Philharmonic intends to maintain the traditional high standards. Since the new Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts doesn’t have a hall acoustically appropriate for an orchestra, the Plaza will give the Philharmonic a place to rehearse and perform.

The Party @ The Plaza on January 25th was a sort of housewarming and fundraiser for the Orchestra and the Plaza Live. The front parking lot was surrounded by metal barricades to discourage party crashers.  Catering was supplied by Bubbalou’s Bodacious BBQ.  Terry got me a pork and coleslaw “Sunday” that was delicious that I ate while I sketched. The Flat Mountain Band kicked off the evening at 6:30pm on the outdoor stage. There were four other stages inside the Plaza Live and even in the former Russian Ballet School. That ballet school is now in the Mills 50 District. The Dance space was converted into a piano lounge. I went in to listen to Dottie Clendenin perform light classical music. Unfortunately any time the door was opened, the Flat Mountain Bands music would waft in. On top of that, people would stand in the doorway talking while keeping the door ajar. The two musical forms didn’t play well together.

Brian T. Wilson kept Terry company while I sketched. He kept us company throughout the evening. It made us feel like we were the “cool kids” for once. The Jackson Creek String Band performed in the lobby of the Plaza Live. I’m almost certain I’ve heard them perform their lively blend of folk music before. From there, we went into the main stage area where Michael Andrew was performing with his Atomic Big Band. We sat next to Alyson Innes and Jose Fajardo.  Alyson is on the Fringe board with Terry so they always have plenty to gossip about.

Michael introduced David Shillhammer with so much musical gusto that was absolutely hilarious. David pulled raffle tickets for some amazing prizes. Winners ran up onto the stage with as much enthusiasm as you would see on “The Price is Right!” Terry and I mixed it up on the dance floor and then got our photo taken by a Photo Mingle which is a large screen TV that allows people to draw on and manipulate the photo. Photo Mingle was invented by local resident Mike Underwood in his garage.

Corridor Project at Plaza Live

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Patrick Greene helped facilitate a parking lot performance before the Deerhoof concert at Plaza Live. It was the second Corridor Project production.  When I got there it was just starting to get dark. Patrick had a megaphone and there was some negotiating with the Plaza Live staff to clear an area in the parking lot for a staging place. Having no idea what was to come, I decided to step back and sketch a long shot of the parking lot scene to see what developed. Hannah Miller parked a pickup truck and pulled out a huge tree trunk set piece. A car was asked to park at the end of the row to avoid any other cars from driving into the staging area. I saw brown sheets being unfurled on the pavement and on the tailgates of parked cars. The parking lane was being converted into a forest glen.

An Ibex puppetry kite hinted that the performance was about to start, so I finished the sketch and moved closer. Voci Dance performed with the help of Tiny Waves and The Shine Shed Collective. Performers were all dressed in exotic woodland creature costumes. The dancers moved nimbly between the tree trunks, performing to live music. I sketched a strange bird-like creature with drums before he marched off into the woods. I wasn’t sure if Sarah Lockhard was a fox, beaver or a hound but all the dancers moved with grace. Hip bones became headdress eyes and antlers. It was all very primal. When the performance ended, sheets and set pieces quickly were gathered up and the magic disappeared.