My Portraits of Pulse

Posted on by Thor

The Orlando Gay Chorus and J.D. Casto presented My Portraits of Pulse in front of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL)) on June 8, 2021.

The lawn in front  of the Center which was once covered in flowers and memorial items left behind after the massacre of 49 people  at Pulse Nightclub on June 12, 2016. The lawn is now covered with metal staging areas meant to promote social distancing for outdoor concerts and screenings. Food and drinks can be ordered by scanning a bar code and the orders are delivered to each table which avoids crowded lines at the concessions stand.

Three large screens were set up to project photos taken by J.D.Casto a local photographer. J.D. stood on stage talking about his perspective of what happened in Orlando following the shooting. That day he checked to be sure his camera batteries were charged and immediately went to The Center which became mission central for community outreach and a donations. In the Center a crowd was gathered watching TV and they all heard the official number of people who had died for the first time. Shock swept through the room. Photos taken that first day were largely of grief and sorrow.

National and international media flooded into Orlando and J.D. suddenly found himself shooting photos along side some of the best photographers in the world. His view of his self worth wasn’t that elevated, but he couldn’t stop taking photos and sharing them. The images captured slowly changed because along side all of the pain and grief, he saw a community filled with love. Many of his photos were used for a photo wall that is now part of the temporary memorial at Pulse. After each segment of his story, the chorus would stand and sing to a photo montage projected on the screens. The idea of telling the story of what happened after Pulse through the lens of one individual seems rather limiting, but the stories of thousands are also impossible to tell all at once.

 

Pastor Vallo

Posted on by Thor

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

Pastor Paul Vallo‘s Christ Unity Church, provided immediate response to first responders in the aftermath of the Pulse Nightclub shooting for 11 days in June of 2016.

The church was outgrowing the property they had on Orange Avenue but, when the pulse attack took place and the congregation at Christ Unity had the chance to respond, they felt like it crystalized the reason why they were there. They had a unique ability to respond to a need in the community. The church has always been about community outreach.

On the morning of June 12, 2016, Pastor Vallo was contacted and told that there was a shooting at Pulse but no one knew the extent of the incident. The Pastor, staff and volunteers arrive very early in the morning to the church. Many had trouble getting to the church since the church was behind police lines. Many had to walk on foot to try and get past police lines. There clearly was no way that there could be services that day.

Staff and volunteers gathered, and prayed for the victims. Immediately after prayers they went to the front doors and watched all the first responders who were walking up and down the sweltering street. The church has a cafe, so they took all the food and supplies and they put it out on the street. They stood outside and told people passing by that they should let people know that they had food at the church.  Volunteers worked to get more food and water to the church. The evening of the attack the church held a prayer vigil. The sanctuary was full. For the next 11 days they served first responders around the clock. A christian church needs to show compassion.

The media wasn’t allowed to come in. They wanted the church to be a sanctuary. It was a place where first responders could decompress, get out of the heat, get some good food. Restaurants began to respond and people donated amazing home cooked meals. They had enough to feed hundreds of people.

On woman from Orlando Police Department said she hadn’t slept or eaten anywhere for four days except in the church. Some people did not go to the prayer vigil because they feared the area might not be safe, but the pastor never felt fear. He sensed the anxiety, but they were behind police lines for a week and a half.  The Florida Governor Rick Scott conduced much of his work from inside the church.

Pastor Vallo was interviewed by BBC and CNN. Most of his efforts were focused on meeting the needs of first responders. At a vigil at SODO development next to the church, some people were asking, how do we make sense of this? He responded, You can’t make sense of a mad man. There is no reason, there is no logic. The only thing that could be done was to respond to it, rather than try and figure it out. We can not become the children of the shooter’s hatred. We have to respond with the opposite, with love, kindness and compassion.

A man who lives directly behind the Pulse Nightclub, had not left his home for four days after the shooting. He was having a panic attack in the yard. On the evening of the shooting it was like being in a war zone. Through the blinds he saw people running through the yard screaming covered in blood. Many people on the street hadn’t left their houses. They still were not sure what was going on outside. For weeks afterwards the pastor and others began going door to door doing wellness checks. If people needed medicine or food they helped find the resources. Some had no other need other than to talk about it.

Community: 5 Years After the Pulse Tragedy

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COMMUNITY: 5 Years After the Pulse Tragedy is on exhibit May 29 to August 15, 2021, at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 E. Central Blvd.
Orlando, Florida 32801.)

The Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016 and the subsequent response forever changed Orlando – exemplified by the immense outpouring of support and love shown by locals in the days, months, and years that followed. However, the impact of the tragedy was not limited to the physical boundaries of Central Florida.

The History Center’s 2021 remembrance exhibition, examines how communities of all kinds were touched both locally and across the globe. Visitors will follow the story of Pulse nightclub, from its earliest conception through 2016, as well as the response to the devastating event and the lasting impact in the time since. Through the telling of this important part of our collective history, the museum seeks to celebrate the spirit of community and honor the 49 victims and all of those affected.

To ensure that this exhibition is accessible to the entire community, the History Center will offer free admission June 5 -13, 2021. The white memorial crosses will be available for viewing June 11-13, 2021. The exhibit was partly sponsored by The Contigo Fund.

On June 4, 2021 there will be a Lunch & Learn program at the museum: Pulse: Looking Back Over the Past Five Years. This is a free program through the Zoom platform. You can register and learn more online.

Former Orange County Mayor Theresa Jacobs

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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.  

Former Orange County Mayor Theresa Jacobs knew nothing of the Pulse Nightclub before June 12, 2016. She had driven past many times, but didn’t know it was a nightclub.

The events that unfolded in the 24 your after the mass shooting that took the lives of 49 Orlando citizens. The morning of the shooting her primary thought was, “This can not be happening.” Her husband woke her up. There was a sense of urgency. The next moment she was on the phone with a sheriff’s deputy.  It might have been abut 5AM. Her next thoughts were how quickly can I get out the door and what do we need to do. There is some comfort in being able to do something.

It was so unbelievable that something that horrible could happen. She remember when the numbers jumped from 20 to close to 50.

Parking was a nightmare as she and an officer looked for the command center. Walking down the street she saw a bloody tennis shoe. Her heart sank. The intellectual part of her shut down any feelings and she got to work. The Orange County safety director was on site. He is also an emergency room physician at Orlando Regional Medical Center. He wasn’t on duty the night of the shooting but he was with her on the ground.  Initially one of the concerns was, are there still people inside who might have a pulse and can still be rescued.  The building was not secure, there was talk of bombs. Her primary job was to inform the public. There was an unfolding trauma throughout the community and throughout the nation.

The next step in the process was to try and connect family members with survivors. They estimated it might take 5 to 7 days to go through the autopsies. Family members did not know for certain the status of their loved ones. One survivor was in the hospital in a coma. He did not have ID on him. Over the next two days they tried to determine who he was and how to contact his family.

She walked out to brief the media with Chief Mina. There were so many cameras. People were sitting on the street. When Mina announced the numbers people couldn’t believe it. Someone shouted out “15”. They had misheard him assuming it had to be 15 since the numbers prior had been 20. No one could comprehend the number.

Ivonne Galanes

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Ivonne Galanes grew up in Puerto Rico and always wanted to be an artist.  She attended Pratt Institute in NYC. She loved the museums in NYC, the Frick Collection, MOMA, the met. You had to take two days to see the Met. Every chance she got she would take a subway and go to the Met. At Pratt she studied anatomy. A class went tot he Columbia School of Medicine. One cadaver had all the skin stripped off  so you could see all the muscles. The body was from a Hollywood actor from a Hercules movie. She studied at Pratt for two years and went back to Puerto Rico after getting sick. The school shut off the heat in the winter to save money. Years alter she went to an atelier in San Juan and she was always painting.

Her father was an art director and she followed in his footsteps. After college her day job was always in an advertising agency. She would paint at night and weekends. She made a name for herself. She started as a graphic designer. This was before computers. You had to know how to draw. Her father taught her since she was a little girl. Her training started way before college. She could sketch up an idea during the course of a meeting with clients.

Ivonne loves science. Her feet might be on the ground but her head is in the stars. That is where the creative ideas come from. Early in her career colors in her painting were dark but after she got divorced the colors became more vibrant.

She had a friend who was at Pulse Nightclub on the night of the shooting that killed 49 and he was one of the survivors. She did a painting called Angel of Healing. The wings were a rainbow of colors. The angel had his hand on his heart. The friend who survived fell in love with the painting and he bought it. Ideas for paintings are in the air and she just grabs them. If she tries to sit down and think about an idea it will not happen. It is random. She picks up the signal.

 

Pulse: Don Price

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Don Price was the sexton at Greenwood Cemetery at the time of the Pulse Nightclub massacre. He got a call from the mayors office the weekend of the shooting. He had been out at the beach watching a Space X launch. He returned to met with the mayors office. The mayor wanted to know if Greenwood could handle the 50 burials. The mayor also wanted to see the area of the cemetery that could accommodate the families on about Sunday afternoon. It was announced that the families would not have any cost of burial at Greenwood. People thought that meant the burials were free, but there were costs. Several anonymous law firms underwrote the burials paying families for the plots. 50 spaces were set aside. The section that was set aside had just opened up two months earlier, so it was easy to send the mayor photos and plot maps since it was just surveyed.

The cemetery worked with the state. The cemetery map became a war board. Funeral homes had to be called each day and reports sent to the state. The cemetery kept track of every funeral and service. Men’s dress suits and flowers were donated to families. Almost 21 victims were buried in Puerto Rico.  It is possible some of them will return to Greenwood because of hurricane Maria. Families have been displaced and families may want their loved ones back in America. These were 21 year old kids. We ended up burying 4 in Greenwood. Others were buried in, Tampa, Texas and North Carolina.

He met with families that did not understand everything going on.  They didn’t live in Orlando and suddenly they had to decided if they should bury their loved one at Greenwood or back to Puerto Rico. He had to give each family their options and let them decide. Services started Saturday. It was the first time the cemetery had multiple holes open at once. Tents were put up and families were kept separate from the holes. It was chaos.

People who come in the cemetery want to know where the Pulse section is even today. There are 49 bricks set aside for a memorial at the cemetery but that project was put on hold because so much is going on.  It will be put up with no fan fare.

They went out dancing on Saturday night, and Sunday morning they were gone. Half of them were out of the state by Wednesday. Some parents would not recognize the sexuality of their children. One victim was not even picked up. Greenwood had to work on trying to get him picked up. Finally, next of kin made the arrangements.

The burial site for the Pulse victims is right next to Anderson Road. Mayor Buddy Dyer didn’t want to put the burial site on display, but he didn’t want to hide this part of history. From the site you can see the lake, and downtown Orlando. But there were threats of protesting. A 10 foot chain link fence was erected down Anderson and black construction mesh was added so families with a service would not feel like they were on display. Commissioner Patty Sheehan helped Don find American flags and rainbow flags so the families didn’t have to look at the black mesh. It gave them some color. A parade permit was pulled so they could close down the third lane on Anderson and shut down the wetlands park. So if protestors showed up they could be arrested. Luckily there were no protestors.

As a cemetery they have a right to control any still or video images shot on property. News crews could shoot between funerals but not during any funerals. No burials were filmed. Don had a police officer with him to be sure media respected families privacy. Everyone was watching.

Orlando has become a more open and accepting community. Greenwood was open to all races since day one, but if you go to Winter Garden,  Winter Park or Ocoee, there is a white cemetery and a black cemetery. Everyone in Orlando was affected by this tragedy. It was an attack against our entire community. It tied us together. Don stayed away from any of the memorials after the shooting. As he said, “When it comes to a memorial, the last thing you want is for the undertaker to be standing there.”

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.

Mercedez Marisol Flores

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. 

On the dining room table were photos of Mercedez. She was 1 year old in one photo, 15 years old in another, and in a third she had graduated high school. A memory box
contained dried flowers and a photo of her. The Flores family had gathered to share just a fraction of the memories from Mercedez Marasol Flores‘s life.

Mercedez loved parties. She was very independent and protective of her friends. Her friends were everything to her. She planned her 16th birthday party herself. She rented a house and that was the first party she planned from scratch. She wanted to become an event planner and was always the life of the party.

For the Superbowl, Mercedez and Amanda Alvear came to the Flores home to cook for everyone. Marisol made a spinach and artichoke dip. It was super cheesy. Amanda brought her nieces. They were all dancing and having fun. That was the last time that the family spent with both of them. It was such a nice day.

Mercedez father, César H Flores, Sr. had a dream where he went to a river with his daughter. He told her not to go in the water because there were alligators. She went into the water anyways. He saw the alligators starting to swim quietly towards her and he snapped awake. He recalled that it was a very bad dream.

Mercedez’ mom had been
having a few conversations with Mercedez
and Amanda, letting them know it wasn’t safe anymore to go out every
weekend. They had promised her that they would at least calm down and
not go out so much. But they loved going to Pulse, it was like home
to them.

On June 12, 2016, César Sr. worked a night shift at his job starting at 11:30 at night until 8 in the morning. On the night of the shooting everything he did at work went wrong. He started to sweat profusely, his body shook. He needed a break and he stopped to watch TV for a moment. News about a shooting at the Pulse Nightclub flashed on the screen. He felt sorry for all those people. At 7am his son called him saying his sister had not come home. Her car wasn’t in the driveway. Then he remembered that she had gone to a nightclub to celebrate someone’s birthday. He immediately went home, then to the hospital with his two sons to get answers. They didn’t get answers from anyone. Someone called and said she was on the injured list. The name on that list was someone else’s but their hopes had been raised.

That night Nancy Flores had seen some Snapchat posts from Amanda and Mercedez. She saw the whole night unfold with them having fun and having drinks. Mercedez was always so happy with her friends.  Nancy woke up at 7am, and for some reason went back to Amanda’s story and it was really scary. She heard gun shots at the end of the video. She thought, Oh my God what happened, and that is when they started getting all the phone calls. While dad and the sons went to the hospital, Nancy tried to comfort mom.

That morning César Flores Jr. had been watching the news and he saw the commotion and it occurred to him that his sister was at Pulse. They called Mercedez multiple times on the phone and also tried getting a hold of Amanda, then they reached out to all her other friends through social media. They knew that some people had gotten out of the club, but at 8:30 in the morning they were not getting any answers. The first thing they wanted to do was go to the police department. Then they drove around the Pulse Nightclub area. They couldn’t get close. An officer told them to go to the nearest hospital. That is when they started putting 2 and 2 together. They were then directed over to  headquarters by the Amway. They saw young kids that were injured, bleeding. Others were crying giving their testimonies to the officers. There was chaos. They gave Mercedez name to multiple officers and detectives there, but couldn’t get any answers. Then they were told they should go down to the hospital because the injured were there.

They rushed to the hospital and stayed in touch with mom and Nancy. When they got to the hospital they started seeing how huge this was. There were crowds of reporters, and hundreds of people. They were taken to a holding area where the doctors were careful to only give solid information. There, they saw Amanda’s family. Amanda’s dad was in bad shape. Amanda’s mom said, “It could be our girls too.” They couldn’t get any answers.

They were moved to a hotel somewhere and then the doctors came in. People were enraged that they couldn’t get any information. It was the worst feeling. Names were read of a few survivors and people that were critically injured, and they were praying to God to hear Mercedez’ name. There were a few times where César Sr thought he heard her name. But it wasn’t her. They finished the list and there was a commotion. A high ranking officer got on a chair and shouted, “Please go home and come back tomorrow. We will have some sort of an answer then.” That moment is when a chill set in. They had to accept the tragedy for what it was. The three of them just walked towards the car with no hope. At that moment they knew.

Everyone was broken. No one could sleep, just laying in bed. A police officer came to the Flores house and he confirmed that Marisol was no longer with us. All hope was gone. Then they wanted to know about Amanda too. They were together that night. Amanda had lost her brother when he was very young, and now her parents had to face loosing another child. The dream about the river had tried to tell César Sr something. The
last time he saw his daughter was about 2 in the afternoon.

Mercedez and Amanda were such close friends and they spent their last moments together. They must have felt such fear, but from that moment they began to watch over both families and they continue to watch over them. Even as we sat at the dining room table, César Jr could still imagine his sister storming into the living room and shouting to mom. The last time we saw her she was rushing into the house because it was a Friday and she needed her nails and her hair done with Amanda. It felt like she was still at work.

César Jr. and his dad went to court to learn what happened that night. The gunman’s wife was on trial as an accomplice. They were there every day except the day the shooter’s wife was found not guilty. The worst was when they showed the machine gun, it was then easy to see what had happened. The funeral director told them more about what happened to Marisol than the police. She explained how she received the body and the cause of death and injuries. She advised the family not to see her before the preparations, that that is a memory that can not be erased and that it would be better to remember her as she was. After all  those days of not knowing, the family finally got to see her. She had a tattoo of a cross and the entire family was considering getting the same tattoo. Pam Schwartz at The History Center put them in touch with a tattoo artist who had done many Pulse related tattoos, they have since gone as a family to put their memory of Mercedez in permanent ink. The family was given all the personal items of Mercedez. She was buried in Guatemala where her parents plan to retire. She had actively helped bring together fractured branches of the family.

On her birthday, the Flores family went to Pulse for the first time. They saw the support and the love that people had left there and the stories that they shared. There was something for everybody. Going to Pulse was different now and they felt at peace. Mercedez God daughter was wandering around and she found a little Popsicle stick with Mercedez name on it. It gave them so much joy, it changed the mood. They read so many notes and found it very comforting.

Mercedez worked for Target. The family one day found the courage  to go back to Target after she was gone. There was a corporate meeting and everyone wanted to meet them. The co-workers had stories about how they met and how Mercedez helped them out or how she got them the job. Such beautiful team members. They gave her so much love, such as she had given to them all. 

6 Months after the shooting the family walked in the Pride Parade. They felt the mutual respect that Mercedez had for everyone. She helped open so many people’s eyes to accept everyone for who they are, to try and make a difference in other people’s lives. In the 26 years she was here, she managed to make such an enormous impact.

onePULSE Memorial and Museum Models

Posted on by Thor

The six architectural firms that were selected to submit Pulse Memorial and Museum designs to the onePULSE Foundation, now have their models on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL) through October 10, 2019. The six firms submitting were…

  • Coldefy and Associés with RDAI, Xavier Veilhan, dUCKS scéno, Agence TER, Prof. Laila Farah
  • Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Rene Gonzalez Architects with Raymond Jungles, Inc.
  • heneghan peng architects, Gustafson Porter + Bowman, Sven Anderson & Pentagram
  • MASS Design Group, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Sasaki, Sanford Biggers, Richard Blanco, Porsha Olayiwola
  • MVRDV, Grant Associates, GSM Project and Studio Drift
  • Studio Libeskind with Claude Cormier + Associés, Thinc, and Jenny Holzer

I will refer to the submissions just by the names in bold above for convenience.

The model in the foreground of my sketch by Studio Libeskind was one of my favorites in terms of of the design for the memorial. They propose a heart-shaped design of 366 rainbow gates, each for a day of the 2016 calendar year that creates a walking path around the club. Victims names appear on the gate that corresponds to the date of their birth. That path then cuts through the Pulse nightclub in a Z/broken heart pattern. They propose projections inside the club that are words of love and loss spoken by those impacted. This feels like a weaker aspect to the design concept.  The areas inside the heart pattern become a community space. There is a break in the heart pattern that is the entry into the club and symbolizes June 12, the day of the shooting. The theme of the design is Perpetual Light. The design then spills out onto Orange Avenue up towards Orlando Regional Medical Center with landscaping. Orlando is the most dangerous city in America for pedestrians and the present sprawl of Orange Avenue doesn’t seem a welcoming site for a peaceful “Survivors Walk.”

The museum design proposed by Studio Libeskind is a tall, boxy sculptural form that is meant to resemble a standing figure. Though the idea that it represents white light being broken up into a great diversity of colors, it just feels monstrous, like the iron giant. The museum seemed less thought out than the boxy form. It is the less inspiring half of the studio’s proposal. Each model also had a second small scale model that showed how the museum and memorial would fit into the Orlando Urban landscape. These were helpful to consider the future of the how SODO district might look.

The museum designed by Coldefy, was, on the other hand, well thought out and truly inspiring. The museum spirals upward with a central core that is dedicated to the museum. Each level had outer areas that incorporate landscaping and bright light. Vertical gardens and public plazas create new community places, and a
rooftop promenade offers views to the memorial and over the entire
district. It feels like a space station, modern and sleek with spiraling forms. Modular storage is explored in the schematics, making it clear they considered the storage of archival items. The museum also has a large community space for presentations and possible performances. This amazing museum design seems big and ambitious for small town Orlando, but it is my top pick.

In the Coldefy design the club is kept as an empty shell surrounded by a circular encompassing overhang that acts as a sun shade and protection from rain for visitors. The original Pulse fountain is maintained which feeds a large circular reflecting pool and the water cascades over the base which has the names of the 49 who lost their lives that night. The pool is lined with 49 colors that radiate towards the public spaces. A slice of the club is removed in a V shapes pattern and that section is preserved for the Pulse Museum, while the rest of the building is kept intact as an empty form, a memory of times past with a canyon walkway through it. A garden around the club is filled with 49 trees. I found it ironic that they were all orange on the model since we never experience fall here in Orlando. I noticed a wall that would break the street noise which was an intelligent design choice. Together they transform the SODO district. Once again, a top choice for me.

MVRDV had a memorial design which would allow visitors to walk under the club which has the bullet holes and damage covered in gold. Though a bold choice, it seems impractical. Water would likely pool in the new sinkhole created, and quite honestly it might best function as cover for a homeless tent city. The landscape consists of 49 trees chosen by victims’ families with atmospheric lighting.

The MVRDV museum is designed to look like LOVE written in cursive and slanted up from the ground. The sloping roof top is covered in green-space but seems impractical, since people who go up there would be surrounded by walls making the experience feel confining. Having a museum occupying the inner strokes of a cursive shape might also feel confining.

MASS Design Group surrounded the Pulse Nightclub with giant wedge shaped shards that act as a large waterfall feature. The club is contained withing the water feature, only faintly visible through the cascading water. The names of the 49 victims are at the base of the fountain feeling much like the 9/11 memorial. Though the nightclub remains, it is encapsulated and contained. The museum design is consistent with large wedge shapes thrusting towards the ground. It reminded me of the Star Wars Sandcrawler where droids go to die. It also reminded me of cheese graters and Hollywood sets with false facades. Needless to say, this was not my favorite design.

heneghan peng was the starkest of the designs for the memorial. My favorite aspect of the design is a stark wall that simply has 6.12.2012 emblazoned on it with 6 foot high carved numerals like on a gravestone. The curved linear exterior design of the museum is nice. Its curves embrace public spaces along West Kaley, tilting upwards to
provide shade. At its heart is a matrix of flexible chambers. The interior however feels dark and cavernous like a mall. This felt cold to me and not fully thought out.

Diller was my lest favorite of the designs. The memorial model appeared like a birthday cake with candles on top. The plan is to have pillars through the club which illuminate in rainbow colors. The impression is of stripper poles or ballistic tracks of bullets through a crime scene. Not only that, but the club is surrounded by similar poles. It all felt wrong and disconcerting to me.  The club is surrounded by what appears to be a beaded curtain. The museum design seemed to surf through a variety of scenarios as though they had no idea where to begin the final design. In general, they incorporated green space concepts with a series of blocks for the museum itself. Nothing seemed right.

Regardless of how I feel, you should look through the videos and design drawings and decide for yourself what you feel would work best for the memorial and museum south of downtown. If you are local, go in this week and leave your comments. If you aren’t local, visit the onePULSE Foundation website to review and leave your comments there. 

Brandon Wolf: Dru’s Lesson

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.

Brandon Wolf explained that a nightclub is a safe place for the LGBTQ community because the places they should feel safe aren’t. Homes, schools, churches, a street corner, none are safe. He needed to escape his small rural town he grew up in near Portland, Oregon, and moved to Orlando to work for Disney World. After Disney he worked for Starbucks where he became an assistant manager and then a regional manager.

In 2013 he met Dru (Christopher Andrew Leinonen). A friend, Austin, introduced them at Ember. Dru was fascinating, confident, and suave – nothing could bother him. He was in charge. Meeting Dru shifted who Brandon was as a person. They became friends, inseparable. Around 2015, Dru met Juan Ramon Guerrero. They were perfect together. You could sense their connection across a room. Brandon got an apartment in the same building two doors down from them. The three of them would take vacations together. On one vacation Dru put his arm around Brandon and said, “You are my best friend.”

In June of 2016 after gay days, Brandon had just broken up with his boyfriend Eric. He asked Dru for advice and Dru said, “This is the first time I have seen you care so much about someone, you have to go back.” They decided to throw a pool party on June 12th. The party would be a remedy for Brandon being single again and a way to kick off the summer. Eric texted and wanted to go out the night before the pool party. Dru and Juan had spent the day at Sea World and didn’t want to go out. Brandon pulled the best friend card saying, “I really need you to be there with me.” Dru responded, “Well since you put it that way, I’ll be there.”

That night Eric went to Brandon’s apartment to change. It was awkward since Brandon cared so much and Eric couldn’t be bothered. Finally the door knocked and there were his saviors Dru and Juan. Everyone had shots. They discussed where to go. Southern Nights was within walking distance but they decided to go to Pulse Nightclub. They took an Uber and got to Pulse after midnight.

Pulse was super busy. He was shocked it was so crowded. They went to the bar behind the dance floor toward the patio. Kate was the bartender. They ordered the usual drinks and Dru had a fireball shot. Brandon left the tab open. Eric turned to Brandon and said “I am on Tinder.” “WTF!” Brandon thought. Dru decided to step in, pulling everyone outside. He said, “You are letting every little thing get in the way of your communication. You are letting everything derail you. You either love him or you don’t. Allow it to be what it is.” He pulled them into a little circle and put his arms around everybody and said, “All of this nonsense stops right now. What we never say enough in this world is that we love each other. So everybody needs to go around and say I love you.” They all agreed and complied. That is when Eric said, “OK I’m ready to dance.”

The crowd thinned a bit as they danced. Around 1:55 AM it became clear that they were too old to be at Pulse because everyone was like 19. They all had a little bit too much to drink, it was time for the night to end. They gathered at a spot in front of the stage and agreed to go. Brandon went to the bathroom. The plan was to call an Uber and get back home. Eric followed him to the bathroom. The bathroom near the VIP area always had a really long line so they went to the men’s room in the the corner of black room. Time slowed down and things got so vivid. There was a water bottle on the edge of the sink. Brandon placed his empty cup on top of the urinal. He turned to the sink to wash his hands and heard a strange popping sound. Unexplainable sounds or smells happen all the time yet they don’t register. This was different. It was a strange sound that didn’t feel good. Eric turned to Brandon and said, ” What do you think that is?” Brandon responded, “I don’t know, maybe a speaker is broken?” Then it was quiet, with only the music filling the club.

Ten or twelve people poured into the bathroom. They were panicked and frantic. Some were hyperventilating, some were crying. They kept saying, “Oh my god, Oh my god.”  Then the popping started again. The first time it was a few shots, then it was relentless. The hair stood up on Brandon’s arms and he got a feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was really, really bad. He turned to Eric and said, “Oh my god, that’s gun shots.” The smell of gun fire wafted in.

What were they going to do? The bathroom had no door and no stalls, just three urinals on the wall. They debated weather to stay or go. Eric grabbed Brandon’s hand and said, “We have to get out of here.” He dragged Brandon out the bathroom door. They made a human chain of people holding each other’s hands and they went around the corner back into the club. The popping was loud. The club was full of smoke making it difficult to see but the strobe lights and music were still going.  To there right some fire exit doors were propped open. They sprinted out the doors.

Once outside, their eyes tried to adjust to the bright street lights. No police were on site yet. People were streaming out of the club jumping over things, screaming, and you could hear the POP, POP, POP POP in the background. They ran down the street and maybe a half block down, Brandon fell and the wind was knocked out of him. Eric pulled him up saying, “Come on we have to go.” Brandon looked at him and said, “They are still in there. We have to go back!” Eric said, “We can’t go back there’s no going back.” That is when the first sirens grew near and the police cars started to flood the area.

Not only was there the sound of gunfire in the background, but there were people screaming, bleeding and the smell of blood was overwhelming.  Police with assault rifles were screaming at people to get on the ground. That moment haunts Brandon to this day. It informs the anxieties about being in public. The first ten minutes were the most out of control, chaotic and disorienting of his life. They ran around the back of Pulse and turned left to go up Orange Avenue and they got to the hospital.

They made several phone calls. He posted on social media, “Oh my god, I can’t find my friends.” They were trying to collect their thoughts. Brandon’s dad was on the phone, he didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. Chaos broke out outside the hospital with police cars and people screaming, “Get on the ground!” In an instant he lost Eric. He was all alone, face down on the sidewalk. He crawled and found Eric hiding behind a car. Then they walked up Orange to the 7-11 on Orange and Gore. They sat on a concrete wall partition for hours, trying to contact friends. He posted on Facebook, “Eric and I are fine, but we can’t find our friends.” A friend, Nate wrote, “I saw Juan on a stretcher, he was being carried out. He was alive and gave me the thumbs up.”

Dru’s mother, Christine Leinonen, was out of bed at that time and she logged onto Facebook. she saw Brandon’s post and messaged him. She asked, “Is Christopher (Dru) with you?” He messaged back, “You need to come here now.” She got there a little after 4 AM. By then some friends were there. They set up a base camp for charging phones and buying water from 7-11. Eric and Brandon were inconsolable. Gal, a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, sat the entire night with them. She didn’t ask one question, she just brought water and Kleenex. Another reporter from ABC came and just said, “I just want you to know that people care.” By this time he had to turn off his phone which was was being bombarded by social media and reporters who wanted a statement. His phone was also about to die because he must have called Dru 150 times. He borrowed other peoples phones to call Dru over and over and over.

Christine  went to the hospital to wait outside since that is where FBI and police would be coming in and out. At around 5 AM the shooting was still going on. They were keeping up in real time from blocks down the road. They kept discussing theories. Maybe Dru wasn’t answering his phone because it was dead. Maybe he was held hostage in a bathroom. Maybe he was unconscious. Christine waited all night outside the hospital asking everyone who went in or out if they had seen him. About 10 AM someone said to Brandon, “You have to go home.” It was a hot humid Florida morning. Brandon and Eric went back to their respective apartments.

Brandon’s apartment became mission central for the week since it was two doors down from where Dru lived. So much was a blur that week. The satellite antenna was tuned so he could watch local news. He stared at the TV for hours on end watching every time a victim was announced. Friends brought food and drink to his apartment, also doing his laundry. He had never met Juan’s family. He knew Juan had a sister around the same age, so he scoured the Internet to find her name. He found her on Facebook. He sent her a message, “Hey I’m Brandon, Juan’s friend, you need to call me when you get this.” She called about 25 minutes later. She kept asking, “Is he OK? Was he there?” Brandon said, “I know he was taken out on a stretcher, I think you need to find him. He’s in a hospital somewhere.” Juan’s mom must have entered the room on the other end of the line. She asked, “Is Juan there?” When Juan’s sister said, “We need to go to the hospital.” His mom screamed because he was her baby. All Brandon could say was “I’m so sorry.”

Juan’s sister later called back, he said “Please tell me you found him.”  She said, “He’s gone.” Brandon’s heart broke. He was sitting on the steps to his apartment. He couldn’t go up and tell everyone yet. He wondered, why? Why would it happen here to the most beautiful, important people in the world? How could something like this happen, something so horrific? He walked up the steps and told everyone. That night he tried to sleep. He could not.

Christine had still not heard anything about Dru. Her interview with ABC had like 2.5 million views by now. No law enforcement agent could be unaware that Dru was missing. Brando tried to drink himself to sleep. Eric called saying, “I can’t be here alone.” So he went over Brandon’s place.  Brandon did mange to sleep for a while that night but had horrible nightmares.

The next morning his vigil watching TV continued. Juan’s name was on the list now. They knew 49 people were dead. There were 38 named on TV. That left 11 names unaccounted for. What were the chances that Dru was in a hospital perhaps in surgery, unconscious? Maybe they couldn’t get a hold of Christine. What if he lost his ID? They struggled through the possibilities for hours.

Christine called. She said, “He’s gone too.” Brandon really didn’t understand what a broken heart meant until that phone call. It was so painful, physically, mentally, emotionally. It was like when a speaker blows in a car from being turned up too loud. Everything was muffled.

Brandon helped Christine find a venue for the funeral.  Christine was so calm, strong and composed at first. She was mom to everyone. She brought pizza and they would google venues for funeral services. He thought two or three hundred people might show up. So they picked a larger venue so those people would fit comfortably. The funeral was at the cathedral in downtown Orlando. The place was packed. Every seat was full with standing room only in the back and out the doors into the street. There had to be over 1,000 people there.

Brandon was asked to give a eulogy at Dru’s funeral. He didn’t know what to say. When he tried to write his hand shook so much he had to stop. Dru was the best of them. How do you do justice to that? He decided to talk about what Dru meant to him. Sometimes in your life you meet people who are earth shattering, they are truly once in a lifetime. It was the first time he got to tell people how Dru saved him from himself. He had taught him so much. On that tragic night Dru challenged them to love people more. He was the social glue of their community.

Dru taught them to be good people, to be selfless, connect with people. There had to be a way to honor that. A Go Fund Me page was set up to raise money for Christine and Juan’s parents so they could recoup. One month after Pulse about $100,000 had been raised. Christine didn’t want the money, she said, “Do something with it that which would make Dru proud.” That was the birth of The Dru Project. One of the things Dru was most proud of was starting the first Gay Straight Alliance Program at his high school. With that in mind the Dru Project would give scholarships to the next Dru’s of the world. The project would also help schools set up safe spaces that would protect young people. The Dru Project was launched in July 2016. They have awarded $35,000 in scholarships so far.

Brandon has become an advocate for change. He is now the Central Florida Development Officer and Media Relations Manager at Equality Florida. He is a nationally-recognized advocate for LGBTQ issues and gun violence
prevention, Brandon found his passion for social change following the
shooting at Pulse Nightclub. Communication is his catharsis.