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.

Alex Barr, Pulse Survivor

Posted on by Thor

This post is from a personal account 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.

Alex Barr, from Atlanta, Georgia, is a survivor of the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub. He was a friend of Darryl Roman Burt II (DJ), who was a victim that night. They first met in college, and in 2016, DJ had just graduated. His ceremony was to be at the Orange County Convention Center. They arrived in Orlando the Friday before with friends and DJ’s family. They always supported each other. After the graduation there was a party with some of DJ’s cohorts, that is when three more of their friends showed up, Fred, Antwine, and Javád.

When they got back to the hotel, it was late and the three friends wanted to party. Alex was tired, having partied the night before and he just wanted to recover. DJ felt the same way. They tried to convince their friends to go out the next day, to just chill. Somehow they ended up going to Pulse Nightclub. He had been to Pulse about 3 years before. This was his second time there, so it felt familiar to him. Alex was surprised there was no pat down at the door. It seemed like a lot of Latin music, but they were having a good time.

Alex remembered saying on Snapchat, “I don’t want to be here.” He turned to DJ and said, “You fine?” and he said, “Yea, Yea.” They weren’t supposed to stay long, at most 10 to 20 minutes since DJ’s family was flying out the next morning at 5AM and he wanted to see them off. It was lively on the main dance floor. Alex, Antwine, and Fred were in the main dance floor and DJ and Javád went to the bar. Fred bumped into two people he knew. As they were exiting the main dance floor to get to the bar area, they sat for 5 or 10 minutes, getting ready to walk out.

The disc jockey said, “Last call for alcohol!” They were seated in chairs with their back up against the wall. They were trying to rush Fred, “Lets wrap it up, we have to go.” DJ said, “Are you all OK? I’m going to get this last drink. I just want to be sure you are all alright.” Alex said, “Yea, we’re good, we’ll be here.” About two minutes after he left they heard POP, POP. That’s when it began.

Alex, Antwine, Fred, and Javád were all in tune when they heard the sound of gunfire. Alex thought “Oh, somebody’s fighting, someone may have shown off and pulled out a gun or something.” They thought it was contained, because security was right there, there was a cop right at the door. But they heard POP, POP, POP, POP, the repetition of it. “OK it’s time to go!” They got up to get Fred and DJ, and that is when they saw the traffic, the rush and the screaming coming. They got shuffled down the hallway. Fight or flight kicked in. At that point Alex lost sight of Fred and Javád. He remembered that DJ was at the bar and hoped he was in this group of people. He forgot that there were two other exits from the main dance floor.

As Alex moved down the hallway he blacked out, a blur. He found himself in the hallway bathroom tucked back behind the main sink. Adrenaline pumped and the cadence continued, he could feel and hear the gun, the bullets getting closer and closer. Some people went in the girl’s restroom and Alex went into the men’s. They barricaded themselves in the handicap stall. Alex heard Antwine pounding on the door shouting, “Let me in! Barr let me in, damn it!” So he let him in. Everyone got down, hyperventilating.

For a moment they thought they were fine. It stopped. The next thing they knew there were bullets and the smell of the gun powder. That is what he remembers the most, the smell, not the sound, and trying to contort himself to get as far away and out of sight of what he had seen, everyone who was hit. He was wrapped around a sink, a tiny sink. In that moment he discovered what his body could do to try and survive. Antwine was right there with him.

They could hear the gunman across the way in the other bathroom talking, chatter, but then executing afterwards. Clearly they would be next, the best they could do was act like they were already gone, hide under some of the bodies and try to keep those who were injured as quiet as possible.

The gunman didn’t come across. He was talking, saying something about pledging allegiance and something about the flag. At that point they started texting families, “Goodbye.” Alex sent one to his mother, brother, and sister giving them his last words. He was sure the shooter was going to come, peak over the stall, and finish the rest of them off. But he didn’t. Alex told Antwine, “If God is real, this is the time, if these angels we were praying to exist, this is the time. I love you, its been a good ride, I guess this is it.” Alex texted
DJ who responded “I’m scared, I’m still in the building, don’t make any
noise.” He let DJ know he was in the bathroom, but DJ didn’t let him
know where he was.

He stayed contorted around that sink for an hour. He was expecting to die. Yet he didn’t. They began to whisper in the stall, and Javád’s head popped up out of nowhere. Alex and Javád texted Fred and DJ. “Did you make it out? Are you OK? Where are you?” Fred sent a text back that said, “Yea I’m fine, I made it out.” Then Alex texted Fred, “What about DJ?” Fred texted back, “Yea He’s fine.” The signals on their phone began to get spotty.

So it was just the three of them left, Alex, Antwine and Javád. DJ was good to go. Everyone was calling 911. Javád ended up on the phone with an investigator. They wanted pictures and a description of what was in the bathroom. How many were in the stall. There were 19 of them counting those who were expired outside the stall. Alex got advice on how to treat the injured from the emergency management person on his cell. She said she was a nurse. She said apply pressure. Their main goal was to keep people calm. They were respectful of the dead as well.

Another man, Angel, was able to crawl out and get to safety. The police yelled, “Get down! Show us your hands!” Angel yelled, “No it’s me, I’m OK!” They were able to get him out. They were happy, but the rest of them were not going to take that risk. At this point the gunman knew they were in the opposite bathroom and that some were alive. It had been 4 hours.

The investigator on the phone with Javád was prepping him, but withholding some information, perhaps to avoid tipping off the shooter. They learned that the shooter said he had bombs and planned to blow the place up. After all this, they were still going to die in an explosion. Another hour went by. Eventually they got wind of a rescue plan. They were going to blast a hole in the wall, and warned everyone to get down. There was a BOOM in another part of the building and then another BOOM. Later Alex learned that this was to distract the shooter so he didn’t know where they planned to get people out.

Then there was a huge blast against the cement wall of their bathroom and cement flew everywhere. A pipe burst with water spraying. They yelled for them to stop and they did. A machine was used to hit and hammer the wall. They called out, “You need to stop you’re crushing us, there is nothing but cement falling on us.” The head of a swat member looked in and yelled, Get out, Get out!” He had a gun pointed at them. They were still in shock. Those that were more mobile were hiked up and taken out.

They ran. All that could be seen were flashing lights, and people screaming, “Keep your hands up, get down, Keep your hands up!” There were a bunch of guns pointed at them because the police could not be sure they weren’t the shooter. The questioning began and Alex began to ask his own questions. “Where was DJ?” He looked around and tried to call. Well, DJ texted earlier. “Why wasn’t he texting now?” There were stories of people rushed to the hospital. Maybe DJ was in the hospital.

That is when Alex learned about Fred. Fred attempted to run with the crowd towards the restrooms. He exited the bathroom and tried to make a run for it and was hit critically in the arm. He had to have about 15 surgeries and was, at the time of this interview, at 85% with the use of his arm and hand.

No one could account for DJ but they remained hopeful they would get news later. They had to stay until the sun came up and then were bused to the police station for additional questions. They were soaking wet from the burst pipes and blood. In the main lobby of the station they were separated into two groups depending on which restroom they had been in. They were asked for personal information. The detectives leading the effort were very professional and sympathetic, which helped put everyone at ease. An officer drove them back to their hotel where they showered, but could not rest. They watched the news.

The next day they got Antwine’s car but didn’t have the keys for DJ’s car. They went to every hospital in Orlando looking for him. His mom, dad, and grandmother went to the Orlando Regional Medical Center where family members waited for news. They tried to be as proactive as possible. He had to be OK because of Fred’s text. Maybe DJ was one of the John Does? That evening, Alex saw DJ’s name scroll across the TV screen in the hotel room. He sat there for a moment, numb unable to react and then lost it. DJ had just graduated, a huge milestone for him, and now he was gone. His last words to Alex were, “Are you OK?”

Making Ribbons at the Center

Posted on by Thor

On May 22, 2017 there was a suicide bombing at the The Manchester Arena in the United Kingdom. An Islamic terrorist
detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the
Manchester Arena following a concert by the American singer Ariana
Grande. The incident was treated as an act of terrorism. 22 innocent concert goers died. 59 were injured.

A year before in Orlando we had suffered an act of terrorism that took 49 lives at the Pulse Nightclub. As an act of solidarity with the City of Manchester, people gathered at The Center (946 N Mills Ave, Orlando, FL 32803). A video crew was on hand to record a video of support and love for the city of Manchester. Members of the Orange County Regional History Center had gone to the event to show their support. They all sat around the conference table waiting for the event to begin.

Someone mentioned that there was a bag of pins and unfolded ribbons that were waiting to be made. Pam Schwartz, the chief curator at the History Center suggested they get the bag out since there were many idle hands. Soon everyone was folding the ribbons and securing them with pins. I tried a few myself and it is a tricky process at first, which quickly becomes routine. Ribbons began to pile up on the table. I am sure the safety pins pricked more that a few fingers.

Soon members of the community were being recorded with their words of support and this impromptu ribbon making session became the backdrop for this video of solidarity. What the world needs now is love sweet love, now more that ever.

Glen’s Nantucket Home

Posted on by Thor

Glen Weimer and I were buddies back in the early days of our studies at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. It had been a long time since we saw each other and it was so amazing to  get away and spend a week exploring his home of Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. Glen rents this beautiful little bungalow along with a roommate. Glen keeps the place immaculately clean, watering the lawn each morning and squeegeeing the shower tiles. His bedroom is right above the porch and rather than using air conditioning, the windows have fans to circulate the ocean breezes.

Waving in the breeze on the porch was a rainbow colored wind sock.  I had visited shortly after the Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando and it was a chance to get away from sketching the sadness as Orlando came to grips with the gravity of what had happened. Every day I found some vigil, fundraiser or healing service devoted to Pulse. Nantucket gave me time to myself and sketching opportunities outside the confines of mass murder. The rainbow wind sock brought back flashes of the endless rainbows that had cropped up everywhere in Orlando. The entire world was in solidarity with our loss.

Glen’s place also doubles as his office where he offers holistic bodywork for clients. Sessions are a synthesis of polarity therapy and subtle osteopathic
(manual therapy) techniques, structural mobilization and positional
release techniques. They are customized to address unique needs and
specific body-mind challenges. On his coffee table were photo books of his trip to Tibet where he explored the birthplace and temples of Buddhism.

It was wonderful to see how Glen had rebuilt his life. Though on an island, he was part of a tight knot community. Appointments for his business were logged in digitally and he went through the schedule to be sure all the appointments lined up right.  In the morning he built a complex blended drink with powders, fruit and vegetables that must have been incredible healthy. That is in stark  contrast to the Peanut Butter Captain Crunch I have each morning. He told me something that has stayed with me and I think about often. He said we are all rich in our own way. We make choices about our lifestyles and who we surround ourselves with. While some may have lots of money, others choose freedom and creative or spiritual endeavors that offer different forms of riches. It was in a time of incredible personal chaos and change when I visited him, and that hasn’t changes two years later. Seeing Glen gave me some form of consistency and hope that I will find my place in the world.

Heading to Nantucket

Posted on by Thor

A month after the horrific attack that killed 49 people at the Pulse Nightclub, I was feeling burnt out from sketching vigils, fundraisers and community healing events in Orlando. Glen Wiemer, an old art school buddy offered me a chance to get away and take some time for myself up in Nantucket where he practices Holistic Bodywork.

I found a cheap direct flight to Nantucket right from the Orlando International Airport. I was recently separated and it turns out that getting divorced is a long drawn out process. Now two years later I am still in the process of preparing for the divorce. An art appraiser is determining the value of my art since it is considered part of the marital assets that need to be split.

The flight was uneventful and pleasant. I was excited for some time to soak up some sun and regain some strength to face the long road ahead.

Pulse 2 Year Memorial

Posted on by Thor

June 12, 2018 marked 2 years since the massacre of 49 people at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Barbara Poma the owner of the club held a vigil at the nightclub to honor those lost. She founded Pulse for her brother who was gay and died from Aids. The name of the club was meant to keep his pulse alive. Now that Pulse is looking to keep 49 other peoples memories alive as well. An interim memorial was installed on the site featuring landscaping and design from Dix Hite Partners. A large photo mosaic mural was wrapped around the the building. The mural incorporates hundreds of photos pulled from the Orange County History Center‘s collection.

Pam Schwartz and I went to the memorial on June 12, 2018 just before sunset for the memorial and celebration of life. I decided to stop and sketch the iconic Pulse sign since I figured it might be difficult to get a view of the stage. Pam ended up sitting close to the stage since she is involved with the Pulse memorial task force. The base of the sign had been encased in a solid plastic case which lit up as it grew dark. People could sign the plastic with whiteboard markers that were supplied. These messages could be periodically erases so new messages could be added. A father stood his small daughter on his shoulders so she could sign high up.

Several of the Sisters of  Perpetual Indulgence stood on the far side of the sign. They wore black nun habits and one wore a rainbow veil held in place by Mickey Mouse ears. The angels were out in force although I doubt all 49 were there with their PVC and bed sheet fabric wings. Jen Vargas was an angel and she sat in her electric wheel chair wearing the large wings. She has been through surgery and seeing an angel in a wheel chair seemed appropriate for the occasion. A teenage daughter hugged her mom in front of me. Barbara Poma spoke, but her voice was so soft I couldn’t catch a word.

Politicians took to the stage. Each had a set script which was interpreted in Spanish on a teleprompter so Spanish speaking members of the audience could understand what was being conveyed. County Mayor Theresa Jacobs went off script and the planned interpretation had to stop. County Commissioner Patty Sheehan was in the crowd early on,  but she disappeared before all the political speeches. One man had sound muffling ear phones on and he shook and hugged his dog. I thought he might be crying, but I think he just isn’t used to being out in public.

Blue and her dancers performed on the stage which unfortunately I couldn’t see since the crowd was so thick. A chorus sang a bilingual Somewhere Over the Rainbow medley that incorporated songs from Wicked. The song Changed for the Better was included and it is a song I have found inspiring since the day I first saw the show. A rainbow formed across the club and cell phones rose in tribute to record the moment.

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

Posted on by Thor

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.

Another Year Passes at the Orange County Regional History Center

Posted on by Thor

I sketched the final day of the exhibit install for,
Another Year Passes: Orlando After the Pulse Nightclub Massacre. The Exhibit will be on display from June 2, 2018 through October 14, 2018. Last year’s exhibit honoring the victims of the
Pulse Nightclub shooting was only up for one week because a
wedding was booked in the exhibit hall. This year the exhibit will be up
for four months in a different space.

I was on hand to sketch the install of a huge piece of art created by Jeff Sonksen of

Paint the Trail fame. He paints
on wooden fencing and has created a long stretch of art along the biking
trail in Longwood, Florida. After the Pulse Nightclub massacre he
painted 49 portraits of the victims of the shooting.
The portraits surround a large fence panel that has the Orlando skyline
along with several tourist attractions in silhouette. The museum staff
had to remove the heavy and cumbersome wooden supports he used when he
left the panels freestanding at the Dr. Phillips
memorial in 2016. They devised a method of disassembling the panels so
it could be brought into the museum and installed for the exhibit that
is opening just two years after the fateful shooting on June 12, 2016.

Assembling and hanging the piece was a herculean task. The staff looked like the soldiers who raised the flag at

Iwo Jima in the famous WWII
photo and sculpture. The sign, along with a set of 49 beautiful
hand-painted tiles, however will not be present for a few days to the
public and will have to be taken down intermittently throughout
the exhibition to allow for weddings happening in the same space. If
isn’t up when you come, I recommend you come back another time to see
them. 

I walked through the exhibit and it is incredible, with so much
information about how this community continues to try and heal after the
tragedy. It wraps around the second floor hall bringing the walls close
for an intimate view. Over 1,800 images of quilts
from the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild were miniaturized and then
exhibited en mass together on one wall. The shear volume of colorful
quilts is staggering. A few of my sketches from oral histories are
scattered throughout the exhibit.


The museum staff have to be commended for again crafting an incredible exhibition.
The Orange County Regional History Center has received five significant national awards from the
American Alliance of Museums,
the American Association for State and Local History, and
the Southeastern Museum Conference for their work on the One Orlando
Collection in the last two years related to the impact and legacy of the
mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016. It is hard to
see their hard work needing to be compromised
against a funding initiative. It would be a great day when the museum
was well enough funded by the community so it no longer needed
income from weddings.

Unloading Pulse Memorial Items at Off-Site

Posted on by Thor

After clearing memorial items away from the Pulse Nightclub,we drove to the onePULSE Foundation storage facility. While all the staff and Barbara Poma went upstairs to the air conditioned storage facility, I remained behind with the truck in the entrance bay. Call me paranoid but I didn’t want to leave the truck unattended. In Parkland, Florida where 17 students and faculty were killed in a mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, there was a memorial set up outside the high school with thousands of flowers, banners, teddy bears, and pin wheels. A drunk and disorderly couple were seen by a witness taking items from the memorials of the Parkland shooting victims and putting them in their truck.

A witnesses said they saw 37-year-old Michael Shawn Kennedy and
40-year-old Kara O’Neil taking items from a fence outside the High School. When police arrived they found the items in the couple’s car. A deputy also saw Kennedy placing a box of pinwheels in the vehicle. They claimed they were going to set up their own memorial. One deputy noted that Kennedy said, “I ripped down the anti-gun banner because I am pro-gun.”

According to the incident report, these items from the memorial were
found in their car: a Parkland athletics trophy, a shadowbox with photos
of the 17 victims, 17 white metal angel pennants, dedication plaques
that say “The Mighty Seventeen” and “MSD Parkland Strong”, 3 white teddy
bears, an anti-gun banner, 25 pinwheel lawn ornaments some with the
victims’ names, American flags, and a red stone that says “Never Again.” It is hard to imagine what was going through their drunken heads.

After leaving the onePULSE Foundation facility, the Orange County Regional History Center staff went to the off site facility for their museum collection. After Hurricane Irma, that storage facility suffered damage when an air conditioning hatch blew off and gouged multiple holes in the warehouse roofing. Water soaked drop-ceiling insulation and tile panels, until they were so heavy that they crashed down exploding on the concrete floor like bombs.  All of the inside walls in the warehouse had to be replaced to keep the historic items from being over run with black mold. Dehumidifiers ran for weeks to suck moisture from the air. Pulse memorial items still on the floor were once again subjected to water, but a heroic effort was made to dry and restore everything and not a single item was lost.  The new Pulse memorial items were paced on palettes. With the two year exhibit opening on June 2, some of these memorial items might end up on display, which will be up much longer that the 7 days that the One Year Later exhibit was open last year. That exhibit had to come down to make way for a wedding reception. This year’s exhibition will focus on the new stories the History Center has learned and on what has changed for Orlando since last year.

Artegon is Long Gone

Posted on by Thor

I did a series of sketches when plans were made to open Artegon Market Place on International Drive. I was fascinated by the idea of a thriving market similar to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul Turkey. What appeared in the first weeks were a series of cages filling the empty space of a former mall. Those cages were eventually replaced with mini themed store fronts but the place felt fractured and cut up. I had been toying with the idea of renting a space in the market to sell my art because they promised low cost rents for artists to start. RV, a local artist rented a large gallery but soon left because of broken promises by the management.

Being across from many of International Drives Premium Outlet malls where tourists spend plenty of money before heading back home, I thought there might be a ready market. For whatever reason, the market place never thrived. The center first opened in 2003 as Festival Bay Mall, but that only lasted until 2011. Artegon opened in 2014. The place seemed cursed. In the open inner court area a large Aerial Adventure Course was built with rope bridges, zip lines, suspended disks. The first week the course was opened, Robert Belvoir, 52, fell 30 feet to his death.

Lightstone Group ended its two-year experiment to take the
“property in a new direction.” Bass Pro Shop and Cinemark Theaters remain open since their buildings aren’t owned by Lightstone. Artegon’s owner recouped its $25 million investment, selling
the properties for Bass Pro Shops and Cinemark Theaters for a combined
$30 million. In the Noor Salman trial, footage was shown of Pulse Nightclub shooter Omar Mateen buying ammunition for the rifle used in the Pulse Nightclub attack along with some candy from Bass Pro Shops in the weeks before the massacre.