Category: Art & Entertainment

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Relax and take in music, scenery at Jazz Brunch

Next to the banks of the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale on the first Sunday of each month, you can hear the catchy tunes of live jazz music in a beautiful setting at Esplanade Park. Sunday Jazz Brunch at the Riverwalk provides a free concert series performed by local jazz artists on three different stages from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There is the large Esplanade Stage for big bands and orchestras, the Connie Hoffmann Stage for more intimate performances in a gazebo, and the Peck Courtyard Stage at the adjacent Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Around the area are park benches, picnic tables, and boat docks on the river, and you can meander all along the scenic, brick-lined walkway by the water and catch some boats gliding by. Some concertgoers set up chairs, tables, and picnic blankets to listen to the music, munching on picnic lunches they bring, or purchasing food from the vendors set up nearby. Local merchants also sell crafts and other wares in a designated area.

I got to experience this relaxing but fun event for the first time in early October with my boyfriend, Art. We didn’t know to bring our lawn chairs but snagged spots on a couple of benches where we could sit. There were almost as many dogs as humans there, it seemed, and we may bring our dogs to a future event. Everybody there was having a great time. We saw several groups camped out with enough food and beverages to feed a tailgate party for a day.

Soon after we arrived, we walked over to a restaurant just past the railroad tracks with outdoor tables overlooking the river for a delicious brunch before returning close to the music. But just walking along by the water and hearing the live music can lift anybody’s mood. There was joyful dancing in a couple of different places, and it was a low-key party atmosphere, with friendly people around us. We saw a woman walking around with shots on a tray, passing them out for free; and a little girl selling lemonade from her small chair and table on the grass facing the walkway.

This peaceful setting by the New River is nice and scenic, but also a great central location to be in. Besides the Broward Center, the area boasts the Museum of Discovery and Science, the Museum of Art, and Huizenga Plaza. There are also water shuttle and water taxi stops, along with the Community Shuttle and Tri-Rail stops. And the city’s Marine Facilities offer four docking stations along the river, all accessible to the jazzy sounds of the live music.

It was my first time at the Riverwalk, which runs from the Sailboat Bend neighborhood to near the Stranahan House. Art and I enjoyed walking back and forth along the pretty walkway near the music, although we didn’t do the full one-mile walk on this day. The Riverwalk has two main streets, Las Olas Boulevard and Himmarshee Street, running through the district. On a future trip there, we plan to take in the full Riverwalk experience.

If you like jazz music, both big bands and small, in a picturesque locale, the Sunday Jazz Brunch is a must-do. I’ll be going back for sure.

The next two Jazz Brunches are on Nov. 6 with entertainment from Davis and Dow, RD Project, and Peter Betan Trio, and Dec. 4 with music by Valerie Tyson Band, Jackson Bunn Group, and Mari Bell Quintet. For more information, go to www.parks.fortlauderdale.gov/special-events.

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Scare yourself this Halloween with local author

If you’re looking to scare yourself to sleep this Halloween, curl up with a book by a local South Florida author and international Amazon bestseller, Sara Brooke. Just don’t forget to leave the lights on.…

Brooke, who dreamed of writing horror novels since childhood, has been keeping readers up at night since 2012. Her debut novel, “Still Lake,” a chilling medical thriller, made the Amazon bestseller list and captured the No. 1 spot in Barnes & Noble’s horror genre for two days, which is no easy feat for a new author. Since then, Brooke has written 10 additional horror titles and contributed to four anthologies, often scaring herself in the process.

“Writing ‘Kransen House’ bothered me. It’s a disturbing book. It’s about a very dysfunctional family, and the patriarch is psychologically not right. Writing that, it was a very dark environment and brooding situation that made me uncomfortable,” recalls Brooke. But she isn’t one to shy away from the discomfort.

“I think it’s a good thing because when I’m writing if it takes me to a really dark place in my imagination where I’m kind of looking around and not wanting to think about the story when the lights go out. Hopefully, it does the same for my readers,” enthuses Brooke, who loves being told that her books are demented.

“The best part is having people read my books and tell me how scared they were,” she says. “To know that somebody is fully immersed in something I’ve written—immersed in my twisted little world—that is the biggest reward.”

In addition to writing horror novels, Brooke also conducts paranormal investigations with the Paranormal Existence Research Society, a nonprofit organization that investigates paranormal phenomena across Florida and conducts in-home investigations for those who think their home is haunted. While these investigations would seem the perfect complement to her writing, Brooke rarely draws inspiration from them.

“For me, the investigations are about helping people,” explains Brooke, adding that what happens on a typical investigation is also much milder than what you read in her books. “If I walked into a home and the things that happen in my stories were happening, we would need to call a person of the cloth to help us.”

Brooke is currently working on her 12th novel, “In the Marsh” (a working title that may change), a gothic horror story inspired by a trip to St. Augustine. Though no firm publication date is set, Brooke is confident the book will be released in the first half of 2023.

For some thrills and chills this Halloween, Brooke recommends “Cursed Casino,” a cross between “The Shining” and “The Mist,” which readers have described as “the perfect story for a rainy, stormy, drink-filled Halloween night,” and “Kransen House,” one of her more twisted tales. “‘Kransen House’ is with you after you finish it. You feel like you need to take a shower after that one,” she laughs.

For more information on Brooke and her writing, visit www.sarabrooke.com. Her novels are available on Amazon.

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‘Black Pearls’ opens at Museum of Art – Exhibit documents Pearl City, historic Black city of Boca Raton

Many stories have been written about Boca Raton’s first community and historically Black neighborhood, Pearl City, but none have included photographs and first-person accounts of the descendants of the original residents and their neighborhood, built in 1915, before the incorporation of Boca Raton 10 years later in 1925.

The Boca Raton Museum of Art, which stands two blocks from the original neighborhood, located south of Glades Road between Dixie and Federal highways, commissioned Washington, D.C.-based photographer Reginald Cunningham for a series of photographs, titled “Black Pearls,” in honor of Pearl City.

“We want to tell the story of Pearl City through the current residents whose parents and grandparents were the original Pearl City settlers,” says Irvin Lippman, executive director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. “The Pearl City residents are our museum’s closest neighbors, and we want to celebrate our neighbors with this exhibition.”

To do so, Lippman invited Imani Cheers, associate professor of digital storytelling in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, and Candace Cunningham, assistant professor of history at Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters at Florida Atlantic University, to tell the full historical story of Pearl City.

Photographer Cunningham (BePureBlack.com), a social activist, was selected in 2020 to photograph the cover of British Vogue’s special issue titled “Activism Now: The Faces of Hope,” which featured his wife, activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham, on the cover.

Inspired by photographer Gordon Parks’ motto—“I chose my camera as a weapon against all the things I dislike about America: poverty, racism, discrimination”—Cunningham set out to find out as much as he could about Pearl City, its original residents, and their descendants.

“Through the lens of my photography I’m always trying to create affinity for and uplift Black people and the Black experience in this country,” says Cunningham.

“One of the things I always aim to do is inspire people to feel something when they look at my work. To have an emotional, physiological response,” he says. “Being commissioned by the Boca Raton Museum of Art to photograph the residents and cultural emblems of Pearl City—one of the South’s most beloved and enduring Black districts—is an amazing experience.”

Cunningham captures not just images of Pearl City residents, but also the physical and ephemeral elements that make up the community, including street signs, the community garden, the Little Food Pantry, and the Martin Luther King monument located at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, 200 NE 12th Street.

As Candace Cunningham writes in the accompanying catalog, “On April 26, 1915, a land auction was held to create ‘a brand-new colored city’ that would be governed exclusively by colored people. African Americans purchased thirty lots that day.

“Those disparities [racial and social] pushed African Americans out of Georgia and the Carolinas and pulled them into South Florida,” she says about that time in history. “It was by no means the land of opportunity for Blacks, but it did offer more options than they were finding elsewhere.”

In more recent times, the neighborhood faced threats from developers and other outside forces. “What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to keep a sense, or an aura, or a feel for this community,” said the Rev. Henry Willis at the time.

Pearl City was known for being a safe, close-knit community where everyone knew one another.

“The people out of this area, the children, and the grandchildren out of this area have become professionals—athletes, doctors, lawyers, and teachers,” notes Pastor Calvin Davis. “They have become politicians and police officers. They have become productive citizens because of this area. That’s why this area deserves to be recognized as an area that developed many [generations] and is still developing people in so many ways.”

Life was hard in that era, especially for Black people, who worked in the fields picking beans for 17 cents a day, faced discrimination, and suffered through the segregated South.

The exhibit includes 24 photographs, including images of pastors Ronald Brown and Calvin Davis, Anne Blutcher, John Martin, the Anderson family, Katie Mae, Gladys Bettis, Geraldine and George Spain, Irene Rufus, Annette Ireland, Marie Hester and Dorothy Overstreet, Barbara Griffin, Eva Cunningham (Griffin), and Willie Jenkins. Stories in the subjects’ own words are also included.

Pearl City leaves a legacy of good memories and strong moral values with its inhabitants. The closeness of the community, the neighborliness, and the mentality of respecting and helping one another has stayed with its residents to this day.

Descendant George Spain Jr., who comes from an original family in Pearl City, remembers, “One of the founding principles of Pearl City to me was family. We had a deep sense of spirituality. We all had that foundational spiritual growth that was imparted in us to believe and trust in God.”

“That’s the only reason why it hasn’t been dispersed,” he says in the exhibit. “God blesses you to be a blessing to other people. In our house that is something that has been instilled. That’s one of the things that Pearl City was fond of—neighbor would look after neighbor. It’s a very close-knit community.”

“Black Pearls” runs through Jan. 22, 2023. Visit Bocamuseum.org.

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Artist’s ‘Terra Ephemera’ highlights environmental passions

For Gretchen Scharnagl, a Miami-based environmental artist and professor in the Art History department at Florida International University, her art and subject matter are her way of connecting — connecting herself to others, and others to her art.

For her exhibit “Terra Ephemera,” at the Coral Springs Museum of Art running through Oct. 8, Scharnagl, 64, brings a number of “stepping into her subject works,” some more mature works, and pieces created specifically for this show.

“Terra Ephemera” makes use of traditional and nontraditional media in a way that provokes visual, conversational, human, and scientific interest.

“Gretchen is a risk taker,” says Jill Brown, executive director of the Coral Springs Museum of Art. “This translates into an important component of her creative process. Gretchen’s art transcends the familiar and leans heavily into difficult and unknown territory, leaving viewers to think and rethink what they are seeing.

“‘Terra Ephemera’ tackles the mundane while exploring the environment with a strong sense of place,” Brown says. “It makes us think about our relationship with the world and each other from the present, past, and future.”

Scharnagl lives with her husband, Robert, 64, a carpenter/contractor who often plays a role as her art assistant; two large Dobermans; and three cats.

From her backyard studio in suburban Miami, where she has lived for 40 years, Scharnagl examines common artifacts from her environs, reads copious amounts of scientific environmental studies, and is fascinated by her own compulsions, leading her to discover and explore little-known phenomena.

While visiting the Field Museum in Chicago, Scharnagl became fascinated by the story of migrating birds who collided with urban architecture and died. Her raison d’etre is to highlight little-known environmental issues — such as this and other facts like a worldwide sand shortage — through her art-making.

The mother of two women scientists, Scharnagl reads about science, the earth, and the environment and finds inspiration for her art.

She cites Edward Humes’s “Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash,” Susan Strasser’s “Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash,” Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s “Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene,” and David Wallace-Wells’ “Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming” as influences.

“I feel an urgency that art should take a responsibility,” Scharnagl says. “Art that is speaking of something important has to jump the fence and speak to those that would not necessarily have exposure to it.”

For someone intensely committed to her art and teaching, Scharnagl came to her calling in her 40s, calling herself “a reluctant artist.”

“I did not consider myself an artist for the majority of my life,” she says. She was prodded into it by a comment she overheard by a mother saying she was wasting her talents by volunteering in her children’s school.

“She could be right,” thought Scharnagl, who hasn’t looked back since.

Her series “The Anthropocene” consists of eight works depicting climate change, water-level rise, and other “planetary boundaries” we are crossing, such as crimes against animals (think wet markets and COVID-19). “Elegy for Earth,” a melancholic lament about the state of the earth, includes three parts, “Earth Retold,” “Earth Tracings,” and “Earth Remains,” which are designed to make the audience think about the state of our earth.

A performance piece scheduled for the opening reception on Sept. 22, “The Earth Piñata Performance,” symbolizes mankind’s treatment of Mother Earth. Participants will break open the 28-inch, earth-like piñata, releasing 2,000 plastic animals, plants, and fungi, creating a new piece of work.

“The Globe Maker” (“a labor of love”) consists of 20 papier-mâché globes that Scharnagl created with her husband, born out of an “obsession” with the word “biophilia” (an innate and genetically determined affinity of human beings with the natural world, a theory developed by biologist E. O. Wilson).

The littlest globe, made from pages from her collection of National Geographic magazines, is titled “Little Blue Marble” — an homage to astronomer Carl Sagan. The globes are cradled in vintage camera and transit tripods used for surveying the earth’s surface that Scharnagl found online, a synergy she couldn’t resist.

“Every part has something to say,” she says. “What you make it with, what kind of papers, graphite, glue, or other media you use. I consider the art-making a way to think, a way to discover and explore. It’s a way to discover things about your subject and yourself.

“When I create art, it’s a personal narrative embedded in a universal idea,” she says. “I identify with the bird who hits the building, with the earth itself, and identify with poetry and cultural mythologies about Mother Earth.”

Scharnagl credits German painter Albrecht Durer as an influence and her professors at FIU, including Clive King, Manny Torres, and Bill Burke, for teaching her to self-critique.

She admires African-American artist Mark Bradford for his large-scale abstract collages; Jamaican-born American artist Nari Ward for his sculptural installations addressing consumer culture, poverty, and race; and art writer Linda Weintraub for her writings on environmental consciousness.

In her spare time, Scharnagl admits to being a “total Trekkie.” “If push comes to shove, I call ‘Star Trek’ my martini — it feeds my soul.”

Future plans include a possible residency at the Deering Estate in Miami and continuing to create art.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m blowing my own horn,” Scharnagl says, “but people have told me, ‘You’re giving a gift to the world.’”

Exhibition Dates
Aug. 23–Oct. 8, 2022

“Ask the Artist” Talk
Thursday, Sept. 8, 6:30 p.m., mingle/gallery view; 7 p.m., talk

Opening Reception
Thursday, Sept. 22, 5:30–8:30 p.m.
“Earth Piñata” Performance Piece

Live during reception

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Celebrate Jewish culture at YI Love Yiddishfest

The 4th Annual YI Love Yiddishfest ’22 returns live this year, Aug. 30 to Sept. 4, bringing six days of cultural events, including concerts, plays, lectures, and live entertainment, after two years of online events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Founded by actor/comedian and Coral Springs resident Avi Hoffman (known for his “Too Jewish” trilogy), who’s CEO of the Yiddishkayt Initiative and YI Love Jewish, the first event was held in 2018 at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach. This year’s events will take place in Broward County, Boca Raton, and Miami Beach.

“It’s a little bit scary, very exciting, and very ambitious to be back,” says Hoffman. “But I think we’ll do great.”

Hoffman says the event will appeal to everybody — “not just Jews, but anyone who is Jewish, knows someone Jewish, or has a curiosity about the Jewish culture or religion.”

Highlights of the event include the musical concert entitled “Stars of David: Story to Song,” based on the best-selling book, “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish” by Abigail Pogrebin.

“Stars of David” adapts these real-life stories of Jewish personalities, including actor/director Stephen Spielberg, Bravolebrity Andy Cohen, shoe mogul Kenneth Cole, actor Fran Drescher, singer/pianist Michael Feinstein, and former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to name a portion of the 62 personalities featured in the book.

The concert will feature Hoffman, Shira Ginsburg, cantor at East End Temple in New York City, Carbonell-winning actor Patti Gardner, and local singer/actor Michael Harper, with musical director Caryl Ginsburg Fantel. Cantor Ginsburg is the niece of Fantel and daughter of Arthur Ginsburg, the former television chef and author, known as “Mr. Food.”

Additional live performers include the Canadian group YidLife Crisis, based on a web series of the same name, created by two friends, Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman, as a way of paying homage to the Yiddishkeit in their upbringing and to shed a Jewish comedic lens on the life in which they were raised. The two have collaborated with actor Mayim Bialik and fellow Canadian Howie Mandel.

Jewish rapper Kosha Dillz, who has performed with rapper Fat Joe and Nisim Black and whose raps about matzoh and Passover have gone viral, will bring his unique rap style to South Florida. Hoffman hopes that his appearance at the festival will attract a younger demographic.

Although Hoffman is modest about his performing contribution, for his fans, another highlight of the festival will be Hoffman’s latest and perhaps last in his “Too Jewish” trilogy performance when he debuts “Still Jewish After All These Years,” a culmination of his Jewish life and career.

Hoffman is also working on a memoir to be titled “Confessions of a Nice Jewish Boy.”

For Hoffman and his mother, Miriam, co-founder of the Yiddishkayt Initiative, a former columnist for the Yiddish edition of The Forward newspaper, a Yiddish playwright, and a past lecturer in Yiddish at Columbia University, it’s an honor to be a cultural emissary for the Yiddish language and culture.

The two teach Yiddish online, a language Hoffman says was predicted to die out with this generation. Instead, he says, Yiddish is flourishing and is everywhere. For examples, he points to Seth Rogan’s 2020 film “An American Pickle” and the Emmy-nominated Netflix series “Unorthodox,” and Billy Crystal’s Yiddish call and response at the 2022 Tony Awards where he had half the audience singing “Oy” and the other half responding “Vey.”

Coral Springs OB/GYN physician Bruce Zafran, who has been practicing in the city for 35 years and moonlights as a stand-up comedian, was watching old Jackie Mason comedy bits online when he got a pop-up message asking him if he wanted to learn Yiddish. He thought, why not?

Hoffman and his mother taught that Yiddish class, and while Zafran was familiar with Hoffman, he was surprised to learn they were neighbors in Coral Springs.

Not only did he sign up for the class, he decided to sponsor the Yiddishfest, along with his wife, Lesley.“Yiddish is a beautiful language,” he says. “Whenever you hear it, you just smile.”

Says Zafran, “I’m happy to help Avi and the Yiddishkeit cause.” He jokes, “Avi is the brains and brawn and I’m the pretty face.”

Zafran’s favorite Yiddish phrase? “Freylakh zol men tomid zayn,” or, “Happy we should we always be,” a phrase he used often at his son’s wedding last June.

“Without Bruce and other supporters like him, we couldn’t do what we do,” Hoffman says. “We need people who see the value in keeping this tradition alive and giving us the ability to bring it to the world.”

Says Hoffman, “Since 1885, when a million Jews emigrated to America from Eastern Europe, Yiddish has permeated and influenced American culture.

“We [the Jewish people] have been around thousands of years and we have contributed to mainstream culture over those thousands of years,” Hoffman says. “We as a people have a lot to offer. There’s a lot to be appreciated. Come, experience Jewish culture, enjoy yourself, have fun, and learn something new.”

And, he says, echoing Zafran, “farvas nisht — why not?”

The festival is held in partnership with Florida Humanities, Miami-Dade County, and the city of Miami Beach. It is co-sponsored by the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies/George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies at the University of Miami, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the Betsy South Beach, the Miami Beach JCC, the Adolph and Rose Levis JCC, the Holocaust Memorial of Miami Beach, and the Jewish Museum of Florida.  

YI Love Yiddishfest ’22 runs from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4. For more information, visit www.YILoveJewish.org, email info@yilovejewish.org, or call (888) 945-6835.

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South Florida’s own Superman: a story of heroic resilience

We all know life tests you. But for Andres Molina, the past couple of years have been fairly grueling. In the face of constant setbacks and overwhelming obstacles, including full-body paralysis at the age of 37, Molina’s seemingly superhuman ability to remain positive is a testament to the human spirit.

Molina’s journey began in Virginia. When he was 17 years old, he lost his father to cancer. Born on the same day as his father, Molina took the loss very hard, though he credits the experience with helping him develop mental toughness. “That’s the worst thing that ever happened to me, so whatever else is gonna happen, it’s doable. It’s fixable,” he explains of his shift in mindset.

That outlook has been constantly challenged, beginning in Los Angeles. After summoning the courage to pursue his dream of acting, Molina faced rejection after rejection in California. “There were thousands of noes for a handful of yeses,” he says.

Still, he persevered, securing nonspeaking roles in “Days of Our Lives,” “CSI,” “Bones,” and “Law & Order,” among others. In 2012, he landed his first speaking role opposite Christian Bale in “The Dark Knight Rises.”

“I had to work so hard to get to this place. It makes you believe miracles can really happen when you have the right mindset and the right work ethic,” says Molina. “You believe in something and you never give up.”

But for every high, there was an equally tough low. It was years before Molina earned his next speaking role opposite Emma Stone in “La La Land,” which he was extremely proud of. Over the Christmas holiday, he took his entire family to see the movie, only to find out that his scene had been cut.

Instead of getting angry or down on himself, Molina called his agent and asked how they could capitalize on it. “My dad always said, if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem,” says Molina, who was determined to be part of the solution.

He had no idea at the time how crucial his resilience and can-do attitude would be in the next phase of his life.

Just before the start of the COVID pandemic, Molina’s mother was taken to the hospital. Molina immediately packed up his stuff and drove across the country to Parkland. Once in Parkland, he settled into a townhouse with his mother across the street from his sister. That’s when his world was turned upside down.

On August 25, 2020, Molina was outside on the patio when he suddenly fainted, falling backward and hitting his head on a flowerpot. He was unconscious for two full minutes. When he awoke, he couldn’t move. “That’s when hell clicked in. I couldn’t feel anything under my chin,” he recalls.

Molina was taken to Broward Health North where he was diagnosed with a C2 cervical spinal cord contusion. The good news was that he was not permanently paralyzed. But the road to recovery would not be an easy one. Molina spent nine days in the intensive care unit before he could even wiggle his toes. He was then transferred to the trauma unit and began in-bed therapy.

Because he was hospitalized during the pandemic, Molina was especially alone. Hospital policy only allowed one 30-minute visit per day from one relative. “You can’t move. You’re stuck with your thoughts and your energy,” he explains.

Thankfully, his sister pinned family photos and inspirational quotes on his wall. “One quote from the Rock, one of my role models, said you have three choices in life — give up, give in, or give it your all,” says Molina. “I stared at that quote for days before realizing, it’s not that you just jump in and give it your all. You have to give up, then you have to give in, and then give it your all. You have to surrender. And that’s something I was going through. I was angry and in denial. I had to surrender to give myself a chance to heal.”

On his first day of rehabilitation, the physical therapist explained just how lucky Molina was. “They told me I was less than one centimeter away from being permanently paralyzed, like Christopher Reeve. I lost it,” recalls Molina.

He then channeled that energy into his recovery. The first day in therapy, Molina was brought to the parallel bars. He couldn’t take one step on his own. He asked what exercises he could do in bed to speed up his progress, and then he practiced them relentlessly for hours — flexing, nudging, pressing down. The next day, he was able to walk 20 steps on his own, baffling the physical therapist.

The hospital told Molina it would be 4 to 6 months before he was walking. He promised them he would walk out of the hospital when discharged. Thirty days later, he did just that.

Convinced his journey could inspire others, Molina underwent training with French relationship expert Alex Cormont and started his own “love coaching” business in September 2020, coaching clients from his room while working on his own physical recovery. “To see them make progress, that motivated me,” says Molina of his clients.

Months later, when his agent called with a potential stand-in job, though his body was still sore, Molina jumped at the opportunity to get back into acting. It turned out that he was standing in for Henry Cavill, the actor who portrays Superman in the DC Extended Universe. “In the hospital, everyone kept telling me I could have been the next Christopher Reeve, and now I’m standing in for the current Superman,” he reflects.

Life then threw him another curveball. Born with osteoarthritis, Molina discovered he was already bone to bone on his left hip and would require a total hip replacement, derailing his recovery. “I just learned to walk again and would now have to redo everything from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane, stairs — all over again. Twice in 18 months,” recalls Molina. Determined not to give up, he underwent surgery in December 2021.

At this point in his journey, physically, Molina is almost back to where he was pre-paralysis. “I can’t run yet but I can speed walk, bike, swim, dress, drive, shower. I can do everything I need to do,” he affirms.

Mentally, he’s in an empowered space, having realized his purpose. “Acting was a passion, but coaching is my true calling,” enthuses Molina.

For more information, visit coachingwithandres.com.

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Finding his purpose – Local artist paints for charity, raises over $300,000

A man on a mission. That description sums up Tamarac resident Joseph Gormley.

Born in Scotland, Gormley, 47, moved to the U.S. in 2003 after he fell in love with a Florida woman, Erin Ruth. Now married 19 years, the couple has two girls, Hailey, 6, and Mackenzie Rose, 4.

Erin Gormley bought her husband his first set of paintbrushes as a Christmas gift 15 years ago. A new world opened up for him, whose day job is as a custodian at Bayview Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale.

Once Gormley realized his passion for painting, he set about using his talent to do good, auctioning off many of his artworks for charity. His first painting raised money for an 11-year-old Scottish girl with brain cancer who needed treatment in the U.S. After reading about her, Gormley sent a painting that he did of the Glasgow Celtics head coach, Neil Lennon, to her family.

In 2012, that painting sold on eBay for $8,000. “That was the moment I realized my art could make a difference,” remembers Gormley.

“I know why I have this gift of being able to paint. It’s not for me; it’s to help raise money for others,” he says. “My day job is for my family. And my artwork is for my community.”

In 2015, Gormley painted a portrait of former Miami Marlins baseball player Giancarlo Stanton for the Marlins Foundation, which raised $25,000.

In 2018, he painted a portrait of Anthony Rizzo, a Parkland native who played baseball for the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees, which raised $4,000 to upgrade the baseball field at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The same year, he worked with Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital to benefit the Conine Clubhouse, a no-cost residence for families with children undergoing cancer treatment, and helped raise thousands of dollars.

To date, Gormley estimates he has raised $300,000 for local charities, and he has no plans to stop. In 2019, he painted at the Parkland Cares fundraiser and donated the proceeds from his work to the foundation.

“Parkland Cares is very fortunate to have been one of the recipients when Joseph Gormley painted live at our wine dinner and donated the proceeds from his paintings,” Stacey Udine wrote online after the event.

“Every brush stroke gives Joseph the chance to inspire others, and we’re immensely grateful for his continued support of Parkland Cares,” she said.

In February, the prolific painter teamed up with 105.9 BIG radio DJ Doc Reno, whose charity, My Family Matters Foundation, raises money in partnership with the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundation to provide assistance to families who lose wages while caring for a child with cancer.

It was founded by Doc Reno in 2019 after he battled stage IV head and neck cancer. “How could I feel sorry for myself when next to me in the waiting room is a 7-year-old with brain cancer?” he says. “I saw what families were dealing with and wanted to do something to help.”

He continues, “Joseph is an amazing person — a true angel and a very gentle soul. I was blown away by his work. I’m thrilled he has offered his talents for this cause.”

Gormley painted live at Doc Reno’s “My Family Matters” golf tournament in February, at the Jacaranda Golf Club in Plantation.

Participants included former Miami Dolphins’ Bob Brudzinski and running back Ki-Jana Carter; radio disc jockeys Drew Heyman (Y100) and Paul Castronovo (BIG 105.9); rock drummers Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden, Tico Torres of Bon Jovi, and Carmine Appice, former Ozzy Osbourne drummer; and many others.

With Iron Maiden being Gormley’s favorite band, he was thrilled to paint the portraits of the three drummers and auction them off with their signatures.

Other celebrities he has painted include Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, Washington Commanders quarterback Doug Williams, and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

Gormley says he is raising his two girls to finish the journey he started and to leave a legacy behind.

“I’m very blessed,” says Gormley, who hopes to eventually raise $1 million for charity. “So many people struggle to find their purpose in life. I know my purpose — it’s to help and inspire others.”

For more information, visit josephgromleyart.com, myfamilymattersfoundation.org, or parklandcares.org.

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Fighting back against human trafficking through education, empowerment

This year, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival brought together KidSafe Foundation, a local South Florida organization dedicated to educating and empowering children to make them harder targets for trafficking and sexual abuse, and “The New Abolitionists,” a documentary that follows four nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Thailand and Cambodia fighting to end human sex trafficking. Together, this partnership is raising awareness about the growing problem of human trafficking in this country and abroad.

It was a crisp November evening when I sat down at the Savor Cinema in downtown Fort Lauderdale for a screening of “The New Abolitionists.” Originally built as a church in 1926, its theater still feels like a place of prayer, and that’s exactly what this harrowing film made me want to do, pray.

The film begins in Cambodia, where troves of girls are stationed at karaoke bars looking to pick up men. Many of these young women were victims of trafficking, some sold or deceived by their own families, and are now on their own and lack the education, skills, and self-worth to get out of the sex industry.

“A lot of people want to think human sex trafficking is prostitution. It’s not. Human trafficking is, by definition, when somebody has been forced, coerced, or frauded into these sexual acts,” explains Christina Zorich, director of the film.

In Thailand, a hotbed for sex tourism, the film estimates that there are 35,000 prostitutes in the city of Pattaya alone, where it is not uncommon to see adult men taking children on dates in public. As disturbing as it was to watch, it helps to demonstrate both the pervasiveness of the problem and, even worse, the complicitness of the government, which is why Zorich had to geoblock the film to prevent it from being seen in Southeast Asia.

“It’s pretty well agreed on in the anti-trafficking community that Asia is probably the most trafficked region of the globe,” says Zorich.

Just as jarring as the film itself were the number of empty seats in the theater, especially given that, according to data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Florida is one of the top three states in the country with the most human trafficking. “It’s happening here. It just looks different than it does over there,” explains Zorich. “It’s overt there; here it’s hidden. Because it’s hidden, there’s a lot of denial and lack of understanding.”

“Denial is one of the top hurdles we need to jump over,” agrees Cherie Benjoseph, cofounder and chief program officer at KidSafe. “Sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, and sex trafficking all fall under the radar. In the movie, it’s horrifically blatant, but here it’s done in a way that you don’t see it. Child trafficking can happen out of a child’s home, and it happens in all types of communities. Right here in Florida, there are people more than willing to buy children for sex, and if we don’t accept that as a truth, we will never be able to see and/or prevent child trafficking and abuse.”

Thankfully, there are organizations here and abroad confronting the issue. And while the problem may present itself differently in both continents, the answer to combating the issue is the same — empowerment through education.

In “The New Abolitionists,” the NGOs discreetly approach the women at bars, sometimes posing as sex tourists, offering them a chance at a different life. The girls who choose to go with the NGO are provided trauma counseling, education, skill development, and employment opportunities. Those who are able eventually build a new life outside the NGO. “I found it inspiring that these women could build beautiful lives after having gone through so much,” says Zorich.

While the NGOs in the film were helping victims who had been trafficked, here in Florida, KidSafe has been working to get ahead of the problem by teaching children personal safety, starting at age 4.

“We teach personal safety skills from a place of empowerment, not fear. We are not teaching kindergarten through fifth-grade students scary stories, we’re empowering them with protective skills, just like you empower kids with swimming skills to protect them from drowning. We empower them with skills of safety to protect them from unhealthy relationships,” explains Benjoseph.

“Ninety percent of the time, child sexual abuse and child trafficking are perpetrated by someone they know and have been groomed by,” emphasizes Benjoseph in discussing the importance of educating children from a young age, as well as adults. “We can’t prevent child sexual abuse if we’re not raising awareness about it.”

KidSafe has online programs for professionals working with children and resource pages for parents that educate them on opening up the lines of communication with their children. “As parents, we assume that our kids know we’re available and they will come to us about anything. It is something we need to remind them about, early and often,” urges Benjoseph. “Making yourself an approachable parent plays a major role in keeping our children safe. The more we talk about relationships, and reinforce personal safety in our everyday parenting, the more we can prevent.”

In 2019, Florida became the first state to require child trafficking prevention education for grades K-12. To help meet this mandate, the foundation created “Stay KidSafe!” This is a program designed for counselors and teachers to use in their classrooms and includes a platform with 3D teaching animations, along with lesson guides that include questions, answers, activities, and role-play exercises. “Stay KidSafe!” teaches age-appropriate skills, including safety voice, circle of safe adults, safe touch/unsafe touch, good secrets/bad secrets, and accessing help. Students do not learn about human trafficking until sixth grade. After each lesson, a newsletter is sent home to parents advising them of what their children have learned and how to reinforce those skills at home.

The “Stay KidSafe!” program is free for all Florida schools, as well as schools across the country, and is funded through donations.

For more information about “The New Abolitionists,” visit thenewabolitionistsdoc.com. For information or to get involved with KidSafe, visit kidsafefoundation.org.

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Newly Published Novelist From Margery Stoneman Douglas High School

Emily Sam, a Parkland Florida, Broward County Graduate at Margery Stoneman Douglas High School launched her first book – A Romantic Novel “Chasing Daffodils”.

We are thrilled to share the great news that her novel “Chasing Daffodils” was officially released on October 27, 2021.

Margery Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) offered the resources, support, and encouragement for Emily to begin writing a novel, but it was years in the making. Thinking back to elementary school in Jackson New Jersey, located in beautiful Ocean County, it was in fifth grade that the seed for a future young romance novelist was planted. Daily morning writing assignments had Emily expressing her imagination through poetry and short stories. Gaining attention and praise from teachers for her natural ability to captivate readers convinced Emily that she wanted to be a writer one day.

Throughout Middle School and High School, Emily dabbled in fanfiction. Her stories gained a strong following. These stories followed a young adult romance theme. Readers enthusiastically awaited her chapter entries, and the reader reviews were very inspiring. This further encouraged Emily to pursue a writing career.

It was during her senior year at Margery Stoneman Douglas High School that the idea for “Chasing Daffodils” was born. Between her studies and color-guard, she continued writing. Emily kept at it and began writing every spare moment, which was quite difficult because she was taking college classes and working as a Nanny. Nevertheless, Emily continued to be inspired and amazingly wrote 2 to 3 chapters at a time. Life experiences and people she met along the way helped shape and inspire Emily’s characters and plot ideas.

Emily’s book is aimed towards a new-adult audience. Its main character Jade Everly is a 24-year-old aspiring actress living in New York City. While Jade attends auditions and works as a barista in Brooklyn, she begins a search for “Mr. Right”. Jade wants a meaningful relationship that she can bring to an upcoming wedding of her ex-boyfriend Noah and childhood friend Suzy. The book takes its reader through Jade’s journey, and we observe how her life evolves.

Chasing Daffodils is one of those books that is hard to put down. Emily has a real feel for characters, situations, and dialogue that keeps you hooked until the very last page. The Feedback from readers has been great.

Emily’s novel is available wherever books are sold. After you read Chasing Daffodils, tell Emily your thoughts. The contact email is: inquiry@chasingdaffodils.com or check https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KF6N7GN for the direct link.

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A documentary from Parkland’s own: ‘It’s Not a Burden’

Directed by Michelle Boyaner and produced by Parkland resident Wendy Zipes Hunter, “It’s Not a Burden: The Humor and Heartache of Raising Elderly Parents” is a deeply intimate documentary that follows its director as she serves as the primary caretaker for her elderly parents, Elaine and Morris. Each parent struggles with their own battle incited by old age, with Elaine suffering from dementia and Morris being a hoarder.

Morris Boyaner in IT’S NOT A BURDEN
©2021 Greenie Films

Supplementing her own personal story and composing the majority of the film is a composition of around 20 vignettes, each telling their own story of adults providing care for their elderly parents. Each vignette features a retrospective of each parent’s life, an account of their current struggles, and occasionally an update on the family’s story. 

Boyaner’s impetus for dedicating such a considerable portion of her documentary toward other people’s struggles instead of her own is to convey the film’s central message. 

Coming directly from Boyaner, the message of this film is, “You are not alone. If you are somewhere in the midst of this journey, helping your parent/parents, you are not alone. Look at the people in this film, all walks of life, navigating their own version of the same thing. You are not alone.”

Frances Moore & Cynthia Moore in IT’S NOT A BURDEN
©2021 Greenie Films

In each story, including her own, it is an uphill battle against old age. Boyaner is frank in showcasing that elderly care is often embarrassing and melancholy, for both parties.

However, as Boyaner presents, no one family is solitary dealing with the strife of old age. Although each family struggles, they prove strong in the face of life’s great equalizer, and they are able to see the final time spent with their loved ones as a blessing rather than a burden.

Below is a portion of my interview with Boyaner.

Q. What kind of philosophy or belief system do you believe people should take into the final stages of their lives?

A. I relied very heavily on the book “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande, as it explores the last stages of life through personal stories and focuses on quality of life. I highly recommend this book (you should see my copy, it’s marked up like a textbook).

Q. After filming, did you do any follow-ups with the families you interviewed?

A. We have kept in touch with many of the families we met with for “It’s Not a Burden,” and although “follow-ups” are not contained in the film, we have been in touch. The bulk of the filming with the other families was from 2016 to 2019, so unfortunately some of the parents have now passed away, and we’ve been in touch with families as they have grieved their losses. We also continue to celebrate milestones with those who are still with us.

Q. During filming, was it ever difficult for the people you interviewed to talk about their circumstances?

A. Every family who opened their homes and their hearts to us were taking a chance. They were honest and vulnerable and shared stories about their own experiences that they hoped would help other people. Those we spoke to were truly heroes and we are so grateful to them for trusting us with their truths and knowing that what we were creating was going to become something to help.

Q. What is your favorite memory with your mother?

A. I have certain memories, snapshots of simpler times from very early in my childhood that stand out as magical with my mother. In more recent times, it has just become a montage of all the time we spent — as you see in the film — out on adventures, running errands, just being together.

Q. Do you have any advice for anyone who is currently going through something similar to what you experienced?

A. My advice is really contained in the film: Let’s try harder to regard each other. To take a minute. To spend the time. To be patient. To listen. To not just see an older person as their age or their ailment but realize that they’ve lived a whole life filled with memories, and they’re still here, and it’s vital that they have a sense of purpose.

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Vickie Pierre: ‘Be my herald of what’s to come’

Vickie Pierre: ‘Be my herald of what’s to come’

For New York-born and Miami-based artist Vickie Pierre, there’s more to come. At the age of 51, Pierre is just hitting her stride.

Vickie Pierre: ‘Be my herald of what’s to come’

With a solid portfolio and major accomplishments under her belt, Pierre is currently focused on generating new works. Her current pieces on display at the Boca Raton Museum of Art are a continuation of the work she has done since her college years at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Her work has been exhibited at Foundation Clement in Martinique and Centro de Documentación para las Artes Visuales and Galerie Oriente in Cuba. She has exhibited at the Little Haiti Cultural Center and the Diana Lowenstein Fine Art Gallery in Miami and the Art and Culture Center in Hollywood, Florida. In 2019, she was a finalist in the Orlando Museum of Art Florida Prize in Contemporary Art. 

In 2016 Pierre caught the eye of both Irvin Lippman, CEO of the Boca Raton Museum of Art, and Assistant Curator Kelli Bodle, when she was brought to their attention by Miami-Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrié, who was exhibiting at the museum. He flagged her as an up-and-coming artist in the Miami art scene.

“Vickie draws from her parents’ penchant for European interior design, evident in the French colonial influence on Haiti,” says Bodle. 

Pierre uses resin wall plaques, ornate wall sconces, vintage Avon glass perfume bottles, wooden shelf sconces and ship bookends, jewelry, and hand-strung glass beads to create her visions. She deconstructs the perfume bottles from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries and reintroduces them as anthropomorphic shapes set against monochromatic backgrounds. The headless forms are no longer recognizable as the fairy-tale mistresses they once were. 

Vickie Pierre: ‘Be my herald of what’s to come’

Her piece titled “And Though I May Have Lost My Way, All Paths Lead Straight to You” uses the reenvisioned perfume bottles, flaxen hair from dolls, galleon ships representing the slave trade, bracelets, cuffs, and jewelry, all interconnected by long strands of beads that she strings herself in various patterns.

Pierre’s work encompasses evocative titles such as “I Can’t Say No to You (Good Enough),” “Totems for My Sisters (We Are All Illuminous!),” and “You’ve Stolen My Heart and It Hurts Me to Remember.”

“When Vickie exhibited her piece ‘Elemental Mistresses (The Power of 3)’ [also in this exhibition] at the museum in 2016, I found the sculpture beautiful, with its grand sweeps of beadwork and ornate sconces,” Bodle says. “It was also quite haunting by virtue of the elegant script (‘This Must Be the Love They Speak of’) transcribed on the wall.

“The world craves authentic, genuine people and experiences more than any faux polished façade. Vickie and her work come from a place of earnestness and authenticity.

“These attributes, paired with skill and effectual presentation, make for great art,” Bodle says.

The current exhibit is Pierre’s premiere solo museum show and one of which she is immensely proud.

“This is a significant milestone in my career,” says Pierre. “It is a tremendous opportunity and a great achievement for my work to be introduced and showcased in the Boca Raton Museum of Art, to be enjoyed by the local public as well as visitors from around the world.

“My work exemplifies who I am and what I’m trying to do,” she says from her studio in Miami’s Fountainhead. “I have a love of the fantastical and whimsical but also incorporate history, identity, and the concepts of womanhood and femininity.”

Indeed, Pierre turns pop-culture feminine icons such as Snow White and Cinderella on their head, deconstructing them à la Hans Bellmer, a German surrealist artist and photographer best known for his series of life-sized pubescent female dolls (poupées).

Pierre questions the influence of history and popular culture on identity. “My continued focus is on the exploration of identity and ethnicity, with references to design and nature, as well as connections between my Haitian heritage and the Caribbean as well as broader global cultural mythologies,” she says.

In 2020, after the social justice movements, Pierre created “Black Flowers Blossom (Hanging Tree),” as a way to honor the souls of people lost to racial injustice, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among others. This piece is also included in the show.

Vickie Pierre: ‘Be my herald of what’s to come’

She describes her creative process as “easy,” doing a lot of sketching and what she calls “navel-gazing.”

“I’m always reworking, cutting, and pasting,” she says. “I let the ideas marinate and my execution is superfast.”

The child of medical professionals and immigrants from Haiti, Pierre says she was raised to be 100% American. She grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in a mixed neighborhood playing with people of all different backgrounds and religions.

“This inclusivity fostered my vision to reach for the universal,” she says. “I strive for a global ideal.”

In addition to Bellmer, Pierre counts Duval-Carrié, Canadian-American artists Miriam Schapiro, and Betye Saar as influences, who also worked with assemblage to explore the myths and stereotypes around race and femininity.

In 2016, Pierre committed full-time to her artwork. “It was sink or swim, and everything came together,” she says.

When asked what drives her, Pierre reflects.

“I feel this is my destiny; I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing and I am where I’m supposed to be,” she replies. “I’m excited and amazed. Everything in my life has led me to this point.”

The exhibit runs through Sept. 5. For more information, visit bocamuseum.org.

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The show must go on: Barclay Performing Arts

With a great-grandmother who was a showgirl and George White Scandal dancer (Broadway revues modeled after the Ziegfield Follies) who appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, and a family steeped in musical theater, it’s no wonder that Christine Barclay founded the Barclay Performing Arts theater in 2016 as a way to honor her late father, John Barclay.

John Barclay was a director, educator, actor, and founder of the Weston Drama Workshop in Weston, MA.

“My dad was an amazing director who always found a way to bring out the very best in each and every person, whether on the stage or behind the scenes,” remembers Christine Barclay.

It is to his memory and passion that she dedicates herself and her work. “There’s no better person to be the beacon for this theater in Boca Raton,” she says.

“My dad created confident, articulate young people and made a big difference in the lives of his students,” Barclay says. “I hope to do the same.”

The theater, located next to T.J. Maxx in the Somerset Shoppes in Boca Raton, helps students of all ages find their voice, creativity, and confidence. Before moving to this location, Barclay worked out of the Boca Black Box theater on Glades Road. 

Her opening production, entitled “Spring Awakening,” is forever etched in her mind.

Pregnant with her now 3-year-old daughter Caroline and about to give birth in February 2018, the tragedy occurred at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Many of the MSD students were performing in the production.

“The cast decided to move forward with the show,” recalls Barclay, who by that time was on maternity leave. “It was one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life.” 

“To watch these kids travel to the White House, meet with then-President Barack Obama, then board a red-eye back to Boca for rehearsals, all while mourning their friends, was just incredible,” she says.

“I’m so proud of their survival and the emotional, physical, and mental resilience of our team and that of the community,” Barclay says. “Getting through those shows after the tragedy and giving birth was a moment that fully made me realize my responsibilities.”

“I wanted to ensure my company was there to support these kids and to transition to a space with a purpose and mission to change the world,” she says.

“We want to be a community center where kids and others can come to feel safe and have a platform in which to express themselves.”

Before relocating to Florida in 2012, Barclay was the executive assistant to Marc Tumminelli, founder of the Broadway Workshop in New York City, and she was a resident member of the theater faculty for the Rodeph Sholom School in Manhattan. 

She performed, directed, and choreographed for many theaters and schools, including the Kew Forest School and the Looking Glass Theatre in New York. In addition to acting, she has directed, choreographed, stage-managed, and performed in numerous productions in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania.

During the pandemic, Barclay produced 10 virtual, live-streamed performances including “Schoolhouse Rock,” “Fame Jr.,” “Band Geeks: The Musical,” and the concert version of “Guys and Dolls.”

She is currently in production for “Peter Pan,” “Urinetown: The Musical,” and “Willie Wonka.”

“We worked just as hard during quarantine as we did previously,” says Barclay, who in addition to her 3-year-old is raising three stepchildren.

Lewis Singer, 53, a chiropractor at Singer Family Chiropractic in Boynton Beach, had his first acting role 22 years ago in “Sweet Charity” at the Lake Worth Playhouse when he played the hippie preacher, known as “Big Daddy.”

Fast forward to 2015, where Singer was in the audience at the Barclay theater to support some acting friends, when he noticed one of their upcoming shows was “Fun Home,” the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist, which won five Tony Awards including Best Musical that year.  

“I knew I had to be a part of it,” Singer remembers. He had seen the road show in Tampa and says “to my shock and disbelief, I landed my dream role of the father, Bruce Bechdel. This is the role of a lifetime.”

“I fell in love with Christine and fell in love with the mission of her theater,” says Singer, who also sings and plays keyboard in an ’80s cover band called Livin’ the 80s.

“She’s amazing, and her vision and mission of caring for the community using her theater as the vehicle for this are amazing as well. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her,” he says.

Barclay is working with the nonprofit Find Your Voice Foundation, a social enterprise company that gives creative companies a voice with which to share their story with the end goal of establishing their own theater and venue. She hopes the theater will be a gathering place for people in the community.

“If anyone feels like they’re missing something in their life, a spark of interest, motivation, friendship, or someone to hug, somewhere to walk in a door and sit down and be exactly who you are, we’re the space for you,” Barclay says. “You don’t need to be on Broadway. If you need somewhere to be and be the best version of yourself, we’ll find a space for you.”

“We want to be a ball of light for our community,” says Barclay.

For more information, visit barclayperformingarts.com.

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