Category: Art & Entertainment

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Spacing Out – Exhibit showcases astronaut’s year in photos

Neil Armstrong notched a singular spot in history as the first man to walk on the moon.

But astronaut Scott Kelly has made his own impressions on the space-time continuum. Not only are he and Mark Edward Kelly the only identical twin astronauts ever to serve with NASA in the U.S. space program, but Commander Kelly has also logged more time in the “final frontier” than any other American spaceman.

August 15, 2015 – ISS, Low Earth Orbit: Astronaut Scott Joseph Kelly posted this photo of an aurora taken from the International Space Station with the caption, ‘Another pass through Aurora. The sun is very active today, apparently. YearInSpace.’
(All images: © Scott Joseph Kelly/NASA via ZUMA Wire)

Kelly is about to share with the public dozens of digital photographs he took during his year aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Space Odyssey 2019, a display of images taken during that 12-month mission from 2015 to 2016, will open June 20 and run through Aug. 3 at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre in West Palm Beach.

“One’s perspective shifts when one lives for an entire year — as Commander Scott Kelly and no other American astronaut in history has — in the isolating, grueling and utterly unforgiving vacuum of space,” Fatima NeJame, the Centre’s president and CEO, said.

Kelly is a former military fighter pilot and test pilot, an engineer, a now-retired astronaut, and retired Navy captain. A veteran of four space flights, he commanded the ISS on three expeditions. He is also the brother-in-law of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived a gunshot wound to the head after an attack at a constituent event in 2011.

NeJame said the Space Odyssey 2019 exhibition will feature between 40 and 60 frames, all reproduced using the center’s digital printer. “We are making them large so visitors can see the detail.”

“Kelly mastered the rare art of microgravity photography,” NeJame said.

Microgravity photography? “Using a Nikon D4 with an 800-millimeter lens and a 1.4x magnifying zoom lens, he panned the camera as the shutter released to compensate for the space station’s velocity: 17,500 miles per hour relative to the earth.”

In the display, his photos will be accompanied by personal commentary to put the images into their proper contexts.

During the ISS mission, while breaking records for time spent in outer space, Kelly spoke with President Barack Obama about what he was seeing and the pictures he was taking. The President encouraged him to share the photos with the world via Twitter and Instagram, which he did. Kelly’s artistic eye helped make him a social media sensation.

Looking down at a frozen Himalayan lake from space.

Through his lens, Kelly captured sunsets, moonrises, the Aurora Borealis, and the luminous, hazy tapestry of the Milky Way. “There are hurricanes, wrinkled mountains, New York City shining like a galaxy,” NeJame said. “Glorious photographs that are, in themselves, a passionate argument for the preservation of our planet in the face of climate change and environmental destruction.” In one of the images taken over South Asia as the Expedition 46 crew orbited high above Earth, Kelly looked down on a vivid blue body of water shot through with white. “Cool frozen lake in #Himalayas! #YearInSpace” he tweeted on Jan. 6, 2016, to his more than 5.6 million followers.

Astronaut Scott Kelly shared the last sunrise of his yearlong mission on space on
March 1, 2016, aboard ISS.
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Stacey Mandell

There must be at least two considerations to label something as art. The first is … there must be the recognition that something was made for an audience of some kind to receive, discuss or enjoy. … The second point is simply the recognition of skill.”

Brannon McConkey

At Stacey Mandell’s first solo exhibition, Letters to Our Younger Self, at the Miami Dade College Hialeah Campus Art Gallery, there could be no doubt in a viewer’s mind the artist was sharing, successfully, the way she experiences the world and that her work was an extension of her personality. Her unique art form encompasses words, emotions, culture, but also activities of daily life and current events.

“If Love is the Sun, Gratitude is the Moon”

Mandell uses shorthand words and phrases — whether actual Gregg shorthand, cursive writing, even Braille — as an abstract gestural form, in which the form’s meaning provides an abstract narrative on the canvas.

“I believe we have much more in common than we may think — love and gratitude, diversity and inclusion, identity and culture, encourage and nurture. Saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’” Mandell said. “These are expressions of the soul. We all share the same hopes, dreams, and fears. We all have good days and bad days.

“My artwork is the physical manifestation of the expressions of my soul,” she said. “My messages are the conversations contained in the artwork.” xhibition curators Noor Blazekovic and Alejandro Mendoza, in a joint statement, said they were fascinated how Mandell frames an idea and communicates it to an audience. “What sets her creative work apart from other human expression is that she is creating in the world of non-verbal communication — she uses different tools: shorthand, words, visual images, movement, ideas, and more — to create feelings, thoughts, images, and ideas in the audience to communicate her particular message that as creator she wants to share. The intent is to inform, move, and open the audience’s mind and perspective to seeing the world in a different light than before.”

“This is not a blank steno pad” (48″ x 60″, Acrylic on Canvas. 2018)

One work that shows that “different light” is This is not a blank Steno pad, a 5-foot-high acrylic-on-canvas image of the familiar off-green paper notebook. We may know it’s called a steno pad, and many of us of a certain age understand these notepads, with the spiral at the top for easy page-flipping, were popularized in their use by actual stenographers — secretaries, court reporters, close-caption writers in yesteryear’s TV industry, and the like.

Mandell has more than a passing familiarity with proper penmanship. A devotee of punctilious handwriting since her mother taught her cursive in grade school in rural central Illinois, Mandell made her way in the world — in quite the circuitous way, as it turned out — depending on Gregg Shorthand. After graduating from college prepared to teach music and math, Mandell instead took a clerical job where she had to learn shorthand.

“Learning Gregg Shorthand was a turning point on my career path,” Mandell said. From there, she became a legal secretary and, later, jumped to law school, employing her shorthand skills at every point.

“Throughout my 20-year legal career, I utilized shorthand to take notes and draft documents,” Mandell said. During that span, she said, she became fixated on using shorthand to communicate different ideas in a very different way — to express herself as an artist.

Once she left lawyering behind and relocated to South Florida when her husband retired, Mandell decided to pursue that idea.

This is not a blank steno pad was her first work in her steno pad series. It’s as much a statement about her present as it is about her view of our present culture: Much like the absence of ink and scrawl on Mandell’s canvas, the very jobs it represents — or, at least, the job titles — are now part of the past.

Mandell’s steno pad is blank, she said, “because of technology; no one uses it for its intended purpose anymore. It represents the dying art of a beautiful, phonetic language.” Mandell said after she painted the pad of paper, she’d planned to add to it a number of life lessons — in shorthand, of course. “But every time I thought about writing on it, I stopped. I could not bring myself to write on this one,” she said. “I finally realized this one meant more than anything I could express with shorthand.”

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Church Icons: More Than a Season of Faith for St. Mark’s

For the Rev. Mark Leondis, the icons of saints leading into the sanctuary at St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church are family. And as you would with beloved family members, the senior pastor at the golden-domed Boca Raton church pauses in conversation to acknowledge them — a few whispered words of greeting to St. John and a kissed-fingers tap for St. Mark.

Leondis only once neglected such familial obligations. As a young deacon visiting a church in Dallas, Texas, during Holy Week, Leondis was rushing through on some or other important errand. A volunteer at the church stopped him short. “No matter how much of a hurry you are in,” the man said, “always venerate the icon before entering the Church.”

“We don’t worship the icons themselves,” Leondis explained, gesturing to some of the 100-plus paintings and mosaics adorning St. Mark’s, from the entryway to atrium to sanctuary. “These are reminders of what these people achieved and what they represent.”

What the artworks represent often depends on the believer, Leondis said. So, while one parishioner has an affinity for Mary, another feels moved by St. John the Baptist. Children love the stories the paintings depict, while elderly churchgoers appreciate the traditions the art reinforces. For some, the paintings inspire faith; for others, they serve as reminders of spiritual journeys, struggles, and values.

Eastern Orthodoxy’s icons, as much as the faith’s holy anointing oil, musical chanting, readings of the Psalms, and the incense wafting from swaying gold censers during church services, “incorporate all of the senses,” Leondis said. “They help lift us to heaven and continually inspire us to treat each other as we treat the icons themselves.”

Opened in 1997, the sanctuary at St. Mark’s was consecrated in 2014, after a significant portion of the church’s current iconography — painted over a span of 10 years by New Jersey-based artist Laurence Manos — was completed. Leondis, St. Mark’s pastor since 2011, said the overall brilliance of the artwork is itself a constant source of revelation for him.

St. Mark’s is one of the rare Greek Orthodox churches brightened by the sun streaming in the chapel’s expansive windows. South Florida’s bright sunlight pours in from east and west, seeming to set aflame the generous halos of gold leaf and the rich reds and blues that suffuse Eastern Orthodox iconography. Leondis said work on the final stage of paintings for St. Mark’s, estimated to cost more than $1 million, is set to begin in June.

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Parkland Speaks: Collecting Lonely Thoughts

Writing, at its best, is a lonely life.

Ernest Hemingway, in describing work that won him a Nobel prize in 1954, knew this sentence seemed contradictory — “alone” is not how we usually describe life’s transcendent moments.

Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share Their Stories (Random House Children’s Books, paperback, $17) is one of those rare books that reveals how the solitude required of writing can elicit heartrending reflections and devastating truths.

Anna Bayuk, one of the collection’s 43 contributors, was a junior at Douglas on Feb. 14, 2018, when a shooter attacked the school, leaving 17 dead and as many injured. That afternoon, she found herself bunkered in a classroom, clenching the hand of a classmate she “only half knew,” listening to gunshots in the distance, hearing footsteps in the hallway.

“you are staying quiet, no, quieter, no, silent

you are staying silent.

for a moment, i was not silent.

there was a plastic walmart bag full of valentines from

     and for the people that i care about on my lap.

and when i shifted it off to the side so that i could move

     my legs even an inch

it was the loudest thing i had ever heard …”

Passages like this, breathtaking in their imagery and revelation, don’t happen in front of local TV cameras and newspaper reporters. They come when you’re alone with your thoughts; and that mulling — that essaying — can crystallize with the solitude writing requires.

Each piece in Parkland Speaks, whether recollection, photo, sketch, speech, or scratch poem, comes from a Douglas student or teacher. The collection’s editor, Sarah Lerner, teaches journalism at the high school and serves yearbook advisor. Those two roles overlap here in a nexus through which the collection is focused and shaped, but only expansively directed. And the result is by turns gut-wrenching, depressing, ponderous, hopeful, and joyous — sparkling with such a range of thoughts, images, and emotions, it can be exhausting.

Much the way the teens here, and everywhere, normally are. Even as not-normal as these young people now feel.

Both with intention and inadvertently, the young writers of Parkland Speaks reveal their falls from innocence. Each, like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, bruised, dusty, and dazed but able to stand up, take stock, and take tentative steps forward.

Rebecca Schneid, now a senior at Douglas, reflects in the aftermath of 2/14 on the bewilderment of being chased into adulthood — first by the shooter, then by the media and politicians, then by the world of anonymous jeerers and gawkers known to every victim of adolescence.

In “A Zoo Animal,” a free-form piece in the style of a spoken-word jam, Schneid says, “I don’t even know myself.”

Sometimes I think that I am fine,

that I’ve lost some of that sheer pain and wrath;

that I’m on a path

toward healing and success,

toward not moving on really, but growing

from the distress …

She is not fine, of course — who would be? And that’s the point: given the circumstances, feeling so not-normal is, well, normal.

Definitely, it’s the new normal at Douglas High.

That new normal, even a year later, is still in flux.

The final pages of Parkland Speaks serve as proof. In “Meet the Contributors,” everyone has moved on. Some still attend Douglas High, now upperclassmen; others have gone off to college. Each’s trajectory toward whatever their futures hold remains on path despite what they went through.

But the way of those paths has been hosed down and is still wet with their experiences and takeaways from Valentine’s Day 2018. The footing is slippery as they try to navigate between who they were before that day and who they are now.

But make no mistake — forward is where they’re going. Whether as community organizers or organizers for Dance Marathon, as varsity water polo players or budding civil engineers and pediatricians, as yearbook editors or ebook authors.

Parkland Speaks isn’t about reliving the past. It’s proof of life in the now. A testament to resilience and hope — the very essence of MSDStrong.

teeberg is the Parklander’s contributing editor.

Cutline: Artist Madalyn Snyder, one of the contributors for Parkland Speaks, wrote about her experiences on Feb. 14, 2018, for the collection. A junior at the time, Snyder was cutting out paper hearts and goofing off with her buddy Guac on Valentine’s Day, as the pair waited for class to end. Minutes later, they heard gunfire and Snyder said her own heart sank. In the chaos of evacuating, she and her classmates came face-to-face with the shooter and Snyder was saved only when her teacher pulled her to safety. The teacher, Stacey Lippel, another of the book’s contributors, was injured in the incident when a bullet grazed her arm. Snyder’s friend and classmate, Joaquin “Guac” Oliver, was later named among the 17 victims who died in the shooting. (Illustration by Madalyn Snyder, courtesy Random House Children’s Books.)

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A Book About Differences and Similarities

When Erica Bayes’ golden parrot, Noodle, escaped from her Wellington home last year, little did Bayes know that Noodle’s adventure would help spark the idea for Noodle Makes New Friends, an innovative children’s book about accepting each other’s differences.

That memorable incident occurred in May of 2017, when Bayes was at home playing with the golden parrot she had adopted as a very young bird. When Bayes’ Rhodesian Ridgeback jumped on a sliding glass door that was slightly ajar, the door opened. The dog trotted out, and Noodle flew out after him. Even though Bayes put up 500 posters with a picture of Noodle, posted on a neighborhood app, alerted The Palm Beach Post, and organized search parties to look for her beloved parrot, Noodle was missing for four days before she was rescued. When found, she was very ill. Fortunately, Noodle made a complete recovery.

The second inspiration behind the book derives from the author’s work doing yoga with children who have disabilities, including cerebral palsy, autism, and physical handicaps. A certified yoga instructor since 2009, Bayes found that making children comfortable with their bodies and providing them with the one-on-one acceptance and intimacy they don’t often get was a very moving experience. “With the muse being Noodle coming off her escape and her healing, and being so touched when I worked with these children, writing the book merged all sorts of passions for me,” recalled Bayes.

Noodle Makes New Friends is a colorful, happy-hearted book with the message that kids can learn from and celebrate each other’s individual distinctions instead of being afraid and shying away from them. “I have seen parents usher their children past a child or an adult in a wheelchair and say, ‘Don’t ask, don’t look,’” Bayes said. “I want the conversation to be open. Children are naturally curious. I think when you deny them answers; you’re actually invoking fear. They learn to be trepid of someone who’s different. Instead of, ‘Hey this person might look different from me, but we may actually have things in common and get along just fine.’”

In Noodle Makes New Friends, it’s the first week of school and Noodle feels shy about meeting new people until the teacher has students present a little bit about themselves. Olive Owl has a glittery eyepatch and loves to sing and dance. Lemon Leopard has a crumpled paw but enjoys painting. Mango the Macaw has a fake wing yet plays basketball. Sam the Frog has autism and likes to cook. Noodle learns that although her classmates have had accidents or were born with a disability and look a little different, they’re not scary at all. On the inside, they all have a lot in common and can have a wonderful time together. Available on Amazon, Noodle Makes New Friends is the first in the series of Noodle books. For more information, visit www.EricaBayes.com or email enbayes@gmail.com.

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Parkland Poets Take the Stage

Poetry is loosely defined as ‘a beautiful expression of feelings and ideas.’ Whether written or spoken, it is a thought-provoking and meaningful way for your voice to be heard. Poetry can be personal or public, and the definition of the word could not be more fitting than for a group of young students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School known as the Parkland Poets.

The Poets consist of a diverse group of teens and their teacher, all with a similar interest – to address the pressing issues of our day using a positive and artful approach. By sharing their stories, they seek to empower their fellow youth. The Parkland Poets were profiled this year during the annual Louder Than a Bomb: Florida poetry festival comprised of teens from the Florida Keys to Jacksonville. This forum provides a safe space for individual and collective expression. To better explain the events’ title, co-founder Kevin Coval said, “We feel that what young people have to say about the world they inhabit and hope to construct is more useful than any armament, more complex than prison industrial systems, and louder than any bomb.” The Poets’ graceful approach in describing the tragic events of February 14 will draw you in from the students’ very first breath. With a recurring theme of, “I don’t know if I’m doing this right,” they speak openly about that devastating day and how it has changed them forever. These special young people choose to cope with their grief by turning to the spoken word and deliver a gripping performance through the eyes of those who were there.

While some adolescents shy away from public speaking, the Parkland Poets thrive at it. This platform allows them to express their raw emotion, their fears, their angst… themselves. Their tremendous stage presence is especially evident in a scene where individual Poets stand on stage as one and share, “I’m adrift in a sea of complacency. I couldn’t even bring myself to bring myself to the funerals, to look at the pictures of the victims… I’m heartless and cold; at least, that’s what I’m told. But I don’t know how to feel. I don’t know if I’m doing this right!” Presented by NBC 6 and the Jason Taylor Foundation, you can view this compelling 30-minute performance now on YouTube.

Legendary Miami Dolphin defensive end, Jason Taylor, has a success story of his own. While homeschooled from grades 10 to 12, he remained on his high school’s football team. In college, he was a four-year letterman and also starred on the school’s basketball team. As a junior, he earned National Defensive Player of the Week honors and was drafted the following year by the Miami Dolphins. He established the Jason Taylor Foundation in 2004 with the hopes of giving back to our local community. Admittedly from humble beginnings, Taylor had great ambition to provide South Florida’s less fortunate youth with better opportunities than he had growing up. This objective has led him to a mission of understanding, compassion, and support. He’s created programs that empower children by focusing on improved health care, education, and simple quality of life. With clear goals in mind, the NFL Hall of Famer set out to build on the impact that the Omari Hardwick bluapple Poetry Network created and became involved with Louder Than a Bomb: Florida. Now in its fourth year, the event is stronger and the poetry is more influential than ever. Taylor told NBC 6, “It’s spoken word poetry in a very raw, organic, real way that’s leaving a big impact on kids. Words can be cutting and uplifting, they can be inspiring, and that’s what we have here.”

It’s extremely powerful to watch these amazing youngsters perform, but when you think about why this group came about, and the dreadful reason for where their poetry was spawned, it really hits home. So how do we end the violence? We may not have all the answers quite yet, but coming together and taking a stance, as the Parkland Poets do, is unquestionably a great beginning.

To learn more about the Jason Taylor Foundation and Louder Than a Bomb: Florida, visit the website at https://jasontaylorfoundation.com/programs/louder-than-a-bomb-florida/.

“Teach your child poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary.” — Walter Scott

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The Dark Side of Historical Figures

“Never meet your heroes,” warns the colloquial adage, it’s message laden in hindsight. The only people who give such advice are the ones who wish they had taken it. Unfortunately for Americans, many of our most cherished heroes harbor inconspicuous characteristics that may leave some people second guessing their idols.

Among some of those famous controversial figures was Henry Ford, the automobile tycoon of the early 1900s. Today, we credit him with his success as the founder of Ford Motor Company and as the installer of the first moving assembly line. However, fewer know of his devout anti-Semitic views, ones that he propagated using his platform as a successful businessman.

In 1919, just two years after the U.S. entered the war against Germany, Ford bought a local Michigan newspaper that began publishing a series of articles entitled: “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem.” The same newspaper referred to jazz as “Yiddish moron music.” His close friend Thomas Edison, credited today with the invention of the modern lightbulb, also at times expressed bigoted comments aimed at immigrants and Jews.

Fords racist ambitions caught the eye of Adolf Hitler himself, Hitler even including Ford as the only American by name in his notorious autobiography, Mein Kampf. The German dictator once referenced Ford saying: “You can tell Herr Ford that I am a great admirer of his. I shall do my best to put his theories into practice in Germany. I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration.”

Ford and Edison weren’t the first nor the last prominent American figures to publicly display their bias.

John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie are acclaimed today for their considerable success in business, however, at the time of their success, they were amongst some of the most hated men in the country. Both families dealt with intense labor conflicts. The Homestead Strike of 1892 against Carnegie Steel involved thousands of workers in Pennsylvania fighting for their rights as laborers. On the other side of the country, Rockefeller Jr. was accused of orchestrating the Ludlow Massacre in 1914. Despite these negative altercations, today these men’s families are better remembered for their business attributes, with renowned testaments to their achievements reflected in Rockefeller Center or Carnegie Hall.

From the political realm, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, are remembered today for their incredible battle for women’s suffrage yet forgotten for their blatant racism in that same fight. They were possibly the two most prominent forces fighting for women’s rights in the 1850s, yet both were recorded on several occasions pushing white supremacist viewpoints to support their platform. Anthony publicly opposed the Fifteenth Amendment, giving black men the right to vote in 1870. She once said in a meeting with abolitionist Frederick Douglass, “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for a Negro and not the woman.”

Even Albert Einstein, who is often reverently remembered for being a benevolent genius, was recently discovered to have severely racist stereotypes littered among his private travel diaries. Written between October 1922 and March 1923, he makes several offensive generalizations, including one that called the Chinese “industrious, filthy, obtuse people.”

It can be disheartening to hear about some of the ways these widely admired figures conformed to the cultural milieu of their times. We want to believe that they would hold some of the same ideals we do today, but instead, we find that many of them succumbed to the negative influence of blatant racism and bigotry. People are complex; history is perhaps even more so. Things that are complex deserve to be investigated; they must be met with a reasonable amount of skepticism, so that we can appreciate the good and criticize the bad.

We must treat the past with the same standard of judgment that we hope the future will someday pass on us, for better or for worse.

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MSD Benefit Concerts

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland are still recovering from the horrific act of an irrational gunman who shot and killed 17 students and staff – and wounded an equal number of innocents – in a vile and violent attack Feb. 14 that shattered the joy of a Valentine’s Day and the solemnity of Ash Wednesday.

 

But those impacted by the shooting haven’t respond in kind. The spirited and courageous student body, staff and parents turned to their strong suit — visual and performing arts — to stem the drumbeat of anger and steady the will to seek vengeance for a senseless act.

 

In the short span from mid-February to the end of the school year, a barrage of volunteers worked feverishly to organize two concerts to memorialize those who died and underscore the determination of the young men and women, teachers, administrators, mothers and fathers who are leading MSD High into the future. They built their campaign around a quote from conductor and musical luminary Leonard Bernstein, who believed that music was one of the most effective means of creating understanding and peace in the world.

 

By nurturing music and arts, he said, we can actualize a world “in which the mind will have triumphed over violence.”

 

On the night of May 22, the first of two response events took place. Called “What We Play is Life,” a Jazz Night concert, took place at the Coral Springs Performing Arts Center. Joining three MSD jazz bands were three world-renowned musicians: Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, and Cuban clarinet and sax player Paquito D’Rivera.

 

On June 1, the Church by the Glades on Lakeview Drive, Coral Springs, was filled nearly to capacity for the more classical version of Jazz Night called “Our Reply.”

 

“This featured the MDS Wind Symphony, which just performed in New York at Carnegie Hall; the MSD Clarinet Choir, Brass Choir, Trombone Choir, and Color Guard,” said Luis Piccinelli, director of instrumental music at Coral Springs Middle School and one of those who helped organize the performance.

 

The show drew thunderous applause and a multitude of standing ovations as student musicians and guest performers provided what Piccinelli called “an amazing musical experience.”

 

“We hope this performance will help with healing, as well as raise money for the Alex Schachter and Gina Montalto funds, two band students we tragically lost in the shooting.” Memorial foundations have been set up for each.

 

To honor Alex, one of the opening numbers featured trombonists lined up across the entire stage. Alex’s dad, Max, was seated in the front row with other Schachter family members.

 

Later, they took to the stage and Max talked about “my little boy.” He told how his 14-year-old son loved music. “He wanted to play trombone in one class and euphonium in another.”

 

Max also recounted how he joined the band parents, and “I got to see Alex mature and grow. All his band work paid off.” Dad cried as he thought back to the terrible Valentine’s Day when “17 families descended into hell. That monster shot my son through a window.” He swore he would not halt his campaign for improved security “until all schools are safe.”

 

Before leaving the stage, he announced he was giving a $25,000 gift to his son’s scholarship fund.

 

To honor their fallen colleague, Gina Montalto, 14, the MSD Color Guard presented a feature performance of “Hallelujah” in her memory. The touching tribute ended with the girls surrounding and saluting an empty chair with a flower placed on the seat.

 

Her father, Tony, and brother, Anthony, spoke to the crowd. “As this community moves forward and heals, our families will never be the same.” He thanked the musicians and color guard members “who gave to the memorial foundation for Gina Rose Montalto.”

 

He concluded his talk by reading one of Gina’s poems, and told how happy she was to have become a member of the Eagle Regiment in 2017.

 

Taking part in the performance on the expansive stage of the church abutting the Everglades were Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist, and Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist, both from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

The June 1 show featured a world premiere of a piece composed and dedicated to the MSD students. Called “Until Morning Come,” the composition was written by Andrew Boss, who was present in the audience. The arrangement was said to “convey a peaceful message, a homage to those who passed away and for those who live on.”

 

Other guests who came to be part of the concert were Gary Green, director of bands emeritus at the University of Miami, and Frank Ticheli and Johan de Meij, both composer/conductors.

 

Alexander Kaminsky, director of bands at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, conducted many of the musical numbers at the “Our Reply” show as well as during the “What We Play is Life” concert. “Bad things happen in this world,” he told the audience on May 22. “We have to make the world a better place, and this is going to do that.”

 

The earlier show included a prologue, with the Coral Springs Middle School jazz band performing in the courtyard while food was served to the audience from the Cheesecake Factory. Volunteer staff members provided goodly portions of sliders, salads, pot stickers, and cheesecake options. Money raised at the event benefited the MSD and Coral Springs Middle School music programs and the Alex Schachter Scholarship Fund.

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And the winner is . . .

Melody Herzfeld has known countless dramatic moments. Director of the drama department at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland since 2003, she has transformed a multitude of theatrical wannabes into stage-worthy actors brimming with confidence in their craft.

But Herzfeld faced an unspeakable, heart-pounding moment of personal drama barely four months ago when a former student armed with a rifle and bearing a thirst to kill ran into the school building. The instructor kept 65 of her charges safe in her small office for two hours while Nikolas Cruz murdered 14 young learners and three teachers, and wounded 17 more, in a senseless massacre on Valentine’s Day.

Douglas students quickly rose from the depths of their despair. Revived and revved by the rallying cry, #MSD Strong, they fought back with music and art, raised their voices against gun violence across the nation and demanded assurances of student safety – and nothing less.

MSD’s recovery reached a new plateau the night of June 10 when Herzfeld stepped onto the stage of Radio City Music Hall in New York City, just steps from Broadway, to accept a prestigious Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education. The honor, given by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University, recognizes a K-12 theater educator who has made a monumental impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession.

Still, that wasn’t the evening’s main New York moment. MSD drama students surprised the crowd by singing an emotional rendition of “Seasons of Love,” from the musical Rent. Their center stage performance received a standing ovation and moved many in the audience to tears.

A first-rate break-out solo by Kali Cloughery grabbed the attention of a gallery filled mainly with Broadway, music and film performers.

Applause echoed through the storied chamber as Herzfeld stepped into the spotlight with the Tony in her hand.

“Next to the passing of my dear parents and in-laws, marrying the love of my life, and the birth of my amazing sons and reuniting with my theater students, there has never been a more defining moment of my life,” said the MSD drama instructor.

 

“As theater teachers, we teach kids by giving them space to be critiqued, yet not judged; giving them a spot in the light, yet not full stage; creating a circle of trust in which to fail; telling them long drawn-out stories so they can be better listeners and giving students simple responsibilities that are beneath them to encourage character,” she said.

 

Perhaps those comments brought special memories to Elijah Word, a young singer, dancer, and actor who was one of Herzfeld’s students at MSD. He stressed that he drew his theatrical inspiration and drive from her.

 

While at Douglas, Word said he attended a get-together for potential drama students. “We were in there one day, playing a game and getting to know each other. We all had to sing, and, after I did, the teacher came over to me and said, ‘You have to audition for the drama club.’ ”

 

Herzfeld “put me in the play, Pippin,” a show he dearly loves. “From there, I got the acting bug. Ms. Herzfeld saw that I had talent and she nurtured it. She really helped me. And she made sure I kept my grades up.”

 

Coincidentally, in early April, Word won a Carbonell – the South Florida theater community’s equivalent of a Tony – for Best Supporting Actor/Music for portraying James “Thunder” Early in the musical, Dreamgirls at the Broward Stage Door Theater. “It was so funny.” Word said, “Ms. Herzfeld was there on Carbonell Night because some MSD students were performing.”

 

Overall, Word said with a special pride, Melody Herzfeld “really deserved the Tony award.”

 

In her acceptance speech, the drama teacher shared some lessons she gave her students before the tragic event. “I remember, on Feb. 7, sharing a circle with my beloved students and encouraging them to be good to each other when times were trying, to keep the family together, accept everyone, and make a difference.”

“And I remember only a week later, on Feb. 14, a perfect day, where all these lessons in my life and in their short lives would be called upon to set into action.”

She recalled other meaningful words: “[I] stressed to them to be selective as they formulate relationships while welcoming every single side that exists in the world. And also, how to begin again.”

MSD students followed her advice. Just a week after the shooting, Herzfeld’s students performed “Shine,” an original song, at a CNN town hall meeting on gun violence.

 

In fact, since February, Stoneman Douglas students have organized a national school walkout and a march on Washington and continue to call for changes to ensure safety and security of students

As she concluded her address, the drama director said: “Thank you, Stoneman Douglas High School and my fellow Eagles. We have all known the future of the world is about collaborative creativity and here we are, the future, changed for good. MSD Strong…thank you.”

Herzfeld is the fourth person to receive the Excellence in Theatre Education Award which comes with a $10,000 prize, which goes to the Stoneman Douglas theater program.

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“Roll Tide” for Local Student

With so many students participating in extracurricular activities, it is easy to overlook the fact that being on any type of team is more than just fun; it is a commitment. Time, money, and hard work are among the sacrifices made by both the students and their families, but the drive to excel is worth it for many. Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student, Rachel Edrich, is one of those students. The now 22-year-old University of Alabama senior shares the journey that led her down what was previously an unexpected path.

Rachel had danced and played soccer but things took a turn when a neighbor saw her out spinning a flag and suggested that she try out for the color guard. Swapping a flag for a rifle, Rachel made the team. She admitted that she did not like it at first but decided to continue. When asked now what advice she would give to younger girls she responds, “Do not give up.” The career of many student-athletes ends in high school but the commitment to her practices, training, and competitions has taken her far beyond that point. Rachel Edrich

Upon acceptance to the University of Alabama, Rachel decided that she would try out for its color guard. Rachel was given a prior opportunity to prove herself when Alabama scouts attended one of her high school competitions being held in Ohio. Once she made it to Alabama and was given the opportunity, she became part of the Alabama Million Dollar Marching Band Color Guard.

With 37 young women on the team, Rachel describes it as being “one big sisterhood” where “everyone has your back.” Veteran members are teamed up with the incoming freshmen for what is called “Big Sister, Little Sister.” With daily practices, strength training, and a full academic schedule, the young women are there to help each other through any hurdles they might encounter. There are high expectations of this team as they are expected to maintain an image of being strong and fit as they represent the University of Alabama.

While maintaining the level of athleticism that is required to control their equipment and perform for a five-minute routine, there is still a lot of glitz and glamour that goes along with being part of the color guard. Every year the women receive a new uniform, custom made and studded with rhinestones. Rachel said that since she has been there, the big script A has remained a signature feature of the uniforms and that it always looks stunning and photographs beautifully when they are on the field.

Rachel expresses her excitement for game day. “The best thing I can ask for is to get out on the field every Saturday and be a part of such an existing tradition.” She said that one of the things she enjoys most is looking out from the field and seeing how the fan base is generational, spanning all ages.

Describing what it is like to be part of this team, Rachel explains that it is more than performing; it is about bonding with other people. Being part of the team has also taught Rachel valuable life skills that will help her continue on her journey. While she must try out for the team every season, for now Rachel will continue to greet everyone with a “Roll Tide” as is the tradition with ‘Bama fans.

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Storytellers: The American Cuban Diaspora

Over a 58-year period, they left their homes, probably for good, with their clothes on their backs. Some brought their families as they fled their oppressive homeland, while some might not have had any choice but to leave their family members behind – perhaps never to see them again. They could no longer stand the oppressive regime that tormented them and even killed their loved ones.

They sought freedom; freedom from the totalitarian state in which they lived, and the freedom that comes with living in a democracy, one in which they could pursue the American Dream. it’s a true story, one likely familiar to almost everyone living in south Florida. And it’s a story that a miami museum with one of the city’s newest buildings, the American museum of the Cuban Diaspora, seeks to relate to visitors in detail. Founding director Ileana Fuentes wants to be clear: Miami’s “new kid on the block,” as she calls it, is more than an art museum. She won’t refer to it merely as a “cultural institution” either. “it’s a much larger historical storytelling type of institution,” said Fuentes, who left her home country of Cuba at age 4 as part of Operation Peter Pan – a “mass exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban minors to the United states between 1960 and 1962,” according to Wikipedia. A Catholic priest created the program to fly Cuban children to the United states. Fuentes, 68, left her home country without her family at age 13 and spent her first year in the United states in an orphanage in Denver, Colo. Within a year, Fuentes’ parents arrived in the U.s. “Other people weren’t so lucky,” the author and historian said. A mix of trustees of the museum, sponsors, and supporters of the museum, along with members and staff of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau attended the May 4 event.

Fuentes and her family settled in New York, where relatives lived. She grew up in New York, attended school there, taught there, and worked as an administrator at Rutgers University. She’s lived in Miami for the past 21 years. After the museum was founded in 1996 as a “museum without walls” to spread awareness about Cuban Culture, Fuentes joined the organization as a cultural consultant in 2009. The museum seeks to enlighten people about the Cuban Diaspora. Its mission is to “tell the story of the Cuban Diaspora through the eyes of its greatest artists, thinkers, and creators,” according to the museum’s website. Culture, history, and gender are Fuentes’ main areas of expertise. “It’s been my career for 40 years,” she said. Fuentes said the museum has expanded its mission to not just promote Cuban culture, but to tell the story of the Cuban Diaspora in a way that incorporates humanities, sociology, and history, among other disciplines.

The building may look small from the outside, but when people enter the facility, they’ll notice white marble floors, white walls, the “huge” lobby and the “gorgeous” roof and terrace, Fuentes said. The exterior includes a garden featuring a fountain and foliage. The building encompasses a total of 15,000-squarefeet, 7,000 of which is devoted to gallery space. There are four galleries and three floors (two plus the roof). The museum is in Miami at 1200 Coral Way, where that road turns into Third Avenue. It’s near the Vizcaya Metrorail station. The Miami Trolley includes a Coral Way route, so people can take advantage of that free mode of transportation to and from the museum. Miami Museum Month falls each May, allowing visitors and local residents to take advantage of offers such as “Buy One, Get One Free admission” and “Join One Museum, See Them All.”

The city chose The American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora to launch this year’s event as the featured museum. In early May, the public was invited to tour the museum, which included an exhibition titled “Orlando 2016,” in memory of the victims of the multiple murders inside Pulse, a gay Orlando nightclub where 49 people were killed and 53 wounded in a terrorist attack/hate crime on June 12. According to www.cnn.com, the shooter, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, pledged allegiance to the terrorist group ISIS. He was killed in a shootout with Orlando police. The exhibit is the work of Luis Cruz Azaceta, who “fled Cuba from the threat of compulsory military conscription under Fidel Castro’s newly formed regime,” according to the museum’s website at thecuban.org. “He moved to the U.S. and used his previous experience with the dictatorial regime to create his work.” Azaceta “explores the themes of terrorism, war, and exiles in his 29-piece exhibition that spans from 1980 to the present. Oppression and the human spirit weave together to bring this affecting exhibition to life.” Fuentes estimated about 300 people attended the event in early May.

The museum also offered a preview to the public last November. “Everybody was flabbergasted,” Fuentes said, adding anticipation was riding high among people who’d been following the new building’s development. Money for the museum came from Miami-Dade County under a bond issued in 2004. The county’s voters approved the raising of funds to build and improve recreation facilities, cultural facilities, and parks, Fuentes said. She said she and museum board members are “very excited. “It’s not just a museum for Cubans or Cuban-Americans,” she said. “It’s a museum for everybody.” The grand opening is scheduled for November 16. The museum is currently open from 10am to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. That will change after the grand opening; hours will remain the same, but the museum will be open every day except Wednesday. Museum officials plan on hosting school groups, starting with middle school. Staff also plan on taking programs into schools. “It will be a two-way street,” Fuentes said. Luis Cruz Azaceta, ORLANDO, 2016. Acrylic on canvas.

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Florida’s Crazy Laws

by Glenn Swift Jr.

strapless

We all remember the embarrassment, and humiliation, we proud Floridians endured during the 2000 presidential election: butterfly ballots, and hanging chads. Those images are firmly planted in our memory banks. So, let’s be honest. We didn’t look all that great before the nation. Of course, we assured ourselves that all the insanity wasn’t indicative of our robust, cutting-edge state. Well, on closer look, maybe we do need to rethink a few things after all. You see, we have some, let’s say, rather bizarre laws still in effect in our glorious Sunshine State. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about. Just don’t tell your friends up North.

 

They’ll be convinced that we really are nuts!

 

In Florida…

It is illegal to block any well-traveled wagon road.

It is illegal to fart in a public place after 6pm on a Thursday.

It is illegal to skateboard without a license.

Failure to tell your neighbor his house is on fire is illegal.

It is illegal to fish while driving across a bridge.

Sexual relations with a porcupine are strictly prohibited.

It is illegal for an unmarried woman to skydive on Sunday.

When having sex only the missionary position is legal.

Women can be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer. (the salon owner can also be fined for this horrible crime.)

It is illegal to break more than three dishes per day, or chip the edges of more than four cups and/or saucers.

Lap dances must be given at least six feet away from a patron.

You may not kiss your wife’s breasts.

Rats are forbidden to leave a ship docked in Tampa Bay.

Topless walking or running within a 150-foot zone between the beach and the street is prohibited.

In Key West…

It is illegal to spit on a church floor.

Chickens are considered a “protected species.”
In Miami…

It is illegal for a man to wear any kind of strapless gown.

It is illegal to imitate an animal.

The penalty for horse theft is death by hanging.

No person shall operate a bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least 100 feet; however, No bicycle shall be equipped with, nor shall any person use upon a bicycle, any siren or whistle.

Oral sex is illegal.

In Miami Shores…

Any product manufactured in a Communist country that is sold within its city limits must be clearly marked so as not “to hide its Communist origins.”

In Pensacola…

Citizens may not be caught downtown without at least 10 dollars on their person.

It is illegal to roll a barrel on a street. (Fines go up according to the contents of the barrel.)

A woman can be fined (only after death) for being electrocuted in a bathtub while using self-beautification utensils.

In Sarasota…

It is illegal to sing in a public place while attired in a swimsuit.

If you hit a pedestrian, you are fined $78.

Catching crabs is illegal.

In Tampa…

It is illegal to eat cottage cheese on Sunday after 6pm.

Are these crazy enough for you? For more crazy laws, visit
stupidlaws.com/laws/united-states/florida.

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