Sheri Wright's "Tracking Fire", the Song "United We Stand, Divided We Fall", the last Song Sung by Reverend Bill Larson Before Burning To Death

Christal Cooper  818 Words

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https://www.facebook.com/christalann.ricecooper

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL

http://trackingfire.com/

http://texturedstories.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TrackingFire

United We Stand, Divided We Fall is attributed to

the Greek Philosopher Aesop in his fable

The Four Oxen and the Lion.

“Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all!

By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall!”

John Dickinson in 1768

“United we stand, divided we fall.   Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.”

Patrick Henry in March of 1799.

“For united we stand, divided we fall

And if our backs should ever be against the wall

We'll be together, together, you and I.”

Tony Hiller and Peter Simmons in 1970

       Sheri Wright spent a pleasant week from January 10^th to January 18^th of 2014 in the French Quarter of New Orleans on 141 Charles Street, the corner of Chartres and Iberville Streets.  The birds were singing, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining; but in Wright’s mind things were very somber, holy, sacred, and overwhelming.

       “All I could say was, “Holy Shit!  I’m really doing this!’”

Wright is on a mission to complete her documentary film Tracking Fire on the Upstairs Lounge Fire, the largest mass murder in LGBT history, that happened over forty years ago on June 1973 where 32 people, all gays and one mother, died from a fire caused by an alleged arsonist, an angered patron who was kicked out of the bar earlier that night.

Sheri’s mission goes back to September of 2012 when she watched "Ghost Hunters" about investigators going into the Upstairs Lounge to contact the spirits.  She was appalled to the lack of response to the fire by officials and the community and to her ignorance of the event.  Why didn’t she know about this, especially, since she was gay herself?

She made a commitment to herself, her subconscious, and her higher power, that she would do a documentary film about the fire, the victims’, and the survivors.    

This has been a great adventure – scary and filled with anticipation – for Sheri.  Sheri’s background is that of photographer, poet, and teacher.  She has never done a documentary film before.

During that January week in New Orleans, as Wright walked the same stairs, into the same room the victims walked in forty years ago, where they lost their lives due to a door-sized fireball of 2000 degrees, she had an epiphany:  “This is what I was born to do!”

What Wright is supposed to do is two-fold: to make this film and to give voices to the victims and the survivors.

       One person who has been etched in her mind is Reverend Bill Larson.  Perhaps it is due to that photograph of him dead, his hands grasping the window ledge; his body stuck between the 14-inch gapped bars of the window, covered in an ash blanket, his own burial clothes.

       “I can’t get that image out of my mind.  They could have covered Reverend Larson’s body, but they let it sit there for hours and hours because he was gay and they wanted to make a statement.  It is a disturbing image, but I think it needs to be seen.”

       Reverend Larson was a Christian minister of the Metropolitan Community Church, the first gay church founded in October of 1968 in Los Angeles by Troy Perry, who presided over one of two memorial, services held for the victims in July of 1973.

       Reverend Larson was at the Upstairs Lounge on the second floor to discuss with other church members an upcoming fundraiser for children who were crippled, and to also enjoy a meal and a glass of beer.

       The reports that Reverend Larson was holding church services that sweltering June night are wrong.

       “MCC was not holding their meetings that night.  Reverend Larson was allowed to use one of the back rooms to hold meetings for MCC until they found more suitable space.  At the time of the fire they already located a more permanent space”

       Reverend Larson and his fellow patrons were singing “United We Stand” which was fitting considering this night, June 24, 1973, was the last day of Pride Weekend Celebration.

       The fire was discovered at 7:56 p.m. when one of the patrons opened the door to find the front staircase engulfed in a huge fireball.

       Since Reverend Larson, like most of the patrons, was not aware of the fire exit door in the back, he tried to squeeze through the barred windows only to get stuck, burning to death, his spirit singing, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.”

       Thus Reverend Larson’s motto of “United We Stand Divided We Fall” is Sheri’s motto.

       
     Because Sheri has never done a documentary film before she has made sure to surround herself with experienced people in the industry; which includes hiring experienced musicians, poets, professional videographers, cinematographers, editors, and narrators. 
     She views this film as not her film but one that belongs to the entire community:       “This is a community project.  It is not my project.  This film belongs to the community.”

       To donate funds go to http://www.power2give.org/kentucky/Project/Detail?projectId=5022

Photo Description and Copyright Information

Photo 1

Hellenistic statue claimed to depict Aesop, Art Collection of Villa Albanie, Rome.

Public Domain.

Photo 2

John Dickinson (1732 – 1808)

Oil on canvas.

Attributed to Charles Wilson Peale
Public Domain

Photo 3

Patrick Henry (1736-1799)

Oil on canvas.

Attributed to Thomas Sully and George Bagby Matthews

Public Domain.

Photo 4

Album cover of Brotherhood of Man “United We Stand”

Fair Use Under the United States Copyright Law.

Photo 5

Signs of Chartres and Iberville Streets.
Copyright by Sheri Wright.

Photo 6

Sheri Wright giving a poetry reading.
Copyright granted by Sheri Wright.

Photo 7

Poster for Sheri Wright’s documentary film Tracking Fire.

Photo 8

The aftermath of the Upstairs Fire.
Copyright by Landov.

Photo 9
Memorial marker with all the names of the victims lost in the fire.
Copyright by Sheri Wright.

Photo 10.

Sheri Wright with her camera.
Copyright granted by Sheri Wright.

Photo 11

Post from Sheri Wright’s documentary Tracking Fire minus the sidebars

Photo 12

Survivors of the Upstairs Fire being attended to by firemen and medical personnel.

Copyright by Landov.

Photo 13

Reverend Bill Larson’s corpse.
Copyright by Landov.

Photo 14.

Reverend Bill Larson at the pulpit.
Copyright by Landov.

Photo 15

Reverend Troy Perry delivering a sermon at the Metropolitan Municipal Church in Rochester, Minnesota.
September 18, 2006

Attributed to Jonathunder.
CCASA 3.0 Unported License.

Photo 16

Patrons of the Upstairs Lounge, including Reverend Bill Larson, second from the left.
Copyright by Landov.

Photo 17.

The Reverend Elder Nancy Wilson with the Metropolitan Community Church logo in front of the altar at a regional conference of the church denomination at All God's Children MCC in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

July 18, 2008

Attributed to Jonathunder.
CCA-SA 3.0 Unported License and GNU Free Documentation License.

Photo 18

Rainbow Flag.
October 5, 2008

Attributed to Ludovic Bertron

CCA-SA 2.0 Generic License

Photo 19

Sheri Wright giving a poetry reading at the even music and poetry event 1000 Poets For Change.
2012
Copyright granted by Sheri Wright.

Photo 20

Image of the Upstairs Lounge second floor as it appears today.  The window second from the right is the same window that Reverend Larson clasped as he burned to death.
Copyright by Landov.

Photo 21

Sheri Wright judging a poetry event.
Copyright granted by Sheri Wright.

World Renowned Sculptor Martin Dawe on President FDR, Sister Nikki, and the Art Form

Christal Cooper – 1,625 Words

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SCULPTOR MARTIN DAWE: 

THE STRENGTH OF BRONZE

http://cherrylion.com

On April 10, 1945 President Roosevelt had his secret service men drive him to Pine Mountain, on top of Dowdell’s Knob, and leave him there in solitude. 

Dowdell’s Knob is the rock outcropping overlooking Pine Mountain Valley’s 14,000 acres.  It is located in the middle of FDR State Park, which is, at 9,047 acres, the largest state park in Georgia. 

Here on this bluff Roosevelt would picnic with other polio victims, his family, friends, and his secret service agents.   This was also the place Roosevelt chose to savor Pine Mountain’s green beauty and meditate.      

“Just imagine what this man was thinking; up there with the view that’s pretty much the exact same today. He knows what’s going on.  He knows about all the lives of the allies being lost.  It almost boggles the mind.  His health had been failing for several months.   He was real hollow looking.  He was dealing with a body that was shutting down on him.  I think he had a sense of what that meant.” Sculptor Martin Dawe said. 

Two to three hours later, Roosevelt honked his horn, a signal for his men to come back.  He died two days later of a cerebral hemorrhage.

On April 12, 2007, a ceremony was held at FDR State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia to unveil Dawe’s statue of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; the only statue that accurately depicts his polio condition, from the car seat he sat in to the braces he wore.   

         This is a not only an accurate and historical memory of Roosevelt, but the three-dimensional-image Dawe saw in his mind:  the six-foot-two president with his 12 foot sized shoes, sitting on a car seat that had been removed from the car, his legs crossed, and his accurately depicted leg braces. 

This image, just like history, depicts Roosevelt looking across Pine Mountain; his braces worn on the outside of his pants, like he would do in private, but never in public. 

It is also an interaction art, where the person can participate in the art form by sitting next to FDR, in his grandfatherly comfort, on the roadster seat.

     “It only seemed fitting that he’d be seated in his car seat.  I wanted the statue to be interactive with other people, especially the downtrodden since he identified with them and helped them with his numerous programs.”

         Dawe, 51, thinks of his older sister Nikki, who died of breast cancer in 2002 at 51.  Maybe she is not sitting next to Roosevelt, but instead, is leaning over his shoulder whispering into his ear, “I understand what you’re going through.”

Dawe, along with his sister, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to parents who served in the Royal Navy.  A crewmember from a ship docked in the area had polio and unfortunately infected other people in the area –one of whom was three-year-old Nikki Dawe. 

At that time, in 1954, all persons with polio were confined to a three-month quarantine without any contact with family members.  Dawe said his father remembers visiting the main gate of the hospital where his daughter was quarantined and leaving her a toy or a stuffed animal.

         “He told me it is the worst thing he ever had to go through.  She was the idyllic happy little girl and then the next day this very angry, scarred little girl.  She never got over it.”

         The hospital staff told Dawe’s father that she was very angry and would not stay in her bed.  The staff and the family both believe that anger prevented her from getting into the mature stages of polio, thus saving her.  Nikki later became a nurse.

         “My sister was strong and compassionate.  The thing that amazes me about her is when she got cancer the second time and went through four years of chemotherapy she never complained.  She never said anything negative and always played up the positive.”   

         The Dawe family moved to Maplewood, New Jersey, ten miles from Manhattan, where Nikki graduated from high school and Dawe realized, as a child, that he was bound for a career in art.  

     His first drawing was of President Abraham Lincoln.  His first sculpture was when he was sixteen, of a Roman man, that he described as “terrible” and displays it in his studio.

After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Main for two years.  He then studied at Boston University of Fine Arts, and after two years, it was suggested he attend a more challenging art school.  He studied Fine Arts in Sculpture, and earned his bachelor’s of fine arts in sculpting from Georgia State University. 

For the next eight years he apprenticed under great sculptor Julian Harris, who died eight years later at the age of 80.  Harris, whom Dawe described as grandfatherly, taught him everything he knew about sculpting, which was enormous, but did not include the latest technology.  Dawe was able to use the modern day technology when he did his first commissioned piece in the early 1980s.

“It was for about $1500.  Julian didn’t do small commissions like that so he told me to take it and go for it.  It was the Naismith Trophy, a polished bronze figure given to the top collegiate male and female players, annually since 1980.”        

It was in Atlanta, after working five years as a sculptor full time, that Nikki gave him the greatest compliment. 

     “She was really kind of cocky about my sculpting work. She finally said,  ‘I didn’t think you were very good, but you’ve gotten better; you’ve gotten really better.’”

      In the early years, even though Dawe was sculpting, he worked three jobs to make ends meet.  He waited tables, refurbished houses, and did prop work.  Dawe doesn’t take all of the credit of his success but is gracious to his parents, who helped him financially through the years.

In 1987, Dawe started his own custom sculpture studio in Atlanta, Georgia, and four years later christened it CherryLion. The idea came from a cast stone lion’s head hanging on the door and then a friend of Dawe’s stuffing carved-wooden-cherries in the lion’s mouth.

CherryLion Studios is located in Atlanta, Georgia on an isolated street, where just the tip of the Atlantic skyline can be seen.  Here Dawe and his staff work endless hours in the 6000 square foot of open space, with a section consisting of a bathroom, kitchen, loft and bed.  

And it was here that he received the news that he dreaded:  Nikki had been in a coma and the family said she wouldn’t live much longer.  Dawe immediately flew from Atlanta to New Jersey to be by her side.

         “I went and sat by her in the bed.  Her eyes didn’t move, open, or anything.  She was having great difficulty breathing.  I almost didn’t recognize her. She kind of turned her head towards me a little bit and she pulled her lips back and smiled at me. She died about thirty minutes later.  She did wait for me.  I was the last one to get there.  All seven of us were together with three or four friends.”   

         Right after Nikki’s death, Dawe was asked by FDR State Park to submit an idea along with other sculptors and received the commission to do a bronze life statue of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 

In order to accomplish this great task took intense and strenuous research, work, and thought.   Being a sculptor requires a great knowledge of physics, geometry, biology, anatomy, computer programming, as well as the art form.  But in addition, being an expert sculptor requires one to have the ability to see things in three-dimension within his mind. 

First he has the image – the three dimensional image in his brain and then he places it in the computer, changing head angles, hand placements, and which legs to cross.  Also included in the computer graphics is the place that the statue is to be placed.  The next step, intense research.   

“I had to know what he looked like inside and out.  I’m not the kind of sculptor that wants a dry mannequin life casting.  It’s about capturing an essence not just a physical outside.  The main thing was just watching every video and DVD that I could get my hands on that showed him in different ages and different lights and different positions.”

He also read Newsweek Senior Editor’s Jonathan Alter’s “The Defining Moment – FDR’S Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope.”  During the middle of sculpting the piece Dawe went to one of Alter’s lectures, where his main lecture theme was on how Roosevelt changed. 

“It was a positive that he took his disability and made it part of his personality that people could relate to.  When he found out he had total loss of his legs, he managed to find this incredible strength inside of him (which) helped change America.   The actual dollars weren’t there but the attitude changed which eventually changed the financial situation.” 

         Finally came the building of the armature, the actual skeleton of the statue consisting of plywood, heavy wire, and other material. 

Then the clay is placed over the armature and formed into life within the sculptor’s hands.  The clay must be kept wet with water and covered in plastic bags to retain the moisture. 

The statue is then sent to a foundry where it is cast in bronze, approximately ¼ inch thick throughout.  During this process the original clay statue is destroyed. 

Presently, Dawe is sculpting six clay figures, and has 23 commissions to complete.            

         “ I am doing something I absolutely love.  For me it’s about being able to create form.  Three-dimension, it’s godlike in a way.  You’re creating life.  I love life.  I find life inspiring.”

Photo Description and Copyright Info

Photo 1 and 3

Description:  FDR in Warm Springs, Georgia, 1930.

Credit:  Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

Photo 2

Dowdell’s Knob in FDR State Park.

CCCCO 1.0 Universal Public Domian.

Photo 4

Scultptor Martin Dawe. 

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe

Photo 5

President Roosevelt’s favorite spot for a news conference in Warm Springs, Georiga on March 23, 1937

Photo 6

Martin Dawe, Paul Nelson, Dan White, Ronnie Eakins, Abit Massey, Don McGhee, Dr. Toby Raper, Jody Rice and David M. Burke  Photo Credit: DNR

Phto 7

Martin Dawe sculpting a Maquetter.

Attrrbuted to David Burk

Photo 8

Sculpture of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Martin Dawe.
Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 9

Martin Dawe seated with his parents necxt to the statue.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 10

Nikki the nurse.

Photo 11

Child with a deformity of her right leg due to polio

Attributed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Domain.

Photo 12

Father Dawe kissing Nikki.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 13

Nikki and her dad.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe

Photo 14

Nikki as a nurse

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 15

Nikki on a fishing trip.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe

Photo 16

Martin at the beach.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe

Photo 17

Bronze of Abraham Lincoln $4,000
Copyright granted by Martin Dawe

Photo 21

Naismith
Polished bronze 1980

Given annualy to top collegiate male and female basketball players.
Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 22

Martin Dawe and his mother.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 23

Cast stone lion’s head at Cherry Lion studios.
Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 24

Cherry Lion studios

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 25

Martin Dawe far left, with family members, including Nikki Dawe far right.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 26.

FDR State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

Fair Use Under the United States Copyright Law.

Photo 27

Martin Dawe with head busts, one of which is of President Franklin Delano Rossevelt, far right.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.

Photo 28.

Only one of two known photographs of FDR in wheelchair.  FDR with Ruthie Bie and dog Fala at Hilltop Cottage in Hyde Park.

1941

Credit:  Franklin D Roosevelt Library.

Photo 29

FDR

1945

Credit:  Franklin D Roosevelt Library.

Photo 30

Jacket cover of  “The Defining Moment:  FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triump[h of Hope”

Simon & Schuster May 8, 2007

Photo 31

Jonathan Alter at the 2013 Texas Book Festeval in Autsitn.

October 26, 2013

Atributed to larry D Moore

CCASA 3.0 Unported License.

Photo 32A, 32B, 32C, 32D, 32E, 32F, 32G

The step by step process of Martin Dawe creating the FDR Scultpure.

Copyright granted by Martin Dawe.