Remembering April 19, 2005

Written to be posted on the 19th... but flickr was poky



I happened to be already heading to OKC to visit some friends/colleagues when it came to my attention that today was the anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Building, 14 years ago today. When I worked in OKC, I visited the memorial and museum on Father's Day (coincidence) and paid my respects.

I knew that I had to go visit today, and I'm really glad I did. When I visited on Father's Day, there were just two chairs decorated for the occasion. Today, nearly every chair had a tribute of some sort. There was definitely beauty today in the face of tragedy.



Most people who were wandering around were out-of-towners, but I happened across a woman who had a personal tie to the tragedy. I initially spotted her because she aimed for one chair in particular and had a beautiful bouquet of flowers in hand. At first, she placed them on the chair, and seemed to pray. I gave her plenty of room because I did not want to intrude. In fact, I wouldn't have except she was trying to secure the bouquet to the chair with string, and seemed to be struggling.

I offered a hand and she took me up on the offer and we secured her bouquet to the chair. I choked out a "I'm sorry for your loss," and she thanked me on both accounts. Again, wishing to give her privacy, I wandered away to take more photos and gave her room. She and I crossed paths once more and we started talking about the tragedy and the memorial in general. After mentioning our mutual disbelief that it had been 14 years already - that her then young son was now graduated from high school, college and married... that's when the conversation turned to the opportunity to gently inquire as to her connection to the tragedy. I figured that it was a coworker, or perhaps a friend.

She lost her husband, 14 years ago today. The pain of her loss hit me incredibly and after repeating my condolences, I asked her if she'd accept a hug from a stranger. I told her I felt compelled to give her a hug on this day of loss. To lose anyone in a senseless tragedy like that is painful, but to lose a spouse... I can only imagine. She accepted it and hugged me back and we spoke a little more before parting our ways. We introduced ourselves and wished each other well. Her husband was Johnny Allen Wade, member of the US Dept of Transportation.

Joan Wade, it was my distinct pleasure to meet you, today of all days. I can only hope that our conversation was as powerful for you as it was for me. Perhaps in different ways - but the connections made by strangers are often the best. Because they are unexpected.







More pictures - which you should definitely check out - at my flickr page

An Overload of Cute

All attempts so far at a family portrait of all five pups have gone up in smoke. I can get 4 out of 5 in focus and paying attention, but there's always the one wandering pup. More likely two.

These five pups have crawled into the hearts of the Urinetown cast and crew. Which is where their names have come from. Only one, the one taken in by M, has a non-show name: Sadie.

This is Lockstock. So named I believe because he is one of two boys. However, I'd also like to point out the white blaze on his chest that is in the shape of a star. Coincidence?



The other male is Barrel. He is the lightest colored, and probably would've been called Pennywise had he been a she.



Then there's adorable Little Sally, our runt of the litter. Don't let her size fool you, she's got a lot of personaility in that tiny body. And she loves to sleep all nuzzled up into a corner. Or a sister or brother.





And finally, Hope. The one who doesn't look much like the others with the brindle boxer coloring. She's absolutely adorable and slightly awkward. Her legs don't quite fit her body and she's prone to staggering around a bit. It's absolutely adorable.



And here's adorable Sadie:



Here's a picture of all save Sadie:



I sincerely hope you're saying "Awwww" right now...

Today's long tech rehearsal means our first day in awhile absent of the puppies - we're all sorely missing their presence. They're away at "summer camp" aka the prop assistant's parent's house for the weekend having the times of the lives playing in a huge backyard all of their own.

Long Time, No Update

Yes, it's been awhile. The 3rd show ate my soul and just recently spit it back out again. That and the fairly grueling schedule finally caught up with me. I couldn't sleep enough. Still can't.

Urinetown is going well - it's absolutely hysterical, a complete send-up of other shows. Our cast is pretty darn brilliant and rehearsals have been fun.

Monday morning made this whole week interesting. Some punk on the street where the Production Center is was selling puppies on the side of the road. By selling, I mean for $30 a pup, and he was holding two in a hand. And not treating them as a proper dog owner should. The props person, CS, who is a staunch animal lover recruited our stage manager, JL, who is a huge dog lover and off they went. They saved all 5 pups from this creep and he nearly got decked by both ladies for being an insensitive human being.

Suddenly, our work family was playing host to five absolutely adorable pit bull mix puppies. It's highly likely that they have more than one dad. One of them looks distinctly boxer-like, at least in coloring. They all had fleas, and as it later turned out, worms. We took them to get their first set of shots as well as to get dewormed. Our entire cast contributed funds to offset those costs as well as the cost of rescuing them from the evil man. Every rehearsal break, there are at least a handful of cast members/staff members in the props shop playing with the puppies. These puppies went from no love to lots of love. They are really lucky puppies. And they're absolutely adorable. Once they got dewormed, they started feeling so much better. Their personalities are really beginning to shine.











Aren't they adorable? One has already found the way into the heart of our Props Assistant, M, but four are still looking for loving homes. The runt may have found a home with one of our Seven Brides cast members, but he's awaiting landlord approval.

I'll miss them when they're gone but I'm looking forward to them finding new homes with loving families. Meanwhile, they're a great diversion!

Fireworks!

I couldn't let today go by without a post and a little story. I took about 500 pictures tonight of fireworks, but haven't the energy to fully go through them and see how many frames are duds. I just watched with one eye (after focusing) and just pressed the shutter... a lot. So I'm sure there's more than a few empty frames until I started calculating the delay between firework shoot off and my shutter.

Fireworks pictures are forthcoming, though I'm not sure when due to my intensive tech schedule, starting tomorrow.

But before I sign off for the night and crawl into bed to sleep as much as I can in prep for a 80+ hour week... I must leave you with this little story. Today, my only quest was to shoot fireworks with my nifty new camera. I've shot fireworks before with my little Fujifilm FinePix back in Lake George and they turned out well, but I was excited to see what I could do here, armed with a better camera, a tripod and more knowledge.

After unsuccessfully talking any of my colleagues into joining me, I settled on visiting the fireworks spectacular promised by the neighboring city, Bethany. Glad I decided to arrive early to scout a good locale, as apparently the Bethany fireworks were popular. I finally parked on a side street off a main drag (39th) and started walking towards the park where I knew the festivities were being held. As soon as I could hear the sound coming from the stage, I decided to settle down on the north side of the street.

While sitting there, and I was chatting with my mom on the phone, killing time, a Cairn Terrier and her owner walked by. Like I do whenever I think I spot a Cairn Terrier, is cry "Is that a Cairn?!" and get the owners attention. Nine times out of ten, I'm right and they're shocked that I don't think it's a Scottie or a Westie. I inform them that Cairn owners know their Cairns and that I (meaning my family) have two. So I struck up a conversation with the woman and found out that said Cairn's name was Chelsea and she was 14 months. She was adorable. I met her big human sister and her dad as well. They were camped out nearby and her mom was simply taking her for a walk. We ended up chatting for about a half hour about Cairns, dogs and even my job.

Then we waited for the fireworks to start. Boy, did I pick the location to be. They were being shot off in the field right behind me. I had a FRONT ROW SEAT.

So I just turned the camera on, checked a few of the shots through the viewfinder and just kept pressing the shutter... no kidding. My arm even started to hurt because it was tensed and I had to switch to my left hand. Since the fireworks were being set off from one location, I mostly just pressed the shutter and also got to enjoy it with my own two eyes.

I think I've ended up with some decent shots which I'll soon share... in addition to my new canine friend, Chelsea. But for now, I'll enjoy my foray into fireworks photography and the hospitality, kindness and friendliness of Oklahomans. And go to bed.

Night!

Remembering April 19th, 1995

Do you remember where you were on April 19th, 1995? I'm ashamed to say that I don't. I was much younger in those days, and the Oklahoma City Bombing, though a horrifying tragedy, just did not register in my brain the same way that 9/11 has forever been etched into my mind.

I remember visiting the site relatively shortly after the actual event, on the way back home from one of our annual family summer vacations. The memorial had not yet been erected, there was just a ton of chain-link fence, covered with momentos of visitors.



When I took the job in OKC this summer, I realized that I would be able to visit the memorial and take pictures. In the last few days, I've been twice. Once at night because I'd heard the memorial was gorgeous at night, and once during the day. For a location in the downtown of a major city, I felt remarkably safe photographing at night. There were rangers and security and a fair amount of visitors.

The memorial is simply gorgeous. It is bookended by two gates. One labeled 9:01 - representing a city of innocence. The other is labeled 9:03 - representing a city forever changed. The bombing happened at 9:02. What used to be the Murrah building is now the Field of Empty Chairs. One chair for every life lost, including 19 children. What I didn't realize until after touring the museum is that there were two unborn babies who also died that day. Loss of life is heart-breaking, but loss of young life just hurts a little bit more. Also represented in the Field of Empty Chairs are the five individuals who fell outside of the building. One of them, Rebecca Anderson, was a nurse who rushed in to help. While she was inside, she suffered a head injury. She died on the street outside in the arms of other rescuers. Heartbreaking.

What used to be 6th Street is now a shallow reflection pool spanning the distance between the two gates. Where the parking lot was, is a plaza, and next to it, a raised portion where the tree known as the Survivor Tree still stands. This tree survived the bomb blast - a pretty incredible feat considering its proximity to the bombing. A seedling from this resilient tree was presented to Rudy Giuliani after 9/11 by OKC.

The Journal Record Building still stands and is home to the National Memorial Museum - 2 powerful floors of exhibits. The museum starts with OKC history and the history of the building itself. Then you are taken into a room, and shut in. You listen to an official recording of a meeting being held across the street starting at 9am. It is slightly horrifying to sit there knowing what will happen 2 minutes into the recording. After you're done in there, you walk out and watch the first breaking news footage, and thusly, begin your exploration into the aftermath of the bombing.

You see relics recovered - personal effects or file cabinets from the building where you are currently standing. The blast blew out windows nearby. A cast member in the show who was quite young at the time was actually knocked out of her seat (I don't know how far away she was). The blast was certainly felt at least 5 miles away according to the news footage because it was felt at their building.

The devastation was incredible but OKC was resilient. Reading and hearing survivor stories and/or stories about those who died were just heartbreaking. At times, I felt almost physically ill because the emotions were so powerful.

The iconic picture of the firefighter with the baby? She turned 1 the day before she died. Isn't that heartbreaking? Could you imagine being a parent of one of those children at that daycare or the YMCA down the street? There was apparently much confusion in the beginning because there were injuries at that daycare as well.

There was a section about how they caught Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. I did not know that Ford (builder of the Ryder truck) voluntarily repurchased the truck immediately after the bomb truck so that they could better identify that truck forensically. Being a CSI fan, I enjoyed that part immensely.

I also enjoyed the 1000 golden cranes that flew above in the end of the exhibit. If you're unfamiliar with the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, you need to go read it. It's a touching true story about a girl named Sadako who falls ill after the atom bombing. She is told that if she folds 1000 paper cranes, that she will be healed. She perseveres, but she is often too weak to fold any. Before she died, she folded 644. They are a symbol of healing and many were left at the OKC site. There were also many that were left at 9/11 as well.

The day I chose to go to the Museum with a colleague was our day off, and coincidentally, Father's Day. My colleague arrived before I did and wandered around the outside Memorial. While he was there, he happened upon a weeping father, crying on the chair of his son or daughter. Heartbreaking.

Part of me was thankful to miss that sight, but discovered that "World's Best Dad" balloons had been tied to the chair of David Walker.



On a child's chair was a signed softball:



Heartbreaking.

The memorial is gorgeous at night, each of the chairs is lit from below, like candles in a church. Please visit my flickr page to see the many pictures taken over both visits.

In short, really, how could I not visit, pay tribute and enjoy the beauty that has risen from tragedy?

OKC and Dale Chihuly

I have been a fan of Dale Chihuly for as long as I can remember. My parents can correct me on this, but I think it all started when they took me to an exhibition held at the STL Art Museum. I was instantly enchanted, especially when I walked into a room with a glass-drop ceilling. Between the actual ceiling and the drop ceiling were tons of his pieces, some large, some small and all beautifully illuminated from above. I swore right then and there, if I was ever filthy rich, I wanted a room in my house like that.

The next time I saw Chihuly en masse was during his exhibition at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I only wish now that I could go back and revisit, now that I'm more passionate about photography. It was a gorgeous exhibition, and I enjoy every piece that the Garden and/or its patrons purchased.

On yesterday's day off, I decided to stay indoors (the weather was potentially questionable) and visit the OKC Museum of Art. I had heard of their Dale Chihuly collection and couldn't wait to check it out. Unfortunately the rest of the museum was closed because they're prepping for a big new exhibit, but I decided the entry fee was more than worth it just for the Chihuly exhibit.

And boy was I right. The exhibition is pretty large and simply stunning. I went through it at least twice before sitting down and watching the Chihuly film about his work. I soaked in all that I could. I took at least 450 pictures, experimenting with the different settings. People were allowed to take flash photos but I could not for the life of me understand why. Every piece was gorgeously lit, to show off its colors. A flash would just lose all the color value.

This mosaic is just a sampler of the 120-odd photos I painstakingly uploaded last night (flickr's independent uploader was giving me fits, so I had to upload the old-fashioned way). Please click on the sidebar flickr link to check them all out. And please don't forget to let me know what you think!



If you are ever in OKC, I urge you to check this exhibit out. Or if you're near any Dale Chihuly exhibit - run, don't walk- and enjoy the stunning art he and his team creates out of sand and fire.

Oklahoma Tidbits

High winds are apparently commonplace here, they've been gusting like crazy for the last day or so. Turns out we have a tornado watch tonight... didn't they just have a storm right before I came here? If the sirens go off, we'll be hunkering down with our show's choreographer who has a 1st floor apartment. I'm not terribly worried. Just the same, I didn't park my car underneath any trees. I'm more worried about the winds than anything else. My car was not fun to drive on the 10 minute drive home.

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Seen on 16th street: A little old lady driving a red sedan at 20 mph (the speed limit is 30 or 35) and quite possibly drinking a beer while driving. I didn't get close enough to see and when my patience ran out, I passed when the lines on the road let me. Yikes.

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Nothing against the children in our production, I am looking forward to when the rest of the adults arrive next week. Today, we had a discussion with the children about the end of the show and why the Von Trapps were leaving. The director drew parallels to today and it was very solemn.

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Despite the relatively light schedule so far (it's going to get busier), I haven't had much opportunity to take the camera out for a whirl. But my next day off is coming up soon - where shall I go next?