The Beginning

Lauren Marx’s “American Wilderness” at Roq La Rue.

Opening Thursday, May 7th at Roq La Rue in Seattle, Washing in Lauren Marx’s solo show, “American Wilderness.”  The animals in Lauren’s work are bits and pieces of their own universe where “the birds are stars and insects are dust” and so and so forth, each interacting with the others; morphing and dissolving into compositional metaphors for life, death and the sublime.

In Gretna, Florida, Juanita Donald called the police to come assist her and get her 24 year old son to take his medication, as she had done in the past.

On Tuesday morning, around 9:30 am, she called the police to help her with her son Kaldrick Donald and one officer showed up, Sergeant Charles Brown.

Charles Brown ended up tasing Kaldrick Donald repeatedly, and then took him into the isolated bathroom in the family’s house and shot him multiple times, killing him.

Brown murdered Donald in the presence his pregnant sister and mother, and no one can even say why. He was completely unarmed, and somehow not completely sane.

His mother said “I heard my baby say, I want my mama after he shot him, and then I didn’t hear anything else.”

His mother said she was “expecting them to take him to the Apalachee Center like before”, but instead a single officer came and escalated the situation, murdering him in front of his family.

Juanita continued to say “It wasn’t but one officer. Instead of him calling for backup, he took things in his own hands and he goes in the house and he rush him and shoot him.”

She continued to say he “didn’t want to be bothered”, and that he simply walked away from the officer.

She says Sergeant Charles Brown “Just grabbed him and he tased him. Then when he grabbed him and tased him, he rushed my son off in the bathroom and I heard three shots. I was like, you shot my son and he was like, I had to. I said, no, you didn’t have to.”

Charles Brown is now on ‘administrative leave’, or paid vacation, and if this story doesn’t blow up then this officer surely will see no charges.

1. Don’t rush things. Take the time to really get to know each other.

2. Focus on positivity rather than negativity. Getting angry quickly or being harsh and critical will undermine and ruin even strong relationships. In contrast, being kind and gentle will help develop love.

3. Appreciate the little things the other person does. Don’t overlook their efforts; don’t just expect their help.

4. Enjoy the ways you’re different – and not clones of one another. It makes things interesting (and creates healthy space).

5. Don’t get into a rut so that you’re bored when you’re together. Keeping doing something different, or keep trying something new.

6. Learn how to be listener, someone who’s understanding, and helps their partner open up and share what’s bothering them.