At least 200 people attended the memorial at Stephen Foster Elementary school to remember Leslie "Lisa" Williams and her daughter, Paige, who were killed two weeks ago. (Madi Spector/WUFT News

By Madi Spector
Nov. 30, 2018

GAINESVILLE — One boy unfolded a piece of paper with a floral design and large handwriting on it, and placed it onto the podium before sharing, like all the other speakers, about Williams’ kindness and willingness to help.

“She always helped my friends and I do our presentations,” he said. “She was the best teacher I ever had, and it was really fun learning with her. We loved her more than anyone.”

Another pupil told of actually liking to read for the first time because of Williams, who also did the morning news announcements at Stephen Foster.

“But now that she’s gone,” the girl said, “I still like reading, and I love her.”

The pupils were among more than 200 people who attended a memorial for Williams, 57. She and her daughter Paige, 15, a student at Buchholz High School, were found dead in their home on Nov. 15 from stabbing wounds.

Paul Williams, 61, was charged Saturday with two counts each of first-degree murder, obstruction and evidence tampering in the deaths of his wife and daughter.

The pupils, their parents and faculty held candles as they gathered in a school courtyard.

“In Loving Memory of Lisa Williams” were the words attached to sign holding a photo of Williams on an easel.

“This candle burns for Lisa Williams. Forever present in our hearts,” read a framed sign placed on a table next to the easel. Another candle and sign shared the same for her daughter. Two tissue boxes were next to the signs, each one opened and constantly pulled from.

Callista Lamb, 17, (right) stands next to a friend as she thanks people for attending her aunt’s memorial. (Madi Spector/WUFT News)

Callista Lamb, 17, (right) stands next to a friend as she thanks people for attending her aunt’s memorial. (Madi Spector/WUFT News)

Samantha Latham, a third-grade teacher, opened the memorial.

“Something life-transforming has happened to us,” Latham said. “Ordinary words sometimes fail us. Yet, it is impossible to remain mute. For many of us, Mrs. Williams was a smiling face every time you walked by her.”

After a moment of silence, two brunette girls stepped to the mic to represent Williams’ family. She had relocated from Port St. Lucie to Gainesville for her job last fall.

“This is my aunt Lisa,” said Callista Lamb, 17, referring to the photo close by. “And everyone was a little bit too distraught to come tonight.” Choking back tears, Callista continued: “Seeing everyone here, knowing that she was so loved – she was an amazing woman. I looked up to her. And the memories I have with her, I’ll forever hold onto.”

After the niece spoke, the microphone was offered to anybody who wished to speak. That’s when all the pupils lined up to speak about their love for Williams.

“Mrs. Williams said that her dream is that everyone else’s dreams would come true,” one girl said.

Lyrics from Hillsong United’s “There is No One Like You” filled the courtyard — first by two people, then by everybody.

“There is no one like you,” they sang. “No one else can touch my heart like you.”

A photo in remembrance of Williams stood for all to see at the memorial. (Madi Spector/WUFT News)

Read the original story here.

Sam Konchan, 21, UF botany junior spins a set of fire fans in the backyard area of Flow Space located on 117 NW 16th Ave. Spinning fire is only one form of the flow arts in which Konchan also finds a community offering lifelong friendships. Alan Alvarez / Alligator Staff

By Madi Spector
March 7, 2018

GAINESVILLE — When Sam Konchan’s neighbors called the police on him, he said he wasn’t committing arson.

He was just spinning a flaming hula hoop around his body.

Konchan, a 21-year-old UF botany junior, has been performing with fire and props for three years, but has been playing with props since his sister left her batons unattended when he was 12 years old.

In the summer of 2015, while he was at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee, he was drawn to a girl’s LED hula-hoop performance.

As he watched her roll the illuminated hoop from her forearm across her chest, like basketball players with balls, Konchan was mesmerized.

After the festival, Konchan practiced tricks for hours each day. Three years later, he’s improved his techniques in flow arts.

He practices in the field by Oxford Terrace II Apartments, at Depot Park, as well as on the Plaza of the Americas. He usually does it at night — when it’s easier to see at West Side Park.

Konchan started his journey with a prop of tethered weights called “poi,” which is manipulated to look like spinning fire balls. He also uses hula hoops, which have three to four wicked prongs, and a dragon staff, or a metal rod with pinwheel-like ends that can be twirled in the air.

Practicing brings him peace, Konchan said.

“It’s this meditative state. It’s a flow state of mind,” he said. “You zone really hard on the present.”

His first professional performance was at the 2017 Imagine Music Festival in Atlanta. He walked around wearing multi-colored sequined leggings and fake pink scales painted on his body.

Konchan worked as an unpaid character actor dressed as a merman and performed with LED props.

“It was great to be a part of something I believed in,” he said. “I love the vibe of people being themselves and opening themselves up.”

He plans to return to the festival in 2019 as the leader of a group of roaming character actors. In 2020, he hopes to be on stage as a fire performer.

Konchan said his family and friends have been supportive of his passion. He has received some negative jeers from strangers, who called him a f--, but he said he found the comments immature. He knows the flow arts community, which spreads across the globe, is accepting. A Facebook group he’s in, Infinite Circles, currently has about 30,000 members, he said.

Another local performer, AJ Henry, 26, has been practicing flow arts for four years. He and Konchan met three years ago in a Gainesville group of fire performers called Ambiance. The two are also part of a group called Phoenix Fire & Performance Art that includes 10 people from Gainesville and Jacksonville.

Henry learned to breathe and eat fire at Flashepoint, a festival for artists and jugglers, last October in Stuart, Virginia. He said he became addicted to practicing.

There are numerous safety precautions when performing, he said. One misstep could lead to hospitalization, so he always has someone present with a fire blanket in case anything goes wrong.

For Henry, the community offers lifelong friendships.

“When I go to a festival or a show in a different city, I know that I will either know someone there, or I will be able to make new friends,” he said.

In the future, Konchan sees himself possibly working for The Walt Disney Co. as a performer. He said he wants to keep exploring the practice because he thinks it brings people together.

“With cellphones and technology now, people have a hard time just sitting down with their eyes closed and not fidgeting,” he said. “But having something active and moving in calm states, it gives you time to zone in and be really peaceful.”


Read the original story here.