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Syracuse University’s National Veterans Resource Center hosted “Healing Trauma Through Poetry and Music” Sunday night as part of this year’s Remembrance Week. The talk featured Brian Turner and Kurt Erickson, the poet and composer who debuted “Each Moment Radiant” as part of SU’s Malmgren Concert Series earlier that day.

Part of the Syracuse Symposium series, the event highlighted the creative process behind Turner and Erickson’s compositions, “Each Moment Radiant” and “Here, Bullet.” The artists created “Each Moment Radiant” taking inspiration from the aftermath of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and hoping to help others heal from the associated trauma, Erickson said.

Around 30 attendees, including SU faculty, staff, students and alumni, engaged in conversation about the bombing and its impact on composing art. Erickson and Turner used the discussion to share how the idea for the piece came to be and how they were able to bring the Lockerbie, Scotland and SU communities together through their work.

“You see a lot of over and over … this sort of repetitive structure that echoes some of the experience,” Turner said. “But also there’s a sort of cyclic nature to all the different emotions and the way the memory comes back up and brings it up again.”

Pan Am Flight 103 was carrying 35 SU students returning home from study abroad programs, along with other passengers, when it exploded as a result of a terrorist bombing. It then crashed into the town of Lockerbie, killing 11 citizens on the ground.

Erickson said he and Turner agreed they wanted the project to honor those lost and include them in the pieces. He explained how their goals shifted from when they began the project compared to when they finished.

“I conceive of this more in terms of a public memorial,” Erickson said. “Whereas before I thought, ‘Oh, I’m just going to tell this story through music.’”

Sunday’s concert and following discussion was a collaboration between the Society for New Music and several SU offices, including the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families, SU’s Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholar program, Hendricks Chapel and Setnor.

Carole Brzozowski, the managing director of the Society for New Music, was a counselor at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management when the bombing occurred. She said it’s important to honor the memories of the people who died, and events like the symposium reassure her that people still care about the tragedy.

In spring 2023, Erickson visited SU and spent time researching Pan Am Flight 103 at the university’s Special Collections Resource Center, he said. Erickson also took a trip to Lockerbie and saw the impact the bombing left on its community. He said he wasn’t connected to the attack beforehand as he was an undergraduate at California State University Fullerton when it occurred.

“I found myself being connected to and mourning people that I didn’t know,” Erickson said.

Turner said his focus while writing the poetry for the project extended beyond the bombing itself. He wanted to create a space to reflect and grieve using his art, he said.

Judy O’Rourke, a former facilitator of the Lockerbie Scholarship, attended Sunday’s event. She said she has been involved with Remembrance Week events over the last 36 years. The discussion helped her develop an increased appreciation for Turner and Erickson’s work.

“There was a lot of research in it, it’s more than just the music, it’s a story and that’s not always the case,” O’Rourke said.

As the project emphasized creating a public space to tell the stories that stemmed from the tragedy, Erickson said it has also allowed for acknowledgement of the emotions associated with it.

“Now I realize in looking at the public memorial space, this is really something that needs to be told, not just for the families, but on a much larger national and global level,” Erickson said. “We need these types of pieces and artwork where we can … come to terms with the difficult things that we all deal with.”

Published on October 20, 2024 at 11:46 pm

Contact Zaara: zamalik@syr.edu