One last late night, Sister Saviour, before it’s too late.
Okay, I’m going to start with a list of interesting things I saw at the Royal Gardens at Kew in England. Photos are on facebook.
Atlas Cedar Cedrus atlantica (fam. Pinaceae)
Peacocks
Holly Oak Quercus ilex
Wollemi Pine Wollemia nobilis
Monkey Puzzle Araucaria araucana
Pagoda tree Saphora japonica
Pitcher plants Serracenia sp.
Ebony tree Diospyros ebenum
My trip to L.A. to see Paradise Lost was incredible. L.A. is a fairly strange city. Unlike Chicago (or any other city I’ve seen) it doesn’t really have an identifiable downtown. The whole thing is incredibly decentralized. It seemed like a never-ending suburb to me; the buildings were short, and there were vacant lots intermittently. All in all it was rather disconcerting. It made me wonder how any business got done without a pinpointable commercial epicenter.
At any rate, the performance was out in Pasadena, about an hour and half trip from our hotel, after two buses and a train (don’t bother going to L.A. unless you have a car rented, or if you have absolutely no schedule). The theater was tiny, with 99 seats. There wasn’t a bad seat in the whole house, and you were never more than 20 feet from the stage. The stage and costume had a sort of run-down futuristic grunge look. He had changed the music quite a bit since I saw the music performed at Northwestern University more than a year ago. The singing was all absolutely incredible. The lead, Extasis (played by Eric Whitacre’s wife, Hila Plitmann), is an unbelievable soprano, hitting high notes reminiscent of Mozart’s Queen of the Night aria like they were nothing. She had the ability to pull them out of nowhere at these insane intervals. The music wasn’t quite as driving as when I saw it previously performed, I think due to the bass being balanced lower at the show.
Greg, Alexis, and I saw Jason Crystal before the show. He’s working as a microphone technician/directing a small ensemble in the show. After the show Eric Whitacre was in the lobby talking to people and signing autographs. I had him sign my program, and Alexis had him sign sheet music for her mother. He said a recording of the show was going to be out soon. They’re splicing together recordings from the shows which end Sept. 2.
Most importantly, however, is the fact that Eric Whitacre complimented my hair. Yes, the Eric Whitacre, who has perfect hair himself and knows it, complimented my hair. I can never cut it again ever. All you doubters and naysayers have been pwnd.
Unfortunately, I have more bad news independent of the Hutsell’s case. On Tuesday July 24th there was a car accident at the corner of Deerfield and Kate’s Road. [Susan Smith],17 and a Deerfield student, was killed in the crash. Her car, driven by another teen, went straight through a yellow light. An oncoming car of teenagers tried to make a left through the yellow light. All other injuries were not life-threatening. Though [Susan] was not wearing her seat belt, I was almost relieved when I heard that no alcohol or drugs were involved in the accident. This is such a horrible accident in an already much injured community. Many wonder if Deerfield is cursed. I myself have trouble believe that so much death could have visited such a small, unpresuming city as Deerfield in less than a year.
This brings me to a few interesting articles that appeared in the July 26th edition of our local newspaper. It seems that police busted a teen drinking party the previous Friday. There were six arrested teens who had their mugshots printed in the paper. [John], 19, was one of the three people to survive the car crash last Homecoming that killed two Deerfield teens. [Josh], 19, is the brother of [Jenny] who died earlier this year in an alcohol related incident. [Chris and Alexa], both 19, were attending the party at the Hutsell’s the night of the accident. The owners of the house these teens were at were not a home and did not know about the party. Consequently all six teens were charged not only with possession of alcohol by a minor (and consumption in some cases), but also with criminal trespass to residence. This charge in itself is hardly significant, but it sends a message that the police are tolerating less and are more willing to charge to a fuller extent of the law.
The Hutsells were convicted on misdemeanor counts of endangering the health of a child, violating the state’s liquor control act, and attempted obstruction of justice. They are awaiting sentencing. As a side note, not a single teen who attended the party at the Hutsell’s house has been charged with possession or consumption of alcohol by a minor.
My question is if people honestly think that anything is going to change if we tar and feather people for the misdeeds of others while those who are at fault are amongst the hypocritical crowd jeering as their scapegoats are ridden out of town on a rail. I think it would be a much more effective example if the teens at the party October 13th at the Hutsell’s and the six teens at the most recent party were garroted in the town square, or perhaps in front of the school, and left hanging as a daily reminder to those not yet killed by their own stupidity.
nancy d said,
August 19, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Wade: Call me. I’d like to talk to you about the 7/20 arrest. 847/945-4863. Leave phone number if I am not available. Thanks!
nancy d said,
August 19, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Alternatively, e-mail me.
wadewheatley said,
August 21, 2007 at 12:07 am
Nancy, I’d like to respond, but I think you can understand why I might not feel comfortable calling you. I would like to e-mail you, but I’m not sure you left your e-mail. Let me know so we can discuss.
liz said,
February 6, 2008 at 1:46 am
You have no heart. Young lives were lost and that pain alone is enough. Somehow you find it acceptable to judge these situations as if you truly understand them. But I am sorry, it is clear you do not. You have misspoken and disrespected those who deserve to rest in eternal peace. I ask you to please speak only kind words when you mention anything regarding the death of one of these precious souls.
There is no substitute for pain, and some day it will be useful to you. « The Sound and the Fury said,
February 6, 2008 at 3:59 am
[...] Soya, Danny Bell, Deerfield, Jessica Savin, Ross Trace) I recently received a comment on an old post about the deaths in Deerfield last year. I wrote a response, and thought I should post it. Here is [...]
Sam said,
October 5, 2008 at 9:37 pm
You clearly dont know anything about these situations that you write about which makes me ask the question who gave you a website to write on. Almost all of the names of the 6 arrested were completely wrong. 2nd of all of the teens arrested at the house in july 2 actually were drinking alcohol and the other 4 did not even have a sip. 4 blew 0.00 while the other 2 were not above 0.04 no more than 2 beers. Next all of the people who were at the hutsell “party” if you can call it that were granted immunity to testify in court, meaning they cant be prosecuted. Last to think that 6 teens who were at a house 2 who were drinking should be hung is disgusting. To say that they didnt learn a lesson is idiotic. None of them were getting in cars. The only reason that this tragedy happened in 2006 wasnt because of alcohol consuption alone, it was because of alcohol consumption mixed with driving. You clearly have no idea what happened and have such a strong opinion on something where you know little facts. Maybe you should write on something when you can make educated statements about.
wadewheatley said,
October 5, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Sam: The names are “wrong” because I had the right names in, and then I had someone respectfully ask me to remove them. I removed the names and replaced them with made-up ones (hence the brackets). I also never said that all of them were drinking, I said they were arrested for “possession of alcohol by a minor (and consumption in some cases).” I personally know all of the people who were arrested and I have read the majority of the newspaper articles related to the events. I do not take this situation lightly, and I do not enter into discussion of it uninformed. Next time I recommend that you actually read the post before determining whether or not I know anything.
Carly said,
October 6, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Your pathetic Wade. So you think I should be hung for being at my best friends house where liquour was there? None of us were drinking and driving. None of us were making drug deals. None of us were drunk on a roof. Majority of teenagers drink Wade. Because we got busted we deserve to be fucking hung? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?? You wrote that you knew all of us personally.. you have no idea who I am. You have no idea how the death of my good friends and my best friends sister has done to me. I have learned. We all have learned and made extreme alterations to our lifestyles. But you exchanging glances with me in highschool and reading newspaper articles doesn’t make you knowledgable. When I type my name in google, not only do newspaper articles come up but your stupid blog does as well and you know what, I dont care. I don’t care what you or anyone thinks of me. But I do care about the images of my friends who have died and you writing about them is one of the worst things you can do. I agree with Julia. I don’t want to type in my friends names on google and see some kid who doesn’t even know who they REALLY are be talking smack for a mistake that killed them. What about the life they had? The achievements they had? The good things they did. How good of friends they were. That is the thing we should be remembering them for. Are you perfect? You sure think you are.
carly said,
October 6, 2008 at 6:09 pm
oh and NANCY if you want to talk to someone about the arrests that happened over the summer dont you think you should be asking someone who was there rather then Wade who never liked us to begin with
greg said,
March 27, 2009 at 11:22 am
Sam………
Did you push Jessica on the roof that night?
I know she was pushed.
Who did it?