A sidebar on Slate caught my eye today, an interesting respite from political news. Then an embedded link. And its reference to a crime.
A click brought up the story: In December, a bunch of Vermont teens decided a farmhouse once owned by American poet Robert Frost, now part of a National Historical Monument, would be the perfect place for their drinking party, and proceded accordingly. I leave the details to New York Times columnist Dan Barry or to your imagination.
Personally, I found the story incredibly difficult to read, not because Barry didn’t write well, but because he did. Perhaps you must be of a certain age to feel the unfathomable sadness in this story. Or a wordsmith of one kind or another. Or a fan of poetry, or of New England, or nature, or history. Beauty or life. Decency. Respect. Whatever it takes, these kids didn’t have it.
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What does 5400 feet mean? Do you live at that hight?
I have been here too long, have to leave, it’s lunch time.
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Yes, 5400 feet is the approximate elevation of my home in a north Denver suburb. Denver is known as the “Mile High City,” which would be 5280 feet, but that’s down along the South Platte River where the city originated. (The official 5280 benchmark is embedded in the steps of the state capitol.) The picture in the header is just for a little Colorado flavor; it was shot up in the mountains at about 8500 feet.
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I used one of these little internet programs to change those feet into meters, and I see it is very high for a city. As a little girl I used to live someplace much higher up, but there was nothing except the hotel that my parents were running. —
Switzerland is famous for its scenery, but it lives on tourism and high quality exports, and tourism was its main business even 100 years ago. So that is where the fame comes from. It takes a long time for such an image to get solidly established. I am sure the north of Italy is more beautiful, but they never tried to capture tourists until recently. Besides nature, there is architecture and a pretty sky.
“Finally, through the state police barracks, where Sergeant Hodsden had more than two dozen young people photographed, fingerprinted and cited for unlawful trespass, with a few also cited for unlawful mischief. He cannot shake the indifference of one youth in particular, who asked whether he could use his mug shot on his Facebook page”
** What a sad state of affairs. I pray to God in Heaven that I’ve taught my children better. I pray that these kids grow a conscience. I pray it comes sooner than later before they cause more devastation.