:: Closing Time ::

:: Friday, August 16, 2002 ::

DeSantis made a mistake - and I guess I did, in not being clear. When I called Chris an unsung choral hero who's acknowledged in other fields, I meant Chris Holownia. I've tried to refer to DeSantis as DeSantis to make that clarification. But I could have easily - the only reason I didn't mention DeSantis is that I've already sort of sung his story. Personally I feel he's a better singer than Holownia; it's not that Chris is at all bad (Chris? Bad at anything he did?) but that DeSantis is actually quite good and largely unrecognized. But as I said a few blogs back.... DeSantis is the reason I started singing again. We were all in Brooks Brothers together in 8th grade and then he stuck with it, and I didn't. That was my mistake as well, and his good choice. And he made Rice Street and I was like wow.... that's really cool. And as I saw people make select groups I said hey, I want to do this again.... but it was mostly DeSantis. I'd sung with DeSantis before and I knew honestly music wasn't his first priority. But if he could do it, then so could I. Wow, that sounded really arrogant, and I didn't mean it to - it was like one of those things where I used his level of achievement to set a goal for myself. If/when I made music a priority for me, and it is, I knew that -I- could achieve at that level as well. That sounds a bit better.

DeSantis also was a crucial part of the spirit of Rice Street this year, last year, and I'm told the year before. During the audition process for our junior year group, Emily Eisen told me, and I quote, "[DeSantis] makes that group so much more fun..... if [Tremblay] cuts him, I'm going to quit." Whether or not she would have is questionable but the point is this isn't just my opinion. DeSantis -is- an unsung choral hero, and something of a choral hero for non chorus kids. The guy is a state championship caliber athelete, and still manages to sing in a select group. He's a ridiculous renessaince (damn I mispelled that) man. The way he trains, and the standards he sets for himself.... it's absurd. Senior Athelete of the year was without a doubt between him and Matt Andrews - Matt is EXCEPTIONALLY talented, and I don't think it should take anything away from DeSantis that he didn't win it.... but if they look at it from anything but an atheletic standpoint, I think DeSantis has it hands down. Academically he's on par with or even above Andrews, and extracurricurly I'm pretty certain Matty doesn't do anything anywhere close to Chris' three years with Rice Street. As a High School Senior athelete, I feel DeSantis is probably more complete. Add in the leading of his team to the conference championship and the win at conference meet (something the team hasn't done in quite a while), both of which is was probably the most vital part of.... and it's in my opinion a misplaced award. If that's the standard you judge.

So I'm sorry - when I said Chris was an unsung hero, I did mean Holownia. But don't think of this as any kind of an afterthough. I mean, shit. Look at my last blog. I wrote 7 pages and talked about.... 5 people. I have more good to say about dozens of people, just not the persistance and time to write it all. DeSantis was at the time just one of those people I didn't get to talking about yet - but he heard what he did and I realized that I hadn't said it.... but I should. It would have been an unintentional lie to simply correct him, because although I wasn't talking about him at the time, everything I said about Chris applied to DeSantis EXCEPT his being recognized in other fields. And quite a lot more. DeSantis has had a vital impact on the good things I did in high school - he was one of the primary reasons I started singing again sophomore year and eventually made Rice Street (a group of friends I'll feel a part of for life), and he was clearly the primary reason I joined the Swim Team and found something I'll probably love forever, just a hair before it was too late.

Thanks again Chris.... and be proud of yourself. I guarentee you people are noticing.
:: Peter 12:01 AM [+] ::
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