Memorial Day II: Edward's ceremony

Edward Thomas-Herrera's ceremony was a bit of a wild card (wild plaque?), as he had determined a few days prior that the parking lot in which his story took place is now taken up by a massive athletic complex. Still, we were undeterred.

Edward told his story on the sidewalk where the parking lot entrance (roughly) used to be.


February 14, 1990. Valentine’s Day. Chicago is hit with 9 inches of snow. I'm stage managing a production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the DePaul Theater School. I get on a DePaul shuttle bus in Lincoln Park that transports me and about half the cast and crew to the Blackstone Theater downtown. It’s a 30-minute drive that takes over two hours. We do the show and get back on the bus. It’s stopped snowing, but it still takes us about two hours to get back to Lincoln Park. We arrive in the parking lot on Sheffield just north of Webster. I’m so happy to have survived my first big snowfall, I lie down in the snow and make a snow angel. I’m a 25-year-old from Texas and this is my very first. I think to myself, “I’ve successfully escaped Texas."

The universal gesture for "snow angel"

Installation (with a side of ham)

Just after Edward installed his plaque, a DePaul security guard came strolling out of the gym entrance. We all pretended to be deeply, deeply interested in the sidewalk. He paid us no mind.

Bye, Mr. Security Guard!

I like the notion that Edward's plaque is installed on a fancy new gym. Layers and layers of history, accumulating like the snow in a parking lot, seventeen years ago.

"Made a snow angel, c. 1990"