Robert Frost

Robert Frost was a four-time Pulitzer Prize winning American poet, a teacher, and a lecturer. He was born in 1874, San Fransisco, and became interested in reading and writing while he was in highschool. After several different jobs, his first professional poem was published in 1894, titled "My Butterfly", in the New York newspaper The Independent. One of Frost's major inspirations for writing his poetry was his wife, Elinor. When they moved to England, Frost became influenced by contempoary British poets such as Edward Thomas and Robert Graces. He also became friends with Ezra Pound who helped publish and promote his work. Some of his most famous works consist of:

-A Boy's Will (1913)
-North of Boston (1914)
-Mountain Interval (1916)
-New Hampshire (1923)
-West-Running Brook (1928)
-The Lovely Shall Be Choosers (1929)
-The Lone Striker (1933)
-From Snow to Snow (1936)
-A Further Range (1936)
-A Witness Tree (1942)
-Come In, and Other Poems (1943)
-Masque of Reason (1945)
-Steeple Bush (1947)
-Hard Not to be King (1951)

A poet named Daniel Hoffman describes Frost's early work as "the Puritan ethic turned astonishingly lyrical and enabled to say out loud the sources of its own delight in the world," and comments on Frost's career as The American Bard: "He became a national celebrity, our nearly official Poet Laureate, and a great performer in the tradition of that earlier master of the literary vernacular, Mark Twain."

John F. Kennedy once said that "[Frost]...has bequeathed his nation a body of imperishable verse from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding."

Information from http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192.

Chairmen of the Board

Last night my roommate, Ashley, and I went to the Soap Box downtown with some friends that we know from home to see the group Chairmen of the Board. For those of you who have never heard of them, they are a group that started in the 70s and are famous for beach music. I have never heard them play, but I have to say they were pretty good. It was packed in there with people our age, our parents age, and even a few our grandparents age. The price was a little ridiculous in my opinion, even though I know they are a well-known group. Some of the friends that we went with got tickets early for only &12, and at the door they were $15, and $17 for under 21. I'm not completely sure why they were more expensive if you were under age, but I'm guessing it's probably because we can't contribute to the amount of money made at the bar...little do they know, haha. Overall it was a really good night and I would definately go back to see them again. It was pretty much like being in a regular club downtown without as much grinding and creepy guys trying to get some; shoulder-to-shoulder, dancing, sweating, drinking, screaming, it was great. If you like this type of music and ever get a chance to see them I would definately recommend it!

Stereotypes

In 7th grade the county changed the school district lines, and i had to go to a different middle school than the one i went to in 6th grade. There was only a few of my friends, one being my best friend since the age of 4, Krista, that would also be changing schools. She and I had pretty much grown up together and had been friends for many years. I was really lucky that I wouldn't be going to this new school completely alone. The thing is, she was always the stand out kind of girl and wasn't afraid to do or try anything new, and me, I was the shy one and was scared to step out of my comfort zone. She, being the outgoing person that she is, tried out for cheerleading, made it, and became one of the captains. I was really happy for her, but as time went on she started making new friends while I didn't feel like I fit in with them. I had always thought that cheering would be a lot of fun, but just didn't have the guts to try it that year. I started feeling really left out of her new little "group" and had to make new friends of my own. I just felt that they were so much better than me, and especially since it was a whole new school with almost all new people, it brought me down. I wanted to fit in with them so badly and wanted to be part of their little "popular" group of friends. I just dealt with it for a while, but when 8th grade came around, I decided that I would try out for cheerleading this time. I made it, and I was sooo excited. I was finally going to get to do something new and fun, and I knew I would be able to spend more time with the friend I felt I had lost. She was also excited for me and was helping me learn new stuff before the new school year and practice started. After the dissappointment of 7th grade, 8th grade was so much better and so much more fun. I really did enjoy cheerleading, and it wasn't just because of all the attention that I got, I seriously thought it was fun and enjoyed every minute of it. Even though it seems that cheerleaders are ALWAYS the stuck up girls, and may be true in some cases, for me it was just about having a good time with people you enjoy being around. I'm sure people thought of me as the little snooty girl at times just because of cheering, but it really wasn't like that at all. With this experience I made a lot of new friends not because I was a cheerleader, but because that gave me more confidence and I became much more friendlier which ultimately allowed me to figure out who my real friends were and where I fit in.

Squats hurt this bad?!?!

Soo..my legs are killing me from doing like 50 squats yesterday.. I worked out for the first time in FOREVER, thanks to my boyfriend who was here to visit me. I am hurting so bad, and walking down stairs is THE worst. I had been wanting to start working out again for a while now, but i never really knew what to do, so instead of going to the gym by myself and trying to figure out how to work everything and look like a complete idiot, i made my boyfriend show me how to do everything. I played soccer for four years, but haven't played since my junior year in highschool, so i've kinda forgotten what it feels like to be sore. I had also forgotten how much this shhh hurts! We went and got lunch today from McAlister's before he went home, and since i had some left over and brought it home I don't have to walk anywhere in pain for dinner tonight :) yayyy. He keeps laughin at me and telling me to wait until tomorrow when it gets worse. I'm definately not looking forward to that. So if anyone see's me walking like a grandma...you know why.

Blogging Homework

It was really difficult for me to find two blogs that i thought would be good to read. A lot that i found were only one day's entry and so they weren't long enough. Then i remembered about the Xanga website that all my friends used to do back in the middle school days, so i searched that and just picked some random blog profiles and started reading them. The Xanga blogs that i chose seem kind of stupid to me at first, but whatever..

The first one i read was by a girl named Lindsey, and i read a few of her blogs from Jan 3-11.

What she wrote was very personal and discusses her emotions and sometimes religion. She's just telling how she feels and whatever is on her mind. The writer talks about a boy that she wants in her life and different problems that she is having to face. Music, she says, is something that she is really interested in and wants to pursue one day. She even includes some lyrics/poetry that she has worked on that really seems to let her get her feelings out of her.

This user's profile has two pictures, which are both of herself, and has the links to her friend's profiles.

I think this is a good type of blog, but I am not the type to just put my emotions out there for everyone to see, so mine probably will not be this personal.

The second blog that i chose was by someone named Kelly. This persons blogs went from Dec 21-Jan 11. What this writer wrote was interesting...she apparently is "coming out" in her blogs and talks about this girl who she has a crush on. I just don't understand how people can be so open about things like this not knowing who is going to read it...but that's her i guess...
She continues to just discuss how she feels about different things and also is a little emotional.

Again, a little more personal than i could be. This user also includes quite a few pictures and these are a little wierd to me...sorry for saying this. Her user name includes the numbers 122192, so assuming that is her birthdate, she is only 16. She also includes featured questions that link to answers that she has posted and where others can answer how they feel about each subject.

I've never done this before and i'm not sure if i'm really that into it yet, but I'm going to try!