How to Research a Poet

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I was in the lovely state of California for just under two weeks, and was too wiped/busy to write. We took the plane (of course) and just kind of hung out for a while.

Which brings me to our topic of the day. (Not really, but I needed to get here somehow). I was working with two other people on a project where we needed to write about the style of a poet. So I suggested that we read some poems in order to get a feeling for his style. This being Butternut, of course one of my partners replied, "Why? Other people will have written about his style." This was so sad/funny I had to laugh inside. I saved my real hilarity for when I got home. The really awful part was that I thought this kid was a hard worker and actually had a brain on his shoulders. I guess that Butternut has infected even him. <Shiver> Maybe I'll be next. Perish the thought.

Follow up: Our poet was T. S. Eliot. If you don't know who he is, Google him. If you don't feel like it, T. S. Eliot was one of the most revolutionary poets of the 20th century. His poems were pretty dark, and set against the background of a wasteland-like civilization. He was most famous between World Wars One and Two. If you had to guess, based on only that information, what would you think was THE biggest influence on his poetry? That's right, WORLD WAR ONE!!!!!! If you Googled him as I suggested, you should have been able to figure that out.This kid was supposed to actually do some active research, not just Google. So when I suggested that our discussion question be, "How did World War One influence T. S. Eliot's poetry?" I was shocked to hear him say, "Wait...World War One influenced his poetry?" Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this kid did that little thinking. Ahhh Butternut.

P. S. Did you know that some people don't know how to pronounce Freud (as in the famous physcologist)? I now know people who are that oblivious. They pronounce it "Frood", to rhyme with "brood", instead of "Froid", to rhyme with "droid". I should do a stand-up routine about this school.

The Giants Win Again (Without Cheating)

I know this post is a little belated, but I've been really busy with all sorts of stuff. The subject of today's post is the SUPERBOWL! Which the Giants won, again! (Sorry all you Patriots fans.) I am primarily a Jets fan, but the Giants are my second favorite team. Since the Jets haven't made it to the Superbowl in forever, and didn't even make it to the AFC this year, I rooted for the Giants in the postseason. (My enthusiasm was no less for the Giants.)


In 2008, the Giants beat the Patriots. The next day, in school, ALL the Patriots fans were saying that the Giants cheated. As if! We won fair and square. But (on the whole) Patriots fans couldn't accept the fact that the Giants, may, in fact, have the capacity to beat them. Well guess what? We CAN beat you. If we did cheat, the Patriots should have beaten the Giants this time. But we didn't cheat, and we won again.


The same happened again on Monday. A few people (not as many as in 2008, but still) were complaining that the Giants won again because they cheated again. I understand that you're upset, but at some point, you have to accept that in some situations, the Giants are better than the Patriots. I admit that, overall, the Patriots may be better than the Giants overall, and that Tom Brady is a really good quarterback. But the Giants don't have such a crappy team themselves They are one of the best at scoring in the fourth quarter. 


We won, accept it. Also, the halftime show was pretty good. Normally, the halftime shows are kind of lame. Madonna was entertaining. The music was good and the costumes were cool. Plus, it was a spectacle. The only thing I didn't like about it was when LMFAO came on. They kind of ruined that part for me. Why do people say that Madonna looked so old? She looked about 30 to me. 


To wrap things up, here's to an amazing Super Bowl XLVII! (Which the Giants won AGAIN!)

Cloudy, with a Chance of Difficulty

Take a look outside. Now actually step outside and feel the air. What month does it feel like to you? We can quibble about exactly what month, but I think everyone can agree that it doesn't feel like FEBRUARY! No snow, low fifties.....Sounds more like late March to me. Don't get me wrong, I love this weather, but this means no snow days, no sledding, no ice skating, etc. Wouldn't it be better to have this weather in March so that it doesn't end up snowing then? I hate it when it snows in March. I'm all ready for spring and little bunnies, but nooooo March has to be contrary and SNOW!

Moving on...

I am a straight A student. I normally do well on tests and things like that. If teachers want to give kids the chance to fix their test and get partial credit back, I'm cool with that. When the teacher wants to give the kid ALL the credit back, that's where I hold up my imaginary STOP sign. 

 Tests are supposed to be hard! Not everyone should do well! If you get something wrong, you got it WRONG. In the real world (e.g. NOT my school) you don't get to fix something for full credit. But in Buttonwillow*, EVERYONE should be perfect. (This has been and will be a recurring theme.) No one recognizes actual smartness when they see it. *sigh* Everyone has an inflated opinion of themselves. I realize that this doesn't have anything to do with me directly, but it is really annoying to have to live with it on a daily basis, especially if you can SEE it happening and know that those people will flounder when they graduate. But for know, they are all in their little bubble. I ache to pop it.








*names have been changed to protect me from getting tarred and feathered by angry townspeople (you never know what might happen in Buttonwillow).