From bad to verse: Vandals get classroom penance

Obama's clinched, Chase Utley is a Golden God..lots of things I could discuss but this story is too good to pass up....


MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - Call it poetic justice: More than two dozen young people who broke into Robert Frost's former home for a beer party and trashed the place are being required to take classes in his poetry as part of their punishment.

Using "The Road Not Taken" and another poem as jumping-off points, Frost biographer Jay Parini hopes to show the vandals the error of their ways — and the redemptive power of poetry.

"I guess I was thinking that if these teens had a better understanding of who Robert Frost was and his contribution to our society, that they would be more respectful of other people's property in the future and would also learn something from the experience," said prosecutor John Quinn.

The vandalism occurred at the Homer Noble Farm in Ripton, where Frost spent more than 20 summers before his death in 1963. Now owned by Middlebury College, the unheated farmhouse on a dead-end road is used occasionally by the college and is open in the warmer months.

On Dec. 28, a 17-year-old former Middlebury College employee decided to hold a party and gave a friend $100 to buy beer. Word spread. Up to 50 people descended on the farm, the revelry turning destructive after a chair broke and someone threw it into the fireplace.

When it was over, windows, antique furniture and china had been broken, fire extinguishers discharged, and carpeting soiled with vomit and urine. Empty beer cans and drug paraphernalia were left behind. The damage was put at $10,600.

Twenty-eight people — all but two of them teenagers — were charged, mostly with trespassing.

About 25 ultimately entered pleas — or were accepted into a program that allows them to wipe their records clean — provided they underwent the Frost instruction. Some will also have to pay for some of the damage, and most were ordered to perform community service in addition to the classroom sessions. The man who bought the beer is the only one who went to jail; he got three days behind bars.

Parini, 60, a Middlebury College professor who has stayed at the house before, was eager to oblige when Quinn asked him to teach the classes. He donated his time for the two sessions.

On Wednesday, 11 turned out for the first, with Parini giving line-by-line interpretations of "The Road Not Taken" and "Out, Out-," seizing on parts with particular relevance to draw parallels to their case.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," he thundered, reciting the opening line of the first poem, which he called symbolic of the need to make choices in life.

"This is where Frost is relevant. This is the irony of this whole thing. You come to a path in the woods where you can say, `Shall I go to this party and get drunk out of my mind?'" he said. "Everything in life is choices." (Read full story)

I think it's funny that poetry is now being considered as punishment given the fact I'm an ex-English major and "published" poet. At least they chose a boring poet like Frost to bore them for a couple hours.

These New Puritans Embark on New Adventure


I was really impressed with These New Puritans when I first hear them on their Navigate, Navigate 12". Now the UK band is set to release their debut full length album, Beat Pyramid.

You can catch These New Puritans on a limited US tour on the following dates:

06•05 Washington, DC DC9
06•06 Philadelphia, PA Making Time
06•08 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
06•09 Boston, MA Great Scott
06•11 Montreal, PQ L'Ambi
06•12 Toronto, ON The Reverb
06•13 Columbus, OH Wexner Center
06•14 Chicago, IL Subterranean
06•16 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
06•17 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
06•19 San Francisco, CA Popscene
06•21 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex

And if you haven't had the pleasure of hearing anything off their 12", make sure to check out the sample below from SXSW 2008:

These New Puritans - "Elvis" (live)

Check out their website