Memorization

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The Dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

-Robert Frost, Dust of snow

Chieftan Iffucan of Azcan in caftan 

Of tan with henna hackles, halt!

Dammed universal cock, as if the sun 

Was blackamoor to bear your blazing tail. 

Fat!Fat!Fat!Fat! I am the personal.

Your world is you. I am my world. 

You ten-foot poet among inchlings. Fat!

Begone! An inchling bristles in these pines,

Bristles, and points their Appalachian tangs, 

And fears not portly Azcan nor his hoos.

-Wallace Stevens, Bantams in Pine-Woods.

The project this Sunday is poetry memorization. I pretty much have the first poem down by Frost, however, the second not so much. I actually picked this poem out last week, but I just now emailed my professor to see if I can use it for our memorization assignment. We have to have the poem entirely memorized, including all punctuation. We also have to explain to the class why we chose this poem, and what it means to us. The Robert Frost poem was given to us. We have been reading it together as a class for five weeks. The Wallace Stevens poem I have to start memorizing now. So, I will be very glad for any and all tips for anyone uses for memorization. 

 

Here is my outfit post for the day. I wore this yesterday and my friend Dan took the picture for me. I still have issues with coming up with poses, so here is another one of me standing around like the dork that I am. :P 

Details

Shirt-Target

Jumper-F21

Tights-Target

Shoes-Second Skin's Etsy 

Necklace-F21 

To-do list:
Keep the apartment clean
Read short-stories from Alex (read one)
finish new poem
Pick out poem for close reading
Deposit check
Finish this week's homework
Trim bangs
Write Jessica
Buy food

FNF: Dan's lit

Tribute to CoPa

It's Game Night, and we have to go. Jump on 75, and hit the gas. Make sure to swerve around the people going back to their homes and hobbies. Wave goodbye as you pass the Bud Light billboard begging you to drink their beer. Take a right on Mack and make sure to stay to the left; you don't want to miss your turn. Or..... you could take the old school route. Woodward is a wondrous street with ancient things waiting to be discovered. Drive over 8, wave to the golfer's at 7, keep driving past the strippers at 6, you have better things to do. Over the Davison, and now you are getting close. Promise the mural that you won't play with guns, and continue on down. Listen to see if any music is coming from the Met, but keep going. Now, find a place to park, cause if you don't hurry you're going to miss the anthem and ceremonies. Pray to God for a Tiger's win as you pass the church that tells you to. If you have any change, give it to the drummer on Montcalm and he will sing you your song. Listen for the homeless man yelling "Eat 'em up Tigers, eat 'em up!" If you have any more change, let him have some, too. Finally, give your ticket, wave to Ernie, and grab a beer and take your time to find your seat. Soak in the experience, while you soak up the suds. Watch for the green-eyed tiger when a run comes home. Enjoy the fountain show when a home ball lands over the fence. A hit here, a K there, and most importantly a Tiger's win. Enjoy summer, because that is what baseball is. Baseball is summer, summed up in a game.

*Meet Dan of Confessions of a self-nicknamed asshole.

Welcome to Friday Night Features on She is Sara! Tonight I have a close friend of mine, and also a fellow blogger, whom has been kind enough to share with everyone two pieces of his work, a poem "because" and a short-short "Ode to Copa" (above) and has also let me conduct an interview with him. Are you  excited? I am thrilled to be able to actually pick apart the mind of a fellow writer. Enjoy!

 
1) When did you begin writing? I first started writing in high school. It wasn’t a major poem or anything, but it gave me an outlet for my frustration at the time. Now when I write it’s a way to vent pent up emotions generally on either side of the spectrum. I don’t want to say I don’t write when I’m feeling perfectly normal, but I normally only write when I’m extremely upset or happy and my writing definitely shows that. I write a lot of happy lovey dovey stuff, or some strange suicidal type stuff.


2) Being as that I have read more of your poems that are posted here, I can fairly say that I enjoy them a lot and think that they are very well written and descriptive. What inspired you to begin writing poems? Oddly enough the first poem I ever wrote was back in high school during a period in my life that was difficult. I was angry with religion and I wrote a poem in an attempt to help me rid myself of some of my frustration with God. After I finished writing it, I found somewhat of a fascinating feeling with both myself and the connection with the words themselves. In most cases, my inspiration comes from how I’m feeling. Most of my writing either comes from personal experience or is just strongly attached to the emotion that I’m feeling that day.

3) You have also played around with different styles of poems. What makes you chose the style when you write them? Also, do you have a preference to a certain style? I don’t really choose a style. Generally all my poems are inspired in a spur of the moment. I’ll hear one line in my head and try to build on it. Sometimes that takes me down the road of a rhyme. Other it takes me down somewhat of a story-like development. Abstract poems are probably my favorite because they tend to capture my idea of humanity best, spurts of this and that all jammed together with no real sense of direction but yet a certain level of cohesion. Your poem about your little brother is exactly the kind of abstractness I’m referring to. That’s a great poem that is full of humanity with plenty of abstract feelings.

4) Are there any poets that influence your poetry or that you are influenced by? I sadly enough don’t read a lot of poetry, or at least as much as I would like. I remember the first time I read a poem and decided that I would like to include poetry at least as a hobby. “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg is still one of my all-time favorite pieces of writing. In terms of writers who have had the most influence over me include Jack Kerouac, Pablo Neruda who writes the best love sonnets ever, most notably Sonnet XVII. DH Lawrence is also another poet whose style I really like.

5) Besides poems you have written short-stories and what is commonly called “short-shorts” like the Tribute to Comerica Park posted here. What inspires you to write these? In reference to Tribute to CoPa, I wrote that due to my undying love for the Detroit Tigers and the rides downtown to go to games. You get so used to the drive and you don’t really think about it as you’re driving down, but you start to react to things from the drive and connect that feeling to being downtown at games. I still think of the Tigers and going to games every time I am driving down I-75 south regardless of how far I’m going or where I’m going. The same thing happens to me going down Woodward past 7 mile. These things are totally inspired by life and are just a slice of life as I see it.

6) Which would you say is more challenging and more enjoyable for you to write, the poems or the shorts and short stories? I feel more accomplished when I write a poem I like, because getting a whole poem I’m happy with does not come easy. But I prefer to write the shorts and short stories because it’s usually completely based on my love of something, like the Tigers in terms of my CoPa tribute. But most of my short stories are based on either something that happened to me or something that is based on how I see the world around me. So in terms of what’s more enjoyable, the short stories I write are most enjoyable because it’s like giving myself a chance to see my life from an outside perspective, which makes it easier to form the plot.

7) What do you hope to get from your writing? Do you have any plans on publication in the future? Or is your writing for personal enjoyment? As of right now I pretty much only write for personal enjoyment. I would love to someday get published even it’s only one piece for the rest of my life, I would feel very accomplished to know that something of mine is forever going to be considered part of literature. I don’t have any plans to go out and try to get myself published, but I’m my hardest critic, so I’m not really sure anything of mine is worth being published right now, maybe one day though.

8) If you could choose for anyone in the world to read a piece of you work, whom would you chose to read it and what piece would you chose? Well the first time I ever fell in love with a book was when I got to read Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.” It’s still one of my favorite books and Sal Paradise is one of the greatest literary characters ever written. A lot of my short story style comes from Kerouac’s style of taking his own experience and sculpting it into a story for all to read. I would love to work on something in that same style and have him critique me on it. That would be a dream come true.

9) Is there any other type of writing that you would like to attempt and have not at this point? I’ve always wanted to write a book. A decent length novel is still on my life-time goal list. I would love to write a book that helps people get through tough times. When I was younger I always thought about writing a book that could help kids in the 7th grade through like 12th grade make it through all those times when school social pressures can make it tough for a kid. Something along the lines of a story that shows the different clicks of school society the impact they make on other people, and how that impact is rarely for the good. If I were ever able to make an impact on society, that would be how I would want to do it.

10) Finally, when you write any of the pieces of your work, are they intended for a specific audience, any audience? And are your decisions based on the outcome or as you are creating your piece? In terms of audience, I don’t even think about that. Most of the time when I write I only expect me to see what I’m writing. Writing is already pretty hard in terms of finding inspiration and keeping it long enough to think what you wrote was worth anything, so trying to think about who’s going to be reading my stuff and how they might interpret it is not even a factor. If I ever start writing on a more consistent basis I would probably consider an audience as a factor, but as of right now my stuff doesn’t see enough of an audience for me to consider it when writing.

Because

I love you, and you'll never know,
not because I am afraid or,

because I think you'll say no.



because we're friends, I can never tell you.



I can't tell you my day starts when I see you,

You can't know that your smile reminds me,

of beautiful burnt orange sunsets,



I won't let you know your laugh reminds me

of childhood happiness that has been long forgotten,



because we are friends, I will be filled with regret,

regret filling me with endless what-ifs for the rest of my life,



I will never tell you my most important secret,

because we're friends,



sometimes I hate being friends,

because it means we're not more.

 

For more of Dan's literature, and also some film, book reviews and other musings, you can check them out here. Have a great weekend and a special thank you to Dan for sharing his work and giving me an interview!

 

=]

In the Sun

 

Despite the smile in the photograph, I am in a sour mood today. I am not exactly sure why, probably not getting enough sleep, class was a little boring last night. Meh. Anyways, I actually wore this yesterday. I just got these socks from Target last month, very useful for this weather. I am also hoping to have something awesome to post this weekend (yay!) actually, a few awesome things now that I am thinking about it....anywho. Ready for today's music themed post? I am :)

Today I would like to discuss one of my new favorite bands, She&Him. This amazing indie duo is made up of the lovely Zooey Deschanel, and the amazing M. (Matt) Ward. There is currently a lot of buzz going around on the 'net about this band right now, but there are a few people that I know who do not know who She&Him are so I will keep this brief.

*Image from davidblack.typepad.com

She&Him released their debut album "Vol.1" in March of 2008, with Deschanel featured on vocals, Ward mostly on guitar production. (Although, he is vocally heard in a few songs). Vol.1's track list consists of a variety of several wonderful songs, ranging from folk to 60's girl-group.

*Image from lastfm.com

What I am excited about is on March 23rd Vol.2 will be released!!! I am so excited!!! I think Kyle will be glad to hear something new from them at least, he is not their biggest fan, he however loves their cover of "I'll put a spell on you", which was featured on Starbucks "Sweetheart 2009" compilation last year.  I love Zooey but I am hoping to hear a little more from "Him" this album as well. :)

To hear She&Him's new single "In the Sun" from vol.2 click here.

For more information on this band, please visit their website: She&Him

Details

Dress: F21

Cardi:F21

Tights: Target

Socks: Target

Scarf: Target

Boots: Payless

To-do list:
Keep the apartment clean
Read short-stories from Alex
finish new poem
Pick out poem for close reading
Deposit check
Finish this week's homework
Trim bangs
Write Jessica
Buy food

=P

Be your own hero

Details
Sweater: Vintage via Lost & Found Vintage

Skirt: Thrifted via Salvation army

Boots: Sears

Scarf: Target

There is a slight chance Louie wanted to be in this picture with me. Oh and in the top pic, I am holding onto the pine needle, not trying to be a cheerleader. How is everyone's week so far? I have been pretty productive I must say. I managed to get out of going to the grocery store by giving Kyle my debit card. He went to Aldi and made out pretty good, although I am bummed that I didn't get to go to Aldi, I have never been but that is what I get for making Kyle go alone. :P

Any who, for today's random post, I thought I would do a movie review. I mentioned Monday that we rented "Whip it", and, although it has been out for awhile, I still think that it is worth a little mention on my blog. Especially since so much of it was filmed in Michigan! Not only just in Michigan, but places that I know of. But first, let me explain the plot a little, for those who have not seen this movie yet.

*Image from wordpress.com

"Whip it" débuted Drew Barrymore's directorial genius (I really liked it). She supports star Ellen Page in this fantastic film about a misfit seventeen year old named Bliss, who finds a way to deal with her small-town misery (Bodeen, Texas) by joining a roller-derby team in Austin. The acting is pretty good for the genre of the film. It has pretty good humor, and it is a little predictable, however still very fun. I would defiantly recommend renting it.

*Image from wired.com

While I was watching it, I kept jumping up and down going "I know where they are!" One of my favorite spots is during a scene where a couple of the Derby Girls skate into a resale shop to drop off flyers. The resale shop is actually Mother Fletchers, a vintage clothing store in my very home-town of Ferndale. Another great spot is during the scenes where Bliss is at work, a small dinner with a giant pig on top of the building. That building was actually right off of Birch Run, and it was an abandoned dinner. Since the films debut however, it is now open but said giant pig has been removed. :(

*Image from: motorcityblog

Also, in light of it being "random" Wednesday, I would like to announce that today's date marks the Birthday of Norman Rockwell. (yay Google).

*Image from Salon.com

To-do list:

Keep the apartment clean
Read short-stories from Alex
finish new poem
Pick out poem for close reading
Deposit check
Finish this week's homework
Trim bangs
Write Jessica
Buy food

=D

Lindsay wanted to change the date of the Vienna Opera

Haha, Lindsay wanted to change the date of the Vienna Opera. Good luck, crackhead. Yeah, this guy really should have gone with Gaga. She would have killed it on a fake date. Speaking of Gaga, remember those Grammy parties? Well, somebody got the bright idea that Lindsay needs to start up her music career again - I guess in addition to all of the fictitious “work” she’s doing on her multiple television shows, films, and design projects. So, this music producer named Rodney Jerkins wants to pair up Lohan and… Lady Gaga. For the love of…

    Producer Rodney Jerkins seems to believe that Lindsay Lohan would be ideal to join Lady Gaga in the studio for a collaboration effort.

    Jerkins said, “I can pair them up. I would love it. I would love to see what could happen.”

    Either with or without Gaga, Jerkins believes Lohan can pull it off. He said, “If she stays focused, I think she has what it takes. I’ve talked to her, and I said, ‘You’ve got what it takes. I really believe in you.’”

    He obviously really thinks LiLo has something. He added, “I’ve seen a lot of people questioning actresses who have wanted to become pop stars, and they don’t have it. I believe she has it, something deep down. I’ve listened to her in the past, and I think there’s something there. It just needs to be pulled out.”

For 19 years, oddball Austrian billionaire Richard Lugner has paid for nights with beautiful B-list bombshells. He pays them about $150,000 and, in exchange, they sign autographs at one of his shopping malls and then accompany him to Austria’s premier social event, the Vienna Opera Ball.
The 77-year-old, four-times-divorced father of three gets a kick out of the attention — and sometimes outrage — that his buxom rent-a-dates stir up. Over the years, he has squired Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, actresses Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch and Andie MacDowell, and burlesque performer Dita Von Teese.
But none have been so demanding as this year’s date — Lindsay Lohan. Lohan, dubbed “the fallen Disney princess” by the Austrian media, accepted Lugner’s offer after his first choice, pneumatic British reality-TV star Jordan (a k a Katie Price), stole his thunder by announcing her selection to the tabloids before he could.
But Lohan had some issues.
“She wanted to change some of the dates,” Lugner told The Post. Alas, the ultraposh Opera Ball, started in 1936, “can’t be moved.”
Then Lohan, 23, refused to pick a gown ahead of time and will wait until just before the Feb. 11 ball to pick “a European gown.” Lugner won’t comment on whether he’s picking up the tab for that. Finally, her handlers called. No champagne. No open bar. No alcohol of any kind must be allowed within Lindsay’s sight.
“Her managers have told us to make sure that she doesn’t drink during her trip,” Lugner said. “We have made arrangements to pull all the liquor from the mini-bar in the hotel room where she’ll stay, and told room service they are not to deliver drinks to her.”
To make sure Lohan will be on her best behavior as 2,000 haute Viennese waltz the night away, “we will be drinking only mineral water that night to avoid any problems.”
Maybe Lugner should have gone with his other finalist, Lady Gaga. More rubber, less trouble.
As part of the shillings-but-no-schnapps deal, Lohan will attend a press conference with Lugner the day before the ball. She’ll also sign autographs for a few hours in his massive mall, known as Lugner City. She’ll go to the dance with Lugner, his current 20-year-old girlfriend, Anastasia Sokol, his 16-year-old daughter, Jacqueline, and the teen’s 25-year-old boyfriend, Helmut Werner.

http://hotcelebrityhollywood.blogspot.com/

“My daughter is the one who chose Lindsay, and she has picked for me in the last three years because she’s more in touch with who’s in the newspapers. Me, I’m a businessman, so I don’t know these things,” Lugner said.
Lugner, who reportedly once got his eyelids Botoxed so he could look more like George Clooney, is infamous in Austria for creating a media circus at the ball with his paid escorts — especially when his guest is willing to take a turn on the crowded dance floor during the celebrated “Alles Walzer.”
“Sometimes with my guest, dancing is impossible, because so many journalists want to talk to them,” the Austrian said. “I recall, though, that Faye Dunaway and Grace Jones were great dancers. I was able to dance with them.”
Von Teese, who accompanied Lugner in 2008, said Lohan should demand extra bodyguards.
“I was trampled in a mob scene by the press. It was very frightening and also unfortunate that I couldn’t actually enjoy the beauty of the music and the dancing,” Von Teese told The Post. “I’m quite good at these partner dances, and it made me sad that I wasn’t able to be on that beautiful dance floor.”

Me, and my mind in a minute

Today's poem is very random, but that is what I like about it. I don't feel the need to explain all the poems that I write, however this one I feel i should give a little backround on how this poem came to be. It is a very simple poem, it is about me, basically. If you have ever been in the situation, where somone askes you to tell them about yourselves, and especially in this day and age where we have Facebook and Blogs and whatever else that let's us tell the entire world wide web about ourselves, what exactly do you say? I mean, where do you start and stop? what is enough information, what is too much? I can agree most people have enough common sense to know this already, however, do you ever find yourself rambling on about insignificant details? Maybe when meeting someone new, or at a job interview? Or perhaps when you are filling out information on said facebook or myspace? Is is just me? lol.  I also tend to jump around a lot, from subject to subject, as if my mouth and my mind don't match up. Anywho, that is how this poem was created. I think that was the biggest explanation for the most obvious poem I have ever written. :P

Me, and my mind in a minute.

Me, and my mind in a minute

Old clothes, but clean clothes

And cheap new ones

And shower caps-twice a week

Or it will die, but it is dye

(my artificial intelligence)

But real eyes like my fathers

And a real voice like my mothers

Not my mothers

My brothers

Gramps calls “Hullo Mark!”

“It’s Sara…the oldest….and the girl.”

Oh and no heels, just flats

Or else I’ll go down on my ass

And peanut butter or cheese dip

(I’m hypoglycemic)

And too much pizza, size 4 is a phantom

And horrible with a glue gun

So my purse is nailed shut

………………trail off a lot…….…space cadet……………

No smoking please, I’m not done yet

My favorite is purple

But I’ll wear mostly blue (real eyes, my fathers)

And no nails, I eat them for breakfast

Not really, but

Coffee

Coffee

Coffee

And pop tarts (strawberry)

And I’ll marry Jimmy Stewart, in 1939

In the fall, because that’s best

Or is it autumn?

No more tears

Because they got rusty-except when my car dies

Like my hair

And a kidney stone

Damn coffee.

To-do list:

Keep the apartment clean

Read short-stories from Alex

finish new poem

Pick out poem for close reading

Deposit check

Finish this week's homework

Trim bangs

Write Jessica

Buy food

=]

A smile confuses an approaching frown.

What not a better way to start my Monday update than with this  Happy 101 award I received from the wonderful Franca from Oranges and Apples! **Thank you!** It comes with a meme of listing ten things that make you happy.

1) Random emails I get from friends when I am at work, it always makes my day better.

2) Random emails I get from friends of cute/hilarious pictures.

*Behold Bella and her new pink fuzzy.

3) Hot cheesy pizza on a cold Michigan day.

4) Sleeping in on Sunday mornings with my puppy Louie on the pillow next to me.

5) When I actually get homework done and I get to hangout with friends.

6) Coffee. (Sometimes with Ovaltine)

7) My dog and my kitties.

8) Watching my favorite TV shows on DVD-X-Files, BTVS, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls. (I miss real TV shows).

9) Telling grown adult human beings which animal they look like.

10) Working my butt off all year, not calling in sick and getting a $750.00 gift card from work. :) :) (I am getting a Visa one, and hopefully getting a camera with it!)

I am going to pass this onto:

Fawn and flower

Fashion for Nerds

Chocklit Behr Corner

Quintessentially Quirky

Urban Tease

For the rest of today's update-had fun this weekend in Detroit, went for some cheap, yummy pints at The Grand Trunk. Then came back and watched movies with Kyle, my friend Hassaun and my two cousins. Then it was back to homework, which I got done. I actually managed to get everything on the list done-except for going to the grocery store. :( But I partially blame that on the tospaz crapping out on me. The beast is now running again, (thanks to my dad-the Sasquatch mechanic). There is also no outfit posts for today or for tomorrow because I did not get a chance to take any, I will try for Wednesday's post though.

Here are the new goals for the week:

Keep the apartment clean

Read short-stories from Alex

finish new poem

Pick out poem for close reading

Deposit check

Finish this week's homework

Trim bangs

Write Jessica

Buy food

:P