www.WrensJournal.blogspot.com

On this day in 1923, Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was published in The New Republic magazine. It was Frost's favorite of his own poems, and he called it "my best bid for remembrance." He's remembered for many of his poems today, but that one is his best known and one of the most popular poems in American literature.

Though it's a poem about winter, Frost wrote the first draft on a warm morning in the middle of June. The night before, he had stayed up working at his kitchen table on a long, difficult poem called "New Hampshire" (1923). He finally finished it and then looked up and saw that it was morning. He'd never worked all night on a poem before. Feeling relieved at the work he'd finished, he went outside and watched the sunrise.

While he was outside, he suddenly got an idea for a new poem. So he rushed back inside his house and wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" in just a few minutes. He said he wrote most of the poem almost without lifting his pen off the page. He said, "It was as if I'd had a hallucination."

He later said that he would have liked to print the poem on one page followed by "forty pages of footnotes." He once said the first two lines of the poem, "Whose woods these are, I think I know, / his house is in the village though," contained everything he ever knew about how to write.

From The Writer’s Almanac

Yesterday I testified at the committee hearing on Rep. David Balmer’s House Bill 1006, a resolution that endorses a plan by the National Association of Secretary of States to go to regional primary/caucus dates for selecting delegates in future elections for president of the United States.

I was able to get an amendment passed that clarified that the fact that the proposal in no way effected the Colorado Caucus other than the date it will be held. It will now go to the full house for a vote. When? That’s a good question, as the online system for tracking bills has not yet been updated as I write this: http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLICS2008A/csl.nsf/BillFoldersHouse?openFrameset

Still seems to me this should get a NO vote when it goes to the floor, that's the way to send the loud, clear signal that Colorado wants to retain it's caucus-assembly system for nominating to the primary ballot. Let our Secretary of State continue to shape a final plan that can be adopted or not after full discussion by all citizens in the state.

I just wrote this in response to a medical doctor's criticism of the political process and medical care:

William F. Buckley who we lost last week once suggested a solution for hunger in America. There should be feeding stations where whoever wanted a very basic meal could go and be fed, getting a very simple meal. It would be even better if there were volunteers there to offer a word of encouragement and direction. Dorthy Day did this on a voluntary basis and it seemed to work well.

Why wouldn't the same thing work with medical care? Free open clinics that offer the most basic care for free to the indigent. Then get the government out of everything else.

Seems to me that medical insurance, whether it is private or run by the government, is the problem and not the solution.

What would happen if some entrepreneur started selling food insurance, something that would be honored at grocery stores for food purchases? For $100 you can get all the food you want.

Sale would be fast and furious, people would start using the cards, and long lines would start forming at the grocery stores. The price of the insurance would go up, and food purchases would start to have to be approved before they were made. There would be calls for the government to take over the program.

What's the difference between this and what is happening now with medical insurance? Do we really want the government to do more than disaster relief? Seems to me that's the unpleasant reality. I agree with Dr. Shogan it is not being addressed.

Agree or disagree? Join us this afternoon (Fri March 7) for the Denver Grassroots Rally, 4 p.m. at Panera Bread, 13th & Grant here in Denver near the Captiol. More info and optional RSVP at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2. Dr. Shogan, can you join us?


IDEA Café is this afternoon at 2 p.m. Join us if you are starting a new project, a new career, a new campaign, or a new business. Free and open to all, we just ask that you bring your brain for the brainstorming. More info and optional RSVP at http://ideacafe.meetup.com/1.

I'm forming a new Franklin Circle for entrepreneurs, business owners, and creative managers here in Denver that will meet once a month. More information on my website (this is my blog) or just send me an email with your phone number and I’ll get back to you with an email and a follow up phone call to make sure you got it. This is going to be a great group, it’s filling up fast, contact me right now if you are interested.