Your Child's First and Most Influential Teacher

A Word to Parents and Students

The task of assuring the success of our recommendations does not fall to the schools and colleges alone. Obviously, faculty members and administrators along with policymakers and the mass media will play a crucial role in the reform of the educational system. Even more important is the role of parents and students, and to them we speak directly.

To Parents

You know that you cannot confidently launch your children into today's world unless they are of strong character and well-educated in the use of language, science, and mathematics. They must possess a deep respect for intelligence, achievement, and learning, and the skills needed to use them; for setting goals; and for disciplined work. That respect must be accompanied by an intolerance for the shoddy and second-rate masquerading as "good enough." You have the right to demand for your children the best our schools and colleges can provide. Your vigilance and your refusal to be satisfied with less than the best are the imperative first step. But your right to a proper education for your children carries a double responsibility.

As surely as you are your child's first and most influential teacher, your child's ideas about education and its significance begin with you. You must be a living example of what you expect your children to honor and to emulate.

Moreover, you bear a responsibility to participate actively in your child's education.

You should encourage more diligent study and discourage satisfaction with mediocrity and the attitude that says: "Let it slide."

Monitor your child's study.

Encourage good study habits.

Encourage your child to take more demanding rather than less demanding courses.

Nurture your child's curiosity, creativity, and confidence.

Be an active participant in the work of the schools.

Exhibit a commitment to continued learning in your own life.

Help your children understand that excellence in education cannot be achieved without intellectual and moral integrity coupled with hard work and commitment.

Children will look to their parents and teachers as models of such virtues.

To Students

When you give only the minimum to learning, you receive only the minimum in return....

"Is Spelling Important?"

Here is an [unsigned] article which is making the e-mail circuit. It tries to prove that all of us read with a whole word approach. "Can you raed tihs? i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid; aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed tihs forwrad it."

Interestingly, one statement is translated as; "I always thought that spelling was important." Is this study by Cambridge University proving that children learn to read because our minds read the word as a whole instead of letter by letter? Since the emphasis now in teaching reading appears to be leaning toward a whole language or whole word approach, has this finding by Cambridge University been interpreted and utilized appropriately? It appears that someone is failing to tell us that this misspelled material can only be read by people who are already good readers, not by children who are just learning to read! The reason for that is because good readers have already learned these words, making it easier for their minds to use context and visual closure to read the misspelled passage. They are failing to tell you that if you were to give this to a first, second, or even most third graders to read, they would be totally frustrated! They simply cannot figure out these words by relying on the first and last letter of the word and rearrange the other letters in their minds because their experience with words is too minimal. While a whole word knowledge is essential for reading, when we teach using a whole word approach only, we shortchange our students. No one can be a good reader or speller without a good command of phonics, syllabication and its application. No one can be a good reader without a good command of various comprehension skills. If you think about the way a good reader figures out the scrambled words above, it is obvious that while they can rely upon their good whole word knowledge, they are also relying on their knowledge of single letter and letter combination sounds to figure out these words. Thus, they are able to rearrange the letters in their minds. Research has determined that 75% of the words in our English language can be spelled phonetically. For the remainder, we must rely on visual recall. However, we must have a good command of phonics, syllabication and the various ways to spell these sounds in order to be able to spell words easily. Unless a person has a photographic memory, it is impossible to picture all words in a whole word format fashion in order to read and spell them. In order to meet the needs of all students, students need to develop a good sight vocabulary, but also a good understanding of phonics, syllabication, as well as various comprehension skills. All children, learning disabled (dyslexic) and those who are not, need to be taught to read using a combination approach. Credit: Addie Cusimano is an educational therapist who has been active in the field of education for more than thirty-five years. She worked as a classroom teacher and reading specialist for New York State public schools and was director, diagnostician, clinician and teacher for a learning center in upstate New York for seventeen years. Her educational experience has involved concentrated work in remedial, developmental and enrichment areas for preschool through college level students. Ms. Cusimano has designed and published a teaching program for the development of visual memory of words, entitled Achieve: A Visual Memory Program, which has proven to be highly successful in the development of this essential learning skill. Her book, Learning Disabilities: There is a Cure, based on her findings and research on the development of learning skills, has been recognized internationally. In addition, she has written an instructional workbook for teachers entitled, Auditory Sequential Memory Instructional Workbook that is designed to help students develop auditory sequential memory of numbers, letters and words. Ms. Cusimano was named to Marquis Who’s Who in American Education 1994-2006.

Diabetes & Hypoglycemia

School Concerns

There is an increasing concern about inactivity and its relation to diabetes. This is not the only contributing factor. However, there is an increase in this problem. More children are having it and at younger ages.

Here is one of the main things which school personnel must remember. If a school child has been diagnosed with low or high blood sugar, the proper diet at school is essential. It is not optional. This includes the time and type of snacks. Be sure to learn about the needs of each of these children.

Fluctuations in blood sugar levels influence behavior, academic performance, and create serious health risks. It is very important to maintain a balance avoiding high and low levels of blood sugar. For some children, this balance can be maintained with food only. For others, it is maintained with food and medication.

Carbohydrate is changed to sugar during digestion. If the carbohydrate content in a meal is too high, blood sugar rises excessively after the meal. If the carbohydrate content in a meal is too low, blood sugar can drop to dangerously low levels. A person who has low blood sugar or high blood sugar must carefully manage a consistent flow of the correct amount of carbohydrates.

A diet plan must be established by a physician, a diabetes educator, or a registered dietitian.

Info from a Class Taught by a Diabetes Educator

Low Blood Sugar
• Symptoms: shaking, fast heartbeat, sweating, anxious, dizziness, hunger, impaired vision, weakness, fatigue, headache, irritability.
• Causes: Too little food, too much insulin or diabetes medicine, extra exercise.
• Onset: Sudden, may progress to insulin shock.
• What be can done? Drink a half cup of orange juice or milk, or eat several hard candies. Contact school nurse or follow other support plans such as parent contact. Test blood sugar and if symptoms don't stop call a doctor. Within 30 minutes after symptoms go away, have the child eat a light snack (half a peanut butter or meat sandwich and a half cup of milk. Caution: observe recommended amounts.)

High Blood Sugar
• Symptoms: extreme thirst, frequent urination, dry skin, hunger, blurred vision, drowsiness, nausea.
• Causes: Too much food, too little insulin, illness, or stress.
• Onset: Gradual, may progress to diabetic coma.
• What can be done? Contact school nurse or follow other support plans such as parent contact. Test blood sugar. If it is over 250 mg/dl for several tests, call the doctor.

TREATS

For some children and grown-ups, traditional treats can be dreaded temptations if they are living with serious medical conditions such as Crohn’s disease, diabetes, ADHD, etc. Avoidance of certain foods can help control some symptoms. Most people are sensitive enough include non-alcoholic beverages for guests who have problems with alcohol, but they often overlook other dietary needs of guests by not knowing about the conditions or not knowing how to help.

It is hard for teachers to know all dietary restrictions and guidelines for children. The responsibility lies with parents to let teachers know and to provide tasty alternatives so the child can enjoy holiday parties. If you "package and sell" non-traditional treats cleverly enough, other children will want to join the child with the special dietary needs.

A Salute to Teachers from Frosty Troy

"Where are the heroes of today?" a radio talk show host thundered. He blames society's shortcomings on public education.

Too many people are looking for heroes in all the wrong places. Movie stars and rock musicians, athletes and models aren't heroes. They're celebrities.

Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't make the news. There is no precedent for the level of violence, drugs, broken homes, child abuse, and crime in today's America. Public education didn't create these problems but deals with them every day.

You want heroes?

Consider Dave Sanders, the school teacher shot to death while trying to shield his students from two Neo-Nazi youth on a bombing and shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Sanders gave his life, along with 12 students, but other less heralded heroes survived the Colorado blood bath.

You want heroes?

Columbine special education teacher, Robin Ortiz, braved gunfire moving from classroom to classroom, shouting at students and teachers to get out of the building. His action alone cleared the east side of the high school. No one will ever know how many lives he saved.

You want heroes?

For Ronnie Holuby, a Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, middle school teacher, it was a routine school day until gunfire erupted. He opened a door to the school yard and two students fled past him. A 13-year old student had shot five other students when Holuby stepped outside, walking deliberately toward the boy, telling him to hand over the gun. He kept walking. Finally the boy handed him the gun. Holuby walked the boy to the side of the building, then sought to help a wounded girl.

You want heroes?

Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, N.C., teacher, was moved by the plight of one of her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney transplant. So this pretty white woman told the family of this handsome 14-year old black boy that she would give him one of her kidneys. And she did. When they subsequently appeared together hugging on the Today Show, even tough little Katie Couric was near tears.

You want heroes?

Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not only made it, she was one of those wondrous teachers who could wring the best out of every single child. One of her fellow teachers in San Jose, Calif., said, "She could teach a rock to read." Suddenly she was stricken with Lou Gehrig's Disease, which is always fatal, usually within five years. She asked to stay on the job -- and did. When her voice was affected, she communicated by computer. Did she go home? She is running two elementary school libraries. When the disease was diagnosed, she wrote the staff and all the families that she had one last lesson to teach -- that dying is part of living. Her colleagues named her Teacher of the Year.

You want heroes?

Bob House, a teacher in Gay, Georgia, tried out for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." After he won the million dollars, a network film crew wanted to follow up to see how it had impacted his life. New cars? Big new house? Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife still teaching. They explained that it was what they had always wanted to do with their lives and that would not change. The community was both stunned and gratified.

You want heroes?

Last year the average public school teacher spent $468 of their own money for student necessities -- work books, pencils -- supplies kids had to have but could not afford. That's a lot of money from the pockets of the most poorly paid teachers in the industrial world. Public schools don't teach values? The critics are dead wrong. Public education provides more Sunday school teachers than any other profession. The average teacher works more hours in nine months than the average 40-hour employee does in a year.

You want heroes?

For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the only hug they will get that day because the nation is living through the worst parenting in history. Many have never been taken to church or synagogue in their lives.

A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the story of her attempt to rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a stuffed animal on her desk -- one that said, "I love you!" He said he'd never been told that at home.

This is a constant in today's society -- two million unwanted, unloved, abused children in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in.

You want heroes?

Visit any special education class and watch the miracle of personal interaction; a job so difficult that fellow teachers are awed by the dedication they witness. There is a sentence from an unnamed source which says, "We have been so anxious to give our children what we didn't have that we have neglected to give them what we did have."

What is it that our kids really need? What do they really want? Math, science, history and social studies are important, but children need love, confidence, encouragement, someone to talk to, someone to listen, standards to live by. Teachers provide upright examples, the faith and assurance of responsible people. Kids need to be accountable to caring parents who send well disciplined children to school. These human values are essential in a democracy -- anything that threatens them makes our whole society a little less free, our nation a little less strong. These values can be neither created nor preserved without continuous effort, and that effort must come from more than teachers who have students only six hours of the day.

Despite the problems, public school teachers laugh often and much. They have the respect of intelligent people and the affection of students who care.

You can bet that homeless little Jesus would have found a warm public school reception, hot food, and a hug if he'd grown up in America.

Teachers strive to find the best in their students, even where some see little hope. No other American bestows a finer gift than teaching -- reaching out to the brilliant and the retarded, the gifted and the average.

Teachers leave the world a little bit better than they found it, knowing if they have redeemed just one life, they have done God's work. They are America's unsung heroes.

Baby

WHERE did you come from baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into here.
Where did you get those eyes so blue?
Out of the sky as I came through.

What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?
Some of the starry spikes left in.
Where did you get that little tear?
I found it waiting when I got here.

What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
A soft hand stroked it as I went by.
What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
I saw something better than any one knows.

Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.
Where did you get this pearly ear?
God spoke, and it came out to hear.

Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itself into bonds and bands.
Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
From the same box as the cherub's wings.

How did they all just come to be you?
God thought about me, and so I grew.
But how did you come to us, you dear?
God thought about you, and so I am here.

You Do Not Have To Be Good (But It Helps) - A Look At Mary Oliver

dmittedly, I'm predisposed to disliking "nature poems." Maybe it's because many are facile, easy to write, and make the kinds of observations only an idiot needs spelled out in poetry. It's not that a good nature poem can't be written - it's just that so many poets have written poor ones.

So I'm in a bit of a quandary when it comes to writing about a poet who's made a career out of writing bad nature poems. Mary Oliver is technically proficient, and from reading her prose works about poetry (her A Poetry Handbook is probably one of the best introductory volumes about poetry ever written) I believe that she knows a lotabout poetry. So why are her poems so god-awful?

That Mary Oliver is a grossly overrated poet isn't really the issue. She's very easy to digest, and, since her poems take no risks, there's little to offend in them. The following is emblematic of what's wrong with Mary Oliver's poetry:

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.  Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,  over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.  Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,  the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --  over and over announcing your place  in the family of things. 

Gee.

This isn't the usual creative-writing-program-produced pap—no, this is highly-crafted, meticulously-designed, carefully-thought-out archetypal creative-writing pap. It takes a well-educated poet to write a poem this bad.

I was actually a bit hopeful by the first line. But then as I continued my enthusiasm waned, much like the steam driving this poem. It's like a balloon with a slow leak, hissing along until the last lines push the air completely out, leaving a wrinkly piece of plastic on the floor, to later get caught in the gears of the vaccuum cleaner and cost $143 (U.S.) to repair, resulting not only in dirty carpets for the duration of the cleaner's time in the shop, but also a small bald spot on the top of your head from where you scratched it trying to figure out how a balloon wound up in your living room...

Okay, maybe I got carried away with my own metaphor there. "Meanwhile the world goes on." Really? It does? I mean, come on! The world does not call to me like wild geese. I'm not really sure what to "latch onto" in this poem, because the images (such as they are) are so vague and "first-level" - here's a tip: just because you use the words "mountains" and "rivers" in your poem does not mean that they're going to be in there. Those are just words. You have to dosomething with them if you want to make poetry.

Mediocrity Abounds!

The problem with "Wild Geese" is not that it's vague, which it is, but that it's completely spineless - what's the message, ultimately, of this poem? "You have a place in this world and like the geese, are free because of your imagination!"

Assuming for a second that this is true, who needs to be told this? A useful tool for revision is to take a statement from a poem, and then state its opposite - if the opposite is ridiculous (i.e., doesn't need to be said), you don't need to make the original statement. This poem is like an advertising slogan, telling you that the company's product is great. Of course it is. What else would they say?

The danger creeping into contemporary poetry (it's been happening for years, but is growing) is the flattening of the image, the death of risk. Using nouns in a poem inserts an object into the poem, but for that object to become an image it must be acted on by the poet. Something needs to happen to the object. Here's another little gem:

I was standing at the edge of the field-- I was hurrying  through my own soul, opening its dark doors-- I was leaning out; I was listening. 

Like a sugar pill, this poem seems to be doing something, but isn't, really. I'll let her vagueness go for a minute and stop to shudder on the phrase "hurrying / through my own soul, / opening its dark doors--"

This is the kind of adolescent angst that would be barely forgivable if a teenage girl wrote it. Coming from Oliver, who should know better, this is shameful. Angst-ridden posturing doesn't ever make a poet sound "cool" or "deep," especially since referring to your "soul" as "dark" is hardly original, and usually the work of the shallow and simple-minded.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

" 'I grow old ... I grow old ... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.' What does that mean, Mr. Marlowe?"

"Not a bloody thing. It just sounds good."

He smiled. "That is from the 'Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.' Here's another one. 'In the room the women come and go/Talking of Michael Angelo.' Does that suggest anything to you, sir?"

"Yeah- it suggests to me that the guy didn't know very much about women."

"My sentiments exactly, sir. Nonetheless I admire T. S. Eliot very much."

"Did you say 'nonetheless' ?" (Chandler 356-7)

he Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is one of the most influential poems of the twentieth century (Williams 49). It is certainly not a love song like any that had been written before. The second and third lines shock the reader because of their unusual imagery that would be out of place in a traditional love poem, describing the setting sunlit sky as looking "like a patient etherised upon a table" (Eliot 3). This "etherised" outside world is the key to understanding all of Prufrock's views. He is afraid of the increasingly industrialized and impersonal city surrounding him, and he is unsure of what to do and afraid to commit to any particular choice of action (Mays 112). Paralysis is the main theme of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

Eliot composed "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" during a period beginning in 1909, and ending with the culmination of his first published book, Prufrock and Other Observations, which was published in 1917 (Scofield 46). The changes he made over several years may account for the fragmentation of the poem, but the main theme of paralysis was ever present, and would continue to be a major theme of Eliot's for much of his career (Scofield 46). Originally, the poem was titled "Prufrock Among The Women", which was later adapted and used in "Sweeny Among The Nightingales", and of course parodied E. B. Browning's "Bianca Among the Nightingales" (Loucks 1). Eliot chose to use the more ironic title, of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" instead, echoing the form of his name that Eliot himself was using at the time, that of T. Stearns Eliot (Southam 1).

In 1909, Eliot completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard, and wrote what would be relatively unchanged in its final edition, the beginning of "Prufrock", lines 1-14. The following year, Eliot traveled abroad to attend lectures at the Sorbonne, hearing Bergson at the Collège de France, and taking private lessons with Alain-Fournier. When he returned home a year later to read for his doctorate, he continued taking classes in Indic Philology, Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy, as well as Greek and Latin. He completed "Prufrock" as well as "Portrait of a Lady", "Preludes", and "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" (Moody xv).

After completing his doctorate, Eliot traveled to Great Britain to study at Oxford and met Ezra Pound. In June of 1915, at the suggestion of Pound, Eliot published "Prufrock" in Poetry magazine (Eliot Facsimile ix).

In 1917, Prufrock and Other Observations was published in Britain. Pound persuaded Alfred Knopf to publish it in America, which Knopf did after Pound's agreement to have someone write a paper about his poetry. Pound chose Eliot to write this paper about him, which he did, but removed Eliot's name from the draft, saying, "I want to boom Eliot and one cant [sic] have too obvious a ping-pong match at that sort of thing" (Eliot Facsimile xii).

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a dramatic poem by genre, because obviously Eliot himself was neither growing bald nor old when he began writing the poem at the age of twenty-one (Scofield vii). The Prufrock character is perhaps a middle-aged man, going through his mid-life crisis and examining the choices he's made in his life. Most of all, he takes a look at his regrets, and his failure with women. The main tone of the poem is that of weary, ironic self-deprecation (Mays 110). Prufrock makes innumerable references to his growing bald, one of the more clever is the image of the grim reaper holding his coat for him so he can leave this world, and snickering at his bald spot (Rosenthal 79). He attempts to make himself feel young again, by rolling his trousers and parting his hair in a style that young people wear, but he knows that it is no use; he is growing old (Hammond 1). Prufrock's fear of growing old contributed to his paralysis.

As evidenced by the title of the book in which it was first collected, Prufrock wasn't as much a persona of the poet but an "observation." The poem begins with an invitation by Prufrock to join him in his travels through a city that is growing increasingly modern, while Prufrock himself is afraid, or unable, to change with it. His description of the way he sees his environment can elucidate much about the character himself. He describes "cheap hotels," restaurants with sawdust on the floor, and frightening streets "that follow like a tedious argument / Of insidious intent" (Eliot 3). The fog creeps up on the street as if it were a cat. The yellow lamplight obscures more than it illuminates. If he is afraid of the modern world that awaits him, why does he wish to enter it? To Prufrock, this world offers him "an overwhelming question" (Eliot 3). It is unclear whether or not he is physically traveling through the city, or whether he is describing the city so that the reader, his sole companion, may understand the environment that causes him such distress. The "you" that is mentioned in the opening line is most likely intended to be the reader. The epigraph preceding the poem, which is from Dante's Inferno 27.61-66. suggests this. The lines are spoken by Guido da Montefeltro, who is a false counselor concealed within a flame, to Dante, who has entered Hell and is not expected to leave. The lines are translated:

'If I thought my answer were given / to anyone who would ever return to the world, / this flame would stand still without moving any further. / But since never from this abyss / has anyone ever returned alive, if what I hear is true, / without fear of infamy I answer you' (Ferguson 1230)

In light of this, it is apparent that we are like Dante and Prufrock is Montefeltro, and that his confessions are meant to be heard by only us. Since we aren't able to escape the industrialized impersonal world any more than Prufrock is, he is safe to expose himself to us as fully as he is able.

The fragmentation of the images in the poem also shed some light on Prufrock's fears. He rarely says what he means, if he is even sure of it himself. Instead, like the magic lantern throwing "patterns on a screen," the poem "Prufrock" is like a set of slides, showing us Prufrock's failures and experiences he's collected (Jeff 1). Prufrock moves from streets to woman talking to images of woman and mythological creatures. There is no congruity in the poem.

The name "Prufrock" never appears in the poem, and instead the character asks himself if he should perhaps say he is Lazarus, and makes sure to mention that he is not Prince Hamlet (Eliot 6-7).

Prufrock is different than Hamlet in several ways. Hamlet, unlike Prufrock, is a man of action. He doesn't ask himself questions like "Do I Dare?" because the thought of whether he dare or not never occurs to him (Hammond 1). Hamlet is also very young and sure of himself, while Prufrock is neither of these. Hamlet and Prufrock do share, however, in attempting to express the "inexpressibly horrible" (Rosenthal 83).

Prufrock is a character obsessed with time, most likely because his is running out. He continually tells himself "there will be time" in order to rationalize his lack of action. To this point he has "measured out his life with coffee spoons" to make a futile attempt to hang on to every moment that passes, even if he doesn't do anything with the moments that he's been given (Eliot 4). Prufrock is most likely middle aged, and going through his mid-life crisis, which Prufrock alludes to in line 80 by asking himself if he has "the strength to force the moment to its crisis?" (Eliot 6).

Prufrock wants to act and at first asks himself grandiose questions such as whether he "dare disturb the universe." By the end of the poem, he is unsure if he has the will to do something less spectacular, like daring to "eat a peach" (Eliot 4-7). He asks us if he dares, to which the answer is invariably no.

The poetic form of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is an interesting one. As much as he breaks the traditions of the Romantic poets by introducing nightmarish imagery about the outside world, Eliot also breaks tradition in the unusual rhyme and meter of the poem. "Prufrock" is not written as free verse as is usually assumed, but:

tightly metrical blank verse with the five-stress lines frequently broken into two and three feet or one and four feet, these scattered about the poem, and with scattered rhyme throughout, and the standard blank verse resolving device (as in Shakespeare's scenes) of a terminal rhymed couplet. (Williams 49)

By the end of the poem, Prufrock is imaging mermaids, or man's ideal vision of women sitting on the beach, but even in his imagination they do not sing to him. When he is awakened from his daydream by a human voice, it is apparent that even in his fantasies Prufrock is paralyzed and non-active (Eliot 7). Paralysis is the key theme that runs through "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

Works Cited

Chandler, Raymond. The Long Goodbye . New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 1992.

Eliot, T. S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Collected Poems 1909-1962 . New York: Harcourt Brace, 1963. 3-7.

Eliot, Valerie. Introduction. The Waste Land: Facsimile and Transcript . New York: Harcourt Brace, 1971.

Ferguson, Margaret, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy. The Norton Anthology Of Poetry . 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1996.

Hammond, Hans Talbot. "The T. S. Eliot Cluster." Available Internet.21 Feb. 1997.

"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" - Walt Whitman

Dramatis Personæ: Jough and Shwuan - two friends

JOUGH:

(entering the door of the diner) ... so I turned to her and said "Hey! I'm trying to play GOLF, here!" She wasn't happy with that, of course.

SHWUAN:

(looking around at the booths) Where's our waitress?

JOUGH:

Pam?

SHWUAN:

No, not her. You know the one.

JOUGH:

Oh, Cynthia!

SHWUAN:

(blessing himself) Nom de Dieu! What an absolute angel. No woman has ever made a gravy-stained apron look so very good.

JOUGH:

(pointing) We're to seat ourselves, according to that polite sign.

They walk toward a corner booth.

SHWUAN:

(to the sign) We will, and you're welcome.

They sit and examine their placemats, which rather conveniently contain the menus for the diner.

JOUGH:

I'm thinking of something containing pork...

SHWUAN:

(looking over at the police officer at the counter) Is it something in this room?

JOUGH:

Le flic n'est pas le truc que j'y voudrais manger. (The cop isn't what I want to eat .)

SHWUAN:

Oh, do stop that nonsense, right now.

JOUGH:

(innocently) Quoi? Sigh. Jough wants coffee.

SHWUAN:

It's a tad late for coffee, isn't it?

JOUGH:

Yeah, well, I have to stay up and write this stupid paper for my Dickinson/Whitman seminar class.

SHWUAN:

Oh. My condolences. When's it due?

JOUGH:

In about eight and a half hours.

SHWUAN:

You do the research yet?

JOUGH:

Well, it's not a research paper. It's sort of... I don't knowwhat to call it. A "reflection paper"? I just have to talk up a poem from my perspective without doing any outside research.

SHWUAN:

How annoying! I hate it when professors make up those flaky, artsy-fartsy assignments. Have you taken a field trip to the woods to hug trees, yet?

JOUGH:

Hey! Don't make me have to thwap you. No, the paper is fine. Hell, I prefer assignments like these to the dull research papers that I usually have to write. It's just that, well, I'm not really sure how to approach Whitman.

SHWUAN:

Very carefully, I'd say. And watch his hands. I've heard him to be "grabby."

JOUGH:

I mean, the paper for Dickinson wasn't too bad. I could get a handle on some aspect of the poem - which was really short, and then come to some sort of conclusion. Whitman seems to elude conclusions, at least as far as individual poems go. It's like playing dodge ball with the kid who always gets picked first. You just can't catch him, and he taunts you when you miss.

SHWUAN:

Oh, I'm sure it's exactly like that. I sense childhood trauma surfacing. Really, it's touching. I may cry. Which poem are you writing on, anyway?

JOUGH:

"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." You know it? (Jough rummages through his bag) I have it with me, actually.

SHWUAN:

(taking the book from Jough) It's long, eh?

JOUGH:

Only one line longer than Prufrock - although I'd much rather be writing about Eliot right now.

SHWUAN:

And indeed there will be time for that, later. Well, maybe it would help you if we talked it out a little, eh?

JOUGH:

I suppose. But there are nine parts to this poem. How am I supposed to sum up a Whitman poem in three to four pages?

SHWUAN:

Don't bore me with page count. Let's get on with it. Where is whitman in this poem?

JOUGH:

Okay, I see your line of reasoning. Good... good... Well, he's on a ferry, isn't he?

Shwuan lays the book on the table sideways so that they can both read from it.

SHWUAN:

Naturally. What is your first impression of this poem? What's the impact that it has on you?

JOUGH:

I feel a sense of community, a sense of bonding with the poet. Look here at part three, where he catalogs the things he sees on the river.

SHWUAN:

"Slow-wheeling circles and gradual edging toward the south..."

JOUGH:

"The reflection of the summer sky in the water... shimmering tracks of beams..." Oh, I totally love this one... "the fine centrifugal spokes of light..."

SHWUAN:

"The vapor as it flew in fleeces tinged with violet..."

JOUGH:

That's gorgeous, too. How about "the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender serpentine pennants?"

SHWUAN:

"The white wake left by the passage..." or the "gray walls of granite storehouses by the docks" or else "Casting their flicker of black contrasted with wild red and yellow lights over the tops of houses and down into the clefts of streets."

JOUGH:

(sighs) Mmm... I love the sounds there... clefts of streets...

SHWUAN:

It's a great description. I really get the feeling that I'mthere. That I'm on a ferry with Manhattan on one side and Brooklyn on the other, but I don't understand how that can give you a feeling of communion with the author, Jough?

JOUGH:

Well, that's exhibit A. Now let's look at some other parts of the poem. There's a lot of repetition here that really builds on the themes of the poem, but section seven will do. How about line 88? "What thought you have of me now, I had as much of you - I laid in my stores in advance..."

SHWUAN:

Didn't Ginsberg make some reference to that line?

JOUGH:

His "Supermarket in California" poem begins with something like "What thoughts I have of you, Walt Whitman..."

SHWUAN:

What peaches and what penumbras!Â

JOUGH:

(laughing) What price bananas? Are you my angel?

SHWUAN:

Â

Well, he's obviously pulling you into the poem there. Do you think he's talking to you, though, Jough? They have medication that you can take for that.

JOUGH:

Oh, all throughout parts seven and eight he addresses the reader directly. Actually, he's addressing us directly throughout the entire poem, but in these sections he's very successful in drawing me in.

SHWUAN:

Â

Even before that, he really makes a connection, I think. Look at part five. "What is it then between us? What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?" I mean, it's as if he knows this'll be read, and not only read, but read for a very long time. And he addresses the time issue directly on line 56. "Whatever it is, it avails not - distance avails not, and place avails not..."

JOUGH:

Avails?

SHWUAN:

Â

Avails... means like, to be of use, advantage, or help. He's saying, I think, that time, place, or distance doesn't serve to put any distance between himself and the reader. Okay. So I can see how you'd get a sense of connection to old Walt here because of lines like this, but how do his descriptions of the water and the ferry help to create that link, and how does this create that sense of "communion" (Makes quotes in the air with his fingers) that you spoke of earlier?

JOUGH:

I think it helps because it engenders trust between Whitman and myself. I mean, reading this "speaker," I have no doubt that he's been to these places - that he's seen these things - that he's seeing them right now as he's unveiling the lines. Because I believe and trust his place and vision, I'm more inclined to believe him when he says that he's having the same thoughts of me that I am of him. That he's thinking, not just of some reader in the future, but of Jough in particular.

SHWUAN:

Oh, get over yourself, you egoist.

JOUGH:

La ferme! Oh, here's a line that bothers me, though. Lines 63 to 64. "I too had receiv'd identity by my body," then he breaks the line and continues "That I was I knew was of my body, and what I should be I knew I should be of my body."

SHWUAN:

Read that last part again, slowly.

JOUGH:

That I was I knew was of my body...

SHWUAN:

So he's saying that his essence is of the body. His body.

JOUGH:

"... and what I should be (my emphasis) I knew I should be of my body."

SHWUAN:

Â

So he's saying that what he is, is what he should be?

JOUGH:

It sounds that way. But isn't there an easier way of saying that?

SHWUAN:

Are you going to talk about Whitman in terms ofcompression, now? Please. So the man was wordy.

JOUGH:

Mmm... what words, though! That little section just bothers me. It's so inelegant. So unlike him. We should move on from this point, though.

SHWUAN:

What else does one talk about when speaking of poetry?

JOUGH:

Well, it's not like I can address his rime or meter.

SHWUAN:

Can't you? Aren't all words delivered with some kind of meter?

JOUGH:

Touché. Yes, you're very clever, indeed, Shwuan, but what am I to say about his long line?

SHWUAN:

You know that I get nervous when you talk about men's long lines, Jough.

JOUGH:

You're such a 'phobe. Okay, well, his language and flowing meter also help to back up his themes, here. I mean, what am I to feel when I read lines like line 21 "I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence,"? - personally, I feel a bit creeped-out.

SHWUAN:

I'm with you in Rockland. I've seen the best minds of my generation. Maybe Ginz should have written "I've seen the best minds of my generation, or ever so many generations hence..."

JOUGH:

Heh. I'm not sure it would have the same "punch."

SHWUAN:

Well, what makes Whitman so close to us? So close toyou, I should say.

JOUGH:

His very language is egalitarian. He likens himself to you in your own words! The words of the common man. And you, my boy, are common. He continues in section three here to make connections with the reader. "Just as you feel... I felt. Just as you are refresh'd... I am refresh'd. Just as you stand... I stand."

SHWUAN:

May we look at the opening of the poem?

JOUGH:

Â

We may. He opens with action. "Flood-tide below me!" See, he uses the specificity of "flood-tide." It could just be the tide, but that wouldn't lead into the themes of the poem. See, the flood tide is the rising tide - the point between low and high tide when the water is rising - but it also has a double meaning of being a climax or high point - as in a flood tide of tears, or something. "Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!"

SHWUAN:

Enthusiastic lad, n'est-ce pas?

JOUGH:

He certainly is very emphatic, at least. He doesn't use another exclamation mark after part one until... (flipping through the book) part nine. The last part. And then he marries this with the beginning.

SHWUAN:

I don't think I'd use the word "marries" when discussing our boy Walt, here.

JOUGH:

Â

Listen to this - the beginning of part 9 "Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide!"

SHWUAN:

So now he's back where he started?

JOUGH:

Not physically, but ideologically, and thematically, yes. But this part is much different than part one. Part one is curious. He states in part one that these things he sees will be "more curious" to him than I suppose. He's almostanticipating my incredulity. By part nine I believe that he's confident he's won me over and may now expound on the real reason that this poem was written.

SHWUAN:

Are you saying parts one through eight were all lead-in? I wouldn't think that Whitman would want so much of his poetry to be "throw-away" verse.

JOUGH:

No, every part is essential to the bare essence of the poem. It's all necessary. I'm just saying that where the poem leads us is finally to part nine.

SHWUAN:

And look, he returns to his theme of a shared experience with the reader. Line 112: "Consider, you who peruse me, whether I may not in unknown ways be looking upon you;"

JOUGH:

And he not only addresses me, the reader, here, but also directly addresses the birds, the water, the ships... he seems to be addressing everything that he mentioned previously in his surroundings...

SHWUAN:

His surroundings. Interesting. But you - Jough - the reader - are not in his surroundings, are you?

JOUGH:

I would say that by the end of the poem, I am in his surroundings. I am a part of the poem by the poem's end.

SHWUAN:

I thought you said he was addressing the reader, in the future, earlier?

JOUGH:

Do I contradict myself? Very well. But I don't think I am. He is addressing me, this penumbra of a reader in the future, but he's bringing me - from wherever I am - into the poem. I'm part of it.

SHWUAN:

You become a transparent eyeball.

JOUGH:

You can make fun all you want, but this type of shared experience is very rare in poetry, especially in modern verse, where irony is considered something to aspire to, and sincerity and sentiment are considered an embarrassment.

SHWUAN:

I prefer goldy or silvery to irony, myself.

JOUGH:

Why do I even bother talking to you?

SHWUAN:

Let's get back to your theory. Doesn't Whitman pull his reader into many of his other poems as well?

JOUGH:

He does, but rarely so effectively, I think, as in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry."Â I think this poem is the perfect length, and the perfect pace to achieve this psychic link with the reader.

SHWUAN:

Pace? How does he create pace in the poem? I mean, don't you create your own pace by how quickly or slowly you read?

JOUGH:

Well, touché. Pace just means that it flows well. It's short enough to be cohesive. "Song of Myself" meanders and pulses all throughout the American landscape. "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" remains very much on the river, with the flood-tide under him. Also, this poem is more personal and less affected than Song of Myself, or other earlier poems in Leaves of Grass. He isn't speaking of generalities, or men and women - but a particular scene that he, the poet, and I, a reader, share together. And it's that sharing that I find to be special about this poem. I mean, I don't care what else you say, this poem is a shared experience between the author and audience, and that sharing helps to cement my trust in him as a poet - as a guide to the landscape that he so expertly lays out in this poem. Are you with me now?

SHWUAN:

I preferred our conversation two months ago when you were talking about Dickinson.

Shwuan begins to unscrew the sugar shaker, spilling sugar all over the table .

JOUGH:

I can't take you anywhere, can I?

SHWUAN:

Well, it appears we are not to be served here, this evening. Do you want to go to that new Mexican place on Broad and Snyder and chomp down some burritos?

JOUGH:

You know me brother. I'm all over that action. Let's get out of here.

They get up and walk to the door. On the way out, Shwuan turns back around.

SHWUAN:

(barbarically) YAWP!!!

Exeunt.

"The Tyger" - William Blake

illiam Blake's "The Tyger," the 'Experience' counterpart to the 'Innocence' of "The Lamb," is from his collection Songs of Innocence and Experience. The meaning of the poem deeply depends on the reader's background and personal religious beliefs. Although many interpretations are possible, there are only a few that are most likely, and one in particular; that the Tyger is not a symbol for evil, or a manifestation of the Christian "Satan," but rather man's life on Earth after the proverbial Garden of Eden.

Blake uses the words 'Innocence' and 'Experience' rather than 'good' and 'evil' to describe the opposing sides of man's nature. In "The Tyger," especially, Blake examines the fall of humanity from grace, out of the blissful innocence of the Garden and into the experience of contemporary life. Much of "The Tyger" is written in the form of questions that the reader must answer. These are not the unbiased questions of a news reporter, but rather questions that guide only certain acceptable responses, asking questions that use words like 'fearful,' 'dread,' 'deadly terrors,' and questions such as 'In what furnace was thy brain?'

Man was banished from the Garden of Eden, into the 'forests of the night' after succumbing to the temptations of evil. 'Thy fearful symmetry' is the natural balance of good and evil not only in the world, but in the heart of man. The poem then makes an attempt at cleverly alluding to the dawn of man on Earth, and the discovery of fire with the line 'What the hand dare seize the fire?' (an allusion to Promethias, as well). Blake continues with an inventory of inventions, such as 'art,' 'the hammer,' 'the chain,' and 'the anvil.' The 'stars,' or Angels in Heaven 'threw down their spears,' ending a war in Heaven when man fell, according to Christian mythology. With this regard, "The Tyger" isn't another name for man, but rather a symbol for man's loss of innocence and gaining of the experience of sin against God.

There are many interpretations of this poem, and you'd be wise to follow-through with some research before accepting this, my 'reading' of the poem. There's something about "The Tyger" that seems to captivate critics and poetry lovers. It's a strange, mysterious piece. Contrast-and-compare it with "The Lamb," which was meant to be a mirror piece, of sorts.

Make Money with HavAds

One of the things that has bugged me for a long time is that while Google make money online with adwords, those of us displaying the ads (the adsense side of the equation) on our sites are making pennies. A couple of years ago Google allowed advertisers to bid different amounts for content ads (the ads on your site) rather than paying the same price for search ads (these are the ads shown when doing a Google search). While the search ads still cost an advertiser big money (and it all goes to Google) the content ads can be had for just pennies and you only get 50% of this.

When you hear of advertisers paying $50 a click for a "consolidated student loan" ad don't be fooled - they only pay this on Google search. The same advertisers ad on your site will only cost them a fraction of the search price and you will only earn pennies. Nobody makes a decent per click amount with adsense anymore - and this sucks.

Last month I had 10,189 visitors to one of my best sites - this generated 507 clicks on adsense for a whopping $86.23 - basically it paid my phone bill and nothing more. If I work my ass off and create 100 sites with this much traffic then I might be making some decent cash. Thing is I have 100 sites but getting enough traffic to them all is the hard part - too much work and I have mentioned before that I am extremely lazy.

What's the solution?

A few months back I was posting articles to a blog of mine that had to do with a very popular search term on technorati - each post I made generated several thousand hits for about 30 minutes until my post was usurped by newer posts on technorati. By the way I call this the "Blogarazzi Method" to making money online and I will be posting more on it soon. The point I want to make is that one day Google placed an ad on my site that converted like crazy - 3 of 4 people coming to my site clicked the damn thing - an unbelievable %75 click thru rate! What's more - the ad kept coming back day after day for about three weeks and averaged a click thru rate just over %50 for the whole run. This meant a couple of things - I made almost $3000 in adsense during this period and the advertiser spent a ton of money but they kept on spending so they obviously were making a profit.

This got me to thinking...

How come Google doesn't give me ads like this one all the time?

I knew what the ad was for and why it converted so well and I knew what the landing page was selling and why they were making money.

What if I could have put my own ad on my site instead of Google's and had people going to my own landing page selling the same thing?

Wait a sec... why couldn't I?

I could! And I did!

Even after the topic had died down to only a few hundred hits per blog post I put my own ad up sending people to my affiliate page where I sold the same product as the original advertiser. The difference was that they were now giving me %50 of the sales instead of paying me the adsense fee. Guess what...

My click thru rate on my ad was just slightly lower than the original ad (%47) and these clicks made me $2300 in sales in just over a week. Had I stuck with Google I would have earned about $180 for the same clicks and none of the sales. The topic's popularity on technorati then dried up to almost nothing by this point and I quit the campaign.

Long story short. Since this experiment I have been using Google to find out which ads have a decent click thru rate and then I dump adsense and put up my own ad that looks exactly the same (except there is no "Ads by Google" blurb on them). My ads then send people to my affiliate page and I make the commissions for finding the traffic that others were previously cashing in on without giving me a dime (ok - they paid me pennies for adsense).

I know what you are thinking - most of you don't know how to create your own ads and aren't in the mood to learn html,javascript etc. I admit I had to pay a programmer to do this for me and if it hadn't worked I would have spent a good sum of money for nothing. Fortunately it did work and I found out something after the fact that would have saved me some money - there already is a program available which lets any moron like me write their own ads - exactly like Google's! And it's cheap cheap cheap!

A couple of clever Aussies figured out this same system and took it a step farther by developing a software program that will create your own ads and they look just like Google's. (You want them to look like Google's because people are already trained to click on them.) The designers are Ian Richardson and Carl Bradbrook and the product is called HavAds

Before running off to get this product you should know that to make the most from this product do what I do. I copy the ads that perform well. How do you find these - simple. Let me show you.

Take a popular search term in Google. Let's try ,"Make Money Online". Check out the Sponsored Links on the right hand side and see if you recognize ads that you have seen before - to do this properly you should keep checking for a few weeks as the ads that make money will still be there and the duds will fall by the wayside. I picked this term as you are all familiar with this Niche and I know you will all recognize one ad in particular;

Sponsored Links

I was scammed 37 times These websites are absolute scams I will show you the ones that work Dannys-Scam-Review.com

Have you seen this one before? I bet you have because it is run day in - day out and costs the advertiser a small fortune. It must also bring in a small fortune or you wouldn't see it so often.

If you click on this ad you will be taken to a sales page that basically sells two affiliate products. Both products are available at clickbank and I'm sure you have heard of them - WWW.ULTIMATEWEALTHPACKAGE.COM and WWW.INSTANTMONEYVAULT.COM

What have we learned here? If you are selling to the "Make Money Online" crowd then you now know that this ad converts and the two affiliate products convert. I bet you have even seen the ad on your pages and been paid 6 cents everytime someone has clicked on it.

So... what would happen if you put the same ad on your page but sent the people to your own affiliate page selling the same products?

I suspect I have made my point.

How To Improve Website Traffic

One way to improve website traffic to your website or blog is to take advantage of online forums and on the internet communities. The excellent point about forums and on the internet communities is that you are able to target a particular group that fits the particular demographic that you are searching for. You can discuss about lots of things about the niche which you represent or offer.

Another excellent benefit is which you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared. With online communities and forums you are able to build a reputation for the organization. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can construct a reputation and construct trust with the people inside your expertise and knowledge.

You are able to also make use of newsletters. Provide individuals with a catalog of your products and fascinating and entertaining content articles. Should you make it truly fascinating and entertaining, much more people will sign up for the newsletter and recommend it to other individuals. The more individuals who signs up for the newsletter, the much more people there will be which will go for your site increasing your traffic.

Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You do not need to spend a cent. All you need to do is reach an agreement with an additional webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both websites. Each and every visitors that goes to the website could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your website as well. This works well particularly when both sites feature the same niche.

Write articles that could pique the attention of individuals that have interest inside your product. Try writing content articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing content articles that supply great service and understanding to other people would supply the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.

Many websites provide free of charge submission and posting of your articles. When individuals discover interest in your articles they have a great chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Consist of a link or a brief description of your company using the article and there's an excellent probability that they will go for your site.

Write good content material for the website. Numerous search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that a content ought to be done by a professional content writer. You could do your on but you need to make content for the website that is entertaining as well as informational. It should supply particular requirements too as great high quality.

Usually, internet users use search engines to discover what they're looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search outcomes. Using the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine outcomes without having the costs.

All of these methods and much more will drive more traffic to your site for free of charge. All it takes is really a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you are able to concerning methods to improve website traffic and you'll soon have a site with a great traffic flow without having the usual expenses that come with it.

I hope these tips on how to increase traffic to your website were useful, and you can get more ways to improve the traffic to your website by clicking here now.

5 Ways To Help With Your Diet Plans

1. Don't gorge yourself when eating. Get up from a meal feeling that you could eat a little more. A lot of people tend to eat to much for several reasons. The food is good, people encouraging you to have a little more or encouraging you to try something that you didn't have on your plate.

2. Never eat merely from a sense of duty or to please someone else. For instance.. someone encouraging you to eat because they made something just for you. Another example.. being out with friends that want to get something to eat, but don't, because you said you didn't want anything. This tends to make you feel that you have to eat with them, whether you want to or not.

3. Don't 'bolt' your food down. Eat slowly and thoroughly chew all you eat. If you eat too quickly then by the time your body tells you it's full, you've already eaten to much.

4. Drink water throughout the day. Most people already know this one, but fail to follow through with it. Drinking water can help you to feel like you're full, so you won't eat as much. Plus it has many other benefits you get from it besides just helping you to feel full.

5. Exercise. Diets don't usually work too well unless you're also engaging in some form of exercise. There are many different ways of getting some exercise. Working out at home, joining a gym, doing activities that you enjoy.. such as dancing, working around the yard, cycling. Find something you can enjoy doing and you will be more likely to stick with it.

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The product itself comes as one big manual that goes into every last detail about the system step by step, and eight step by step videos. The manual comes complete with process maps of the ENTIRE Google Sniper process start to finish, diagrams and some other stuff. This manual is then supplemented with eight step by step videos where I teach them live on screen how each part of the process is done. This has worked extremely well and the response from this method of learning has been phenomenal.

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Why We Love Cycling?

Cycling is a low impact exercise and fun workout. It can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of age and fitness level. You can cycle at your leisure pace to your neighborhood shop, or cycle all the way to a 10 mile reservoir. Whichever way you do it, you will enjoy a range of health benefits from it.

Cycling is a type of cardio exercise. It reduces your risk of illnesses like heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and many more. This exercise gives you a better shape and it is a great way for weight management. An hour of cycling can burns up to 300 calories, which can make a big difference to your health over time.

You can enjoy the outdoors and explore the countryside while on your bike, which is sure to lift your mood. The benefits of cadio exercise - increased heart rate and blood flow, released endorphins, more oxygen traveling around the brain which leads to clarity of thought, and so on - also mean that cycling will reduce your feelings of depression, stress, and anxiety.

You will feel so much better, more confident and able to tackle life with a spring in your step. Fitness Cycling increases your fitness levels, providing a good aerobic workout for you and boosting lung capacity and stamina over time.

Cycling is good for people of all fitness abilities as you can ride at a pace of your choice. If you have any health conditions, you should always consult your doctor before taking up cycling. Otherwise, you simply need a bike and a helmet - and you're off!

Riding a bike is not a form of exercise you need to plan or set time aside for. For example, you could ride to work or to the shops instead of driving. In fact, it can save you time as it is often quicker to cycle somewhere, particularly if you live in a busy town or city centre, as you avoid any traffic delays.

Cycling can also be enjoyed on your own or with friends and family. With so much going it, why not discover the joys of cycling yourself?

Watch Letters To Juliet Online Now

ow to watch letters to Juliet is something that many many people are searching for online right now. It is with good reason too, it is a great movie and you should definitely see it if you have time. And with the economy the way it is right now, who can really afford to go to the movies right now. i mean, realistically it costs upwards of twenty dollars for you and one other person to go to the movies, wouldn't it be much nicer to stay at home and watch letters to Juliet online. I agree, it would, and that is the reason you should go to websites that show movies online and watch it there.

Click Below To Watch Letters To Juliet Online
www.get-movies-here.net/letters-to-juliet/

There are many websites that allow you to watch movies online. Some of the sites are quality sites that show the movies in pretty good quality. There are a lot of crappy ones though so you need to be careful about what sites you go to. Also another thing is many of these sites have malware and viruses so be careful.

Watch Letters To Juliet online because it is a very good movie. It is about an American girl who is young and goes to Europe and the city of Verona, which is where the story of Romeo and Juliet took place. Once there, she joins a group of volunteers who respond to letters to Juliet seeking advice about love. She answers one of the letters dated all the way back to 1951, which inspires the writer of the letter to go all the way to Italy to find her ling lost love. This sets off a chain of events that will bring a love into both their lives unlike anything they ever imagined.

Successful Blogging Techniques

Blogging has become a very broad and expansive part of the internet in our world today. Blogging can quite possibly be very marketable and also profitable for users whom are in the blogging industry and abroad. To profit from your blog site you must gain respect in your area of expertise or niche and from there grab the audiences attention and make sure you keep bringing the users back to read and comment on your content. Originality, Uniqueness and informative content is how you will achieve this. I will establish and present to you the most valuable ways I believe on how you can start becoming a successful blogger.

The Journey

Everyone participating in anything has to start somewhere, unfortunately in this industry you will undoubtedly start small and if you put time and effort into your blog you may become successful. Most small time bloggers will use free blog hosting services and this I think is a great platform for inexperienced bloggers and people whom are trying to get a feel of how the whole blog industry and system works. With an independent blog site you must have paid hosting, knowledge of scripts and plugins etc in order to provide a decent platform for your blog audience whereas here you can put your sole focus onto providing top quality content and all the back end technical stuff is covered. The main advantages of having a free blog hosting service is that if your blog does not become popular or successful you have not lost out. No costs incurred apart from the time you invested into writing the content.

Blogging for niche

Most bloggers today will target a niche, which is a specific product, service and or topics relating to keywords on the related items. Its important to choose a niche or target something which interests you so you can add personal experience and advice to your blogs content instead of writing about something that has no appeal to you whatsoever. Writing regularly is important in blogging and being able to have a niche which you are excited about makes this job a hell of a lot easier for you in the long term as you are not struggling for ideas as to what to write about. As long as the user audience is there for your niche you can write about it, blog about it and become a dominant force within your targeted niche. Remember you can blog and write about absolutely anything in the world, your daily life, work problems anything which can attract the attention of a following audience.

Frequency

As stated above it is vital that your blogs content is updated very regularly, ideally you aim for a article, post daily. By doing so your blog becomes more appealing and interesting for your audience but in terms of SEO and search engines they love a fresh updating blog site. To have a successful blogging website post frequency and fresh content is imperative otherwise you will slip and your readers will not be coming back anytime soon. Setting aside time where you will focus work efforts on your blog do go along way and this will keep your readers in the loop of your niche and website thus returning traffic is high. If you do not make the effort your rankings will fall and traffic levels will take a steep dive for the worst.

Traffic and audience

To run and maintain a successful profitable blog you MUST have traffic and an audience that is willing to return to your blog on a regular occasion to keep up to date with your article content. With the internet growing rapidly getting noticed is becoming a harder and harder task day by day thus there are some options to boost yourself in terms of traffic. Advertising, Viral marketing, social bookmarking, twitter, search engine optimization etc all contribute to the levels of traffic your blog will receive. Submitting your blogs content to article directories is also a very big positive, the trick with article marketing is having the all important anchor links in the author biography part of the article. This creates backlinks for your blog. If your article is well written and unique and many people are linking to it or using it on their websites this is a huge bonus of article marketing. Links are coming from all over the web to your website if you have a successful written article on such directories and submission websites.

Keep track of visitors

Check your websites statistics on a frequent basis to analyze who is looking at what and how often, this is the simplest way to monitor your audience. Using tools like Google Webmasters and Google Analytics are very important for research purposes and how to optimize your website for better use and conversion. Keep track of what keywords are being searched and how users are finding your website on the internet by tracking what keywords are popular and getting the most search results you can now make the effort to target those particular keywords in a more rigorous fashion in order to increase your traffic and rankings. When writing blog titles make sure they are SEO friendly and highly keyword related so users can find your content easier.

The Personal Experience

Relating to your users on a personal level is highly important and being able to bring in real life experiences to your content is very valuable and provides the path where people can relate and interact with you and your blog a lot easier. Keep the interaction levels with your audience high creates a positive blogging environment and site which people will happily return to. If your readers are emailing you, I personally make the effort to reply to each email to engage on a ground level.

Money, Money, Money

I am a firm believer in patience when it comes to my internet blogging endeavors and once your blog has achieved a regular potential audience then you can begin the process of monetizing your blogging efforts. Turning your website traffic into a money maker. Google Adsense is the main advertising platform for bloggers this is called contextual advertising. Adsense is very powerful in the fact that the adverts shown to your audience are related to your keywords and content. Payouts for this system are in simple terms, pay per click. Ever legitimate click an advert receives you will be eligible to earn a % of the advertising cost. There are many more ways of monetization which are not discussed here, I will in the near future have a full write up on Blog monetization techniques and tips for my users so stay tuned if you are looking to earn big.

By following the advice above and applying it to your blogs and websites you will have the basic idea and platform where you can restructure your blog in order to maximize its effectiveness on the internet and the end goal is for you to be making a profitable blog which you enjoy running and maintaining. Again to make and run a successful blog it takes time and lots of effort its not an overnight job. There are no guarantees that your blog will become successful you can only do certain things to help improve those chances.