I love the work of Robert Frost. It probably comes from my New England roots. The pictures that Frost paints with his poetry bring back so many vivid images from growing up in rural New Hampshire.

I own many Frost first editions, and a beautiful portrait of America’s Poet Laurette by renowned photographer Lotte Jacobi (signed by both of them) is one of my prized possessions.  So when this bit of news filtered down to me, you now can understand why it got my attention.

The Homer Noble Farm in Ripton, Vermont, where Frost spent more than 20 summers before his death in 1963, was vandalized by a bunch of idiots in December of last year.  A 17-year-old former Middlebury College employee decided to hold a party and gave a friend $100 to buy beer. Word spread. Up to 50 people descended on the farm, the revelry turning destructive after a chair broke and someone threw it into the fireplace.  When it was over, windows, antiques and china had been broken, fire extinguishers discharged, and carpeting soiled with vomit and urine. Empty beer cans and drug paraphernalia were left behind. The damage was put at $10,600.

Twenty-eight people — all but two of them teenagers — were charged.  You’ll never believe their sentence… [Read more →]