It's quite hard to flirt
When your parents and sister
Are between you two

Books should never be
Put in a washing machine
Just trust me on this

Maps are very good
But should that map fail, just ask
For some directions

Campuses are huge
But you soon will find that you
Can walk quite quickly

If weather says shorts
But your family says pants
Trust the weatherman

Fire burns in passion untold
Ice reflects and refracts in the cold
And it must be said:
Please watch your head
Their burns can scar you 'till you're old

If I only had a magical wand
I could break so many bonds
Instead of watching heroes on T.V.
I could be the one I want to be

I could multipy food again and again
I'd bring earth's hunger to an end
I could separate water from poison in it
From Africa to suburban Flint

I could make weapons vanish in a war
And make people question what they're killing for
I could build homes two minutes after a flood
And, in a drought, bring rain from above

I could do something with the prison population
I could fight memories that cause stigma in our nation
I could clean the air, take the trash from the water
Then reform it all into gifts for poorer sons and daughters

I could look into space with an enlarged telescope
I could start a wizard network of hope
Side by side, with my coven friends
We'd fight hatred and ills until our ends

But, alas, as you can clearly see
There is no magic wand with me
So I make my changes at a plodding pace
I only hope to change the world's face

I'm not deterred; I still will fight
To change the world to day from night
But in my dream, I still long
For that easy route of a magic wand

Some say the net is
A corrupting influence
On modern day youth

But keep in mind that
Socrates said the same of
The written language

My two cents in this
Is that the web is a tool
The most powerful

For with it we can
Whole new worlds and cultures that
For else wouldn't be

We can create minds
Artificial, but like us,
To explore this world

We can spread the word
News is real time, and we
Have a say in it

However, this can
Push people to their own deaths
War, or to ******

With so much to know
Falsehoods are also present
In this shifting world

But in the end, this
Is info's greatest tool yet
In history's time

Time and time again
From writing to printing press
This change has been good

So, in the end, we
Now have information's best
Tool in our hand's palms

Come what may, but I
Have some hopes for the future
Of this little web

To all who tell me I'll die alone:
I honestly think I prefer that tone
It's better to pass with no one at hand
Than surrounded by those you secretly can't stand

Thank you, A, for showing me
I wasn't the monster they made me out to be
For showing me that, in the end
Even freaks can have some friends

When you first approached me, I thought you were mad
For wanting to befriend someone so unspeakably bad
For a full hour, I thought you were a prank
That you were just there to give my chains a yank

In a way, you were my first friend
Hell, you were the second who didn't leave or betray me in the end
And the first I liked, but didn't see enough
I guess, for me, it was more puppy love

But in seventh grade, in a darkened gym
I sat at an empty table within
With so many seats, I couldn't believe
That you'd voluntarily sit and talk to me

And though we don't talk much anymore
Since I moved away and got more chores
Your memory always shines in my mind
As the first true friend I ever did find

It's not about interest, it's how you place
Your classes are weapons in an arms race
Your friends are taking two APs, so you take three
Soon we're mired in college work when high school is all we see

Counselors don't help, they only edge us on
Telling us we need advanced levels, or all college spots are gone
In Fairfax County, we score so high on tests
We ignore our thirty three percent depression and say we're the best

Because here all that matters is the grade on your transcript
You're a factory product, another computer chip
So if you're friend takes five college courses, take seven
After a semester, beg mercy and give up on heaven