Dear Academia; I took the adderall because I thought you wanted me to be a machine. I didn't understand that amphetamine tasted like candy once you got used to the way your jaw locked and your ears rang. Dear academia, did you see my face when you read my GPA, did you see the way I stayed up too late after my after school activities trained me to live with anxieties? Dear academia, why am I afraid of the mirror? Why did you teach me how to write a perfect paper but never prepared me for the look in his eye when he told me he didn't love me either. Dear academia, i'm ******* and you're swallowing me, does the sting of your impulses feel better when you know you're eating my hard earned money? Dear academia, why do you give me empty promises? Why should I spill my blood with this diploma, list my ethnicity and birthdate next to the insignificance of what you think makes me worthy, do these details feed your impending due dates or are you just getting off to the idea that only the educated few know how to think straight? Dear academia, I tried my hardest to let you fool me, I can feel your ego fattening beside me as I watch your children scramble for their ideas of monetary gluttony. You're increasing our wage gaps, do my late night tears fuel your addiction to epistemic poverty? Dear academia, you taught me to think critically. I am on fire with the matches you forgot you hatched within me. Scorpions occasionally eat their parents and I hate to admit that this **** has me hungry.