To My Seniors-Yearbook Version

To those faces, familiar and silent, we've made it.
To those stuffed on buses, and packed on trains, to those who bike, and those few who drive: we've made it.
To those whose throats hurt like mine, and even to those whose don't, congratulations, we've made it.
We've made it through Security telling us to put our ID's on, and petty fights, and Friday fight nights, through "ONE FIVES", and "SIXES", and "SEVENS", and now we're onto "EIGHTS", through fire drills, and lockdowns, and plenty of bad grades.
We've made it through three years, and we're off onto our fourth.
We've waited, and we've waited, and finally we are here. We've worn our togas and yelled our year, and more is yet to come, yet soon we will be baffled by how quickly our time is done. So before this becomes too gushy, before I can speak again, before our graduation, and before this time ends, let me say to friends and strangers, I'm glad I've spent this time with you, and sad that it has not been enough.
I'll miss your smiles,
your drama,
your music,
I'll miss your sneers,
your obnoxious texting in the halls,
your blocking O,
and showing up to class late,
I'll miss your voices,
your backpacks,
your cutting in lines,
your and my conflicting views,
your recommendations,
your small talk,
your invites, and lack thereof,
I'll miss your polls on Facebook,
your taking up the halls,
your incessant Snapchats, and your unitards on spirit days,
I'll miss this all, and so much more, but mostly I'll miss us.
I'll miss us all as one, one class, one group, one voice, one sound, one thousand and yet one.

I'll miss each and every one of you and damn it I'll miss Lane.

A friend, a face, or something else,


Sam Rodriguez

Untitled

I really ought to be doing homework, or dishes, working on college applications, or doing laundry. I can't. I can't sit here guiltily, working on meaningless things as my mother thinks or feels that I am not grateful, not thankful, not totally in debt, to a woman who has made me a possibility.

Untitled:

I really ought to stop typing, ought to work, ought to stop. I cannot.


She sits she speaks she's made me me.
She's glorious, has worked for free,
Solely to see me be.

To push and prod to pray for me,
To one day see me free.

I am wholly grateful,
Wholly burned to hear that "I am hurt"
or that I have lacked the words,
to demonstrate the clarity
With which it must be heard,

I am thankful, so thank you,
and lest I sound absurd,
let me say I love you endlessly
To be sure it's heard

-A hard-headed son

To My Seniors:

To those faces, familiar and silent, we've made it.
To those stuffed on buses, and packed on trains, to those who bike, and those few who drive: we've made it.
To those whose throats hurt like mine, and even to those whose don't, congratulations, we've made it.
We've made it through Security telling us to put our ID's on, and petty fights, and Friday fight nights, through "ONE FIVES", and "SIXES", and "SEVENS", and now we're onto "EIGHTS", through fire drills, and lockdowns, and plenty of bad grades.
We've made it through three years, and we're off onto our fourth.
We've waited, and we've waited, and finally we are here. We've worn our togas and yelled our year, and more is yet to come, yet soon we will be baffled by how quickly our time is done. So before this becomes too gushy, before I can speak again, before our graduation, and before this time ends, let me say to friends and strangers, I'm glad I've spent this time with you, and sad that it has not been enough.
I'll miss your smiles,
your drama,
your music,
I'll miss your sneers,
your obnoxious texting in the halls,
your blocking O,
and showing up to class baked,
I'll miss your voices,
your backpacks,
your cutting in lines,
your and my conflicting views,
your recommendations,
your small talk,
your invites, and lack thereof,
I'll miss your polls on Facebook,
your taking up the halls,
your incessant Snapchats, and your unitards on spirit days,
I'll miss this all, and so much more, but mostly I'll miss us.
I'll miss us all as one, one class, one group, one voice, one sound, one thousand and yet one.

I'll miss each and every one of you and damn it I'll miss Lane.

A friend, a face, or something else,


Sam Rodriguez

This is an essay I once wrote for a program. I thought you all might enjoy it. 

Oz: A Study of American Ignorance. 

Ignore my ignorance please. 

Ignore me as I devastate the education of my youth, 

Disregard any notion that I am not the best, and 

Pay no attention to those who might fight to expose my flaws, there are none, I assure you. 

I swear I’m not racist! I insist! I love Muslims! I love Blacks! They just got in the way of my gun.

Brutal? How dare you accuse me? That man was dangerous!

I’m a protector. Don’t you see? Don’t you remember? I saved you!

Ignore it all please. 

Ignore it like I ignore global warming,

Don’t you know? 

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

Oh yes. Look away and ignore, ignore, ignore, like I ignore the poor,

or what terrible conflicts I’ve caused,

or the blood I’ve spilled. 

Do as I with all the power, with all the wealth, with all the worldly influence I boast about. 

Do nothing.

“BURN! BURN! BURN!”

And invest here where we could hardly kill the world at a faster rate.

Here! The land of the free!

Here, the land of the free with the largest incarcerated population in the world.

Stay stupid America. All of you, everywhere. 

Stay ignorant, like me, and we can bask in our false glory.

Buy and keep buying! It will make you happy just so long as you buy more!

Buy like we’ve bought ourselves into over eighteen trillion dollars of debt. 

Buy like we won’t buy into the idea that we might need reforms.

And with one thousand dollars contribute to consumerism. 

Don’t invest in third world countries,

don’t invest in studies, 

don’t advocate for women’s rights,

don’t lobby against me.

don’t change a thing! We should be happy

our minds busy with Candy Crush.

So stay ignorant America, keep your hands clean, and our borders sealed. 

Stay ignorant America because their problems are not ours.

Stay ignorant America because I said so. 

Stay ignorant America and and never let the rules apply to you.

Stay ignorant America and for those of you who refuse, stay quiet. 

Stay ignorant America and forever live in bliss.

Stay ignorant America and together we’ll live like this 

In the merry old land of Oz.

The most urgent social, environmental, and economic challenges that we face today can all be traced back to the social acceptance of cultural norms that are destructive in their nature. We, as a people, have become accustomed to political corruption, thoughtless media, and a world that seems endlessly hopeless. We have submitted to an easy way of living and have given up on issues that are important to the future of our country, the world, and humanity as a whole. This transition has already begun. With technology to decrease the impact we have on the environment, politicians advocating for monumental reforms, and smarter efforts in maintaining a worldly presence, the United States is improving. However, we need a much more rapid change if we are to succeed in overcoming the largest problems humanity has, and may ever, face. 

For Frank

Where to begin?

I suppose from the beginning.

Thanks Frank.

Thanks for being a friendly face since day one.

Thanks for not beating up on any of the new kids even though it would have been easy.

Thanks for finding a home in 444 and welcoming me into it.

Thanks for your absolute, constant, undeniable, whole dedication.

Thanks for cultivating a community that wouldn’t be the same without you.

Thanks Frank.

Thanks for shredding on *DEEP BREATH*

All-Night-Long-and-Do-Watcha-Wanna-and-Go-Lane-Go-and-Beginnings-and-Varsity-Anthem-and-Cash-and-The-Hey-Song-and-on-Calabria-and-Get-Lucky-and-Happy-and-Crazy-In-Love-

And-chelsea-dagger-and...

*GASP* and on the countless songs I can’t name... and even on Ode to Joy.

Maybe I’m biased, but they couldn’t have sounded better if Maynard Ferguson himself was playing instead.

Thanks for discovering the gap chair.

Thanks for playing Smash Bros with me during fourth.

Thanks for showing up early and setting up the seats.

Thanks for showing up early and for saving me a seat.

Thanks for singing spongebob with me and, more seriously, thanks for showing me the type of man I want to be.

Thanks for crying when I cried when Aaron died and thanks for sticking by my side. (my right)

Thanks for bringing my folder out and for my nickname. (It wouldn’t have stuck without you.)

Thanks for the ‘Just Do It”s and the “Here we go BOOOOOOYS”s too.

Thanks for showing me the basement, it means a lot, and thanks for your speeches! (you know what to do)

Thanks for Taps and the Trumpet Fanfares and for the Jeopardy's and for the “Thank YOU”s

Thanks for the Flygt of the Wrists, and thanks for 3 years of musical bliss.
Thanks for the whistle, and tell your dad thanks for the knife, your mom thanks for the cake.

Thanks for the invite and thanks for nodding even when I wasn’t right.

Now, I know it’s not the end, and I know we still have tour, but I wanted to tell you thank you before you walked the floor so:

Thank you Frank.

Thank you so much.

The Real World

    I've always hated the way people use "The Real World" as some excuse, as some reason why they are better than, or as a way of disqualifying thought. It always seems cheap and false, like the whole "Respect Your Elders" thing (why should I if they are undeserving of my respect?) or the "What Goes Around Comes Around" gimmick, (sometimes it doesn't) which is why I've taken it upon myself to explain that you and I, and everyone else, are  on the same plane of existence, live in the same reality, and, by extension, do live in the same and very "Real World".

    I've thought about this quite a lot and I've come to the conclusion that those who claim to live in the "Real World" are those who have a skewed perspective on reality and who , in their minds, really do live in their own worlds. To suggest that one lives in the "Real World" is to also suggest that there exists a fake world, or multiple fake worlds, that others live in. It is in this very first, surface level, analysis of the phrase "Real World" that breaks it down completely. World, as defined my Merriam-Webster, is "The earth with its inhabitants and all things upon it." so, by very definition, the "Real World" is something that cannot exist without everything on earth. To suggest that I, or anyone, does not exist in the "Real World" is not only ignorant but also plainly false. I hate to break it to you, but we all exist in the  real world (notice this time without quotation marks) , even teenagers.

    Furthermore, because I understand that the phrase "Real World" is a figure of speech, I would like to explain the practical implications of the term "Real World" and why it is still false. The "Real World", as many would have you believe, is adult life, middle class life, or really any identity that is defined by one as the "Real World". This may involve paying bills, working a job, making a certain amount of money, and... well it is really uncertain what else, as the "Real World" is, as I've explained, a fantasy. This phrase can be used in any multitude of ways. For example: Grow up, get some experience in the real world, You wouldn't understand you've never lived in the real world, and (my personal favorite) This will prepare you for the real world. All of these are equally false as, again, everyone lives in the real world. Nothing can, or ever will, prepare anyone for the real world as once one has begun to exist they are in the real world. Why, I inquire, do we not use a more practical, more accurate phrase? I believe I have an answer. The phrase "Real World" allows people to feel better than. It allows people to express that they are existing differently, in a different world even, than those they feel are not qualified to say they've experienced enough or met a certain criteria. I am even guilty of this, it is easy for me to say that rich people don't understand what the "Real World" is or that they could never understand the lives of those in the middle class as they live in a 'different world' my faults are equal but they at least come with the understanding that I am technically incorrect. Using the phrase "Real World" connotes a severe disconnect that is not the fault of the person being projected into a different world, but of the person who is claiming that their reality is the real one.

    There exist other interpretations of reality and of worlds, some that suggest there are at least seven billion realities, one for each human, all of whom are experiencing and, therefore, creating separate realities, but then again, none of these can be defined as THE real world as there is none. Like all things, and perhaps more so than the majority of things, reality, and worlds as we define them, are very complex I simply ask that you refrain from claiming that your world is the "Real World" as it really pisses me off and makes you look dumb.

If I've linked you to this mid-argument and you've made it this far I'm glad I've found someone who will be thorough in discussion and who has taken the time to actually read this lengthy essay on what I am sure was just a casual choice of words.