The Light Bulb (Young Lee Post)

While the snow fell down
And the darkness turned to white
My father and I stood outside
Contemplating the task at hand.

I was younger then, and so was he
Neither of us knowing what
To expect from each other
While the cold bit down on our hands

Carrying the ladder to the spot
Underneath the burnt out light bulb
My father explained to me what to do
And placed the new bulb in my hand

As I climbed the ladder leaning against the house
The ice cold metal bit into my palms
And the bulb slipped from my clenched fist
Shattering on the driveway below

As my father stared up
And my gaze moved to his
Our eyes met for a brief moment
And disappointment lingered in his

I climbed down the ladder
Knowing I let him down
And brushed slowly passed him

Returning to the safety and warmth of my room

The System (Vonnegut Post)

We all know what it’s like to sit in class and have no idea what’s going on. That sense of confusion is overwhelming and embarrassing – believe me, I know. What’s worse, though, is missing assignments or doing poorly on tests because of your complete lack of competence in the subject, which is why many students have created a system in which to work.
To us it’s common knowledge which students are strong in which subjects; we’ve been going to school together our entire lives and have grown close. I’m the Spanish guy. Morgan is the Math and Science guy, Mike AG is the history guy. Anyone can get through English. During tests, we know who it’s smart to sit next to and perhaps take a quick glance at their paper – several times. If you’re missing an assignment, there is already a list in mind of who to go to first in order to get the assignment done in a timely fashion.
To some this method may be considered cheating, while to the benefited of the system it is considered only smart high school practice. The system works on a simple level and filters throughout the entire high school, beginning with the freshmen, who pick up on it quickly. To succeed in high school I advise you to quickly determine who it is that is intellectually strong in certain areas, and befriend them immediately.