{"id":6099,"date":"2013-10-18T00:00:39","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T04:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=6099"},"modified":"2013-10-18T09:33:13","modified_gmt":"2013-10-18T13:33:13","slug":"teen-angst-and-american-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/teen-angst-and-american-motivation\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Angst and American Motivation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TeenAngst\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Teen Angst, Circa 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hard to see why you\u2019d<\/p>\n

want to chose a<\/p>\n

long distance relationship<\/p>\n

with someone<\/p>\n

you sit next to<\/p>\n

in class.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No, she\u2019s not yr<\/p>\n

girlfriend,<\/p>\n

so she won\u2019t be invited over<\/p>\n

with parental consent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Relegated<\/p>\n

to texting<\/p>\n

all summer long.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

American Motivation<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It will be<\/p>\n

accomplished<\/p>\n

if you can just<\/p>\n

run up the hill<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With each step<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Get Thin<\/p>\n

Get Confidence<\/p>\n

Get Wealth<\/p>\n

Get Happiness<\/p>\n

Get Love<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Get up the hill<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Get Pretty<\/p>\n

Get Pretty<\/p>\n

Get Pretty<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Higher Pursuit<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why wait?<\/p>\n

For god\u2019s sake<\/p>\n

why wait?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The men sit under<\/p>\n

trees, planning the<\/p>\n

Future, envisioning<\/p>\n

green beyond the white.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cool floorboards<\/p>\n

they are yours<\/p>\n

all yours.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Look at your saint<\/p>\n

he tells you<\/p>\n

don\u2019t wait<\/p>\n

go.<\/p>\n

Now.<\/p>\n

Interrupt that<\/p>\n

sweat-faced silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Start again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Modern Liberal<\/strong><\/p>\n

If left to ourselves
\nthe past would
\nremain a short ride<\/p>\n

Devoid of the truth
\n(a hummer)
\nwe make believe all
\nwent well<\/p>\n

That we behaved ourselves<\/p>\n

That we didn\u2019t slam down
\nour foot on the accelerator<\/p>\n

Just to frighten you<\/p>\n

We believe in
\nthe false Prius<\/p>\n

We believe in our own shady goodness<\/p>\n

Never flattened
\nsquirrels
\nNever stole a parking spot<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dick: York or Sargent<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Geek chic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stupid goddamn<\/p>\n

glasses is what<\/p>\n

I call it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Never saw the<\/p>\n

appeal, seeing as<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always styled<\/p>\n

myself as a<\/p>\n

nerd or dork.<\/p>\n

Strike that:<\/p>\n

I was not self-styled,<\/p>\n

I was unaware that<\/p>\n

by reading so . . .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

much<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I had turned a corner:<\/p>\n

Book worm with poor posture.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s taken 15 years<\/p>\n

for me to figure out how to<\/p>\n

talk to strangers.<\/p>\n

Eyesight steadily worsening.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m finally<\/p>\n

wearing clothes that fit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So: pretty boys<\/p>\n

and pretty girls<\/p>\n

who think they<\/p>\n

belong on the<\/p>\n

awkward spectrum<\/p>\n

are more than a<\/p>\n

little preposterous.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How many episode guides<\/p>\n

have you read?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Worst fake ever,<\/p>\n

fan boy.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Emily Treakle-Chase is a writer, reader, employee, parent, pet owner, volunteer, and wife living in the shadow of Mt. Rainier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Hard to see why you\u2019d
\nwant to chose a
\nlong distance relationship
\nwith someone
\nyou sit next to
\nin class…”<\/p>\n

Poet Emily Treakle-Chase examines long-distance relationships, modern liberalism, and geek chic. <\/p>\n

READ MORE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":6243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,218,219,199],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6099"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6247,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099\/revisions\/6247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}