"Maybe I'm Not a Failure." Timothy Petraitis, Potential Winner.

Winter frost slows the inevitable rise of tree sap to the leaves, turning them red and orange. They eventually fall. In the process the tree produces sugar to sustain itself through the cold. It is then that men with drills and buckets come and steal the very lifeblood, so that no one has to eat a tasteless waffle. Syrup is just a maple tree crime scene and we are all guilty.

Once, when I was in first grade, my teacher made maple syrup in class. It took the entire week and the sap came from her tree. When it had boiled slowly for several days we finally sat down as a class to eat pancakes and waffles and almost everyone said "gross" and proceeded to pour some generic store "syrup" onto their pancakes. But I remembered it. I have only had natural syrup since. If I was the only one, then that was a success.

The other day I saw a comment on my blog post that was so perfect it made me feel as if my career was possibly not just wasted syrup. "I hate the Federalist Papers". Brutus. Finally. Someone is learning.