Wednesday, February 14, 2007 | by nathan

The Internet Is Magic

So yesterday I wrote my usual little blurb about someone I knew from high school. This girl and I got to be close on a random journalism trip to Topeka, Kansas, where I remember we spent a lot of time making fun of the Wizard of Oz. To this day I still tell people that if you click the toes of the ruby slippers together, you go to hell.

I had a bitch of a time writing those 26 words about her, because despite the fact that we were literally in each other’s lives for one semester eleven years ago, we shared as much as two teenagers are really capable of sharing emotionally, including the fact that we both felt like huge outsiders but that this did not bother us most of the time. She was the first person I met who had actual ambitions of getting out of Oklahoma for college AND the brains to actually do it, and she helped me believe I could do it too. We e-mailed a bit and got to visit once just before I went off to Wake, but we lost touch, as people are prone to do.

After I wrote that little blurb I began to wonder where she had gotten herself off to. I used my powers of internet stalking, and I found her - of all places - on MySpace. That damn website is actually good for some shit, and that drives me absolutely crazy, like the time I realized - that song I like? - that’s Justin Timberlake. But I don’t care - I was happy to reconnect with my friend, and all my big-tough-guy talk about getting rid of my MySpace account - over. It might not be cool, but fuck cool - I’d rather keep up with old friends.