Two days ago, at eight p.m,
I changed my profile picture
I was smiling, face in frame.
“No filter.”
(At least, that’s what I said.)
Thirty minutes later, two days ago.
At eight-thirty p.m,
One person had liked it,
one person had retweeted it,
one person had hearted it.
That person was my mom.
Two hours later, two days ago
at ten p.m,
someone I didn’t really know
but had friended, followed, added anyways
(because I need more people to know me)
had liked, retweeted, hearted it, commented,
saying–
Gorgeous, I wish I could be you!
Heart, heart, smiley emoticon.
(I didn’t understand why.)
Four hours later, one day ago at midnight,
I looked at the computer screen
and saw the same two likes, retweets, hearts
resting there, taunting me,
with their emptiness, their misconstrued faith
in my face, in me.
One day ago,
I clicked on my profile
I have two-thousand and twenty-two friends,
followers,
and fans.
But now,
I’m looking at how busy everyone is with their lives
and that’s when I realize,
no one has time for me.
(And now, I think, I understand.)
Valerie Wu is a junior at Presentation High School in San Jose, California. Her work has previously been featured in The Huffington Post, We Are Three Dimensional, and Los Angeles Times Insider. Valerie serves as the resident columnist at The Ellis Review, where she writes occasional musings on race, identity, and culture in modern America. She tweets @valerie_wu.