Young Writers Society

4/9

Binary Search

Binary search, my love!
Oh, how wondrous and above
other forms of search you are.
Fast and efficient; you set the bar.

So clever it is to halve
the search area each pass.
So delightful it is to quickly find
the value that you have in mind!

But I have to admit
--oh how it pains me to do it!--
that it is quite inconvenient
when you return -1 in the end.

Value not found!
Oh, the horror abounds!
But even this flaw can be fixed
with a bit of code and a twist.

So, binary search, my love.
You will always be enough.
<3

4/10

Homework

(end letters capitalized becausE
i'm experimenting with capitalizatioN)

if me doing homework were a reactioN,
it would be endothermiC.
meaning, add thermal energy plS.

it'd have a high activation energY
and an optimal temperaturE:
60 to 70 degrees fahrenheiT.

yet right now the reaction ratE
is too sloW...

4/11

My computer is my best friend

My computer has been with me

• for 8 years (nearly half my life) and counting
• through thick and thin
• when I was just learning to write
• when I was just learning to code
• reliably, steadfastly, wonderfully
• as I was drowning in homework in middle school
• as I am drowning in homework in high school
• every single day, without complaint
• despite entering old age
• despite running out of storage
• despite having a decreasing battery life
• even as school friends come and go
• through 32 seasons, and hopefully more to come

My computer has been with me for so long that
I will grieve when we finally part ways.

4/12

The Traveling Salesman Problem

if a salesman has to visit N cities,
each a certain distance away from the others,
what is the shortest possible route that
connects all the cities & returns to the starting point?

(this is an NP-complete problem.
as of yet, no efficient algorithm has been found.)

i can't help but think
there is a certain metaphor in this.
because it's returning that is the problem;
efficient algorithms exist for simply finding the
shortest path between two nodes in a graph.

but why is returning so essential?
you know, this problem does not take into account
the salesman perhaps not wanting to return
or considering a career change in the middle
or finding an end point somewhere else.

or, like in Death of a Salesman--
what happens if the salesman
is faced with his failure to live up to the Dream
and slips in and out of the present
and swerves his car off the road?

but
i suppose it makes sense.
problems have to be clearly defined
after all.

4/13

chemistryyy

ke-mis-tree
can i miss a tree?
rather hard to do,
if it's right in front of me.

or perhaps:
chem is tricky
(that is quite true,
especially considering calorimetry,
stoichiometry, and everything ending in ee.)

or even:
cam mystery
(as in, where did my camera run off to?)
you know, photography
used to involve more chemistry.

...o
.... O
...| |
../...\
/____\

4/14

Unfortunately, I can’t stop time

The world is always spinning
and I can't keep up

- "Hold Me Like a Grudge" by Fall Out Boy

as the darkened highway speeds by
and I take photos smearing electric light into finger-paint lines
and listen to discussions and jokes about self-driving cars
and count in my head everything I need before I take a flight thousands of feet in the air--
I can't help but wonder what my ancestors would have thought
to see all this modern technology.

can you believe it's only been 16 years since the iPhone came out?
13 since Instagram?
8 since OpenAI?

...1 until I become an adult.
(I never wanted to grow up past 12.)

even as I spin along with the world,
I wonder how this will be recorded in the history books.

4/15

City lights from an aeroplane
(^ totally think those should be song lyrics =P)

they glimmer like gold,
these cities of lights.
and even though i know
they won't be as magical up close,
i invent stories in my head,
and imagine swooping over
the shadowed countryside
and approaching those
Midas-touched dwellings.

i snap pictures,
but they aren't the same.

4/16

good things traffic light colors come in threes
(because hackneyed phrases are a last resort)

chemistry is beautiful. it really is.
flame tests,
barium green and potassium purple.
pH indicators, phenolphthalein, that perfect pale pink
at the endpoint of a titration.
hydrogen barks,
silly and startling.

~~~

it's funny how HCl, a strong acid
that can burn your skin and cause blindness,
is essential in digesting your food.
that redox reactions
can both rust iron
and provide energy for our muscles.

~~~

chemistry is called the central science.
as i learn more about its connections
to biology, physics, and simply how the world works,
i don't doubt it.

4/17

Codes

i think
you're speaking
in -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .

but wait. dashes
and dots aren't quite
what i'm hearing—
perhaps you're shifted by 3,
like a fdhvdu flskhu.

or sdrawkcab?
maybe i need to
.snoitcerid hctiws

o tal vez
estás hablando en
a foreign language.
porque no te entiendo;

i
don't
understand
you.

4/18

personal computers depreciate by 50% each year

i'm surrounded by amazing people. my friend who crochets and bakes boba cakes and choux au craquelin for fun. the mock trial co-prez who writes and sings original songs. that girl in my class who draws and has 9k+ followers on instagram. my fellow competitive programming officers in usaco platinum. the game dev prez, competitive programming vice prez, artist, and person who lights up those around her. the ice skater/bio whiz/science bowl member/aime qualifier. the outgoing web developer with summer program and internship experience. poets, novelists, writers. high schoolers, yet so talented.
i used to think i was gifted. a puzzle genius, math team member, straight-a student, artist, writer, jack of all trades.
but, like biff loman, i've realized
i'm a dime a dozen.