Allow me to take you back in time. The summer of 2010. I was six years old as I made my first trip to Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Park. A magical place of arcade games, hot dogs and burgers, and exciting rides. Why would I need a phone? A tablet or a computer? I had the sun, my family, and mini golf. Its this simple principle Angela Liang touches upon in her poetry piece, “Electricity”. We’ve been a generation blessed, or cursed, with the gift of technology, whether it be the phone you use to post on Instagram or the plugs we rely on to stay connected and powered. But is it all that great? We had the sun; Now we have LED screens. We had bikes; Now we have hoverboards. An endless cycle of technology replacing what we had. And Angela remembers that, and taps into those childhood memories beautifully.
        I could take a good five minutes talking about the great qualities of this poem; Vocabulary, sensory details, and all the other things you would hear in English class. But it’s ironic that this piece draws from the good times that we had once that final bell rang. The memories she recalled were simultaneously personalized and yet general enough that anyone, including myself, could connect with it. And shouldn’t that be what any and all pieces should strive to do? So kudos to you, Angela; And a second to “true happiness without the use of electricity.”