Why You Crying?

The other day I was having a terrible day, the kind that makes you feel like the entire world is crashing down around you and you can hardly breathe. I was sitting on a stoop outside the Ballet School when a well-meaning passer by came up to me and asked, "Why you crying?"

I'm crying because Bush initiated the Patriot Act and now my entire Iranian family is on the "no fly" list.

I'm crying because I live in a capitalistic society that measures the value of my person by the value of my capital.

I'm crying because my grandparents don't speak English and I have no way to connect with them.

I'm crying because I'm starving myself in order to feel feminine enough in my culture.

I'm crying because my dearest friend is stuck in a patriarchal relationship in which her fiance won't let her see her friends.

I'm crying because I don't know how much of me is me and how much is constructed.

I'm crying because fix it.