In a purely personal, sense, I miss the wild west days of the internet. I was an odd kid, never fitting into any of the big groups at school. The classic son of

In a purely personal, sense, I miss the wild west days of the internet. I was an odd kid, never fitting into any of the big groups at school. The classic son of an immigrant with one foot in his parents' world and one foot in his country of birth. The internet's pseudonymity guided my adolescence in a way that's near and dear to my heart. Slow to grow, awkward and ungainly, at school I was nothing more than a dust mote. On the internet, though, I became a leader in my set of niche communities. To this day, some of my closest friends IRL (am I dating myself with that?) come from the reputation and the identity I built up in my particular niche of the internet, driven by my passions (often at the detriment of my grades). When I see kids today, I feel sad. The internet was an escape for those of us who were awkward, unloved, and bullied. The internet was the playground of the mind. Of course, I see the hypocrisy in my own nostalgia; Here I am, making a living in the Feudal Internet. I hope kids find a way to reclaim the frontier that was once theirs.