i was born to two immigrants who knew why they were here they were happy to pay taxes for the schools and roads happy to be here they took it seriously the second job of citizenry my mother went campaigning door to door and holding to her hand was me i was just a girl in a room full of women licking stamps and laughing i remember the feeling of community brewing of democracy happening but i suppose like anybody i had to teach myself to see all that stuff that got lost on its way to church all that stuff that got lost on its way to school all that stuff that got lost on its way to the house of my family all that stuff that was not lost on me teach myself to see each of us through the lens of forgiveness like we're stuck with each other (god forbid!) teach myself to smile and stop and talk to a whole other color kid teach myself to be new in an instant like the truth is accessible at any time teach myself it's never really one or the other there's a paradox in every paradigm i was just a girl in a room full of women licking stamps and laughing i remember the feeling of community brewing of democracy happening .... Extra lyrics on some bootlegs: overall chest pocket was my house key and a quarter to buy the lunch got on that big yellow bus with my sign that said 'Sucker' and I was off to that day's sucker punch but there were so many artists that were pulled into my magnet school and I remember thinking that the long-haired lady who called herself a poet was particularly cool yes, someone stood up and gestured to a forest of options and I found my path to joy through those trees but I had to teach myself to keep coming back to the view from the field from right in the middle on my knees
Ani DiFranco Lyrics brought to you by danah boyd since 1995