Just as the boys in Star Wars are given the false choice between glory or love, the girls are given the thankless task of being feisty but unthreatening, without any guarantee of clemency for good behavior.

Instead, what I'm remembering are lessons I botched, and units which failed before they started, because I didn't have the slightest idea what I was trying to teach.

I thought I'd tossed all my hope away, / but when I stepped through the Gate, it still pinged.

This is the sort of thing people like: the implication that, despite their minivans and microwaves, if they found the door in the wall, they too could enter fairyland.