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This piece was selected as one of the winners of the AAA’s AnthroDay Student Unessay Competition . This year’s competition was inspired by the Annual Meeting theme, “On the Verge.”

Mary and I giggle through the doors to our summer robotics classroom. I’m anticipating three hours of lectures, but the instructors surprise us. “We’re going axe-throwing!”

Soon, we burst through quite a different set of doors. Wooden splinters scatter across the floor. Along cage walls hang axes—sharp, bright, multipronged.

“Stay in your lane. Mind your stance. No one better get hurt today,” instructors joke. Mary excitedly picks the purple axe. She swings wide—and the blade strikes home: straight into my elbow.

• • •

Sirens. Doctors’ voices, quietly emanating from a corner. Mechanical beeping, breaking through the dizziness.…