Life Jackets

Author's Note: This piece was something that I originally started writing in Science class and I wanted to continue it, but I didn't really know how before my conference, so my teacher gave me suggestions in how to finish it.

"Help! Help! I can't---swim---please---help---somebody--I can't---bre---" As you may or may not know, drowning is one of the many dangerous effects of not learning how to swim and choosing not to wear a life jacket. Thousands of people die every day because of it. Most die because they think they don't need a life jacket, and then they go and jump in and quickly figure out that they don't know how to swim and there is no one to help. Life jackets really are a huge help when learning how to swim, or even just in case. Knowing what kinds of places have life jackets, learning how they really work, and learning what the best types of them are, are key in knowing what a life jacket can do for you.

You don't realize that your drowning until it actually happens. That moment when your body goes into panic mode, and life slowly slips away. Life jackets do many things to prevent this from happening. Say you are camping and there is a lake. If you want to go on a canoe, yes you are in a boat, but you could still fall in. Even if you are a good swimmer, they make you wear a life jacket as a precautionary measure. Every place with some type of water sport, makes you wear a life jacket. You don't realize what things different places do to keep us safe using life jackets, even if we think we don't need it.

Buoyancy is the force that pushes an object up when it is surrounded by water. Life jackets work by using different materials that are light enough to keep the life jacket and the person in the life jacket, afloat. It helps the person stay up because the life jacket's weight, plus your weight, is less than the weight of the water itself. It depends too, on how much matter you contain and how much you are displacing the water. If you weigh say, 400 pounds, the life jacket might have a harder time keeping you up because bigger objects have more gravitational pull to the earth because they are larger, plus you take up more space in the water. The lighter the object, the less water it needs to displace to be able to float.

I learned that there are two different, main types of life jackets that are used. One is a foam vest. Foam vests are used because they don't absorb water and if it did, it would then have the same weight as the water around it, therefore, it would sink, and it would bring the person right down with it. Another type is and air-filled vest. Air-filled vests are used because compared to water, air weighs nothing. Water is very heavy, being that the air vest would help the person float. The most commonly used vest is foam, because you don't have to blow it up right away or release a string that will fill it up. It is quick and ready to be used. 

Before doing this research, I never knew that there was science behind something as simple as a life jacket. I just thought that it floated because, well, it floated. I didn't even know why things float or how. Now I know that there are many different ways that life jackets benefit people and sometimes save a life thanks to science. If things as straightforward as a life jacket never would've been invented, there would be many problematic incidents in the water that sometimes could lead to death. Science really makes a huge difference in our lives whether we notice or not. 

Hate List

Author's Note: This is a piece on the analysis of the book Hate List by Jennifer Brown. I have analyzed three key pieces to the story and they are each described throughout the essay. 

An enemy that you see every single day. You pass them in the halls; their overall existence bugs you, and there is absolutely 100% nothing that you can do about it. That is life for Valarie and Nick, and many other kids worldwide. Constantly being bullied is a big problem in many schools, yet most people don't take the measures that Nick went to, to get what he wanted. Shooting them. Shooting the people he hated most; those who would never be gone unless he decided it would be so. Obviously, there were some things that really popped out in the story, other than the shooting itself. The Hate List, drawing, and deciding to talk, are the three key elements that really made the biggest impact in this story. 

Do you ever wish that the people you hate the most would just disappear? So do Nick and Valarie. Creating a list with everyone and everything they have ever hated at one time or another, helping them deal with their feelings. In this book, also known as the "Hate List," they promised each other that it would never go anywhere and nobody would get hurt. It was just a way to make them feel better about themselves, so they weren't down all the time; something to make them feel happier around each other knowing that they each felt the same way. This book is a main symbol in the story because, it would have absolutely no point and there would be nothing to tie the story to. Sure, someone can go and shoot up a school, but there is always a reason behind it. Taking away the Hate List from this book would be like taking away someone's meals for a day and wondering why they are hungry tomorrow.

Drawing is what some people do without thinking. It just comes naturally to them, and makes them happy, just like Valarie. Ever since the shooting, she has been the outcast at school, as usual, and she's been seeing a therapist. The therapist is really trying to help her get her away from her past, and into the present. By doing so, he tells her to draw things how she really sees them.  For instance, say there are people in a lunch line choosing their food. Most people would see that normally, however, she drew it with lions fighting over some meat. Different, huh? Drawing is a main symbol, because she draws things honestly, and how the pictures in her brain are seeing things.

The last thing that everyone should learn how to do is talk. Not just talk for fun and enjoyment, but seriously. Talk about their feelings, and what they're thinking. In this book's case, talk about their suicidal thoughts and actions that they've been doing to harm themselves. Deciding to talk is the last main symbol, because this is how Valarie coped with Nick being dead, and also making new friends, who were thought-to-be enemies before. Her therapist really helped her get through such a rough time of being accused of murder, and wanting to kill people.  

The three key elements that stood out the most throughout the entire story were the Hate List, drawing, and deciding to talk. Though Nick seemed like he would be a bad person, underneath, he wasn't. People did lots of things to tick him off, and he didn't think that people should be thought of as "lower" than others just of because of what they wore or if they were quiet or not. One thing that Nick would always say to Valarie was, "You know, sometimes we get to be the winners." And that right there, is a very true statement.

What's Really There?

Author's Note: This is just a piece to remind you to take a second look at people before you make an judgement about them.

You may think she's a princess

You may think she's a brat

Big house

Fancy clothes

Lots of friends

You may think she has it all

But really

She has nothing

It's all just a show

Because it's her time away from

Her sadness at home

It's Gone

Author's Note:This was originally a song that I wrote for fun one time, and decided since I wasn't going to do anything with the song, I might as well use it for my poetry.

You gave me your heart

And you took it away

The dreams I'd had about us

We're bound to be crushed

Someday

In some way

I want to forget you

The laughs we had 

Were worthwhile at times

Though the tears I cried afterwards

Made me feel like

You didn't love me

Anymore

It was nice to have you for the time

But obviously

You didn't want me

Take your memories 

I don't need them

Because I don't want to remember

What could've been

You Wouldn't Believe It If I Told You

Author's Note: Watch what you say to people because when you get them angry, that's when the truth comes out, and that is what they show when they really are upset.

The person wants to scream

They can't

It's hidden behind what they're willing to say in public

You should hear what they tell their family

They take their anger out

On a wall

Slowly, slowly

They punch

Then faster

Blood drips down their knuckles

They're broken

They're shattered

And the people will never know

Because they don't show it

Nobody cares

They want to feel like they have something

But they don't

Because nobody could ever think

That they would be the person 

To do such a thing 

Yet they would

Because they're ruined

What You Can't See

Author's Note: In this, I just was trying to use word choice and a message somewhere I guess. 

As there is perception

There is depth

The things you can’t see

That go unnoticed

For the longest time

Until they’ve vanished

Forever and ever

Without leaving

A simple trace

As if they were never there

To begin with

How do you not notice?

Author's Note: This is just a little message to everyone out there who thinks they are better than everyone.

If people knew what each other thought about one another, we would all be hated. Honestly, everybody is just 'friends' with each other so they aren't alone; the awkward one. Nobody likes to be the outcast, because they think it's better to be popular than to be left out. What even is popular anyways? The definition of popular in the dictionary is "well known." Just because people are well known, doesn't mean that they are liked by everyone. In all conscience, nobody likes those people who are otherwise known as, popular. You don't have 'haters'. People just don't like people like you. Get over yourself.