Sydney Simpson
English 1- 4
April 23, 2015

You might think I’m just
a small fifteen-year-old girl
with plain features
and a shy personality
But I know I am more
much more than that
not a tree or a flower
not an insect or a bush
I am WiFi
slow, irritable WiFi
When I am sorrowful
or lonely
When I am dog-tired
or feeling under the weather
I am WiFi, unbudgeable
refusing to connect
spinning my wheel of hesitation
flashing my hopeless “loading” signal
But when I cheer up
my verizon bars increase
one by one
reuniting teens
with their precious Netflix
I become useful and connected
Until I get tired
and my slow spinning pinwheel returns
I take a breath and reconnect over
and over
and over again
The plain featured, shy girl
is WiFi
helpful, loveable, irritating all in one

Sydney Simpson
English 1- 4
March 26, 2015

In Elie Wisel’s memoir, Night, Elie is constantly affected by fear. Though Elie’s heart racing experiences with fear are dangerous and unexpected, Elie’s fear also keeps him alive and out of trouble. Sometimes fear may seem shameful, but fear is not always a burden. Fear can affect people’s lives in ways such as saving lives in some cases, but also causing people to miss opportunities.
Fear can be mortifying to people with the I’m-so-tough attitudes who think being afraid is for “wimpy” people. However, fear can sometimes keep people from doing something that could end his or her life. For example, fear of going to a party where alcohol is distributed could end up saving that person’s life after an alcohol-related accident at the party later on. If fear were non-existent, accidents like that would be more likely to happen because nobody would know their boundaries. In addition, when I was little, my family and I were planning to go on a road trip, but it began to rain cats and dogs. The fear of getting into a car accident kept us from going, and probably saved us from getting in a car wreck. Therefore, being a victim of fear can sometimes be what keeps us from the heart of danger.
While fear can be a savior, it can also be the opposite when it crawls it’s way into people’s heads and makes them worry about everything under the sun. To illustrate, if a person messes up on something, whether it be gymnastics, a game-threatening three-pointer, or a Mother’s Day dinner, fear takes over and causes the to never want to try what they failed at again, leading them to missed opportunities and not taking chances. Fear of embarrassment, getting hurt, or whatever the case may be can be the result of why people don’t take chances. Furthermore, when I was younger, I quit taking dance classes, not because I was a bad dancer, but because of my fear of performing. To this day, I regret not pursuing dance, especially after a hard-core Dance Moms marathon, because I realized my potential as a dancer. Consequently, fear causes missed opportunities and regret when we choose to let fear in and eliminate our ability to take chances.
Just like fear effected Elie Wisel, fear affects everybody in both negative and positive aspects, whether we choose to let fear take over and control if we take risks or not, or whether or not fear makes us more aware of our surroundings.

Sydney Simpson
English 1- 4
February 10, 2015

Ding! Amy’s phone chimed as she was cruising down Highway 80. As tempted as she was to take a quick glance, she remembered her parent’s number one rule: no texting while driving. “Come on, look! What’s the harm?” the phone seemed to chant. Like in Amy’s situation, everybody feels that pulling urge of their cell phones, whether it’s in the car, on a date, or even if it’s an escape from an awkward situation. However, lives are affected by cell phones in ways such as leading to distraction, but also quick effective communication.
The temptation of cell phones can cause both adults and teenagers to block out the world and plug-in to what is going on in the world of social media and texting. Though some distracting cell phone situations may not be very serious, others can be fatal depending on if someone is texting while driving or putting themselves in another fatal situation. For example, I keep my phone by my bed every night while I’m asleep and sometimes the flashing light from my phone screaming, “You got a text!” keeps me awake. Having my phone by my bed is definitely not fatal. However, texting while driving or another distracting phone situation could cause such a distraction that it costs a life.
In addition, cell phones can also be helpful by providing quick communication in emergency situations or just if some quality ranting is needed with a friend. Cells phones these days provide everything from video chat, to texting, to phone calls so there are many ways to communicate with others. Back in the unimaginable days where cell phones were non-existent, people couldn’t communicate like we can now with speed, ease, and convenience. If an emergency were to happen such as a break in or a house fire, it’s a piece of cake to dial that number we all learned in our early ages in need of help: 9-1-1. Having quick effective communication literally at the push of a few buttons is absolutely a life changing effect of cell phones.
After a mental battle with herself, Amy decided that it’s better off to wait to check her texts later than to risk her life catching up with the world of social media. Amy put her phone off to the side and kept her hands at ten and two. Therefore, cells phones provide advantages and disadvantages that affect people’s lives by causing distractions and allowing for quick effective communication.

Sydney Simpson
English 1- 4
April 9, 2015

At some point in our lives, we have all heard the phrase “put yourself in other people’s shoes.” While this quote is not suggesting that we all buy matching footwear, it is rather saying that to know what someone is going through, we must see their situation from their point of view. As humans, we sometimes tend to wave this “suggestion” off. However, it is important to see a situation in the eyes of another person because it’s a way to make friends and to have some idea about another person’s situation.
Being judgmental is part of human nature, so as the judgmental people we are, it is easy-breezy to leap straight to conclusions about a person before getting to know them. For example, everybody in school knows about the weird-nerdy-kid who sits alone in the back of math class, but they don’t know his situation. Instead of using that person as a reason to giggle, they should think of him as an opportunity to get to know him and “put themselves in his shoes.” Trying to see another person’s situation from his or her point of view makes for an understanding friendship. In addition, the snobby girl who never speaks to anyone because she’s cooler, prettier, and smarter than everyone happens to be quiet and shy rather than a girl with a high-and-mighty attitude. Seeing other people’s situations in their point of view can completely change the way we think about them. Therefore, understanding people’s backgrounds prevents us from being judgmental too fast and makes us friends along the way.
There are a number of people walking down the hallway day after day who are dealing with tough times and are just trying to keep their head above water. Rather than making assumptions about these people, we must first stop and make sure that we know their situation. To illustrate, there might be someone coping with a family loss, but nobody bothers to imagine the tragedy of their issue. If people nowadays would put their precious phones and distractions behind them and get to know other people, everybody would be friendlier. Furthermore, the boy who always has his nose where it doesn’t belong may strike people as obnoxious, but the reason behind that may be that he doesn’t get much attention at home, making him want to gain it someplace else. Because people may see someone as annoying, clingy, or rude, they still are in no position to treat that person any differently from anyone else. Therefore, we must bring other people’s situations to our attention in order to truly see what they are dealing with.
With the thought of “putting ourselves in other people’s shoes,” it is important to see situations through other people’s eyes to have a clear understanding of what people deal with on the inside and maybe make a few friends along the way.