Sitting on top of a rickety, lichen-infested wooden structure. Underneath, traffic whooshes by, middle-schoolers wearing Heelys stomp past, and a Russian accent commands a child to stop climbing poles and go home so his sibling can "go poo-poo."
This is the top of the world. Rising above our troubles with parents and school and college apps, we are seated on the pinnacle of our high school lives.
But we had to stand on a recycle bin to get up there. Oh, the ignominy.
After these two weeks of hard work and disappointing results, we birds on our lofty perch ranted and laughed and chirped and squawked to our heart's content. Who needs Starbucks or movie theater tickets when public parks provide the best release from daily concerns?
Swinging on squeaky swings slung 2 feet above the ground. Feeling the wind in my hair. Experiencing the thrill and immediate fear of flying straight into darkness as I close my eyes and whoosh higher and higher...
Then calculate velocity at the lowest point if "a 40.0 kg child swings in a swing supported by two chains, each 3.00 m long and the tension in each chain at the lowest point is 350 N" (Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 173).
Release is great, but it's time to get back to work.
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