The pollution in the ocean makes me question if there will be marine life present in 30 years. Every time I go to the beach I hope to find something cool in the sand like a pretty seashell. Instead, I am met with the trash left by others which are scattered all around the beach making its way into the ocean. I go on boats and hope to see dolphins but instead, I only see a plastic wrap. In my research, I discovered how there is marine life dying by the amount of trash that is in our oceans currently. Learning about pollution has opened my eyes to the phenomenon that is killing the life in our waters at an alarming rate. There are eight million metric tons of plastic being dumped into the sea every single year, scientists predict that amount of plastic will soon out weight the amount of marine life in the year 2050. I believe that it is up to humans to stop dumping trash in the ocean to save marine animals and to stop polluting the water. The pollution present in the oceans inspired me to make a painting about the future of the ocean if the trash dumping does not stop. I decided to make a piece using acrylic paint and aluminum cans that were in my recycling bin. I cut up the cans in different shapes and collaged them together around the girl in the middle of the painting. The girl represents how in less than 30 years the oceans will become so polluted that people can not even swim in them. The girl is surrounded by the aluminum cans and there is a petrified emotion on her face. She is drowning in the trash around her and nobody is around to help her. The word "help" on the girl's hand shows the words she is shouting out. The noise of the cans bumping together muffles the screams of the young girl. In the aluminum cans surrounding the girl, there are a few marine animals, they blend in with the cans since they are made out of aluminum material. The very few marine animals present show how in the upcoming years the number of marine animals will decrease because of the pollution of their home. I decided to title this art piece "Drowning in pollution" since that is what is happening to the girl. Making this art piece was a fun but sad experience. I got to cut up cans and other trash and collage them together to make a cool background, something I have never done before. The sad part is how these animals are getting their homes destroyed because of humans dumping trash into the ocean. I hope in the future that I can make more pieces surrounding this issue and that the condition of the ocean improves.

I was a person who was never really taken by classic books. I would often see people gush about 1984 by George Orwell or To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and not understand their fascination with these novels. In eleventh grade AP Literature, we had to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and weirdly enough I enjoyed it. I wondered why this classic was different from the others to me. It did not take me long to realize that I saw myself in this book and that I related to the main protagonist, Jay Gatsby. Reading the novel multiple times, watching the movie, and reading articles about The Great Gatsby made me realize that Gatsby was not in love with Daisy as a person. He romanticized her without truly knowing anything about her. I did the same a few years ago, I met a person and made a version of them in my head without truly knowing them. I was interested if there was a diagnosis for Gatsby and I’s situation, I later learned that the word for this is limerence. The experience of being obsessed with a person usually occurs when an individual has low levels of serotonin and dopamine. Both Gatsby and I created a whole universe in our heads in which this person cured all of our problems and exempt us from being lonely. Seeing how the novel ended and how Gatsby was at his lowest never really getting away from his hyper fixation on this person made me realize one thing. That I needed to find things that made me happy instead of focusing on a person who barely knows I even exist. Realizing that I became obsessed with a person to fill the void in my life, I wanted to change desperately. How does one change the reality that they warped to make them happy? I found the root problem of why I had an infatuation with this person. Boredom and unhappiness. I was not passionate about anything going on in my life, I felt empty and I thought that this person would make me feel complete. I knew that I had to do something with myself or I would only fall further and further. I no longer wanted to relate to Gatsby. Watching true crime documentaries, designing clothes, making art, and interacting with new people made me realize my delusions were holding me back and preventing me from being the best person I can be. I pushed myself to overcome limerence. Gatsby died a lonely man because he never let anyone in his life, this made me want to go out and enjoy my life and the people around it. I wanted people in my life to make me enjoy it. During this journey to a better life for myself I rediscovered my love for art again. Using my imagination and being inspired by my surroundings helped me create many different projects. I am happy to say that I finally overcame limerence and that I am fascinated with the person I am today. I decided to become the person I have always wanted to be instead of finding a person to complete me.