The first week of August is just about over, and it has been brought to my attention that many of you will be returning to school soon. I am truly sorry about this. If it were up to me, summer would continue forever, and we’d all occupy a state of perpetual relaxation, as illustrated by this picture I took of myself, which must be getting old by now. Maybe I should take a new snap that conveys a serious commitment to learning. Or maybe not. For the time being, I’ll just answer these questions—several of which are school-related—while brainstorming self-portrait options. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Every winter, I find myself sad and depressed for no reason at all. I make up excuses to be sad, and I isolate myself from my friends. It's gotten worse over the years. I actually started cutting myself last winter. Luckily, I snapped out of it in a month or two. I have no reason to be depressed: I have great friends, a great family, and I get fantastic grades. Weird thing is, as soon as spring rolls around, all of my problems disappear, and I'm the happy, optimistic person I'm supposed to be. I don't know what's wrong with me. Something about November, December, and January make me a completely different person, and it scares me. Now that summer's ending, I'm really nervous about whether or not I'll fall back into this snow-induced depression. Am I not alone? Is there any way to stop this?

One very witty British Sparkler has to get something off her chest. And no, it's not a tunic. bellacally writes about the differences between being a teen in the US and the UK, and some oh-so-annoying habits us Americans never knew we had!  —SparkNotes Editors

“Does anyone here speak Amglish? Bramerican?”

As a teenager in England, it’s hard to escape Americanisms. We watch American TV programmes (that’s TV "shows"). We watch American films at the cinema (that’s "movies" at the…well, "movies").  And from time to time we read American books (I’m assuming that’s still "books," right?) As such, American lingo is inescapable for us Brits.