So there you are, Dawson-like, brain and legs stretched out on some damp piece of lawn under the canopy of the wide Universe. It's you and some fellow graduates, Plato, Locke, Nietche, and the wisdom of the ages. You're half wondering just how deep you can get before you bottom out completely. A delirious cocktail of imagination, confidence and new freedom is raging through your veins: the New World has discovered YOU. And here's an Ally McBeal moment; your theme song comes to a screeching halt in the middle.

Shake the roaring lion off my plate
And I'll enjoy my dinner more
(and please patch the hole
where the rain pours in
it's soaking on my seat.)

So there you are, Dawson-like, brain and legs stretched out on some damp piece of lawn under the canopy of the wide Universe. It's you and some fellow graduates, Plato, Locke, Nietche, and the wisdom of the ages. You're half wondering just how deep you can get before you bottom out completely. A delirious cocktail of imagination, confidence and new freedom is raging through your veins: the New World has discovered YOU. And here's an Ally McBeal moment; your theme song comes to a screeching halt in the middle.

Nothing to do? Nonsense. 10. Organize your closet. Not as drastic as Clueless, or anything, but your pirate costume from third grade could probably go. 9. Paint a mural. Ask your parents permission to paint your room, or offer to paint one in school. You'd be surprised how artistic you are (and how you are allowed to skip classes or chores if you are doing something productive and community minded.

Maybe it's the webolution, the pervasiveness of all types of media, and the ease with which we can now traverse the small, small, world in the comfort of our favorite chairs that's making me yawn even as I have seven applications running at once. Fact is, there's very little today's techno generation hasn't seen or heard or at least heard of. Just search for it, and you're there. It's all faster than I care to understand, and positively effortless. And all this "easy knowing" and fast food-everything seems to have a real effect: People who were born in the eighties seem just a tad more world weary than us Gen-Xers; and we seem jaded next to the Boomers.

The first breath of summer brings with it a hunger to catapult over ourselves, to grow wild. To climb, vine-like, beyond work and darkness and books. To cling to the wall and blossom there. Not to go on to new things right away, but to take the old ones and make them flower. Not to change, but to flourish. We remember things about ourselves in summer, the things we have always loved about being alive. We strip ourselves of sweaters and of pretensions, of windows and of neckties.

So there you are, Dawson-like, brain and legs stretched out on some damp piece of lawn under the canopy of the wide Universe. It's you and some fellow graduates, Plato, Locke, Nietche, and the wisdom of the ages. You're half wondering just how deep you can get before you bottom out completely. A delirious cocktail of imagination, confidence and new freedom is raging through your veins: the New World has discovered YOU. And here's an Ally McBeal moment; your theme song comes to a screeching halt in the middle.

Juliet is 16 years old. She is sitting on her bed, with a razor in her hand. I can't believe I'm going to do this again. I thought it was over - everything was going so well. My scars are almost white, not that angry pink they were for so long. I thought I was feeling OK now. But then it just rises up again, this terrible anger. And then - nothing. Like I'm so angry, I go numb.

Q: A few days ago, I caught my dad doing drugs. He said that if I told my mother he would divorce her. I can't help but worry it will slip out... I cant sleep ever !! A: You are so brave to be asking about this, and I understand how this could make you really stressed out. This is a big burden to be carrying around! And you shouldn't have to. Your father's behavior is typical of drug users - - blaming, hiding and denying. It might be hard for you to start dealing with this because to do so you will have to be thinking of your dad in terms of being a user - both of substances and of people - and that is a painful and uncomfortable realization about your own dad.

OK. So there you are. In a relationship. Maybe you are in love. You are definitely high on hormones, in a constant state of arousal. You feel the adrenaline pumping, your throat is dry. You don't need to eat or sleep. All you need is LUV, right? So you are getting ready to take the leap and have sex. If you think about it at all, rather than just doing it without thinking, your logic is probably something like this: I'm really into this person. This person is into me. It would feel really good.