[caption id="attachment_5060" align="aligncenter" width="457" caption="by Lel4nd on flickr"][/caption] Whether you're a preschooler, middle schooler, high schooler, college student, teacher, professor, or parent, the end of August signifies a return to the books. Even for those who no longer step foot in locker-lined hallways, the memories, bitter or sweet, come back every fall. Back to school ads litter drugstores and Staples, and the rush for binders, notebooks, and pens begins. School isn’t just about ages or grades: the world is one big school, and we’re all students, learning from those around us. It's never to late to go back to school. School starts soon, summer slipping fast! — bbhead School starting soon, summer reading unfinished. — xXDarkDreamerXx Falling leaves, school buses, cooler temperatures... — Knoxena Back by unpopular demand, it's school. — notjustagirlintheworld It's coming: back-to-school nightmares have begun. — lillybrook

[caption id="attachment_4905" align="aligncenter" width="428" caption="image courtesy of www.buzzfarmers.com"][/caption] Lurking behind the often simple questions of who, what, and where, comes the more complex why. “Why?” is the one word underlying everything we do. Sometimes we ask ourselves why, at other times we figure, why not? At times all we want to know is why, but soon even this question becomes irrelevant. Then it’s time to move on from the questioning, because the “why?” is often unanswerable. Ultimately, we’ll never really know why people do what they do, why we’re here, or why the world is the way it is. Some why’s from the Six-Word community pose difficult, introspective questions, some are rhetorical, some questions are asked with the hope that their readers might have an answer. So explore the memoirs below: ponder on some, click on others to comment and provide an answer, or a question, in return. Whether the why is a question or the beginning of an answer, the word asks us to interact with each other. Often lament WHY? Rarely care who. — favepeep Knowing what, learning how, remembering why. — ba_miracle Perplexed. Corner of how and why. — canadafreeze Sometimes, you need a reason why. — ashashahn Sometimes it actually doesn't matter why. — unknown116 Don't tell me why, show me. — CreativeMagus And then I thought why not? — HopeConquersAll

This past Friday, June 21, marked the first day of summer, when the sun reached its highest point in the sky. This day, also known as the solstice, derived the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), is the longest day of the year. Six-Word Memoirists responded about their plans for the endless day.

But what about the longest season? Now that summer is upon us, time, like the sun, seems to stand still. The days are long, the nights even longer, and there is time to do and time to rest. Like all summers, this one may feel endless, but it too will come to an end. What will you do this summer? Read on below for some inspiration from your fellow sixers. From mixing mojitos to san digging with toes, these sixers plan on sweltering through a summer drenched in heat, sweat, and heart.

[caption id="attachment_4740" align="aligncenter" width="473" caption="Copyright by Moyan Brenn (http://earthincolors.wordpress.com/)"][/caption] Summer solstice skipped a beat. Raining. — Amapola Favorite activity on sultry summer evenings? — Dean6805 Summer attire; grease, sweat and paint. — DynamicDbytheC Planting mint for summer mojito making. — accidentaltourist Long days lead to longer nights. — SheFearsNone Summer headed south. Sweltering, sweating, swatting. — KharisJo Dug toes in sand, unearthed summer. — Level1 Summer: anguishing over bikinis and bodies. — permalink