Fun
Love and Money
Dear Kay,
There’s nothing as juicy as a good advice column. I grew up reading Dear Abby and Ann Landers. We have Clara Parkes here on MDK, holding forth with her column, Dear Clara.
Now, thanks to the rich world of podcasts, we can listen to advice columnists. From the New York Times comes Dear Sugars, a fine podcast filled with dilemmas, worries, delusions, and fears. Our hosts are Cheryl Strayed (whose Wild is a memoir of the superconfessional sort) and Steve Almond, a writer trying to figure it all out.
A recent episode, “Love and Money,” gets right to the core things that advice columns thrive on.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/podcasts/dear-sugars-money-relationships.html
Being a fly on the wall to other people’s problems is how we figure out our own. Or, maybe, it lets us we whistle past our own graveyards. And sometimes, it’s just flat-out schadenfreude. Part of the game with advice columns is to test myself: how would I answer that letter? In the case of Cheryl and Steve, their advice is solid and kind, and you want to be friends with them. Or, maybe, write them a letter.
Love,
Ann
Along the same lines, I highly recommend the audio version of Strayer’s book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Life and Love by Dear Sugar,, which Strayed herself narrates.
Yes, excellent!
My favorite to listen to while sitting in the car lane at school picking up the granddaughter! While knitting of course!
I always loved Ann and Abby – Cheryl and Steve are an excellent replacement. Have you ever listened to Death, Sex and Money (WNYC) It is aimed at a younger demographic, I think, but that makes it really interesting to me. The several episodes on student loan debt were eye opening to someone who hasn’t had to plan for a child’s education.
I’ll have to check this out. Advice columns are right up there in my catalog of weirdly soothing things. And a useful source of social education, as well…although lots of problems are ones I relate to, I would never have imagined some of the issues people contend with. I’ll bet I’m not the only one who remembers some questions and responses from years – even decades – ago. For example: the woman who wrote because she felt her long-term sexual partner should be helping pay for her birth control expenses, but she didn’t feel comfortable discussing money with him.
P.S. In case it sounded like I was mocking that woman, I was not.
Love MDK. PS Found the sock help I needed.
In fact, I’ve just started listening to Dear Sugars. Like, a few days ago. Getting two recommendations to the same podcast in one week is a good sign. And I’ll try Death, Sex and Money, too. Thanks!
I already love Steve Almond because of his excellent book Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, so I’m already halfway there. (I have not yet read or seen any of Strayed’s work, though I did watch the Gilmore Girls reboot in which her book was an important plot point!) Thanks for this!
I loved Candyfreak, too, but never found anyone else who read it. I’m not that much a nonfiction reader, but I like his combo of sort of historical and sort of how things are made.
I loved Candyfreak! It turned me on to Lake Champlain chocolate bars.
Dear Sugars is one of my favorite podcasts! Such sage advice.
You might love Esther Perel’s Where Do We Begin? podcast! You get to listen in on a couple’s initial counseling session with her. So so good. And Cheryl Strayed announced that Dear Sugar is coming to an end soon 🙁
I LOVE Dear Sugar so much. Love and Money is such an excellent example of what makes them wonderful- they are thoughtful and endlessly kind in their insights into people’s lives and difficulties.