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Dear Sugars

Letters From Teenagers

Dear Sugars

WBUR

Wbur, Advice, Steve Almond, Society & Culture, Cheryl Strayed, Sugar, Dear, Boston

4.5 β€’ 5.9K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 1 August 2015

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, the Sugars take questions exclusively from teenagers. They answer two letters that get at the universal themes of adolescence β€” the sense of being alone, the fear of being left out, the desire to please others β€” and one letter from a teenager for whom outside forces have marked her teenage experience as different from her peers. The Sugars are joined by Tavi Gevinson, the 19-year-old founder and editor of Rookie, a digital magazine for teenage girls.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Dear Sugar is supported by...

0:07.2

The universe has good news for the lost, lonely, and heart sick.

0:11.6

Sugar is here, the both of us, speaking straight into your ears.

0:17.0

I'm Cheryl Strayed.

0:18.5

I'm Steve Almond. This is Dear Sugar Radio.

0:21.9

Oh dear, so won't you please?

0:28.8

Yeah, some little sweet days with me.

0:36.8

I check my bell vibes every day.

0:43.8

Oh, and this sugar, you sing my way.

0:51.8

We're answering letters from teenagers today, talking about what it means to be a teenager,

0:56.8

but for us back in the day, what it means for kids today.

1:00.8

What was Cheryl Strayed like as a teenager?

1:03.8

What was your thing?

1:04.8

Well, I grew up in a really small town in northern Minnesota, in McGregor, Minnesota.

1:09.8

The town was 400 people, I lived 20 miles outside of town.

1:13.8

And it's hard to say what I was like as a teenager because I think like a lot of teenagers,

1:19.8

I was like two people.

1:20.8

I was the person I wanted my peers to think I was.

1:24.8

And then I was the person who I knew myself to be inside.

1:28.8

And they were at odds with each other.

1:30.8

I was always a reader and ambitious and wanting to be a writer and having these big secret dreams for myself.

1:39.8

But the way I lived my life as a teenager is I've wanted people to love and accept me.

...

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