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while there's nothing you can pass

on the savage lovecast.

I'm going to date myself. Usually when I talk about how old I am, I tell the truth and say I'm 34.

And it's a kind of truth in that I tell it. It is true that I say that. It is not true that that is a fact. But truthfully, I do run around saying I am 34. I'm not 34, but a little older than that. And when I was a kid, cities typically had more than one newspaper. I grew up in Chicago. And when I was young, there were three or four newspapers. And every newspaper had its own

advice column. And there were two big syndicated advice columns when I was a child, Dear Abby and

Ann Landers. And depending on which paper your family took, that's what we used to say, what

papers do you take. Depending on which paper your family took, you would wind up being an Ann Landers fan or a Abby fan. My family, because my grandfather was a newspaper dude, got all the papers. So I grew up reading Ann Landers and Abigail and Burren's columns, Ask Ann Landers and Dear Abby. And I, you know, being presented with both wound up being an Ann Landers fan.

As many of you know, I write Savage Love, my weekly sex advice column, the dirtiest advice

column on the face of planet Earth, at Anne Landers desk, which I bought at the auction of

her personal effects, along with a whole bunch of awards that were given to Ann Landers.

On the theory that the only way I would ever get an award for writing an advice column was to go buy Ann Landers Awards, because no one's ever given me one. And I have all this, and I cherish it. And I've always credited, like, my column and Savage Love really grounded in what Anne Landers did. Xavier Hollander did in Pennhousehouse Magazine with her Ask the Madam column.

And what my mother did, which was just give advice to her friends.

Really, these three women prepared me for this career.

As my mother always said, I got paid to do what she did for free.

And isn't that just the way the world works?

And it's true.

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