A brief history of Agony Aunts

[LONDONER]

It seems that the Internet has taken the place of the traditional Agony Aunt these days, you only have to see some of the posts on here, but I never knew that the idea went back so far:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/...gony-aunts

[MisterTinkles]

I've never heard of an "Agony Aunt" before.

Interesting.

[CellarDweller]

Hmmm......sounds like advice columns that we have here in America.....the most famous were sisters Dear Abby and Ann Landers.

[CellarDweller]

[CellarDweller]

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I relocated to Florida a little over a year ago and were quickly welcomed into our new neighbors' social whirl. Two couples in the neighborhood are gay -- one male, one female. While they are nice enough, my husband and I did not include them when it was our turn to host because we do not approve of their lifestyle choices. Since then, we have been excluded from neighborhood gatherings, and someone even suggested that we are bigots!

Abby, we moved here from a conservative community where people were pretty much the same. If people were "different," they apparently kept it to themselves. While I understand the phrase "when in Rome," I don't feel we should have to compromise our values just to win the approval of our neighbors. But really, who is the true bigot here? Would you like to weigh in? -- UNHAPPY IN TAMPA


DEAR UNHAPPY: I sure would. The first thing I'd like to say is that regardless of what you were told in your previous community, a person's sexual orientation isn't a "lifestyle choice." Gay people don't choose to be gay; they are born that way. They can't change being gay any more than you can change being heterosexual.

I find it interesting that you are unwilling to reciprocate the hospitality of people who welcomed you and opened their homes to you, and yet you complain because you are receiving similar treatment.

From where I sit, you may have chosen the wrong place to live because it appears you would be happier in a less integrated neighborhood surrounded by people who think the way you do. But if you interact only with people like yourselves, you will have missed a chance for growth, which is what you have been offered here. Please don't blow it.

[MisterTinkles]

I have aspired to be one of these advice columnists, but nobody is interested

[LONDONER]

I've never heard of an "Agony Aunt" before.

Interesting.

"Agony Aunts" is British terminology and as CellarDweller says, in the States they are just Advice Columns.

[Padshach]

.... but there are also Agony Uncles

[LONDONER]

It’s strange how the mind works. I started this thread because my mind was processing several things at the same time. I red the article on Agony Aunts and I remembered one of the famous British ones; Marjorie Proops who was once interviewed on the BBC in a programme called “Desert Island Discs” in which she had to choose the recordings that she would take with her if she were marooned on a desert island. Her last recording was the famous “Letter Scene” from Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin“.


The aria proper begins at 1.54.

You really have to know about the opera to understand the context and if you’re interested you can read it here:

http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/opera...nopsis.htm

Basically, the short version is that Tatiana, the heroine, falls in love with Onegin and writes him a passionate love letter that he reads with amusement and rejects her. Years later he meets her again in St. Petersburg when she is married. He realises that he loves her and declares his love for her and although there is no passion between Tatiana and her husband, she says that she will remain faithful to him and Onegin is left broken hearted.

All of that said, at the end of the programme, the interviewers asked Marjorie Proops what would have been her advice to Tatiana. Her reply was (from my menory): "Oh no, no, she should never have written the letter. Hers was an infatuation for a slightly older man."

[jaxc]

I have aspired to be one of these advice columnists, but nobody is interested

Dear misterTinkles.
I have this strange sore lump on the sole of my foot that has a strange green pulsating color to it and I'm not sure it were it came form ( I made extra sure the uranium I bought off of ebay was only 20% pure so I no it's not that) how should I go about diagnosing it and treating it?
-Seth
p.s. what should I also do if I hate everyone and want to see the world engulfed in a raging inferno, but don't feel like getting out of bed to make it happen?