[button link=”mailto:advice@carytennis.com” newwindow=”yes”] Write for Advice[/button] Archival column from FRIDAY, JAN 18, 2008 03:38 AM PST My experience contradicts what I have been taught. I feel guilty and alone. Dear Reader, Please read this thoughtful, well-written question from a high school student and imagine growing up in her house with her parents...
Am I being used?
Dear Cary: Thank you for bringing humaneness to advice columns. I hope you’ll consider taking time to help me figure out a problem. I was raised in a tribal culture where women keep things to themselves in order to keep others from worrying. I have trouble speaking to friends back home to help me work this out, and I am in a very rural area with no therapists close by. I do not have any...
My molester financed my college education
Archival column from WEDNESDAY, JAN 9, 2008 Now I’m depressed and suicidal and very few people know why. Cary, I am unsure of how to articulate the reason I am writing you. There is an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote, “In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning.” I have been experiencing a soul-crushing depression that I can only utter through vague quotes and...
How do I stop being a know-it-all?
[button link=”mailto:advice@carytennis.com” newwindow=”yes”] Write for Advice[/button] Cary’s classic column from MONDAY, FEB 23, 2009 My boss and boyfriend say I act like I’m omniscient. Dear Cary: In the last 12 hours both my boyfriend and my boss have accused me of being a know-it-all (one of them did it politely and gave me a raise, but the other...
Breaking Down the Breakup (I think I should leave but I’m not sure how)
[button link=”mailto:advice@carytennis.com” newwindow=”yes”] Write for Advice[/button] Dear Cary, I have been reading your letters for years, and usually I can find plenty of guidance through your responses to others. This time, I would like your thoughts directly. I am a divorced mom of an elementary school child. I was married for a long time, and got divorced...
Voices from the Workshops: “Write a Beginning”
Note: Occasionally here on carytennis.com we publish raw first drafts written to prompts in our Amherst Writers and Artists workshops; they are not finished pieces, and so are not open to comment, but nevertheless are often interesting to read, and stand as evidence of the kinds of creative acts that occur more or less spontaneously, and often with tremendous energy, in the workshops. Click here...
I let my friends stay with me and now they’re evicting me!
[button link=”mailto:advice@carytennis.com” newwindow=”yes”] Write for Advice[/button] Cary’s classic column from MONDAY, SEP 10, 2007 This couple is about to have a baby and there’s no room for me — but it’s my place! Dear Cary, About three years ago, a good friend of mine from college needed a place to live … fast. As it turned out, I...
I stood on principle and was harshly reprimanded
Cary’s classic column from MONDAY, JUN 16, 2008 I refuse to apologize for taking a stand that is in the best interests of the company. Dear Cary, I am having a little difficulty knowing where the line dividing personal assistant and administrative staff lies. I’ve been harshly reprimanded for questioning or challenging a principal on a matter that I felt was an abuse of company resources and the...
I’m the Peggy Olson of my office
[button link=”mailto:advice@carytennis.com” newwindow=”yes”] Write for Advice[/button] Dear Cary, I work for a small office in a large organization. I like my job and I believe in the work we are doing. The problem is, I don’t like my co-workers. Or rather, they don’t like me. I work in a male-dominated field, so I’m used to being the odd woman out...
My business trip ended with me in four-point restraints!
Cary’s classic column from THURSDAY, JUN 5, 2008 I drank some wine, took my pills, boarded the plane and woke up on a gurney! Dear Cary, I am writing to you because I have been through what feels like a very traumatic experience and I need to find a way to put it behind me. Recently, I was on a flight from my local airport to another destination for work purposes. The flight was to be...