Weekly Column Archives
May, 2012
Girl rides with friend who texts and drives
Dear Straight Talk: A friend won’t stop texting when she drives and it makes me nervous. She is the only friend I have with a car and I can't get around without her. How can I get her to stop without alienating her? - "Rose,"…
Boy worries about end of the world
Dear Straight Talk: I'm afraid for the end of the world. How do others cope with the mistreatment of our planet? We have rising oceans, nuclear plant meltdowns, species extinction, food-chain disruptions, economic collapse, nuclear…
Parents clueless about brother’s gaming addiction
Dear Straight Talk: I'm 17, writing about my brother, 16. I believe my parents are allowing him to socially retard himself with video games. If he gets good grades and does his chores, they feel he can spend his time how he likes.…
April, 2012
Mother turns to panel for help with sibling rivalry
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Help! My first daughter,10, from a previous relationship and four-year-old daughter from my current marriage, fight constantly. This leads to mini arguments with my husband. Why do they fight so much? How can I…
My daughter is afraid to learn how to drive
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My daughter is 19 and still doesn’t drive. She didn’t take driver’s training in high school, and now she says she is afraid. I’m afraid too. Outside of college it inhibits her ability to…
What’s expected when boy pays for prom date?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: A guy from school asked me to prom and I accepted. He’s cute and nice and will make a great prom date, but I have no interest in being his girlfriend. I'm nervous because isn’t it implied that you…
Mom worries about shy daughter in large high school
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My daughter has attended the same small school from kindergarten through eighth grade. She is friendly but not particularly outgoing. She tends to have one or two close friends (and is very caring toward them),…
March, 2012
Divorced father threatens daughter’s wedding
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am 22 and getting married next month. We are planning something special in the backyard of a friend's house with our families and friends. My father has written a check to cover most of the food. The problem…
What if high school started an hour later?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I read with interest about the mother who couldn't get her son to sleep before midnight. Sleep deprivation is the norm today. But combining sleep deprivation with teens leads to extra problems because teens…
Boy seeks help to find the light
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I just stopped cutting about a month ago. I started a journal, but sometimes when I get frustrated or angry I start to cut again. I was wondering if you have any ideas for helping me. I am so scared of falling back…
What’s a bisexual girl to do?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am 14 and bisexual. I’ve told only my four closest friends. They love and support me, and one of them is bisexual also. I’m not sure if I should tell my parents, but I think they would be okay with…
February, 2012
Boy wants to be straight, has trouble fitting in
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Everybody knows what high school is like: people do drugs, drink, and have sex. I’m one of the few who is different. I've gotten looks of disgust when I say that smoking marijuana or drinking is bad —…
Is tattoo popularity fading?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My friend and I are having an argument. He is 22 and never got a tattoo. Suddenly, he wants one. I say he’s lucky he never got one because they are going out of style. He doesn’t agree that they are…
15-year-old girl wants to spend break with boyfriend
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am in a long-distance relationship and see my boyfriend every couple weeks if I’m lucky. February break is coming up and I want to stay at his house. We’re both 15 with crazy hormones, but I still…
Young husband’s cheating agony for wife and child
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I’m 21. My husband is 19. He has cheated on me several times, once since we've been married, and I’m scared he is doing it again. It’s always with the same girl, an ex-girlfriend who lives…
Son won’t go to sleep before midnight
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I have an ordinary question compared to the topics you cover. How do you get a teenager (age 16) to go to sleep before midnight — so that he wakes up in the morning acting like a human being? (I’m afraid…
January, 2012
Son’s internet romance worries Dad
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My oldest, age 15, is in a long-term, long-distance relationship with "the one." He is constantly asking to visit her. I have concerns about the level of supervision there (every interaction has involved questionable…
On the first day of Christmas my true love stole for me
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am writing about my friend. She has a problem with shoplifting, maybe even an addiction. I would like to help her stop before she gets caught because she is over 18 and it will result in a criminal record. I have…
Mom asks: Are my curfew and dating rules too strict?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My 17-year-old daughter has a serious almost-18-year-old boyfriend. She says I’m too restrictive. I feel a midnight curfew is reasonable and that she may not go to his home since I don’t know if an adult…
Making a better world, Part II
DEAR READERS: Each New Year I ask the panelists: What bugs you most about the world? How would you make the world better? Last week's “better world” column covered concerns about how digital networking has diminished face-to-face…
December, 2011
Young people lament downside of digital age
DEAR READERS: What bugs you most about the world? How would you make the world better? Every winter, I pose these questions to the panel. This year, technology took a bruising. Real relationships, thinking deeply, embracing boredom, and…
Best party favor: stay sober, keep each other safe
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I attend high school parties but don't usually drink or use drugs. Recently a girl chugged vodka. Everyone except me was drinking so nobody thought much of it. After ten minutes, her limbs went limp and she…
Girl raped while passed out from drinking
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am helping a friend in my dorm through a terrible experience. She passed out from drinking at a party and was put in a bedroom to sleep it off. She woke up in pain with somebody on top of her. It was like a bad…
Generous Aunt gets no thanks
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Each year I give my niece and nephew an expensive gift of something they want or need. I often include money. If I'm there for the holidays, they say thank you but I have never once received a thank-you letter.…
November, 2011
Dad’s suggestive touching embitters daughter
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I'm 17 and lucky to have an involved dad who believes in his kids. But he finds a way to pat my bottom or touch me closer to my chest than I am comfortable with any boy doing. Because of this, I avoid standing…
Teens ‘n Twenties shopping guide
DEAR READERS: It’s time again for Straight Talk’s shopping list — direct from the source. I’m always hoping Santa will “think outside the box” (literally) and scratch video games,…
Learning warning signs of suicide saves lives
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Regarding last week’s column about the boy who committed suicide, a friend of mine also did lots of increasingly negative drinking, smoking weed and partying.…
Father’s love and courage teaches many
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Twenty-one months ago, my 18-year-old son jumped to his death from the 720-foot-high Foresthill Bridge. He left for school that morning. At lunch, I got a call that…
Should parents restrict access to son’s troubled friend?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: What should I do? My son is 16 and wants to hang out with someone who is a very bad influence and I don’t know how to go about preventing that. Whenever they…
October, 2011
Risks of risqué Halloween dressing
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: You wrote last week about how risqué attire can draw unwanted attention and lead to trouble if a girl is naive or insecure. How does this relate to Halloween? My daughter…
Did girl’s risqué attire contribute to close call?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: A friend almost got raped. We were at a club and she can be really insecure about guys so she was flirting to the max wearing four-inch heels, short shorts, cleavage…
Cat allergy stirs up pervasive hate
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Please help me stop wanting to do evil things to my stepsister. I’m 15 and she’s 10. Because of her, I had to find a new home for my cat who I love dearly…
This gay-straight sleepover not black and white
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Our daughter is gay/bisexual. We have no problem with that. I have read your gay-straight sleepover columns, but they are focused on friendships. My gay/bi teen wants…
September, 2011
Want to be an alcoholic? Start drinking young
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I still have the photo. I’m at my best friend’s house and her mom and stepdad are serving us whiskey and Coke. I am 15. It was my first alcohol. From that…
Stepbrother’s ‘first time’ an in-house seduction
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I had sex with my stepsister last weekend when we were home alone on a visitation at my dad’s. She’s 17 and I’m 16. She seduced me and was well prepared,…
Pressure-cooker high schools
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Sometimes I think our schools have gone crazy. We expect our kids to get a 4.6 GPA, letter in sports, run student government, play in the orchestra,…
Facebook: It’s amazing who’s looking at your posts!
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: When are kids going to learn that anything posted on the Internet is potentially exposed to the world? As a hiring manager, I am floored by the number of applicants…
August, 2011
Former “cutter” worries about scars
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I’m 18, heading to college, happy to leave high school behind and become my own person. The trouble is I have scars on my arms from cutting when I was younger…
Real-life advice to take to college
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My daughter starts college next week and I’m wondering what real-life advice the panel and you have for her. I am concerned about hookups, binge-drinking and depression,…
Where do you stand on the f-bomb?
Dear Straight Talk: People in their teens and twenties are telling me that the f-word is used everywhere, on TV, in everyday life, by all ages, including parents around their young children, who then use it in school. They say it doesn’t…
Boy has murderous thoughts toward bully
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I moved here as a freshman. I’m heading into junior year and never made it into the popular crowd. In fact, I’m completely shunned because last year, a completely…
Harry Potter: Hero in a hero-less world
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Harry Potter was such a sensation for so many young people who grew up on the books and then the movies. I would love to hear what Harry Potter meant to them, and if…
July, 2011
Will skinny dipping make you gay?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My sister and I like to skinny dip in our pool on hot nights. When friends spend the night we invite them to join us since we’re all girls. Our mom recently remarried…
Dear 16-year-old You, read this column!
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I’m glad I don’t have worse concerns than this, but my daughter is going to Mexico with another family and I’m worried she will cook herself on the…
To kiss or not to kiss?
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I am a 24-year-old man relatively new to dating. It has been my assumption that kissing a woman on a first date is considered “too forward”, but after reading…
Sickest bullies are those who pretend to be friends
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Someone I once considered a good friend has been saying absolutely horrible things behind my back. I overheard her, so I know it’s true. This person is very insecure…
June, 2011
Strip poker sheds clothes, shreds friends
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Last weekend at a birthday slumber party, one of the pushier girls suggested we turn our regular poker game into strip poker. Well, I was the only one who chose not…
Young man’s love is tested
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Please help. I am 17. My girlfriend, “Tina,” is 15. Her mom is really strict and thinks I just want to take advantage of Tina (which I don’t). Last…
Dad wants to understand today’s dating scene
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My stepdaughter is 17, intelligent, popular and attractive. She attended prom last month with a lot of friends, which is how she always goes out. I’m not aware…
