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True Crime

Updated 13/06/2024
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15 FEB

Episodes We Love: Do I Follow My Head Or My Heart?

Cheryl and Steve are no longer dishing out new advice, but we're listening back to episodes we love every week. This episode was originally released November 6, 2015. ____ The Sugars get a letter from a young woman who has fallen head over heels in love. She and her boyfriend only met a month ago, but they are already in deep. Everything seems perfect, and yet the letter writer can't help but wonder if the traumas of her new love's past are hiding somewhere under the surface, threatening to resurface. In this episode, the Sugars do something new — and get the letter writer on the phone to speak with her directly about her fears.

15 Feb

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26 min
03/08/2024

Redux: Should I Intervene?

This episode was originally published on August 12th, 2017. When we decide to meddle, it can often backfire. The Sugars, along with the writer Meghan Daum, answer letters from people who see loved ones heading down the wrong path, but worry intervention might be the wrong move.

03/08/2024

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41 min
31/08/2024

Redux: Dark Fantasies, Part 1

This episode was originally released on January 13, 2018. Orgies. Sex in public. Incest. These are the things that some of us think about in the dark. Taboo fantasies can be exciting, but they can also be the source of our deepest shame. In this two-part series on sexual fantasies, the Sugars read letters from people who want to turn off the thoughts that turn them on. Dr. Ian Kerner, a psychotherapist and sexuality counselor, helps the Sugars answer a letter from a woman who calls herself “Fed Up With Fantasy.” She writes, “Ever since I started being a sexual being I’ve had terrible fantasies. Incest of every kind. Teachers having sex with their underage students. Gangbangs in public bathrooms. I cannot get turned on without thinking of these story lines. Did something bad happen to me that I have repressed so much I don’t even have a hint of it?” she asks. “And how do I make it stop?” Dr. Kerner and the Sugars explore where dark fantasies come from and offer “Fed Up With Fantasy” ways she can share them with her boyfriend. Dr. Kerner specializes in sex therapy and couples therapy. He’s also The New York Times best-selling author of “She Comes First: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pleasuring a Woman.”

31/08/2024

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33 min
29/06/2024

Redux: Moving On, Part 1

This episode was originally released on August 18th, 2018. The Sugars have been thinking about what it means to say goodbye and let go. In this first episode of our two-part series on moving on, the Sugars and Claire Bidwell Smith answer two letters from people struggling to move past their grief after the death of their loved ones. The first letter comes from a woman who recently discovered that her best childhood friend died by suicide. In the wake of the news, she spent hours pouring over letters from her friend, and realized that there were signs of trouble early in life. Now she’s haunted by the fact that she failed to intervene years ago. “I keep ruminating on how Alejandra might have killed herself and where she was when she did it,” she writes. “I feel so much guilt from my complacency.” A second letter writer, who calls herself “Wracked by Guilt,” feels similarly about the death of her mother. “How do I get over the sickening feeling that I played a role in my mom’s death?” she asks. “How is it possible for me to stop trying to place blame and simply accept the situation?” Claire Bidwell Smith is a licensed therapist specializing in grief, and the author of several books, including “The Rules of Inheritance.” She writes and speaks about grief regularly, and offers online grief support in addition to her private practice. Her new book, “Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief,” will be released on Sept. 25th.

29/06/2024

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47 min
02/04/2024

Another step toward reduced-fare for low-income T riders

Last week, the MBTA board of directors voted in favor of offering a reduced-fare program for low-income adults across the transit system, including for The Ride -- the MBTA's paratransit service. It's a huge victory for advocates who have been pushing for such a program for more than a decade. Today, Boston Globe Transportation Reporter Taylor Dolven joins The Common for a transit news round-up. First, a look at what it will take to make a low-income fare program a reality. Then, Taylor tells us about the MBTA's decision to pay an additional $148 million to a company notably behind on their contracted promise to make new Red and Orange Line train cars for the system. Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

02/04/2024

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14 min
21/02/2023

Rethinking home ownership in Chinatown

Housing prices in Boston's Chinatown have been surging for decades, resulting in one of the most competitive real estate markets in the city. That's why housing advocates with the Chinatown Community Land Trust have turned to an alternative model for home ownership that helps working-class and immigrant residents stay in the neighborhood. Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

21/02/2023

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13 min
16/05/2023

Cannabis in Mass: A market on the brink

Since its state legalization in 2016, cannabis has become a multi-billion dollar industry that helps fuel the Massachusetts economy and tax revenue, while also providing opportunities to address racial equity. Still, despite its popularity, cannabis is heavily regulated and the negative stigma around the drug lingers. Today on The Common, it's the first of a three-part discussion about the state of cannabis in Massachusetts. We speak with Freelance Cannabis and Drug Policy Reporter Dan Adams about the slow rate of cannabis policy reform in the state and the what's going on with the cannabis market. Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

16/05/2023

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14 min
12/04/2024

EPA sets new nationwide restrictions on PFAS levels in drinking water

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced a new drinking water standard to reduce exposure to PFAS, chemicals linked to health risks like cancer. Massachusetts is one of 11 states with existing PFAS limits, which are different from the new federal guideline. As a result, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection estimated that 95 water systems across the state will need to upgrade their water system to address PFAS for the first time under the new federal rules. Climate and Environment Correspondent Barbara Moran joins The Common with more on the new federal rule and its impact on the local water systems. Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

12/04/2024

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12 min
05/06/2024

Rewind: Boston Public Library branches help you check out more than books. Here's a breakdown of services

Team Common is currently working on our transition to a weekly show. We’ll be back this summer with new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one from our archives. Public libraries have evolved over the decades to connect people with far more than books on shelves. Many libraries, including those within the Boston Public Library system, often fill gaps in social services. Boston Public Libraries' Michael Colford, director of library services, joined The Common to discuss how the robust resources of the city's libraries can help you out in unexpected ways. Greater Boston’s weekly podcast where news and culture meet.

05/06/2024

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12 min
19/05/2018

Sex & Aging — With Dr. Pepper Schwartz

The erotic lives of senior citizens are typically made invisible by our culture, which can lead to confusion and misinformation. Dr. Pepper Schwartz, the love and relationship columnist for AARP, joins the Sugars to dispel certain myths about sex and aging: Do libidos change after menopause? How does the aging body affect the way we feel about sex? Should medical interventions be considered for a declining sex drive?

19/05/2018

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37 min

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