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It’s time again for Shortcuts. For every question, I’ll give my advice in just a few sentences because sometimes the answer to a person’s question is so obvious and the need to hear it so great that being as clear and frank as possible is simply the best way to go. I’ve been in a relationship for six months and was just told a secret: my boyfriend is a brony. I really don’t mind. He doesn’t do weird stuff really. He doesn’t look up horrible things on the Internet, or dress like a pony and go to conventions, but he wants me to watch it. I’ve tried, but I can’t watch it…

I’m a 16-year-old girl in Colorado with a 16-year-old boyfriend in Tennessee. We have been dating for four months and we Skype all the time; we are in love. I won’t let him go and he won’t let me go, but we really want to see each other in person. I tried asking my parents if we could move to a new place, but they said no; they don’t know about my boyfriend. On the other hand, my boo asked his mom if they could visit or move here and she said no because of money, because she doesn’t like the cold, and because her son and I don’t love each other….

It’s time again for Shortcuts. For every question, I’ll give my advice in just a few sentences because sometimes the answer to a person’s question is so obvious and the need to hear it so great that being as clear and frank as possible is simply the best way to go. I am 57 and my boyfriend, “Fred,” is 55. I left my husband of twenty years to be with this man. About five years ago, Fred bought me five or six things for Christmas, including perfume, makeup, and things like that. I found out that he gave his massage therapist the exact same gifts. I was furious. He still sees her…

I’m spending the morning taking Jackson to his first day of kindergarten and getting him oriented there. This LW is looking for “neutral advice” and I know you guys won’t let her down. I am scared and desperately seeking neutral advice to try to help me navigate a situation that I never thought I would face: being a single mother to my beautiful one-year-old, or fighting for our family so she has her mom and dad together. I have been in a relationship with the baby’s father, “Rick,” for three years. It has been a very rocky three years, including his seeking and getting attention from other women. I asked him to…

I read a letter about a girl whose boyfriend had sex with her while she was sleeping, and a similar thing happened to me. Last night, my fiancé, “Jim,” and his friend were in my room playing video games and I fell asleep. I was out for maybe three hours before I half woke up when Jim’s friend left. I was still mostly asleep, but I had a foggy sense of what was going on around me. Jim climbed into bed and took off his clothes and mine, which is usual as we get too warm sleeping together. But this time he also took off my underwear. I was too out of…

“About 15 years ago, my sister’s husband cornered me in my house and asked me to comfort him by hugging and kissing him after a fight between him and my sister.”