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Speaker 1: Buckle up, hold on tight. We got it for you here.

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Speaker 1: It is a strawberry subject. Should I do it for

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Speaker 1: the culture? Here's Stephen Shirley. Yeah. I'm a thirty two

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Speaker 1: year old single female and my family moved to the

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Speaker 1: States when I was fifteen so we could have a

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Speaker 1: better life and my culture. I grew up with a

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Speaker 1: huge extended family and we stick close together. But now

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Speaker 1: I have my own apartment and I love having my freedom.

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Speaker 1: My mother often tells me that I should should have

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Speaker 1: been married years ago so she can have grand babies,

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Speaker 1: but I'm not ready for that. My parents both have

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Speaker 1: good jobs and finally got the big house they were

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Speaker 1: dreaming of, and they have moved more family members to

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Speaker 1: the US to live with them. Now. My mother wants

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Speaker 1: her brother, my uncle, to come live with them, but

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Speaker 1: he can't seem to get his visa approved. So here's

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Speaker 1: when the problem started. Three months ago, I had dinner

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Speaker 1: with my family and my mom asked me to do

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Speaker 1: her aver since I was still single and had my

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Speaker 1: own place. Stephen Shirley, can you believe that my mother

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Speaker 1: asked me to marry her brother, my uncle, so he

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Speaker 1: could get citizenship. My grandmother and father were in on

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Speaker 1: it and said, you know that they had been discussing

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Speaker 1: this for a while. I was so confused. First of all,

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Speaker 1: I do believe that it's illegal to marry your relatives

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Speaker 1: in this country. My parents and grandmother said it was

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Speaker 1: no big deal and that families do it all the time.

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Speaker 1: I got sick to my stomach and still can't believe

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Speaker 1: they asked me to do that. It's hard for me

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Speaker 1: to talk to them now without the constant pressure to

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Speaker 1: do my part for the family bond. I know what

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Speaker 1: you're going to say, but how do you tell my

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Speaker 1: family that they're all crazy and this is so wrong.

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Speaker 1: I'm afraid our bond will be broken forever. It's a

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Speaker 1: cultural thing. Please help? Okay, what you didn't mention it?

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Speaker 1: So I have to ask you what culture is this

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Speaker 1: where you can marry your own uncle where? And no disrespect,

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Speaker 1: of course to your culture. Um, but I personally haven't

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Speaker 1: heard of such a thing. I mean, I have heard

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Speaker 1: of people, you know, dating and possibly marrying their cousins

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Speaker 1: down down down the line, cousins, but not their uncles,

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Speaker 1: I mean, not in the US, because that is not

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Speaker 1: our culture. And thank you for pointing that out. In nephew.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you stupid. This is not about you, guys.

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Speaker 1: I loved you, know in the letter where you said

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Speaker 1: you have your your thirty two year old single female,

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Speaker 1: you have your own apartment, and you love having your freedom. Yes,

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Speaker 1: that's you know what living in the US is all about.

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Speaker 1: You can You're free to do what you want to

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Speaker 1: do with your life. Uh control your own destiny. I

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Speaker 1: think your family is pressuring you to do something against

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Speaker 1: your will, something you're very uncomfortable with. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: know if you were to be able to marry him,

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Speaker 1: it wouldn't be a traditional marriage. I get that, but

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Speaker 1: but who would marry their uncle anyway? But you know

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Speaker 1: you're you're up against your whole family here, and that's

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Speaker 1: not easy because it's only you by yourself. So I

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Speaker 1: have to tell you you cannot cave into this request.

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Speaker 1: You cannot. You gotta now. I know you said you

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Speaker 1: don't want to talk to them, but you have to

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Speaker 1: speak up for them and say no, I'm not doing this.

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Speaker 1: Your family is just going to have to find another

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Speaker 1: way to get uncle whoever in the country. He's having

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Speaker 1: a problem with his visa. Maybe that's telling you something

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Speaker 1: right there. Maybe he doesn't need to be here, Steve, Well, well,

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Speaker 1: these are letters that I happen to specialize. Yet, you know,

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Speaker 1: Stephen Sherley, this thirty two year old single woman and

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Speaker 1: riding or rode in and said that her family moved

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Speaker 1: her to the States where she was fifteen or better

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Speaker 1: life and all that, now, in my culture is the

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Speaker 1: key to this whole letter. In my culture, grew up

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Speaker 1: with a huge extended family, were close together. You got

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Speaker 1: your own apartment, You love your freedom. Now my mother

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Speaker 1: tells me that you tells her that you should have

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Speaker 1: been married by now so she could have some grandkids.

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Speaker 1: But you ain't ready for that. Your parents got good job,

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Speaker 1: finally got that big house they was dreaming of that

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Speaker 1: did they moved that family to the US to live

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Speaker 1: with them. Now your mama won't her brother who is

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Speaker 1: your uncle, to come live with them, but he can't

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Speaker 1: get a visa approved. Now listen to me. First of all,

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Speaker 1: you shouldn't have rode in because you know that we

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Speaker 1: got in charge of the office. Now you know who

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Speaker 1: our president is. Stopped talking about your family trying to

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Speaker 1: come him. It ain't got no to him visa. This

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Speaker 1: is not the time we got We got Instagram, people

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Speaker 1: doing podcasts. Is people can pull the except from this show.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna find out where you wrote this letter from,

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Speaker 1: and you and your whole damn family gonna get sent back.

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Speaker 1: So I just wanted to throw that warning out for

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Speaker 1: our share this with you. Now. Your mama's brother can't

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Speaker 1: get his visa. See, they're gonna use that against him,

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Speaker 1: so his When the problem started three months ago, you

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Speaker 1: was having dinner with your family. Your mama asked you

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Speaker 1: to do her favors since you was singing and had

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Speaker 1: your own place. Your mama asked you to marry her brother,

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Speaker 1: who is your uncle, so he could get citizens You

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Speaker 1: what what is you're talking about? What culture is this?

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Speaker 1: This ain't culture. This call is sess. This ain't culture. Lady.

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Speaker 1: You wrote the letter on should I commit incess? It's

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Speaker 1: what the title will be. It's your damn uncle marry

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Speaker 1: your uncle ruin your life so his old ass can

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Speaker 1: have a life. Then you got to come over here

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Speaker 1: and get divorced, which probably ain't no problem in your culture.

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Speaker 1: It don't make no sense. First of all, your family

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Speaker 1: is too close, y'all too close, and this gonna make

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Speaker 1: y'all just godly close bad. This don't make no sense

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Speaker 1: right here, man, I'm so sorry, you know, listen to me.

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Speaker 1: There's got to be a reason why your uncle don't

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Speaker 1: have nobody. It's got to be nobody wanted, not even

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Speaker 1: the painters. As sorry, phone you hang on, Steve. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna have Part two of Your Respects. Part two today's

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Speaker 1: Strawberry Letters subjects. Should I do it for the culture? Yeah? Oh,

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Speaker 1: this woman who's thirty two in some culture. She won't

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Speaker 1: tell us who it is. We can't guess because we

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Speaker 1: don't want the emails and letters. Oh, they moved to

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Speaker 1: the state she's fifteen, for better life. I grew up

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Speaker 1: with a huge extended family and everything. Blah blah blah. Love.

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Speaker 1: She moved out on her own apartment. She loved having

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Speaker 1: a freedom. You know what she was in locked up

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Speaker 1: in now then your mama often tell me how she

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Speaker 1: should have got married because she's gonna have grandkids by now.

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Speaker 1: And you know, both her parents got good jobs and

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Speaker 1: they finally got a nice big house and all this hell,

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Speaker 1: and they want more family members to come to the

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Speaker 1: US to live with them. I warned her on the

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Speaker 1: last break to stop saying this because of the man

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Speaker 1: we have in the White House. He finds out y'all

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Speaker 1: trying to come over hill and they got the damn

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Speaker 1: Vigas visa. They're gonna do some. Me said, all y'all

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Speaker 1: asks gonna be back. So I just wanted her to

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Speaker 1: slow down. Her mother tells wants her brother, who is

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Speaker 1: your uncle, to come live with you with them, but

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Speaker 1: he can't seem to get his visa approved. Now, if

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Speaker 1: this is from one of the seven countries that done

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Speaker 1: Trump has, you know, put on the list, we probably

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Speaker 1: shouldn't even be discussing this. But let's just move on.

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Speaker 1: Three months ago, you haven't dinner with your family, and

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Speaker 1: your mama asked you to do your favor since you

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Speaker 1: still single and had your own plates. The lady says, Stephen,

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Speaker 1: only can you believe that my mama asked me to

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Speaker 1: marry her brother, my uncle, so he could get citizens

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Speaker 1: ship to marry her brother. My uncle, and my grandmother

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Speaker 1: and father was in on it too, say they've been

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Speaker 1: discussing it for a while. Listen to me. This is

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Speaker 1: not call culture. This is called insists that ain't what

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Speaker 1: we do over here. You can't do that, young lady,

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Speaker 1: and you know it, and I'm glad you saying at

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Speaker 1: the end of the letter. I am sick to my stomach,

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Speaker 1: and your whole damn family ought to be too, that

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Speaker 1: crazy ass request, not man, your damn uncle. I wish

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Speaker 1: somebody would have came with me telling out we married

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Speaker 1: your aunt. I see, Steve, No, hell no. You know

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Speaker 1: my aunt Agnes. I told her when I was a

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Speaker 1: little boy, if I ever made it, all my jokes

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Speaker 1: was gonna be about hook because she was evil. My

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Speaker 1: aunt Agnes, and I'm telling you right now, wouldn't do

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Speaker 1: nothing for me. I couldn't go to the store to

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Speaker 1: earn a nickel like the rest of the kids. She's

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Speaker 1: to send the kids to the store to make a nickel, right.

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Speaker 1: She wouldn't let me go because I studied, and she

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Speaker 1: don't want to wait all day for her as a cigarette.

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Speaker 1: That her. Oh that's the truth. Yeah, So I told her.

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Speaker 1: She told me, you ain't gonna ever be nothing. I

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Speaker 1: told him when I told her I was gonna be

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Speaker 1: on TV. Anybody got all day and wait on you

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Speaker 1: to say nothing on TV? I said, wide body looking,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't stand my aunt. She get on my nerves.

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Speaker 1: I looked like man hoo, old ass, you said, and

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Speaker 1: she said, Then you said in the letter, you said,

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Speaker 1: I do believe that it's illegal to marry your relatives

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Speaker 1: in this country. You damn right, it is, You damn

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Speaker 1: right it is. My parents and grandmother said it was

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Speaker 1: no big deal and that families do it all the time.

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Speaker 1: Do it well, do it well. I don't know what

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Speaker 1: your coach is. This ain't what we do over here.

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Speaker 1: I got sick to my stomach, and it's hard for

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Speaker 1: me to talk to them now without the constant pressure

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Speaker 1: to do my part for the family bond. I know

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Speaker 1: what you're going to say, But how do I tell

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Speaker 1: my family that they all crazy and this is so wrong.

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Speaker 1: Go tell your family that this is all crazy and

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Speaker 1: this is so wrong, and then walk out and keep

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Speaker 1: your apartment quick moving all the people in. You're gonna

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Speaker 1: end up your apartment gonna look like your mom and

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Speaker 1: daddy house, a bunch of people sitting up in there

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Speaker 1: that ain't got no damn visible. And when Ice find

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Speaker 1: out and everybody, they're coming to your house and everybody

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Speaker 1: going down. I have a culture you in. This is

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Speaker 1: a dangerous letter, young lady. Now, this is what I

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Speaker 1: say to you from this moment on, disown your family.

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Speaker 1: Quit going over there, quit parking your call over now,

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Speaker 1: matter of fact, move out you I move out this

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Speaker 1: apartment and get anothering, and don't tell none of them

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Speaker 1: where it is. Marry your uncle that's sitting up in

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Speaker 1: here with his old ass belt. You well see, you

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Speaker 1: know the reason here why he can't find nobody to

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Speaker 1: marry him. You know why I don't nobody It won't him,

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Speaker 1: Oh don't nobody won't him? Now he over here? They

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Speaker 1: don't put him off on you. Everybody in the family

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Speaker 1: knows something wrong with your uncle. That's why he ain't

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Speaker 1: married now, sitting over there, got one tooth just sitting

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Speaker 1: up in the middle of sitting over there. Man, it's crazy. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: make no sense. Yeah, she she's got to speak up

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Speaker 1: for herself and tell them she's not with it, just

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Speaker 1: like I'm not with us. I'm not with us at all.

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Speaker 1: Tell your mamma to marn find another way. But she's

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Speaker 1: already married to her dad. Okay, divorce your daddy as

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Speaker 1: soon as you marry your brother. Divorce your brother and

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Speaker 1: remarry your daddy, you know, since remaking crazy ass? How

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Speaker 1: about that? Mamma? All right, guys, bluy me Grandmama. Grandmama

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Speaker 1: ain't got nobody. Hit us up on Instagram at Steve

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Speaker 1: Harvey FM with your thoughts on today. Strawberry Lettering, you're

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Speaker 1: listening to the Steve Harvey Morning Show