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Speaker 1: It is time now for my Strawberry Letter. And if

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Speaker 1: you need advice on relationships, on work, sex, parenting, and more,

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Speaker 1: please submit your Strawberry Letter to Steve HARVEFM dot com

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Speaker 1: and click submit Strawberry Letter. We could be reading your

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Speaker 1: letter live on the air, just like we're going to

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Speaker 1: read this one right here, right now, and you never know,

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Speaker 1: it could be yours.

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Speaker 2: It could be yours. Buckle up and hold on tight.

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Speaker 2: We guide it for you. Here it is Strawberry Letter.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, nephew. Subject you fire off, I'm firing back.

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Speaker 1: Dear Stephen Shirley. I married a man with four children,

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Speaker 1: all under age fifteen, and they live with us two

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Speaker 1: weeks a month. I have a five year old and

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Speaker 1: I have sole custody because my ex husband works in England.

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Speaker 1: I'm biracial, and I grew up with my white mom,

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Speaker 1: who spoke softly and allowed me to express my feelings

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Speaker 1: and do what I wanted within reason. As I grew up,

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Speaker 1: I saw that I needed discipline, so I decided that

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Speaker 1: I would not be as lenient when I have children

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Speaker 1: of my own. So here, I am newly married to

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Speaker 1: a white man and his children are testing me every day.

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Speaker 1: I called my black dad and black grandma for advice

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Speaker 1: on dealing with my stepchildren's lack of respect. My grandmother

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Speaker 1: told me to talk to my husband about the kid's behavior,

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Speaker 1: but that didn't work. My husband told me that if

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Speaker 1: I offend them, they won't want to spend any spend

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Speaker 1: time at our home. When an eight year old tells

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Speaker 1: me to shut up and a twelve year old slams

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Speaker 1: a bedroom door in my face, I'm not willing to

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Speaker 1: let it slide. I am usually home alone with them.

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Speaker 1: When it happened over the weekend, I saw his fourteen

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Speaker 1: year old daughter kissing a sixteen year old boy in

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Speaker 1: the driveway. I know his age because I dropped her

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Speaker 1: off at his sixteenth birthday party months ago. I told

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Speaker 1: her that I saw her, and I asked if we

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Speaker 1: could talk about setting a better example for her younger siblings,

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Speaker 1: who also saw her making out. She told me that

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Speaker 1: I need to mind my effing business. I warned my

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Speaker 1: husband that if she or any of his kids fires

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Speaker 1: off at me again, then I'm firing off. He told

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Speaker 1: me that's not my place and he'll handle his own kids.

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Speaker 1: Oh no, sir, that is not how it will go

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Speaker 1: in this house. I am firing off and I'll deal

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Speaker 1: with my husband later. Why should his children be off

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Speaker 1: limits to me? Well, they really shouldn't be. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this is just some stupid rule your husband has because

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Speaker 1: he doesn't want their mom to stop them from coming

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Speaker 1: over there. The ex is holding the kids over his head.

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Speaker 1: And your husband nor his ex have told the kids

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Speaker 1: that they should respect you when they're in your home,

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Speaker 1: and that's what the kids are going with. You're not

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Speaker 1: their mom, so they don't have to do what you say.

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Speaker 1: Their bitter mama has already prepped them before they get

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Speaker 1: to your house. But you can't control what goes on

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Speaker 1: with them and their mom in their house anyway, so

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Speaker 1: don't even worry about that. The problem is the dad

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Speaker 1: or your husband. He may as well be a kid too,

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Speaker 1: because he's disrespecting you just as much as they are.

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Speaker 1: He told you is not your place to handle his kids.

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Speaker 1: He'll handle his own kids. But here's the problem. He's

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Speaker 1: not handling them. And why would he want to get

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Speaker 1: you all upset and let the kids come between you? Guys? Well,

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Speaker 1: I say someone has to be the adult here. They

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Speaker 1: have to. I mean, who are these kids that they

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Speaker 1: think they can just do and say whatever they want

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Speaker 1: and know they should be disciplined at your house too.

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Speaker 1: So I'm with you. Fire back off at them when

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Speaker 1: they start acting up, and let your husband have it too.

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Speaker 1: If that's the case, Steve, Oh, you're fine.

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Speaker 2: I don't even I don't even know what the letter

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Speaker 2: is for. Well, here we go. You're fire off on

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Speaker 2: fine back. I'm married to a man with four children,

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Speaker 2: all of them under the age of fifteen. They live

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Speaker 2: with us two weeks a month. I got a five

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Speaker 2: year old. I got sold cussed there because my ex

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Speaker 2: husband works in England. I'm biracial. He would go to see.

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Speaker 2: We swear we running into this. It's a lot of this,

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Speaker 2: A lot of this got to do with race. I

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Speaker 2: didn't bring up race. She did. She said I'm biracial.

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Speaker 2: She didn't even have to say that. But she noticed

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Speaker 2: got something to do with this. She didn't never even

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Speaker 2: have to mention she was biracial in this letter. But

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Speaker 2: since you started with I'm biracial, you must want my

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Speaker 2: racial opinion throughout this letter. Well, I'm not gonna let

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Speaker 2: you down, So I'm gonna give a racial answer. What

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Speaker 2: I'm giving a racial answer. She's biracial, so my answer

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Speaker 2: would be racially based because that's what she wanted. Well, anyway,

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Speaker 2: biracial lady, here we go. I grew up with a

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Speaker 2: white mama, which means her daddy was black. And the

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Speaker 2: mom was start spoken and allowed you to express your

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Speaker 2: feelings to do what I wanted to do. Thing are

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Speaker 2: you trying to What she's trying to say is the

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Speaker 2: white side of her allowed her to do whatever she

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Speaker 2: wanted to do. That's what she said in the letter,

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Speaker 2: not me within reason. As I grew up, I saw

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Speaker 2: that I needed discipline. That ain't the way to raise kids.

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Speaker 2: So I decided I would not be as lenient when

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Speaker 2: I have children of my own. That's the black side.

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Speaker 2: Your mama lets you do what you want to do.

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Speaker 2: Your daddy wouldn't hang with her going on? All right,

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Speaker 2: So here we go. So here I am newly married

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Speaker 2: to a white man. Thing all right? Now you done

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Speaker 2: bought this back into your life. Now Here come the

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Speaker 2: white man with the four white kids, with the white

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Speaker 2: mama with the white ruse, And now here you come,

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Speaker 2: little biracial lady, and you finn to deal with it.

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Speaker 2: Hang on, The children are testing me every day.

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Speaker 1: How Hang on, Steve, hang on, okay, we'll have two

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Speaker 1: of your fine one test. You have your racial refine

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Speaker 1: coming up at twenty three minutes after the hour.

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Speaker 2: Tess me every day. You got one test.

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Speaker 1: Today Strawberry letters, subject is you fire off? I'm firing back.

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Speaker 1: We'll get back into it right after this. You're listening Steve.

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Speaker 2: Harvey Morning Show.

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Speaker 1: The holidays. It's hard to find the right gifts, but

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Speaker 1: you know it's even harder getting the right gift. But

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Speaker 1: get this. Verizon's got the perfect solve for both. They

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Speaker 1: have incredible gift bundles. You get the latest phone with

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Speaker 1: a new line on my plan and a brand new

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Speaker 1: smartwatch and tablet. No trade in needed. You can give

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Speaker 1: a couple away and get yourself one two, or you

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Speaker 1: could keep them all to yourself. No one has to know.

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Speaker 1: Stop by your local Verizon. All right, Come on, Steve,

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Speaker 1: let's recap today's Strawberry letter. The subject is you fire off?

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Speaker 1: I'm firing back Now.

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Speaker 2: Lady wrote me a letter everybody, and she had no

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Speaker 2: reason to write this in the letter, but she said

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Speaker 2: she's married with four children, all them under the age

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Speaker 2: of fifteen, and they live with us. Two weeks after month,

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Speaker 2: I got soul custody of a child of mind because

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Speaker 2: my husband work in England. Oh that's cool. Then she said,

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Speaker 2: out of nowhere, I'm biracial. I grew up with my

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Speaker 2: white mom who let me freely do what I wanted

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Speaker 2: to do. And I'm assuming she didn't mention the black

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Speaker 2: daddy because yeah, whatever.

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Speaker 1: She mentioned it, it's in here.

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Speaker 2: I call. She mentioned it later on, but she didn't

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Speaker 2: say right here how the black daddy was. She said,

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Speaker 2: my white mom allowed me to express my feelings and

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Speaker 2: do what I wanted within reason. As I grew up,

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Speaker 2: I saw that I needed discla She didn't mention the

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Speaker 2: black dad right here because why cause it may not

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Speaker 2: be past statue limitation. So she didn't mention it because

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Speaker 2: black daddy did something different changed her mind. She grew

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Speaker 2: up and saw she needed discipline so I would not

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Speaker 2: be leanent when I have children of my own. Here

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Speaker 2: we go. Here's some more racial stuff. The reason I'm

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Speaker 2: answering this letter racially is because she interjected that I'm biracial.

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Speaker 2: Part so I'm newly married to a white man and

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Speaker 2: his children are testing me every day. Eh, And see,

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Speaker 2: you get one test with me. You're not testing me.

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Speaker 2: I ain't in school. You gonna learn what you need

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Speaker 2: to learn on the first test day today. You gonna

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Speaker 2: know today. I at to one, but you letting me

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Speaker 2: go on. I call my black dad and my black

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Speaker 2: grandma for advice on dealing with my step children's lack

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Speaker 2: of respect. Grandmama told you talk to your husband, that's

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Speaker 2: a smart thing to do and the kids behavior, and

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Speaker 2: but it didn't work, then you talk to your white

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Speaker 2: husband about it. He said that told me if I

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Speaker 2: offended them, they won't want to spend time at our home.

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Speaker 2: I understand that, but this is my house, tutor, So

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Speaker 2: what you're not finna do is come in my house

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Speaker 2: with disrespect. So let's there's some cussing going on in

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Speaker 2: this letter, and it was from the sixteen year old girl,

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Speaker 2: but it could have should have started before that. For

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Speaker 2: an eight year old tells me to shut up. The

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Speaker 2: next question out in my mouth for clarity is who

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Speaker 2: you're talking to? See, I just need clarity because maybe

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Speaker 2: you was talking to the TV, maybe you was on

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Speaker 2: FaceTime one of your friends. I missed it. But a

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Speaker 2: year old tell me to shut up? Who you talking to?

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Speaker 2: Problem now? And then a twelve year old slams a

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Speaker 2: bedroom door in my face. Okay, okay, I'm not willing

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Speaker 2: to let it slide. I'm usually home alone with them,

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Speaker 2: and over the weekend I saw this fourteen year old

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Speaker 2: daughter kissing a sixteen year old in the driveway. I

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Speaker 2: know his age because I dropped off at the sixteenth

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Speaker 2: birthday party months ago. I told her I saw her

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Speaker 2: and ask if she could talk about setting a better

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Speaker 2: example for a younger similar who saw her make it out.

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Speaker 2: She told me, I need to mind my business now.

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Speaker 2: I read all this quick so we can go back,

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Speaker 2: because cussing has been interjected into this family dynamic. And

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Speaker 2: I just want you to know that once you tell

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Speaker 2: me to shut my f and mouth the way I'm

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Speaker 2: talking to the white kids, after this, it's gonna be different.

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Speaker 2: Let's go what the age of year old tells me

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Speaker 2: to shut up. My first thing is for clarity who

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Speaker 2: the ef you talking to? Because I need clarity. And

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Speaker 2: then I'm gonna say I know you mfn ain't fuck

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Speaker 2: because see the white kids is cussing. So I'm finna, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I'm finna do the biracial thing, and I'm putting you

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Speaker 2: putting to put the black cussing into play. Now, the combinations,

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Speaker 2: the the voice. The twelve year old slams a bedroom

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Speaker 2: door in my face. Oh no that if you didn't,

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Speaker 2: you must not walk this MFN door. No MFN mo.

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Speaker 2: She has got a rhyme because we're rapping now. So

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Speaker 2: now I got a screwdriver. Now I done took the

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Speaker 2: door off. You ain't ain'tywhe ain't shutting No more doors

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Speaker 2: in here because I done took the door off. The

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Speaker 2: door in the garage, slam that dough blanketed blanket. I'm not.

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Speaker 2: I'm usually home alone with him. And then over the

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Speaker 2: weekend I saw his fourteen year old daughter kissing the

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Speaker 2: sixteen years I said, if you need to set a

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Speaker 2: better example, she told me to mind my FN business. Well,

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Speaker 2: you're about to get the FN business because I'm fitting

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Speaker 2: there star somebody up and it gonna be you said

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Speaker 2: that they introduced the cussing. I'm not cussing because we

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Speaker 2: don't do that on this show no more. But I

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Speaker 2: introduced it to the faux white kids. That night. I

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Speaker 2: wore my husband that if one of the kids file

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Speaker 2: for me, I told him not to worry about it.

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Speaker 2: Because I handled it already today. Ain't no mfing body

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Speaker 2: gonna say an MFN thing to me, no MFN moment. Okay.

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Speaker 1: Lead your comments on Today's Strawberry Letter on Instagram and

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Speaker 1: Facebook at Steve HARBFM, and check us out on the

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Speaker 1: Strawberry Letter Podcast.

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Speaker 2: If you comment on this letter, leave your fing comments

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Speaker 2: in it.

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Speaker 1: Come a free iHeartRadio app you're listening to the Steve

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Speaker 1: Harvey Morning Show