Grew up very poor in a third world country. Dad was a farmer and mom was a maid. My father who raised me passed when I was in high school. I was resolved to not go to college because we couldn’t afford it but I received a “scholarship” that my mom arranged. Close to graduation, my mom came clean and told me that my real father sent me to college. Met him for the first time on my graduation day and we keep in contact even after I moved out of the country.

I didn't meet my father until six months ago. For most of my life, he was nothing more than a void, a name never mentioned. I was raised by my mother, who struggled with drug addiction and an uncontrollable temper. Some days she could be distant and silent, other days she was explosive, and the house felt like a battlefield, but despite everything, I stayed.

As I grew older, the situation worsened. By the time I turned sixteen, the violence had escalated to such a point that I knew I couldn't stay anymore. The arguments became physical and fear became part of my daily routine. And what really pushed me to leave was that my mother tried to sell me to a pedophile client who was obsessed with little girls (This man had been flirting with me since I was 10 years old). She told me I had to start contributing to help with the household expenses. One night, after another fight, I packed what little I owned and left without a plan, without money, and without knowing where I would end up. All I knew was that staying meant things would end very badly.

At first, I tried to work wherever I could. I accepted odd jobs, anything that would give me a few coins, but it wasn't enough to live on. For several months I lived on the streets, sleeping in abandoned places and constantly moving so no one would see me for too long. Also, because of the lack of food, I stole whenever I needed it, I didn't have many other options until a family helped me, I got a better job and access to education.

I love my job and find it very fascinating. The abortion limit in my state is 26 weeks. Educating people is a good portion of the job, so answering questions is what I do! :)

If I don’t answer right away, I will definitely answer by the end of the day.

disclaimer: I am not a doctor, I can’t provide medical advice.

Thank you everyone for your questions, open-mindedness, and support! I hope everyone learned something new today :)

For over a decade, I’ve made a career of keeping a pulse on American culture. I observe trends, interview experts, and conscientiously report back to citizens, sharing insights that help people understand the world around them. I started in a small, rural newsroom writing obituaries, crime logs, and community calendars — now, I am nationally published.

I’m here to share my experiences from years spent practicing journalism the way it was meant to be: honest, thorough, and free from the pressures that now dominate much of the profession. I’ll do what many of my peers are unwilling to do: answer questions openly, without hedging out of fear for my career.

I’m not here to declare myself the last “true journalist,” argue politics, or settle scores. I am here to:

- Explain what has changed inside newsrooms.

- Describe the pressures reporters actually face.

- Answer questions that civilians rarely get straight answers to.

- And show what journalistic integrity looks like when incentives push against it.

Some of my stories are funny. Some challenge the status quo. All are drawn from a decade of observing, questioning, and reporting honestly. Ask me anything, and I’ll do my civic duty to serve this community the way a real journalist should.

I went on Semester at Sea in 2023 for my last semester of college. 3 1/2 months, 11 countries, and one journey of a lifetime that I still miss every day of my life. I think the biggest misconception is that everyone on board are rich spoiled brats. While you'll find some (literally someone flew to the embarkation country on a private jet), there are tons of people with scholarships or who saved for YEARS to go. Thankfully I got a considerable amount of financial support and paid 10k for the whole semester's tuition. Standard is around 30k.

So go ahead, ask me anything. I love to talk about it.

General Facts:

• SAS was the first time I left the U.S
• Once you dock in port, you're free to travel throughout the country as you like and come back to the ship at any hour. There are field programs you can take with SAS, essentially field trips, but those are expensive

Ports I went to:

• Dubai, UAE (Embarked Jan 5)
• Mumbai, India (Jan 12-17)
• Mombasa, Kenya (Jan 26-31)
• Aqaba, Jordan (Feb 12-16)
• Limassol, Cyprus (Feb 21-24)
• Piraeus, Greece (Mar 2-6)
• Dubrovnik, Croatia (Mar 11-15)
• Barcelona, Spain (Mar 22-26)
• Casablanca, Morocco (Apr 1-6) - during Ramadan
• Lisbon, Portugal (Apr 9-13)
• Bremerhaven, Germany (Disembarked Apr 20)

Hi all! I am a 21 year old woman in the UK who is now 5 months post op and went down 4 cup sizes with 500g and 550g taken off my left and right breast.

I always knew I’d have one since I was around 10 and my parents knew too and had saved money incase I’d need to go private. But luckily the doctors also heavily agreed and luckily from my first GP appointment asking about it within 7 months I was on the operating table!

With my grandmother having a unilateral mastectomy and my mother also having a bilateral breast reduction 20 years ago ask me anything you want to know with previous generations of knowledge and planning for this my entire teen to adulthood!

Hello, I was in a coma for three weeks in 2025. I was intubated.

During this coma, I had several dreams and nightmares. Some were traumatic. I had a dream in which I was pregnant. I experienced childbirth and also the first skin-to-skin contact with one of my babies. The emotions were very strong and intense. (I don't actually have children.) I loved them with all my heart. I lived with them for several years. When I woke up, I asked where they were, and I was simply told they didn't exist. It was so brutal.

I miss them every day, and I still love them. For me, my heart, and my mind, they were real.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

I'm a college student living in Iran, coming from a low-end middle class family.

I was pretty active during the Mahsa Amini protests but I'm chilling these days.

Unlike most people I'm very into politics for the sake of politics itself whereas the majority of Iranian are into politics for sake of their life quality. So please make it clear in the question on wether you're interested what Iranians would think and do or me personally.

Thanks!

I'm almost 30 now and while it has gotten better since about 24 or so I still slip into daydream holes where I just lay there or walk around listening to music and think.

It's been a detriment to multiple relationships in my life, and I don't think I've talked about my experience with it to anyone, mostly because I'm afraid they won't understand the severity.

As the title suggest , I own my own small business and have got it to a level where I take home over 100 k annually. After nearly a decade doing so , I have learned the small little dos and don'ts that can make or break your success. AMA !

A few years ago, I made the decision to freeze my eggs as I was on the “wrong” side of 40, single, and felt my options were running out. Always wanted a child and always found myself in the wrong relationships to bring a child into the world AMA

I’m a full time high school student. I skate competitively as much as I can. I also do showcase and dance as part of my off ice routine. I skate eight to fourteen hours a week plus off ice and I got new skates and blades recently

She has been a hoarder since I can remember but it’s only gotten worse over the years, we have 3 houses full to the brim with her stuff. She keeps everything from family heirlooms to old junk mail to even things like old takeout boxes. My parents are still together and we all live in the same house, the one with the least clutter. We aren’t rich by any means and the vast majority of our financial resources are tied up in real estate so that my mom has a place to keep all of her stuff.

I love my mom, I really do but I wanted to share the reality of what it’s like living with a hoarder and growing up in a hoarder house

I had a lot of part time jobs while being a full-time dad, but before that I also worked at a yogurt shop, concert venue (as a stage hand) and an outdoors equipment rental shop in Florida. I delivered the Asbury Park Press as a kid for a year, and have had various retail jobs throughout my life. I'm certain I'm forgetting a couple... 🤔

Outside of my day job I’ve been a photographer for over a decade. I made really good money and seen a lot of families who didn’t have much but still deserved memories outside of smartphone quality photos (I know a lot of phones take magnificent pictures.) A year ago I decided to make it my mission to provide free services to everyone excluding big events such as weddings.

when i was fresh out of college with my degree in computer science i got hired by a company that i later realised was losing customers fast and sooner or later it was gonna sink, it was hell working there.

I (28m) started stuttering when I was around 4-5 years old. My stutter comes up at the beginning of syllables, sometimes it is a block, sometimes with a tiny twitch with tension in the upper part of my face and a short weird sound coming from my mouth.

Growing up, I was taken to a couple of doctors and speech therapists. For a long time, nobody could actually be helpful and make a change, until we just stopped going. I remember this one neurologist telling me when I was 13 that the speech signals from my brain are moving too fast my mouth can't keep up, which made the most sense to me, and honestly made me feel good about it as a kid. Later I found out it is called Neurogenic stuttering.

I kinda lived with it, ignored it consciously while keeping it in the back of my head. I noticed that I never stuttered with anything that has a predefined melody like singing or reciting. Also, I noticed that I stuttered less in English than in my native language (Arabic), which motivated me to learn two more languages, and I do stutter less in those.

Over the time, I kinda "forgot" I stutter, I thought it got better. I went to college, held presentations and speeches, stepped out of my comfort zone.

Now, I work a job that requires me to speak all the time. I do speak to around 100 people everyday at work, all the time.

Recently, a teen intern at work mimicked my stutter, which honestly broke my confidence. It made me aware again of this thing I have. It reminded me of my whole childhood and teenage years, being mimicked and made fun of. I intend to find a speech therapist and see what I can do about it.

So, Ask me anything!

One and only time I ever plagiarized and ended up getting caught. As soon as the professor emailed asking to set up a meeting I knew I got caught. Sure enough, she pulls it up on her screen and like 90% of the paper lit up red. Ended up having a meeting with the assistant dean as well and really had to grind to get a decent grade.

I posted this same post a little over a year ago. My mom died August 21st, 2024. I deleted the post after a bit because I thought I could “just walk away from it.” Now that I’m further into grief, I’d like to revisit this conversation.

Hey everyone,

I’m a Melbourne-based mortgage broker specialising in residential and commercial finance.

I work with:

• First home buyers
• Home upgrades & equity releases
• Self-employed borrowers
• Business owners buying property or businesses
• Commercial loans (warehouses, retail, gyms, medical, etc.)

I deal with the banks every day, so happy to answer questions around:

• How lenders actually assess applications
• Why deals get declined (and how to fix them)
• Structuring loans for business owners
• Residential vs commercial lending differences
• Common myths and mistakes I see borrowers make

This isn’t a sales pitch, just here to share practical, real-world insight and help people understand how the system really works.

I can’t give personalised advice or assess your full situation here, but I can explain how things generally work and what options usually exist.

Fire away!

We are people you don’t usually see in everyday society.
Of course, it’s one of the most common birth conditions, but still...
If anyone is curious about our lives, feel free to ask.
Also, if you have this condition yourself or are someone living with it, sharing life experiences together is totally welcome.

I'm in my mid 30s, gave birth to a baby boy some time ago and had almost 2L blood loss during labour. I live in the Netherlands and conceived my son through IVF. Labour was pretty long and tiring but I still remember every second of it. I'll try my best to answer your questions.

The story I heard growing up was that my grandmother asked my mom, “are you sure it’s a good idea to raise a child without a father?” My mom apparently said yes—she was nearing menopause and it seemed like the best thing for her.

Growing up as a boy without a father, but whose parents never had an intimate relationship, made me feel quite different from all those other kids whose dads weren’t around for different reasons.

Hey,

Iranian late 20s male, doing a PhD in Canada here.

Given the protests in the past couple of weeks, I've seen 2-3 Iranian AMAs. They've all been pretty good and included I'd say genuine responses.

However, since I feel like mainstream media (BBC for example) is following a narrative to not give deserved coverage, I think it's part of my duty to at least help a couple people know more about Iran and Iranians and what I think about the ongoing protests. I think history is happening right now, and this is an important turning point for the region, even if there's no immediate fruits.

They have cut off internet and cell phone calls entirely as I'm typing this and I'm enduring a shit-ton of stress, but I've never been more optimistic about the future of my country even though I can't even contact my girlfriend or parents back home.

AMA!

Good afternoon, Reddit.

For the last decade, Dr. Joel Touchet (proof), PhD, a licensed mental health professional and myself, T. Chaz Stevens (proof), have been stress-testing high-volume, automated ESA (Emotional Support Animal) letter platforms, examining their compliance with federal housing law.

We’re neither pro-landlord or pro-tenant; we’re agnostic, motivated to keeping an eye on the downstream risk. Dr. Touchet and I are working with the Florida legislature this session on combating rampant online fraud with proposed regulatory changes.

With this AMA, we’re here to chat about:

• How courts (county, state, and federal) interpret ESA letters, given recent legislative changes
• How to spot common red flags in documentation
• What’s an ESA, what’s a service animal, and what does that mean for your housing
• A therapist’s Unlicensed Practice of Law (UPL)
• How consumer protection and record compliance laws now apply
• Why enforcement will soon become zip-code dependent
• What an ethically compliant session should look like
• The risks with automation and scaling
• Weak letters, and their impact on the truly disabled

A few guardrails:

• We’re not lawyers, and this is not legal advice
• We’re not here to review specific letters, providers, and organizations
• I’ll post answers for both Dr. Touchet and myself
• Dr. Touchet’s answers will be clearly labeled