Have you ever had to cut someone out of your life? No phone calls, texts, and your friends know not to invite both of you to the same event? Why do we feel the need to extract certain people out of our lives? Is cutting people off healthy? Or is it immature? What if the toxic person is a member of our family? This week, our theme is inspired by Educated, a memoir by Tara Westover. Tara didn’t have a birth certificate until she was nine years old and she didn’t see her first classroom until the age of 17. It’s like The Village by M. Night Shyamalan, but interesting. A showdown eventually forces Tara to choose between a life without her family or most certain death by their hands. We’re not exaggerating. It got real, real quick.

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Kari gets trapped in a Parisian hotel, Alexis ignores emergency alerts sent from the toilet, and A.J. Finn lies his way into a two-book/movie deal — ALLEGEDLY, ALLEGEDLY! The theme of the week is Agoraphobia and How to Feel Safer in Public Spaces. We talk about feelings of anxiety in the age of terror and how all of us can take practical steps to be safe and sound wherever we go. We then dive deep into The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn’s runaway bestseller. Like your ex, A. J. Finn, real name Daniel Mallory, has something to hide, and he’s burying his secrets in lies, fibs, and untruths — ALLEGEDLY! If only we knew the password to his cell phone. If. Only.

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