Last summer, Sugar wrote about taking on the Dear Sugar endeavor back in 2010 and how her approach has differed immensely from her original intent for the column. Creative Nonfiction brought the essay online in honor of our imminent unveiling. Sugarland in Sugar’s words:
“It’s a world where people dare to be genuine in their vulnerabilities, where they risk love rather than sit coolly back, where sincerity wins out over snark every time. I didn’t build it myself. It’s constructed of the unvarnished letters people write to me and the unvarnished letters I write back to them; of all the readers who sit alone gazing into the screens of their computers or phones each week and those who take the discussion further in the comments section of the column, often offering kind words to each other and to those whose letters were published.”