O, The Oprah Magazine articles from August 2007

O, The Oprah Magazine archives from August 2007

Love and learn.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... My jaw dropped when I read "Love Types" [June]. Helen Fisher, PhD, had my personality--and my ex's--down pat. He was an Explorer, always seeking his next thrill: Once I got a note that simply said "Nature calls." Turns out he had driven to the...

Heart conditions.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Articles about love tend to be mushy and redundant, but "Lover's Leap," by Martha Beck [June], was neither. It showed both the pitfalls and benefits of love in a very fresh way, using analogies like the one about the giant who locks up his...

Moving past the pain.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I felt sorry for Dina Matos McGreevey, the estranged wife of former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey, in "How Could She Not Have Known?" [June]. This woman had to deal with a nightmarish situation, and she did it bravely, in front of the whole...

Mental patience.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I had no idea how little I knew about Alzheimer's disease until I read "The Life in There," by Lauren Kessler [June]. I always thought Alzheimer's patients were like amnesia victims, forgetting who they are, who their family and friends are,...

Love in the time of war.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I read your June article "Since He's Gone, I Don't Laugh Anymore," by Deborah Copaken Kogan, and felt as if someone had been inside my mind. From January 2003 to March 2004, my husband was in Iraq; I was pregnant at the time and overwhelmed by...

Critter chorus.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Cathleen Medwick's article "A Little Mouse Music" [June] was one of the most charming, whimsical, wonder-struck pieces I have ever read. I did so twice, smiling both times. Lucinda Wehrkamp VENTURA, CALIFORNIA

Page advice.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I'd saved every copy of O until I moved earlier this year to a very small apartment. I'm getting older, you see, earning less and having to cut back, and I had to get rid of many things I loved, including all my copies of your excellent...

Here we go!(Editorial)
August 1, 2007... YOU SHOW ME SOMEBODY WHO doesn't have a care in the world and I'll show you somebody who probably doesn't have a pulse. Human beings worry--they always have, and my guess is they always will. But lately it seems more and more people are...

August.
August 1, 2007... "This wasted time I have found by constant experience to be as indispensable as sleep."--John Adams [TABLE OMITTED] "It is in his pleasure that a man really lives; it is from his leisure that he constructs the true fabric of...

Go figure: vacation nation; With the dog days of summer upon us, just about everyone seems to be scrambling for an exit strategy. How do O readers and other Americans get away from it all?(O-ZONE)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... 14 days Vacation time earned by the average American each year 35 Percentage of Americans who don't use their full allotment of days off 14 Percentage of O readers who'd rather work than brave a trip with the family ...

Cinema rarities.(Movies)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... DUKE ELLINGTON AS THE DEVIL'S bathrobe-clad bandleader? Josephine Baker as a barefoot shepherdess? Sammy Davis Jr. as president of the United States? You can see all this and more in Hollywood to Harlem, an exhibition of historic black films...

2 days in Paris.(MUST-SEE LITTLE MOVIE OF THE MONTH)(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... OSCAR NOMINEE JULIE DELPY IS BEST KNOWN FOR HER ACTING chops, having memorably carried films like Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise. But after this month's 2 Days in Paris, which she not only stars in but also wrote, directed, edited, and...

Screen gems.(O-ZONE)(Interview, Becoming Jane)(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... * Interview is a deliciously nasty pas de deux between a jaded journalist (a wonderfully despicable Steve Buscemi, who cowrote the film) and his subject, a self-absorbed soap star, played with surprising depth by Sienna Miller (right). As it...

What's playing in Jill Scott's ear?(Music)(favorite albums)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Her frank, grown-up sensuality takes R & B off the streets and tucks it back into the smart woman's bedroom. Scott's new record, The Real Thing (Hidden Beach-Universal), navigates the intersection of intellect and passion. "There's some...

Talk therapy.(5 Facts)(Um...)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... FASCINATED BY THE WIDESPREAD obsession with President Bush's verbal blunders, journalist Michael Erard set out to uncover the roots of our stutters, pauses, and grammatical gaffes. The result is Um... (Pantheon), an absorbing survey of the...

Say thank you.(NUGGET)(Excerpt)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... "[I]ndividuals who approach life with an attitude that all of life is a gift will be more likely to find the good in bad life circumstances. They are more likely to... move forward following a catastrophe. In fact, they may be more likely to...

If you have only ...(O-ZONE)(Bach's Goldberg Variations; I, California; Shakespeare Collection)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)(Book review)(Video recording review)
August 1, 2007... 1 HOUR, 18 MINUTES: Listen to pianist Simone Dinnerstein's recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations (Telarc), a timeless, meditative, utterly audacious solo debut. 4 HOURS, 30 MINUTES (GIVE OR TAKE): Read I, California (Scribner), Stacey...

The place to be: Minneapolis; Stage directions.(O-ZONE)(Minnesota Fringe Festival)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... SUMMER IN MINNEAPOLIS usually features the mighty Mississippi in a starring role--trails along the river teem with joggers and bikers--but when August hits, the natural scenery is upstaged by the 22 venues that house the Minnesota Fringe...

... And while you're there.(O-ZONE)(Minneapolis, Minnesota)
August 1, 2007... WHAT (ELSE) TO DO Few cities embrace the arts with the same gusto as Minneapolis, which makes it an ideal place to go culture crazy. You can stroll the sculpture garden at the WALKER ARTS CENTER, home to Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van...

Transition anxiety: you're so absorbed in the moment that you don't realize it's passed. The meeting's over, the party's pooped, it's time to drop what you're doing and move on to the next thing. And yet you keep hanging on.... Here's Martha Beck, in the nick of time, to explain how to get unstuck.(advice, etc.)
August 1, 2007... EMMA IS A POSTER GIRL FOR NEWTON'S FIRST LAW OF motion: Once she starts doing something, she just keeps doing it until acted upon by some external force. Each day when Emma's alarm clock rings, she drowsily hits the snooze button several times....

Dr. Phil: "If what you're doing isn't working, you don't quit--you change"; Phillip C. McGraw, PHD: a lonely woman could be in for a life adjustment ... an ailing partner may just be selfish ... and a controlling mother might be right.(advice, etc.)
August 1, 2007... Q I'm a single professional in my early 50s, and I feel like the loneliest woman on the planet. I've got many acquaintances, but I wouldn't call any a best friend because they're either married with families or living far away. I desperately...

Suze Orman: "I've seen so many women let misguided love wreck their finances"; Cleaning up your ex's mess of loans ... holding on to what's yours ... the no-ambition husband.(advice, etc.)
August 1, 2007... Q In 2001 my soon-to-be ex-husband and I combined our student loans under a federal program allowing consolidation of educational debt. The program was abandoned after the government realized an undue burden could be placed on one person--in...

A million ways to save the world.(advice, etc.)
August 1, 2007... Award-winning playwright EVE ENSLER resumes her monthly mission: to canvass the best brains around the globe for their earth-fixing ideas. so that by Valentine's day 2008, the tenth anniversary of V-Day--Ensler's movement to end violence...

Hope Davis's aha! moment: being cursed doesn't usually trigger an enlightening experience. But for the star of Charlie Bartlett, a stranger's harsh words led to a wake-up call.(advice, etc.)
August 1, 2007... EVERY SUMMER MY husband and I pack our suitcases, load our kids into the car, and drive from tense, crowded New "York City to my family's cottage in Maine. It's on an island, with stretches of sea and sandy beaches, rocky coasts, and pine...

What do I do now? An old flame's tempting e-mail. A neighbor's shoplifting son. People who won't stop talking. Should you write back? Rat out? Speak up? Jancee Dunn polls the experts.(advice, etc.)
August 1, 2007... How do you wrandle a conversation hog? "Speaking as a recovering conversation hog the most effective phrase used on me was this congressional classic: 'Will the gentleman yield the floor?' Respectful, pointed, funny, and effective." ...

The O list.(Oprah Winfrey's choices)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... "A few things I think are just great."--OPRAH The Fabulous '50s "If these ceramic soda fountain glasses don't make you want to put Elvis on the jukebox and rock around the clock, I don't know what will." ($40 for set of four,...

Warming up to fall: what do you do when the weather is neither here nor there? Five women learn to turn light, breezy pieces into an early autumn wardrobe.(style)(Buyers guide)
August 1, 2007... A Breezy Dress A silky, fluttery print (Elie Tahari, $498) acquires substance with the help of a cashmere turtleneck (TSE, $550), long chunky-knit coat (Theory, $435), and gutsy studded belt (Linea Pelle Collection). Dresses move more...

Look what we found! Just a touch of patent.(style)
August 1, 2007... * PATENT IS PENDING this season--again! still!--but this time in the guise of a gleaming accent on shoes and bags. It's the new, more subdued way to wear fashion's trendiest leather. 1. Olive isn't a bit drab if you wear it on high-heeled...

Adam says: O's creative director, Adam Glassman, tells you what your best friends won't.(style report)(clothing style)
August 1, 2007... Q WHAT ARE YOUR THREE MAJOR SUMMER-STYLE TURNOFFS? Heat and humidity seem to breed bad taste--it's as if people's fashion sense goes on vacation. Specific kvetches? I don't know if I can stop at three.... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] *...

Editors' choice: what our fashion team is crazy about this month.(style report)
August 1, 2007... Fashion Finder Zafu.com has already made finding jeans that fit perfectly as easy as answering 11 simple questions while sitting at home clicking away on your computer. As of July, it debuts another technobrilliant online service that puts...

Look what we found! An uplifting scent for body and bath ... a quick-drying nail polish to use in a flash ... a treasure of eyeshadows ... and more. Here's what O's beauty editors--Valerie Monroe and Jessica Matlin--fell in love with this month.(style beauty)(Buyers guide)
August 1, 2007... Have we lost our minds? Maybe so. We took the Smiley Challenge and were so deliriously happy with the results that we suggest you take it, too. Sniff this bergamot-praline-musk-scented stuff and see if the day doesn't suddenly look a little...

Ask Val: you've got questions? Our beauty director, Valerie Monroe, has answers.(style beauty)
August 1, 2007... Q What can I do about the broken hairs around my hairline and all along my part? Those hairs along your hairline probably aren't broken at all, says Gretchen Monahan, an expert hairstylist for Dove. I've always called that fuzz around my...

Summer on a plate: berry-filled, syrupy, spongy, or jam-laden, her Irish grandmother's puddings gave off the fragrance, taste, and pure essence of the season. Moira Hodgson keeps an olde tradition alive.(style food)(Column)
August 1, 2007... WHEN SHE WASN'T IN HER SCIENCE lab pouring things into test tubes and creating noxious fumes over Bunsen burners, my Irish grandmother loved to cook. She was a science teacher at a girls' school in the town of Sherborne, in Dorset, England,...

The latest health drink: coffee.(health body)
August 1, 2007... DON'T THINK you have to kick your coffee habit. A host of scientific evidence suggests that one of the most widely consumed--and maligned--beverages in the world is good for you. Really. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Coffee has gotten a bad...

Prodigal sun.(health body)(vitamin D)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... WE'VE BEEN VERY GOOD. We were told to slather on sunscreen, and we did. We've dutifully worn long-sleeved shirts and wide-brimmed hats while outdoors. All that obedience could help explain why so many recent studies have found that a lot of...

Bladder 101.(health body)(overactive bladder)
August 1, 2007... IF IT FEELS as if you plan your life around the proximity of the nearest bathroom, you're not alone. An estimated one in six adults has overactive bladder (OAB). Common symptoms include a sudden, uncontrollable urge to go; needing to go more...

Hooking new smokers.(health body)(nicotine content of cigarettes incresed by 11 percent)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... STARTING A SMOKING habit is a lot easier these days--cigarettes contain more nicotine than ever before. Using data submitted by four major tobacco manufacturers between 1998 and 2005, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health...

The way to eat: David L. Katz, MD, sorts out the healthy, the harmful, and the hype.(health body)
August 1, 2007... Q I'm so busy that most days, I have whole grain cereal for breakfast, turkey and cheese on whole wheat and yogurt or an apple for lunch, and spinach salad for dinner. I know these foods are healthy, so is my diet okay? --KATHY HOFSCHIELD...

Stuffed! For every anorexic out there, four times as many women go on crazy binges and eat the whole kitchen. Finally, science has given this phenomenon a name--and the possibility of a treatment. Emily Yoffe reports.(health body)
August 1, 2007... MAYBE IT WAS TAPEWORM. THERE had to be a reason for her eating frenzies, Barbara Luebbers remembers thinking as a teenager. As she'd stuff down the boxes of marshmallow cookies, bags of potato chips, whatever was in the house, she says, it felt...

How to multi-task without losing your mind: you can, as the song says, bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, do eight things at once (seven more than your man). But as you'll discover, more is not merrier.(health mind)
August 1, 2007... MULTI-TASKER ALERT! "Where's the restaurant we're meeting at?" Your husband's on the phone as you scramble to finish a last-minute client proposal and root around for your lipstick. You give him directions while reading the five e-mails...

Mind games: what a sport psychologist can do for you.(health mind)
August 1, 2007... NANCY MAURER always loved figure skating--watching it, anyway. When the Cleveland hospital communications director finally wobbled onto the ice for the first time in her late 20s, to her shock, she showed promise. "I'm by no means a natural...

The dear John talk and other dreaded conversations: eight ways to make them easier, kinder, gentler.(health mind)
August 1, 2007... FILL IN THE BLANK: "I'M SORRY TO SAY this, but... ("You're fired," "I don't love you," "I don't know how the cat got out"). Donald Trump and Anne ("You are the weakest link; goodbye") Robinson have no problem ruining people's days, but for...

Girl power.(reading room)(Women Empowered)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... EVERY PAGE OF PHOTOGRAPHER AND HUMANITARIAN PHIL BORGES'S WOMEN EMPOWERED (UNIVERSE) is an affirmation. With global support from CARE, these teachers, journalists, sex workers, activist nuns--from Afghanistan, Guatemala, Bangladesh, and...

She's marrying a what? Two bright, urbane siblings rush to save their sister from a fundamentalist fate.(reading room)(Letter from Point Clear)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... IN Letter from Point Clear (HOLT), Dennis McFarland conjures the love, need, discomfort, resentment, and warmth shared among grown siblings. His Owen clan, two sisters and a brother, are clever and appealing, and they remind you of J.D....

And I love her: a husband's obsession with his enigmatic wife slides into fantasy in this translucent novel of passion, illusion, and social class.(reading room)(Antonio Munoz Molina's book "In Her Absence")(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... MARIO, THE HERO of Antonio Munoz Molina's compelling new novel, In Her Absence (Other Press), is madly, deeply, worshipfully in love with his wife, Blanca. Day by day, his passion grows, despite--or maybe because of--the fact that the couple...

Mom, can I keep him? A shrewd, smart novel of contemporary manners.(reading room)(Anything for Jane)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... CHARLES AND ANNE BRAITH-waite, the parents in Cheryl Mendelson's engaging new novel, Anything for Jane (Random House), are the epitome of Manhattan liberals: clever, artistic, and completely besotted by their four children, particularly the...

The art of survival.(reading room)(For Coming of Age Around the World)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... ADOLESCENCE is a time of exile, especially for those whose identities have already been fractured by forced migration, inchoate ethnicity, or the unholy alliance of politics and religious extremism. For Coming of Age Around the World (The New...

The crystal cave: two gripping memoirs trace a son's addiction, a father's anguish.(reading room)(Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction; Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... IT SEEMS RIGHT, somehow, to herald a nightmare with a fragment of song. Journalist David Sheff introduces his forthcoming memoir, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction (Houghton Mifflin), with a lyric by John...

Inside the writer's mind.(SPECIAL)(Jeffrey Eugenides)
August 1, 2007... If you've ever thought maybe you had a book in you, six terrific novelists are here to tell you about the art, the craft, the isolation, the listening, the mysterious energy, and the sheer termite-like determination that go into making a world...

Books that made a difference to Claire Danes: complex love affairs. Wit-laden asides. Swirling phantasmagoria. The Stardust star reveals a long-standing passion for contemporary fiction.(reading room)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... I HAVEN'T LOST MYSELF IN A BOOK in a while--I've been in a bit of a dry spell. I usually get books from friends whose taste I trust, and my dad did give me a subscription to the New York Review of Books this year. He likes it and thought I...

Lisa Kogan tells all: love is a many splendored thing, but trying to find it is a whole other story. Our columnist turned Cupid goes looking for happily ever after in all the wrong couples.(connections)(Column)
August 1, 2007... I BELIEVE IN LOVE. I BELIEVE IT transforms, transports, and transcends. I believe it fine-tunes goodness, solidifies strength, ripens resolve, eradicates rage, alleviates stress, and elevates empathy. I believe in love (or something damn near...

Live your best love life! No question is off-limits for our new columnist, Sex and the City writer Cindy Chupack, who personally researched this first one on new (and gravity-defying) moves.(connections)
August 1, 2007... Q My boyfriend's birthday is coming up, and I really want to turn him on with some exciting new positions. Our sex life is great, but I want to use some moves that will make this time the best he's ever had.--Shalesha, in Virginia ...

21 things you can stop worrying about right now! Whatever's keeping you up at night--enough already! Suzan Colon checks in with a bunch of experts who'll convince you to give peace of mind a chance.
August 1, 2007... I USED TO WORRY. A LOT. ABOUT THINGS LARGE AND SMALL, about what was happening with the world and with me, about the future, the present, the pie I ate the night before. I agonized over relationships--were they destined to break up? And my...

All-American fall clothes: a Love Story; It was do-your-own-thing (no more fashion dictates). It was sexy (all those knits!). It was sleek (punk came later). This season, '70s-inspired sportswear returns, fresh out of Love Story and The Getaway. Actress Angie Harmon channels Ali MacGraw.
August 1, 2007... STRETCH CLASS In the liberated '70s, it made sense to seek out fabrics we could move and breathe in (that didn't need ironing every five seconds)--and sweater dressing was born. However, instead of prim little twinsets, knits branched out into...

What your hair says about you ... (And how to change the message).
August 1, 2007... Sometimes your hair just gets away from you. You put in a few highlights, next thing you're sprouting colors previously unseen on humans. You declare war on your curls--until you realize you're spending 70 hours a year working out with the...

Breathing space.
August 1, 2007... OLD GARDEN ROSE BUSH, FROM ONE HUNDRED FLOWERS Photograph by Harold Feinstein

The $60,000 dog; Lila was a shedding, drooling, romping bundle of fur, and the light of her human companion's life. Then she went blind, and the first vet bill was a ferocious $3,338. So ... what was it going to be: summer camp for her daughter or meds for the dog? Lauren Slater faces a bitch of a question.(pet care )
August 1, 2007... MY DOG LILA IS 40 POUNDS PACKED WITH muscle and grit. Her hide is as rough as the rind of a cantaloupe, covered with coarse hair that is nevertheless somehow soft to the touch. She is a dumb dog in the sense that all dogs are dumb; driven by...

Snap! Could a man drive you crazy?(Lisa Marie Nowak's dilemma)
August 1, 2007... If a smart, high-achieving, disciplined woman like astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak could be turned into a diaper-wearing BB-gun-toting crazy person by a guy who ditched her for another woman, you have to wonder: Could a man drive you crazy? That...

Feed the people! If the thought of entertaining makes you twitch--you're too busy, too fraught, and/or a klutz in the kitchen--we've got a plan. Three plans, in fact. One will definitely bring out the party girl in you....
August 1, 2007... IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE FUN! NOW, THERE'S a phrase that should be outlawed. Few notions are as crippling to the soul (or facial muscles) of the insecure hostess. Bad enough that your so-called quick hors d'oeuvres are still raw after 45 minutes in...

The anti-skinny Jean: trendy jeans as tight as leggings don't do most of us any favors. These wider-leg denims--dressy enough for work or a night out--cut us some slack.(FASHION)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... A TRADITIONAL TROUSER in a slimming dark wash is universally flattering. Levi's Trouser Jean, $44; levisstore.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SLIGHTLY RELAXED in the thighs, these distressed jeans are weekend casual. !iT Jeans Milano...

Cool aids: is summer heat making you feel about as energetic as a wet rag? Before strapping yourself to the air conditioner, take a moment to chill out with these instant refreshers.(BEAUTY)
August 1, 2007... RINSE OFF THE HEAT * Eucalyptus-and-peppermint-scented BOSCIA MAKEUP-BREAKUP COOL CLEANSING OIL ($21) washes away perspiration and dissolves makeup without leaving behind any greasy residue. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * At the end of...

Feed the people! Learning to entertain the gradual way ... Step 1: sangria and appetizers. Step 2: a potluck grill. Step 3: fresh soup and seafood, plus a berry-drizzled pound cake (for story see page 224).(THE RECIPES)(Cocktail Party recipes)(Recipe)
August 1, 2007... Tapas Cocktail Party Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Empanadas To make this recipe quicker and easier, use 4 frozen piecrusts (sold 2 per package), defrosted: Cut four 2 1/2-inch circles out of each crust, combine the scraps well, roll...

Shop guide (all prices are approximate).(Buyers guide)
August 1, 2007... COVER Coral and orange caftans, Reneta Selima, $500 each; renetaselima.com. Swimsuit, Diva by Rachel Pappo, $125; everythingbutwater.com. Earrings, Lucia Odescalchi, $1,960, Barneys New York, NYC; 212-826-8900. Bangles, StyleNaturale by Barbara...

What I know for sure.(death of a pet golden retriever teaches owner a valuable lesson)
August 1, 2007... WEEKS HAVE PASSED. AND THE pain has not subsided. Every time I think about it, my heart starts racing and I feel like I just got stabbed in the chest. It's a jolt, still. Gracie's death. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...