O, The Oprah Magazine articles from February 2003

O, The Oprah Magazine archives from February 2003

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... We Hear You! Readers are moved by two women's long-distance friendship, find good sense in buttoning their lips, and wonder if tipping has tipped over into lunacy.... I loved the story "Can You Find It in Your Heart Not to Hate US?"...

Are you ready for this thing called love? (Here we Go).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... You don't have to look very far these days to find the promise of love--how go get it, who can offer it, ways to keep it. On magazine covers, in headlines, and on billboards all around us, we see everything from "How to Make Yourself Simply...

Calendar.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... February 1 "There is no wisdom without love." --N. Sri Ram, author 3 Still looking for true love? Try dating against type--physically, vocationally, geographically, sartorially. Let yourself be surprised. 5 ...

Live your best life.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... You are young. So you know everything. You leap into the boat and begin rowing. But, listen to me. Without fanfare, without embarrassment, without any doubt, I talk directly to your soul. Listen to me. Lift the oars from the water, let your...

Dr. Phil: "you have to decide that you can deal with people worrying about you". (Tell it Like it is).
February 1, 2003... Phillip C. McGraw PhD, on standing up to a mother who thinks you get only one chance at love...competing with a dead spouse...and being along again, naturally. Q I have been separated for two years--he deserted me, and I was devastated. I...

Suze Orman: "it's better to do nothing with your money than something you don't understand". (Financial Freedom).
February 1, 2003... On being married to a fool and his money...smart choices for inheritance spending...and getting burned by an ex. Q My spouse of 28 years and I have separate checking accounts and charge cards because he's financially irresponsible. I have...

Sheryl Lee Ralph's aha! Moment: her marriage was over, and she was paralyzed by self-doubt, depression, anger. Then a mirror reminded her what she was made of. (Turning Point).
February 1, 2003... I REMEMBER HOW I LEARNED TO spell respect by listening to Aretha Franklin wail out "R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me!" over and over again. About two years ago, I rewrote the lyric, sadly singing, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E." My marriage was at...

Love lessons: it's a heartache/nothing but a; oh, be quiet, we know already. But do you know what you can learn from your dashed romances? Martha Beck offers up a three-part tutorial.
February 1, 2003... IN HER ILLUMINATING WRITING MANUAL, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott recounts the story of a woman who goes to the zoo and sees a male gorilla sleeping against the bars of his cage. The woman is so entranced by this magnificent beast that she reaches...

The photo project; picture this: your scattered snapshots beautifully arranged. (Getting Organized).
February 1, 2003... A SCRAPBOOK CRAZE IS SWEEPING the country, with women spending hundreds of hours (and dollars) creating elaborate photo/memory books with friends. But if this pastime isn't for you and you'd just like to get those photo packs out of your...

The O list.
February 1, 2003... "A few things I think are just great." --OPRAH How Do You Stack Up? "Whether it's breakfast in bed or lunch at your desk, why not dine in style?" (Origo stackable dishware, $90 for a six-piece set, Iittala; 800-448-8252; iittala.com)...

First-date dressing. (Fashion).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... How do you want to look tonight? Dating expert Samantha Daniels helped eight women come up with clothes that lowered their stress, raised their comfort level, and encouraged an enlightened form of flirtation. ROSELYN SANCHEZ Actress...

The blind date and what I wore. (Fashion).
February 1, 2003... SO I'M SITTING IN STARBUCKS waiting for my prince. My friend Melissa, die amateur matchmaker, has done her usual thorough pre-date briefing, so I know his age, height, body type, hairline, political affiliation, shellfish issues, and recent...

The beauty of chocolate: "oh, but I shouldn't," you murmur. Go ahead! Cocoa can actually be good for your skin. (Beauty Girls Toys).(chocolate based skin creams and lotions)
February 1, 2003... 1. The all-vegetable, triple-milled, lavishly lathering GIANNA ROSE ATELIER NASTURTIA CREME DE COCO BAR, $10, Is too luscius to be called just a soap. It's made with real cream and fragranced with a subtle hint of cocoa. Once you try it,...

The skin that came in from the cold: redness. Bumpiness. Flaking. Your complexion is not a happy camper in winter. Daryn Eller shows you how to deal with four common big-chill skin conditions. (Beauty Report).
February 1, 2003... WHEN THE WEATHER TURNS GOLD AND YOUR skin becomes dry and irritated, do you write it off as one of the chilling facts of winter? Take note: What you see in the mirror might be a treatable skin condition. "Winter wind and low humidity can...

Watch your step when you walk. (Your Body).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... * Are you loud? Do your heels pound when you're crossing a wooden floor barefoot? * Is your knee straight as your heel hits the floor? (Watch yourself in a mirror.) * Does your calf muscle jiggle as your heel strikes the ground? *...

The next magic pill? (Your Body).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Hot flash: For women with menopausal symptoms, word is out (and from some reputable sources) that red clover is the next best thing to hormone replacement therapy. Is it true? Why the buzz: Red clover's high concentrations of four...

Invisible fitness move. (Your Body).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... David Kirsch, owner of the Madison Square Club in New York City and author of Sound Mind, Sound Body (Rodale), says you can tone your upper arms (known unaffectionately as bat wings) without leaving your desk: Grab the armrests of your chair,...

Did you know that? (Your Body).
February 1, 2003... * Using e-mail for five minutes each workday hour instead of walking to a coworker's office will add nearly two pounds of weight per year, according to Stanford University exercise expert William Haskell, PhD. * A Starbucks cinnamon scone...

Here's to your health! Who says good sex requires a push-up bra and candlelight? In part two of our yearlong plan, O's team of experts from the LLuminari group lays out a few new ideas. (Your Body).
February 1, 2003... OLD JOKE: HAVING NEARLY FINISHED creating the universe, God says to Adam and Eve, "I have two gifts left. The first is the ability to urinate standing up." "Oh, God! Can I have that one?" Adam pleads. Eve just smiles. "Fine," God...

Your lovely bones: you think there's nothing you can do to prevent osteoporosis. But the truth is, no matter what your age, chances are you can stop the disease in its tracks. (Your Body).
February 1, 2003... "IF YOU'RE WEARING STOCKINGS, please remove them now to help speed the line," we're told by a white-jacketed young woman. Luckily, I'm wearing pants, but several on the queue reluctantly make a beeline for the bathroom nearby. A woman with...

Ann Richards bones up.
February 1, 2003... Talking to Ann Richards, the quick-witted former governor of Texas, it's easy to believe that nothing short of an act of God could slow this woman down. As she runs from her public relations Job to television appearances to charity balls, you...

I'm a little teapot: green tea or black, herbal or white, it will taste better poured from a flowery spout or a bamboo-handled Asian pot. Stop and take a break with friends, or sip in solitary splendor. (Comfort Zone).
February 1, 2003... ASlAN ACCENTS Orient yourself toward teapots with an Eastern slant: graceful shapes in serene cream and celadon, spicy yellow and red, exotic turquoise. FYI: All true tea comes from the same plant. Camella sinensis, and may be scented or...

Patch perfect. (Reading Room).(Quilts of Gee's Bend)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... From the threadbare 1920s through the civil rights era and into this new century, women from an isolated African-American hamlet in rural Alabama have been stitching together works of art that rival the masterworks of Mondrian or Klee. The...

Star-crossed lives: Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's amazing first book documents young, broken lives in and out of love, jail, and Bronx. (Reading Room).(Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of e in the Bronx)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... THE INDOMITABLE COCO; HER TRUE love, Cesar; and Cesar's intoxicatingly beautiful sister Jessica are children when you meet them and barely adults when you leave them. But in Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's startlingly powerful first book, Random...

Something so right. (Reading Room).(Reporting Civil Rights)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... If only civil rights were taught this way in our classrooms! Personal narratives, together with gripping newspaper accounts and essays written between 1941 and 1973, make the two-volume Reporting Civil Rights (Library of America) a vital...

Me, myself, and more. (Reading Room).(Set This House in Order)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... Matt Ruff has pulled off a phenomenally difficult task in his stunning new novel, Set This House in Order (HarperCollins). He has created the two most engaging multiple-personality-disorder characters since Sybil and set them on a cross-country...

Love in a cold climate: Louise Erdrich is back with a superb novel of romance, music, and meat-cutting in the northern plains. (Reading Room).(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... IN THE 1980S, LOUISE ERDRICH took the literary world by purple-tinged storm with her first three novels (Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, and Tracks). She provided North America's answer to the magic realism of the Latin Americas with writing...

Becoming somebody: a splendid, candid memoir of fresh starts and strange encounters. (Reading Room).(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... Halfway through her 50s, living alone, drinking too much and looking back on a series of failed relationships, Irish writer Nuala O'Faolain was--not so very long ago--convinced that her life was over. But as her new memoir, Almost There...

Anything goes. (Reading Room).(Man with the Dancing Eyes)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... Sophie Dahl, a model and the granddaughter of writer Roald, makes her literary debut this month with a deliciously urbane fable, The Man with the Dancing Eyes (Bloomsbury). Her heroine. Pierre, a postmodern Holly Golightly, trips through these...

Katie Couric's literary anchors: the treasures of her hectic life? Old childhood favorites and an anthem to freedom. (Books that Made a Difference).
February 1, 2003... I'VE NEVER BEEN ONE OF THOSE people who only liked fiction or biographies or nonfiction. I treasure all different kinds of books, writers, stories. Maybe that's why I recently found myself drawn to a book that combines storytelling with...

Royal Caribbean international cruises for a cause. (Advertisement).(Advertisement)
February 1, 2003... THE ROYAL CARIBBEAN FANTASTIC VOYAGE SETS SAIL ON EXPLORER OF THE SEAS[R] MAY 24-31, 2003. This "Party with a Purpose" raises over $1 million in scholarships for the Tom Joyner Foundation, benefiting students of Historically Black Colleges and...

News you can juice. (Florida's Natural: Advertisement).(Advertisement)
February 1, 2003... Florida's Natural Premium orange juice is as close to the grove as you can get. Now get their down-home recipes, healthful tidbits, and household hints delivered fresh to your email inbox! Visit www.juicybitsnews.com to subscribe.

Selects New Cultural Icons. (Lincoln: Advertisement).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Last October, a series of unique events took place in Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Part of an ongoing look at New Cultural Icons, presented by Lincoln, these extraordinary evenings were celebrations of preeminent local cultural talent and...

The facts about Atkins[TM]: what, why and how. (Advertisement).
February 1, 2003... The Atkins Nutritional Approach[TM] (ANA) is the #1 controlled carbohydrate program for lifetime weight management. You have probably heard a lot about Atkins, some of it true, and some perhaps not. We want people who do Atkins to do it...

Whose life is it, anyway? (Report).
February 1, 2003... It was a wonderful life--until illness and pain intervened. But unlike most, patients in Oregon can legally end their lives if they choose. Attorney General John Ashcroft is struggling to overturn the state's Death with Dignity act. Does he...

Oprah talks to Jay Leno. (The Interview).(Oprah Winfrey)(Interview)
February 1, 2003... A truly stand-guy of late night television talks about this boy's life (more than 100 defferent cars and motorcycles), his work life (incredible drive and professionalism; doesn't do vacations), and his married life (with the glorious Nobel...

The un-hollywood wife: Mavis and Jay Leno go their own way, do their own thing, and have one of the happiest marriages in the world. What gives? Mavis Leno does the math.(Interview)
February 1, 2003... QUESTION: Jay says one reason your marriage has lasted is that you don't try to stop him from working so hard. True? ANSWER: One of my beliefs about a happy relationship--whether it's a marriage, a friendship, or a business--is that you let...

Dating sex & love.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Is there anything more mysterious than romance? A date that sends you soaring? A new person you could actually come to love? Someone you're still crazy about after all these years? This month's O celebrates the possibility of hooking up with...

What I learned from dating 100 men: she was 34 and she meant business, so she placed an ad with an online dating service and let the e-mails roll in. Ann Marsh on panning for the date that was worth waiting for.
February 1, 2003... LAST YEAR, IN UNDER SIX months, I dated more than 100 men. I dated on beaches, on hiking trails, on the back of a Harley-Davidson. I told more than 100 men about my work, my family, my years in Czechoslovakia. I weathered personal-revelation...

Are we having fun yet?
February 1, 2003... She knew dating after a divorce would be nerve-racking. But courage producing? Compassion building? LISE FUNDERBURG gets back in the game--this time playing by a whole new set of rules. PEOPLE WHO SAY DATING was fun either don't remember or...

Old wives' tales.
February 1, 2003... Intellectual stimulation. The same background. Partnership. Humor. Unprintably good sex. Longtime wives tell LISE FUNDERBURG what drew (and still draws) them to their husbands and offer advice to the young and un-hooked-up. Yvonne and...

A shy girl's guide to sex: it's not that she doesn't like sex; it's just that she prefers subtlety, indirection, holding off. A shy girl gets hot and heavy about her sex life.
February 1, 2003... Anonymous I AM NOT A PRUDE. I LIKE sex. But I would never say that to your face, and I'm actually cringing here at my computer at the thought that somebody could walk in.... Well, you see where I'm heading. My own sexuality embarrasses me....

Grown-up love.
February 1, 2003... Love is (a) champagne and high heels; (b) a passionate, chinashattering fight, followed by an all-night tango; (c) a constant, nagging feeling of insecurity; (d) none of the above. JOAN KONNER explores the crucial difference between romance and...

The Grub Club. (Great Food).
February 1, 2003... Take one serving of great friends tired of waiting for a restaurant table. Add home - Cooked meals complete with themes (French! Mexican! Russian!). Garnish with wine, flickering candle music, and great talk that lasts all night. Don Terry...

Spring: what's irresistible; pastels straight out of Degas, tank tops to loosen up a blazer, skirts with swirl and shine: just a few of the new clothes that will make your workplace--and your world--wake up and sing.
February 1, 2003... THE TRENCE A pink coat is a whole different story from a tan one: It doesn't look anything like a guy's, it's pale enough to work as a neutral, and it's so pretty that you may find yourself praying for rain. (Fair weather or foul, it can...

The eyebrow experiment.(services by)(Anastasia Soare of Anastasia Beverly Hills)
February 1, 2003... This was our theory: A beautifully shaped eyebrow can lift your whole look. Consider the before and after of the tweezer-averse Frida Kahlo. Much better, right? So we decided to test the brow's transformational power on eight plucky O staffers....

Loyal supporters: bras from A to D. (Love That!).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... No back? No Problem. Plunging front? We've got you covered. These bras can handle any curve fashion throws them. They're the power behind the clothes. Bra-vo. HERE'S THE SCOOP Take a chance on enhancement in a low-cut, subtly padded...

A hot tub of one's own: turn your boring old bath into a steamy, sensuous idyll. Now lower yourself into the fragrant water. Oh--and bring a friend if you like. (Love That!).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... IT IS THE HEIGHT OF LUXURY TO SIT IN A hot bath and read about little birds," said Alfred, LordTennyson. He was onto something. We're not sure about the bird literature, but here's how to create the height of luxury for yourself and maybe a...

"You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more." (What I know for Sure).
February 1, 2003... ONE OF MY DEFINING MOMENTS CAME IN the third grade--the day a book report I'd turned in earned my teacher's praise and made my classmates whisper, "She thinks she's so smart." For too many years after that, my biggest fear was that would see me...

Correction.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... In the December 2002 "O List," we neglected to mention the designer and manufacturer of the amber pear ornaments. They were designed by Ted Jolda and are available through Indaba Trading (indabatrading.com).