O, The Oprah Magazine articles from June 2004

O, The Oprah Magazine archives from June 2004

We hear you! Readers relate to our tales of overwork, applaud (unscheduled) downtime for children, give Lisa Kogan a big wet kiss of maternal empathy, and more ....(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... Before I even set my things down in my office, it's "We need to do this" and "Can you take care of that?" and "When will the project be finished?" At 3 P.M. I start to eat my lunch, and before I know it, it's nighttime and I find myself...

Loving men.(Here We Go)(Editorial)
June 1, 2004... WE'VE GOT MALE! IN THIS ISSUE, WE'VE ROUNDED UP the good ones (Billy Crystal--funnyman, husband, dad, and new author; see my interview with him on page 168), the hot ones ("O, Man!"--page 184), and the so-honest-you-could-cry-from-laughing ones...

The subject is men: for the June calendar, lift this page.(Illustration)
June 1, 2004... June "All real men are gentle..."--Marlene Dietrich [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [TABLE OMITTED] [TABLE OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Dr. Phil: "there's a difference between being together and being smothered"; Phillip C. McGraw, PhD, on man trouble: a control freak ... a breakup ... critical in-laws ... and friends who cheat.(Tell It Like It Is)
June 1, 2004... Q My husband and I argue constantly about privacy. I feel that although we're married, we should still have separate spaces. He's welcome in my space, but he shouldn't be able to arrange it the way he wants. He's very neat and organized--I'm...

Suze Orman: "why isn't your husband just as outraged as you?" The credit concerns of a stay-at-home mom ... a couple's investment dilemmas ... and saving for college.(Financial Freedom)
June 1, 2004... Q I'm a homemaker who moved with my family to Ohio from Texas a couple of years ago. Texas is a community property state, where my husband's and my assets were considered both of ours. In Ohio I've been turned down for credit cards because I...

First lesson.(Live Your Best Life)(Poem)
June 1, 2004... Lie back, daughter, let your head be tipped back in the cup of my hand. Gently, and I will hold you. Spread your arms wide, lie out on the stream and look high at the gulls. A dead- man's-float is face down. You...

Aha! Moment Gena Rowlands: thanks to her son, Nick, the actress finds direction, balance, and the role of a lifetime.(Turning Point)
June 1, 2004... AS AN ACTRESS, I'VE PLAYED A LOT of mothers. People ask me, "Don't you get sick of it?" And I think, Why would I get sick of it? Mothers are the most powerful people in the world. They have a lot of influence on their children and try very hard...

Who needs meat?(Treat)(A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen )(Book Review)(Brief Review)
June 1, 2004... Jack Bishop's vegetarian recipes always seem like delectable dishes that just happen to be meatless. His third and latest cookbook, A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen (Houghton Mifflin), presents four seasons' worth of temptations, from miso and...

Picklish.(LYBL)(Rick's Picks)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Pickle merchants have sold their spears on New York's Lower East Side since pushcart days, but Rick's Picks--started in a studio apartment by an inventive pickler named Rick Field--aren't your grandparents' pickles. Unless your grandparents are...

Look at that face!(Pet Project)
June 1, 2004... Sit! Shake! Roll over! Now pose. (Please? With kibbles on top?) In no time, you're gazing at a gorgeous portrait of your favorite family pet, suitable for framing. There are as many kinds of canine artists behind the easel and camera lens as...

Pop! Pop!(Family)(Paternal Instinct )(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... Father's Day typically delivers striped neckties, kids at their smiling-est, and maybe a medium-rare steak dinner. But this June 20 brings an emotionally wrenching new documentary airing on Cinemax that could very well overturn many people's...

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.(Movies)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... Mood swings, anyone? Everybody's favorite wizard-intraining goes hormonal in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third installment of the series. Now a teenager, our hero confronts notorious villain Sirius Black (played by bad guy...

The Terminal.(Movies)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... Steven Spielberg reteams with Tom Hanks for The Terminal, the story of a guy who, thanks to a bureaucratic snafu, ends up stranded for months in an airport. (It's based on a true story, but then if you've been through airline security recently,...

The Stepford Wives.(Movies)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... The burning social issues (male dominance, women's lib) behind The Stepford Wives, 1975's feminist, sci-fi thriller about evil men who have their wives replaced with compliant cyborgs, have cooled. But the remake is worth a look if only to see...

Garfield.(Movies)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... Normally, a talking-animal flick based on a comic strip wouldn't hold much appeal. But Garfield is voiced by Bill Murray, that wry, brokenhearted icon of a cynical age. The man is comic catnip.

Before Sunset.(Movies)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... In the beloved 1995 slacker romance Before Sunrise, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy met cute on a train from Budapest to Vienna and spent one glorious night canoodling before going their separate ways. In the charming sequel, Before Sunset, Richard...

Heir to an Execution.(TV)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... The 1953 execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage has entered the history books as one of the most sensational and troubling episodes of the Cold War. (Ethel's guilt, in particular, remains in doubt.) But it was a love story, too,...

The Casino.(TV)(Television Program Review)
June 1, 2004... You will proudly refuse to watch The Casino, the new reality-TV series (debuting June 8) on Fox, which follows the exploits of two young dotcommies turned Rat Pack wannabes who buy a Vegas casino. You will roll your eyes. You will scoff. And...

Bebel Gilberto.(Music)(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2004... Bossa nova baby Bebel Gilberto (she's the daughter of the music legend Joao Gilberto and the singer Miucha) scored an international hit with her first solo record, Tanto Tempo (Six Degrees). Four years later, she delivers the self-titled...

Chicago Blues Festival.(Music)(Calendar)
June 1, 2004... With another rough winter well behind them, Chicagoans don't really have much to complain about. But they'll be singing the blues June 10-13, as they do every year, when the Chicago Blues Festival (the biggest event of its kind) comes to Grant...

Stone Love.(Music)(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2004... Angie Stone keeps on rolling. The soul diva has been at it for more than 20 years (she started out in the female rap trio the Sequence, played sax for Lenny Kravitz, and wrote songs for Mary J. Blige), and it shows: On her sparkling new solo...

Much Ado About Nothing.(Theater)(Calendar)
June 1, 2004... Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is a frothy romantic comedy of errors so ridiculously tangled and full of amorous subterfuge, it's like a whole season of The O.C. in just one evening. And did we mention it's free? The play opens June 22 at...

Oprah goes colonial: last fall Oprah and her best friend, Gayle King, spent two days roughing it in the phoneless, braless, plumbing-free 17th century on Colonial House, PBS's answer to reality shows. How'd they like it? Oprah tells it like it was.(Tales of Adventure)
June 1, 2004... NO TOILET PAPER, NO TELEPHONE, NO SHOWER--NO PROBLEM? At a simulated colony in Maine, 26 people braved 17th-century life for five months. Last September, for a day and a half, I joined them. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION...

Something to think about.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... We get half our genes from our dads, but how well do we understand the male of the species, even those we know and love? What do we expect of men--or want from them? Take a moment to consider the following: 1 What do men like most about...

The cure for craziness: there's only one way to save your sanity in this speeded-up, lunatic world. Patience, says Sharon Salzberg.(Healing)
June 1, 2004... ONE AUTUMN I TRAVELED TO A BOOKSTORE IN WESTERN Massachusetts to hear Stephen Batchelor, a Buddhist scholar, speak about his recently published book. As the evening went on, I found myself distracted by a demonstration making its way down the...

Dad almighty: maybe you're not turning into your mother. Maybe you're turning into your father. Dad's little rules--spoken and unspoken--may still be running your life. Martha Beck helps you sort it all out.
June 1, 2004... I WAS 6 YEARS OLD WHEN I FOUND OUT THE guy on the dime wasn't my father. (Turned out it was Franklin D. Roosevelt, whoever the hell he was.) I knew he couldn't be as impressive as my dad, who was so big (5'7", 130 pounds soaking wet), so smart...

So many books! So little space! Anna karenina. the nanny diaries. my hamster and me. what to keep, what to send packing, how to arrange? Julie Morgenstern has some novel suggestions.(Getting Organized)
June 1, 2004... WE BELIEVE IN THE PROMISE OF BOOKS-THEY'LL OPEN OUR minds, our souls; they'll take us places we've never even imagined. So we become voracious collectors, bouncing home from stores with enticing new volumes. And we find it wrenching to give...

Reader, interrupted: pick up where you left off with a bookmark that reminds you why you were reading in the first place.(O to Go)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... "Books have been to me... what new fields are to the explorer." --Margaret E. Sangster "Read in order to live." --Gustave Flaubert "Novels... teach you the secret, that the best of life is conversation." --Ralph Waldo...

The O list: "a few things I think are just great."--OPRAH.
June 1, 2004... Getting Fresh "Fruit and candles are wonderful for brightening up the table. Here's your chance to get all-in-one ambience." (Candles, $14 for a set of eight, Anthropologie; 800-309-2500; anthropologie.com) A Hit Below the Belt ...

Men, women & clothes: you needn't literally take the shirt off his back (though you may be tempted) to be affected by a man's style. Four his-and-hers stories.(Style Fashion)
June 1, 2004... SUSAN HERSH, sales manager, 41, and her fiance, MASON HAYUTIN, art dealer, 35 SHE SAYS "My closet is a world of pants, pencil skirts, spaghetti straps, fitted things. Mason is in the art business, so he's pretty open to whatever I wear,...

A new leaf; Treat yourself to greenery straight from a summer garden: leaf-shaped plates. Botanically correct pillows. Lettuce bowls and rustic cups.(Comfort Zone)
June 1, 2004... NATURE'S PLATES--the originals, before early humans got the hang of wood, stone, and bone--are, quite simply, leaves. These shapely dishes echo the diversity of plant life, from serrated to spiky to gently scalloped. 1. William Yeoward Crystal...

Look what we found! Pampering for him, an artfully designed makeup palette, a better body butter ... Here's what O's beauty editors--Valerie Monroe and Beth Janes--fell in love with this month.(Beauty)
June 1, 2004... Beauty boys' toys Given a choice, we prefer our men freshly washed and lightly scented. Grateful, too, is always nice. To that end, we found five Father's Day gifts that we think will make us very happy with the company we keep. 1. Rich,...

Ask Val: questions about antiperspirants? You've come to the right place. O's beauty director, Valerie Monroe, gives you the straight story.(Beauty)
June 1, 2004... My best friend, who claims to sweat a lot and yet always smells good, swears by a rock crystal antiperspirant she says is safer than traditional products. What is it, and how does it work? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The active ingredients...

Smoke & mirrors.(Body Wise)
June 1, 2004... A cherished belief of cigarette smokers has just been thoroughly debunked. According to the largest and most conclusive study to date, low-tar cigarettes can place people at as much risk for lung cancer as the regular ones. The study, published...

The way to eat: how hormones affect your appetite (beware the premenstrual munchies!), why vitamins can make you queasy, plus six powerhouse vegetables. David L. Katz, MD, dishes up the facts.(Body Wise)
June 1, 2004... Q: Which vegetables have the most nutrients? --SHARON YATES, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY A great way to assess any food's nutritional value is to weigh its positive and negative qualities, pitting vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, and...

A dose of reality: you think you've taken your daily vitamins, but what's really gone down? In a startling new study released exclusively to O readers, ConsumerLab.com found that nearly half the brands tested didn't live up to their labels--and at least one could be downright dangerous. Andrea Rock reports.(Body Wise)
June 1, 2004... IN A SHAKY WORLD, WE CLING TO THINGS WE CAN COUNT on--the sun rising tomorrow, the morning newspaper, our daily calcium chews or nutritional supplements. Well, hold on, because multivitamins, those "fail-safe" cover-the-bases pills we take...

Reading room.(Platon's Republic)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... "Benicio is a man's man--a modern day Robert Mitchum. He smoked a pack of cigarettes and drank Irish coffee. I was particularly glad that he wouldn't let the hair dresser touch his wild hair. 'Nobody touches the hair,' he said. A great actor...

Happy ending: the talented Ms. Highsmith's final novel is full of plots, twists, and surprising sweetness.(Reading Room)(Small g: A Summer Idyll )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... Published for the first time in the United States almost a decade after her death, Patricia Highsmith's final novel, Small g: A Summer Idyll (Norton), takes its title from the name of a Zurich gay bar whose denizens populate this engrossing...

Portrait of a writer: an indelibly beautiful novel gets inside the mind of Henry James.(Reading Room)(The Master )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... ALTHOUGH HE WAS KNOWN TO YOUNGER ADMIRERS as The Master, Henry James was little read in his later years, and he battled melancholy, solitude, and public neglect with a fervor that produced, in his last novels and stories, some of English...

Too close for comfort: Port Mungo brilliantly explores family, love, and lust.(Reading Room)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... LOVE, IN PATRICK McGRATH'S EXCELLENT HANDS, IS RARELY A HEALTHY emotion; it is, rather, the stuff of obsession, tragedy, loss, and in the case of his astoundingly good new book, Port Mungo (Knopf), incest. Here, filial love is tinged with...

Where am I, exactly? A writer in culture shock makes an effervescent debut.(Reading Room)(Natasha)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... There's probably some reason why so many of the best "American" writers are Canadian: long winters, short days, no death penalty, curling as a national sport. David Bezmozgis was 6 years old when his family emigrated from Latvia to Toronto, and...

Meow, myself, and I.(Reading Room)(Excerpt)
June 1, 2004... After a wounding childhood, Geneen Roth spent decades resisting love, until she fell for an insistently affectionate cat named Mister Blanche. Here, an excerpt from Roth's healing new book. "I built my life--an eating disorder, a teaching...

He write pretty again: rubber hands? Fussy parrots? David Sedaris is back, funnier and more touching than ever.(Reading Room)(Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... LET'S SUPPOSE FOR A MINUTE THAT YOU'RE one of those rare individuals who have never actually spent six hours in a storage closet being ignored by a guy with a rubber hand. Or maybe you're the kind of person who somehow missed out on vacuuming a...

Breathing lessons: a fierce, candid memoir of a mother and son gasping for air.(Reading Room)(The Mother Knot: A Memoir )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... Mothering is the fiercest occupation. Threaten our young, and we unsheathe our claws, going for blood even if it kills us. Even if the danger comes from our own savage hearts. In The Mother Knot: A Memoir (Random House), Kathryn Harrison dares...

Biblio: recommendations from our shelf to yours.(Reading Room)(Pushkin and the Queen of Spades)(The Undressed Art: Why We Draw)(Camp All-American, Hanoi Jane, and the High-and-Tight: Gender, Folklore, and Changing Military Culture)(A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... * Rage before beauty: In Alice Randall's Pushkin and the Queen of Spades (Houghton Mifflin), Windsor Armstrong, an African-American professor of Russian literature, is livid about her football-hero son's engagement to a sensuous white lap...

Helen Fielding's to-read list: Bridget Jones's creator likes old-fashioned page-turners (Austen, Hardy) with a side order of high-quality escapist fluff (Wodehouse).(Books That Made a Difference)(Bibliography)
June 1, 2004... THE BOOKS I REALLY DON'T LIKE ARE THE ONES that are so pretentiously un-page-turny that you end up reading the same paragraph eight times without noticing because it's gone in one ear and out the other. The books I do enjoy are the ones that...

Dial M for miracle: she'd only read the stranger's name in a book; she couldn't have known the woman would save her life--could she? Lise Funderburg reports.(Friends)
June 1, 2004... OUT OF THE BLUE ONE DAY IN JULY 2002, Philadelphia psychotherapist Deborah Anna Luepnitz, PhD, received a phone message from a stranger. Tahoma Ironfeather was calling from a small island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, and said...

Oprah talks to Billy Crystal: the drugs, the sex scandals, the trashed hotel rooms ... nahhh. The brilliantly hilarious, astoundingly wholesome, family-centric Billy Crystal riffs about everything from Saturday Night Live to shampooing his daughters' hair ("I used to play a hairdresser called Mr. Phyllis") to the charming children's book he wrote to welcome his new granddaughter.(The O Interview)(Interview)
June 1, 2004... Is there anything better than a man who loves--I mean really loves--women? See that adorable guy up there on the left? That's actor Peter Gallagher with his girl, Kathryn. He and five other besotted dads tell us what it means to have a...

My girl.(celebrity fathers talk about their daughters)
June 1, 2004... We know our fathers mold us, but what do we do to them? Plenty, say six smitten dads. As peter Gallagher puts it, "a lot of men have this fantasy of unconditional love and then realize that to expect it from their spouse is unfair. But one day,...

Your father, yourself: he was probably your first pair of male arms, and, like it or not, the most influential man you'll ever meet. Six women reflect on the subtle and not-so-subtle ways their fathers shaped them.
June 1, 2004... "He Helped Me Find What It Was I Loved" What I remember of my father are the dark suits he wore and the tired way he came home in the evening. He seemed beaten down by something, something large and sharp, and I wasn't sure what that was....

O Man!(men we love)
June 1, 2004... Who knows why we fall for the men we do? Aside from their looks, brains, talent, and heart-stopping charisma, this year's inductees into the O Hall of Fame are a quirky crew. We've got happily married bad boys, vulnerable tough guys, a...

How sex is like pizza ... and other startling features of the male mind: Liz Brody gets radio sexpert Dr. Drew Pinsky on the line for an extremely earthy chat.(Interview)
June 1, 2004... GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF INK AND bytes devoted to female sexual geography, today's man can virtually MapQuest the G-spot. But who's got directions to the male un-zip code? To help us find our way, Drew Pinsky, MD, agreed to answer a few blunt...

Foreign affairs; What European men know that American men don't: Adoration will get you everywhere. Holly Brubach reports.
June 1, 2004... BACK IN THE DAYS WHEN I WAS A dancer, I used to position myself in class in front of the "thin" mirror, which, thanks to whatever imprecision in the manufacturing process, gave you back an image of yourself that was taller and slimmer. Not...

Token guy: surrounded by 53 women here at O, Nick Leiber contemplates his role as little brother, wise uncle, furry mascot, tech support, and boyfriend substitute. If he knew any more about us, we'd have to shoot him.
June 1, 2004... Last year I stumbled across a book of essays written by survivors--men who had experienced shark attacks, bull gorings, plane crashes, avalanches, volcanic eruptions, killer bees--you name it--and miraculously lived to tell the tale. Some were...

Breathing space.(Illustration)
June 1, 2004... Stand before a patch of delicate lupine blooms and watch hazy purple clouds drift over the rolling hills of California's Carrizo Plain. PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM FITZHARRIS/MINDEN PICTURES

By the sea, by the sea; Think Zelda Fitzgerald or Coco Chanel: summer clothes that evoke France in the 1920s. Black or navy with white. Sailor stripes. Short skirts, long pearls, and vintage rings.
June 1, 2004... Over a tank (Banana Republic, $38) or bikini, the striped poncho top (Chaiken, $194) is a cool way to cover up. It's linen, as are the indispensable white drawstring pants (Linda Allard Ellen Tracy, $225). Leather flats (Hermes, $650) are...

It's about thyme ... and oregano, tarragon, and sage. Think basil-steamed shrimp. Pesto-perked salmon. Portobello mushrooms zinged with rosemary. Chef Michel Nischan has a way of taking taste to the next level.
June 1, 2004... Poor little Michel Nischan! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] He's 4 years old, he's visiting his grandfather in Missouri, and all the male adults have gone off to do something male and adult, leaving him sulking and angry on the front porch. Now...

Adventures in the skin trade: she'd committed every skin crime in the book, including unprotected sunning. Yet now her complexion was glowing; her pores were nowhere in evidence. She had to be hiding something. Valerie Monroe spills the beans about a dermatologist's program that could work for you, too.
June 1, 2004... TRUE STORIES FROM O's BEAUTY DIRECTOR LEARN FROM HER MISTAKES! IN THE DIME-STORE NOVEL ABOUT MY SKIN, SHE'S A feisty old broad. Until fairly recently, I never wore sunscreen. Not a drop, not anywhere, not for a minute. In high school,...

The wrinkle report: from creams to peels to lasers, here's the lowdown on what you can do--really, honestly, truly--to keep your skin beautiful as you age.(Confidential)
June 1, 2004... According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of nonsurgical cosmetic procedures has increased 471 percent since 1997, partly because there are so many more options available (and there are even more on the...

The shoe of summer: the espadrille gets all dressed up--in satin, stripes, and polka dots; with a little bow or a big red flower. Tie (or slide) one on.(Fashion)(Illustration)
June 1, 2004... 1. Heaven-and-earth colors make these flats a natural choice to slip on in the morning and play in all day. Longchamp, $75; 877-566-4242. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 2. Preppy goes sexy when striped grosgrain ribbon replaces canvas in this...

Here comes the sunscreen: we asked skin cancer expert Karen E. Burke, MD, PhD, for the most effective sunscreens around. She chose these for their high SPFs, water-resistant formulas, and advanced blocking ingredients--as well as the silky way they feel on your skin.(Beauty)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... 1. It's the perfect warm-weather accessory, says Karen E. Burke, MD, PhD: Neutrogena Active Breathable Sunblock SPF 45 ($10) feels slightly cool at first and then is virtually undetectable. 2. Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Cream for Face SPF...

It's about thyme; What a difference an herb makes: try rosemary portobellos, herb-roasted chicken, grilled oregano pork chops (for story, see page 204).(The Recipes)
June 1, 2004... All recipes make 4 servings. Two-Skillet Herb-Roasted Chicken with Oven Fries [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Chicken: 1 (3-to 3 1/4-pound) chicken 1 bunch thyme 1 bunch sage 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. freshly ground...

Shop guide (all prices are approximate).
June 1, 2004... COVER/HERE WE GO P.29 Dolce & Gabbana paisley sheer tunic, $1,595, Dolce & Gabbana, NYC; dolcegabbana.it. C+C cotton tank, $40, Henri Bendel, NYC. TSE cotton and nylon capri pants, $375, select TSE stores; 800-487-3692. Yossi Harari emerald and...

"I've decided I want more joy in my life".(What I Know for Sure)
June 1, 2004... SO WE'RE HALFWAY THROUGH THE YEAR, AND FOR me, that's halfway through 50 and "life as it's meant to be." In January I told you what Maya Angelou said: The 50s are everything you've been meaning to be. Goodness, was she ever right! The sense of...