O, The Oprah Magazine articles from March 2002

O, The Oprah Magazine archives from March 2002

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... We hear you!: Readers weigh in on the power of truth, the pain of family secrets, the legendary Mayor Giuliani, and other recent highlights.... The article "Choosing Faith Over Fear," by Sharon Salzberg [January], really hit home. I'm a...

Getting real together. (Here we go).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... MOST OF US GREW UP WITH AN IMAGE in our minds of the ideal couple, and for me and a whole lot of people around the country that image was June and Ward Cleaver. I'm always amazed at how many of the women I talk to every day still believe that...

Creating a masterpiece: Love is the highest work we can accomplish. (Live your Best Life).(quotation)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Like so many other things, people have also misunderstood the position love has in life; they have made it into play and pleasure because they thought that play and pleasure are more blissful than work; but there is nothing happier than work,...

Dr. Phil: "is your way of doing things getting you what you want?"; Phillip C. McGraw, Phd, on coping with a racy past, choosing between tact and attack, and the ex-in-law problem. (Tell it Like it is).(advice column)
March 1, 2002... Q I recently met someone wonderful who I am crazy about. Things are going well and I'm really excited about what could happen. But I'm wondering: How much does my past matter? If he found out I have slept with quite a few people and have not...

Suze Orman: Love and money; three couples -- at three different stages in life -- make a big commitment; to improve their relationship to money and to each other. (Financial Freedom).(financial management for couples)
March 1, 2002... DO YOU AND YOUR PARTNER fight about money? Or do you avoid talking about your finances? Many couples sidestep the subject out of fear ("Will we have enough?"), a sense of inadequacy ("I don't know what I'm doing with our investments"), or...

Silly love songs: is it love, or a mutual strangulation society? Martha Beck shows you five ways to get a real grip on the real thing. (Beck on call).
March 1, 2002... IN A FOLKTALE THAT HAS BEEN RETOLD for centuries in many variations (one of which is Shakespeare's King Lear), an elderly king asks his three daughters how much they love him. The two older sisters deliver flowery speeches of filial adoration,...

Trudie Styler's current affair: in the depths of a Brazilian River, the actress and filmmaker found the role of her lifetime. (Aha! Moment).(narrative)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... IN 1989 PROFESSIONAL LIFE began to fall apart. I had been a successful actress for many years, at one time considered the new darling of the Royal Shakespeare Company I wasn't a star, mind you, but I'd never been out of work, and with every job...

The Boston clothes party: Cheers has nothing on the Studio, where everybody knows your name (and your dress size). (Dream Big).(women's clothing store The Studio)
March 1, 2002... I'M HERE FOR MY REALITY CHECK," announces Barbara Alpert, a longtime customer of the Studio. She is greeted by the three women who run the business: Sandy Gradman; her twin sister, Ilene Epstein; and their best friend, Marcie Brawer. Hugs all...

The case of the Ditzy Desks: the job sounded terrific, but there were piles to go before J.J. could sleep. Julie Morgenstern helps an editorial neophyte get her office legs. (Order, Order!).(office organizing techniques)
March 1, 2002... J.J. MILLER SHOWED UP FOR work her first day at O magazine with equal amounts of zeal and trepidation. A former advertising sales rep, she bad never before worked as an assistant for one boss--much less two--or in any kind of editorial...

Leading from the heart: Think the best commanders are tough, tobacco-chomping, fear-inspiring? Emotional Intelligence author Daniel Goleman makes the case for the softer side of leadership. (Working Spirit).
March 1, 2002... THE TIME IS LONG PAST WHEN THE word leader conjured up the image of a steely-jawed man commanding an army, a company, or a nation. Now we've got steely-jawed women, too. That's a joke, of course. Living in a faltering...

Sex with Lisa: what do we want? Quality sex. When do we want it? (About Last Night).
March 1, 2002... AST NIGHT I CAME HOME TO ONE OF the five or six brilliant, handsome, rugged albeit sensitive, wildly amusing, incredibly wealthy men I'm currently juggling--let's call him Boyfriend no. 3. After drawing me a jasmine-scented bath and undressing...

The O List.(furnishings and personal accessories)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2002... "A few things I think are just great." --OPRAH The Cotton Club "Perfect postshower, pre-orange-juice wear. When it's time to slip into something comfortable this pistachio-colored set is just the thing." (Waffle-weave bathrobe and...

Jackets: the new deal. (Fashion).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2002... The old story: Jackets were the authority figures of fashion--stuffy and corporate and no fun at all. The new story: They're still a key symbol of respectability, but now they're curvy, nervy and quite intense about color. Eight women...

Canvas goes to charm school: how about a little respect for canvas? For spring, it picks up chic leather accents and pale, pretty colors. (Fashion).(accessories)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2002... Spring gives you permission to be less formal--but the fashion police at your office may not see it that way. The great compromise: accessories that combine rugged, weekendy canvas with the refinement of leather, the shyness of pink and yellow,...

This bud's for you. (Beauty Girls Toys).(cosmetics)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... WHAT'S MORE PROMISING TI-IAN THE FIRST flush of spring, when we begin to notice that the dark branches of the dogwood and forsythia, icebound throughout the black and white of winter, suddenly seem to swell under a pale halo of color? There's a...

Apply yourself: does your cosmetics routine need a little refresher course? Tai Beauchamp goes back to beauty boot camp. (Beauty Shopper).(techniques for makeup application)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... IF YOU'RE NOT QUITE SURE WHICH COLORS IN THOSE lovely eye shadow trios go where, whether you want a lipstick or a gloss or a glaze, or if you're over-or underblushed, join the club. For some of us, making up is hard to do. So we gathered a few...

Wake-up call: shall I compare thee to an old soul, or is it just your frazzled eyes? Dermatologists tell Kitty O'Callaghan how to banish puffiness, circles, and that lean, hungry look. (Beauty).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... THE EYES INDICATE THE ANTIQUITY of the soul...," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. Maybe so. But many mornings when I look at my own eyes, all I see is antiquity. Some days I'm puffier than others: If I happened to stay up too late or had a good cry...

Bathing beauties: Shower your bathroom (and your houseguests) with luscious colors, beauty tools stored in a seashell, embroidered linen towels, and more than a touch of glass. (Comfort Zone).(bathroom accessories)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... FOR GLOBAL WARMING of chilly tiled spaces, use heat-seeking colors, stimulating textures. They'll get you glowing before you even step into the shower. Clockwise from top: Lidded glass bowl, $12, Ad Hoc. Resin soap dish, $19, DKNY Home....

Food: a lust story; the way to Lise Funderburg's heart is definitely through her stomach. She and her new love hash things out. (Dish Fulfillment).(narrative)(Recipe)
March 1, 2002... HERE WAS A PERIOD IN MY LIFE when I had my very own Groundhog Day. The plot, ever repeating, went like this: I was on a date, midway through dinner, when the man across from me sat back in his chair and put down his utensils. He gazed at me....

A.S. in Wonderland: A.S. Byatt's favorite books take possession of heart, mind, and memory. (That Made a Difference).(narrative; recommended books)
March 1, 2002... WHEN I WAS A CHILD -- IN WARTIME, PRE-television--books were my life. I had very bad asthma and often spent two weeks in bed reading. I didn't like books about real children; I liked books about other worlds, full of forests and strange...

In the country of passion: a beautiful, gut-wrenching novel reveals the loves, secrets, and fractures in an Irish village. (Reading Room).('Death and Nightingales')
March 1, 2002... AT ONCE RESTRAINED AND devastating, Death and Nightingales (Bloomsbury) is one of those novels that transports you to another time and place and, in just a few pages, makes you feel as if you've never lived anywhere else. Set in 1883 in County...

Another year older: Reflections of a birthday girl. (Reading Room).('It's My F***ing Birthday')
March 1, 2002... Bickering parents, weird sex, and ambiguous floral arrangements pave the road to enlightenment in legendary comedy writer Merrill Markoe's first novel, It's My F***ing Birthday (Villard). Birthdays are a tricky business, but in Markoe's hands...

Destiny's child: an explosive untruth sets in motion Ian McEwan's un-put-downable Atonement. (Reading Room).
March 1, 2002... MAGINATIVE CHILDREN CAN BE dangerous, tending, as they do, to slide easily between fact and fiction, between what is true and what they simply wish were true. In the hothouse atmosphere of England between the two world wars, Briony Tallis is...

Fatal attraction: Chloe Hooper delivers a taut, erotic, knife-sharp debut novel in A Child's Book of True Crime. (Reading Room).
March 1, 2002... IF YOU LIVE A LIFE ENGAGED WITH good books, the process by which fine stories get written does not over time become less strange but more so. Art is alchemy, gold spun from passing thoughts, and each new practitioner has to invent the process...

The trouble with being good: Psychologist Sharon Lamb reports on what young women really think in The Secret Lives of Girls. (Reading Room).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... REMEMBER WHAT A GOOD girl you used to be? You didn't lie or cheat. You weren't jealous (much) or vindictive. You weren't bitchy or brassy or loud. Okay, you tortured your little sister, but (as you assured Mom) you didn't mean to. Oh, you were...

Bibilo: from our shelf to yours. (Reading Room).(five books)
March 1, 2002... * Lorna Sage grew up as an imaginative only child in a rural Welsh vicarage, tended by a submissive mother and harsh, unhappily married grandparents. The strength of her quirky memoir, Bad Blood (Morrow), which won England's prestigious...

Thrown for a loop: some things happen for a reason. Maybe Samantha Dunn's riding injury was one of them. Her crushed shin taught her what it really takes to stand on two legs. (Healing).
March 1, 2002... HOW CAN I EXPLAIN WHAT it feels like to be trampled by your own horse? I was surprised how easily my body could be flung like a rag doll. I was surprised at the unforgiving hardness of earth, how the grains of dirt crusted my teeth, how...

Oprah Talks to Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan.(Interview)
March 1, 2002... THE WALLS IN MICHAEL J. FOX'S WRITING NOOK are a testament to what he calls the most significant part of his life; they're filled with photos of his wife, actress Tracy Pollan, and their children. It was in this quiet space that he wrote his...

If music be the food of love: then chill the champagne, dip the artichoke hearts in parmesan, and slowly unwrap the chocolate truffles. Dinner for two is served.
March 1, 2002... MENU 1 Steamed artichoke with toasted shallot--and--Parmesan sauce Rosemary-Dijon-crusted rack of lamb Chocolate box filled with truffles MENU 2 Shrimp cocktail with spicy Bloody Mary sauce Asparagus-and-pesto lasagna...

To love, honor, and last longer than a year: we say "I do," then dive headfirst into marriage. Why do some couples succeed while others breal.(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... half? Marriage experts talk to Amy Hertz about sex, unity, anger, and the best kind of attachment The night before my wedding was the longest night of my life. By 10 P.M. on Friday October 21, 1994, I was alone in my cavernous bridal suite...

Resentment Rising: She felt like jabbing a fork into her sweetheart's face. So Allison Glock took a journey in search of peace of mind and a world without dirty socks.
March 1, 2002... I AM HAVING WHAT MY FRIEND Melissa and I call a rusty fork moment. Every wife has them. Those times when you sit across the table from your husband and he -- through a combination of neglect, ignorance, and distraction by other issues (ear...

The power of two: Six couples (with 137 years of togetherness between them) talk with Michelle Stacey about love, arguing, sticking with it, and the saving grace of separate bathrooms.
March 1, 2002... THE BEST COUPLES AREN'T ALWAYS the obvious ones--the kissy-face ones, the lap-sitting ones. In fact, those often seem to be the trying-too-hard ones, the about-to-split-up ones. No, the really enviable couples are those with their own...

Happily everafter: Nobody likes to see a marriage break up. But getting out of a bad relationship gave Jane Smiley a license to thrive and a chance to start over.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... ABOUT SIX MONTHS AFTER MY MARRIAGE BROKE UP, I happened to call a friend whom I hadn't seen in several years. We talked for a while, and then he said, "So, how's Steve?" * I said, "Oh, didn't you know? He left me for our dental hygienist." ...

Spring break: take; seven serious women who are crazy about clothes. Add; Punchy color, slouchy shapes, ruffles, and Flourishes-the Trends with the highest fun potential. Get; a vacation from tradition, a chance to go for the bold.
March 1, 2002... THE LIGHT FANTASTIC The Sudan is a beautiful land so tortured by civil war that when ALEK WEK was 14, her family fled to England. Discovered at a London street fair a few years later, she's now a certified supermodel. "I try to give back...

We talk pretty one day.(using language to express acceptance of person's appearance)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... GROWING UP IN A HOUSE OF FOUR GIRLS, WE HEARD "four girls!" I don't know how many times over the course of our childhoods. On a good day I enjoyed the attention, but mostly I couldn't help feeling like part of a boxed set. Being four girls...

Irrepressible me: going straight wasn't all it was cracked up to be.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... RAISED IN A STRAIGHT-HAIRED FAMILY at a time when girls aspired to look like Cher, my gravity-defying, frizzy curls made me feel hopelessly frayed looking. Sometime in childhood I'd decided that being attractive meant slavishly abiding by...

Me and a love/hate story: Revelation in three acts.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... THE FIRST MORNING. I WAS IN MY MID-THIRTIES, standing in front of the bathroom mirror and giving my physical self a hard time. I don't remember which part was offending me, but I was venting my disappointment with the poor quality of the...

Hi sweetie: the mirror reflected a face Valerie Monroe could love--her own.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... My MOTHER WILL VOCIFEROUSLY disagree, and I am happy to let her, but I am not a beautiful woman. I won't bother to bore you with the details, though I can give you an idea of what I mean. Recently I had the experience of being photographed next...

"I am very sad because my heart is bleeding".(photojournalist Deborah Copaken Kogan visits Pakistan with her six-year-old son)
March 1, 2002... Most people thought it was crazy for photojournalist Deborah Copaken Kogan to take her 6-year-old son to Pakistan to meet with Afghan refugees. But she brought her camera, he brought Legos, and they discovered a world of women and children,...

Advanced placement: how to get a higher degree of makeup know-how.(makeup application instruction services)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... IF YOU'VE MASTERED THE MAKEUP APPLICATION basics on page 108 and you're ready to move on to fancier handiwork, consider a visit to a makeup artist who can teach you -- one-on-one -- some tricks of the trade. For every day or for a special...

What I know for sure.(Brief Article)(Column)
March 1, 2002... A FEW YEARS AGO ON MY SHOW, A young woman in the audience who was engaged stood up and admitted how alone and disappointed she was feeling in the months leading up to her wedding. Her best friend, she said, hadn't even been around to help her...