O, The Oprah Magazine articles from May 2006

O, The Oprah Magazine archives from May 2006

We hear you! Big easy comfort food hits home for readers, who also find Elizabeth Gilbert's upbeat attitude infectious and doctors' overuse of antidepressants alarming. There's more....(letters)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... Thank you for "Delta Force," your March article on New Orleans chefs, by Mimi Read. It was a visual reminder of how much the city means to me. As a hurricane evacuee living in Dallas until my house repairs are complete, I was refreshed to see...

Corrections.(Correction notice)
May 1, 2006... Due to a misprint, April's Shop Guide was incomplete. For a full listing of shopping resources, please visit oprah.com. In March, the photo of Bonnie Friedman on page 217 was taken by Mary Churchill.

Here we go!
May 1, 2006... THEY CAN LIFT YOUR heart and shatter your nerves, make you push the hair out of your eyes, sit up straight, and eat broccoli. They're called mothers, and this month we're taking a closer look at what they're doing right (Elizabeth Gilbert,...

Live your best life.(Poem)
May 1, 2006... Sitting in the grass under the stars by the extinguished fire, sitting there after the last trip with a jug and a pail of water, amazed at how long the wet logs continue to sizzle, mistaking a firefly in the grass for a spark,...

May.
May 1, 2006... "[My mother] had handed down respect for the possibilities--and the will to grasp them."--Alice Walker [TABLE OMITTED] Give tangible thanks to Mom, and others who mothered you, with an armload of flowers. "The older I get the...

Floral majority: rethinking the thorny question of what to give for Mother's Day.(GO FIGURE)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... 1 Rank of roses among types of flowers purchased for Mother's Day 50.7 Percent of consumers that will give flowers as Mother's Day gifts $1.37 BILLION Total amount spent in the United States on Mother's Day flowers last...

Pennies from heaven.(Site to See)(charities)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Imagine if every time you logged on and looked up the caloric content of the snack you just ate, you earned money for charity. With each search you launch on goodsearch.com, about 1 cent goes to the charity or school of your choice. You simply...

Halfway to margaritaville.(Garden Ruin )(Sound recording review)
May 1, 2006... CALEXICO'S MUSIC EVOKES the American Southwest, with influences ranging from spaghetti Western soundtracks to border-town rock-country-mariachi bands. The six-man outfit's fifth album, Garden Ruin (Quarterstick), is a Baja landscape crossed by...

The short list.(tv)
May 1, 2006... ER gets political with a multi-episode story line set in Darfur, Sudan, that producers hope will bring attention to a region that has seen hundreds of thousands massacred and millions displaced in three years of tribal warfare (April 20 and...

Must-see little movie of the month: Art School Confidential.(Film)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE a comic book geek to be excited about the return of director Terry Zwigoff and comics creator Daniel Clowes, the dynamic duo behind 2001's acclaimed movie Ghost World. Their new collaboration, Art School Confidential, is a...

The short list.(movies)
May 1, 2006... Can you spell magnetic? Thirteen-year-old Keke Palmer (above) shines as a prodigy who spells her way to fame in the feel-good family drama Akeelah and the Bee, costarring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett. * If there were an Oscar for...

Welcome to Your Crisis: How to Use the Power of Crisis to Create the Life You Want.(NUGGET)
May 1, 2006... "It is easy to understand how a person who identified herself as a wife would feel that her life were over when her marriage ended. A successful young entrepreneur loses her job. Who is she now?... A crisis forces you to create a new life, one...

Tripping the Prom Queen: The Truth about Women and Rivalry.(NUGGET)
May 1, 2006... "Use your envy and jealousy to motivate yourself.... If you discover that you envy another woman's relationship, job, or appearance, ask yourself what this response tells you about what you really want.... Almost always, when we feel envious,...

Calling all iPods.(Gizmo)(MP3 player and bluetooth technology)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... You're listening to Springsteen on your MP3 player and you feel your cell vibrate, so you yank out the earphones and dig through your bag for the phone--inevitably missing the call. Now you can streamline the process with the Tekkeon MyTalker...

What's playing in Chris Botti's ear?(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... "I'M A JAZZ MUSICIAN who's crossed over into pop," trumpeter Chris Botti says, explaining why he's happily shuttling between continents on a grueling 11-month world tour. "I'll do anything to keep it going as long as people will buy...

Three home truths from Willie Nelson.(Who Knew?)(Brief article)(Column)
May 1, 2006... FEW 73-YEAR-OLD hippie cowboys attract the kind of following that Willie Nelson does. He's written 2,500 songs and two best-selling books, appeared in 16 films, and inspired the cult country song "What Would Willie Do?" The answer can be found...

But at least we're jolly.(Trend Fatigue)
May 1, 2006... Pick a nationality: ______ women don't get fat. First came the French, reveling in their cultural superiority in the juggernaut nondiet book French Women Don't Get Fat. But we forgave author Mireille Guiliano for telling us we "need what French...

The medium has a message: Patricia Arquette isn't a medium; she just plays one on TV. As for Allison DuBois--the extraordinarily gifted police psychic Arquette portrays on Medium--she turns out to be beautiful, ethical, and painfully aware of what she's going to get for Christmas. An actress sits down with her remarkable inspiration.(Interview)
May 1, 2006... ON FIRST GLANCE, ALLISON DUBOIS IS a suburban mother of three who just happens to have beauty pageant looks and a great aerospace engineer of a husband named Joe. But behind the cul-de-sac image is a medium with abilities so extraordinary,...

Something to think about.
May 1, 2006... "When I plant bulbs," wrote poet May Sarton, "I pat the earth around each one and realize suddenly that that is what my mother did." Every day we do, think, or feel something that, if we stopped to consider it, reminds us of our mother. This...

Help! Mayday! SOS! Having trouble with your computer? Your pile of bills? Your life? Help is out there if you know how--and how often--to ask. Martha Beck explains.
May 1, 2006... MY FRIEND WES * HAS A BRILLIANT mind, a wicked sense of humor, and a fairly involved case of cerebral palsy. When he and his wife, Sue,* bought their first house, Wes insisted it be as thoroughly modified for special needs as was his bachelor...

Dr. Phil: "let your daughter know she has a parent who accepts her"; Phillip C. McGraw, PhD, on a mother's wish for reconciliation, a woman's frustration with her do-nothing boyfriend, and a wife's appeal for another baby.(advice, etc.)
May 1, 2006... Q: I'm the mother of two teenage girls, ages 17 and 13, and I've been divorced from their father for 11 years. Ours was a typical split--not very nice. The problem is that my oldest daughter and her father have grown apart. She has a lot of...

Suze Orman: what every stay-at-home mother should know about money now; Who pays the bills, who pockets the change, and who has the power when there's only one income--essential strategies for the nonworking spouse.(Editorial)
May 1, 2006... EVERYWHERE I GO, women come to me with their biggest financial fears. Some of the most heartrending stories are those from stay-at-home mothers who have become completely dependent on their husbands' incomes. Married for years, they feel...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus's aha! moment: dirty air. Grubby water. Just sit back and take it? Nuh-uh. The actress goes from green living to red-hot action.(advice, etc.)
May 1, 2006... ABOUT 12 YEARS AGO, MY FIRST SON AND I began to take walks along the beaches in Los Angeles, and some days he couldn't swim because the water was too polluted. By the time my second son was born, I'd joined the California environmental...

Emotional cheating: flirtatious e-mails. Cell phone heart-to-hearts. Perfectly harmless working lunches. It's a new kind of adultery. There's no sex, but psychiatrist Gail Saltz knows trouble when she sees it.
May 1, 2006... A CLIENT I'LL CALL SHARON knew that something was missing in her marriage. She and Robert used to be passionate about each other, she said, but after 12 years and two children, she felt removed. Robert never asked her about work or what she was...

Reach for the Stars: it's the greatest light show of all, and it's free. Let these cards guide you to this summer's stellar attractions.(O to go)
May 1, 2006... May Bootes, usually translated as "the herdsman," is shaped like a kite and anchored by the large star Arcturus. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] June The fifth largest constellation, Hercules is best seen this time of year. Its center...

The O list.
May 1, 2006... "A few things I think are just great."--OPRAH The Icing on the Cake "Sam Godfrey does for dessert what da Vinci did for Mona Lisa. Now he's created devil's food cakes--in the form of a pocketbook, gift box, and hat--that almost look...

Look what we found! The new timepieces have character: clean and tailored (for suits), sweetened with pastels, diamonds, and racy bracelets (for fancier dress).
May 1, 2006... On the Dot Watches borrowed from the boys--so big and graphically crisp, most don't need numbers--make our wrists look delicate. 1. Coppery face, $950, Montblanc. 2. Diamond-trimmed and faceted bracelet, $4,250, John Galliano for Dior. 3....

The 10-pounds-less dress; Dresses are newly cool this summer, and that's not all: the right one can solve any body issue with one quick zip. Six before-and-afters.
May 1, 2006... Chest Control Jacqueline Aviles, graphic designer and translator, 32 BEFORE: C cup and up? Forget spaghetti straps and plunging decolletage--they're not cut out for heavy lifting, and you have nowhere to hide the serious lingerie your...

Look what we found! The softest way to wear scent, a brilliant new mascara, a manicure breakthrough, and more ... Here's what O's beauty editors--Valerie Monroe and Jenny Bailly--fell in love with this month.
May 1, 2006... These powder puffs make a pretty picture, but the real fun is in the feel. The Caron goose down puff (above, in green), $40--which also comes in pink, fuchsia, white, peach, blue, yellow, and lilac--is so weightless, it's like holding a cloud...

Fragrances: what to wear where.
May 1, 2006... Everyone needs a little black dress, a businesslike suit, a killer cocktail outfit... but we're not talking clothes here, we're talking scents. Specifically, a wardrobe of scents. Because what's the point of your don't-mess-with-me office...

Ask Val: your makeup mysteries, hair issues, and skin problems solved! Valerie Monroe, O's beauty director, fields your questions.
May 1, 2006... My hair is totally dry from winter. What's the best way to repair it? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A: Rereading your question, I realized, sadly, that I have no idea. I don't take care of my own hair anymore. I've turned into one of those...

Romancing the bath: make taking a shower like a walk in the park, fragrant, refreshing, a ... nd good for the stressed-out soul.(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... SHOWER FLOWER POWER Towels aren't there only to absorb water; they also establish a bathroom's mood--consider updating them (just as you do your clothes) for spring and summer: Swapping wintry jewel colors like garnet and emerald green for...

Trade up to the plush Quilts[TM] of Quilted Northern[R] Ultra and turn an every day necessity into a little bit of luxury.(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... 1 Trade up with flowers Keep a vase of your favorite spring blooms on your coffee table or kitchen table. Buds such as tulips or daffodils evoke a fresh-from-the-garden feel and will captivate everyone in your home. [ILLUSTRATION...

A grain of comfort; Her bedridden father had one wish: white rice, simply prepared. Who knew magic lay inside such a plain dish?
May 1, 2006... I HAD NO IDEA IT WOULD BE OUR last meal together. My father, ill with pulmonary fibrosis for a year and bedridden for nine months, told me he wanted a bowl of plain white rice for supper. A staple of our family's Haitian diet, rice was...

Milking it.
May 1, 2006... * FOR WOMEN who have it all--hungry infant, demanding boss, jammed calendar--a whole new wave of electric double-breast pumps promises help. Unfortunately, these devices aren't FDA regulated, so "it can be challenging to choose the right one,"...

Cream puffs, anyone?
May 1, 2006... WHEN THE largest ever clinical trial on low-fat diets--the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), which followed nearly 49,000 women over eight years--showed that eating lean doesn't statistically reduce your risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer,...

Aisle spy: the hot new health foods.
May 1, 2006... MOVE OVER, GRANOLA. Lots of regular grub--from deep-fried fish to eggs and bread--is now available in healthier forms, thanks to some high-tech nutritional fiddling. We asked a few experts how beneficial these new foods really are, and gathered...

The way to eat: David L. Katz, MD, sorts out the healthy, the harmful, and the hype.
May 1, 2006... Q | I was surprised to see MSG linked to the obesity crisis and labeled addictive. What is your opinion? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] --KATHERINE DREWNIAK, Winnipeg, Manitoba While there is no direct evidence that monosodium glutamate is...

The real "after" picture: what nobody tells you about gastric bypass.
May 1, 2006... From all the hoopla, having your stomach shrunk to a fraction of its former self sounds like the end of dieting. But for many of the 171,000 Americans who had the procedure last year, what they went through afterward--temptation, addiction,...

How cancer made a mother out of me.
May 1, 2006... On the second anniversary of her mother's death, CAITLIAN FLANGAN'S doctors told her she had cancer. Her response was the ultimate tribute to the woman who raised her: stay gallant, move ahead--and behave like a mother should. In an excerpt...

8 ways to save your life: gardening, cooking, music, yoga, dance--life brighteners, yes, but life changers? You have no idea. Aimee Lee Ball has some amazing case histories.
May 1, 2006... TRANQUIL AND UNkinked after a good yoga class at a new studio, I mentioned to the instructor that I'd begun a yoga practice last year as an antidote to stress during a time when no arena of my life seemed unscathed and my body was so stiff with...

This girl's life: she's got an outspoken 3-year-old. An absentee boyfriend. A so-called glamour job. And a deep fear of olive loaf. If you think your life's a roller coaster, spend a little quality time with our new monthly columnist, Lisa Kogan.
May 1, 2006... I SUPPOSE YOU'RE WONDERING WHY I've gathered you all here today. Wait a second, who starts a brand-new column like that? Why am I suddenly channeling Agatha Christie? Okay, let's not panic. I can break set, I can shift gears. Maybe something...

Hockney: his crowd; In portraits of his friends and relations, the master of surface takes us to unexpected depths.(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Flattery will get you nowhere. David Hockney will paint you the way he sees you, as he has done so provocatively with friends, lovers, and family members (not to mention himself) over the past 50 years. For an exhibition now traveling in the...

The end in sight: Everyman is Philip Roth at his brilliant, merciless, moving best.(Everyman)(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... PHILIP ROTH BECAME FAmous at a young age for novels like Goodbye, Columbus and Portnoy's Complaint, notorious books full of roaring libido, immigrant ambition, and burning satire. But true seriousness overtook him relentlessly, like a shadow...

Educating Rita: how it was, growing up black, horse-mad, and more or less allergic to your aunt in the still-wild West.(If the Creek Don't Rise: My Life Out West with the Last Black Widow of the Civil War )(Book review)
May 1, 2006... Rita Williams's first memory is of lying on an elk hide in a field of snow, "entertained by the roiling Colorado sky against the mountains, the racing thunderheads piling up on top of each other, lit from within, like mounds of freshly sheared...

The flight out of Paris: what's astonishing isn't that these two grand, brutal, wartime novellas were finally found--it's that they were written at all.(Suite Francaise)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... IN JUNE 1940 IRENE Nemirovsky, a glamorous Russian-Jewish emigre writer, fled Paris and the approaching German army with her husband to join her two daughters, who had already been sent south. She was 37, with five novels to her credit. Two...

American beauties.(reading room)(Smithsonian American Art Museum)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... A big, gorgeous hunk of history, America's Art (Abrams) highlights the vast collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, closed for renovation since 2000 and reopening this July. Here are crisply minted 18th-century portraits, soaring...

Take two--they're small: adopting first one, then a second little girl from Eastern Europe, a woman comes face-to-face with her own flawed self.(Theresa Reid's Two Little Girls: A Memoir of Adoption )(Excerpt)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... THERESA REID, THE AUthor of Two Little Girls: A Memoir of Adoption (Berkley), was in her late 30s, on a crowded city street, when she noticed a child's small hand resting on a man's shoulder, revealing an intimacy so profound, so tender, that...

Bad boy! The real-life misadventures of a literary renegade.(Augusten Burroughs's Possible Side Effects )(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Oh, that boy is trouble. Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scissors) offers more tales of his dysfunctional family and his ill-fated forays into polite society in his outrageously funny new collection of essays, Possible Side Effects (St....

The Zen of hens: what does a divorced suburban matron with a moody 12-year-old daughter need to start over? A rickety house by the sea and ... a bunch of chickens? A taste of a plucky new memoir.(Excerpt)
May 1, 2006... "SO WHAT WAS IT ABOUT CHICKens that made me want to set up my lawn chair out there by the chicken yard, sit down with a glass of lemonade, and watch? They were simple. They didn't seem to think much. Their minds were like the clear blue skies...

BibliO: six fictions about loving, surviving, and letting go.
May 1, 2006... * Not everyone melts in the melting pot. Maryam Yazdan, who grew up in Iran but came of age in the United States, persists in feeling like a resident stranger in Anne Tyler's subtle and consoling new novel, Digging to America (Knopf). As her...

Books that made a difference to Philip Seymour Hoffman: the Mission Impossible III star likes journalism with the depth of fiction and four sad, gorgeous 20th-century American novels.(The Sportswriter)(Independence Day)(Revolutionary Road)(Into the Wild)(A Thousand Acres)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... I'M READING JOAN DIDION'S SLOUCHing Towards Bethlehem right now. It's wonderful, and I am not able to describe why. What's interesting is that many of the essays were written around the time that Truman Capote's In Cold Blood came out. Didion...

Why is Shirin Ebadi still risking her life? Rapes. Murders. Brutal injustices toward women and children, all cloaked in silence--until an incredibly gutsy lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, came along to change some of the most outrageous laws on the planet. In the process, she's been jailed, landed on a government hit list--and become the first Muslim woman to win a Nobel peace prize. Tara Bahrampour reports.(Biography)
May 1, 2006... ON A SUNNY DAY IN 1996, 9-YEAR-OLD Leila Fathi was picking wildflowers with her cousin near her family's village in northwest Iran when three men crept up behind her. Pinning her arms to her back, they dragged her, kicking and thrashing, to the...

Oprah talks to Mary J. Blige.(THE O INTERVIEW)(Interview)
May 1, 2006... The diva who's gone from the baddest of bad girls to the best of good examples ("I know transformation when I see it," says Oprah) talks about drugs, alcohol, toxic friends, the lyrics she'd like to change, the shock that turned her around, PMS...

The art of getting dressed: Matisse blues. O'Keeffe flowers. A skirt that could have come straight off a Rothko canvas. Painting has always influenced fashion, but lately, there's been a surge of aesthetic fervor--you might say the style world is having an art attack.
May 1, 2006... Swoops, drips, and spatters: This fabric is so kinetic, you can almost see the paint being poured and flung (it's reminiscent of Jackson Pollock's legendary abstractions). A hip little dress from Agnes B. ($340), this page, reflects the...

Sweet young things: after a winter of stick-to-your ribs cooking, aren't you hungry for something lighter, fresher, zingier? Spring-ier? Chef Rori Trovato whips up a lacy zucchini ribbon "pasta," a zippy mint and pea hummus, a fruit-sweetened carrot cake that has to be mmm-mmm-mmm-'ed to be believed....(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... STOW AWAY THE HEAVY-DUTY CAST-IRON casserole pans. Say "Same time next year" to the turkeys, roasts, root vegetables, and bubbling, all-day stews. The passage from winter to spring echoes the transition from an ornate Beethoven symphony to a...

Breathing space.(Castle Crags park)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Pause in your midday hike to linger here, in this bower of tangled wild lupine clustered against the verdant wilderness of California's Castle Crags park. PHOTOGRAPH BY DIANE COOK AND LEN JENSHEL

Great moments in mothering.
May 1, 2006... What if there were an Oscar for Outstanding Performance Given by a Mother in the Line of Duty? We asked eight women to tell us about their mothers' greatest hits--lessons learned, love made visible, childhood tears turned to still-glowing...

Listen to your mother!(motherly advises)
May 1, 2006... Or rather, listen to these mothers--they're doctors, models, makeup artists, cosmetics tycoons--beauty gurus of one sort or another. When we asked them and other beauty experts what single bit of advice they'd give their daughters, they offered...

The mother of all conflicts.
May 1, 2006... Forget the Mommy Wars. The real struggle--going on in offices all across the country--is between women who have kids and women who don't. The moms feel torn by their dual load of work and children; the nonmoms resent having to pick up the slack...

Flex and the office: of course you'd like to have a job and a life. But before you ask your boss about flextime, there are a few things she wishes you knew. Suzy Welch gives you the view from above.
May 1, 2006... ELEVEN YEARS AGO, STUCK ABOARD A bouncing little commuter jet, circling Boston in a gusty snowstorm that would not let up, I found myself cursing my fancy job as a consultant, my hard-driving boss, and my crazy, unmanageable life. Plus I was...

The perfect mother (a cautionary tale): she was everything her own mother wasn't--constant, attentive, there. So why was her young daughter falling apart? Michelle Herman reports on her single-minded pursuit of (her child's) happiness--and how she applied the brakes just in time.(Fictional work)
May 1, 2006... "LISTEN TO THIS," I SAY TO MY 12-YEAR-old. We're eating dinner and reading, each with her own book propped up at the edge of her plate. Hers is a behind-the-scenes look at the musical Wicked, and she has just finished telling me how they turned...

The chicer sneaker; As sneakers get sleeker and more streamlined, they're also more versatile: wear freely with pants, suits, and even skirts (think denim or linen).(Fashion)
May 1, 2006... Converse ($45) High-contrast slip-ons are a cool retread of the 1930s classics; converse.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JLO ($59) Bling things (faux diamonds, gold accents) mesh well with sporty lines; lovemyshoes.com. [ILLUSTRATION...

Lucky stripes: the new stripes (less rugby, more office) are summer's great layering piece--and they can forge on into fall.
May 1, 2006... Chico's ($42) Two sizes of stripes in traditional navy and white give this easy-fitting shirt a soupcon of op art cool; chicos.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Queue ($52) Sold as a set, these two brilliant tees come in a superfine cotton...

Out, damn rough spots! Dull skin? Chapped lips? Rough elbows? Calloused feet? Whatever part of your body needs work, there's a specially designed skin polisher for the job.(Beauty)
May 1, 2006... A NEW BATCH OF SLOUGHERS not only remove complexion-dulling dead skin cells but make the process a pleasure, with divine textures, scents, and even a brilliant, no-hands-necessary design. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOR LIPS: Crabtree &...

Sweet young things; Zingy, spring-y, and delicious: mint and pea hummus; orange-poached cod; the best, spiciest black-eyed peas ever ... (for story, see page 252).
May 1, 2006... Quick Vegetable Soup with Walnut Pesto [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Soup: 8 cups vegetable broth 2 bay leaves 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 onion, chopped 2 carrots, peeled and chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped 2 zucchini, halved...

Shop guide (all prices are approximate).(Buyers guide)
May 1, 2006... COVER/HERE WE GO P.37 Bill Blass silk taffeta gown with braided belt, $6,950, Saks Fifth Avenue; 877-551-7257. H. Stern chandelier earrings, $5,700; 800-747-8376; hstern.net. Chanel stainless steel watch with pink patent leather strap, $1,700;...

What I know for sure.
May 1, 2006... I NO LONGER MAKE A list of New Year's resolutions. I do, however, give considerable thought to how I can continue to move forward. Last New Year's Day, I was sitting on my front porch in Hawaii, overlooking the ocean, meditating. I prayed to be...