“As far back as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with women’s magazines. In my memory, they’re forever intertwined with trips to the hairdresser, where I’d inevitably wind up parked under a dryer. Needless to say, I started reading Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and Elle at a pretty young age. Before age ten I wanted to be a “Cosmo Girl,†the kind of fun, fearless, and flirty gal that Helen Gurley Brown encouraged us all to be.
But by my teenage years, I wasn’t feeling Cosmo’s endless exhortations on how to please a man (there are just so many numbered lists and Bedside Astrology guides one can take!). My godmother read Essence, but it seemed boring to me then, with too many articles about finances and not enough fashion spreads and celebrity interviews for my then-immature taste. My sister was a regular reader of both Glamour and Mademoiselle, so I absorbed those. But my school friend…”more.
