TresSugar

Firsts! Oprah Shares Her First Cover With First Lady

CitizenSugar — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:03:50 -0800

For the last nine years Oprah has been a regular face and figure at the grocery store check-out line. The media mogul has been the sole cover girl on O magazine since its inception. But the upcoming April issue is a different story - Oprah is sharing(!) with First Lady Michelle Obama.

In the issue, which hits newsstands March 17, Michelle dishes on her new life in the White House. Here are some highlights:

On her first weekend in the White House: Well, we still had family here, so it was almost like a wedding. A huge, very complicated wedding. The last visitors didn't leave until Sunday. And then the first Monday was kind of weird. You know: Now we live here, and Barack is getting up and going to work, and it's just us. This is our home now.

On who the White House really belongs to: When you go out and come back, especially at night, with all the white lights on - it's just beautiful. We feel privileged, and we feel a responsibility to make it feel like the people's house. We have the good fortune of being able to sleep here, but this house belongs to America.

Will you encourage Oprah to share more by picking up this issue?

Source

Four Steps For Handling Hurtful Comments

DearSugar — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:00:00 -0700

There's nothing as rude and hurtful as a critical comment dressed as praise or a joke. The truth is no matter how they're brushed off, you know when someone's said something to intentionally put you down. Anger and embarrassment are natural reactions, but an article from November's O magazine offers some more productive ways of countering rude comments. I've summed up the four principles it mentions, so to see them just read more.

Find your emotional balance. In order for a verbal attack to be effective, the person being insulted has to be vulnerable. If you feel good about yourself, you'll recognize the attack as a character flaw in the person throwing it and not yourself.
Do what you can to get mean people out of your life. People who intentionally say something hurtful are not nice and by being around those people you're only opening yourself up to their cruel behavior.
If there's no way to get away from someone like this, then you have to learn how to properly defend yourself. The article offers three techniques as follows:
- Give a direct response to acknowledge that a comment is rude and to stop it in its tracks. For instance, "That was mean. Please stop."
- Don't get defensive - concede the truth in their words, but ignore their negative behavior completely. For example, if someone says something about how awful you look, you might respond with, "I'm tired today. How have you been?"
- Rudeness seeks to make others feel child-like and weak, so counter a biting statement with the tone of a reprimanding parent, like "If you have nothing nice to say, please don't say anything at all."
Changing your reaction to backhanded compliments and rude observations takes time, but the more you practice the more natural it will feel.

I found these strategies helpful, but I know everyone has their own ways of dealing with these situations. How do you react when someone makes a comment you know is meant to be to be critical and put you down?

Source

Dear Poll: Is It Better to Be With Someone Who Loves You More?

DearSugar — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:00:00 -0700

In the June issue of O magazine, one reader asks Cindy Chupack, author of The Between Boyfriends Book, if having a partner who is more in love with you than you are with him is actually a good thing. Since I've heard this relationship myth more times than I can count, but never have seen it actually work out, I found myself nodding along with Chupack's answer. She writes:

I understand the appeal of being the person who loves less. It seems safe. How could he ever hurt you if he feels lucky to have you? You've got the power. . . . But at a certain point, when it comes to love, my experience is that you're in or you're out. And if you're out, you need to ask yourself, "Why am I still in?"

I'd much rather be crazy in love then stay with someone just because they're head over heels in love with me, but I do agree that the latter provides a heartbreak safety net. Do you buy into the old adage that it's better to be with a man who loves you more than you love him?

Source

Who Would Oprah Pick For First Female President?

LibertySugar — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:00:42 -0800

Oprah is keen on a woman politician not named Hillary Clinton. The latest issue of O magazine features Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius in a piece about the virtues of female executive know-how. Governor Sebelius, an Obama supporter, gave this year's Democratic response after Bush's State of the Union.

Today the New York Times explored Oprah's apparent pick for first female president, along with some other likely candidates. The short list also includes Janet Napolitano, the Democratic governor of Arizona, and Condoleezza Rice.

The article explains that Sebelius and Napolitano have Clinton's ambitious appeal without all the baggage. It goes on to praise Napolitano for having bypassed "any of the old-fashioned ways of gaining political prominence: on the coattails of a doting daddy (see Susan Molinari), a dead husband (see Mary Bono), or a politically dead husband (see Elizabeth Dole)."

Do you think Hillary Clinton, with her connections and name recognition, is the female gender's best shot at capturing the White House? Or, are we just beginning to tap a generous supply of able female leaders?

Source

Jackie O in (Vintage) Nude Photo Scandal!

TresSugar — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:13:08 -0700

A word to the wise: naked photos can always resurface - even decades later. As archivists sort through 610 boxes full of memorabilia and junk collected by the late Andy Warhol, they recently stumbled upon an autographed nude photo of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Jackie O was a frequent muse to the packrat artist and apparently gifted him a naked poster signed, "For Andy, with enduring affection, Jackie Montauk." Matt Wrbican, who is overseeing the project of the Andy Warhol Foundation, says the handwriting matches that of Onassis, who often visited Warhol's Montauk, NY, beachhouse. Here's more:

So, after her second husband, Aristotle Socrates Onassis, got a paparazzi to take pictures of her skinny-dipping and it landed in the hands of Larry Flynt, who turned it into a poster for his porn magazine, Hustler, Jackie O sent a copy – likely as a joke – to Warhol, Wrbican said.

Wow, those guys are lucky that Jackie had a good sense of humor about the whole thing. In another funny twist, the relic was found amid junk ranging from receipts to fan mail and even Caroline Kennedy's wedding cake. Just goes to show you never know where things will turn up.

How Has Being a Woman Impacted Your Job?

TresSugar — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the subject of an extensive New York Times Magazine profile this week in which she discusses "the place of women on the court." At her confirmation hearings in 1993, Ginsburg said she hoped to see at least three or four women seated on the court after her. As she still waits for even one woman to join her, Ginsburg has noticed that she is judged differently than her male counterparts. She recounts one example:

"Once Justice O’Connor was questioning counsel at oral argument. I thought she was done, so I asked a question, and Sandra said: 'Just a minute, I’m not finished.' So I apologized to her and she said, 'It’s OK, Ruth.' The guys do it to each other all the time, they step on each other’s questions. And then there appeared an item in USA Today, and the headline was something like 'Rude Ruth Interrupts Sandra.'"

By simply interrupting a fellow woman Ginsburg was soon portrayed as rude or aggressive, while the same assertive characteristic in a man goes unnoticed. The justice's little anecdote reminds us that sometimes women face different standards in the workplace. Have you ever come across this?

Giggle Links

GiggleSugar — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:20:00 -0700

Celebrities riding invisible bicycles. - Holy Taco
This kid is hilarious. - College Humor
Literacacy night, eh? - Ebaum Nation
Robot love songs transport you to another dimension. - Best Week Ever
Portia di Rossi is sorry she got gay married. - Adfreak
Bill O'Reilly has a dirty mind. - Village Voice
Hat fail. - English Fail Blog
Bob Dylan's port-o-potty inspires outrage, crappy headlines. - New York magazine

Ask E. Jean For DearSugar: Why Can't I Find A Good Guy?

E Jean Carroll — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:00:00 -0700

Dear E. Jean,

I am at my wit’s end - seriously. In the last ten months I’ve been dumped by three guys. The first was a long term boyfriend. The second was I guy I really liked and had been seeing for two months and he just stopped calling. (I never saw it coming!) The third, ok, I admit it, he was a hookup, we saw each other three Thursday nights in a row, he’s INCREDIBLY hot! But all he wants to do is hookup and last week when I arrived at a party, he LEFT!! My self esteem is on the floor. What am I doing wrong? Why can’t I find a good guy?

I’m pretty, I’m funny, I’m nice, I volunteer, I give money to charity, where is my true love? I try and meet nice guys, I’ve signed up for Match.com and True.com, I ask my friends to fix me up, please help!! I’m going to a speed dating event this Sunday, can you give me some pointers? - No Man’s Land

To see E. Jean's answer read more

No Man, My Muffin,

Now, now, darling. Three guys? Three guys are nothing. If it had been thirty guys, I would have been concerned, but three? Phoo. You are waaaaay too frantic - because if all you think about are guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys, you never will find love.

What to do?

Unman yourself, clear your head, and glory in yourself.

For the next seven days you will not speed date, Match Date, True Date, or eat Fig Newtons which contain dates. You will not think about men, dream about men, or feel badly because you don’t “have” a man. You will go everywhere, do everything, try everything, live your life; but you will not bat so much as a left eyelash in the direction of anything that possesses a testicle anywhere on its body.

That’s right. You are going to enter Man-Frenzy Detox. No chaps for seven days.

You will wear only Donna Karen (Vivian Westwood, Stella McCartney, Vera Wang, etc.) and leave the Calvin, Ralph, and the boys in the closet. The paintings you contemplate will be by Frankenthaler, O’Keefe, and Cassatt. You will watch only videos shot by women on YouTube, listen only to Madonna (Mariah, Miley, Rihanna etc, etc), and watch Oprah (not Phil), Katie not Charlie, Paula, not Simon. Needless to say you will not read Dickens. If you bake a cake, it will be Betty Crocker!

You need to blot the Y chromosome from your brain.

I realize it will be difficult, but seven days of a Dude-Free existence will quickly reveal how clever and centered you can be - how full of color and nuance and energy you are when your thoughts are not wrapped around men.

On the eighth day you may venture forth into the world of blokes again - stronger, smarter, more self-assured. Then you may consider speed-dating.

To see more advice from E. Jean visit Elle magazine and AskEJean.com.

On the Newsstand: I Love Chelsea Clinton

CitizenSugar — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:00:28 -0800

I feel like I grew up with Chelsea Clinton. We had braces at the same time, both wore those 90s-era flowery dresses, her dad was president, I saw her once at Stanford, you know - we're practically twins. But I didn't really know her until I cracked open this week's New York magazine.

Chelsea, the long quiet, sheltered from the media, first daughter might as well be a unicorn for as much as we've gotten to know about her. Taking center stage for the first time helping her mom's campaign, Chelsea appears to be wowing audiences as a self assured, perfect blend of her mom's detail and her dad's charm.
Hillary:

For nearly an hour, Chelsea fielded questions and spoke in dense, well-organized paragraphs packed with detail, nuance, facts, and figures and punctuated by the occasional “y’know”-a verbal tic of her mom’s-and a soft “yeah?” indicating that she was finished.

and Bill:

Like her father, Chelsea is, in fact, a big flirt (not something her mother is known for). Approached by a tall model-handsome college jock at the University of Utah, she literally batted her eyelashes at him. “Hell-o!” she said in a Mae West tone before posing for a snapshot with him.

Touted in the article as perhaps the best hope at taking over the "Clinton Dynasty," to find out what made me really like her a lot, read more.

When a young man in back demanded to know the Clinton campaign’s “new strategy” in view of the “crippling blow” of Ted and Caroline Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama, Chelsea shot him a level gaze. “I don’t think there is a new strategy,” she said. “My mom has been running for the last year, talking about what she thinks our challenges are and what our opportunities are, and why she thinks she’s the most well positioned to deal with our problems in America and to solve things like Social Security or combat global warming or get our economy back on track. There’s no difference today from last week or last month.”

I don't know about you, but I think Chelsea could just be the strongest Clinton on the campaign trail.

Source

At Work, What Type of Communicator Are You?

DearSugar — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:00:03 -0700

It was the headline of this O Magazine article that first caught my eye: How to Get What You Want From Anyone. I found the topic even more fascinating; it's about how to get the best results from the different types of people you encounter in the office. Business communication expert John Artise divides office communicators into four main categories - feelers, sensors, thinkers, and intuitors - and offers suggestions on how to best talk to each sort of person.

I definitely recognize all of these types from the offices I've worked in! Which type are you? Here are some tips for recognizing the different types of people we have to deal with at work:

The Sensor: A Sensor labors under the constant pressure of deadlines and does everything-including communicating with you-in bursts of very intense energy. She has a short attention span and can make you feel as if you're taking up too much of her time just by saying hello.

For the other three types, read more

The Feeler: The Feeler uses language to express emotion. She's an empath and wants to connect, make you feel comfortable. If you're not doing so well, she'll try to figure out a way to help you.

The Thinker: The Thinker operates on logic: She loves organization and systems and she likes to see projects through to the bitter end. These people play by numbers and facts. They are logical and realistic, and they will pop any idealistic balloon by citing a similar situation in which someone failed.

The Intuitor: The Intuitor thinks in terms of the conceptual and long-range plans; she's a problem solver but not necessarily interested in sticking around to implement solutions-she'd rather move on to the next puzzle. She's the one with the big ideas that you have a hard time understanding. She presents information as though you're supposed to know exactly what she's talking about.

Do any of those sound like you or people you know? Please share in the comments below.

Source