photo from Getty Images, via ELLE
My interview with White Collar star Matt Bomer is in the March issue of ELLE. Mr. Bomer is lovely! Considerate, nice, funny -- a real pleasure to talk to. And if you think he looks good in this mug shot, you should see the photo in the magazine. Wowza!
There's a teaser of my interview with the hilarious Amy Poehler in the April issue of ELLE, but the online version at ELLE.com is much longer, funnier and, if I do say so myself, more interesting. Here, the SNL veteran and long-time improvista has more room to talk about women and comedy, and how while she doesn't necessarily see her comedy as a feminist act, she has other awesome projects that help her feel "connected to the movement." Good stuff!
My essay about the cost of kids is in the October issue of ELLE. There's no online link (yet?), but it's on page 414 (Jennifer Lopez is on the cover, looking classy). A tease:
Cradle Robber?
Women aren't supposed to think about the childbearing decision as an economic one. But how does a young couple factor the cost of a kid into an already paycheck-to-paycheck existence? One would-be mother stares down the crib sheet.
I’m everlastingly grateful to my wonderful family (especially my mom) and my fiancée, K.O., for encouraging me to write honestly about my experiences -- and for being so supportive and understanding when I went ahead and did just that.
Curious to hear reactions to this one...
UPDATE: My story is now available online at elle.com
http://www.elle.com/featurefullstory/14629/cradle-robber-rising-childbearing-costs.html
Just after the new year, I interviewed journalist and novelist Veronica Chambers about her new book, "Kickboxing Geishas: How Modern Japanese Women are Changing Their Nation" (try not to judge this book by its Westerner-in-whiteface cover photo, or its silly title). Given my (somewhat obsessive) interest in Japan and my own discussions with Japanese friends, I was really excited to talk to Veronica about her research.
Veronica told me that while in Japan for a media fellowship in 2000, she sensed that women were frustrated with their situation, and she suspected that the country was on the brink of widespread social change. She spent three years talking to over 75 Japanese women about work, family, ambition, autonomy. Seventy-five may not sound like a lot, but many of the same themes kept coming up. I was impressed that Veronica, who speaks and writes some Japanese but isn't fluent, was able to get so many women in this famously private country to speak candidly with her--a total stranger--about such personal topics. The perspectives she recounts here bring color and commentary to the recent news stories to come out of Japan, like how that country's birth rates and marriage rates have been steadily plummeting.
However, I think Veronica gives her subjects a little too much credit.