Tuesday Favorites: Why I read ELLE Magazine

The way my schedule lays out, Tuesdays and Fridays are my days off. One of those Tuesdays or Fridays a month, I'll have the time to sleep in, have some coffee, and read my new ELLE Magazine. This was one of those glorious Tuesdays.

Fortunately, I also receive Body+Soul and Saveur, so, I wasn't sitting in my bliss for only 20 minutes. I do flip through the whole ELLE issue... just in case I'll be surprised with interesting new books or relevant articles. But, most often, the only thing worth reading is E. Jean's advice column. Her writing is probably the reason I bothered to renew my subscription.

(from elle.com)

I used to think I was qualified to write an advice column. After all, that's mostly what I do. I give advice almost all the time. I am willing to believe I have a few acquaintances only because I'm a reliable sounding board. This actually doesn't bother me... which led me to believe I have what it takes...

...but every time I read E. Jean's column, I realize how wrong I am.

What I'll do is read the question. I consider what I think of the problem. Then I wonder how a person who would ask this question would react to my opinion. At that point, one has to consider how to package a response that would lead this specific personality in the right direction. I piece together what I might generally prescribe.

And then I read E. Jean's response... and she's just so smooth, smart, and clever...

Well, maybe I should take it easy on myself. After all, we're talking about a former Miss Indiana University who failed her only journalism class and snapped back with a fruitful career. She was a cheerleader and the daughter of an inventor father and a politician mother with less than stellar SAT scores. Still, she's been writing for ELLE since 1993 and her column has been ranked in the top five best magazine columns. She's got a feisty, determined head start on me.

I was particularly fond of this month's column. Two of her strongest talents rang through: Her ability to answer your question and elegantly tell you off at the same time and her gift for finding solutions to problems way outside of her field.

A young woman wrote her to ask how to auction off her virginity. Aside from the fact that her original plan was to find a "sugar daddy" to wine, dine, and dress her, this "improved" version of her plan degrades her entirely for the sake of paying off loans and pursue her interests. Instead of telling her this though, which I might have done, she told her how to accomplish this goal. However, she did it in such a way that if you have at least two brain cells to rub together and make a spark, you can see that she's not recommending this solution.

You can read the whole article here: BAD SALE

She also gave advice to a woman with a work issue. She's unhappy with her job and, in times like these, she knows that she's lucky to have a job at all. But, what she really wants to do is find a way to offer a sort of equestrian therapy for children with emotional and physical disabilities. E. Jean is so resourceful... I would have thrown out a letter like this one with no clue what to tell this horse-loving humanitarian. E. Jean comes to the rescue with experts (an SBA associate administrator who knows of loan program that would fit her purposes), research (which shows that those who seek management and technical assistance make their business pursuits work out better in the long run), and words of encouragement to help this woman get started (Now just might be the time to start a dream business). With her biting honesty, E. Jean manages to have compassion... no matter how many stupid requests or questions she must get that never make it to the magazine.

(from shoppingblog.com)

I won't say that I've never read another clever or well-written article in ELLE Magazine, but E. Jean is the most consistently interesting writer working for this publication. I've saved a few back issues because there were good articles I wanted to keep... I wish I could find the few on parenting actually for some of the new mothers in my world. The quality of those sorts of articles has basically disappeared in the last three years. I mostly use it for my envelopes for mailing letters (I've been making my own envelopes from magazine paper since I was about 13).

Parabola and Body+Soul are my favorite magazines for content... but E. Jean certainly remains among my favorite short-distance writers.