I'm thinking a visit to Sandra Day O'Connor's OurCourts.org site ought to be good for copy.

Kevin W. Sharer became the CEO of Amgen in 2000. He was featured in yesterday's Times, explaining that when he came on board, he spent 150 hours with the top 150 people of the company, interviewing them, getting to know them, doing what sounds like a real Six Sigma, touchy feely series of individual feedback sessions.

And then he fired most of them.

Lesson learned? I don't know. Never let down your guard?

Cleaning Crew

I sat around last Saturday night with a handful of women of substantial means. When the conversation turned to notifying other parents of children and potential internet abuse, the women focused on an acquaintance who refused to believe her children could ever do anything wrong (unlike the rest of us, uh hunh) and that her control freak ways had spilled over to an insistence that she clean her own home. "She has money," the group said. "And a full time job. Why not get some help?"

"Oh," I understand that, maybe. "I feel awkward not cleaning up after myself, myself. It's not like I do it - I don't have the time and the house shows it, but there is something inside me that prefers mess, I guess, to having someone come in and mop up around my feet. Or else I'm just too cheap."

The ladies stared at me with that look of processing information. I had no idea what they were all thinking, except that I could tell they were all thinking something, like never eat anything she brings to a gathering. So I decided to give in, to cave, to hire a semi-monthly cleaning team and try to gain back at least one day a weekend for writing, photography, or maybe the kids. It started this morning. The two women came in, gave a treat to the family pet, and then split up rooms between them. As I was gathering my things to get to the office, one of the women asked, "Do you rent?"

I have no idea what that means. What is it about my house that suggests I rent?

Working on a piece on prom dresses, I found a Faviana long gown in a print that reminded me of Midsummer Night's Dream, with spirits of yellow and celedon, and hints of blue and orange, whisping about against a white background. I loved it. The other adults - male and female - in the office thought it was lovely. The 19 year old who was helping me with the image layout labeled the dress image "crazyassdress".

I may be the only person to distrust antioxidants. I read this article, figured that everybody else was marketing anti-oxidants for the fear factor that opens pocketbooks, and simply stayed off the band wagon. The Science Times today didn't report any benefit in the heart or cancer arena. I'm more curious to see if it is actually dangerous to load up.

Edit has taken to pomegranate juice and seeds, but I don't know why. Some other influential 8 year old must have convinced her because that it was for her own good because I don't think she likes it. She drinks the juice with the same reservation that one drinks wine. She doesn't guzzle.

Tools for a Paradigm Shift

I almost gave up on television this week, thanks to Tool Academy. After five minutes, my chest started to seize and I wanted to grab the girlfriends on the show and say, "What are you some kind of crazy, lazy, spineless losers? If your guy has been a tool to you, then why stick around? What's that you say? You think you're can change him? Oh, well then, after that five minutes of good behavior passes, what will you do? More importantly, haven't you been paying any attention to runway fashions this season? Where were you when Berlin, Paris, New York, and Milan all presented their best in current female attitude? You must have been busy washing his underpants because your 'But I love the lout' attitude is as out of season as invisible zippers. I'm serious. The new look is, 'Don't take anybody's crap,' but your closet is as garbaged-up as Rihanna's, full of 'I guess I don't deserve any better' ensembles."

A girl can fantasize.

But it is true, about the clothes, and although many link the looks to sober economic hard times, there is something very strong in all of it, optimistic even. Imagine Quest for Fire and Mad Max: survival of the fittest clothes. Think Nancy Drew gone goth: edgy, independent looks. Remember your kindly grandfather or great-grandfather: someone's got my back fabrics. If you can imagine these things, then you are half the way there to understanding how substantial and how much potential there is in the new collections. I'm not going to dress in waders, leather diapers, or a sweater with a unflattering sideline flow, but the fabrics, the colors, and the concepts within this Prada outfit, I get. I remember. They are the materials of my wise, reticent grandfather, who had at critical times in my life leaned forward to whisper in my ear, "Here's how you win at life, Kitten..." I didn't see the Prada outfit so much for the odd combination. My reaction was a subconscious, "I can do anything, now."

Except my thighs. I could never get my thighs to look acceptable in that get up.

Buff State/Erin Habe's Runway 2.0 is scheduled for April 25 at the Burchfield Penney. Be there. It really is a party scene, and the students are doing whatever it takes to get collections ready.





Photos by Catherine Berlin. (If you want images of the production process to help spread the word, email me or comment.)

I learned something very important as I stood outside the DMV on Rockaway Boulevard in Queens yesterday waiting for the doors to open: Men dress bad. Okay, I can qualify it if it makes you feel better. Most men dress bad. Most straight men dress bad. Most straight men who are standing in line at a DMV after just rolling out of bed dress bad. But, I think the first one sticks. Beyond "where in the world is your ass" jeans, the big look yesterday morning was the egg-shaped leather jacket tooled with intricate designs of favorite sports clubs (the Jets), past-times (street cards), or tourist attractions (the Statute of Liberty). It doesn't work on women, either, like on this old NY Times image of Anna Sui. Unless snow globe is the fashion statement you want to make, straight lines flatter.

Bill says: Do they think that this stuff looks good? Do they think that it makes them look good? Are they serious? There is no sense in which wearing a white leather jacket depicting a street corner crap game is going to make you look sexy or menacing, or encourage anyone to take you seriously. Someone should tell them. And isn't the point of jeans to make your butt look good? Even for guys? This wasn't a belt the jeans at the top of the thigh intentional gangsta look, either. There had to be a string of at least forty, 30+ year old men who looked like schlubs, and, oddly, alike in uniform from the I Don't Give a Shit What I Look Like club.

Skin Care

This winter has been especially rough on skin. Not even body butters (without any water in the ingredient list - the water actually gets into the skin layers and freezes - not good), Vaseline, and drinking lots of water have saved my hands from cracks that don't heal and brittle lips. Ew, I know. On a recent trip to the Alps, I gave up thinking I had all the answers. Worried over a crack near a finger nail that would not heal for two months and headed into an Italian pharmacy. I simply held my finger out to the pharmacist, who then inspected and gave me a cream with an antibiotic in it. Within three days it had healed. Bizarre. I had worked with my best stuff from over here to heal that crack and nothing worked. Lesson? Don't hesitate to ask a professional. And for skin care, Italy and France pharmacies seem to have magic potions - if you travel there, explore those shops.

All of my winter adventures interrupted some experiments I was conducting with June Marie Russo over at You're So Vain. She works hard to find the latest skin care regimens and bring them to our area. She treated me to a Bio-Visage Microcurrent Face Treatment, and I was working on testing out Silk Peel on my forearm and shins (left side only, for control purposes), to get them ready for Spring. These treatments use different methods to infuse botanicals and serums into the skin, working on hyperpigmentation and hydration. I could tell that the Silk Peel was removing the darker, blotchy skin tone that plagues my always sun-exposed forearms, although I didn't work with it long enough to see how it would effect fine lines around my wrist and fingers. And it made my decollete to look fantastic - a really tough area to keep young-looking. It must have plumped the area up somehow. If I were twenty-five again, these are the treatments I would start investing in to keep the skin in such great shape: a solid sunscreen and micro-technology. At my age, they help keep me healthy looking - which helps in its own way, including pychologically. As for cost, well, every budget has a set-aside for appearance. We spend on hair cuts and manicures, waxing, etc. Work these skin treatments in. The result is less obvious (which can make it hard to stay committed), but it is impossible to overestimate the value of having 30-something skin in your 40's and 50's. No haircut or nail color can do that.