What were you doing before the show?
Before the show I was employed by Target, designing Mossimo Black Label for almost five years. I left that job to participate in season 6. After we finished taping, I had some questions about what I wanted to do next. I took some time to reflect. Then I was offered the opportunity to come work for Kohl's as one of their designers, so that's what I'm doing currently, as well as a myriad of other things — one of which is my own clothing label, Ra'mon Lawrence. I just showed by Spring 2010 collection in New York. I'm also doing a couple of collaborations… I really am a busy guy right now.

When did you start designing?
I started designing in 2001 — I went to the Art Institute in Chicago and entered their fashion program — I was also studying performing arts at the same time…

What kind of performing arts?!?!
(Laughs) I was studying dance and theater and installation art.

Like Fame?
Pretty much! I'm a little obsessed with Glee right now...

Glee is so good.
It's one of my goals — to get on that show next.

So you're originally from Chicago, right?
Yes. Born and raised outside of Chicago —- I went to college at University of Iowa for four years; then went overseas for a few years, then came back to Chicago…

What do you think about Michelle Obama's fashion choices? She's a Chicago lady.
I love love love Michelle Obama. I believe we have not seen — at that level of a woman in power — we have not seen that type of gracefulness, effortlessly done, as she is doing right now.

I guess it goes without saying that you'd love to design for her.
Yes. In [my spring 2010 collection] there's a dress called Michelle and it is completely inspired by her. It's my dream to give it to her, and to dress her for future occasions. She's very aware of the idea that you can look fantastic, and do it on a budget — or a way that is economically responsible. You don't have to necessarily buy everything high end to have a look that is chic and well put-together. When you see her mixing labels like J. Crew with unknown designers — it's just really smart.

What made you decide to try out for Project Runway?
I was at Target at the time, and I was really a crossroads, thinking, okay, I've been there for a while, what would be the next thing that would challenge me? And I got a call from someone saying that they represented the show, and they'd come across my information. I thought it was a joke. I hung up a couple of times. But it seemed very cosmic, like the universe was saying hey, you've been looking for that next step; and here's this opportunity that anyone would kill for. I believe there were 10,00 people who auditioned for season 6 — so to be one of 16 out of 10,000? That's phenomenal. It felt like the right thing to do.

Did you know, when you were filming, about the Bravo/Weinstein/Lifetime drama?
While we were filming, I did know. I didn't know going into it; but right before — when they cast us, we were aware that there was an issue. But the severity of it? I don't think any of the designers knew… We thought oh, this might go in the can, or straight to DVD. It was always a quiet concern that we had. And then to finish taping the show and have a year pass — literally a year to the date of it airing was when we started taping. So interesting. And to sit around for a year and have this secret that you can't really talk about? We've all been really anxious about the situation.

You won the beach challenge with the dress that you dyed, and I really thought you did well on the dressing the model challenge — that blue dress with the big flower, and then — all of a sudden — you went home. I was shocked. Were you shocked?
I was utterly shocked. That's the best way to put it. And not only was I shocked, I think everybody was shocked. All the other castmates — and even some of the production staff — were like, what happened? I could sit around and theorize about it, but I will take ownership of the choices I made on the program. No one can say I was a person who was not a competitor… Everything that I did, I took a risk. I think the one thing that they kept harping on in every challenge was innovation. And I kept thinking, how can I push? How can I not be safe, how can I be innovative and stand out, with a point of view. And so I get that sometimes that can also be the thing that can be one's downfall. Which I think was, in the episode where I was Auf'd.

I think the other problem is that in the past, there's been more consistency with the judges. And [in this season] there have been a lot of guest judges. …It should be about, how is the person growing? And how can you still see that person's perspective coming through everything that they do? Because ultimately, everything that's shown in the competition should give you a visualization of what that person's line at fashion week would be like. And their potential.

(In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Epperson also talks about the weirdness of the judging this season, saying, "The judges are who the judges are. Starting with Lindsay Lohan being a judge. But then again, she's working with Ungaro, so she is kind of a genius." LOL.)

Do you keep in touch with anyone from your season?
Definitely. It's almost like being in this weird fraternity — or having an extended family. I talk to most of the cast. Christopher, Carol Hannah, Althea, Epperson and Logan — and Qristyl — those are the ones I speak to on a regular basis. Christopher and I are the closest. We actually have matching tattoos! If you go back and watch the show, you'll notice three stars on both of our right hands. We had this tradition with another cast member: Before every challenge, we would actually draw the stars on one another. I had a feeling, out of the three of us, that we were the strong competitors — I had a feeling we would be the top three. But if we weren't the top 3, then at least one of us should make it to the top. So it became a ritual that we went through and after the show we went and got them permanently tattooed.

What were your impressions of Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, MIchael Kors and Nina Garcia?
Mr. Gunn is the one people ask the most about. What you perceive of him, watching all the previous seasons, is truly who he is. I truly believe that he wants everyone to be the best they can be. He's really funny, with an amazing dry humor that I think is hilarious. He's lovable! Being around him, you understand why America has the reaction via television to him. He's great!

As far as Heidi, Michael and Nina, we don't get as much exposure to them. But Heidi is insanely beautiful and very funny. And very upbeat, but at the same time, she is very much a businesswoman. Michael has these one-liners and he's entertaining. And if you can look past some of the cruel and harsh things that he can say, there is a truth there, that, if you're smart enough to want to be better, you'll listen to and hear. Nina has an amazing poker face! You're always like, what is she thinking? But when you're around her, she is so sweet.

Overall, your experience was good?
Absolutely. Win or lose, Project Runway doesn't define me. Who I was beforehand is who I was after. But I'm stronger now, having gone through the experience. There's a little bit more confidence. And also a different view on how to take my design to the next level. So I can't say that the experience wasn't worth it, because it truly was. I'm having all these opportunities! We probably wouldn't be sitting here talking right now — but one day, we would be talking — it's kind of put me on a fast track. I'm super busy, and a lot of it is good! And a lot of it is based on having had this opportunity to put myself out there as a designer.

How can people keep up with you?
They can visit my website, they can find me on Facebook, and they can follow me on Twitter. Keep an eye out! Hopefully this is not the last you see of me, not just as designer but as a television personality.

Will you be dancing ?!?!
That might be part of it!

Maybe guest appearance on Glee?
That would be great! Or since I am a self-confessed Trekkie, maybe my love of that will get me in the next JJ Abrams movie!

RamonLawrence.com [Official Site]
'Project Runway Talk': Epperson Dishes On Dubious Judging ... And Lindsay Lohan! [EW]

Earlier: Project Runway: Ra'mon Gets Robbed
Related: All Project Runway Season 6 posts

Angie Holan Politifact
In response to: How Much Healthcare Can We Buy With a Trillion Bucks?

My question is - what about the fear that including government into health care will ultimately increase our mortality rate by instituting rationing and cutbacks? Will doctors flee to maintain their high incomes?

This is a big fear among people who oppose the plan. At PolitiFact, we don't take sides on predictions about what will happen if the legislation is passed. We did, however, report an item specifically on rationing. We found there's a lot of rationing in the system right now, and rationing will continue under the Democratic bill. In most cases, rationing is used as a "scare word" for the common sense idea that we have to make decisions somehow about how to allocate limited resources. Read more on how both sides talk about rationing here: 'Rationing' and other scare words in health debate.

Can you please clarify what the $1 trillion means - an addition to what we are already spending, or a comparison cost to what we are spending? My understanding is that the proposed plan cost figures are replacements for the status quo - making this a significant COST SAVINGS.

Nope, the bills will not save us money, at least not according to the nonpartisan number crunchers at the Congressional Budget Office.The $1 trillion over 10 years includes all the new costs associated with the bill. It does not replace old costs for old health care spending. However, that $1 trillion number does NOT count new taxes and spending cuts that are part of the bill. When you count those offsets, the overall impact on the public debt would be $239 billion over 10 years, which is a lot less than $1 trillion.

Many Democrats say they want to make the bill deficit neutral, which means they want to find money in some other part of the budget to wipe away that $239 billion. If they get that done, it means the bill would be "deficit neutral," which means it's sort of a break-even venture.

I should add that the Obama administration believes the bill will save more money than those numbers reflect, but again we'll all have to wait and see if they're right.

One more thing: Congress might significantly re-write the bill in the weeks ahead, and all those numbers might change. So stay tuned!

They say the public option will be paid by premiums and subsidies for low-incomes. What happens if/when those aren't sufficient? Are they going to let the public option truly compete and possibly fail —or are they going to vote to set aside the rules they created and bail it out?

Another question about the future that's difficult to answer! It's a good question, though. Critics fear that if Congress even sets up the public option, then later Congress will go back and change the rules to let the public option take-over the system. Just to emphasize, that's a fear of what will happen in the future. It is not part of the plan now. President Obama has said the public option say it will have to be self-supporting, paid for by the premiums of its customers.

What do you know about the non-profit and co-op health insurance organizations that exist right now? Do they have a lower cost of care and overhead than for profit insurance agencies?

My reporting shows that even government-run programs like Medicare are also seeing rapidly growing costs. So not-for-profit health plans have problems with growing costs, too. It's not just a problem of private insurers taking profits. Some of this has to do with new medical technologies and procedures that make people healthier but still are expensive. We hope to do more reporting on co-ops and nonprofits in the weeks ahead as more details come out.

Without a government-run option, how will people who haven't been able to get private insurance (i.e. people with pre-existing conditions who aren't covered by an employer) get coverage? I've read about nonprofit cooperatives but that information was incredibly vague.

Yes, the information is very vague about co-ops and how they would be part of a national health plan. We should get more details on this when Congress comes back and the Senate Finance Committee releases a plan, if they decide to go with co-ops.

One thing I would like to know is, in light of unemployment being what it is these days, are people talking at all about making it easier for people who lose their jobs to keep their health coverage? I lost a job that had provided my insurance last October. COBRA would have eaten up my entire unemployment check and then some, so it was not an option AT ALL. I just don't get how it's good to keep the employer-provided insurance system in place, because when we lose our jobs, we lose our coverage right when we can least afford to be paying out of pocket.

The health care plan in Congress tries to address this by making the individual market more efficient, so people can buy affordable policies on their own through a national insurance exchange. There may be other details to help people who lose jobs, but I haven't noticed any changes to COBRA provisions in the bills. Just an fyi, the stimulus bill passed earlier this year had money to help people who are laid off pay for health care coverage under COBRA.

Without a public option on the exchange, how can we predict any price decrease for the cost of healthcare? Aren't we just in the same boat in regards to cost?

Actually, there are other things in the bill that seek to control costs, but most of them have to do with Medicare, the government-run health insurance plan for the elderly. Those measures include things like providing incentives for good outcomes, or incentives for doctors to collaborate more on treating patients. The reform advocates hope that those changes will affect the way everyone receives treatment, not just the elderly. But it's hard to say how much those Medicare incentives will affect the overall system. That's a big unknown.

Patricia DeGennaro
NYU/World Policy Institute
In Response to: On Women, War, and the Elections with Afghanistan

That_little_attention_whore wrote "Development or aid workers are there to stop the suffering of people and improve their livelihoods. They are independent of politics and policies. The military is not."

I dunno, I feel like USAID has been plenty politicized. Plus, the current administration has included development as a component of foreign policy....

@That_little_attention_whore
You do have a point that aid is also political. However, non-governmental organizations, which get money from private sources most often pride themselves in being impartial, neutral and independent which means, for example, they don't just give aid to "win hearts and minds," they give it too all people regardless of what the military may considering winning or losing, which is solely based on national interests not humanitarian need.

bluebear wrote "I have a question. Why exactly does the Taliban view themselves as the legitimate government? meaning what justifications would they give to support this? if any."

The Taliban gained control of almost 80% of Afghanistan after a brutal civil war that followed the Soviet occupation of the country. They were deposed not by another Afghan leader or tribe, but by an invading foreign force who they feel has no right to decide who governs. Although through brutal means, they stopped the civil war, basically irradiated poppy, and, in their mind, brought peace and security to the people (many women may disagree here, but this is what they think). Afghanistan has a history of coups, but it is not accepted by any means to be overthrown by an outside power. This is why they view themselves as legitimate and they succeed in maintaining at least some support by people who agree with this way of thinking.

I asked "And a more general question came up in light of a different discussion: how much AID to Afghanistan is routed back to the US?"

Oxfam reported that in 2008 that "40% of aid to Afghanistan has returned to donor countries in corporate profits and consultant salaries." Most of this is through USAID contractors who contract out to smaller contractors and so on. In Afghanistan aid agencies also pay millions to foreign security companies and some ex patriot salaries are estimated to be close to $500,000. US aid went to five top US companies – some private – who from what I saw hire too many friends and pay them high salaries to do little but go home with a larger bank account. Keep in mind though, there are some successes. Small and under the radar non-governmental organization, whose use funds they acquire from private sources not governments, do some very good things like build women's hospitals and orphanages for so many children that lost their families through war.

Official Site [Politifact]
Tricia's Take [Patricia DeGennaro's Blog]
'Rationing' and other scare words in health debate [Politifact]
Major donors failing Afghanistan due to $10bn aid shortfall [Oxfam International]

Earlier:
How Much Healthcare Can We Buy with a Trillion Bucks?
On Women, War, & the Elections in Afghanistan

DODAI: OK, I have a lot of questions, so let me just fire away: Where did you get the idea of Target: Women? Did you see something stupid one day and just snap?

SARAH HASKINS: Yes — Target Women is part of a show on Current TV called infoMania. I was writing for that show and I wanted to do something on-air as well. In my search for ideas I saw a ton of yogurt commercials and I was reminded of how ridiculous they always seemed to me. So, that started it. We built Target Women around that idea.

DODAI: And since then, you've been able to riff on a lot of companies which "target" women: In regards to ad campaigns, why do you think they have such a tough time making ads for women that make sense?

SARAH HASKINS: I think they're trying to toe a very fine line between seeming "with it" in terms of modern female roles and responsibilities while trying to do the tricky dance of selling us products that are related to much more traditional things: cleaning, cooking for your family, being a wifey… Hard to do both and not seem insane or ridiculous.

DODAI: Of the Target Women eps that you have done — yogurt, brides, pasta commercials, cleaning supplies, etc - do you have a favorite? (I know it's like asking your fave color in a beautiful rainbow, but just curious!)

SARAH HASKINS: Hrrrm. I have a soft spot for birth control (the piece) (and the idea, sure, why not?) and cleaning products. Cleaning products was just so fun to shoot and be goofy in.

DODAI: God, those needy, needy mops.

SARAH HASKINS: They just hunger for some company.

DODAI: Is there a topic you'd love to do but can't because it's maybe vulgar or, I don't know, sexual? I am not coming on to you.

SARAH HASKINS: Ha! We're pretty free- most of the time we can't do pieces because we just don't have media to play and make it interesting. I'd say one of the things I find hilarious and awful is when dudes have decorated condoms. Seriously?

DODAI: Ew.

SARAH HASKINS: So, that's probably too vulgar and would shock my Mom. And she'd write me a stern e-mail. Were you thinking of something?

DODAI: Nope! Just wondering.

SARAH HASKINS: Now I'm going to think of vulgar ideas. Not as many douche commercials these days.

DODAI: What were you like as a kid, did you sit in front of the TV critiquing commercials then?

SARAH HASKINS: I wasn't allowed to watch much TV when I was little. It's definitely something I did with my friends in high school and college. Not as like, a structured activity, but I think we all make fun of commercials. And I have funny friends.

DODAI: How and when did you decide to make comedy a career?

SARAH HASKINS: My freshman year in college. I started doing improv and I just loved it. I probably never grew out of playing make believe, or wishing a door to a magical universe would open and transport me in. Besides books, improv was the closest thing to an adventure. And then I saw a Second City show that winter break and that sealed the deal. I am a nerd.

DODAI: Nerds are cool!

SARAH HASKINS: Woo! (drinks whiskey)

DODAI: What about high school? What were you like back then? Any mean girls??

SARAH HASKINS: I was fairly serious - not that I didn't have a sense of humor, I just took the world seriously. I wasn't super popular, but my classmates liked and respected me. I did student government, sports, plays. Our school was very small - most of the mean girl shit went down in middle school and I don't think anyone escapes from that unscathed.

DODAI: But you said you liked to read, which is cool, and an escape — what are some of your fave books or authors?

SARAH HASKINS: Good question! Favorite books: Wild Swans by Jung Chang. All the King's Men, Middlemarch, For Kings and Planets, Ender's Game, Angle of Repose. I love Joan Didion, especially her essay "Goodbye to All That." Now I am worried I am going to forget something and then I'll feel guilty like the Book Gods are watching over me.

DODAI: Oh no, well, you can always amend the list!

SARAH HASKINS: Phew. I hate being smote. Smited?

DODAI: Smoteth?

SARAH HASKINS: Yes. Smoteth.

DODAI: Do you ever get recognized, and what do people say to you, if so?

SARAH HASKINS: My favorite exchange was this - Drunk Guy With Glitter In Beard At Bar: You make internet videos. That are funny. Way to go. Then I got a thumbs up.

DODAI: Charming!

SARAH HASKINS: I liked him.

DODAI: What do you think you would be doing if there were no internet? (Scary thought, I know.)

SARAH HASKINS: Well, Current is technically a TV station....so I guess I'd be writing for the show and grousing about how to get people to watch it. Or maybe I'd still be acting. Or being a pioneer. Or running for vice president. Whatevs. I meant acting...ON THE STAGE. TROD THE BOARDS! HARK!

DODAI: Yes! Sometimes I wonder what I would do if I were a cro-mag or something, and I usually feel like it would be the same thing: telling stories around the campfire.

SARAH HASKINS: Did you ever wonder when you were younger about what people did when they got up at dawn and went to bed at sunset? Yes — It was stories.

DODAI: Yeah, the immortal human narrative. Where is Joe Campbell when you need him?

SARAH HASKINS: Bathroom. That dude.

DODAI: UGH.

SARAH HASKINS: Put the milk down, Campbell.

DODAI: Hey, so if you could live in another era, when would it be? Would you be a saucy Victorian governess? Prohibition floozy?

SARAH HASKINS: I like the saucy governess - but of course we all want to live in the exciting fictionalized version of that era, when Young Master rips off our bodice on the boat to Shanghai but then you have true love....and not being thrown overboard for having unchristian thoughts and deeds. You?

DODAI: I'm all for some kind of rococo France Dangerous Liaisons jam, with heaving cleavage and 3 lovers and small dogs and cake.

SARAH HASKINS: Ha! Great. Giant wigs, lice underneath and a predilection for foreign ambassadors.

DODAI: But a life lived with poetry! Champagne! Beheadings!

SARAH HASKINS: Cake! I would write "lol" to your answer but I feel weird and fifteen when I do that.

DODAI: Haha. I hear ya. Do you have any comedy heroes/heroines?

SARAH HASKINS: Yes... I mean, Tina Fey. Can you get more awesome? No. And Amy Poehler. And, generally, I've always been pretty inspired by the ladies and gents I've worked with in the Chicago comedy scene. I totally ripped off Carol Burnett's portrayal of Ms. Hannigan in Annie when I was in eighth grade.

DODAI: OMG I loved Annie. When she sang "Easy Street"? That was pretty great.

SARAH HASKINS: It's great! I was Ms. Hannigan in the play and had so much fun. Also, my little sister and I used to sing "Easy Street" when we had the hiccups because it made us laugh.

DODAI: So what TV shows do you like? And if you had to pick a reality show to be on, which one would it be?

SARAH HASKINS: TV shows: 30 Rock, Battlestar Galactica, Gossip Girl (I am ashamed, but it's so great), Colbert, Daily Show. My roommate and I are completely obsessed with Mad Men. Completely. If I HAD to be on a reality show, Amazing Race. I am good with maps.

DODAI: Amazing Race would be fun. Are you pro Blair/Chuck on Gossip Girl?

SARAH HASKINS: Yes. I haven't seen last night's episode yet, but I love how evil Chuck Bass is.

DODAI: He's fantastic. I am not ashamed that I read 8 of the books. But I used to work at a teen mag, that is my excuse.

SARAH HASKINS: No excuse needed. The New Yorker writer loved the books. High brow alert!

DODAI: Totes. So is there any person whose job you'd love to have, even for just one day?

SARAH HASKINS: Do I get to have the qualifications to do it? Like, I don't want to say "astronaut" and then have this be a trick where I die in space.

DODAI: You will not die! You will totally be awesome at it, for one day.

SARAH HASKINS: Oooh! So hard.

DODAI: Well, would it be easier if you could pick three?

SARAH HASKINS: Mebbe. Something way outside of my comfort zone for one day - mathematician, President of France or fighter pilot. Being a well-respected novelist would be cool. Ann Curry has a cool job. Those Today show people go everywhere!

DODAI: True, true! Travel is good. My last question is really just what is next for you? What do you see yourself getting into in, say, the next 3 years?

SARAH HASKINS: First — thanks. This is fun. I'll see where all this takes me. I want to keep doing comedy, and writing - so, I find my anxiety is lessened when I keep my focus on the projects in front of me... Also, hard drugs.

DODAI: Definitely, that was the kind of question it's easy for me to ask you but I would NEVER answer, who knows what tomorrow brings? Forget about the next three years. Drugs, on the other hand… But thank you SO MUCH.

SARAH HASKINS: Thank you - I feel like interviews are so rude because I just blather on, but I appreciate it and I think Jezebel is the bees knees. So, thanks.

infoMania is new every Thursday night at 10pm
infoMania [Current TV]

Earlier: Sarah Haskins Takes On The Disney Princesses
Sarah Haskins: Fiber Is Secret Code For Making You Poop
Sarah Haskins: Cleaning Is Not A Substitute For Sex
Sarah Haskins Wishes You Happy Period Control
Sarah Haskins Is A Sucker For RomComs
Sarah Haskins On Sarah Palin: Proud Americans Need Token Hillary Estrogen Replacement
Sarah Haskins Has A Problem With Marketing Family Meals To Moms
Brides, Botox & Yogurt: Sarah Haskins Targets Those Who Target Women

Because your novel has female protagonists and a baby blue cover, it seems that some people have categorized it as chick lit, which felt reductive to me.
It is reductive! It’s also dismissive. “Chick lit” is a catch all for everything that’s not “hard” literature written by a woman. It implies that the male experience is universal, while the female experience is something only other women would be interested in. Even Joyce Carol Oates’ last book got the disembodied female head cover treatment! I understand where the term comes from – [books about] female protagonists looking for love in the big city – but my book has nothing to do with finding a man. Companies know that women are really the only ones who still buy books, which is good, but there has to be a better way to market them.

Speaking of labels, your book has been called feminist by several reviewers, and one of the three main characters, Margaret, runs a failing feminist ‘zine called Snatch. Did you set out to make a markedly feminist statement?
I didn’t sit down to write a feminist manifesto. But no, “feminism” specifically didn’t come to mind. I wanted to write a book about women’s relationship to decision-making and self image, about female identity, and what being a woman means to three different age groups. I did found a feminist zine [the proto-Jezebelian Maxi ] in the 90s though.

I related to Margaret’s struggles with Snatch, particularly her difficulty reconciling artistic freedom with the need to make money. There’s a scene at the beginning where a very broke Margaret goes to a birthday dinner for one of her more successful friends. They end up going to a very expensive restaurant and Margaret gets shamed into paying much more than she could afford. I’ve definitely lived that uncomfortable scene more than once.
Me too. There’s always this awkward shuffle around the bill. Money definitely creates this imbalance, especially because in creative worlds it seems like it flows so easily and quickly, particularly when you’re not the one getting it. When I graduated from college in the 90s, there was this feeling that we’d all just be starving artists and listen to Nirvana and that was great. And Margaret wants to be pure in her artistic vision and anti-capitalist, but part of her gets completely sucked in against her will. It’s hard not to when you see all these people earning so much money. It seems like it’s right there and you can’t get it. It warps one’s sense of life and ambition and success.

Margaret’s fraught relationship with her wealthy parents also seemed to shape her feelings about capitalism. She never want to be a stay at home mother and depend on a man, the way Janice did.
She’s definitely set up her own life in opposition to her parents’ choices. She’s let that dictate her moral stances. What I really wanted to show with Margaret’s relationship to her mother, Janice, was that every woman has been shaped by what their mothers do and who they are. Some people adopt Margaret’s “fuck you” stance, and others follow their mothers’ paths, but we’re all still reacting to what we observed growing up.
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything [Amazon]
In Every Dream Home, A Heartache [Salon]
Janelle Brown [Official Site]

Earlier: Blogging Towards Bethlehem

For many women of Generation X, Sassy magazine served the same function that "Sex And The City" did for Generation Y; that is, inspiring them to move to New York and work in publishing. (Fortunately, Sassy magazine did not also promote Brazilian waxes, $600 stilettos and total self-absorption). For other women, the magazine simply helped to get them through their adolescence. Anna fits into both categories, and so she sat down for an email interview with Marisa Meltzer and Kara Jesella, the authors of the new book How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter To The Greatest Teen Magazine Of All Time.

Q: Tell me how you first found out about Sassy.
Marisa: A friend's mom had gone to Hawaii and, in the airport on the way back, had seen Sassy and picked up a copy. I remember reading the issue over and over and feeling like Sassy was going to be the answer to all of my problems—my total absence of coolness, my pre-adolescent ennui, my lack of friends—and I immediately got my mom to buy me a subscription.

Q: And did Sassy end up being a solution to all your problems?
Marisa: In some ways, Sassy was a solution, or at least a defense mechanism. Do I love being able to say I went to go see Bikini Kill and Team Dresch instead of going to my prom? Yeah, but now I look back on the disdain I had for everyone who didn't share my Sassyfied paradigm and I realize I must have been kind of a bitch in high school.

Q: I want to talk about Kim France and Andrea Linnett. Both of them now head up Lucky magazine. Sassy, of course, was about teaching young women to take themselves - and the world beyond them - seriously. Lucky, on the other hand, is about unrelenting, conspicuous consumption. What are your feelings about this discrepancy?
Marisa: Lucky is a lot like Sassy—obsessive attention to detail, not
making women feel bad about their bodies, and joyful about buying things. I mean, Sassy was incredibly excited about shopping! They pushed product, too. I still use Clinque's City Block because of Sassy's recommendation. All Andrea had to do was rhapsodize over baby tees and Urban Outfitters starting making them.

Q: Did your feelings about the magazine change over the course of working on the book or did they simply become easier to articulate?
Marisa: My feelings about Sassy were more visceral as a teenager; I really think I relied on it in order to negotiate the horrors of adolescence. So, in terms of shaping the teenage me, it was hugely meaningful. I still love Sassy, but the way I love it now has probably changed a bit. Now that I've had all this time to think about Sassy, talk about Sassy, meet Sassy's creators, and meet its fans, I think I can see the big picture, and how important it was not just to my life, but to—and forgive me if I sound grandiose—a generation.

Q: What story would win your personal award for "best article in Sassy"?
Also, were there any things in the magazine that didn't quite work out for you?
Marisa: They are legion. The Working Our Nerves column about The Patriarchy is emblematic of everything that was so strident and awesome about Sassy. What magazine, let alone one for teens, would say that now? I loved the 90210 paper dolls, the story about girl gangs in Echo Park, the Sonic Youth interview, and all riot grrrl coverage. It's also scary how I can still remember all the outfits
from the grunge prom story. I even have a certain affection for the stories that didn't work out for me. There was a natural beauty story that suggested deep conditioning your hair with butter. I of course neglected to rinse my butter-covered hair in cold water, which resulted in my head smelling, as my mother suggested, like a yak for several days. I'm sure that episode really didn't help improve my junior high awkwardness at all.

Q: Marisa you mention loving the stridency in Sassy. Who in the mainstream print media has that sort of willful self-possession and the personal-is-political take nowadays?
Marisa: Mainstream magazines don't flaunt the word "feminist" the way Sassy did, but there's plenty of evidence of it, sure. I was a fan of Teen Vogue before I met Kara because their health stories would quote, like, Susan Bordo or Liza Featherstone or Jennifer Baumgardner would write an article for them. I thought that was amazing. I think Elle runs a lot of great politically-tinged, feministy articles. But I'm also biased and have written for both magazines.

Q: You both have worked at/written for teen magazines. Do you think you might want to start your own magazine, either in print or a web-only version?
Marisa: I think one of the lessons I learned from writing the book is that working at Sassy was often an uphill battle. Launching a Sassy-like magazine, whether in print or online, doesn't tempt me. But I know there are people whose dream it is to do it, and I'd love to see what they come up with. I would hope it would cover issues like the so-called "boy crisis" or all the endless talk about the sexualization of girls. I would want, like, Kathleen Hanna to write an advice column and do photo essays on girls rock camps. But getting the tone right would probably be the most important part. Sassy was pitch-perfect.

Q: What/who are the worst influences for teen girls nowadays and what/who are the best?
Marisa: I have a hard time labeling any teen girl influences as simply "bad." As a teenager I had Sassy, but I also read "The Baby-Sitters Club" series religiously and never missed an episode of "90210". I think I turned out fine. Of course Paris Hilton worries me, but I also think teenagers are smarter than we often give them credit for being. They have such highly-developed senses of authenticity, that I think it's fine for them to watch "Laguna Beach" or read US Weekly. I just hope someone also buys them a subscription to Bitch or Venus, too.

How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter To The Greatest Teen Magazine Of All Time [Amazon]