How Sassy Changed My Life : A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine

sassy as women's studies

It's really tragic when people come up to you and tell you that they can't find your book. (Actually, these anecdotes are most often relayed to me by my parents, now that I think about it.) Until there are enough nineties non-fiction tomes out there to fill up a whole section on "Gen X Appreciation" at bookstores--and believe me, we're doing our best--I'm more than happy to find the Sassy book shelved along some of my college favorites in the women's section. I spotted this today while browsing Bookshop Santa Cruz's women's studies section.--MARISA

Spice up your life

Marisa, Rebecca (our intern for the Sassy book), and I all went to see the Spice Girls perform in New Jersey the other night. Rebecca's amazing pictures of glitter-and-neon-covered 15-year-olds are here.

True fanatics will want to know that Andrea Linett, former Sassy fashion editor, current Lucky creative director, and the person you can thank for baby tees, got married.

Link roundup

Julianne Shepherd, Sassy fan, Sassy book interviewee, music writer, in the New York Times on the newest ladies in hip-hop.

Ann Powers, subject of the last post, opens her latest LA Times column with a Cute Band Alert shoutout.

I liked this NYT op-ed on why it's okay if Hillary wins the presidency partly on account of being married to Bill. (So many good op-eds on Hillary/Obama recently...this is just one.) There was another heart-warming piece in which some NYC men defend Bill and his Hillary campaign. One guy says:

“Look,” said Mr. Nelson, who was sitting at the curb near Mr. Clinton’s office on 125th Street, “all he’s doing is what any man would do. When your woman tries to get somewhere, you got to help her. His wife is running for president and, being his woman is involved, so he got involved, too.”

I love this guy.

Meanwhile, NOW NY has gone crazy.

On a different note, some more Sassy nostalgia.

Sassy = Playboy

Ann Powers, who was in the NYC media world during Sassy's heyday, and is currently the pop music critic at the LA Times, was one of our favorite interviews for the book. She made the astute comment that Sassy was the Playboy of its day, a truly zeitgeist-y magazine that embodied a fantasy for teen girls that was really compelling. So it's nice to see that she has also gotten some love in PopMatters Best Music Scribing Awards 2007. It says:

"Impressive as her work was the New York Times, it’s safe to say that Ann Powers is now doing even better work as a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. What makes her work special isn’t just that her enthusiasm for her work is so damn palpable in her writing, but that she also puts so much thought and effort into figuring out the intricacies and significance of her subjects."

Personally, the reason I always liked Ann's writing so much is that she can be really generous even in her criticism, which is a lot harder than just resorting to snark. (Her book, "Weird Like Us," is one of my favorites.)

Remember how Rebecca Walker said that "reading Sassy is a political act"? Here she weighs in on the Obama/Hillary race/gender/generation debate. She takes Gloria Steinem to task for her recent pro-Hillary op-ed. My favorite part, besides the hilarious aside in which RW discloses that GS is her godmother, is:

"It's not Hillary's gender that may keep her from winning this election, it's her lack of preparation. If she had an inter-generational, multi-racial, digitally savvy, globally inclined machine behind her, crafting electrifying rhetoric like The Audacity of Hope and The Power of Now, she'd be swept into the White House by a landslide."

There's lots of other good stuff as well.

Also, an addendum to my last post, by someone who said it better than I did.

--KARA

Election Mania

Please note I got the title of this post from Sassy. I know we've used this picture of Mayim Bialik wearing the American flag as a hat on this blog before, but it seems appropriate for this particular moment.

Have other people been able to get any work done? I am finding it nearly impossible these days, since all I really want to do is read every single word written about the presidential race, particularly if it has to do with Obama and/or Hillary. I was particularly mesmerized by Andrew Sullivan's piece on why Obama is right right now in The Atlantic. And on Salon, I thought Rebecca Traister perfectly captured why even women who aren't necessarily Hillary supporters are appalled by all of the anti-woman flogging she's been getting.

Speaking of. In today's Times, tucked between Caitlin Flanagan's rumination on teen sex (lucky us!) and Nora Ephron on, um, chicken soup, was what I think might be the most egregious condemnation of Hillary yet. I'm sure there have been worse, but I just didn't expect this piece from Lorrie Moore, which argues that we shouldn't vote for Hillary just because she is a woman, because today's girls don't need her as a role model anyway.

She says:

"In my opinion, it is a little late in the day to become sentimental about a woman running for president. The political moment for feminine role models, arguably, has passed us by. The children who are suffering in this country, who are having trouble in school, and for whom the murder and suicide rates and economic dropout rates are high, are boys — especially boys of color, for whom the whole educational system, starting in kindergarten, often feels a form of exile, a system designed by and for white girls."

Wow. It is, of course, unavoidably true that boys of color are in a very special kind of crisis. It is a real problem and one we need to do something about. There have been plenty of articles about this. (I wrote one about the so-called "boy crisis" for Teen Vogue about a year ago.) But the system feels like it was designed by and for white girls? Sorry, no, it wasn't and isn't. The educational system was designed by and for white boys, and hasn't really changed all that much. Yes, it's true that white, middle-class girls are now doing really well in high school and in college. Certain forms of sexism are now delayed until women become mothers. Regardless, the idea that we should vote for Obama because he is black and racial problems haven't been solved and we shouldn't vote for Hillary because, as Moore says, "The time to capture the imagination of middle-class white girls, the group Hillary Clinton represents, was long ago. Such girls have now managed on their own (given that in this economy only the rich are doing well)" strikes me as truly despicable. And mean.

I'm not saying I advocate voting for Hillary. But I don't advocate NOT voting for her because middle-class white girls have been doing pretty well for themselves over the last few years.

I am re-reading it now and it just gets worse and worse.
"Boys are faring worse — and the time for symbols and leaders they can connect with beneficially should be now and should be theirs."
and
"But inspiration is essential for living, and Mr. Obama holds the greater fascination for our children."

WHAT?

Anyway, all of the generational conflict is at least as interesting as the gender and race conflict. Gail Collins asked "How could you be 21 and not be for Barack Obama? How could you be 53 and not wonder how this relative stranger will hold up when the disasters arrive, when things get truly nasty and the crowd starts seeing him as mortal?" (What does that mean for those of us who are 32? Why is it always Boomer vs. Y?) But some people have it figured out. Here is the inimitable Julianne Shepherd (a Sassy fan. See her post "feminists for Obama"). Jeff Chang's take on Iowa and New Hampshire and generational conflict is excellent. He says, the day after NH, "I was stunned this morning to see a new level of unseemly Boomer crowing, as if a Clinton victory is a much-needed beatdown of post-Boomers and the MSM who allegedly love them." I point this out because I thoroughly enjoyed the phrase "unseemly boomer crowing." And agree with the sentiment.

Okay, now I really do need to do some work.

Superbad

Not super good. I mean, it's not Heathers. But some pretty amazing moments all the same.

I know I am six months late to this party and have no excuse for why I didn’t see this in the theatre and had to settle for Netflix. Definitely the best teen movie I’ve seen in awhile. My near-favorite part was the deeply uncomfortable sex scene between Evan (Michael Cera) and Becca (Martha MacIsaac). She is drunkenly and half-nakedly throwing herself at him while, freaked out by his long-simmering feelings for her, his lack of experience, her inebriation, and her self-assertion, he tries to slow her down with comments like “you look so pretty.” Then she pukes on him. All of this was sweet and seemed entirely realistic. Better than that, though, was when they saw each other at the mall the next day and he acted like the whole thing was no big deal and he still liked her anyway. I want to believe that part is realistic, too, and that she hadn't totally freaked him out. (I might be too old to know. My theory about Gen X girls is that they scared a lot of guys off by being a little bit too comfortable with their sexuality in a very Sassy- and Our Bodies, Ourselves-approved way. That idea never really made it into this article. I would guess, even with Girls Gone Wildization of culture, that this could still be true, even if it isn't on the surface. I know for sure that when I was an editor at Teen Vogue, boys’ parents complained to me—regularly—about how girls were throwing themselves at their sons, constantly calling them, wearing provocative clothes around them, etc. Poor guys.)

On another note, I no longer have to feel kinda queasy about Avril Lavigne’s mean girl ways. The new remix of Girlfriend, with Lil’ Mama, reinvents the meaning of the song. Well, at least the video does. It’s much cuter than the original. I like the moments where it seems like AL and LM are saying “Hey you, I could be your girl friend” (or “girlfriend,” if you like) and talking to each other.

And on the last note: OBAMA. The young and young-ish have spoken. Okay. He is about to address his supporters and this I need to see.--KARA

Move over, Juno

The cartoon version of graphic artist Marjane Satrapi is obviously the best alt-girl heroine of the season. I would see Persepolis again.

Juno actually left me kind of cold, despite the brilliance of a scene in which Ellen Page and an exceedingly awesome Jason Bateman--playing a husband who won't grow up--rock out to Courtney Love. Also despite the best put-down of a slacker Gen X male I've seen in a while ("Your T-shirt is stupid," Jennifer Garner-as-wife tells Bateman.)

Emily Gould said it best.

I would only underscore: Why was the relationship between Juno and her bf so cold-blooded? I get that maybe we're supposed to believe the two of them just had sex because they were bored...but are we really supposed to believe that? The relationship between them seemed to exist primarily on some emotional/spiritual plane--nothing carnal about it at all. Surely the most chaste movie about teenage sex I've ever seen and I don't mean because we never really see any action between Juno and Paulie. They just never seemed attracted to each other.--KARA

Congratulations, Alex Ross

A few years ago, Marisa and I came across a post by New Yorker music critic Alex Ross noting that he liked the paper we delivered at that year's EMP pop conference. We were pleased--we hadn't even known he was in the audience--and when we finished up the book and it was time to get some blurbs, we sent him a letter and asked him for one, which he very kindly provided. All of this is to say that Marisa and I have very warm feelings towards Alex Ross, though we've still never met him, and couldn't be happier that he has been on so many best books of the year lists.

Word

I think I've been suffering a little bit of the book equivalent of post-partum depression, which made the enthusiasm at our "Drinks with an Author" event this past Tuesday especially meaningful. It took place at Word, a great new-ish independent bookstore in Greenpoint with a very friendly owner who was really effusive about the support she's gotten in the community. The reading itself was great. Actually, it was more of a conversation than a reading. It was clearly a very Sassy-loving crowd and, hence, a lot of excellent questions. Marisa's friend Tae, who used to work with Christina at ElleGirl and whose band played with Chia Pet back in the day, regaled us with stories of Karen Catchpole onstage at CBGBs in a bikini. Drinks were donated by Jack O'Neill's , the cozy bar next door, to which we retired post-event. I really wanted to talk to more of the people who were there--some were librarians I had met before when I interviewed them for a story I wrote awhile back--but after about 2 sips of a very delicious, very strong Manhattan, I was suddenly not so into mingling. Luckily, I had a good conversation with Tae about his obsession with the bands in This Band Could Be Your Life, a book I love even though I never was obsessed with those bands, and his friend Jessica about her 5 years of veganism. (Thank you to The Desk Set, especially Maria and Sarah.)

Speaking of This Band Could Be Your Life: Yesterday I went to the Small Press Fair hosted by The New York Center for Independent Publishing. Ian Mackaye, a member of Minor Threat and Fugazi, both prominently featured in that book, was pretty compelling. He spoke about Nike co-opting his music and a Minor Threat album cover; how Dischord Records has managed to stay independent; his advice to everyone, which is to just make things and not worry about what the corporate world is doing (because many of those in attendance were very worried about the corporate world). The only thing I found kinda questionable was his statement about corporate vs. indie--that "they have their world and we have ours." I think it's a little more complicated than that. (Also, I had seen Obama at the Apollo the night before and had been basking in a lot of talk of brotherly love and inclusivity.) Sassiest Boy in America Ian Svenonius then did a Q & A with photographer Glen E. Friedman (also great).

Sadly, most of the crowd didn't stick around for authors Arthur Nersesian and Tama Janowitz. I think one of the first times I read about Tama was in Sassy. and I remember wanting to be like her--a weird young writer in New York. She mostly talked about how hard it's been for her since she became a Lit Girl in the '80s with the publication of Slaves of New York. She barely made any money off Slaves (the book or movie) and an independent publisher in England is publishing her next book, because she couldn't find a major publisher in the US. "I don't like writing. I don't make any money. I don't get published." That is a quote. Sigh. She also said that she doesn't get any more residuals from Slaves, which you can now get for a penny on Amazon.

More to say about all of this. But maybe later.

Girl

A few weeks ago, I was in Portland, OR during the Wordstock festival. (No, I wasn't invited to speak. And yes, I was more than a little jealous of those who were.) I was sitting waiting for Adrian Tomine's talk to start --the praise for Shortcomings is so worth it, btw--when I spotted a familiar-ish face a few rows ahead of me. I texted Kara: "I am like 80% sure I see Blake Nelson. Should I go talk to him?"

Blake Nelson is, of course, the author of Girl, a book that was excerpted in Sassy's fiction section. It's about a senior in high school in Portland who discovers indie rock, vintage clothes, and boys in bands. The book came out the summer between my senior year in high school and freshman year of college. I too was a fan of indie rock, vintage clothes, and boys in bands, plus I was destined for school in Portland, so the whole thing felt super trenchant. It has since joined The Secret History to be one of the books I read at least every year while heartbroken/PMSing/feeling especially whimsical.

Fast forward to the winter of 2004 and Kara and I are sipping organic oolong in Blake Nelson's Greenpoint apartment, discussing that holy trinity of 90s women: Kim Gordon, Kathleen Hanna, and Christina Kelly. I'm sure you've heard me say it before, but the whole experience of researching the book was about Kara and I having these moments where our inner 15-year-olds would have been really, really impressed, and that interview was definitely up there. Blake was charming and gracious and didn't seem too freaked out by fandom.

He must be kind of used to it. Girl has been translated into eight languages, sold 50,000 copies, and was made into a pretty appallingly bad feature starring Tara Reid and Dominique Swain. Now it was just released as a new edition and I so hope that a new generation of disaffected teenage girls find it as relevant as I did. Another book of his, Paranoid Park, is Gus Van Sant's new movie.

Anyway, back to Wordstock. I reintroduced myself to Blake and he was just as great as he was during our interview. He also seems to be full of an apparently endless amount of nineties lore, as he promised to tell me the story of dating a certain kinderwhore pioneer for my next book. I can't wait.
--MARISA