I’ve been a little remiss in my women’s magazine reading (and thus my Women’s Mag Watch posting here on Inkwell) but luckily I found time today to check out the Dec. 2006 issue of Marie Claire.


Page 48 has a feature on celebs who look hideous in sequins. I don’t care what Marie Claire says — Pat Benetar can do no wrong — even if she wears a long-sleeve red sequin dress.


Moving on to the standard political feature, Marie Claire takes a look at female heads of state around the world (along with some rising stars — thankfully they spared us a Hillary feature).  And what sort of groundbreaking information can you learn about these powerful women from the article?  Angela Merkel of Germany has a crush on Dustin Hoffman.  That’s what.


More interesting is Ali Wentworth’s column on page 70 — “Invasion of the Cause Celebs!” Wentworth analyses the masses of cause-pushing celebrities on Capitol Hill — are they legit or simply jumping on the bandwagon?  The answer = both.  Some stars (Bono, Angelina Jolie) are still there for their causes when the cameras are off and know their facts.  Others, well — consider this scene from Oprah:


“…Meg Ryan was in the white armchair discussing the plight of women in India. I’m sorry, what?  Then we saw homemade movies of the Sleepless in Seattle star in Jehangirpuri, one of the poorest slums in the world, wearing her designer sunglasses and an expensive camera, trying to ‘relate? to these impoverished and suffering women.”


I also have to give a shout out to the profile of Katie Hnida on page 108.  Katie was the first women to ever play and score in a NCAA Division I football game.  And, she just so happens to be the homecoming queen and all-state kicker from my high school (Go Chargers!).