There Goes An Icon in a Leather Miniskirt

HGB at her electric typewriter.

This summer, ever since I picked up a mint-condition vintage paperback @ a neighborhood yard sale, I've been rereading Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown [copyright 1962]. I knew HGB was getting up there--90 now!--and getting frail, but I'm sorry she's gone. I was dreading the day the other leopard-print high heel would drop.

As I've alluded to here before, I had an elevator conversation with HGB @ Hearst [she said I was lucky to be a writer], and like many other young women, hung on every word of her monthly "Step into My Parlor" editor's letter in the 1980s. She was such a celebrity scribe. And the fact that she came from poverty in Arkansas and worked hard and rose to the top is a true inspiration.

I also really like her writing style in her books--it's colorful and engaging. Sex and the Single Girl is a record of women's history, for sure, whether you like her point of view or not.

HGB's Cosmo didn't really liberate me sexually, but did liberate the culture. [Do you agree? I'd love to know.] And as a magazine editor, she was brilliant, tapping into a rich market. She also mentored a smart, chic editor who later became a mentor of mine......and the self-proclaimed, made-over "mouseburger" popularized using your maiden name and your married name.

Rest in style, Helen Gurley Brown. May the heavens be carpeted in zebra-print and wallpapered in fuchsia fur. I'd love to hear your take on Fifty Shades of Grey. And, um, I doubt you will run into my parents there--there must be different rooms, various lairs--but if you do, I can't imagine you all could have a conversation. Because even though you're around the same age, I doubt you'd ever see things the same way.

Good night.

TCOY 

1. Boot camp in the park.
2. Walked Sug around block twice with H.
3. Private Benjamin, family-style.
4. Nap.
5. Rode my bike after dinner and before sunset!
6. Ate some veggies.
7. Hammering down my work sched. so I can be more productive.