Yep. Eric was a judge sitting right next to the Original Smizer and I was the Editor in charge of the ANTM grand prize. PLUS on top of all that: FREE MONTH SUBSCRIPTIONS and LET'S REVIVE SASSY!!
What a fun article- and fantastic photos! Thanks Jane! I can't wait to hear more about your plans for a print Sassy revival! Are you envisioning something for today's young women, for those of us who read the original, or for....anyone and everyone? I, for one, would love to be guided through my 50's by the same amazing women who were always there for me during my teen years! 🤗
OK, you are a very stealth investigative reporter and therefore you are getting the scoop before anyone else. And thank you for asking!
I am envisioning a print Sassy for teenagers now. I'm excited about W youth and all of these other new print publications geared toward teenagers )
(it's more cumbersome, butso hard for me to call them "teen" publications because the word teen is always still cringe and diminishing to me). I know how Sassy was and would be different and I think it's necessary.
I also really really want something for all of us Sassy OGs at our current ages and here's where I need your help. I feel like the place to build that community is online where we can all interact with each other as we are doing here over all the things we are going through. There's a reason I want the magazine for teenagers to be printed
which I'll get into more. But I'd love all of your takes on whether you think that the version of sassy for we peri and menopausal types ( a shorthand way to roughly describe the ages of the original sassy readers that we would be gearing this second publication toward) will work online. Thoughts?? Questions?
Sadly, I think they were used to this kind of thing. There were a lot of different codes that got used so it wasn't stated outright. Thanks for commenting!
Probably much happier somewhere. Maybe she'll see this and get back in touch. I would love to talk to her again. She and I were buddies and I really really liked her too.
Eric, I am fangirling about having you in these comments! I adore you!! Thanks for everything you gave to this piece and for every other great piece of work you've done with me over the decades!
I am literally sitting here with the June 1989 issue of Sassy on my desk. A new print version of Sassy would be fantastic. I see others' questions about whether a renewed / revived Sassy would target former readers or the new generation of young'uns. I say: why not both? As the parent of a GenZ daughter, I can see many of the concerns of our generation resonating with these kids. Same understated jadedness; parallel questions about identity. P.S. The older I get, the more I appreciate older women of my deeply-missed late mom's generation. Those women are sassy (and maybe Sassy?) too!
I’ve only read the intro so far, but wanted to jump in since I somehow managed to miss yesterday’s note. I SO understand the weirdness of feeling g optimistic right now even though everything’s ablaze. I think my optimism comes from things being ablaze. One of the things that’s going to get us out of the white couch nightmares is putting good stuff into the world. I’ve written more since getting g laid off 13 months ago than at any other time in my life. Mostly because we have little to lose at this point so I might as well do whatever the fuck I want.
New Sassy? I’m in! And now I’m going to distract myself with ANTM dirt. So necessary in these times. 😉
You are speaking my exact language! Thanks for taking the moment to say that before even reading the story because I really do want to talk about some of those items from the intro too!
Sometimes I am at my most euphoric and free when I have lost everything and there's nothing left to lose. I also can be tightly wound about making everything right and when it's all taken out of my control, natural disaster style, it's a relief.
Anyway, I get exactly what you're saying and so glad you relate. And I'm so glad it's amounting to so much creativity and such a prolific phase for you. Let's put that good stuff out into the world, as you said!
Thank you!! And all thanks go to Eric. I hadn't remembered half of this stuff until he reminded me. It was also really, really fun to relive those days with Eric and that whole great team. Thanks again for your positivity!
I have never seen an episode of ANTM. I generally don’t watch reality TV because I was on a very early (and very bad) reality show, saw how the sausage gets made, and said, “Nope. Not for me.”
(Having said that I’ve been known to hate watch a few seasons of Love Is Blind. What can I say, I have human weaknesses just like everyone else.)
I love this article just for the interactions between Eric and Jane. Also, Eric’s definitely the hot one. 💫
I love a lot of reality TV myself. But at least we can agree on Eric being the hot one. That seems unanimous.
I know I've talked to you about it a little bit before, but would you tell more about your own TV experience? Do you mind? I would love to know more. Xox
I love the idea of a blended generation Sassy, if that's possible! Multi-generational Sassy could be a very serious game changer in terms of learning some lessons we can't ever seem to learn.
Also, thanks for bringing up the fact that it's a tough time ... everywhere. But I for one need some optimisim and I think a lot of us are ready for change.
Thank you for YOUR optimism around this. And let's keep talking about this multigenerational thing. I was thinking of dividing it, but I'm really open to all of your thoughts.
Jane! I want you to know that I clocked your comments in your intro to the very heartbreaking and yet uplifting story about Gina's cancer treatment (which everyone should read and I sent it to my friend who has a terminal cancer diagnosis) but I had already written so many words to Gina, I thought I'd save it for later... which is now.
You're welcome 😁
The prospect of a print revival of Sassy magazine is just... remarkable. Sign me up. Please. Literally sign me up for whatever you want me to do. I'll do it.
Question. Will it be for this newest generation, or will it be aimed at those of us who were teens and twenty-somethings back when the OG magazine was being published? Perhaps a little bit of both?
Also, feeling shitty about current events helps absolutely nobody. I know I might get some flack for this opinion, and so be it, but honestly, the assholes WANT to make us hopeless and sad and unhappy. The best way to fight back against them is by finding the joy in our lives, and by celebrating each other's happiness. Being a bad mood Betty doesn't make anything better, but it does make a person "look" like they care, which, who cares? Yes the world is filled with horrible things, but guess what, it was ALWAYS filled with horrible things, but some people just didn't clock it until it started affecting them or people they know, or more realistically, it creeped into their social media feeds. Even if things were looking up, that doesn't mean you stop fighting. There's always room for improvement, even in the best of times. So all that's to say that you enjoy your optimism while you can Ms. Jane Pratt! We all know there's tough times ahead, so grab some happiness while you can.
I know this is a late comment but it keeps popping up in my head. I love your caption for your photo "I was concerned (as usual) that my arms looked too skinny" because I have never in my life been able to worry about that and my arms are always covered for the exact opposite worry. It's still cracking me up!
I'm so glad you brought this up, because it has been an ongoing issue for me for most of my life. And sometimes I will see a picture of my arms later and think, they weren't as skinny as I thought they were. Good old body dysmorphia takes so many forms. I appreciate that you can relate!
Also, resistance is joyful and joy is resistance. People who are not optimistic more easily fall prey to nihilism and apathy in the face of things like wealth inequity and genocide. Optimism doesn’t have to be naive. It can be a stubborn insistence that things CAN be better and a better world is worth fighting for.
Intergenerational Sassy?! Yes please! Continue being a publishing pioneer Jane! I like to write intergenerational plays because there should be more spaces that encourage dialogue across age cohorts. So many women talk about how life stage changes like their first periods, pregnancy and menopause took them totally by surprise BECAUSE NO ONE SAID NADA to them about it. This to me is another byproduct of Capitalism/The Patriarchy which stays keeping us estranged from each other and our own bodies. Generations of women in ancient cultures not only discussed and prepared for these life-changing events, they created rituals to honor and celebrate them.
Also, I remember being so excited when Eric was on ANTM as an avid Jane subscriber. Did I miss something, or does this article not quite explain why Jane Magazine stopped being a publishing partner?
Jane, I totally understand and appreciate your criticism of Tyra, but I will always stan for Tyra the same way you’re ride or die for Gwyneth Paltrow—who I side-eyed even before her ill-advised N** in Paris tweet a decade ago, and in my opinion that one has only gotten more detached from most folks’ daily lived reality. Privilege must be nice! She’s definitely a gifted actor, but also an OG nepo baby.
In Tyra’s case, I’m unsure what her fallback plan was/is, but feel certain that her generational wealth cushion was/is significantly thinner than Gwyneth & Co 🤣🤣🤣
That's a great question about ANTM not partnering with Jane again. I wasn't paying that much attention to the whole thing at the time because it wasn't that significant for us, but I think it may have been a mix of Eric not being interested in doing it again and them being interested in going another direction anyway? Who was the judge for cycle three that took Eric's place - that would tell us something. And Eric will know if I ask him. Let's find out!
her ill-advised N** in Paris tweet a decade ago
WTF!?!???!!!! How do I not know about this? That changes everything obviously.
I love your backing of Tyra. I hope it didn't come off like I'm totally throwing her away either. I do believe she can continue to do great things.
One will find that one type of person will feel joy the most when everything surrounding them is absolute crap, in fact the darker the surrounding clouds the more pronounced the joy. It’s not as if in hanging with happy people every day makes you appreciate happiness more.
Some might appreciate it most when there is no happiness to be found. Because YOU found it. I often say I never felt joy as intensely as when I was sick, and it’s true. I was very happy, because I saw clearly, and I saw what mattered, and I appreciated it.
That said. There’s other types of people that take on sorrow like a challenge. And I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong, but I believe one is more survivable- and isn’t that the goal? To survive?
I’m learning yes and no, and honestly I’m finding the generational divides can define it.
But I find misery is easy. As it’s genuinely easy to be miserable, there’s certainly enough material out there - disease, suffering, horror - and that’s just I this country. I think it’s harder to be honestly happy. Not a head in the clouds happy, but happy despite. Happy in spite of.
For 30 years I’ve said misery is easy, that’s why there’s so much of it. I stand by it now. I realize some will view that as selfish. And I’m ok with that because we are all innately selfish or unicorns.
What a fun article- and fantastic photos! Thanks Jane! I can't wait to hear more about your plans for a print Sassy revival! Are you envisioning something for today's young women, for those of us who read the original, or for....anyone and everyone? I, for one, would love to be guided through my 50's by the same amazing women who were always there for me during my teen years! 🤗
Be back to answer your GREAT question!
OK, you are a very stealth investigative reporter and therefore you are getting the scoop before anyone else. And thank you for asking!
I am envisioning a print Sassy for teenagers now. I'm excited about W youth and all of these other new print publications geared toward teenagers )
(it's more cumbersome, butso hard for me to call them "teen" publications because the word teen is always still cringe and diminishing to me). I know how Sassy was and would be different and I think it's necessary.
I also really really want something for all of us Sassy OGs at our current ages and here's where I need your help. I feel like the place to build that community is online where we can all interact with each other as we are doing here over all the things we are going through. There's a reason I want the magazine for teenagers to be printed
which I'll get into more. But I'd love all of your takes on whether you think that the version of sassy for we peri and menopausal types ( a shorthand way to roughly describe the ages of the original sassy readers that we would be gearing this second publication toward) will work online. Thoughts?? Questions?
Thank you!!!
I had the same question and am waiting (im)patiently for Jane’s answer. 😁
Haha I do have an answer. I've just been out with my friend all night actually having a life. I will answer tomorrow I swear! Love you all.
Same question here 😊
Yours too!!
What pray tell was the wrong shade of lipstick? And duh, Eric is the handsome one.
It was a dark red but too purple and also her application was a little messy/out of the lines AND it wasn't matte. How offensive!
I wouldn’t have lasted a meeting.
Ha ha ha, and it's shocking that I did! But I wanted that magazine so much that I learned the rules!
Oh who knows. I do know how to contort to get what I want!
I learned it at boarding school when it was necessary for survival and so I think the skill is there, but I don't use it anymore
Edited To Add that I just got the double entendre in your comment. Haha I'm slow.
It’s my most-grandma-meets-Courtney-Love trait: lipstick mustache.
That’s a real Devil Wears Prada moment. I have to wonder what HR thought…
Sadly, I think they were used to this kind of thing. There were a lot of different codes that got used so it wasn't stated outright. Thanks for commenting!
Wonder where she is now.
Probably much happier somewhere. Maybe she'll see this and get back in touch. I would love to talk to her again. She and I were buddies and I really really liked her too.
OMG 😧. This is why I had to step off the fashion magazine carousel! After 9/11 the preoccupations of the glossy world felt so trivial (and expensive).
That said, I was inspired by all the travel stories, so good on you for greenlighting them. They were usually such a treat to read.
Thank you for saying that, E! I'm glad they served some purpose beyond days of indulgent decadence for the editors.
🤣
You're too kind, thank you Amanda!
Eric, I am fangirling about having you in these comments! I adore you!! Thanks for everything you gave to this piece and for every other great piece of work you've done with me over the decades!
I was wondering about the offending shade, myself! 🤣
I am literally sitting here with the June 1989 issue of Sassy on my desk. A new print version of Sassy would be fantastic. I see others' questions about whether a renewed / revived Sassy would target former readers or the new generation of young'uns. I say: why not both? As the parent of a GenZ daughter, I can see many of the concerns of our generation resonating with these kids. Same understated jadedness; parallel questions about identity. P.S. The older I get, the more I appreciate older women of my deeply-missed late mom's generation. Those women are sassy (and maybe Sassy?) too!
I’ve only read the intro so far, but wanted to jump in since I somehow managed to miss yesterday’s note. I SO understand the weirdness of feeling g optimistic right now even though everything’s ablaze. I think my optimism comes from things being ablaze. One of the things that’s going to get us out of the white couch nightmares is putting good stuff into the world. I’ve written more since getting g laid off 13 months ago than at any other time in my life. Mostly because we have little to lose at this point so I might as well do whatever the fuck I want.
New Sassy? I’m in! And now I’m going to distract myself with ANTM dirt. So necessary in these times. 😉
You are speaking my exact language! Thanks for taking the moment to say that before even reading the story because I really do want to talk about some of those items from the intro too!
Sometimes I am at my most euphoric and free when I have lost everything and there's nothing left to lose. I also can be tightly wound about making everything right and when it's all taken out of my control, natural disaster style, it's a relief.
Anyway, I get exactly what you're saying and so glad you relate. And I'm so glad it's amounting to so much creativity and such a prolific phase for you. Let's put that good stuff out into the world, as you said!
This was everything I could want and more. *sigh* Thank you, Jane and Eric!
Thank you!! And all thanks go to Eric. I hadn't remembered half of this stuff until he reminded me. It was also really, really fun to relive those days with Eric and that whole great team. Thanks again for your positivity!
Thanks Susie! And thank you Jane for saying “yes” when I asked if I should go on the show.
You are so welcome! And then thanks for joining me again on my next project XOjane. You know you're never getting away from me completely, right?
I have never seen an episode of ANTM. I generally don’t watch reality TV because I was on a very early (and very bad) reality show, saw how the sausage gets made, and said, “Nope. Not for me.”
(Having said that I’ve been known to hate watch a few seasons of Love Is Blind. What can I say, I have human weaknesses just like everyone else.)
I love this article just for the interactions between Eric and Jane. Also, Eric’s definitely the hot one. 💫
I love a lot of reality TV myself. But at least we can agree on Eric being the hot one. That seems unanimous.
I know I've talked to you about it a little bit before, but would you tell more about your own TV experience? Do you mind? I would love to know more. Xox
I’ll write about it and get back to you. 😉😘
Yahoo!
I’d absolutely love a version of Sassy that blended the generations…but beware, Jane, because I’ll have soooo many story ideas comin’ atcha.
Forewarned and psyched!
I love the idea of a blended generation Sassy, if that's possible! Multi-generational Sassy could be a very serious game changer in terms of learning some lessons we can't ever seem to learn.
Also, thanks for bringing up the fact that it's a tough time ... everywhere. But I for one need some optimisim and I think a lot of us are ready for change.
Thank you for YOUR optimism around this. And let's keep talking about this multigenerational thing. I was thinking of dividing it, but I'm really open to all of your thoughts.
Jane! I want you to know that I clocked your comments in your intro to the very heartbreaking and yet uplifting story about Gina's cancer treatment (which everyone should read and I sent it to my friend who has a terminal cancer diagnosis) but I had already written so many words to Gina, I thought I'd save it for later... which is now.
You're welcome 😁
The prospect of a print revival of Sassy magazine is just... remarkable. Sign me up. Please. Literally sign me up for whatever you want me to do. I'll do it.
Question. Will it be for this newest generation, or will it be aimed at those of us who were teens and twenty-somethings back when the OG magazine was being published? Perhaps a little bit of both?
Also, feeling shitty about current events helps absolutely nobody. I know I might get some flack for this opinion, and so be it, but honestly, the assholes WANT to make us hopeless and sad and unhappy. The best way to fight back against them is by finding the joy in our lives, and by celebrating each other's happiness. Being a bad mood Betty doesn't make anything better, but it does make a person "look" like they care, which, who cares? Yes the world is filled with horrible things, but guess what, it was ALWAYS filled with horrible things, but some people just didn't clock it until it started affecting them or people they know, or more realistically, it creeped into their social media feeds. Even if things were looking up, that doesn't mean you stop fighting. There's always room for improvement, even in the best of times. So all that's to say that you enjoy your optimism while you can Ms. Jane Pratt! We all know there's tough times ahead, so grab some happiness while you can.
Make it happen!
I know this is a late comment but it keeps popping up in my head. I love your caption for your photo "I was concerned (as usual) that my arms looked too skinny" because I have never in my life been able to worry about that and my arms are always covered for the exact opposite worry. It's still cracking me up!
I'm so glad you brought this up, because it has been an ongoing issue for me for most of my life. And sometimes I will see a picture of my arms later and think, they weren't as skinny as I thought they were. Good old body dysmorphia takes so many forms. I appreciate that you can relate!
Also, resistance is joyful and joy is resistance. People who are not optimistic more easily fall prey to nihilism and apathy in the face of things like wealth inequity and genocide. Optimism doesn’t have to be naive. It can be a stubborn insistence that things CAN be better and a better world is worth fighting for.
Well said!! Brava!! I'm stealing that!!
Intergenerational Sassy?! Yes please! Continue being a publishing pioneer Jane! I like to write intergenerational plays because there should be more spaces that encourage dialogue across age cohorts. So many women talk about how life stage changes like their first periods, pregnancy and menopause took them totally by surprise BECAUSE NO ONE SAID NADA to them about it. This to me is another byproduct of Capitalism/The Patriarchy which stays keeping us estranged from each other and our own bodies. Generations of women in ancient cultures not only discussed and prepared for these life-changing events, they created rituals to honor and celebrate them.
Also, I remember being so excited when Eric was on ANTM as an avid Jane subscriber. Did I miss something, or does this article not quite explain why Jane Magazine stopped being a publishing partner?
Jane, I totally understand and appreciate your criticism of Tyra, but I will always stan for Tyra the same way you’re ride or die for Gwyneth Paltrow—who I side-eyed even before her ill-advised N** in Paris tweet a decade ago, and in my opinion that one has only gotten more detached from most folks’ daily lived reality. Privilege must be nice! She’s definitely a gifted actor, but also an OG nepo baby.
In Tyra’s case, I’m unsure what her fallback plan was/is, but feel certain that her generational wealth cushion was/is significantly thinner than Gwyneth & Co 🤣🤣🤣
That's a great question about ANTM not partnering with Jane again. I wasn't paying that much attention to the whole thing at the time because it wasn't that significant for us, but I think it may have been a mix of Eric not being interested in doing it again and them being interested in going another direction anyway? Who was the judge for cycle three that took Eric's place - that would tell us something. And Eric will know if I ask him. Let's find out!
her ill-advised N** in Paris tweet a decade ago
WTF!?!???!!!! How do I not know about this? That changes everything obviously.
I love your backing of Tyra. I hope it didn't come off like I'm totally throwing her away either. I do believe she can continue to do great things.
Thanks for this whole darn comment. I love it.
One will find that one type of person will feel joy the most when everything surrounding them is absolute crap, in fact the darker the surrounding clouds the more pronounced the joy. It’s not as if in hanging with happy people every day makes you appreciate happiness more.
Some might appreciate it most when there is no happiness to be found. Because YOU found it. I often say I never felt joy as intensely as when I was sick, and it’s true. I was very happy, because I saw clearly, and I saw what mattered, and I appreciated it.
That said. There’s other types of people that take on sorrow like a challenge. And I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong, but I believe one is more survivable- and isn’t that the goal? To survive?
I’m learning yes and no, and honestly I’m finding the generational divides can define it.
But I find misery is easy. As it’s genuinely easy to be miserable, there’s certainly enough material out there - disease, suffering, horror - and that’s just I this country. I think it’s harder to be honestly happy. Not a head in the clouds happy, but happy despite. Happy in spite of.
For 30 years I’ve said misery is easy, that’s why there’s so much of it. I stand by it now. I realize some will view that as selfish. And I’m ok with that because we are all innately selfish or unicorns.