People Magazine

Back on March 21, I wrote to People magazine about Natasha Richardson. The lastest issue ran three letters about this story, none mine. In the three that ran, one was had even more of a fluff factor than mine did, merely saying that Richardson was beautiful and it was sad a beautiful person had to die. Um, but when ugly people die that’s not so bad? The other two letters mentioned the importance of wearing helmets and seeking proper medical attention after an injury.

Mrs. Dogood - 0, Editors 2

What I learned:

- People has a letters periodicity of two weeks. The letters in response to an article run two weeks after the article did.

- People likes letters that tell of a reader learning something important. For example, wear your helmet. Will try this route next time with a celebrity magazine.

People Magazine comes to our house every week.

Full disclosure time: My husband happens to work for Time Inc., the parent company of People, Entertainment Weekly, Time, Sports Illustrated and a rapidly-shrinking list of other publications (Oh please, bad economy, hang in there just a little longer. Must fund those college savings accounts.)  He works on the business end of things and has no influence whatsoever on if/when/how anything gets published. If he did have any influence, I would have surely taken advantage of it years ago. Nonetheless, because hubby works for Time, we happen to get many of its publications sent to our house for free. Shhh, don’t tell, that’s a not-insignificant chunk of the reason I married him.

Free or not, I have to say that People is not my favorite rag. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as much of a celebrity gossip junkie as the next gal. I’ll be the polite one letting you cut ahead of me the in grocery line because I secretly want to finish that tabloid article about Jennifer Aniston’s break-up. I think it’s that I find People to be too, well, nice. Too polite. Too airbrushed. I want my voyuerism to be of the peeping-tom variety. Let’s see those mug shots, cellulite, and bad nose jobs. Celebrities are just like us. Except for the mug shots and nose jobs part.

Since People is primarily a venue for news about the world of celebs, many of the Letters to the Editor printed in People are about those celebs. Often they praise an article about a star as inspirational. As in, “Thank you for running that photo of Jessica Simpson. I think she’s a wonderful role model for curvy girls. Bless her for having the courage to wear those mom jeans.” Or they give a wayward star some fan-based encouragement, “Poor Rihanna, hang in there girl. We love you!”

I understand why someone would write a letter to the New York Times about their coverage of healthcare reform or the AIG bailout. You do this because you want to correct the record or uncover bias or further the dialogue. But why write to People? I’m perfectly happy to waste my time reading about Jennifer’s latest break-up (I still think Brad done her wrong), but taking that extra step to add my two cents about it, in a public forum, seems odd and more than borderline creepy.

The subset of Letters that comment about a celebrity death are particularly icky. “Bless you John Travolta. Your sweet son is in heaven now.” Yes, I hope that he is, but why as completely unrelated party would I want to interject myself into that? Sympathy by association? Pathological inability to separate real friends from the people that periodically show up on that shiny box in the living room? And beyond that, why does a celebrity-focused magazine run letters like this? It seems like a nesting-doll of empathy: I read the article about the celebrity death and I feel badly, I read the letter written by someone who read the article just like me, and I feel my pain and their pain. At the end you need a magnifying glass to find the real emotion.

Whatever the rationale on either side, the comment-on-the-obituary genre is a staple of the Letters to the Editor section of People, Us, OK and many other celebrity mags. I decided to try my hand at it.

People ran the obligatory obit cover story about Natasha Richardson yesterday.

THIS online clip is not the exact article that ran in print, but is quite close to it.

Here is the Letter to the Editor I’ve sent to People:

To the Editor:

Thank you for your heartfelt tribute to Natasha Richardson. I had the good fortune of seeing her playing with her sons in Central Park several times. In addition to being an extraordinary actress, I can attest to her grace and gentleness as a mother. Those boys were clearly the center of her life. My prayers goes out to them and her entire family.

The letter is true. Many years ago when I lived in Manhattan, our apartment was about three blocks away from the Neeson-Richardson’s. Twice I actually did see them at a playground in Central Park with their kids. And once I pushed my daughter in a swing right next to Richardson pushing her son in a swing for maybe a full three minutes. I didn’t talk to her because A) bothering celebrities who are going about their regular lives is considered poor form in New York, and B) I was too intimidated. While I didn’t talk to her, I did, of course, watch her like a hawk. She was indeed very sweet with her son, kind and patient, and she had the best mom-voice ever.

Yet truly, I feel dirty after having written this. What business is it of mine? The family asked for privacy. Who am I to stick my nose into this honestly tragic event? But yet, as inappropriate Letters about celebrity obits go, I think it’s pretty good. Short and sweet. It has that little personal twist. And I invoked a higher power, which is always important in the obit letter; take a look at People the next time a famous person dies and you’ll see.

Let’s see if my letter ends up getting published.