Is squeaky-clean what kids want? Maybe they do. Teen Vogue's circulation figures seem to say so. As do their ad sales. I'm anxiously awaiting my granddaughter's definitive take. So far, she thinks Sanders' magazine is "cool." And when I interviewed 16-year-old actress Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts' niece, who's on the cover of Teen Vogue and plays the title role in a new flick, Nancy Drew, young Emma said the mag is her fave.

Bimbos Or Sweet 16? [Forbes]

I'm particular about sandwiches. I like my turkey and swiss on whole wheat with honey mustard and lettuce and tomato. And I basically eat the same thing every day. Now, I know that's really not so fascinating, but EVERYONE is superpicky about their food — and I think that says something about them. Some people can't have their food touch on their plate. I had one friend who only ate things that were orange (okay, she took it too far). Some people only eat fries and skip the burger. What's your food obsession?

Ann Shoket [ETP]
Picky Eaters [Seventeen]

Atoosa's MySpace friend Juicy voices a representative sentiment: "If you try to sneak around and spy, then that could cause more problems, and then your child might not trust you anymore, because we will find out, we always find out! It will be less pressure on them if you just tell them what you expect and also that way they will know you trust them and wouldn't want to lose your trust!!!!!"

There's a lesson there, Atoosa. Why are you telling the parents how to be sneaky? Whose side are you on, anyway?

And then there's this chick, who might have to become our new BFF for skanks-nights-out:

I say if you want to be a be an annoying parent and ruin one of the most fun nights your kid will have, and be able to look back on and be like "woah i was a crazy motherfucker" then just look in their purses for flasks, drop them off at the prom, watch them go in, and then pick them up right after. As for me, my parents were awesome and let me go to prom with a college guy and then go camping in a bunch of cabins with all of our friends. We drank, we ran over things with golf carts, made out, set things on fire... it was amazing. And i look at pics i have, and tell friends now my stories and people are jealous, like WOAH my prom sucked, looked like you had an awesome time. I guess it just depends on if you think your kid is a dumbass and can't handle going out to a party afterwards. I think by the time prom rolls around you are old enough to go party with your friends on this special night. We all have to lose our V-card at one point or another! heh heh.

Elizabeth Dye, who came over from Hearst PR last June to handle "special projects," was herself wearing that thing where you have a dress over jeans. She didn't know what we were supposed to call that either. Did all the special projects editors of the world's magazines ever get together and figure out just what made a project special? "It's such an ominous title!" she said. "It's a new frontier." Today she will launch podcasts. It was she who arranged for a Seventeen editor to judge on America's Next Top Model. It was suggested that maybe Tina Brown was right all along about synergy, just maybe too early, or too big-headed?

There was a short surprise speech, by Joanna Saltz, executive style editor. "It's been a pleasure this far. Ann's big thing is that 'It's fun to be Seventeen' and it has been a lot of fun—this far."

There are a lot of blondes at the magazine.

A server passed among the ladies, offering a pink-inflected cake. Were any of them really going to eat cake in front of each other? "We have to offer it, though," the server said.

And then Jossip blogger Debbie Newman met Radar's Jeff Bercovici. (For those paying attention to the minutia, Radar is in some spat with former Jossip blogger and current Page Sixer Corynne Steindler.) Debbie has a big-earrings and head-banded Arden Wohl sort of look, which perhaps affects every girl of their generation from the same high school.

Debbie was nervous. "I feel like there's stuff that precedes me," she said to Jeff about the spat. "Well, there is stuff that precedes you," Jeff said. Friends! Maybe!

It was like a blogger party really! Except Niche Media honcho and Wall Street heir Jason Binn was there, his tie all the way up. "There's an hour-long wait downstairs," he said of the Spotted Pig. "They're fucking killing." There was a reporter from the Wall Street Journal. And Portfolio. And someone from the New Yorker breezed by. So you see what was up. Meanwhile, Edward Burns was downstairs in the Spotted Pig proper.

In the corner of the room was a big poster-size version of Seventeen, which some people were signing like a yearbook. "You didn't know it was like my bat mitzvah," said Ann.

One wrote: "We are so happy about the really FUN Seventeen! -xo Holly."

And another:

"Ann [heart] all the Fun & love [heart] [peace sign] Richie Rich."

Rhymes With Memily: Hi! I was hoping you would betray your prot g by calling her an anti-lady skinny ho!
Thurston's Mom: Omg HI!
Rhymes With Memily: Hi! Well, first things first, how is Thurston?
Thurston's Mom: Well, like I said on my blog, ever since I stared calling him my Miracle Lion, we've both been better. Also, we watch my DVD of The Secret together a lot. I think it's curing his cancer! That and the chemo.
Rhymes with Memily: If you can dream it, it will come to you!
Thurston's Mom: Right, exactly.
Rhymes With Memily: I loved it recently when you went off on the Westchester high school that suspended three students for saying 'vagina' during a production of the Vagina monologues. I think it's really important for us ladies to feel comfortable with our bodies. How are we supposed to feel comfortable if we can't even talk out loud about our sloppy cooch holes?
Thurston's Mom: Well, that's not really how I would put it. But I do think it's important for girls to feel comfortable with their bodies.
Rhymes With Memily: Right, like you said: "I don't want anyone making you feel dirty because you want to understand your body."
Thurston's Mom: I am so glad we feel the same way!
Rhymes With Memily: Uh huh. But do you think Ann Shoket does?
Thurston's Mom: Um. I can't really ... well, what do you mean?
Rhymes With Memily: "Is school secretly making you fat?"
Thurston's Mom: Oh, that. Um. It's just about how to eat healthy in the school cafeteria!
Rhymes With Memily: Is it, um, a little weird that one page after the mag recommends eating a turkey wrap with "two thin slices of turkey and one slice low-fat cheese," an apple, a fat-free pudding cup, and water for lunch, there's an article about a girl who died of an eating disorder?
Thurston's Mom: Sounds like you're trying pretty hard to find faults.
Rhymes With Memily: Okay, maybe. But how do you feel about this sentence: "The natural fibers help protect your sensitive vulva from the dirty world outside"?
Thurston's Mom: Pretty good actually!
Rhymes With Memily: I guess things haven't really changed that much.
Thurston's Mom: They really haven't, except maybe there are fewer ad pages. Oops, did I say that! Slap me! I'm a bad girl!
Rhymes With Memily: LOL
Thurston's Mom: ;)

Earlier: Ann Shoket Says 'Hi!' From Seventeen

• Rick Kaplan brought in to save ratings-challenged Katie Couric. [NYP]
  
• Tribune has "no plans" to sell other papers, ever let this fucking story die. [Chicago Tribune]
  
• New Seventeen EIC Ann Shoket needs a new number two, as her executive editor is returning to Allure. [WWD]
  
• More departures at Star. [NYP]
  
• Village Voice Media staff as Soviet revolutionaries. It sorta works. [Alt-Weekly Death Watch]
  
• DLC Chair Harold Ford, Jr., signs a TV deal with Fox News. No word yet on former pal Julia Allison, but we know it's gonna happen someday. [TVNewser]

Previously: Judging The Shoes of the New 'Toos

Media Firms Learn New Game Online [WSJ]

LIKE a French tulip, Atoosa Behnegar is tall and wiry, with skin so white it seems powdered, and wild black curly hair. She is 26, the senior fashion editor at Cosmopolitan magazine and looks like a cross between a runway model, an ''Addams Family'' character and a Shakespearean maiden from ''A Midsummer Night's Dream.''

She has a disheveled elegance,'' said Creighton, a friend of the bride and a New York hairstylist, who uses only his first name. ''She's strong, striking, well put together, yet completely disheveled. If you look at her hair, it's all different lengths, very quirky and uneven.''

Ms. Behnegar, who's known for wearing stilettos with miniskirts so tiny they look more like spandex headbands, seems at first glance about as approachable as a cactus. ''She looks a little scary,'' said Roger Padilha, a friend and a fashion designer who worked until recently for Betsey Johnson in New York. ''She's a diva, a femme fatale. But then you talk to her, and she's the most easygoing, down-home person.''

Three years ago, Ari Rubenstein saw Ms. Behnegar across the room at an opening party for the Carnegie Hill Brewing Company in Manhattan. Mr. Rubenstein, 26 and an independent commodities trader on the New York Cotton Exchange, describes himself as a regular guy, not fabulous in any way. His height is perfectly average. At the time, his wardrobe was made up of suits, jeans, Tevas and denim shirts. Still, he was determined to introduce himself to Ms. Behnegar.

''I drummed up the courage to talk to her, even though, believe me, this person was way out of my league,'' Mr. Rubenstein said. ''If you saw us both, you'd think, 'This guy's got no shot!' '' To his surprise, she spoke to him. She even laughed at his jokes.

When he asked for her phone number, she didn't hesitate to give it to him. Ms. Behnegar says she gave him her number because she thought he was smart and sweet, although she couldn't stand his Tevas, which she describes as ''follower'' shoes. She thought he might make a great buddy, but never a boyfriend. ''I did not for one second think he was a romantic option,'' she said.

A few weeks later, though, he took her out to dinner, and afterward they sat on the stoop of her Upper West Side apartment building, holding hands and talking for hours.

As it turned out, while their looks and clothing preferences are different, they are a lot alike. Both love sitting in the front seat of roller coasters. Both are extremely ambitious — they come home from work and then work some more. Both spent childhood on Long Island. And while she grew up in a very traditional Muslim household and he grew up in a Jewish one, neither is devout. As teen-agers, they were both unhappy and considered themselves ugly ducklings.

''I've never been cool, never,'' Ms. Behnegar said. ''I was never Miss Popularity. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was very lonely. That's why I like the fabulousness of fashion, because I didn't have that growing up.''

These days, Ms. Behnegar and Mr. Rubenstein are so inseparable that she says she misses him when he's only in the next room. He says he can't wait for her to walk in the door each night. ''Every time she comes home, she scratches on the door like a cat,'' he said. ''I look forward to that every night. I just dig every little thing about her.''

On Aug. 29, they were married in a Unitarian-Universalist ceremony at the Vineyard in Aquebogue, N.Y. The bride wore a slinky Badgley Mischka gown, with a diamond tiara on loan from Fred Leighton planted in her wild, unkempt hair. She towered gorgeously over the bridegroom, who looked a little sheepish holding her hand, as if he still couldn't believe she actually gave him, just a regular guy, her real phone number.

I remember when I realized that my truth was that I wanted to serve you. I've talked about it before but in case you don't remember, it was a moment of clarity I had when I was in Milan during fashion week (I was 25), talking to the designer of Gucci (Tom Ford at the time) on the runway after the show. I had a complete out of body experience. I remember thinking - What are you doing in Milan, ITALY?? What are you doing actually talking TOM FORD (He's someone I had always admired in magazines and stuff) and wait...are you wearing head to toe VERSACE??? (This was the same girl who would wear her coats and bathing suits until they literally fell apart - just a few years before). There was a part of me that was just not comfortable with this wonderful life. I just didn't feel like I deserved it. Or better yet, I didn't feel comfortable accepting this life from God - sort of like when someone gives you a gift that's way too expensive and you feel awkward. I wanted to do something more meaningful to deserve this beautiful and fun life. It was at that moment that I realized my truth: I needed to do something more "important." Don't get me wrong. It's not that fashion is not a wonderful career - it was AMAZING. But I felt humbled by the gifts it had given me - and I wanted to give back. I knew that was the only way I could enjoy the fruits of my labor. That's when I decided to have a deeper conversation with YOU to help you create a roadmap for getting to a place where you're also super happy and living the great life. So basically, I knew I had to get out of the fashion department and learn more about the big picture.

And now I get to my point. Sorry - I talk too much, I know.

So in the days after I had this epiphany, I was riding in a car with my boss at the time (the then Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan - the magazine I worked at). She said, "We're creating a one-time special issue of Cosmo and I was thinking of making someone on the staff its editor. Who do you think would be good?"

I was sitting in the front seat and she was in the back. I remember closing my eyes, smiling and thinking, "Yes! This is my opportunity!" So I said, "How about me?" She totally laughed. "Oh, Atoosa," she said. "You're a fashion girl. We need a REAL editor for this project." I closed my eyes and laughed. "Come on - I know. I'm just kidding!" But only my mouth was smiling. I wasn't angry or anything. I just felt so small.

This isn't at all a reflection of her. She was and is an amazing woman who taught me an important lesson: I couldn't be limited by her imagination. So when she left to go edit another magazine, I didn't follow her even though it was the "cool" thing to do. I knew that in her eyes I would always be "the fashion girl." So if I wanted to continue to bloom, I would need to be planted in someone else's garden.

Sure enough, only a few months later, that Someone Else entered my life. And within a few months, I created CosmoGIRL! And that's how I met you - My North Star.

But there was another lesson in the fashion-girl's story: Only you know what you're capable of. Everything else is just an opinion. And I had felt the sting of people's opinions many times before. I didn't get into my first-choice college. I was also the only one of my friends who didn't get into National Honor Society. Both subjective decisions- in other words: Someone else's OPINION. It can feel like a FACT when you don't get an honor or into a certain college. But it's not. I didn't make National Honor Society, yet I was also the youngest person in my school's history to get the Distinguished Alumnae Award. Listen, the truth is, by the time you make the achievement, you don't so much CARE about the obstacles you faced along the way. But keep this close to your heart when you DO face those blocks. College admissions? Opinion. Making the team? Opinion. Getting the role? Opinion. If in your heart, you believe you have what it takes to make your dream or truth come true THAT is the only opinion that matters.

Everyone else is fear-based. YOU are brave. YOU are in the driver's seat of your life.

And as long as you do the real-life work to back up your vision for yourself - you WILL reach the destination that's imprinted in your heart.

Just remember:

Big Momma's lesson number one: Don't be limited by someone else's imagination

Big Momma's lesson number two: Only you know what you're capable of. Everything else is just an opinion.

There are still people who doubt me. But I'm so glad you're not one of them. I believe in you too, my sister. Until we meet in person, you know where to find me, 24/7, as always.

xx
atoosa

PS - This weekend is my birthday - woohoo! Thanks for all the good wishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big Momma will be in the Hamptons with my family - low key, just the way I like it. I will eat an extra slice of Cold Stone Creamery cake for EACH of you - so I can REALLY be Big Momma. Ba-bum Ba-bum.

Atoosa's Space [MySpace]

The newly installed editor of Seventeen magazine, Ann Shoket, was [at Ben Widdicombe's birthday party], flanked by her publicist. "Ben is the most charming, most dashing .... "
Right, right, now what are you wearing?
"What? Oh no, I don't want to tell you that," she gasped. She wore a tube top and jeans. "Now I'm starting to get into trouble with my publicity department. They're like, 'Don't talk to anybody.'"
Her publicist, Scott Gorenstein, stepped in. "She's wearing an appropriate outfit for a humid evening in the East Village."

Ben Widdicombe Loves Wieners [NYO]

Earlier: Say Hello To The New 'Toos

I wrote an essay for Seventeen magazine a million years ago [pre-'Toos, we're assuming—Ed.] and it turned up in fucking "Chicken Soup for the College Soul." Not only did the chicken soupers not have my permission (it's my copyright), I got nothing. I've appealed to them but apparently the LA Times company felt okay in selling my story, which was in their syndication (still my copyright and how the LA times got hold of the syndication rights is beyond me). My essay is now quoted in midwestern preacher's sermons every once in a while and pops up in google searches for my name. I'm an athiest.

Earlier: Gawker's Hall of Shame

Shoket Named Seventeen Editor in Chief [WWD]
Breaking: Ann Shoket Named Editor of Seventeen [Jossip]

• Hearst has no fucking clue who should edit Seventeen. That's because the 'Toos is irreplaceable. [Radar]
  
• Isn't a densely populated urban area like Manhattan a risky place to set up a meth lab? [ABC7]
  
• Where Fabian Basabe and the Tinz were hanging out last night. [Paper]
  
• New York pizza, overthought. [TONY]

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