Although losing my oh-so-sincere, well-intentioned teen activist magazine was a little heartbreaking, I have to admit that doing InStyle Teen is actually being quite a good time. Last week several editors told us that you really need to BE the reader, really get inside their heads, so in keeping with that method acting editorial technique, all 10 of us on the InStyle Teen staff are becoming hysterically shrieky gigglers and have plastered the wall adjascent to our “headquarters” (two tables pushed together) with fold out posters and ripped out photos from teen magazines. As editor, I’ve commanded that everyone select a celebrity boyfriend ala the staff at Jane Magazine.

As much as I would have preferred a magazine with substance, all you have to do is ask Andreas to learn that this celebrity-driven drivel is right up my alley. He would frequently find me hunched over my computer at 3am with 15 explorer windows open, doing what I called “Research.”

“Yes, RESEARCH!” I’d answer in response to his laugher. “Tonight I’m researching the Backstreet Boys’ merchandising. Did you know that Howie’s fave color is blue? And that AJ likes wacky glasses?”

Pop music and culture has always been my skeleton in the closet, and it’s sort of nice to be using all that “research” I’ve been doing.