Deciding it was time for the lounge chair, the afghan, and some "empty calories," I walked to the supermarket nearby. A tub of chocolate pudding briefly held my attention, but I soon settled on the December 26 issue of People Magazine.

I have a grudging respect for this Time-Warner rag. There are things I could say about its editorial biases, but won't. Instead, I will say it's tightly written, its photos of celebs are engaging, and its attitude is welcoming, folksy, and generous--not snotty.

For years, I've looked forward to reading People in the waiting room at the doctor's or the mechanic's, or whatever. Every several months I like to buy my own issue.

The Best of 2005 issue doesn't disappoint. The gowns are glam. The couples are charming, and the babies are cute. If you're neither royal, nor particularly photogenic, but you've managed to make the papers somehow, then People may still do a spread on you. There's an article about Michael Schiavo, widower of Teri, with a picture of him at her grave-stone. His memoirs will hit stores this spring.

You know what I like about People? I like the snippets about Hollywood personalities whose names may not quite be household words, but who the People editors think are worth your knowing about. I had already bonded with Teri Garr, an earthy and smart character actor who battles multiple sclerosis, when I heard her inteview on Fresh Air. Then I read the come-on for her memoir, Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood. The write-up contains the tidbit: "she once took a hammer to the windows of a cheating beau's house." I loved her all the more.

Without crossing the line into disrespect, People doesn't take its mega-celebs--e.g., Tom Cruise--or their romances, quite as seriously as the subjects themselves seem to. Along with the spread of the besotted Tom and Katie Holmes is Rosie O'Donnell's reaction to Tom's remarks earlier this year about psychotropic medication: the boy needs to be brought down a notch. Teasingly, near the Cruise-Holmes feature, People also includes an item called "It's Over," about celeb couples who have gotten together with much fanfare, and then split, at warp-speed, during the year. Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the 2004 Democratic VP hopeful, garners a story about her successful 2005 lumpectomy and chemotherapy for breast cancer, also her holiday plans. All things transform, all things pass.

That's what I really like most about People, that's why it captivates me. Critics say People hard-sells a culture of ephemeral, shallow fame. It's a bread-and-circus venue that insults everyone's intelligence and their most humane aspirations; we should all be reading Noam Chomsky. On the other hand, I read People for its celebration of the great American myth of the reinvention of the self. People is about celebs, who, as a group, tend to have the means to reinvent themselves, and are attractive enough that we care when they do. Self-reinvention is the archetype that underlies the People weight-loss stories, the People successful-rehab stories, the People true-love-found stories, the People career-leap and rags-to-riches stories.

The magazine offers comfort and encouragement, as much as escape.
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