KARENS PAGE.

Ever have one of those days when you feel extra ambitious? You set out to organize the shoes at the bottom of your closet and, before you know it, you've cleaned your whole room--as in under your bed and everything? Ever have one of those days when you feet extra gutsy? You go to get a trim, only to walk out with a totally fab Meg Ryan-ish cropped 'do? I think I just had one of those days.

It all started innocently enough. Believe it or not, we're having our eighth birthday here at Girls' Life. And for some reason, birthdays put me in the mood to make changes. Like starting a new school year or something--it just doesn't feel right hitting the halls in last year's platforms. Our new logo was the first step. In this day and age, when even simple names like Instant Message morph into mini-words like IM, Girls' Life suddenly seemed like a mouthful. Readers always open their letters with "Dear GL," anyway--so, duh, we got the bright idea to shorten our name. Please feel free to admire our new oh-so brief moniker on the cover.

OK, you're back. Well, once we decided on a new logo for the cover, we were so stoked by the new look that we figured what the heck, let's spruce up the inside, too. Because, as we all know, true beauty is more than just a pretty cover--or something like that.

It wasn't long before the ideas were flowing fast and furious. We thought up some groovy new design ideas, added some blasts from our past like the My Room department [insert applause here] and added some new ideas, new columns and new features.

Rest assured, we haven't gone totally nuts. We're still the same great magazine--just with a new look and more of the stuff you love. And we're not trying to be something we're not--namely, the other guys.

No one ever said being unique is easy. Sure, those other magazines have posters of BSB and breezy articles about how to get some ridiculously hot and completely popular guy to call you by dinner. And what's up with those pictures of half-naked guys?

But, for better or worse, we aren't those other mags. Some days, I think it'd be easier just to slap some celeb on the cover, write a few cheesy cover lines about turning yourself into the most wanted girl in school and sell a million copies. But at the end of the day, we want to make a mag that has something you're never gonna get anywhere else--one that celebrates who you are now.

So, let us know if our makeover reeks or if you're wild about our snazzy new look. We aren't trying to be the biggest. We aren't trying to be the bawdiest. We're trying to be the best.

I think you know the feeling.

Karen Bokram