Karen's page.

Well, it took us nine years, but we finally did it--we put a celebrity on our cover. For the last 53 issues, we've featured girls whose biggest claim to fame was probably scoring 98% on a trig test an hour before stepping in front of our camera. So why now? And why Alexis? It's not the answer you think.

Wrong answer #1--We sold out to sell more copies. Yes, stars sell more magazines, no doubt. But, honestly, if I have to look at one more Britney cover, I might hurl. I'm so tired of seeing the same faces staring back at me from every magazine. Enough already.

Wrong answer #2--We secretly love kissing celebrity butt. Here's what no one tells you about those ever so fascinating stories about celebrities and their latest movies/albums/whatever. Nine times out of 10, the celebrities' publicists get to approve everything written about them, how their photos look, the works. So instead of readers getting to really know a star, you just get a pre-packaged marketing ploy that makes a State of the Union address seem spontaneous. I can promise you one thing--GL is that one-outta-l0 magazine that gives you the real scoop.

Wrong answer #3--Michelle Branch was busy. OK, this isn't really a reason, just a funny story. We polled a ton of readers on who they want to see on our cover, and Michelle's name came up a bunch. We called Michelle's new publicity person, asking for an interview and cover shoot since (what a coincidence) she was going to be in our town the day we were shooting. We got the big blow-off Flash forward. On shoot day, I get a phone call from a friend of mine who works at a local concert venue: One of the performers isn't feeling well. Can I stop what I am doing, call a doctor friend of ours and get him down to the venue ASAP? Sure, no problem. It wasn't until later that I asked for whom I had procured a doc on a dime. Yep, Michelle Branch.

So, getting back to my point, why is Alexis Bledel on our cover?

Blame it on the Mean Girls.

For the last two months, the media has been saturated with stories about Mean Girls who rule their schools with fear and cattiness. The brouhaha mostly surrounds the release of a book, portraying girls as either emotionally evil Queen Bees or their socially inferior Wannabes. This is typical of the news media: Focus on a negative few, and reduce girls to two stereotypes--witch and victim. How flattering.

It would be foolish of me to ignore the fact that many girls do fight with words and, sometimes, downright mean behavior. But I just didn't want to sit idly by and let everyone think this is the real deal with girls today.

So, long story longer, this isn't really a celebrity cover. This is a cover with a real girl (Alexis Bledel) who happens to be a celebrity because she plays a real girl (Rory Gilmore) on a very cool TV show (Gilmore Girls). She also happens to be exactly llke millions of real girls out there today--smart, involved, confident, cool and not about to sacrifice her ideals for her social life.

In short, this is a cover of a girl like you.

KAREN BOKRAM