Normally, when I check out of the grocery store, I intentionally ignore the gossip magazines. I do scan the headlines sometimes just to smirk at the sheer ridiculousness of our culture's obsession with celebrity and  at the claims that Pee Wee Herman's face was just found on Mars. But, I almost never purchase them.

Yesterday, though, I snatched up two of them, Vogue and People, because Michelle Obama was on the cover.I'm fascinated by how First Ladies make their mark, maybe because I'm a pastor's wife, dealing with my own version of spotlight and criticism. First I thumbed through Vogue. Scores of sickly looking, too thin models stared back at me. I've always cringed at the way eating disorders are touted as perfectly normal on the runways of the fashion industry. I was struck by the contrast between Michelle Obama and the weak, waify, starving girls in the magazine. Michelle's photo screamed strength. Her famously buff arms and her confident smile were refreshing to see on the cover of a fashion magazine. Unlike the models, she didn't look like she would collapse at any moment from lack of nutrition and there were no dark  gray circles under her eyes. 

It was a nice change.