Gloria Steinem

You know what they say about March -- comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb. Forget that. March is Women's History Month. It should come in like a lioness, and go out like one too. Like, say, Gloria Steinem. As a seminal figure in the American women's movement, Steinem inhabits both history and the here and now. This time "here" happened to be the Skirball Center, honoring a retiring rabbi, Sheryl Lewart. She wore New York black, ornamented by a Native American beaded necklace that means a great deal to her -- a talisman, a gift from her friend, Wilma Mankiller, who for 10 years was principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Mary Thom, an early staffer at Ms. magazine who rose to executive editor and later wrote an insider's history of the groundbreaking, mass-market chronicle of the women's movement, died Friday in a motorcycle crash in Yonkers, N.Y. She was 68. Her death was announced by the Women's Media Center, a nonprofit New York-based organization founded in 2005 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Ms. co-founder Gloria Steinem. Thom was editor-in-chief for the center, which publishes features on women's issues in addition to offering media training and advocacy.

Over a recent breakfast at the Peninsula Hotel, Gloria Steinem is awash in pale, neutral colors. She wears a flowy white blouse, no makeup but for sheer, nude lipstick and soft, blond highlights still frame her face, as do her trademark aviator sunglasses. The neutral canvas catapults one accessory front and center: Steinem's words, which are unwavering and polished as ever. "I'm old, but the movement is young," says Steinem, 77. "Every social justice movement has to last at least 100 years or it doesn't really get absorbed into society.

"Louis C.K.: Oh My God" (premieres Saturday, HBO) . Funny, deep and unsparing of himself, Louis C.K. is arguably the most important comic going, both for his adventures in form -- his FX series "Louie," now on hiatus between its third and fourth seasons, grafts art film, standup and situation comedy -- and his experiments in business. He earned more than $1 million by selling unrestricted-use downloads of his 2011 "Live at the Beacon Theater" straight to fans at $5 a pop; similarly he sold tickets to the tour during which "Oh My God" was taped/filmed/recorded directly through his website, cutting out ticket agency fees and keeping prices low. (One hundred thousand tickets were sold, at $45 per, in 45 hours.)

A Roman Catholic women's college rescinded its invitation to Gloria Steinem to speak, saying it fears the renowned feminist wouldn't be able to avoid talking about the church's positions on topics such as homosexuality and abortion. A Vermont state representative quit her job as spokeswoman for the school, Trinity College, in protest.

In a bit of unintentional synchronicity, the HBO documentary on feminist icon Gloria Steinem "Gloria: In Her Own Words" airs mere weeks before NBC trots out period soap "The Playboy Club. " Steinem's first foray into controversial journalism and, one could argue, feminism was an assignment from Show magazine to go "undercover" as a Playboy bunny. And though the NBC series clearly did not use Steinem's story, which focused on the arduous physical and emotional working conditions of the bunnies, as background, it did enable Steinem to make headlines; while doing publicity for the documentary, she called for viewers to boycott "The Playboy Club.

"I always trust the microcosm over the macrocosm," writes Gloria Steinem in her book of six essays, "Moving Beyong Words." Although on the surface this book appears to be a whole book of microcosms--a couple of essays on money, a 10-year-old profile of a female body builder, a dissertation on Freudian politics--in fact, the book is part of the intelligent, articulate, witty macrocosm that is Gloria Steinem.

Is it possible to imagine Gloria Steinem, acknowledged as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in America by the World Almanac for nine consecutive years, grappling with lack of self-esteem? You'll have an opportunity to discuss that and many other things with America's best known feminist when she visits our neck of the woods (well, just up the road in Santa Barbara). Steinem will sign her book "Revolution From Within," which is about self-esteem, at 7 p.m.

So, it is possible to gossip about Gloria Steinem even more than before. If people prattled on about her when she was merely the smart provocateur of equality between women and men, they are at it again after her confession that her inner and outer lives have not been symmetrical all these years. In fact, like a lot of women, Steinem once fell for the wrong guy. She was insecure. She didn't feel pretty, though she was "the pretty one" in the feminist movement.

When I heard that Carolyn Heilbrun had written a biography of Gloria Steinem, I was excited. Heilbrun's book "Writing a Woman's Life" has been required reading in women's studies classes since its publication in 1988 as a pioneering framework for understanding the lives of "women who write their own scripts." As Steinem is undoubtedly one such woman, this seemed an inspired pairing of biographer and subject.

The gig: Helen Verno is the queen of television movies and miniseries. An executive vice president at Sony Pictures Television, Verno has overseen the development and production of hundreds of projects during more than two decades with the studio. Her most recent success was the Emmy-nominated "Hatfields & McCoys," which starred Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton and scored record ratings for the History Channel this year. Engrossed by movies: A Bronx native, Verno spent her teen years eating popcorn and staring at the big screen.

Since her death on Aug. 5, 1962, hundreds of books about Marilyn Monroe have been published by various writers, ranging from famous names such as Norman Mailer, Gloria Steinem and Joyce Carol Oates, to people who worked with her on movie sets. With so many choices, its hard to navigate through the Monroe oeuvre, but here are 10 volumes that should nourish the soul of her most ardent fans. "Marilyn: A Biography" (1973). Norman Mailer's controversial, lavish, coffee-table exploration of Monroe includes stunning images by several noted photographers as well as the author's rather grandiose prose.

In a bit of unintentional synchronicity, the HBO documentary on feminist icon Gloria Steinem "Gloria: In Her Own Words" airs mere weeks before NBC trots out period soap "The Playboy Club. " Steinem's first foray into controversial journalism and, one could argue, feminism was an assignment from Show magazine to go "undercover" as a Playboy bunny. And though the NBC series clearly did not use Steinem's story, which focused on the arduous physical and emotional working conditions of the bunnies, as background, it did enable Steinem to make headlines; while doing publicity for the documentary, she called for viewers to boycott "The Playboy Club.

Over a recent breakfast at the Peninsula Hotel, Gloria Steinem is awash in pale, neutral colors. She wears a flowy white blouse, no makeup but for sheer, nude lipstick and soft, blond highlights still frame her face, as do her trademark aviator sunglasses. The neutral canvas catapults one accessory front and center: Steinem's words, which are unwavering and polished as ever. "I'm old, but the movement is young," says Steinem, 77. "Every social justice movement has to last at least 100 years or it doesn't really get absorbed into society.

Alan Ball has one of the most popular shows on cable with HBO's "True Blood. " Now he could be a double threat via HBO's sister network. The creator will executive produce a new series called "Banshee," which will serve as a key plank in Cinemax's original programming push. The series will be set in a small town in Pennsylvania Amish country (the titular Banshee), according to a person who was briefed on the project but asked not to be identified, and will feature an enigmatic ex-con who's also an expert in martial arts.

After struggling with its definition and connotations, Sarah Palin has apparently made peace with the "F-word." She freely used it in a May 14 speech for the Susan B. Anthony List, a PAC for antiabortion female congressional candidates. And given Palin's extraordinary influence in certain circles, you can bet untold numbers of women who might once have never considered it will now be dropping the F-bomb with alacrity. The word in question, of course, is "feminist." It may be the most polarizing label on the sociopolitical stage (it makes "environmentalist" or even "gay-rights advocate" seem downright banal)

Feminist Gloria Steinem joined a march of more than 1,000 people to protest what she called criminal conditions in California's strawberry fields. The group marched more than a mile down Broadway past stores selling berries picked by women who the United Farm Workers say aren't paid enough to feed their families. Most of California's strawberry workers earn about $8,000 annually, with no health insurance or other benefits, said Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the union.

Since her death on Aug. 5, 1962, hundreds of books about Marilyn Monroe have been published by various writers, ranging from famous names such as Norman Mailer, Gloria Steinem and Joyce Carol Oates, to people who worked with her on movie sets. With so many choices, its hard to navigate through the Monroe oeuvre, but here are 10 volumes that should nourish the soul of her most ardent fans. "Marilyn: A Biography" (1973). Norman Mailer's controversial, lavish, coffee-table exploration of Monroe includes stunning images by several noted photographers as well as the author's rather grandiose prose.

Life lessons Re "From sickbed, Garfield legend is still delivering," March 7 Bravo for following the story of former Garfield High School teacher Jaime Escalante, the legendary Advanced Placement calculus instructor introduced to Americans in the film "Stand And Deliver," which chronicled his work in the classroom. Hats off to the wonderful inspiration he gave all of us, and may his life remain an example for us in years to come. Maybe one of his former students could come forth to fund a scholarship or plaque at Garfield.

You know what they say about March -- comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb. Forget that. March is Women's History Month. It should come in like a lioness, and go out like one too. Like, say, Gloria Steinem. As a seminal figure in the American women's movement, Steinem inhabits both history and the here and now. This time "here" happened to be the Skirball Center, honoring a retiring rabbi, Sheryl Lewart. She wore New York black, ornamented by a Native American beaded necklace that means a great deal to her -- a talisman, a gift from her friend, Wilma Mankiller, who for 10 years was principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.