Ms. Haps

Ms. Magazine has a new editor, new publisher, and new digs in Beverly Hills, according to a Los Angeles Times Magazine story from yesterday. Ms. also has a new-ish blog. While the article mentions a rift between prior editor Tracy Wood and those more rooted in the women's movement over things like whether the term "grrl" is empowering or sexist—"to women who had come through the movement and fought the battles, they didn't care how you spelled it, it was still the word 'girl.' And they had had such a fight against that word."—it's interesting to note both "grrls" and "girls" are represented on the Ms. blogroll. (However, the "Girls Rock!" t-shirts in the online store come only in child sizes.) It seems the magazine today is striving to reach a modern audience while remembering its history. Says new editor in chief Elaine Rafferty in the Times piece,

I want 20-year-olds to read this magazine, but I'm not going to tattoo myself and put a safety pin through my nose and go on the cover. On some level we're your mother's Oldsmobile. But your mother's Oldsmobile had some really good things to it.

I can respect that (though I'm far on the downhill side of 20...), and think it's smart too that the magazine not only is blogging, but tapped Christine Cupaiuolo, editor of the savvy online magazine PopPolitics, as its blogger in residence.