Lenore Skenazy

Lenore Skenazy is not a pundit. She’s a wise-cracking, truth-seeking, eye-rolling, run-on-sentence-creating Everywoman not afraid to ask the tough questions, including:

• Why is Chevy using Rosa Parks in its ad? “Rosa! The one American famous for taking PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!”
• What in God’s name happened to Elmo? He used to be so cute and innocent. Now he’s completely over the top. “Elmo is the new Elvis!”
• How can we all remember Judith Miller’s conviction in the Valerie Plame case? Easy: “The blame for Plame falls mainly on the dame.”

In her rehab regimen for Mel Gibson, the-twice-a-week columnist outlined the group discussion schedule at the Bubbie Ford Clinic: “Tonight’s topic: ‘They gave us the kosher pickle, so they can't be all bad, right?’ Thursday: ‘They gave us the polio vaccine, so they can't be all bad, right?’ Friday: ‘They gave us the Ten Commandments, so they can’t be all bad, right?’ Weekend lecture, ‘They gave us Adam Sandler,’ cancelled.”

Week after week, Skenazy provides a bright spot on the op-ed page. But as much as readers appreciate her sense of humor, they also appreciate her reporting skills, honed over a 20-year career in journalism. They like the way she can explain controversial legislation, 9/11 repercussions and even global warming in a way that’s informative but not boring. Take her interview with an icecap (please):

DAVE: Well, Cappy, you look great. Dieting?

ICE CAP: I don't have to! I can eat anything I want and still lose 8.5% of my permafrost every decade, thanks to global warming.

DAVE: Don't let Oprah hear you!

Over her six years as a columnist, Skenazy has won many awards, opined on NPR and penned The Dysfunctional Family Christmas Songbook, from Random House (dysfunctionalchristmas.com). But who cares? What’s important is that she helps readers understand some of life’s biggest mysteries, including: Why will people eat ANYTHING if you put it out at work?

Try Skenazy’s column and she will personally send you a box of cookies (baked with her adorable kids, whom she has modestly not mentioned yet, just like she didn’t mention her husband) and you will see for yourself how folks gobble them up.

The cookies, that is.

Just like folks gobble up her column.