The other night, I sat down with my mom and my daughters to watch a Barbra Streisand film. I didn't know anything about the musical, not even why it was called "Funny Girl." I realized that it's because her character, Fanny Bryce, considered herself a Funny Girl, as opposed to a Pretty Girl.

The One with the Great Personality

This brought back memories of a National Catholic Student Coalition conference that I attended one winter during college. I became fast friends with another girl there. Hillary was classically beautiful. She was the girl that all the boys fell in love with. While they were sighing over her from afar, they were talking and laughing and chumming around with me. I overheard one guy telling another which one of us was which. He said, "Hillary's the pretty one. Maria's got the great personality." This wasn't tongue-in-cheek - he wasn't using "great personality" as code for "unattractive." But the way he distinguished us from one another struck me, and I still remember it, decades later.

The Beautiful Reflection of My Love's Affection

In the movie Funny Girl, Ziegfeld asks Fanny Brice to sing the song "I am the beautiful reflection of my love's affection." She doesn't want to sing the song, because she believes she's not beautiful, especially compared to all of Ziegfeld's other girls. She's afraid that she'll get laughed off the stage if she sings that. And the funny thing is, there she is, surrounded by all of these "beautiful" women; and yet no one's ever heard of them. Barbra Streisand is someone who will be remembered through the ages as an icon. She is beautiful - she does have a pretty face and great legs, and she has obviously THE VOICE - but she also has a sense of humor, a down-to-earth-ness, and a true understanding of the cornucopia of human emotions.

Beautiful is Temporary. Interesting is Forever.

Often when I'm preparing my students for competition, I tell them, "Beautiful is temporary. Interesting is forever." Because they're not going to show the judges anything they haven't already seen, and probably seen danced much better than the student can. But I'll never forget what a judge once told me. He said, "Entertain me. I've been sitting here for hours. I'm bored. Entertain me." And you know, beauty is appealing; but it's not very entertaining. Funny, interesting, creative, unexpected - those are really special. And not only do they not fade with time the way beauty does, they increase with time. You only get more interesting, the more life you experience.

His Funny Girl

This morning, I went out to breakfast with my husband. As he gazed across the table at me, I saw adoration in his eyes. He thinks I'm beautiful. I know his eyesight is fading, and I'm thankful for that. But when he looks at me, he sees the Interesting, Funny Girl that I am; and I wouldn't trade that for all the beauty in the world.