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Write to Ann Curry for advice

Ann Curry:

The news anchor of the top-rated Today show isn't "Iranian, Eskimo, Hispanic." But she understands why people wish she were.

Curry this year was named one of "People" magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People."

nn Curry, news anchor of NBC's Today show, loves sitting in for hosts Katie Couric or Matt Lauer. But she doesn't aspire to a permanent place on that couch. "I'm not looking for Katie's job," she says. It takes some prodding, but finally she reveals her ambition: "I want Tom Brokaw's job."

Whether or not she ever lands NBC's top news post, Curry's aspirations signal how America has changed. Growing up in Ashland, Ore., the child of a Japanese mother and white father, Curry often watched Today. Everyone on the air was white. "When you're a child and you don't see people like you doing something, it doesn't enter your mind you could do it," says Curry, 42. "It's like looking through a shut glass door into a room that seems so tantalizing, but the door isn't open to you."

Now, having risen from local TV to her showcase network job, Curry senses how desperately people yearn to see themselves in her face. "I've been asked if I'm Iranian, Eskimo, Hispanic. The Currys of South Carolina, a black family, invited me to their family reunion. They said, 'You're black, aren't you?' ... People who are disenfranchised will reach so far to find an opening in that door."

Curry's mother came to the United States after World War II. "It was very difficult to be Japanese here," Curry says. "People were still angry about the war. So she raised me to be American. She wouldn't even let me speak Japanese."

But Curry's dad gave advice she now offers other mixed-race Americans. "He told me, 'Never forsake either world. In fact, if you have to choose, choose your Japanese side.' He gave me permission to embrace the samurai side, the side of strong people he'd come to admire."

Curry is married to computer consultant Brian Ross, who is white. When teaching their daughter and son, 6 and 3, about their Japanese heritage, Curry repeats words her father once spoke to her: "You are the best of both worlds."

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WHAT INSPIRES ANN CURRY

Matt Lauer's look of love:
"One of the best moments for me at his wedding [to model Annette Roque this fall] was the thrilled look on his face when the door opened and she appeared. It was a look of joy and love. He even kind of chuckled, he was so thrilled."

Mark McGwire, class act:
"There are so many stories where people behave badly - in ways that make us embarrassed to be human. What was great about the McGwire story is that everyone involved in the home-run chase, including the fans, behaved in ways we'd want them to behave. It was lovely."

ASK CURRY FOR ADVICE

Ann Curry will write or call a reader who seeks advice. By Dec. 27, write to "Straight Talk," P.O. Box 3455, Chicago, Ill. 60654 (fax: 312-661-0375; e-mail: talk@usaweekend.com).
Zaslow is an advice columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.