I went over to my mom’s tonight to watch American Idol, but she first made me watch Big Bang Theory, which is like her favorite show in the world. Honestly my mom is slowly turning into an old person, and I can tell because she says things like, “Oh, I just love this show. I laugh at it every week.” And it reminds me of this old nanny we used to have who had to put us down for our naps by noon exactly so that she could watch her “stories.” And if we refused to nap we would have to come sit very, very quietly on the couch while she watched the soaps. “Miss Marie just loves her stories,” she would tell us, and my mom talks about Big Bang Theory using the same tone of voice. Anyway, Big Bang Theory actually turns out be quite hilarious, despite the involvement of both Kaley Cuoco and the guy who dated Darlene on Roseanne.

There is a point here, and the point is that, at the end of Big Bang Theory, my mom was like, “Now we have to watch CNN for a minute. I have to see what dress Michelle wore to the ball.” Now, this is coming from a former bra-burner who refuses to wear makeup and didn’t change her last name when she got married. That is when I knew officially that the entire world cared about this dress.

So … what do we think?

The entire Tyra-as-Michelle-Obama spread in Harper’s Bazaar has been released.

I’ll be honest: I’ve looked at this from quite a few angles, and I just don’t know what to make of it. Is this a cool thing? Is this a dumb thing? Is this a poignant thing? Or does it fall flat? Does it minimize the work Michelle Obama’s done? Or does it honor it? I really don’t know how I feel. So I’m gonna do what I do best: look at photos, decide which ones I like, and then post them here for you guys to look at too. I can’t go wrong that way.

If you’re one of those “reader” types, the full article is here.