Maria Shriver prepares for life after Sacramento

Today's Washington Post checks in on California First Lady Maria Shriver, starting at this year's Women's Conference in Long Beach, and pronounces her a little testy. She apparently objected to being asked about life after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves office, citing questions like that as the reason she doesn't do many interviews. "It's curious -- and kind of sad -- to hear Shriver, 54, complain about being interviewed," says reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia.

Her engaging voice and enduring star power combine to forge a highly marketable, though still-evolving, model -- part motivational speaker, part Alzheimer's research and women's empowerment activist, part pop psychologist and advice guru. Her life story underpins it all, lending instant credibility and visibility. But, for this onetime television reporter and anchor, relinquishing control over the storytelling can be unsettling.

An innocuous question -- "What are your plans when your tenure as first lady ends in January?" -- sets her off one afternoon during an interview at a health-care event that she's organized in advance of the final installment of her much-lauded annual women's conference here. Shriver's eyes flash. Her jaw hardens.

"Everybody asks me all day, 'Are you leaving? What are you going to do next? Are you going to run for office?' " she says, leaning against a railing in a pyramid-shaped arena at California State University at Long Beach. "That's why I don't do interviews -- because people ask me that question all the time."

There's a slide show of nice portraits by L.A. photographer Jonathan Alcorn, who posted a selection at his blog.

Photo: Jonathan Alcorn for the Washington Post