Of all the good things to come out of Texas – cold beer, hot barbecue and oil money, for example – the greatest is Playmate Jennifer Miriam. With curly brown hair, brown eyes and a sweet, heart-shaped face, Jennifer was born to an oilman, and spent time in Kansas, Iowa, Colorado and Oklahoma before she settled in the Lone Star State. “I’m turned off of anyone who tries to suppress the free spirit in me,” she says. “I expose myself to everything – New Orleans blues, art-house films, Andy Warhol paintings and the guitar player in the corner of the café.” Jennifer’s more artistic inclinations led her to model and act, and when Playboy came calling, she knew it was one of those cosmic, earth-moving opportunities that’re just too good to pass up. All of a sudden, the small-town South-Westerner was our Miss March 1997, and all good things started to come her way. “The film industry is moving to Texas,” she says. “Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, all those guys. I want to do independent films.” Jennifer played Ethan Hawke’s love interest in Linklater’s The Newton Boys, and when retired from acting, she became a dedicated practitioner of yoga. When it comes to a partner – or a soul mate, as she prefers to call it – she’s not into shallow Hollywood materialists. “I’d rather have a guy in a beat-up pickup who’s nice to me,” she says. “Someone who’ll jump into the river with me!” Feet-first, boys – only the best for our Miss March ’97.