I’ve been thinking a lot about pageants. A fun fact about me to know and trade: my cousin is a former Miss Teen of Florida. In the early 1990s, I flew from Erie, PA, to lovely Rock Island, Illinois (with a stop in Akron, Ohio, I think), to watch her make the Top Ten in the national pageant, which was held on the campus of
Our only trip to Los Angeles we went to the Hollywood Bowl and saw Pink Martini sing Helen Reddy's "I am Woman" with a billion former Miss Americas. It was....?a feminist statement? In that moment everything about Portlandia made so much more sense. I deeply regret not buying tickets to see The Roots there the next night instead.
Very interesting post. I still remember a Miss Universe pageant where Miss Scotland won the Congeniality award- she had ( gasp) short hair and green eyes. In other words she wasn’t a long blond-haired blue-eyed babe. I thought she was beautiful and because I had short hair and hazel green eyes the possibility that perhaps I could one day be considered pretty was kind of a shock. We were brainwashed by the media into what the “ideal” girl/ woman should (must?) look like.
Our only trip to Los Angeles we went to the Hollywood Bowl and saw Pink Martini sing Helen Reddy's "I am Woman" with a billion former Miss Americas. It was....?a feminist statement? In that moment everything about Portlandia made so much more sense. I deeply regret not buying tickets to see The Roots there the next night instead.
Very interesting post. I still remember a Miss Universe pageant where Miss Scotland won the Congeniality award- she had ( gasp) short hair and green eyes. In other words she wasn’t a long blond-haired blue-eyed babe. I thought she was beautiful and because I had short hair and hazel green eyes the possibility that perhaps I could one day be considered pretty was kind of a shock. We were brainwashed by the media into what the “ideal” girl/ woman should (must?) look like.