Miss America

[windycissy]

Okay, how many of you will be watching the pageant tomorrow night, secretly wishing that you could have been the girl in the tiara? It's never been quite the same since they moved it from Atlantic City to Las Vegas, it used to be every little girl's dream, when you were a kid was it yours?

[Sweet Jane]

i've never had a dream to be a beauty queen......my dream has only ever to have been a boringly normal woman....

[Mandy Burgundy]

I'm not watching it........I'm gonna try to Crash it. I probably won't make it past the stage question once they hear my Isaac Hayes voice......

[SouthernBelle.GG]

I still dream. Being a bit too old to compete, I just walk around the house in one of my little girl's tiaras.

[Ellis]

i've never had a dream to be a beauty queen.....

Me neither, being a beauty queen is not a guarantee that you're going to be happy. Isn't happiness what most of us are looking for?

[Stephanie Miller]

Your so right.
Happieness is what it is all about. And I would enjoy the struggle to be happy looking like one of these beauties rather than what I look like now!

[sherri52]

I would settle on looking half as good as any one of them.

[renee k]

The hotel we stay at in Atlantic City is across the street from the convention center. The hotel ( Atlantic City Sheraton ) is loaded with memorabilia. Gowns, shoes, pictures, tiaras. Even a bronze statue of Burt Parks in front of the building. Each room has a picture of a former Miss America.
I would love to be able wear one of the gowns and stand on the stage with all the other contestants. Oh, well we all can dream!


Renee

[windycissy]

So glad I'm not the only one! I once shared a limo with Suzette Charles, who became Miss America when Vanessa Williams lost her crown, and she confided her diet secret to me: popcorn! She told me it filled her up and she never got hungry.

[bethany356]

You ladies have so much more beauty than most of those vapid women.

[Hope]

I used to want to be a pageant girl... I am almost a little embarrassed to admit. But then I spent a few years working back stage at the Ms. Arizona pageant in college - and having seen the ugly side of pageant life, I decided I really didn't want to be a part of it.

Now I just duck tape my boobs together for my own edification.

[Kristen Marie]

I met Katie Stam last year in Las Vegas and had my picture taken with her. She was really nice and I so wish I was not in guy mode...but heck...it's still Miss America.

[docrobbysherry]

Am there, DO that!

But, I watch to get ideas while I drool!

[DawnRodgers]

Used to go every year when it was in Atlantic City. The Casinos used to set up chairs for their "guests" out on the boardwaik out back and my wife and I used to watch, in comfort, Always loved it but never really wanted to be in it. Just wanted to dream like every other woman.

[AllieSF]

I met miss USA who was in the Miss World pageant back in 1973 in central Minnesota. She was staying at the same little 2 star motel that we were. She was cute and hot. Shortly after that my wife told me that she was pregnant. Go figure!

[jo_ann]

I've always viewed miss america pageant as disingenuous. All the fake smiling, the stupid questions followed by stupid answers. don't get me wrong, I enjoy beauty, I just think this is the wrong way to approach it. I'd much rather see a drag queen show then watch a pageant. Especially finding out recently that since Trump now owns it, and that he picks half the finalists before the judges even get a crack at it (so it's also rigged).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_274551.html

[LisaM]

Cissy,

I watched every year when I was very young and always wished I could have participated. As I got older I began to see it, like a number of ladies here, as less than realistic so I watched less and less.

[windycissy]

Is nothing sacred? It's deplorable that The Donald has despoiled Miss Universe, but the Miss America pageant always had that lame innocence, like when Miss Midwestsomewhere stole the nation's hearts with her puppet routine, no way Trump would have let her make the cut!

[windycissy]

Vonda Kay Van Dyke, that was her name, the only ventriloquist to win the crown...she wrote a book and I think the title is very fitting for us:

[bethany356]

I really think that Miss America enforces dangerous body ideals about women... I also feels it says "here, you're pretty, you'll get what ever you want if you smile and look good in a swim suit". I really wish it was based on more valuable merits, such as personality and smarts.

[windycissy]

I really think that Miss America enforces dangerous body ideals about women... I also feels it says "here, you're pretty, you'll get what ever you want if you smile and look good in a swim suit". I really wish it was based on more valuable merits, such as personality and smarts.

I dunno, what with the epidemic of childhood obesity, maybe a little swing back to old-fashioned body ideals isn't a totally bad thing...besides, it's not like these girls just have to smile and look smokin' hot in their swimsuits, there's the evening gown competition, the talent show, and the intelligence test pop quiz how would you bring about world peace?

[BLUE ORCHID]

Your so right.
Happieness is what it is all about. And I would enjoy the struggle to be happy looking like one of these beauties rather than what I look like now!

Stephanie Please don't sell yourself short.

Orchid

I will be watching to see all the beautiful ladies and dresses.

Orchid

[bethany356]

True about the childhood obesity, but why is it that modles in mags are either sickly skinny or "plus sized"? One extream or the other? Why can't they show a varity of healthy women in all shapes and sizes, to reflect the true beauty that is the human body?

[Stephanie Miller]

I have to concur with Windy on this one Bethany. I don’t see where being rewarded for your looks are a bad thing. I just don’t get where it is automatically demeaning to females or a specific female to give praise for being good looking any more than it is a good thing for us to reward a person for their academic achievements. Both had to work at doing the best with what God gave them. There are plenty of people that have wasted what has been given them. I see females every day that have let themselves go physically or don’t give a diddly on their upkeep. I’ve hired people that have very high intelligence that don’t use it. I see lots of females that look like they haven’t washed their clothes or brushed their hair in days. ( I’m not picking on the homeless here, I’m talking people that have the ability but don’t utilize it) Such a waste. You may not be one, but there are people out there that think pageants are bad only because they themselves are jealous. I enjoy all kinds of pageants. Be them called pageants or contests. There are Drag Queen pageants, the Miss Klingon Empire Beauty pageant, ( nothing fake with either here ), Miss and Mister Beautiful Bottom and my favorite for fun Miss Artificial Beauty .

By the way Bethany, thanks for joining the site. Pleasure to have your insight.

P.S. Thanks Blue Orchid. You’re a sweetheart.

Now…… back to our regularly scheduled program.

[bethany356]

I don't know the ins and outs of the pagentry world, and to be honest, I've only watched part of a Miss anything pagent once. But you did make some valid points... And thank you, I like this site, it helps me understand Ver more and what she may be feeling. And you ladies are the best!