Friday, May 29, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Strawberry Festival.
I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did! It was a great way to get to know some of the other girls, especially since there weren't a lot of us there...
We got to perform our talents for a small audience and walk around Garden Grove's annual festival.
I had such a good time...!
For more pictures, click HERE.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Diet
It's tough being on a diet when everyone around you isn't.
From here on out, I'm sticking to it. Only healthy foods, no bread, no deserts, NOTHING.
I've got to really prep for this. I've got less than a month till I'll be heading up to Fresno. Eeeeek.
:p
In other news, we've got the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival this weekend. Should be fun! We get to sing our songs in front of people once before we head up there, so it should be good practice.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Stuck.
So, I need a job HORRIBLY. But I'm afraid to get one before the pageant because I'm worried that I won't have enough time to prepare.
This sucks. I need money.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
History Class
This is what we're learning:
(Editors Note: In 1968 a group of feminists went to Atlantic City to protest the Miss America pageant. They originally intended to burn symbols of oppression in a "Freedom Trashcan" but were unable to secure a fire permit. The objects were simply deposited in the trashcan instead. Several members of the group managed to display a large protest banner inside the pageant.)
On September 7th in Atlantic City, the Annual Miss America Pageant will again crown "your ideal." But this year, reality will liberate the contest auction-block in the guise of "genyooine" de-plasticized, breathing women. Women's Liberation Groups, black women, high-school and college women, women’s peace groups, women's welfare and social-work groups, women's job-equality groups, pro-birth control and pro-abortion groups- women of every political persuasion- all are invited to join us in a day-long boardwalk-theater event, starting at 1:00 p.m. on the Boardwalk in front of Atlantic City's Convention Hall. We will protest the image of Miss America, an image that oppresses women in every area in which it purports to represent us.
There will be: Picket Lines; Guerrilla Theater; Leafleting; Lobbying Visits to the contestants urging our sisters to reject the Pageant Farce and join us; a huge Freedom Trash Can (into which we will throw bras, girdles, curlers, false eyelashes, wigs, and representative issues of Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home ]ournal, Family Circle, etc.- bring any such woman-garbage you have around the house); we will also announce a Boycott of all those commercial products related to the Pageant, and the day will end with a Women's Liberation rally at midnight when Miss America is crowned on live television. Lots of other surprises are being planned (come and add your own!) but we do not plan heavy disruptive tactics and so do not expect a bad police scene. It should be a groovy day on the Boardwalk in the sun with our sisters. In case of arrests, however, we plan to reject all male authority and demand to be busted by policewomen only. (In Atlantic City, women cops are not permitted to make arrests- dig that!)
Male chauvinist-reactionaries on this issue had best stay away, nor are male liberals welcome in the demonstrations. But sympathetic men can donate money as well as cars and drivers.
Male reporters will be refused interviews. We reject patronizing reportage. Only newswomen will be recognized.
The Ten Points
We Protest:
1. The Degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie Symbol. The Pageant contestants epitomize the roles we are all forced to play as women. The parade down the runway blares the metaphor of the 4-H Club county fair, where the nervous animals are judged for teeth, fleece, etc., and where the best "Specimen" gets the blue ribbon. So are women in our society forced daily to compete for male approval, enslaved by ludicrous "beauty" standards we ourselves are conditioned to take seriously.
2. Racism with Roses. Since its inception in 1921, the Pageant has not had one Black finalist, and this has not been for a lack of test-case contestants. There has never been a Puerto Rican, Alaskan, Hawaiian, or Mexican-American winner. Nor has there ever been a true Miss America- an American Indian.
3. Miss America as Military Death Mascot. The highlight of her reign each year is a cheerleader-tour of American troops abroad- last year she went to Vietnam to pep-talk our husbands, fathers, sons and boyfriends into dying and killing with a better spirit. She personifies the "unstained patriotic American womanhood our boys are fighting for." The Living Bra and the Dead Soldier. We refuse to be used as Mascots for Murder.
4. Consumer Con-Game. Miss America is a walking commercial for the Pageant's sponsors. Wind her up and she plugs your product on promotion tours and TV-all in an "honest, objective" endorsement. What a shill.
5. Competition Rigged and Unrigged. We deplore the encouragement of an American myth that oppresses men as well as women: the win-or-you’re-worthless competitive disease. The "beauty contest" creates only one winner to be "used" and forty-nine losers who are "useless."
6. The Woman as Pop Culture Obsolescent Theme. Spindle, mutilate, and then discard tomorrow. What is so ignored as last year's Miss America? This only reflects the gospel of our Society, according to Saint Male: women must be young, juicy, malleable-hence age discrimination and the cult of youth. And we women are brainwashed into believing this ourselves!
7. The Unbeatable Madonna-Whore Combination. Miss America and Playboy's centerfold are sisters over the skin. To win approval, we must be both sexy and wholesome, delicate but able to cope, demure yet titillatingly bitchy. Deviation of any sort brings, we are told, disaster: "You won't get a man!!"
8. The Irrelevant Crown on the Throne of Mediocrity. Miss America represents what women are supposed to be: inoffensive, bland, apolitical. If you are tall, short, over or under what weight The Man prescribes you should be, forget it. Personality, articulateness, intelligence, and commitment- unwise. Conformity is the key to the crown- and, by extension, to success in our Society.
9. Miss America as Dream Equivalent To-? In this reputedly democratic society, where every little boy supposedly can grow up to be President, what can every little girl hope to grow to be? Miss America. That's where it's at. Real power to control our own lives is restricted to men, while women get patronizing pseudo-power, an ermine clock and a bunch of flowers; men are judged by their actions, women by appearance.
10. Miss America as Big Sister Watching You. The pageant exercises Thought Control, attempts to sear the Image onto our minds, to further make women oppressed and men oppressors; to enslave us all the more in high-heeled, low-status roles; to inculcate false values in young girls; women as beasts of buying; to seduce us to our selves before our own oppression.
No More Miss America! (1968)
On September 7th in Atlantic City, the Annual Miss America Pageant will again crown "your ideal." But this year, reality will liberate the contest auction-block in the guise of "genyooine" de-plasticized, breathing women. Women's Liberation Groups, black women, high-school and college women, women’s peace groups, women's welfare and social-work groups, women's job-equality groups, pro-birth control and pro-abortion groups- women of every political persuasion- all are invited to join us in a day-long boardwalk-theater event, starting at 1:00 p.m. on the Boardwalk in front of Atlantic City's Convention Hall. We will protest the image of Miss America, an image that oppresses women in every area in which it purports to represent us.
There will be: Picket Lines; Guerrilla Theater; Leafleting; Lobbying Visits to the contestants urging our sisters to reject the Pageant Farce and join us; a huge Freedom Trash Can (into which we will throw bras, girdles, curlers, false eyelashes, wigs, and representative issues of Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home ]ournal, Family Circle, etc.- bring any such woman-garbage you have around the house); we will also announce a Boycott of all those commercial products related to the Pageant, and the day will end with a Women's Liberation rally at midnight when Miss America is crowned on live television. Lots of other surprises are being planned (come and add your own!) but we do not plan heavy disruptive tactics and so do not expect a bad police scene. It should be a groovy day on the Boardwalk in the sun with our sisters. In case of arrests, however, we plan to reject all male authority and demand to be busted by policewomen only. (In Atlantic City, women cops are not permitted to make arrests- dig that!)
Male chauvinist-reactionaries on this issue had best stay away, nor are male liberals welcome in the demonstrations. But sympathetic men can donate money as well as cars and drivers.
Male reporters will be refused interviews. We reject patronizing reportage. Only newswomen will be recognized.
The Ten Points
We Protest:
1. The Degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie Symbol. The Pageant contestants epitomize the roles we are all forced to play as women. The parade down the runway blares the metaphor of the 4-H Club county fair, where the nervous animals are judged for teeth, fleece, etc., and where the best "Specimen" gets the blue ribbon. So are women in our society forced daily to compete for male approval, enslaved by ludicrous "beauty" standards we ourselves are conditioned to take seriously.
2. Racism with Roses. Since its inception in 1921, the Pageant has not had one Black finalist, and this has not been for a lack of test-case contestants. There has never been a Puerto Rican, Alaskan, Hawaiian, or Mexican-American winner. Nor has there ever been a true Miss America- an American Indian.
3. Miss America as Military Death Mascot. The highlight of her reign each year is a cheerleader-tour of American troops abroad- last year she went to Vietnam to pep-talk our husbands, fathers, sons and boyfriends into dying and killing with a better spirit. She personifies the "unstained patriotic American womanhood our boys are fighting for." The Living Bra and the Dead Soldier. We refuse to be used as Mascots for Murder.
4. Consumer Con-Game. Miss America is a walking commercial for the Pageant's sponsors. Wind her up and she plugs your product on promotion tours and TV-all in an "honest, objective" endorsement. What a shill.
5. Competition Rigged and Unrigged. We deplore the encouragement of an American myth that oppresses men as well as women: the win-or-you’re-worthless competitive disease. The "beauty contest" creates only one winner to be "used" and forty-nine losers who are "useless."
6. The Woman as Pop Culture Obsolescent Theme. Spindle, mutilate, and then discard tomorrow. What is so ignored as last year's Miss America? This only reflects the gospel of our Society, according to Saint Male: women must be young, juicy, malleable-hence age discrimination and the cult of youth. And we women are brainwashed into believing this ourselves!
7. The Unbeatable Madonna-Whore Combination. Miss America and Playboy's centerfold are sisters over the skin. To win approval, we must be both sexy and wholesome, delicate but able to cope, demure yet titillatingly bitchy. Deviation of any sort brings, we are told, disaster: "You won't get a man!!"
8. The Irrelevant Crown on the Throne of Mediocrity. Miss America represents what women are supposed to be: inoffensive, bland, apolitical. If you are tall, short, over or under what weight The Man prescribes you should be, forget it. Personality, articulateness, intelligence, and commitment- unwise. Conformity is the key to the crown- and, by extension, to success in our Society.
9. Miss America as Dream Equivalent To-? In this reputedly democratic society, where every little boy supposedly can grow up to be President, what can every little girl hope to grow to be? Miss America. That's where it's at. Real power to control our own lives is restricted to men, while women get patronizing pseudo-power, an ermine clock and a bunch of flowers; men are judged by their actions, women by appearance.
10. Miss America as Big Sister Watching You. The pageant exercises Thought Control, attempts to sear the Image onto our minds, to further make women oppressed and men oppressors; to enslave us all the more in high-heeled, low-status roles; to inculcate false values in young girls; women as beasts of buying; to seduce us to our selves before our own oppression.
NO MORE MISS AMERICA
It's hard to take all of this seriously when school is trying to shove this down my throat.
Yes, at the time when this was written, I'm sure beauty pageants were a lot more about BEAUTY than brains, but we've come a long way since then.
Miss America is NOTHING like Miss USA, at least we've got talent :p
Instead of bashing the Miss America program, my history professor
should instead be aware that the two competitions are complete
opposite, Miss America being (in my biased opinion)
the better of the two. It's just a much more mature and respectable
organization.
Still, its tough to sit in class and listen to every single person in there bash beauty pageants and those who compete in them. I sit in there and just laugh to myself, knowing what happens behind the scenes.
Last week, when I eventually raised my hand and informed the class of what I do in my spare time (after my teacher led a 20 minute discussion bashing pageants, btw) his eyes kind of bugged out of his skull.
Sorry that I'm one of the few students who actually pays attention and has walked away with high B's and A's on all your tests, I compete in an evening gown to make my way through school, and apparently it's a bad thing...
Oh well, as we've been so taught...
One must always respect the opinions of others.
Orientation Photos
The official photographs from the Miss CA orientation are up.
Click here if you're interested in taking a peek:
Click here if you're interested in taking a peek:
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Roommate
Jansie, Miss South Bay.
We'll be rooming together for a week in Fresno. She's adorable, if you can't tell from the picture.
Operation Roommate was successful!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Miss Moorpark
Off to the Orientation...
what good titleholders we are.
I'm picking up an info packet for Lisa, so she can look into it. I have no idea who else I should induct...
Home Sweet Home
Instead of giving you a full play by play of Orientation this weekend, I'm just going to post pictures. You'll pretty much get the gist of it and I don't feel like typing everything out...
Get the idea?? Jillian, since I know you read this now, STEAL PICTURES!!!
I'm going to the Miss Moorpark Orientation tonight, talk to the girls thinking about competing, tell them how much fun it is. I think I'm dragging Kate and Gabby (or I'm going to try to at least). It should be fun going to the meeting in this position, whenever I used to go, it would be for getting the information about competing.
Woooooo
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Orientation: Day 1
Epic. Exhausting.
I've never been so anti-heels in my entire life. My feet are numb. We learned how to walk, did a mock-interview, performed our talent, ate bad food, mingled...
It doesn't sound like that much, but it took up the ENTIRE day...
Steph found a beetle in her salad. No joke.
Wakey, Wakey
6:08 am.
Jillian is in the shower and the other two are sleeping. I hardly got any sleep last night, jitters about today.
All my ads are done, but of course I'm missing a check and have to call my mom to mail it out by the 5th. Also, my song my be six seconds too long, so I'm going to have to beg and plead or cross my fingers that somehow I can get away with it. At this point, I'm not even going to stress about it. I'm so done stressing about everything.
Today's going to be hectic, I can already tell. I'll keep you posted, and try to take pictures. Keeping my eyes open for a roommate.
I'll post pictures (or video) up when I get home...!
Friday, May 1, 2009
And Orientation Begins...
Here in the hotel room. In Fresnooooo.
Car ride was easy, went by really quickly actually. Left Moorpark around 2:45, got here around 7ish. We stopped for Starbucks and dinner along the way though.
Now, we're all just hanging out in the hotel room, getting ready for bed. Three out of four of us brought our laptops and they offer free internet, so no complaints from me. Clueless is on TV, so Steph and I are watching it. This is the only time we're gonna get to be lazy the entire weekend.
Tomorrow is going to be such a busy day. I'll take as many pictures as possible and keep this updated as best I can.
I'm reallllllly nervous about tomorrow. Crossing my fingers it all goes well and no one decides to be totally against me for some reason, lol.
Also, on the lookout for a roommate. Once again, keeping my fingers crossed.
At the end of this, my hands are going to fall off.
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