Miss America 2008

My dirty little secret is I like watching beauty pageants. I think the thrill for me is watching people do what they are good at. And the fact that they have been wearing some slammin' shoes really helps. Anyways, I haven't watched a Miss America Pageant for a while, mainly because I just lost interest. It didn't have any relevance to me anymore. Pretty but fake girls. Barbies: good to play with, impossible to be.

But something new happened. My new favorite TV channel, TLC, gave the Miss America competition a makeover. I watched almost all of the episodes and I had my favorites. Miss Utah, Jill Stevens, won my heart right from the beginning. She is Sargent in the National Guard and I must admit I was rooting for her because she was the tomboy. I connected with her. She wasn't sappy girly girl, which I am not. She is extremely pretty, but she's tough. That's what I think America is all about. Pretty enough to capture your attention but tough enough to come in and take over your country if we need to.

Another one of my favorites was Miss Florida, Kylie Jean Williams. She told a heartbreaking story of being disfigured in an explosion. She had spent most of her life hiding her scars. During one of the competition, she had to go without make-up that hid her scars. She got cool points for me because I think society makes beauty a standard of goodness, and there is no hope for people who don't have it. So they end up hiding. But they are still beautiful none less. But not Miss Florida. She embraced her flaws.

Based on these two contestants, I decided to forgo writing my paper that is due Monday to watch the pageant. And at this point, almost halfway through the show, I wish I would have written my paper instead. I am really disappointed in the pageant. Why, you ask? Even though lots of smack was talked about revamping the pageant, it's still the same thing. Both my favorites were eliminated in the first two rounds. There were several contestants who moved on that were completely uneventful. They were pretty, but plain. No character. Barbies.

All in all, it was an educational experience. I do have a new favorite, Miss Washington, who was just eliminated. Yeah, it's all the same. But the coolest part of the whole show was was when Miss Utah was elemniated. The rest of the contestants dropped and gave her a pushup salute. Way cool. God bless America.