Junior Miss Pageants - Worthwhile or Gratuitous Stage Mothering

[KitchenWitch]

[mainegreen]

1. Junior Miss Pageants?

What is that? Sounds like a midwestern thing, a sorta "we're bored and theres nothing but corn for miles around so lets have a pageant" kinda thing, right?

[KitchenWitch]

2. It is like Miss America only for girls under 18

There are some on the east coast as well...

They held their pageants last week at Disneyland.

[mainegreen]

4. Ah, I see

Also saw just your post about it in "I let someone have it today!" thread.

[KitchenWitch]

6. LOL

That one felt goooooooooood!

Am I evil?

[JVS]

5. Shit! I missed it!

[JVS]

3. They bring so much joy to me and my friends that I cannot condemn them

[merh]

7. Don't the junior miss winners win scholarships?

In this day and age, with the economy being so stinky, that is a good thing.

:hi:

[KitchenWitch]

9. I suppose they do

But I guess I do not want to give my daughter the message that the only worthwhile thing about her is her looks and her entertainment value...

[merh]

10. If I am not mistaken, junior miss pagents require that the

contestants have good grades, do community service or are involved in their community. I think they require more than good looks and talent (which is obvious if you have caught any of their talent shows).

I think junior miss has higher standards than the elder contests.

[KitchenWitch]

11. Oh, thank you for clearing that up

I thought they were just about the "window dressing"

[merh]

13. mission statement

AJM
Mission Statement

To emphasize education by providing scholarship opportunities
to outstanding, college-bound high school girls,
and to encourage personal development in all young people
through the Be Your Best Self outreach program.

. . . a positive youth outreach program from America's Junior Miss

AJM's "Be Your Best Self" program is a nationwide outreach aimed primarily at influencing young people. Adopted to be AJM's platform in 1987, the Be Your Best Self program is an endeavor through which Junior Misses incorporate a positive, personal approach into working with young people to encourage self-esteem, thereby helping them successfully deal with challenges they face.

Positive Role Models
Because they are positive role models, Junior Misses are often asked by various organizations, especially elementary, middle and high schools, to make personal appearances. The Be Your Best Self program gives them the opportunity to approach each appearance with a definite mission and message. It is a personalized message stressing the importance of incorporating six elements into one's life— morality, integrity, honesty, love, respect, and hope.

Promotes Excellence
The program is designed to promote literacy, all-around excellence and self-esteem in young people. It involves Junior Misses reaching out to young people and encouraging them to make a commitment to being their best selves in areas including academics, physical fitness, morality, character, and social and civic concern and participation. It includes, but is not restricted to, encouraging young people as they face the challenges of dealing with negative peer pressure and avoiding the perils of the abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Drawing on their personal experiences, Junior Misses deliver helpful messages emphasizing the importance of setting goals and striving to reach them.

Life Values
Junior Misses talk of the satisfaction that comes when a person lives life always trying to do his or her best. They emphasize the importance of saying "No" to alcohol and other drugs and saying "Yes" to literacy and education. They stress the importance of families and relationships.
We all should try to do our best. That is an integral part of the Junior Miss philosophy, and Junior Misses in communities across the country are using the Be Your Best Self program as a platform from which to deliver that message.

[KitchenWitch]

14. It does sound like a pretty alright organization

Sure wish the one that had stepped on my foot at Disneyland had shown more manners...

[merh]

15. I betcha do

LOL, sorry that happened to you.

Actually, the majority that get in those types of pageants do so as training for the bigger pageants. It is a very twisted world and I have problems with parents that encourage their daughters involvement in pageant, after pageant. It just seems too self serving and anyone who has to win a contest like one of those pageants to feel good about themselves has self-esteem problems.

I am not a fan of pageants or sororities or fraternities.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

18. Care to elucidate on your prejudice

against fraternities and sororities?

Almost all of them were founded on liberal ideals. I'd be interested to hear your objections.

[merh]

24. I don't know what they were founded on.

I know that I don't see a need for them in this day and age,imho, they are social elite organizations. Part of the class system. Most poor folks I know or average college students couldn't afford to be a member. And isn't college about obtaining an education? Not being a member of a social club.

Let's just say that hazing and being a member of those organized cliques make me wonder if the social skills of the members are hampered by their involvement.

But hey, that is me. If you like them, that is fine. No skin off my nose and no intention to insult.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

28. Well enough

But, given the fact that you weren't part of one, are there a few preconceived notions in your theory? Might that be why you call it a "clique?"

No one in my chapter came from an independently wealthy family. I'm the son of a furnace operator/coal miner. My roomates were sons of steel mill workers. My room and board was equivalent to that of a dorm. The only difference was that I had more space. Of course, we didn't have the pre-paid building maintenance that the dorm kids had. We had to learn to do it ourselves, from boiler maintenance to painting to roofing to cooking (I'm a darned good cook and started learning by helping out in the kitchen as a pledge).

In addition, the tenets of my fraternity (Phi Gamma Delta) were decidedly liberal (brotherhood, knowledge, leadership).

We live in an era where right-wingers deliberately create a sense of isolation for anyone who doesn't think like them.

To suggest that a lack of organized association is somehow better or more beneficial, to me, succumbs to the isolationism.

Let me share with you something written by one Newton D. Baker, a brother in my fraternity:

"A fraternity is an association of men, selected in their college days by a democratic process, because of their adherence to common ideals and aspirations. Out of their association arises a personal relationship which makes them unselfishly seek to advance one another in the arts of life and to add, to the formal instruction of the college curriculum, the culture, and the character which men acquire by contact with great personalities, or when admitted to partnership in great traditions.

A fraternity, too is of such character that after men have left college they delight to renew their own youth by continued association with it and to bring their richest experiences back to the younger generation in part payment of the debt which they feel themselves to owe to the fraternity for what is gave them in their formative years."

While I do not know how seriously some of my brothers took those words we memorized, I know how seriously I did.

I've enjoyed the exchange.

[merh]

30. I'm glad to know that fraternities like yours exist.

I apologize if my generalizations offended you. Nothing like what you describe existed at my college or any of the colleges that I have visited. I said I was never a member, that does not mean that I have no personal knowledge of fraternities. The frat boys I knew were spoiled rich kids or want to be spoiled rich kids that wasted their time partying and chasing skirts. Most struggled to stay off of academic probation and yes, staying in frat houses was more expensive than living in the dorms.

From my experiences, the clique or, as we call it down south, good ole boy system, is fostered and encouraged in fraternities. Even in the business world, one frat brother is more likely to hire another frat brother over someone more qualified.

I am happy you benefited from your experience. It is good to know that not all frats are like the ones that I had dealings with in college.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

33. My response was not meant

to fully negate your assertions, but rather to provide an alternative.

Most fraternities today have, in fact, been overtaken by the right wing. But some of that is our fault. We let ourselves be chased out.

I know the good ole boy system up close. I was born and raised in Alabama. I had my love of baseball AND football stymied by that system.

B-T-W, what the heck's wrong with chasing skirts? Sorry. I *was* guilty of that. Chased a bunch. Caught a few. So did a bunch of my dorm buddies.

I wasn't offended. I rather cherish the decent discussions I get around here. It's nice.

I have a website of my own in support of my radio show. www.headonradio.com My message boards are positively *infested* by wingnuts. I certainly can't have this discussion there. But I'm trying to create an environment where liberals will fight back against the weird-wing as hard as they fight us.

Thanks for the chat.

[merh]

34. Not a thing wrong with chasing skirts if it is not a full time

activity and if it doesn't entail score keeping. I've been known to pursue slacks and have definitely enjoyed catching them.

I enjoyed the chat too and will check out your website. :hi:

[GrpCaptMandrake]

35. Thanks!

I really hate to throw the cons off my boards, since it's almost like a national geographic special.

It would be nicer if some good libs would get in and win the war of ideas.

I hope you enjoy your visit.

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. See my post below (n.t)

[GrpCaptMandrake]

16. And, given the focus that the America's Junior Miss Scholarship Pageant

places on scholarship, extracurricular activity and eliomoysinary service, there's little chance of that happening. Heck, if a young woman is an expert auto mechanic and devotes her time to helping low-income folks have a vehicle, America's Junior Miss will celebrate that.

America's Junior Miss has real decency. Last I checked, there's not even a swimsuit competition, which, given the fact that these are younger ladies, is the right way to go.

I suppose part of my attitude arises from my southern upbringing. Sorry.

:popcorn:

[KitchenWitch]

17. I appreciate you debunking some of my Yankee attitudes about this

Thank you!

[GrpCaptMandrake]

20. Was that a flame?

I sure hope not, as my comments weren't critically intended.

I was raised in Alabama. Mobile was home to Junior Miss. That culture took root in the south. Can't say why.

[KitchenWitch]

21. No it was absolutely not a flame!

:hi:

[GrpCaptMandrake]

23. OK

When someone self-references "yankee" after a "southern" self-reference. . .

Sometimes I understand the elaborate rituals of so-called primitive societies. I think it may actually be easier.

So glad I didn't offend.

I've read many of your threads and posts and would never dream of doing so.

:toast:

My lovely wife and I have three daughters and we're on constant guard against gender bias.

On the other hand, a thread somewhere here mentioned "christian underground." I had a look at it and was appalled at the photo on the front. http://www.christian-underground.com/

Taken in context, what do you think?

For my part, kinda reminds me of the girls at Prussian Blue (or, as my 17 y/o daughter calls them "Prussian Ewwwww!") http://prussianblue.net/

On edit: down one paren

[KitchenWitch]

25. The photo on the front of Xtian Underground is IMHO

exploitive to say the least. I think they could have chosen a better subject (teens, versus pre-teens).

Prussian Blue is just fucking scary.

There is a local band here called Junkyard Prophet (basically a propaganda band) that plays high school assemblies singing pro bush songs etc. Here is a link to the non-profit org's site that spawned this tripe: http://www.youcanrunbutyoucannothide.com/youcanrunintro.html

[GrpCaptMandrake]

29. I know all about those thugs

The idea that attendance at their "concerts" is mandatory smells profoundly of life in the Reich.

I was struck by the photograph on the CU site by the dangly earrings, the make-up, the pose, the haircut of the little girl in question.

Wonder how the CU people would feel if you told them that Sup Ct nominee Sammy Alito has approved of strip-searching her without a warrant?

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. Hideous, godawful things

And the younger, the more hideous. My ex was Little Miss New Mexico when she was like 6. She wanted nothing to do with it; it was her folks' idea.

The Junior Miss program is a product of the Jaycees; I was in the organization for 10 years and on the Junior Miss committee one year. We literally solicited girls at malls to be contestants. It was... not pretty.

The ones I really hate, though, are those that solicit girls through their schools, and then charge a fee to get their name and photo in some stupid book and give them a crown, a sash and a bogus title. A couple of these girls (and/or their parents) sent press releases to the newspaper where I used to work; the press release is another requirement, to promote the program. After the second one, I got suspicious, did some research and learned that these things are nothing but money-making ventures for the people who run them. After that, the paper stopped accepting the press releases, much to the dismay of the mothers.

I pity parents who think they have to buy recognition for their kids.

[merh]

27. Wow, the solicitation thing is news to me.

And I am with you, I pity any parent who thinks they have to buy recognition for their kids.

My parents were just the opposite. They taught us not to worry about all those contests and pageants and prizes. My mother used to tell us "names are fools like their faces, always seen in public places". The parents just wanted us to do the best we could do and be the best we could be.

[Oeditpus Rex]

31. I let my rant get away with me a bit

The solicitation bit might've been an anomaly; I don't know. This being a West Coast city, pageants might not be as well-received as they might be in the South or Midwest. Also, that was 16 years ago, and things do change.

I can tell you this, though: many Jaycees chapters, including mine, stopped doing the pageants because they were such a pain in the ass. I wasn't a committee "insider," but I believe the main PITA source was in dealing with the Junior Miss people.

Again, this is only my personal experience.

Btw, there was a movie about this some years ago called "Smile." It's sort of a dark comedy. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073722/

[merh]

32. I remember that movie.

LOL

:hi:

[XemaSab]

12. It's a great place to go to meet girls

if you're a pedophile...


:puke:

[MiniMandaRuth]

22. Agree.

I know this is probably gonna get me flamed... But, if I were a creep looking to hurt young girls, that would be one of the first places I would look.

[XemaSab]

26. Or even the OGLING

dressing teeny little girls up in trampy outfits...

GROSS!!!!