Let's get political

Since when did people start thinking the only part of a beauty pageant where a contestant is judged is the questions?

I think it's great that finally, FINALLY, people are paying attention to what these contestants are saying. It's great that it's not ALL about how someone looks.

But, I have to wonder: Are we going to have to deal with a sore loser controversy everytime someone comes in runner up in a beauty pageant?

I didn't see Carrie Prejean live, but after seeing the headlines all over the news, I finally Googled and YouTubed the controversy. From my opinion, she didn't actually answer the question she was asked.


I did see the Miss USA question and answer portion of the show, and while at first I didn't think Miss Oklahoma fully answered the question, the more I watched it last night on TV, the more I realize she actually did. However, the woman who won Miss USA, answered her question very well, too.

Now, the news headlines are saying Miss Oklahoma is saying her answer lost her the crown. Guess what? Since you are being judged on it, then it is quite possible it cost you the crown, but there are other things you are being judged on in this competition. You can always provide a very neutral, peace-keeping answer if you are so afraid of it costing you a win, or you can say what you believe, and be proud of yourself for doing so.

I say what I believe all the time. And sometimes, someone has jumped down my throat for it. But, I know I am a nice, tender-hearted person and I know that I am not going to hurt anyone with my beliefs.

If you want to make a judgment for yourselves, YouTube it.

Reading

Growing up, I LOVED reading. Spelling came very easily to me, as did reading. (I even won the first grade spelling bee!). The early days of Girl Sunday's reading history included:

• the Little House on the Prairie series
• the Babysitters Club series
• anything and everything Judy Blume
• and whatever else I could get my hands on that sounded fun

Then, this thing called junior high school happened to me. We had to read books from a list, most of which I couldn't find a book I really, really liked. And when I admitted that in a reading journal, my eigth grade English teacher felt like we needed to have a come to Jesus about it. I am not exaggerating. I told her I didn't like the reading list and I read so much in my early days, I'm having trouble finding books of interest to me. See, I was always very mature for my age, but that didn't mean I was ready for the mature books. Or the thousand page books. In junior high, we also had to read so many pages of book per nine weeks. This was not my reading style whatsoever. The highlights of my junior high reading career were:

• in seventh grade, I was allowed to include short stories from magazines as my "pages", so I read up the teen magazines' short stories
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Outsiders

On to high school ... in tenth grade, our English teacher had the class create our reading list. Everyone was to ask a friend and a relative (or something like that) about a good book, and then put their recommendation on their list. Then, we compiled our lists into one big one, from which we could choose books. By eleventh and twelfth grades, we didn't do too much outside reading. I chose to read (and enjoyed):

• Gone With the Wind
• Scarlett
• The House on Mango Street
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Pride and Prejudice

In my spare time, I discovered some grown up Judy Blume - Forever and Summer Sisters.

In college, I was a political science major and I minored in history. Y'all, I know I have said this a million times, but unless you are/were a poli sci/history student, you probably will not understand what that does to your desire to read a book for fun. All I read in college was history and philosophy and theory and politics and government, government, government. It was a great day when Glamour or Cosmo came in the mail!

A couple of years post-college, I got into reading again, and my favorites are:

• Tori Spelling books (sTORI Telling, Mommywood)
• Celia Rivenbark books (there are quite a few and very hilarious - and Southern!)
• Chelsea Handler (even though she's mean to my girl Tori, you can't help but laugh at Chelsea's stories)
• Eat, Pray, Love
• Strong Women, Soft Hearts and Better than my Dreams by Paula Rhineheart (these are devotional books and I LOVE them!)

I have also started reading books I never got a chance to at other times in my life, like Go Ask Alice. I read two more adult Judy Blume books, Smart Women and Wifey. Usually, when I'm bored, I like to peruse Target's book section or Barnes and Noble's clearance and history sections. I have a reader's advantage card with B&N and it is AMAZING. Totally worth the $25-ish if you are a book junkie like me. Also, Amazon is a favorite place to get books.

My current reading list has been a lot of childbirth books and an Emily Post biography that I am still wading through, five months after I started it!