The Duties of Miss Finger Lakes

My experiences as Miss Finger Lakes have brought me to places in this great state that I'd never been before! I got to sit in on a few local preliminaries, and it was wonderful to be in the audience and witness with my own eyes other woman doing what I did, competing for the crown and sash just like me. It elevated my respect for pageant ladies, and it was a lot of fun to watch them put everything that they are into it.

I have to say, it's so incredibly cool to be able to walk into a pageant, with a crown on your head and a sash across your chest, and be greeted by other titleholders and pageant officials as if you're good friends from way back. I'd never realized just what the MAO is all about until being crowned Miss Finger Lakes, but I'm so honored to be a part of it all. The other titleholders that I've met are beautiful, gracious women. They have absolutely blown me away with how polite, kind and personable they all are; not once have I experienced any of that catty-ness you so often hear about in pageants! I can only hope that the friendships I develop throughout this process will be long-term and as sincere as I believe they are now.

Since being crowned, I've had the opportunity to take part in a few really incredible events and experiences. I marched through downtown Syracuse for the Vera House White Ribbon Campaign, with hundreds of men wearing high heels! It was the "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" march and it was a really great event. On April 15th, I marched through the SU campus with over 700 other students during the "Take Back the Night" rally, a national violence awareness movement that actually originated in London a looooong time ago. After the march, we attended a Speak Out, which designated a certain block of time for participants to share their experiences with violence. I was astonished to know that I was in the midst of so many other people who had gone through some of the same things that I have. It really reinfornces the idea that you can't judge a book by its cover. After the Speak Out, I was given the opportunity to speak about daily activism, and what I do within MAO. My invitation to everyone was to be more careful about the way they speak and the words they use, because violence starts with dehumanizing and the stripping of dignity, which can be easily done with words. Below are two Facebook messages I received the next day:

- "I just wanted to applaud you on the speech you gave tonight on activism at Syracuse University's 2009 Take Back the Night. You were right on when you talked about watching what you say because you never knows who's behind you. I've lived with that same motto for many years, and have imposed that on others. Both in college and back in high school, we encounter so many people who use "retarded" and "gay", and how much that actually does affect people. I have spoke to my friends on numerous occasions about watching what they say (some immature kids in high school thought it was humorous to tell jokes about aborted babies--and I said to them just what you told us tonight--you never know if the person behind you actually went through that, and how hard that could have been for them. And to hear you JOKE about it??) It's uncalled for, it's wrong, and it needs to stop.So thank you for spreading that message, you're doing such a wonderful job!Oh, P.S., good luck in the Miss New York Pageant, I'll definitely be cheering for you!"

-"I was at Take Back the Night tonight and really enjoyed what you had to say. It got me thinking about language, and how everyone needs to be thinking harder about their word choice. You also kind of redefined my image of pageant women, which I think is something to be proud of. It's important to have such strong women representing us, even in a field like beauty pageants. Keep speaking out about violence and telling your story, and good luck at Miss NY!"

This made my day when I logged onto Facebook and read these messages. To know that what I had to say has actually touched someone and changed their perspective on something, is exactly what I wanted to be Miss Finger Lakes for, and exactly what I want to be Miss New York for. My motivation within MAO is to promote and encourage change, which is also my motivation for having a social work major, and for wanting to be a future family lawyer.

Also, and this is my most exciting news for this post: I was invited to JUDGE one of the competitions are the Miss Sunburst NY state pageant next weekend!! It's the daycare/school wear competition for the lil youngins, and I'm so excited! Will keep y'all posted with how that goes!