A few experiences that may be of interest...
First--the other day, I found out that one of my (just graduated) graduate students has been crowned Miss Illinois. And I gotta tell y’ah--I’m proud of her. I never really “got” the concept of beauty pageants, and maybe I still don’t. But after being with this one particular student for 2 years, I think there may be some merit to them after all. This student had more poise, maturity and elegance compared to her peers. By far. And if she acquired these characteristics as a product of beauty pageants, then the pageant system may have merit after all. In any event, I’ve only watched one other Miss America--and that was due to the former Miss Illinois.
And to make the situation more surreal--today I found out that *another* one of my former students (from 2006) is Miss Tennessee. (Had her as an undergrad for a semester.) So yeah--they’ll be competing against each other. But I gotta be honest; Miss Tennessee (while quite smart) always came across as a bit smarmy. Conversely, Miss Illinois was always professional and graceful; there no doubt who I’ll be routing for.
So get this; I’m here in South Carolina for a family un-vacation... and I wanted to get some bourbon. So I trounce into a local ABC store, and quickly sense that it was owned and operated by 2 gay guys. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) I ask to see their mini-bottles, because I don’t want to buy a 750 mL and I also want to give some new brands a shot. They had none. But after a few short minutes of small talk, they started opening up bottles of bourbon and whiskey and we were having our own little tasting party. I was probably there for about :30 minutes just talking and sampling, and it was actually a good time. These guys didn’t know much about bourbon, and I actually up-sold a few of their customers to a super-premium brand. I ended up getting a whiskey that’s unique due to the fact that its primary grain is wheat (rather than corn, barley or rye). And it’s quite good, and they sold it to me at a discount. Good times; good times....
First--the other day, I found out that one of my (just graduated) graduate students has been crowned Miss Illinois. And I gotta tell y’ah--I’m proud of her. I never really “got” the concept of beauty pageants, and maybe I still don’t. But after being with this one particular student for 2 years, I think there may be some merit to them after all. This student had more poise, maturity and elegance compared to her peers. By far. And if she acquired these characteristics as a product of beauty pageants, then the pageant system may have merit after all. In any event, I’ve only watched one other Miss America--and that was due to the former Miss Illinois.
And to make the situation more surreal--today I found out that *another* one of my former students (from 2006) is Miss Tennessee. (Had her as an undergrad for a semester.) So yeah--they’ll be competing against each other. But I gotta be honest; Miss Tennessee (while quite smart) always came across as a bit smarmy. Conversely, Miss Illinois was always professional and graceful; there no doubt who I’ll be routing for.
So get this; I’m here in South Carolina for a family un-vacation... and I wanted to get some bourbon. So I trounce into a local ABC store, and quickly sense that it was owned and operated by 2 gay guys. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) I ask to see their mini-bottles, because I don’t want to buy a 750 mL and I also want to give some new brands a shot. They had none. But after a few short minutes of small talk, they started opening up bottles of bourbon and whiskey and we were having our own little tasting party. I was probably there for about :30 minutes just talking and sampling, and it was actually a good time. These guys didn’t know much about bourbon, and I actually up-sold a few of their customers to a super-premium brand. I ended up getting a whiskey that’s unique due to the fact that its primary grain is wheat (rather than corn, barley or rye). And it’s quite good, and they sold it to me at a discount. Good times; good times....
posted by Greg | 9:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home