Ladies of the DU : Were you in a Debutante Ball or Pageant ?

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

I was invited to be in one during my senior year of high school . But after the first meeting I declined further invitations to participate after realizing it was just a big contest to see who raised the most money - AND the money that I would have raised , I would not have gotten it back . WTF ? But I still have the elegance and grace of being a debutante , it comes naturally ;)

If any of you were in a Debutante Ball ( they are popular in the South )or Pageant , share your experience .

[xmas74]

1. Nope.

But I was Miss Merry Christmas (won't tell what year).

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

2. Tell .

;)

[xmas74]

3. Well, I had to give a speech on the meaning of Christmas

(I stuck w/ the spirit of giving to others aspect and explained how we needed to give more to the less fortunate. I also stated that we needed to give more love and time to our families instead of monetary gifts). I played a trumpet solo for my talent. I did well in my interview but I came off as a lib even back then (I was 17).
What else? My dress was off the shoulders in an emerald green w/ a small train (a friend made it for me in her home ec class). My duties included being the ambassador for the Christmas holidays. I was in the Christmas parade and got to sit next to Santa on the float (Santa really wanted me to sit on his lap but I suckerpunched him about 5 minutes before the parade started). I also had to flip the switch for the town's Christmas lights. I attended the grand opening of a store and assisted in cutting the ribbon. I also had to cut the ribbon for the opening of The Christmas Store (donation shop that makes baskets for the less fortunate for the holidays).
I received two dozen roses, a crown, a sash, and a $250 scholarship. I also had to wear a mink stole from a local store (it was apart of the "contract" that you had to sign. I wasn't happy but did it for the scholarship money).
I also received letters in from children in local stores. They would ask me if I would personally deliver them to Santa. I always told them that I would do it just for them. And I had many little girls to hug. Plus, I got to go to the local hospital and area nursing homes to cheer up the residents that would not be able to make it home for the holidays.
I think that covers it. It's been almost 15 years ago so I probably forgot a few things. I didn't forget about the petition that the runner-up started to have my crown taken away (her father was the head of the local GOP and I have never forgiven the pukes for the lies that he started so that his kid could be Miss Merry Christmas-the ugly bitch!).

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

4. And I bet that runner-up Freeper has not forgotten either lol .

Cool story but Bad Santa on the float lmao .

[xmas74]

5. Santa told me that he wanted to see my boobies for

Christmas. And he smelled like whiskey. He was a city councilman.
And I know that she didn't forget. She flipped me off a few years ago at our class reunion and called me white trash in the restroom. She now has bad skin, stringy hair and looks like she eats bonbons while her husband works for her daddy all day long. She never left that crappy town.

[Bunny]

11. A lot of class and dignity in that one, isn't there?

She flips you off, 15 years later? Nothing like a sore loser, is there?

[xmas74]

15. She never was overly dignified.

She tripped across the stage, fumbled her interview and said "and uh" throughout her speech.
She got first runner-up only because of her father. I can think of three other girls who deserved it over her. She bragged backstage about how she was going to win the whole pageant because of her father and that we should just drop out.
I never liked that cow. And she only lives a decent life because her father gave her and her husband 50 acres w/ a house and gave her husband a job. Otherwise, she would be living in the trailer park that she so despises.

[Qanisqineq]

6. Nope, but I was FFA Sweetheart

and I wasn't even in FFA. :D

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

7. FFA did'nt stand for " Future Freepers of America " did it ?

Please say it stood for " Future Farmers of America " .


;)

[Qanisqineq]

8. LOL! Nope, not Future Freepers

Future Farmers of America. Since there were no girls that were juniors in FFA, they simply took the girls that lived on farms and voted for Sweetheart out of those. Somehow I was "lucky" enough to be the one. :P

[KoKo]

18. OMG! FFA Sweetheart? I know whereof you are coming from.

:D I won't even get into that...but thanks for posting...you brought back memories that most DU'ers won't understand. another :D

[BlondieK143]

9. I was homecoming queen in 1996.

Miss Baby Bobcat to be exact. I had to raise a lot of money and sell ad space in our program that we put out at the end of the year. That was my 4th year of cheerleading and the first time I had ever ran. I think I was in 8th grade? One of the proudest moments in my life for being one of the chubbier cheerleaders and wearing my tiara in front of the skinny, blonde ones. :D

[Scooter24]

12. Awwww....

hehe...

And here I thought about running for Miss Baby Bobcat too! But only for the tiara :D

[BlondieK143]

13. LOL!

If you're nice, I'll let you wear mine around! :D

[KoKo]

20. I was, also.....but more than a couple of decades before you...

and it was during a time of "turmoil" so I always thought my "Homecoming Crown" was a "backlash."

:shrug: I was voted on by the student body and did nothing to promote myself because it was before "marketing" caught on in the public schools.
:evilgrin:

[trof]

10. I was the King of Glen Iris Grammar School. Does that count?

I think I was in the 5th grade.
Mom made my coronation outfit.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

32. Of course that counts .

And I bet you were handsome ;)

[tinfoilinfor2005]

14. I was raised in Michigan. I never even heard the word debutante

unitl I was in my thirties, and then it was probably in a movie. But my friends hung out in back of the school yard and I was voted best girl to light a cigarette in the wind with one match.:)True story.

[xmas74]

17. Smoking was the reason why they tried to take my crown.

They couldn't prove it-I was the Queen of Listerine and scented lotion.

[Left Is Write]

16. Not unless the "Captain Morgan's Mate" contest counts.

And that was under duress. I found it embarrassing. Needless to say, I did not win.

[xmas74]

19. I did a wet tshirt contest once.

I won $100-enough for my friends to drink for the night. And I was a TKE Rose (like a little sister so not really a pageant).

[KoKo]

39. oooooooohhhh. But a Hundred Bucks is no small change...

A TKE ROSE...Good thing...doing your duty for your family member.

:toast:

[xmas74]

41. I loved being a Rose.

And it was my big bro who needed the drinking money. He went on to become a Top TKE.
TKE Rules!

[KoKo]

42. I lost my heart to a "Sigma Chi" supposed to be Journalist .....trashed me

and turned out to be a toad. Which in the end, made me feel a little "vindicated." :D

But, I was still always fond of "Sigma Chi." :shrug: what did I know...??

[xmas74]

43. I didn't lose my heart to a TKE.

Mine was a Sigma Nu. Now that's a large group of pukes there! (at least they were all Republicans at my college)

[KoKo]

21. I grew up in Charleston County....I know about "Debutante Balls."

ooooooooooh...you're gonna get much stuff here on DU by revealing your interest in this. :D

Most folks here don't want to think that "Debutantes & Homecoming Queens" could actually be RADICAL DU'ers!

It's amazing but not everything and everyone is always what one thinks it is...if you get my drift. :D

Debutantes & Homecoming Queens posting on DU!!!! Shock! Horror! NO WAY!

:rofl:

[realFedUp]

22. yep

just a past life.

[KoKo]

23. It does seem like a "past life" doesn't it. And so many here wouldn't

understand. The sad thing IS that folks here should be as inclusive of the Debs and Homecoming Queens as they are of Andy Stephensen who couldn't afford his surgery or a homeless person on the street.

But, even our Dems have lost their sense of nuance. That RADICAL FOLKS could be posting on DU who have very differing backgrounds that what the MEDIA and FREE REPUBLIC tell us that we DEMS SHOULD BE. :shrug:

[Schema Thing]

24. Not me, but I am 100% for world peace!

[trof]

25. Why do I try to involve myself in hen parties?

I guess it's just my nature.
I like girls.
;-)
Nobody wants to know about the circumstances leading up to my coronation as the K.of G.I.G.S.?

[KoKo]

26. Because you are a "cutie" that we all love and you gotta put your 2 Cents

In....:-)'s

[trof]

28. Awwww, shucks.

<blushes>

[Karenina]

27. Gee... thanks for the memories...

NOT! My mother, her Sorors and those AWFUL red satin dresses... It was an ordeal, adolescent abuse, I tell ya!

[KoKo]

29. My biggest failure in my early life was not to be chosen by my FFA

buddy that was my best friend in 3rd grade ...a love of my life...to even be nominated...:-(

We parted ways across America...but in my dreams he's still "my best buddy" and when I think of 3rd grade I remember "Lou" and still wonder why when I was 16 he didn't want to marry me. :shrug: But, he voted for me...a bookish person for "Homecoming Queen" and he contacted me in College for a date....but it never worked out between us...but I love him to this day...because of the "memories" of a fine fellow back in 3rd Grade. :shrug: who actually became a "fine fellow" in real life many years after.

[KoKo]

30. This is a great thread in many ways because it allows us to look back

on our lives and think of the silliness that we took so SERIOUSLY...and laugh about it.

BECAUSE...RIGHT NOW...we are here on Democratic Underground which means whomever and whatever our PAST LIVES were...we now are UNITED around a COMMON CAUSE.

If we were "Homecoming Queens, Geeks, Debutantes, King of the Hill, Thugs, Druggies, Anonymous, ETC...

We are all HERE FIGHTING AGAINST BUSH!

AIN'T IT GRAND...to be part of the BIG TENT ACTIVIST DEMOCRATIC LEFT!

When the Debs, HCQ's UNITE with the rest of AMERICA we are a POWERFUL FORCE AGAINST THE FUNDIE RIGHT WING?

:shrug: at least that's what I hope....

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

33. Amen !

[mitchum]

31. I was an escort at several debutante balls

I clean up nicely

[KoKo]

36. "Escorts" were much in demand....need to be charming.....

and help your "Mom" out? :shrug:

Anyway...you did you "duty" and are here on DU doing "reparations."

:evilgrin: Please take this in the humorous spirit it was intended...myself living through those times...It was a different world.

Glad you coped...you might have been MY DATE "somewhere in time"...:-)'s

BTW... understand "clean up nicely," in your post. :rofl: there were many Jenna and Barb's in that crowd.

I was happy with a "Zombie" to drink...One and a half...."Cheap Date!"

:D

[LeftyMom]

34. no, I come from poor white trash

I think it's a rule, you can't be in one of those things if any member of your family has ever owned a Camaro. ;)

[KoKo]

35. Thanks....a good one "lefty Mom" we are all in the same boat now...

rowing through the "Bush Sludge." And we sink or survive together...Hey, Hey? :shrug:

[supernova]

37. No and I never knew anyone

who was involved with it either. Before now, I suppose.

[KoKo]

38. It's that "Southern THANG'' that existed... But Jenna and Barb did theirs

methinks in the midst of that Taxas THANG.

But...it's kind of oldie stuff, forsure. Even though in "pockets" of the South it still exists.

It was just a fun post (at least that's what I think "Carolina Peridot" was trying to do.} Just a walk "down memory lane" for those of us "impaired by our cultural upbringing."

:shrug: Don't take it personally...just a "Lounge Reminiscence" of "another time and space. And, if I could spell better I'd be in heaven now. :-(

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

40. Yeah that's what I was trying to do ... it was just a fun post .

I did not mean for it to turn into a class ( rich vs. poor ) or dem vs. repub issue . In fact , when I got invited to be in the debutante ball , my family and I were going through financial hardships . The first meeting , my mom and I drove in our car which only opened on the passenger side - I remember us praying that nobody saw us . Yes , this is true . Another reason that I did not participate was because I was not in the mood for getting glammed up and I could not be bothered to raise money that was going to go to the winner .