That's right... I didn't mention it before, but I was a participant in the Southern Arizona Language Fair last Saturday morning and recited the poem "Hub Taht El-Matar" ("Love Under the Rain") for a small panel of judges:
I haven't quite figured out why yet, but Arabs
just love this carnival-style airbrushed art...
I did OK on the recitation, although my brain froze about two-thirds of the way through, and there was a very long and awkward pause as I stared searchingly into the judge's pitying eyes. However, I recovered and made my way through the rest of the text (73 words long to be exact... which runs about 115 seconds with dramatic pauses). Anyway, I found out today that I received an "excellent" rating, which is the second best scoring category. It also gives me more extra credit points for class. That's the important bit.
I even got a ribbon, which is now posted prominently on my refrigerator door. However, frankly I'm a little ticked I didn't get a tiara or a sash, like this little princess on the left:
I think this child has been sipping one too many
pre-pageant mint julips. I'm rather disturbed by the
smeary magenta lipstick, and the fact that she can't
keep the crown on her own head. Hmmm... so similar
to the wasted puppet next to her...
Personally, I thought the world of child pageants met its demise with the JonBenet scandal, but apparently not in the S-O-U-T-H... if you want to gasp in horror like I did, look at these two frightening links (I'm not sure which is scarier... the photos of the mini-Tammy Faye Bakkers or the nightmarish music creating "ambience" for each site.):
Southern Beauties and Beaus Pageant
Mississippi Pageants... Mardi Gras Winners
In the words of Devo, "It's pretty scary..."
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