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“From
A to Zia” - January
My perspective on my year as Miss Gay Arkansas America
Hello everyone! I hope everyone had an amazing Holiday
Season
and had a wonderful Christmas! As I write this month’s newsletter,
I realize that my reign as Miss Gay Arkansas America is already a
third of the way over. It’s funny when I think about it. It was about
four months ago when I was crowned Miss Gay Arkansas America.
The time has certainly flown by. The phrase “time flies when you’re
having fun” is certainly true.
December was a fun month for me. I don’t know
what it was, but I
seemed to enjoy myself this month for whatever reason. Maybe it
was some of the people I was around or just that I was in great
spirits. Whatever the reason, I had fun!
So, let’s get started…
My month started out with going to the opening of Miss Kitty’s and
the Saloon. I went out to support Phillip and Jim as they opened
their new venture. Most may know Jim and Phillip as the owners of
Sidetracks in North Little Rock. Miss Kitty’s is a new country bar and
dance hall, where Club Pulse used to be. The décor will resemble a
country saloon. While things were not quite finished, I’m sure Miss
Kitty’s will be a top notch place to go have some fun! I had a great
time just hanging out and talking with
friends and meeting some new ones. Congratulations to Miss Kitty’s and
the Saloon, and I wish you much
success in the New Year.
The first Saturday of the month had me back at Triniti
and performing with Lisa Laws and Miss Gay Northwest
Arkansas America, Dakota Cummings. I had been looking forward to this show
for a while. I was excited because
I knew this show would be fun and because I hadn’t had the opportunity
to perform with these two talented
individuals before. I was not disappointed and we had a blast that night.
After the show we headed to Discovery
for a little more fun to finish out the night. As you all know Triniti is
the place to be on Saturday nights with great
shows and a varied show-cast every Saturday night.
The following week I was a guest entertainer at the
Diamond State Rodeo Association’s annual Christmas party
and fundraiser. Talk about fun! These folks know how to put on a great party.
There was plenty of food and fun
to be had. The highlight of the night was the dirty Santa gift exchange. We
all had great fun with that. It wasn’t
about the gift, but it was all about the fun and fellowship we all shared
in the exchange. At the end of the night I
ended up with a Jack Daniels BBQ set…I was quite happy with my little
gift. Thank you DSRA for making me feel
welcomed, for always taking care of me and always making sure I have a great
time. I will see you folks soon!
On Saturday, December 10th I had the pleasure of judging
the very first Miss Gay Arkansas United States @
Large pageant along with Scott Johnston, Joseph Porter and the reigning Miss
Gay United States, Taylor Madison
Monroe. There were 4 contestants vying for this title; Gigi Galore, Deidra
Richards, Mendigan Iman and Sasha
Harrison all competed and showed the judges and the audience just why they
deserved to be Miss Gay Arkansas
United States @ Large. In the end it was Mendigan Iman who won and was crowned
Miss Gay Arkansas United
States @ Large. Sash Harrison was named first alternate. I understand that
all four of these contestants will now
be on their way to the National Pageant to be held in Washington DC in May
of 2012. I would like to congratulate
Mendigan and Sasha on their placements and wish all the contestants much luck
as they compete for the National
Title. I enjoyed judging this pageant and but especially judging the interview
portion of this pageant. I like being
able to get a glimpse of the person behind the makeup and the stage persona.
I was honored to have judged this
pageant and am grateful to Jordon Bolton aka Crystal Marie Love for the opportunity
to be chosen to be on this
judging panel.
The following week had me back at Triniti and a crazy
and fantastic Friday night show with Dominique Sanchez
and the Whitney Paige. I am always in awe of these two and their talents.
It was a crazy, loud and a jammed
packed house this Friday night! It seemed like the kids were really into the
show. The energy was through the
roof this night. Maybe because we were so close to Christmas and everyone
was just in the mood to party! It
was blast to work this Friday night and work alongside these two entertainers
who I have admired and looked
up to for some time now. On a personal note, it was quite eye opening experience
for me to be able to reflect on
how far I had come as an entertainer. Thank you Dominique and Whitney for
all the laughs and for such a great
and memorable night!
While it seems I’ve been constantly on the go,
I was able to sort of pause for a moment and stop by my friend
Steve’s Christmas party to say hello and have a cocktail before hitting
the stage again. This time I was performing
alongside many, many local, state and National title holders. This was the
annual Christmas benefit show for HPWA-
Helping People With AIDS. This benefit was started by the legendary Norman
Jones and has been in existence for
many years. This was one of my very first “official” bookings
as Miss Gay Arkansas America and I was so very proud
to have been a part of this wonderful event and to have shared the stage with
so many wonderful entertainers. I
would like to congratulate Norman for his dedication to the community and
those who are afflicted with and living
with AIDS. I tip my crown to you!
After performing at the benefit show I ran right on
over to Club Discovery for the midnight show with, once again,
Dominique and Whitney. Discovery has gone back to two shows on Saturday nights
and I’ll admit I was a bit concerned
that I wouldn’t be able to handle the late night because I’m an
old girl and it takes me longer to recover from such
events. But I managed to make it through the night and have a blast doing
it. Let me tell you the crowds at Discovery
can be quite festive if you allow yourself to have some fun with the audience.
I’d like to thank the two gentlemen at the
end of the left runway who were very generous. Because of you I’ll be
able to buy more souvenirs on my upcoming
cruise. (More on that next month.) It was great fun and I appreciate all those
that came out to show their love and
support for me at this show. But after a long weekend of shows and parties,
I was worn out and needed to rest!
Christmas weekend arrived and I had a few days just to enjoy a little quiet
time. It seems as though I have bookings
or appearances most every weekend and so the quiet time was most welcome.
While I had some time I was able to
get more settled into my new home and prepare for the holidays. It gave me
an opportunity to finish off my Christmas
list and just enjoy the season a bit. I hope all of you were able to spend
the holiday with family and loved ones. While I
am not close in distance to my family, I was able to enjoy the company of
friends. This time of year is one of mixed
emotions for me…I’m too far from family and it makes me miss them.
But also, it’s exciting because we are close to a
new year and we have an opportunity to start fresh. Begin with a clean slate.
Start over.
And speaking of new beginnings, we are right around
the corner from start of the pageant preliminary season! I’m
excited to see what will transpire over the next few months. The Miss Arkansas
Alumni Board would like to talk to you
if you are interested in promoting a preliminary to Miss Gay Arkansas America.
As most of you know, Miss Gay Arkansas
America is the oldest continuing preliminary in the Miss Gay America system.
Also, to all of you contestants and potential contestants
that are thinking about competing in the upcoming pageant
season…Now is the time to be thinking about your packages and preliminary.
I urge you to get in touch with me with
any and all questions regarding Miss Gay Arkansas America. I cannot stress
enough about being prepared for competition.
Prepare yourself as if you are preparing for the state and national pageants.
In the upcoming months I will touch on every
aspect and category of completion to help you along as you prepare yourselves
for your preliminaries. The time will be
here before you know it and as the months pass, a new Miss Gay Arkansas America
will be crowned. Will it be you?
As the New Year approaches and we think back on the year that has passed I
hope we can all say that it was a good
one. That we achieved all we wanted to this year. Perhaps we fell short of
a goal or didn’t make amends with someone
you wanted to. Perhaps you made a difference to yourselves or maybe to others.
The good thing is that with the New
Year, we have another chance at new beginnings. We can start the New Year
off with renewed hope and new dreams.
Time, unfortunately, does not stand still…and so here we are…almost
a new year. Where has the time gone? So many
memories to reflect on this past year and so many things, experiences and
people to be grateful for. There are too many
things that I’m grateful for to really put into the newsletter, but
I want you to know that I am truly grateful for each and
every one of you who has come into my life this past year and equally grateful
for those who have stayed with me on this
journey. My path to Miss Gay Arkansas America was not an easy one, but it
was certainly a journey that I would not change
for the world. As Miss Gay Arkansas America I have shared so many amazing
experiences with many of you as well as
because of you. I can honestly say that I will look back on 2011 and smile
at all that I’ve experienced. I have learned many
lessons, and often times wondered why things were happening they way they
were. But in the end, everything worked out
as it should have. They always do.
What will you reflect on? Who and what will you be grateful for as this year comes to an end?
I wish you peace, love and happiness in the New Year. May 2012 be one of challenges and accomplishments.
I look forward to seeing many of you this year and I begin my travels across our state promoting and representing Miss Gay Arkansas America.
Until next month and next year,
Much Love,
Zia D’Yor
Miss Gay Arkansas America 2011
ZiaMGAR2011@gmail.com
501-650-3373