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Dear
Readers,
Well, pageant season is finally upon us! Sunday night, February 15th,
we crowned our 1st contestant and 1st alternate to have qualified to
compete at Miss Gay Arkansas America 2009. I am excited to report
that we had 5 contestants competing for the prestigious title of Miss
Gay Little Rock Arkansas America 2009. The competition was amazing
and culminated with Charnay Iman Cassadine being crowned, with
Sasha Harrison as 1st alternate, and Makayla Blake as 2nd Alternate.
Every competitor did a great job and I fully expect to see the others
qualifying in subsequent preliminaries. The Lady Champagne was beautiful
in her step-down and should be congratulated on her wonderful reign over
the Capital City. I am so proud to call her my friend. We were also delighted
to have Miss Gay Tri-States America 2008, Shawn Tyler Andrews entertaining
and wowing us with dance and the splits. Miss Gay Arkansas America 2005,
Miss Kamrin Mikaels rounded out the entertainment and proved once again
that she is a prime example of what the symbol of excellence represents.
I would like to thank the Arkansas Alumni Productions for presenting the pageant
and for working closely with
me to insure that I was up to the task at hand. Co-Chairmen, Spencer May and
Dennis Harris, along with board
member Blake Hardcastle, and longtime ardent supporter of the system, Melvin
Beavers were our judges. They
did a superb job and made my 1st pageant so much easier as I knew they were
right there should any issue arise.
I also want to thank the other former Miss Arkansas Americas who were in attendance
and also worked hard to
make the event a success. Thanks to April Scott, Raven St. James, Dominique
Sanchez, Missy Klein, Alexis LaRue.
I would also like to thank Megan Michaels for his efforts prior to the pageant
and the original Miss Arkansas America,
Norman Jones, for beginning this great legacy and developing it though years
of hard work and your unwavering
commitment to excellence. Without you, there would be no system.
I also must thank the audience that came out to support Miss Little Rock!
I was happy to see so many familiar and
friendly faces in the audience. I was also very pleased to see many Arkansas
USA titleholders and competitors in the
audience, as well as those competing for Arkansas F.F.I. I am so glad that
the systems here are determined that
working together is the best way for all to succeed. We should consider ourselves
fortunate that we can all respect
and advocate the differences and similarities within the systems. After all,
it is the differences and similarities that
make up the wonderful family and community that is Arkansas.
As you are aware, we are living in a time of unprecedented change. We elected
our first bi-racial president in January
and are faced with economic strains that our nation has never seen. It is
in times like these, that it may be easy to lose
our focus, and to grasp at any new idea that might alleviate the current situation.
However, it is times like these when
we need to pay close attention to what is happening around us so that we do
not get caught off guard and lose sight of
the reasons as to why the population at large elected this man. We have been
promised change, and I don’t mean from
our hard earned dollars. We have been promised that everyone’s rights,
as well as responsibilities, will be a chief concern
of this presidency. I urge each of you to get involved and let your voices
be heard. Please do not be afraid to speak up
when you feel injustices are taking place. Do not think that surely someone
will speak up, for that someone might be you.
Honored to be Miss Gay Arkansas America 2008,
Todd B. Stiedle
aka Stephanie Richards
stephaniemgar2008@yahoo.com
(501) 920-9773