Miss Eady’s reminder

They say she was robbed.

Don’t know much about that, but it’s safe to say Alyse Eady was deserving of the crown.  Also know she was a dang sight prettier than the young cornhusker who won, but that shows the bias that, taken too far, is what maybe causes some to have said Eady was robbed. It probably also shows a lack of class on my part because it’s not proper to say one Miss America contestant is prettier than another. But I did. And Eady was.

As you likely now know, Miss Arkansas Alyse Eady is the first runner up in the Miss America pageant concluded Saturday night (Jan. 15). The winner was a blond from Nebraska whose name escapes me because she wasn’t Miss Arkansas.

It is our job now to pray that the cornhusker queen gets wrapped up in some controversy and has to dethrone. Maybe her dad will get caught trying to find a college to pay him big dollars so his girl will wear her crown on their campus. Maybe not. But we have the Internet and Facebook and YouTube. Maybe someone will forward something untoward. Again, that all shows a lack of class on my part for publicly mentioning a secret hope for a cornhusker controversy. But I did. As have you.

To be sure, this farm boy from Johnson County is not one to watch pageants. But by the time the impressive Miss Arkansas was counted among the top 10 qualified-soon-to-be-crowned, the Green Bay Packers had already crowned the Atlanta Falcons and the young ladies in the Tilley viewing audience had successfully pressured dad to keep it on Eady.

The dad also was amused by the Eady-inspired whooping and hollering by the same young ladies who find it undignified when dad does the same while watching Razorback and Cowboy football.

With maybe a little more bias, I say Alyse Eady, the Miss Arkansas who grew up in Fort Smith, was unique in her bid to capture the Miss America crown. When’s the last time a pageant contestant at this level dared a ventriloquist act in which she worked two dummies while yodeling? Maybe it happens each year; like I said, I don’t watch many pageants. Usually, these queen wannabees play an instrument, sing, dance or sing and dance. (And if any original members of the Temptations are alive, someone should apologize to them for what that one contestant did with “Papa was a rolling stone.”)

When Alyse walked out in that smoking black two-piece bikini, did anyone notice she kept her hands on her hips for the entire walk? The other ladies swung their arms as they walked with that unnatural runway-model gait that always makes me think they weren’t raised proper. (And the fact I took notice of Eady’s hand locations rather than other parts certainly jeopardizes any chance I may have for entrance into the Dirty Old Man Club.)

But our Miss Arkansas stepped out there with them hands on them hips and a little righteous swagger in her walk. Dare we say she possessed an attitude that was True Grit-esque? Too bad Judge Parker wasn’t one of the judges.

The thing is, Eady did not win, but she gave. She gave in that she reminded those of us in the Fort Smith region of the grit we do possess. Or at least she reminded this one Fort Smithian.

Forgive me for having the firm belief that our biggest collective weakness in this region is that we too often underestimate our abilities. When we collectively decide to get serious about something, we usually make it happen. The examples I frequently cite as proof of this point include the 188th Fighter Wing, the Marshal’s Museum, the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, Lake Fort Smith expansion and new state park and Mitsubishi.

Unfortunately, we’re bipolar. If we’re not scoring big, we find ourselves scared to get in the game. Often, we let a few “negative nabobs” and their twisted view of reality carry the day. Which is to say we too often fall for the myth that “can’t” is a bigger word than “can.”

But not Alyse. She got in the game. She squared up and went painted toenail to painted toenail with 52 other talented, beautiful, smart and ambitious ladies. This round didn’t work out for her, but it is one of many rounds in the life of this confident and capable woman. Only a fool wouldn’t think she’ll win more rounds than she loses.

One of the little Tilley girls said she could’t believe a “Fort Smith girl got that far.” And there it was; in that statement of disbelief, was belief. It was an awareness of possibility. By golly, a Fort Smith girl can go far. By golly, Fort Smith can go far.

It’s been said in this space before that we are a great people, in a great place, capable of great progress. And here comes Miss Eady to remind me and you that we can compete at any level.

Thanks, Alyse, for reminding us of the belief we should have in our individual and collective abilities. We’ll try to remember to keep our hands on our hips and walk confidently into the knowns and unknowns — and hope like hell we look as fine doing so.

And when we run into those dummies in life whose only moving parts are their mouths, we’ll see if we can’t get them to sing our song.