UC CCM student crowned Miss America 2008
For the second time in eight years, a Bearcat has claimed the title of Miss America. University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music student Kirsten Haglund won the 2008 national crown in Las Vegas Saturday night, following in the footsteps of former Miss America, Heather Renee French, DAAP ’97, who was crowned in 2000. My husband is employed by UC and three of our children graduated from UC so pretty neat a UC student won. Kirsten was representing Michigan, her home state.
Her platform is to raise awareness of eating disorders, which she revealed she has had to overcome. I think this is great she’s focusing on this problem. There are so many people of various ages suffering from eating disorders. My character, Dr. Jennifer Hunter, in NO GREATER LOSS has a radio segment about eating disorders.
Years ago, I watched the Miss America Pageant. It used to be televised in September. For some crazy reason, after I heard about the new Miss America, I went down memory lane remembering Miss America of 1965 which was Vonda Kay Van Dyke. Why do I remember her? I was only a child at the time, but her talent impressed me so much that I asked for a dummy for Christmas. I never became an accomplished ventriloquist, but I did learn how to throw my voice. I checked out Paul Winchell book on ventriloquism in order to teach myself how to become a ventriloquist. By the way, Winchell was an early television ventriloquist who provided goofy voice-overs for such animated characters as Winnie the Pooh’s friend Tigger. In the mid-1950s, Dr. Paul Winchell patented an artificial heart.
I named my dummy Chris since he was a Christmas gift. I’m afraid I don’t even know what happened to Chris. And that’s a shame. It was fun to inject jokes into dialogue with a dummy and not move my lips. Actually I might use ventriloquism in my new book.
Miss America of 1965, Vonda Kay Van Dyke with her dummy Curley
January 28th, 2008 at 10:45 am
That’s so cool that you can throw your voice. I can’t do it and apparently am not talented enough to learn. LOL
I am home today with Emily. She has a stomach ache, headache and fever. Hope you have a wonderful day.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I’m not sure I could do it any longer. It’s been years, and I had plenty of time to work on it when I was young. I was like an only child at times with my siblings a great deal older.
I hope Emily gets better soon and you don’t get it. Take care.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I had a cousin who suffered from “Bulimia”. It was at least a three year struggle after she was diagnosed. She is a married mother of two and does just fine. Thanks goodness…..Cindi
January 28th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Hi Heather,
Congratulations on your win. I’m a ventriloquist. Paul Winchell was a
close friend for many years, and would be pleased
to know of your interest due to seeing him. You should check out his video, “How To Be A Ventriloquist”-which contains some clips of his early shows, which I produced with him. By the way-he invented the artifical heart. Good luck.
Jerry Layne
January 28th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Cindi,
I’m glad your cousin recovered and is now fine. Recently, I heard it’s not only a problem for young people, but also they are finding many middle-aged women suffer from bulimia, too. Very sad.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for visiting my blog and for the tip about his video. And congratulations on being a ventriloquist. I just visited your website - very nice!
January 28th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
It’s cool to see Miss America campaigning for a worthy cause. I think it would be great to learn to be a ventriloquist, but I don’t think I could do the lip movements and different voices very well.
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:48 pm
This might not be the most beneficial place to request this, but I’m trying to find a pest control company within the pittsburgh area and have no method to find out who’s the most effective. I found this business which is definitely close to me and wished to see if any individual has any reviews on them. Priority Pest Control, 524 Ross St, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 - (412) 346-6413