If you follow Olivia on Instagram, you might have noticed that she went to the Miss America pageant on Sunday night. Miss New York, which I'm thinking of calling Olivia from now on since she was born and raised here, won for the third year in a row.
Woohoo?This reminded me that I used to get asked to go and judge the Miss Teen America pageant every year and would accept so that I could bring a writer to go undercover backstage and through the process with me to write about how kind of terrible it was. I thought that was really Sassy.
This year, they ran these chyrons with random information about the contestants that they kept showing during the talent portion, like "Slapped a shark as a kid" and "Was attacked by a cheetah in Zambia." They sound like "It Happened to Me" stories. So do a lot of the PR pitches we get lately, Mandy and I have both noticed.
Or maybe we are just obsessed with looking for an IHTM in every story. I can't tell you how many times I've said -- to a stranger, my sister, my mom, a lover (just kidding, but I thought it sounded funny) -- "You should write that as an It Happened To Me," making it probably seem like my interest on their story is only a business one.
What else of non-excitement? I had to cancel two photo shoots this week, which was a bummer because I had taken my zinc leading up to them, and my skin was looking especially glowy. (I highly recommend it if you want to look like you’ve never been exposed to pollution, ever.
) At first, I felt like I was wasting these good skin days by not being photographed, but then I read Pia’s article about feeling like she “wasted" looking great on a date that didn’t happen, and it changed my perspective. I recommend it -- she’s so good at recounting her personal revelations.My canceled shoots are not a big deal compared to other things happening to xoJane editors this week. Lesley broke her finger, Emily moved to a new apartment, and a couple editors had family emergencies that we aren't going to talk about here except to send all healing vibes their way.
Oh, remember the New York Times article I mentioned last week? A lot of old friends who saw me reached out to say hello, including my old coworker Bob Iger, who was the wonderful guy to give permission to start Jane magazine years ago. That was the thrill of my inbox this week, along with a note informing me that contributor Madeira Darling's parents and I went to Oberlin together!
Have you heard from any old friends lately? That's a perfect open-thread-ish thing to talk about. Actually, everything is a perfect open-thread-ish thing to talk about, because there's nothing you can't discuss here. But if you're having trouble thinking of something to say, you might want to answer one of these questions:
- What would your Miss America random-information-about-you chyron say?
- Have you ever believed a Twitter death rumor?
- What's your all-time best thrift store find?
- Did you hear that the ozone layer is repairing itself?
- Do you clip coupons?
Feel free to completely ignore those questions. Answer questions that weren't even asked, or ask your own questions. Ask for the great advice of this large group of non-judgmental souls. This is where your any words you add here will be seen and thought carefully about, even if those words are just "hi, i'm here."