Is Miss America still relevant?

by Jerilyn Dufresne, Chicago Mental Health Examiner

Miss America 2009 (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Miss Indiana, Katie Stam, is the new Miss America 2009. Since TLC took over the pageant they've tried to make it more relevant and more fun.

This year it included the audience counting a cliche'--the number of mentions of world peace and also to name the contestant with the best spray tan. That's a far cry from a contest that took itself way too seriously for most of its almost 90-year history.

1n 1921 when Margaret Gorman was crowned, the Miss America pageant gave the Golden Mermaid trophy to the overall winner. It's come a long way since then.

Remember the overly-coiffed bathing beauties of the 60s, 70s, and 80s? Beautiful young women, some of them looking like Stepford Wives, paraded without showing the essence of who they were.

Now, personality is expected and rewarded--just as it was in 1921.

The organization says the Miss America Pageant is a scholarship pageant and not a beauty pageant. But some people have a hard time with the distinction.

What about you? Do you think the Miss America Pageant is still relevant today? Was it ever? Do you watch the TV show? The conversation continues with you.