Old tiaras sat in a box, collecting dust in the back of a dark closet. Tiaras of all shapes and sizes. Ones with pink gems and others with blue and green and purple.

Those jeweled crowns once rested upon heads stiff with hairspray, complementing the sparkle of its beauty queen’s teeth, eyes and dress.

So what’s a beauty queen to do with her boxes and boxes of old tiaras? She can use them to start her own nonprofit organization, of course. At least that’s what Jenna Edwards, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Miami (UM), majoring in communication studies and English, did.

“I had about 20 tiaras in a shoebox and I kept them out of the way because they were insignificant to me. I had so many that they didn’t matter anymore. My larger crowns and the ones that were a challenge to win were kept on a shelf for display,” said Edwards.

It started in June of 2000 when she was trying to think of something to do with all of her tiaras from past beauty pageants. Not wanting to throw them away, she thought about having a tea party and giving the tiaras to girls who were terminally ill.

“I have a heart for helping others in less fortunate positions and I had struggled with self-image issues myself. I wanted to help other girls with the same issues,” said Edwards.

Edwards posted a message about her idea on the Internet and got a great response. People wanted to send her their old tiaras and others wanted to start the same program in their town. Days after Edwards posted the announcement she incorporated the name, Queen For A Day.

“Because of the response from the internet, I decided to jump on the opportunity and incorporate Queen For A Day. At the time, I had no idea it would turn into a national organization consisting of 120 volunteers.”

Edwards got the idea for the name of her organization from her mother, who remembered an old game show from the 1950’s, called Queen For A Day.

“I felt the name captured the immediate activity of the program. My mother and I later added the phrase ‘Confidence For a Lifetime’ to sum up our mission statement,” said Edwards.
Queen For A Day parties run about three hours and include a tea party, makeovers, manicures, feather boas, long white gloves, Polaroid pictures and, of course, the tiaras. Girls have been crowned between the ages of 18 months and up to 21 years old.

“The girls get so excited when they find out they can keep their tiaras,” said Edwards. “They’ll show off and prance around the room.”

Some of these tea parties are held in clinics with out-patient children, but they are also held at hospitals with in-patients.
Edwards, far from being a novice at beauty pageants, currently holds the Miss UM title and was once Miss Teen All American.

“Being Miss UM has opened several doors and I’m only through half of the year. I am trying to get myself into the community as Miss UM, hoping to make valuable contacts for Queen For A Day.”

Edwards was recently awarded with the Louise P. Mills Student Award from the UM Women’s Commission.

“Every time I’m recognized as Miss UM, I’m also recognized for Queen For A Day. I’ve always known that wearing a crown gets more attention, so I’m taking full advantage of my position to market the organization,” said Edwards.

This Mississippi native, with just one more year of school to go before graduation, has already made Queen For A Day her full-time job.

“I never saw myself working with children,” Edwards said. “I have to be very outgoing when I’m with the girls, even though I’m normally a reserved person.”

Edwards would like to eventually travel to the 20 different chapters of Queen For A Day, which have been started across the United States and Canada, by other philanthropic enthusiasts and pursue this project on a national level.

For now, each chapter is responsible for its own supplies at the tea parties and they all have their own ways of raising money and obtaining donations.

Plane tickets were donated to the Columbus, OH chapter, which they raffled off to make money for supplies.

At the parties in Memphis, Clinique representatives make special appearances, providing all of the makeup and performing the makeovers on the girls.

Grocery stores donate food and Walgreens has also provided makeup for parties. The tiaras are passed on to the girls from beauty queens all over the country.

Katie Harman, Miss America 2002 and Kelly Gaudet, Miss Florida 2002, have attended Queen For A Day tea parties. Harman visited the Portland, OR chapter and Gaudet visited a tea party held at Miami Children’s Hospital.

“It’s a great feeling to see the girls’ reactions and the looks on their faces,” said Edwards. “And to know that I helped put those smiles there.”

So what’s Edwards’ next step?

Incorporating the boys into her parties. One roadblock she has faced is that some hospitals do not allow gender-specific programs. Edwards has brought athletes to visit with boys with planned arts and crafts as their activity.

She is currently implementing a new program for boys, called “Heroes.”

“With the recent emphasis on real-life heroes, we hope to reinforce the values of bravery and courage through images of firefighters and police officers,” Edwards said.

Edwards has thought about going to graduate school, but for now she plans to stay in Florida. She will be representing the University of Miami at the Miss Florida competition in St. Petersburg, June 28.

“Because Queen For A Day is my platform [for the Miss Florida competition], I have the opportunity to talk to people all over the state, and possibly all over the country, about the organization, speaking and making appearances for fundraising. I feel this is the perfect outlet for both the Miss America organization and Queen For A Day,” said Edwards. “After all, the Miss America organization is for encouraging young women to take a stand on social issues and also, on their self esteem.”

Edwards plans to make fund raising for Queen For A Day her full time job after she graduates, to acquire enough money to setup payroll to hire herself.

“A lot of people have been inspired by taking something they’re good at and applying it to volunteering,” said Edwards. “Myself included.”

- Abigail Putnam, Contributing writer

Instead of a Starbucks Frappucino, try Chai Tea
Chai Tea is a fragrent blend of Indian herbs and spicies infused into a black tea and milk blend. Its sweet and satisfying without the guilt. You can buy pre-made blends of soymilk and chai tea or chai mixes to make yourself.

Instead of Ruffle’s Potato Chips, try Spicy Popcorn
Potato chips are deep fat fried - enemy number one of a girl’s waistline. Air-popped popcorn will provide fantastic crunch and flavor without leaving you with greasy fingers.
Want to give it a try?

How-to:
Air-pop a desired amount of popcorn. (This means you use a popper and popcorn kernels, not the instant microwave kind.) Spray lightly with canola or olive oil cooking spray. Shake Lawry’s Seasoned Salt over the popcorn and toss to coat. If you’d like a hotter taste, add 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper to the toss.

Instead of Strawberry Shortcake, try Strawberries with Cloud 9 Dip
Sorry, those prepackaged shortcakes and strawberry toppings you see next to the strawberries don’t count as a fruit serving - they’re loaded with unnecessary sugar and fat. There are better choices for the enjoyment of succulent summer strawberries. One idea is a yummy cream cheese and marshmallow dip that won’t break your calorie bank.

How-to:
Wash fresh strawberries thoroughly with cold water. Slice in half or quarters, depending on size. Soften 2- 3 ounce squares of fat free cream cheese by leaving out for 30 minutes. Using a hand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Then add 1 jar of Marshmallow Fluff and beat until combined. Serve in a dipping bowl with strawberries.

More better choices
Snacking throughout the day curbs your appetite and boosts metabolism. Better choices are abundant and these suggestions will help get you started on the road to nutritious noshing.

Instead of queso, try salsa
Instead of soda, sparkling water with lemon
Instead of french onion dip, try hummus
Instead of an ice-cream smoothie, try a sorbet smoothie
Instead of a candy bar, try a serving of Fig Newtons
Instead of Doritos, try cheese-flavored rice cakes

Healthy, fast and fresh
Want super-easy on-the-go snacks to get you through the day? Try these quick picks.
Fresh seedless grapes paired with a single serving of low-fat cheese
A crisp Granny Smith apple paried with salty pretzels and 1 T. of crunchy peanut butter for dipping
1/2 cup Cheerios mixed with 1/4 cup each - pretzel sticks, peanuts, raisins

- Jennifer Sjolin, Executive Editor

The album, which is released on Difranco’s own record label, Righteous Babe, is the newest addition to the 20-something albums she has created or collaborated on. However, Difranco has named it one of her favorites so far.

“I always like the new record best, because it represents my most recent accomplishments, but in the end, of course, I loathe them all,” she states on her web-site. “There are some very positive things that this album represents to me, though, for sure…I think Evolve is an album spoken by my band in our own language—one we spend years developing.”

Evolve opens up with the slow, solemn tune, “Promised Land,” which Difranco has described as “a conversation between two women. Both those women happen to actually be me, but that’s beside the point.” The song seems to show mixed feelings about the adventurous path she has tumbled down throughout her lengthy musical career.

“In The Way” starts the mix of musical genres on Evolve with its jazzy, upbeat feel. However, “In the Way” is an angry song about a relationship gone sour. Difranco sings in the chorus, “Tell me, what is in the way / in the way of my love for you? / There’s something in the way / in the way of my love.” Difranco’s use of upbeat jazz music with her angry lyrics helps convey the song as blissful as well.

“Icarus” is a soothing track that follows the spitefulness of “In the Way.” “Icarus” tells the story of a very quiet person who always keeps his or her’s emotion bottled up inside. In the end of the song, Difranco sings, “You’re trying to learn to just sit inside your sadness / even if you’re sitting there alone / ’cause just like icarus ascending / never intending to look back / Nature’s law and your tragic flaw/ are vying to send you flying into the arms of another Venus fly trap.”

“Slide” is very adventurous, but takes on too much. The backup vocals and loud guitars and drums overpower Difranco’s quiet voice. They also become too distracting at some points, taking away from such clever lyrics as, “but we never see things changing / we only see them ending.” Like many of the songs on this album, “Slide,” tells a story. However, “Slide” is not as obvious as the others. It is more fluid and vague.

“O My My” is backed mostly by a piano (rather than Difranco’s guitar) which Difranco actually plays herself. “I wrote “O My My” on the piano to challenge myself, because I can’t actually play piano at all!,” she states on her web-site. “Having Julie [the pianist in her band] play it for me would defeat the purpose, now wouldn’t it? Besides, I always prefer to hear musicians taking chances, than to hear them playing it safe and getting it right all the time.”

“Evolve,” the title track, goes back to Difranco’s folk rock roots, featuring just Difranco and her guitar. It features a very catchy line in the chorus, “She is trying to evolve,” which Difranco notes represents the idea of this album. “…I felt that the song ‘Evolve’ epitomized or encapsulated a lot of the album’s central themes…It represents my state of mind at the end of the whole process of writing, performing, recording and mixing this body of work,” she stated on her web-site.

“Here for Now” is a fast, upbeat track that uses a lot of horns, giving it a latin feel. Difranco decided to give “Here For Now” a latin feel because “that’s just what my hands started playing on the guitar, which was naturally influenced by what I was listening to at the time.” Difranco recalls on her web-site, “…Latin pop artists were dominating the requisite Top 40 soundtrack to all public spaces. I was in a bar in Copenhagen when I first made up the main guitar riff. I remember it because I was walking around the venue all day, with my backpacker guitar slung over my back, just riffin’ on it.”

The second-to-last track, “Serpentine” is more of a poem than a song. It is the longest track on the album, clocking in at over ten minutes long. “Serpentine” certainly sticks to Difranco’s usual folk rock sound—The song opens with three minutes of Difranco softly playing her guitar. “It was a real doozy to record, because there is so much to it and it is so spare and exposed,” Difranco notes on her web-site. “I experimented with splicing takes together, but in the end decided it was more important to go with one performance than to achieve some kind of perfection or composure in every moment. At the end of that performance that appears on the record, I cried and cried. So I figured, ‘fine, I guess that’s it.’

Track listing
1. Promised Land
2. In The Way
3. Icarus
4. Slide
5. O My My
6. Evolve
7. Shrug
8. Phase
9. Here For Now
10. Second Intermission
11. Serpentine
12. Welcome To:

Find out more on Ani at righteousbabe.com

- Megan Higginbotham, Editor

Soak
Relax your feet (and mind) by dipping your toes into a warm foot spa or bath for a few minutes to prepare them for the beautifying process.

Exfoliate
Revitalize deadened skin with The Body Shop’s Peppermint Pumice Foot Scrub. It packs a powerful punch against foot forces of evil - roughened, dead skin and odor.

Smooth
For an ultimate finishing touch to already tender tootsies, smooth over Burt’s Bees Coconut Foot Crème from heel to toe. The crème is 99.3% natural, containing coconut oil with emollient qualities, oat protein and peppermint oil.

Beautify
Find your favorite nail color to adorn your toe nails, then slip your feet into that pair of sandals or heels you’ve been eyeing in anticipation and finally show them off!

Foot Care Tips from footcaredirect.com

1. Wash your feet daily.

2. Rinse off all soap and dry thoroughly, especially between toes.

3. Trim nails straight across, and not too short.

4. Don’t cut out or dig at corners.

5. Do not trim, shave, or use over-the-counter medicines to dissolve corns or calluses.

6. Wear clean socks or stockings, changed daily.

7. Don’t wear any that are too short or too tight.

8. Wear shoes that fit.

- Margie Monin, Contributing writer

Do not mistake that for vanity. Whitney and Liz are extremely observant (or nosy, depending on how you look at it) and have learned from the mistakes of others as well as their own. Prepare to be enlightened by their thoughts and insights into the world as they see it.

The following is a list of 10 rules for dress that Liz finds very important. The way you look is all that most people will ever know about you, give them a positive impression.

The 10 Commandments of Clothes

1. Realize that if you wear clothing that says something, it is if you are shouting that slogan, logo or whatever, to EVERY person you come in contact with. People will assume that your personality can be summed up in those words. Be careful with the image you broadcast.
2. If you dress like a strumpet, you will be considered as such. Don’t ruin your reputation that easily.
3. Skirts are like good speeches. Keep them long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep them interesting.
4. Silver and Gold cannot be mixed and matched. Wear one metal at a time.
5. Keep your audience in mind. Wear clothing appropriate for the activity. If you are unsure, it is better to be overdressed in most cases than to be underdressed.
6. Short skirts do NOT belong in church. Old ladies will gossip, your peers will condemn you and you will embarrass your parents. People will doubt your sincerity. Keep skirts a few inches above the knee or longer, and NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WEAR FISHNET STOCKINGS TO CHURCH.( I have actually seen this many times)
7. Keep the flannels and faded jeans in the closet. Most guys don’t want a girl that dresses like they do. Dress like the girl that you are.
8. Always know where the neckline of your blouse is at all times.
9. Foam sandals only go well with swimsuits and short sets. NOTHING ELSE.
10. Never wear socks AND tights. Pick one or the other. Some of these rules may seem obvious, but we wouldn’t have thought of them if we hadn’t seen them being put to use.

Whitney and Liz’s Book Selection of the Month

Reading is an important aspect of being well informed. We aren’t asking you to read War and Peace, so we think one carefully selected book a month isn’t too much to ask. Reading the diverse selections can make you a more interesting and knowledgeable person. Besides, would we recommend something we both didn’t love?

This month’s selection is:
How to Seduce any Man in the Zodiac by Robin MacNaughton.
An entertaining read even for those, like Liz, who do not believe in astrology. It’s interesting and if you’re totally clueless as to what approach to take in winning a guy, this book at least gives you a plan of attack. And don’t worry, the title is actually racier than the book. There is actually very little about seducing, it’s mostly just getting someone’s attention. We think you’ll like it.