Be careful, summer is winding down, some people are not
By James Cook, Times Editor
As the summer begins to slowly wind down, I was hoping that the craziness brought on by the heat would subside. But as you all know, if you read this column, I am a people watcher and some people and things don’t make sense to me at all.
If I hold the thoughts of them in too long, who knows what would happen, so here I go, airing it out – so to speak.
• There is a show on television called Toddlers and Tiaras which portrays enthusiastic parents encouraging, in some cases, rather emphatically, their daughters to take part in pageants. Now if that is what a child and parent like to do, I have no problem with that. Who am I to judge?
But . . .
Recently a news show asked the question as to how far is too far on this show. Apparently there is a four-year-old girl who “wants to be like Dolly Parton.” Now how much of that is the four year olds doing and how much is the mother’s remains to be determined. Though I must say how many kids at that age know Dolly, unless it has the word wood behind it and offers theme park rides.
Back to the show. The mother wants to make her child happy, and what parent doesn’t? So she puts fake breasts and a fake butt on the child, along with a big blonde wig.
She is only four. One, two, three, four. Not in school, barely able to dress herself without a major fashion disaster looming.
One of the newscasters tried to say it was like dressing up for Halloween. I would agree, if it were Halloween. But they do this at almost every pageant they enter.
Isn’t it sad that someone can take a good, fun event and turn it into something silly? I mean the spotlight is supposed to be on the child and their natural beauty and not all the fake hair, too much make up and dressing up way older than they actually are – right?
I hope no one around here does this sort of thing. The pageants I have covered have been fun and for the child’s sake let’s keep it that way. One more thing, don’t force them to be in it. How many times have we seen that happen? The loud screaming, crying and red faces ought to be a clue that someone is not happy.
• Maybe it is just me, but I loved seeing the crowd we had at the Pirates football game last week. You were all loud, encouraging and fun to watch. But as always happens, someone has to ruin it by saying or doing something stupid.
During the halftime festivities, which featured the PCHS Marching Pirates, a band that has gone to five straight state competitions, performed. They did a great job and they are quite young, so I expect to see even better things coming from them.
But someone decided to be funny and refer to the band members as “band geeks.” I didn’t get a good look; from the distance I was at I could hear comments, but not see who was making them. It’s a shame anyone would.
The band is used to being called names, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. I would like to see, just one time, the football team or basketball team or any other group at the high school, stand up and support the band when the name calling begins. I mean in reality, they are there for those teams and then some.
The Pirate family is one and the same. Be it a sports team (ALL sports), club, cheerleaders and yes, the band. I know the Musketeers say “One for all and All for one.” But how about the Pirates showing the same camaraderie.
As for those who like to call names and think they are cool, you may want to reconsider your selection of people to pick on because it is not cool to be so mean. Besides, that “geek” may be the one who signs your checks in he future.
• One last thing. Fair Week is almost upon us. It is actually the busiest time for us at the Times as we try to cover the fair, the regular council/board meetings and sporting events.
So if you see Kayla or Sarah out covering an event, please be patient with them if they look a little lost – it will be something new for them. As for me, if you see me wandering around looking lost, please hand me a schedule so I can see where I am supposed to be next. Or at least point me toward those Fair Hamburgers, as a matter of fact, send me there first.
We hope you will all enjoy the fair this year. And of course, I am joking a bit about looking lost. We will be at as many events as we can be and enjoying every minute of it. Over the next two weeks we are going to publish as many photos as we can of the fair, the winners, the fun and all the fair brings to us. The chance to be a happy community and a chance to get away from the doldrums for a week. I know I’ll take that opportunity.
I’m just saying . . .