Pageant News Bureau - Miss Alabama 2005

Can't help falling . . .

for Alexa

Photos by Joe Whiteko / PNB

This is the second of three special astrological features for the month of September 2005. It commemorates 10 years since the founding of PNB, and 84 years since the founding of the Miss America Pageant. Both institutions came into being when Venus lay in the House of Neptune, and the sun was doing a slow burn.

Some lovely songs have been written about Alabama, but only one was inspired by a meteor shower. Which one could that be? Don't think too hard. Just guess.

Was it "Stars Fell on Alabama"? Yes! You win a colorful cardboard comb. (Our next shipment will be arriving any day now.)

Alabama's Deidra Downs, the reigning Miss America, embraces Ms. Jones.

We folks at PNB didn't catch that original shower of stars. It was well before our time. But in 2005, we saw an Alabama event that will inspire another song. On a summer night in Birmingham, a star took her rightful place in the pageant world. And what a girl goddess! Zeus would have made her into a constellation, so he could look at her every night.

Alabama had a lot to live up to at this pageant. The state already had the reigning Miss America, Deidra Downs, the last of the Atlantic City queens. That would be hard to top. Could the new Miss Alabama measure up? Then, along came Jones. Alexa Jones.

What can you say about Miss Jones that won't sound like too little? She's blond. She's beauteous. (We brought back that old word just for her.) She's from Mobile. She's a ballet dancer. Maybe Zeus wouldn't have to put her in the night sky; she could have jumped up there instead.

When you write the song (and we know you will), get the name right. It's Alexa. And don't forget the Jones.

See also Ohio, Massachusetts