The pageantry of patriotismPhotos by Joe Whiteko / PNB
Every July, Americans celebrate the birthday of their nation. The official date is July 4, but the patriotic fervor burns all month. Maybe it allows people to abandon themselves to the joys of summer without guilt. Because there's something naturally liberating about summer itself. No need to stay indoors or bundle up.
In 2004, the Fourth of July parades were as inspiring as ever, with marching bands, graying veterans, flapping flags -- and beauty queens in open cars. At the parade in Atlanta, and at one in nearby Marietta, Ga., TV stars joined the procession. But the pageant girls stole the show.
And wherever there are pageant girls, PNB cannot be far away. If the three letters "USA" bring inspiring images to the mind of every red-blooded American, the three letters "PNB" make every human being a citizen of the world. The pageant world.
When Benjamin Franklin, writing in 1776, urged his fellow Americans to break with King George III, he put it better than we ever could. "Let us cast off the burden of this crown," he declared, "but let us not forget that crowns have their place. Let us set a crown on the head of the woman we find most fair. And let us do the same thing next year."
What a revolutionary idea! |
