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Aug. 12, 2003 | 
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| A.D. from N.Y. Some friends of Adriana Diaz call her simply "A.D." It's not a big deal to her, but such abbreviations happen to be trendy. Jennifer Lopez is known as "J-Lo," and the president of the United States is often called just "W." And now that we think of it, Ms. Diaz represents a state that is known around the world by its initials: "N.Y." (The city where she lives has the same initials.) |
| Ms. Diaz could be part of another trend. This New Yorker's roots are in the Dominican Republic. The reigning Miss Universe, Amelia Vega, is from that country, and Miss USA, Susie Castillo, is partly of Dominican ancestry. Ms. Diaz would be proud to make it "tres Dominicanas" at the top. She didn't dream of being a beauty queen as a child, but when she got an application in the mail one day, she couldn't resist. The experience was an eye-opener. "I didn't know how huge the pageant world was," she recalls. She won Miss New York Teen USA on her third try. |
| Ms. Diaz is getting into modeling now, but meanwhile she's a university student trying to decide on a career. Politics-or-sociology is the choice she's mulling now. Her university is a famous one in New Jersey, a state that this New Yorker finds "very peaceful." Her arrival in Palm Springs was "my first time in the desert," she says, but she has seen California before. At age 11, she went with her family to the Rose Bowl. She had the time of her life then, but this could be even better.
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| She brought more sunshine "I like oranges. I eat them all the time," says Mary Jeffords. Fortunately, there are plenty of oranges in Southern California, so this Floridian won't be missing her favorite fruit. But she still may feel a little homesick: This is the first time she has ever been out of the Old South. Some people consider Florida a kind of a Yankee outpost in Dixie, but Ms. Jeffords has a native Southerner's sense of place. She talks about her area of the Sunshine State in terms that make a person want to move there. "It's 'beachy' on the coast," she says, "but out east is farmland." | 
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| Like much of Florida, her area is growing fast. She welcomes most of the changes, but when the pace makes her feel a little rootless, she can revisit her birthplace. It's a small South Georgia town where everybody knows everybody and things don't change quite so fast. It's a world away from "beachy." For a long time, Ms. Jeffords had more interest in sports than pageants. But things happened to change her plans. She hurt her knee, and she watched a friend win a school pageant. Winning a crown looked like fun, and soon she found out for herself. Her ambition is to be a broadcast journalist, of the hip, modern variety, "on MTV or VH1." But she's going about it with old-fashioned common sense. At high school, she's on the staff of the school newspaper and the yearbook as well as the TV club. (Good writers are always in demand.) After appearing on camera in school broadcasts for a while, she recently started working behind the scenes to improve her skills. When October comes, Ms. Jeffords always helps decorate a house for Halloween. But she's willing to skip that holiday tradition if a really big title comes along. We know of one that's available.
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| The best of neighbors Palm Springs, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev., are the two most famous desert resorts in America. Both are major pageant venues. That's proof that these two neighboring states -- different in many ways -- have some important things in common. Shannon Byrne, Miss California Teen USA, and Ashley Phelps, Miss Nevada Teen USA, are a study in similarities and contrasts, just like their respective states. | 
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| We asked someone who knows both girls to describe them: "Shannon is serious, detail-oriented and motivated to get the task at hand accomplished perfectly. I believe that comes from her preparations during the past year, not only competing for the national title but also arranging the details for college. She laughs quickly, yet also loves to talk about serious issues facing the world today. |
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| "Ashley is a fun-loving teen. I believe she is the youngest delegate this year. Her eyes just dance when you talk to her. She loves life, her family and friends. Her dedication to the title of Miss Nevada Teen USA was evident at her "Bon Voyage Party" as she expressed her thoughts about what this all has meant to her. She is a very thoughtful and considerate young woman. Loves to laugh and shop." Not a bad word from this person. Call that bias if you like. We suspect it's just honest admiration. |
| M is for . . . At Miss Teen USA, this is the year of the nickname. We don't know why. Sometimes the letters just line up that way. Marshelé Lee, Miss New Hampshire Teen USA, has perhaps the most interesting nickname of all. It's Moochie, which rhymes with sushi. "I've had it since I was born," she says. Maybe you think her real name is kind of interesting, too. We agree. Marshelé (pronounced like "Marshal A") is a combination of Michelle and Shirley. "My dad made it up," says Ms. Lee. | 
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| One PNB staffer said, "A computer couldn't have generated a more contemporary beauty queen than this girl." We understand his point. Ms. Lee is cosmopolitan, born in Florida, raised in Germany and Hawaii and now living in New Hampshire. She's patriotic, the daughter of two military veterans. She's versatile, planning to become a supermodel and a forensic scientist, which should qualify for at least two TV shows. And she's inspirational, having won her very first pageant and now going for all the marbles in her second. And if that doesn't make you say "unique," here's the clincher: Ms. Lee is planning to attend Georgia State University. It's a superb school, but it has no football team, and it's in the Deep South. How many girls from New England have ever even heard of it? This is a girl with a mind of her own, a look of her own, and at least two names you'll never forget.
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More on Miss Teen USA 2003 . . . |
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