THERE SHE IS, MISS AMERICA.

Years ago, Labor Day weekend came to an end with Jerry Lewis's telethon to raise money for muscular dystrophy research, and the weekend after that came the Miss America pageant from Atlantic City, whose live shows gave Jerry Lewis his start.  That pageant signalled the beginning of off-season rates at a resort town that started to lose its appeal shortly after it lent its street names to Monopoly.

Fifty years ago, the women of the fevered brow began to protest the pageant under the general rubric of "objectification of women."  I can respect the sentiment, to the extent that Beauty Contest World might preclude the intellectual or the athletic in its criteria for talent or appearance, although I can't help but think that one of those undeniable truths might have been behind some of the support for that protest.

The same sort of intersectional victimization thinking that sought to end the Miss America competitions hailed the end of Jerry Lewis's telethons, with or without Mr Lewis.

What people with [muscular dystrophy] need is help with their symptoms and with mobility. Their quality of life can be improved, their symptoms can be reduced. They also need “accessible public transportation and housing, employment opportunities and other civil rights that a democratic society should ensure for all its citizens.”

There still is a Miss America pageant, although it's no longer on Labor Day, nor nationally televised, nor held in Atlantic City, not even at a Trump property, if there still is one.  My Chicago Boyz colleague called attention to the outcome of the most recent pageant.

First, the nice nuclear news–the newly-crowned Miss America, Grace Stanke, is an aspiring nuclear engineer and a promoter of nuclear power.

She is a nuclear engineering major at the University of Wisconsin, worked as a co-op at a nuclear fuels vendor (Exelon), and does promotional work for the American Nuclear Society.  Here’s a piece she wrote on breaking down misconceptions about nuclear power.

She is also a classical violinist and water skier, and won the talent competition on that instrument.  She has what might be an unusual cause to promote.  "My social impact initiative, 'Clean Energy, Cleaner Future,' promotes America’s transition to zero-carbon energy with an emphasis on nuclear power, because I believe it is the best path forward as our major power source."

Good.  Years ago, when I did some work with the Department of Energy that involved reducing acid rain and greenhouse gases, nuclear energy was still an option.  I'm not sure, after ten of the last fourteen years under the rubric of hope and change, whether that's still possible.  "The real rewards will go to the people who develop backstop technologies, possibly using renewable energy sources, including breeder reactors. Reversion to the world of Pieter Bruegel the Elder is a second-best choice."