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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 6 June 2018

Miss America drops swimsuit portion and won't judge on looks

By WAYNE PARRY wear portion of the compe-
Associated Press tition will also be changed
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — to allow women to wear
The Miss America pageant something other than a
is dropping the swimsuit gown if they want. The tal-
competition, saying it will ent portion of the contest
no longer judge contes- will remain.
tants on their appearance "It's what comes out of
but on "what makes you their mouths that we care
you." about," Carlson said.
The pageant began nearly Leanza Cornett, Miss Amer-
100 years ago as a bath- ica 1993, supported the
ing beauty contest to keep dropping of the swimsuit
tourists coming to this sea- competition.
side resort after Labor Day. "I hated it," she said. "I al-
But in recent decades, ways felt awkward and un-
women's groups and oth- comfortable."
ers have complained that She added: "In the climate
making contestants pa- of #MeToo, I think it's a real-
rade across the stage in ly wise decision. We're living
bathing suits and high heels in a different era now, and
is outdated, sexist and In this Sept. 13, 2015, file photo, contestants wear swimsuits as they compete in the 2016 Miss when we move forward
more than a little silly. America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. for the empowerment of
The announcement Tues- Associated Press women, we will be taken
day came after a shake-up much more seriously, and I
at the Miss America Orga- you on your appearance rassment lawsuit against competition, contestants think that's huge."
nization that resulted in the because we are interested Fox News Chairman Roger will participate in an in- Kendall Morris, who com-
top three leadership posi- in what makes you you," Ailes led to his departure, teractive session with the peted in 2011 as Miss Texas,
tions being held by women. Gretchen Carlson, a former said the board had heard judges "where she will high- said the swimsuit competi-
The overhaul was triggered Miss America who became from potential contestants light her achievements and tion taught her how to eat
by an email scandal last head of the organization's who lamented, "We don't goals in life and how she healthy and exercise, "not
December in which Miss board of trustees in the want to be out there in high will use her talents, passion, just for 15 seconds on stage
America officials denigrat- wake of the scandal, said heels and swimsuits." and ambition to perform but for a lifetime. It taught
ed winners' intelligence, in making the announce- "Guess what?" she said. the job of Miss America," me a lifelong discipline
appearance and sex lives. ment on ABC's "Good "You don't have to any- the organization said in a beyond the Miss America
"We're not going to judge Morning America." more." statement. stage."q
Carlson, whose sexual ha- In place of the swimsuit Carlson said the evening-
Oprah Winfrey picks prison

memoir for her book club

By HILLEL ITALIE "The biggest surprise was ing of his time in jail, he said,
Associated Press being charged with a "Every day was hell, every
NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony crime I didn't commit." night was hell, every wak-
Ray Hinton, wrongly impris- Published in March, Hinton's ing moment was hell." But
oned for nearly 30 years, book tells of his convic- upon leaving, "The sun was
can hardly believe how his tion for killing two fast-food shining brighter than I could
luck has changed. restaurant workers during ever remember it shining."
Hinton's memoir, "The Sun separate robberies, and his Hinton's legal case was
Does Shine: How I Found decades spent on death taken on by the Alabama-
Life and Freedom on Death row. His efforts to overturn based Equal Justice Initia-
Row," is Oprah Winfrey's the conviction reached tive and its director, Bryan
latest book club pick, a the U.S. Stevenson, whose 2014 In this Oct. 21, 2017 file photo, Oprah Winfrey arrives for the
dream for virtually any writ- Supreme Court, which in book "Just Mercy" is con- David Foster Foundation 30th Anniversary Miracle Gala and
er and beyond the imagi- 2014 unanimously ruled he sidered essential reading Concert, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
nation for a man who was had been denied a fair about the criminal justice Associated Press
once confined to a 5-by- trial. Hinton was freed after system. Stevenson provid- tion. But she said "The Sun Her "O'' magazine will high-
7-foot cell. Tuesday's an- new ballistics tests contra- ed the foreword to "The Sun Does Shine" was a worthy light "The Sun Does Shine"
nouncement comes three dicted the only evidence Does Shine," which Hinton exception."This story reads in its July issue. Winfrey has
years after Hinton's release — an analysis of crime- wrote with Lara Love Har- like an epic novel and it is turned dozens of books into
from Jefferson County Jail scene bullets — that con- din. all true," Winfrey said. "You best-sellers, whether older
in Birmingham, Alabama. nected Hinton to the slay- Her other credits include will, throughout the book, works such as John Stein-
He had been convicted ings. When he finally got co-writing "The Book of try to imagine yourself — beck's "East of Eden" or
for two 1985 murders in out, the words he spoke to Forgiving" with Archbishop falsely accused, and in a contemporary novels such
Birmingham, where he still loved ones greeting him — Desmond Tutu and Mpho 5-by-7 cell for 30 years. He as Jane Hamilton's "A Map
lives.Hinton, during a re- "The sun does shine" — be- Tutu. is a remarkable storyteller of the World."
cent telephone interview came his memoir's title. In a promotional video re- and when you read it you'll In February, Winfrey chose
with The Associated Press, Hinton, 61, likened himself leased Tuesday, Winfrey be swept away." a novel that also focuses on
called Winfrey's endorse- to Job as a man who lost noted that most of her Winfrey's interview with Hin- a man jailed for a crime he
ment "the second biggest everything, but eventually picks over the past 20 years ton will air Sunday on her didn't commit, Tayari Jones'
surprise" of his life. saw his life restored. Speak- have been works of fic- OWN network. "An American Marriage."q