Name: Stephanie Shaw
Hometown: Arlington Heights, IL
Age: 48
Education: MFA Creative Writing, Columbia College Chicago
Platform Issue: No Such Thing As Too Much Information
Talent: Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff
Career Ambition: I would like to write many books that collectively weigh more than me.
Local Competition Sponsor: That light that is ALWAYS red at Ashland and Wellington forcing me to sit in my car and stare at Temple Bar where I imagine people are drinking and having fun but not really, just maybe more than me currently.
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The Miss Neo Pageant Personal Interview
Q: How do you measure success?
I like to use the old fashioned cloth measuring tapes. Remember those? My grandmother was a seamstress. There was always a bunch of them in the junk drawer.
Q: When is the last time you failed? How did you handle it?
I fail at least three times a day. I’m raising teenagers. I would like to say I turn to bourbon because it sounds badass but the husband and I have decided to only drink on the weekends this summer. So I watch the Masterpiece Theatre version of Bleak House. But not three times a day.
Q: What do you see when you look in the mirror?
A very strange lady in a strange middle age.
Q: How are you different from the other contestants?
I am older. I am larger. When I come home from rehearsal I pack school lunches.
Q: Why do you want to win this pageant?
I don’t*. I just don’t want anyone to notice if I don’t.
*Stephanie Shaw is the Director of The Miss Neo Pageant.
