Miss America has an unusual hobby. And no, it's not like the one that forced Vanessa Williams to give up her crown in 1984 after it was discovered she'd flashed more than her pearly whites for the camera.
Teresa Scanlan, the first Nebraskan to win the beauty pageant in its 90-year history, is crazy for duct tape, the fix-all beloved by handymen and bondage enthusiasts the world over. While in the running to become Miss Nebraska and Miss America, Scanlan fearlessly listed that she liked "making things out of colored duct tape" on her resume under "interesting facts."
Her love of the sticky stuff has opened many doors. She has been invited to headline the eighth annual Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival on Father's Day weekend, where she will help judge the "Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest," featuring prom attire fashioned from the virtually indestructible adhesive by teens from across North America. (You can vote for your favorite top 10 couple beginning Friday at StuckatProm.com.)
Crowned Miss America 2011 at 17 -- the youngest since 15-year-old Bette Cooper in 1937 -- Scanlan bested a pack of 52 photogenic candidates, including Miss Arkansas, a yodeling ventriloquist able to manipulate two dummies at once. (Somebody give that girl her own reality-TV show!)
A triple threat who can sing, dance and act, Scanlan tore up the talent competition by playing "Whitewater Chopped Sticks" on the piano.
The teen has designs on an even higher office, the one located at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. She has yet to register to vote; like a seasoned stumper, she plans to partner with "Rock the Vote" to make the occasion a "media opportunity." It isn't clear whether she'll be more Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton. (Chafed by partisan bickering, she figures she'll register as an independent.)
But in pop-culture terms, she's very Tracy Flick -- the blond, fast-talking overachiever played in "Election" by Reese Witherspoon -- rarely pausing for a breath during a phone interview last week from Los Angeles, where she was performing with the USO and visiting wounded troops.
When did you first come out of the toolbox, so to speak, and reveal your love of duct tape?
I was home-schooled my whole entire life, and then my last year of high school, I went to the public high school and wore my duct-tape clothing. . . . Needless to say, there was a mixed reaction there. Most people thought I was insane.
Many celebrities make appearances they're not really thrilled about, but you seem really, um, committed to the duct tape festival.
I am! I am so excited about this, honestly. The minute I heard about it, it was one of the appearances this year that I'm most looking forward to. The Duck brand duct tape company sent me a big box of all sorts of different colors of duct tape -- zebra pattern, leopard print, Husker duct tape, since I'm from Nebraska -- and a bouquet of roses and a Miss America sash made of duct tape. They're the coolest things I've ever seen.
Looking back, I'm really glad that I did not hide that [I was a duct-tape crafter] or stop doing what I was doing in high school just because some people made fun of me for it. Honestly, your differences and the things that make you unique will truly take you somewhere someday.
It's taking you to Avon, Ohio -- what more could you ask? So your reception in high school was chilly when you let people know you were a duct-tape fanatic? I was definitely not in the popular group. I was in speech and debate, I was in show choir -- not really the coolest things to do. But my friends that were more on the creative side thought it was really cool, and it was a lot of fun.
I had all of my different colors [of duct tape] on this big rope that I kept in my car, so anytime anybody needed something, I had it there. We'd be in homeroom or a class and someone would rip their clothing, their pants, whatever, and we would go over to my car and get some duct tape and patch 'em up! It came in handy several times -- it was a lifesaver.
I am actually very sad that this year on the road, I can't take duct tape with me because it's so heavy. I mean, there have been several times that I've needed it and it's not there.
Ah, the vicissitudes of fame. Ever try to make a crown out of duct tape?
Honestly, that's not something I've tried. I think it would be really, really hard to get a stiff shape. My creations are a little less detailed. I made a couple of shirts, shorts, a skirt, covered shoes with it. Made a couple of shirts for friends. Decorated my car completely in it -- I decorated my steering wheel with it, and it was all over the ceiling. I absolutely loved it. (Artifacts from Scanlan's early career as a duct-tape couturier will be on display at the Avon duct tape festival.)
I know duct tape is strong, but any wardrobe malfunctions?
The shorts did not work out so well. . . . [They] were very, very stiff, as I remember. I had only one period that morning, and [when] I got up after sitting the whole class, they kind of split open. I had shorts on under them as well, because I was afraid of that.
Do you have a special piece that you made that is close to your heart?
During homecoming week, we had "bright colors day," and so I wore my duct-tape shirt. It was turquoise, and then I added all of these neon-colored stripes of duct tape on it, too. . . . It's definitely my favorite shirt, because that was the only one that I put a zipper in.
I used my sewing machine, but needless to say, regular sewing machines are not made to sew duct tape. So it got very sticky and very messy and really clogged the machine up. And so, as my first and last zippered piece, it's very close to my heart -- it took a lot of work!
I saw on your Miss Nebraska blog, aroyalprincess.com, that you are "a dancer, singer, pianist, guitarist, gymnast, speaker and actress." Do you really do all those things?
Yes.
I read in People magazine that not only do you have political aspirations, you also have an eye on the Supreme Court. Is that still the case?
Absolutely. When I was about 7 or 8 years old, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was president and a Supreme Court justice.
Both?
Yes. In that order, because after being president for four to eight years, then I'll be a Supreme Court justice for the rest of my life until I retire. . . . Everything that I'm doing this year is certainly good practice for that, because I'm learning so much about being a public figure -- working with the media, speaking.
Both parties should start courting you right now. And speaking of the Supreme Court, your first day on the bench, you should wear a robe made entirely of duct tape. It would be awesome, wouldn't it?
Teresa Scanlan, the first Nebraskan to win the beauty pageant in its 90-year history, is crazy for duct tape, the fix-all beloved by handymen and bondage enthusiasts the world over. While in the running to become Miss Nebraska and Miss America, Scanlan fearlessly listed that she liked "making things out of colored duct tape" on her resume under "interesting facts."
Her love of the sticky stuff has opened many doors. She has been invited to headline the eighth annual Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival on Father's Day weekend, where she will help judge the "Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest," featuring prom attire fashioned from the virtually indestructible adhesive by teens from across North America. (You can vote for your favorite top 10 couple beginning Friday at StuckatProm.com.)
Crowned Miss America 2011 at 17 -- the youngest since 15-year-old Bette Cooper in 1937 -- Scanlan bested a pack of 52 photogenic candidates, including Miss Arkansas, a yodeling ventriloquist able to manipulate two dummies at once. (Somebody give that girl her own reality-TV show!)
A triple threat who can sing, dance and act, Scanlan tore up the talent competition by playing "Whitewater Chopped Sticks" on the piano.
The teen has designs on an even higher office, the one located at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. She has yet to register to vote; like a seasoned stumper, she plans to partner with "Rock the Vote" to make the occasion a "media opportunity." It isn't clear whether she'll be more Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton. (Chafed by partisan bickering, she figures she'll register as an independent.)
But in pop-culture terms, she's very Tracy Flick -- the blond, fast-talking overachiever played in "Election" by Reese Witherspoon -- rarely pausing for a breath during a phone interview last week from Los Angeles, where she was performing with the USO and visiting wounded troops.
When did you first come out of the toolbox, so to speak, and reveal your love of duct tape?
I was home-schooled my whole entire life, and then my last year of high school, I went to the public high school and wore my duct-tape clothing. . . . Needless to say, there was a mixed reaction there. Most people thought I was insane.
Many celebrities make appearances they're not really thrilled about, but you seem really, um, committed to the duct tape festival.
I am! I am so excited about this, honestly. The minute I heard about it, it was one of the appearances this year that I'm most looking forward to. The Duck brand duct tape company sent me a big box of all sorts of different colors of duct tape -- zebra pattern, leopard print, Husker duct tape, since I'm from Nebraska -- and a bouquet of roses and a Miss America sash made of duct tape. They're the coolest things I've ever seen.
Looking back, I'm really glad that I did not hide that [I was a duct-tape crafter] or stop doing what I was doing in high school just because some people made fun of me for it. Honestly, your differences and the things that make you unique will truly take you somewhere someday.
It's taking you to Avon, Ohio -- what more could you ask? So your reception in high school was chilly when you let people know you were a duct-tape fanatic? I was definitely not in the popular group. I was in speech and debate, I was in show choir -- not really the coolest things to do. But my friends that were more on the creative side thought it was really cool, and it was a lot of fun.
I am actually very sad that this year on the road, I can't take duct tape with me because it's so heavy. I mean, there have been several times that I've needed it and it's not there.
Ah, the vicissitudes of fame. Ever try to make a crown out of duct tape?
Honestly, that's not something I've tried. I think it would be really, really hard to get a stiff shape. My creations are a little less detailed. I made a couple of shirts, shorts, a skirt, covered shoes with it. Made a couple of shirts for friends. Decorated my car completely in it -- I decorated my steering wheel with it, and it was all over the ceiling. I absolutely loved it. (Artifacts from Scanlan's early career as a duct-tape couturier will be on display at the Avon duct tape festival.)
I know duct tape is strong, but any wardrobe malfunctions?
The shorts did not work out so well. . . . [They] were very, very stiff, as I remember. I had only one period that morning, and [when] I got up after sitting the whole class, they kind of split open. I had shorts on under them as well, because I was afraid of that.
Do you have a special piece that you made that is close to your heart?
During homecoming week, we had "bright colors day," and so I wore my duct-tape shirt. It was turquoise, and then I added all of these neon-colored stripes of duct tape on it, too. . . . It's definitely my favorite shirt, because that was the only one that I put a zipper in.
I used my sewing machine, but needless to say, regular sewing machines are not made to sew duct tape. So it got very sticky and very messy and really clogged the machine up. And so, as my first and last zippered piece, it's very close to my heart -- it took a lot of work!
I saw on your Miss Nebraska blog, aroyalprincess.com, that you are "a dancer, singer, pianist, guitarist, gymnast, speaker and actress." Do you really do all those things?
Yes.
I read in People magazine that not only do you have political aspirations, you also have an eye on the Supreme Court. Is that still the case?
Absolutely. When I was about 7 or 8 years old, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was president and a Supreme Court justice.
Both?
Yes. In that order, because after being president for four to eight years, then I'll be a Supreme Court justice for the rest of my life until I retire. . . . Everything that I'm doing this year is certainly good practice for that, because I'm learning so much about being a public figure -- working with the media, speaking.
Both parties should start courting you right now. And speaking of the Supreme Court, your first day on the bench, you should wear a robe made entirely of duct tape. It would be awesome, wouldn't it?