Queen of Civility
In 1985 Queen Glenda, attorney Nancy Willard, boasts that she was “first to win in an honest beauty and talent competition.” Part of her royal platform: boosting Eugene’s then-sluggish economy with a “Slug-It Note” or “Slime-A-Note” factory manufacturing organic post-it notes. “Unfortunately, we were never able to get the slugs to leave their trails of goo straight across the top of the memo paper,” she said. Although the concept would have put thousands to work, it never attracted sufficient venture capital.
Of course, in the tongue-and-cheek miscongeniality that marks this anti-beauty pageant, her sovereignty was challenged by pretender-to-the-throne Kathy Gillespie, who rode atop a huge float in the 1985 parade, contending Queen Glenda was the imposter.
Kathy won the crown herself the following year.
These days Old Queen Glenda works to make a positive difference in the lives of young people today with her organization Embrace Civility.
The mission of Embrace Civility in the Digital Age is to provide guidance to caring adults so they can better engage young people to embrace civility and foster positive relations.
Embracing civility supports the full engagement of students in maintaining an environment where hurtful behavior is incompatible with the accepted social norms and where everyone takes responsibility for the quality of the relationships.
