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Defining Beauty: Ms. Wheelchair America Screens at Cucalorus

WHQR | By Michelle Bliss
Published November 10, 2011 at 5:00 AM EST
Ms. Wheelchair America 2009 Michelle Colvard of Texas (left) speaking with other contestants
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Ms. Wheelchair America 2009 Michelle Colvard of Texas (left) speaking with other contestants
Ms. Wheelchair California 2009 Alyson Roth, Ms. Wheelchair America 2009 Michelle Colvard, and Ms. Wheelchair America 2010 Erika Bogan
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Ms. Wheelchair California 2009 Alyson Roth, Ms. Wheelchair America 2009 Michelle Colvard, and Ms. Wheelchair America 2010 Erika Bogan
Ms. Wheelchair California 2009, Alyson Roth
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Ms. Wheelchair California 2009, Alyson Roth

The Cucalorus Film Festival has taken over downtown Wilmington, bringing hundreds of feature films, shorts, and documentaries, including Defining Beauty: Ms. Wheelchair America which chronicles the 2010 pageant in South Dakota.

WHQR’s Michelle Bliss spoke with director Alexis Ostrander about the film, which opens with Ms. Wheelchair Michigan 2009 Amber Marcy taking part in one of her favorite activities: skydiving.

NOTE: This story does contain mature subject matter.  

Defining Beauty: Ms. Wheelchair America is screening Friday night at 7:45 in Thalian Hall’s Black Theater.  
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Local Ms. Wheelchair AmericaCucalorus
Michelle Bliss
After growing up in Woodbridge, Virginia, Michelle attended Virginia Tech before moving to Wilmington to complete her Master in Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. Her reporting and nonfiction writing have been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, within the pages of Wrightsville Beach Magazine, and in literary journals like River Teeth and Ninth Letter. Before moving to Wilmington, Michelle served as the general manager for WUVT, a community radio station in Blacksburg, Virginia. She lives with her husband Scott and their pups, Katie, Cooper, and Mosey.
See stories by Michelle Bliss