The Color Purple...essay writing contest; author asks, "How did you change your life?"

Students in the Southern California region are invited to participate in an exciting essay writing contest.

The subject for the piece, posed by "The Color Purple" book author, Alice Walker, is:

"How I Changed my Life..."

The literary work must be approximately 500 words in length.

When penning an essay, a writer may be wise to ponder what celebrated author Virginia Woolf once said,

“A good essay must have this permanent quality about it; it must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in not out.”

The top three prizes are...$1500, $1000, and $500 respectively.

The 1st prize winner will also receive four tickets for the stage show, a framed copy of the essay with notes from Walker, and a signed copy of a book with a forward by popular talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, "THE COLOR PURPLE: A MEMORY BOOK".

In addition, part of the winning essay will be published in the Los Angeles Times and online at...www.colorpurple.com

The remaining nine finalists will each receive a pair of tickets to see the musical, "THE COLOR PURPLE", at the Ahmanson Theatre.

The show - billed as the "Musical about Love" - is on stage at the Ahmanson from December 13th (2007) thru March 9 (2008).

Official contest rules: www.thecolorpurple.com/essay

Prince...fragrance of pop!

Prince, the true King of Pop, ventured into new territory in recent days with the endorsement of a fragrance for women, 3121.

Taking a cue from the musical legend, the advertisers are aggressively plugging the scent as quite "xquisite" and "with a rhythm all its own".

If you're craving for C Chords, forget it.

The exotic cologne is composed with:

"Notes of bergamot, orange flower and sandalwood entice, tease, and beckon."

Beckon?

Now the alluring images of the Pop Icon in the promotional blurbs make sense.

The designer perfume is offered up in Prince's signature color - Purple - in a quality designer bottle sure to be a collector's item.

Could this new enterprise have anything to do with the mercurial businessman's latest decision to release his new CD to fans for free, much to the chagrin of top-level brass at a major label?

Die-hard Prince-lovers are assuring everyone at prince.org that it was good strategy.

"Cheeky marketing strategies can breathe new life into a veteran recording artist's career."

True!

And, companies like Verizon are helping to make that happen.

You can now download Prince's new single from their site.

Talk about saucy!