Front Page News

Dode suggested after our Polar Bear Dip that I send a photo and short "press release" to the Arlington Times Newspaper.   I got a phone call Monday morning while I was at school with the kids from a reporter.  He asked me a bunch of questions and said he thought there'd be room for an article.  I told the kids there was a possibility we might be in the paper and they were so excited.  They could  hardly wait for Dode to get home with the papers Tuesday night.  It made it on the front page! 

Elizabeth couldn't stop jumping up and down with excitement.  Really, she would stand in the middle of the room with the paper in her hand jumping up and down then look at the paper then start jumping some more.  Anastaya had a smile as big as could be.  Isaac intently got to work reading the article.  A little while later, Miriam came up to me crying.  I asked her what was wrong.  She was sad because she'd chickened out and hadn't done the dip.  I think Jacob is disappointed as well but he's too cool to show it.  Throughout the night, Elizabeth kept getting excited all over again, with more jumping up and down.  The kids couldn't wait to show people they know that they're in the paper.  I ran into one of our friends who also delivers the paper like us, so she knows early on what's in it.  (She was also one of the people who came to observe the dip but not participate.)  She said the paper should run more of these kind of "small town news" stories.  We told her it's her turn to make the front page next week! 

It felt a bit surreal to be delivering the paper while in the paper. I think it helped give the kids some extra motivation to get the papers ready to deliver this week. They knew that with each paper delivered, they were spreading their "15 minutes of fame".   Isaac was my delivery helper this week and he kept pretending to shout out the window, "You really want to read it this week, I'm in it!" 

here they are pointing to their photos in the paper

Here's the link to the article if you're interested...

The reporter had to do a bit of detective work to find my phone number because I hadn't included it in the email.  He googled my name and found my blog.  From there, my "Year in Review" post had a photo with a caption about being an employee of the Tulalip Tribes.  He called up the tribes and got Dode's number from there.  Dode gave him our home phone and my cell number.  Dode laughed later that he should have told the reporter that I'm an employee of the Arlington Times (it's actually Sound Publishing who owns the paper and I'm an independent contractor for them).

One of our friends took the photo that was used.  He'd gotten a new camera for Christmas and this was an excuse to use it.   When he heard about the article he wrote to us, "That has awesome written all over it! I was thinking I’d have to take the plunge next year, but now that I’m a professional (albeit underpaid) I might just have to take pictures again."  His wife wrote in an email, "T.J. has already e-mailed the link to his family bragging about being a FRONT PAGE PUBLISHED PHOTOGRAPHER… and he has only had his new camera a few weeks!!! "

The other family that did the dip with us were also in the photograph.  The wife, Marcia, wasn't so thrilled to be featured on the front page of the newspaper in her swimsuit.  Her husband and son were disappointed they weren't!  (They hadn't made it all the way to the dock yet.) Typical of the differences between men and women!   Am I embarrassed to be there in my swimsuit?  Nope!  Sharon mistook me for Allison when she looked at the photo.  If I can be mistaken for a 13 year old girl, I'm pretty happy.
I'm hoping the article will spur some interest in the dip for 2012.  The kids' computer teacher said she thinks she'll join us next year.  Getting published in the paper sure kept the excitement of the dip with us longer this year.  We made the plunge on Saturday, and on Thursday they were still excitedly sharing the news of their fame.  It was so fun to see the kids showing off the newspaper to their friends and teachers.  It gave me a great feeling.  I do the polar bear each year with the kids to be a "cool" mom.  I felt like I was a really cool mom when I helped get them published in the paper.  How many families can claim that their fun activity made it on the front page of their local paper?  I felt like I'd given them a great gift.  I even gave the gift to Dode who made it in the paper for his third time!  (The 1st when he was the 1st baby born in Arlington in 1971, the 2nd when he was seriously burned, now a photo of him on the dock with his crazy family).