I have done a few things in my life that have put me in much more of the "public eye" than most things. My 15 minutes of fame isn't quite up yet (I hope), but here are a couple of things that I have done.
I earned my Amateur Radio license when I was in 7th grade. There are typically very few kids who are licensed. And there really aren't all that many kids who have even heard of Amateur Radio. When I was in the 9th grade, I was asked if I wanted to appear on a segment of a local kids' TV show to talk about HAM Radio. Though nervous about it, I said yes.
The TV show was called "Just Kidding Around" and was on WNDS TV-50. It is based in Londonderry, NH. I brought in some equipment and talked about that. Also, I explained Morse Code, and a kid from the audience was called up to send his name using Morse Code. My father has the episode on tape, but right now we are unable to do any screen captures.
My next brush with fame ties in to the first one. The summer after 9th grade, I was at the Nashua Area Radio Club's Field Day contest, which is one of the biggest nationwide HAM Radio contests of the year. I had my picture taken that weekend. That picture was sent in to QST Magazine, which is the nationwide magazine of the American Radio Relay League. The picture was sent in with the story of my appearance on TV.
That winter, QST ran a one-page article about how not many kids know about HAM Radio,
and how my appearance on TV can help this. All I can say about the picture is that I had
slept in a tent the previous night (no shower), I had longer hair, and it was windy. But
here it is. Click on the picture to see the whole page from the magazine.
The next thing that put me in the local spotlight happened during my freshman year in college. The annual Grand Marshall week in mid-spring has many events for the students, as a way to "blow off steam" before gearing up for finals. One event, sponsored by the Outing Club, was rappelling down the outside of the Student Union Building. Having climbed many HAM Radio antenna towers, this seemed like no big deal to me.
When I got to the ground, I was approached by someone from the local newspaper (the
Troy Record). He told me he had taken my picture, and asked for my name to put in the
caption. I gave it to him. The picture was on the front page of the paper the next day.
I don't have the newspaper, but I did find a photocopy of it I made. So this is a scan
of a photocopy of a black and white newspaper.
Also, here's a picture that a friend of mine took. It's pretty much the same thing.
The summer after my freshman year, I went on a Caribbean cruise with my sister and my Aunt. Like most cruises do, they had a talent show one night. I signed up for it and was in it. I did a (rather amateur) juggling act.
For the few remaining days of the cruise, I was recognized by most of
the other people. "Hey, it's the juggler!" was something I heard a lot. I instantly had
fans. It was pretty cool, I must admit. One person even recognized me in the airport
before I got on my plane to go home. This picture was taken by a ship's photographer.
The town of Troy has an annual tradition called the Victorian Stroll. The RPI Juggling
Club was asked if we could go to a certain area of the town and juggle on the sidewalks.
We accepted. The next day, there was a picture of two of us on the front page of the Troy
Record. The picture was in full color. Here's a scan of the newspaper. It was too big
to fit in my scanner and also include the paper's title (The Record) like I did on my
rappelling picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was on the front page.
