Fame

So, I write features for this local free newspaper in DC. It's very local - only certain zip codes. A while ago, I wrote a personal essay about a 'favorite place' - I suspect it's something my editor asks for when she's desperate for a last-minute story. No interviews, no research, no need to leave the house - so she gets something fast and it's easy money for the writer.

But then I found out they needed a PHOTOGRAPH of me. I almost took the story back... Actually, the photo turned out OK. The only real problem was that through various Metro and scheduling disasters, it practically took longer to meet the photographer than to write the whole damn article.

This evening - several weeks later - I was walking the pugs, and a couple walked by, and the guy stopped to say something, which I naturally assumed would be about the pugs. It always is - I have long understood that I am unimportant, merely their entourage.

But no - he said he'd seen my story in the paper and recognized my photo, and that it was a good story and a good photo. He was very nice about it and I thanked him.

I didn't really recognize this guy, I don't know where he lives, I don't know how he lives in my neighborhood and reads the newspaper in question, which is not delivered here.

I assume that in fact, this occurrence really was about the pugs - that he has noticed me in the past because of them, which is the only reason he recognized my photo.

But hey, I'll take what I can get. It's still the first time I've had a fan stop me on the street!