Frieda Sighting!

I should be used to it by now, but I'm always staggered at how often Aunt Frieda manages to get herself into the spotlight. Today, one of my colleagues greeted me with a sing-song, "Gwe-en, there's someone you know in the newspaper today!" And indeed, on page A8 of the Star Phoenix, there's a photo of Aunt Frieda in her car.

Being part-shaman as she is, Frieda likes to decorate her car with bumper stickers, rosaries, stuffed animals, rocks, plastic statues of the Virgin Mary, etc. The detail that caught the photographer's attention this time was the plume of tiny ribbons attached to her antenna. "She says the ribbons on her car antenna don't mean she's adopted any particular cause. They just make it easier to find the car in a parking lot," reads the photo caption.

How do the Aunt Friedas of the world get more than their 15 minutes of fame??

A few years ago, Jim and I were working on a news project, and I ran down to the Library's newspaper storage area to get a couple of recent issues. I randomly opened a copy of the Western Producer, and there in big print was a quote from - who else - Aunt Frieda. The article was on farm women, and Frieda was spouting off about the trials of being a farm wife - okay, Frieda lived in a small town, but she never lived on a farm. Her income was based on services, not agriculture. Her water came from the town supply (e.g. clear, with water pressure), and not from a well. Farm woman. Gimme a break. And yet, there she was, in print.