Cameron Invades The New York Times!
That's right, my little hobby of flashing Invader pieces throughout Los Angeles helped get me in The New York Times Sunday Edition in the Style section! Read the online version here. It was a tremendous honor to grace the pages of the "Gray Lady," especially since I used to be the Arts & Entertainment Editor for my college newspaper The Sonoma State STAR a few years ago!
The reporter, Zoey Poll, sent me a direct message out of the blue on Instagram back in November asking if I would like to be interviewed about playing FlashInvaders in Los Angeles during the pandemic. I'm sure she found me through the hashtags, because I was definitely active in collecting a bunch of Invaders over the past several months. I was so glad that I saw the message in time, and we arranged a Zoom call so she could interview me. She lives in Paris (the capital of all Invader pieces), so it was wild that she's an American living abroad and reporting on Invader in the United States. I told her all about how doing research online and consulting my Invader Los Angeles guide book helped take my mind off the pandemic throughout the year, and how Amanda would usually come along and join me on car rides to look for them. It gives us a chance to see different parts of Los Angeles we might not have discovered on our own, and there are truly some hidden gems throughout this city. I also mentioned we planned on having our honeymoon last summer in Scotland and France, but obviously it has been postponed due to COVID. Now it gives me more time to plan for Invader pieces in Paris, Versailles, and London! Obviously that won't be happening throughout the honeymoon, otherwise Amanda will divorce me.
Then came the waiting. Zoey gave updates on the article's process, with editors giving her notes, waiting to hear back from certain people, etc. I gave her several photos of my hunts, hoping at least one of them would make it into the paper. Finally, earlier this week she told me it was going to be in the Sunday Edition, and make the rounds in the online edition on Saturday. Not only was I quoted, but my picture standing outside of TOPO was used! In the online edition, they included my screenshot of my Los Angeles flashes as well! I'm still riding the high. I shared the link with family and friends, and even my dad thinks I've one-upped him in regards to being famous, bypassing his appearance on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! from several years ago.
This morning I drove down to a newsstand (what are those?) and picked-up two copies, with the intent on getting one of them framed. Invader himself shared the online edition in his feed (featuring moi), and I'm hoping for an actual post of the article from him on his account so I can print it out and add it to the framed article. Then I could die happy. The feedback within the first 24 hours has made me so giddy. One nice Parisian offered to take me on an Invader tour throughout Paris when Amanda and I manage to get our honeymoon back on track. Seeing how I only have a measly 5 Invaders from Paris (out of 1,450), I'll definitely be staying in touch and taking him up on his offer.
So a big thanks to Zoey for reaching out and including me in her article! It's honestly been one of my highlights of this horrible year.
