Our 15 minutes

By now, many have already heard of our time in the limelight over Valentine's Day when Connor and I made it into the Baltimore Sun's local section. I now have a new respect for journalists and photo-journalists who have to extract quotable quotes from mumbling subjects in the field as well as keep an accurate account of names on a host of strangers in their pictures. And boy, can they be resourceful. Somehow, the reporter tracked me down from my blog, of all places, and emailed me some last second questions to clarify her statements in the article, including the fact that Connor has a different last name from me. Luckily, she made it under the deadline for printing and it was all good. I'll include my favorite excerpts from Laura Shovan's article below (i.e. the "important" quotes from yours truly).

Connor Shin can't wait to celebrate the Chinese New Year with his family Sunday. The first-grader, who attends Hollifield Station Elementary School in Ellicott City, will watch a dragon dance and have a traditional meal at a restaurant in Gaithersburg.

But Connor got an early jump on the new year - the Year of the Pig - last week when he participated in the Miller branch library's Chinese New Year event. The children's story time was part of Cultural Connections, a library outreach program targeting Howard County's ethnic communities. Lew Belfont, Howard County Library's head of customer services, said, "A significant population that is served by the Miller library [is] Chinese and Korean." Belfont and information services librarian Fritzi Newton applied for a grant from the Maryland State Department of Education. The Howard County Library received two Library Services and Technology Act grants totaling $50,000.

The Miller branch used the first Cultural Connections grant to advertise in Korean and Chinese newspapers, buy Korean and Chinese materials and hire two cultural liaisons. The second grant is being used at the east Columbia library, where it will serve the Hispanic population.

"The people who are interested are not just Chinese and Korean," said Tricia Ting, Connor's mother. "It's a nice way to bring the community together," and teach other children about Asian culture, she said.