Piece of Mind: Looking on with pride
It looks like La Cañada High’s Evanne Friedmann is going to be a busy young woman for the next three months as she reigns as the 93rd Rose Queen. How exciting for her!
Imagine having as much grace and poise as Evanne has at the age of 17. The TofR’s queen selection committee must have recognized a certain something in her character that gives them the confidence to award her the crown. We can all be proud that she’s one of ours.
We also like to claim the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and Flintridge Prep students who are named to the royal court as our own, even if they live in other communities. Our thinking, of course, is they are certainly in La Cañada enough hours of the day to qualify as honorary citizens. So, in addition to cheering on Queen Evanne throughout her reign, we’ll also be looking on with pride at Princesses Katie Thomson of FSHA and Jessica Montoya of Prep.
Our lovely trio will be introduced along with the rest of the court (Tatyane Berrios, Sarah Fredrickson, Tenaya Senzaki and Michelle Washington) at the LCF Tournament of Roses Association’s Evening of Wine and Roses at the LCF Country Club on Nov. 7.
Reservations are due very soon for that fundraiser, which helps pay for our city’s float entry in the New Year’s Day Rose Parade, and everyone’s welcome to attend that party. Cost is $75 per person. If you’re able to make it, go online to lcftra.org today and tell the dedicated, all-volunteer float group that you’ll be there to support them too. Heads up, ladies: If in doubt about what to wear, choose something in a shade of red and you’ll fit in beautifully with everyone else.
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While on the subject boasting about accomplished young women, I’m compelled to take this opportunity to ask you to cast a vote online for one of my favorite star reporters, Megan O’Neil, who is in the running for Miss L.A. Galaxy. Megan will learn Sunday night if she’s captured the crown and you can help her do it by going online to lagalaxy.com/miss-la-galaxy.
If you haven’t met Megan, let me assure you she’s a real gem: high-energy, smart as they come, talented, dedicated to journalism and, yes, attractive. She’s also a huge fan of the game of soccer, so it would be entirely appropriate for her to represent L.A.’s pro team as Miss Galaxy.
For just over a year Megan was a staff reporter here in our office (having been one of our contributing writers before that). Then, just this week, she was promoted to a job on the education beat for our sister papers, the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader, both produced at the News-Press office on Brand Boulevard in Glendale. It was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up, so I hugged her and sent her on her way.
You will still see her byline in our paper now and again, because she will no doubt be working on stories that are pertinent to our community and therefore relevant to you. And we had another smart and dedicated journalist, Joe Piasecki, immediately step into her shoes here, so there’s no gap in coverage of La Cañada news. (But I’m not betting that Joe would be likely to enter any type of pageant.)
I hope you’ll join me in voting for Megan O’Neil as Miss L.A. Galaxy. If she wins, I think we can safely claim her as our own, just as we do the Tournament of Roses Royal Court members who live in other towns. Her heart is still here in the Valley Sun office, I’m sure, and so I’m declaring her an honorary citizen of LCF too.
