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7/23/2008 - Deceased Press-Enterprise theater critic and columnist T.E. Foreman makes unexpected appearance on new website in stranger's photo Riverside, CA - When Riverside sisters Kim and Becky Foreman created www.areyouinmyphoto.com, a website for finding surprising connections through shared photos, they never expected that the first connection would be to a stranger’s World War II photo of their own father, T.E. Foreman. After posting her father’s photos of his Army days on Umnak Island in the Aleutians, Kim left a message on an Aleutians Internet bulletin board inviting others to take a look at the website. Ed Sidorski, who had also served on Umnak Island, but who was unknown to the family, saw the message. He not only reported his delight in seeing familiar faces in the 60-year-old pictures, but he posted some from his own collection on www.areyouinmyphoto.com. “I looked at Ed’s photos, which he emailed me before he figured out how to upload them to the website,” Kim reported. “The third one I opened showed two men clowning in a camp kitchen. Though the picture was out of focus, I immediately recognized my father as one of the two men. It is not an exaggeration to say that my heart started pounding; I was even shaking a little from the shock.” T.E. Foreman was a columnist and theater critic with the Press-Enterprise from 1957 until 2000, when illness forced him to retire. He was best known to P-E readers for his weekly “What’s Happening” column that included humorous anecdotes and observations, followed by a listing of all the arts and cultural events coming up that week around the Inland Empire. He was also well known throughout Southern California community theater circles as a drama critic, actor, and founder of the Inland Theatre League. Foreman’s daughters created the website www.areyouinmyphoto.com in 2007 as a unique twist on the typical online photo-sharing site. “The idea is that everyone is in someone else’s photo without knowing it,” said Becky. “This site is about coincidences and surprising connections. It’s very different from the typical Facebook or MySpace site, where everyone has their own separate pages.” “AreYouInMyPhoto is more like an ‘OurSpace,’ where we share a sense of community. It’s quirky and random, and a lot of fun. We envision having tens-of-thousands of pictures up on the site, resulting in all kinds of interesting connections, reunions, and shared memories. There really isn’t any other site quite like this.” Since finding the website last year, Ed Sidorski has continued to share his own photos from WWII, his career as an electronics engineer (including some odd pictures of men working on early TV sets), and ordinary life. He posted an additional picture of T.E. Foreman, whom he had only known as “Cooky” because Foreman volunteered as a baker in his off-duty time. In an email to Kim the 86-year-old veteran wrote, “This website is giving me the greatest pleasure.” Site membership is free. Members can upload photos into categories such as “Life in the 60s,” “Amusement Parks,” “Recreation,” “School Days,” “World War II,” and many others including a Genealogy section for pictures of ancestors. They can also post requests for photos they’d like to see, such as “Azalea Trails Girl Scout Camp.” Photos have a space for comments from viewers. The website also includes photo contests with cash prizes. The current contest is for a picture to use on the homepage and in advertising the site on promotional materials. The prize is a $1,000 gift certificate from Amazon.com. The entry deadline is September 30, 2008. Becky Foreman says, “We’re looking for a picture taken at a recognizable public place like Disneyland or the Staten Island Ferry, with passersby in the background who can be seen clearly enough to be recognized. We really want older photos, not ones posted for this purpose.” Back |
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