Tara Chislett
THE AQUINIAN
Ashley Frawley doesn’t mind being “that crazy girl who loves Reba McEntire.”
In fact, she’s proud of it.
Walking around with a Reba pin on her shirt, Frawley has become well known on campus lately. From her poster campaign, to handing out vote cards in the cafeteria, to random visits to the JDH computer lab, she’s been doing everything she can to encourage people to vote in CMT Canada’s Reba’s Ultimate Fan Contest.
“Honestly, I’ve given this 150 per cent ofmyself,” she said. “It’s completely consumed my life and the lives of my closest friends.”
The contest will give on lucky fan the chance to travel to Nashville and meet Reba McEntire.
To enter, participants were asked to make a three minute video telling CMT Canada how much they love Reba. Submissions were narrowed down to the top 25 before the vote was turned over to the public.
Frawley remembers the day she found out she was in the top 25.
“Well, really, I forgot that they were doing the reveal at noon eastern-standard time,” she said. “So I was sitting in front of my computer at noon our time, like, why isn’t it up yet. And I know this sounds silly but I want this so bad. I’ve never wanted anything so badly in my life.”
“When the list finally went up, I was looking through it right quickly and didn’t see mine and I literally had tears in my eyes. I couldn’t believe there were 25 people who love Reba McEntire more than I do.”
But then she realized the videos were listed in alphabetical order by first name, meaning her entry would be at the top of the list.
“When I saw it there, I literally tripped over my computer, my cat and my roommates foot.”
Since the reveal, Frawley has been busy. Apart from putting up posters all over the city and spending almost $60.00 in print credits at STU, she’s started facebook groups, placed an ad on kijiji and called every radio station and newspaper willing to listen.
“I know I kind of sound like a desperate hooker,” she said. “But this is so important to me. It’s taken over my life. I dream about it. I sometimes forget that I have class.”
But while Frawley has done a lot of work on her own to get this far, she said support from her friends and the community has been the most important part of the competition.
“I didn’t realize how many people would stand behind me on this,” she said. “Now I kind of feel like I have to win because people have put so much time into developing carpel tunnel syndrome voting for me.”
Win or lose, October 27 will be a big day for Frawley.
“Next Friday is going to be an important day in my life,” she said. “Mostly because I’m going to get my life back.”
There’s still a few days left! To vote for Ashley, head over to http://www.cmt.ca/ultimatefanaccess/Gallery.aspx.
