Wednesday, December 15, 2010

One joyous wedding is bringing other brides pain

Royal Pain: When Your Wedding Coincides with Prince William's tells the story of Sarah Wheeler, whose wedding date is on the same day as Prince William and Kate Middleton's. 
 
The claim is that "Ever since Kate and her princely beau decided that they would tie the knot on April 29, 2011, hundreds of women with weddings booked on or around that date have had to come to terms with the same grim reality: they must share the spotlight on the most important day of their lives.
 
Adams concedes  "Despite having to fight for the spotlight on her wedding day, Wheeler is confident she'll still look and feel like a princess.
 
Support:
1) Prices for flowers, decorators, etc will jump and weddings will be more expensive around that time.
2) People traveling may not be able to find a place to stay because Britain has declared the day a national holiday and people will not be at work. Most will flock downtown and fill the hotels so they have a chance to watch coverage of the wedding.
3) The sheer lavishness of the royal wedding is going to outshine any wedding of a common person.
  • Sarah Wheeler's dress is going to be gorgeous, one no other bride could match up to.
  • They have a seemingly unlimited amount of money to pay for decorations.
  • Any top-notch decorator is going to be booked, not even allowing upper-class citizens to hire one.
  • The whole day has been declared a national holiday, so everyone is going to be paying full attention to the prince and his bride.

I completely agree with Adams, and while it is unfortunate that these brides might have to share the spotlight with someone else, it is simply to late for them to rearrange their plans and try to get a different date.

 

Monday, November 22, 2010

Twitter has become one of the most popular social networks on the Internet. It is a wonderful display of the freedom of speech. For the most part. Hate-filled posts seem to be rather widespread lately. In this case, a seemingly harmless release of anger turns into an arrest. Posts like this are becoming more and more common, because people feel that when things are done electronically, they hold less power, have less of an effect. Well, Joe, people have freedom of speech, they can say whatever they want! Wrong! Saying "Can someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death?" holds just as much weight on the internet as it does saying it right to their face. Adams is calling people to watch what they say before they say it. He sees that people don't see the consequences of what they do over the internet.
  • A man's "joke" about blowing up an airport did not seem too funny to the police that read the post. He was arrested and now faces fines.
  • sometimes rude or slanderous posts have their own consequences without the government getting involved. Compton is now despised and ridiculed by many of his followers for his threatening post.
Adams creates a vivid image of the kind of damage even one derogatory post can cause. People land in jail, get slammed with fines, get criticized by the media and their fans. The easiest thing to do is think before you post, and try to keep your anger on the inside. Maybe you won't drop a bombshell that ends up costing $4,800.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Man- William Lee Adams

William Lee Adams is the London correspondent for Time Magazine. He typically writes about European social trends and there effects on politics. His writing has brought him around the world, including Belfast, Bucharest, and Paris. Williams senior thesis, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Nonverbal Cues to Sexual Orientation" was featured as a headline in many magazines of merit such as The New York Times and Psychology Today.