Fallen Star?

Unless you’re living under a rock, you can’t miss all the drama surrounding the life of Britney Spears. Britney “sang” and danced her way into the hearts of millions of teenagers in 1998 when she became a teen pop phenomenon. In the nine years that have passed since then, Spears has experienced a number of highs and lows including two marriages (and two divorces) and the birth of her two children with her second husband, Kevin Federline.

Spears has been out of the music industry’s limelight for awhile now though. However, when she divorced Federline in 2006, she seemed poised for a comeback that many people (including myself) were impatiently waiting for. Britney’s comeback does not seem to be going as well as she probably planned. With an album set to debut on October 30th, there has been more talk about Britney’s personal life than her music.

From shaving her head to attacking paparazzi to losing custody of her children, Spears can’t seem to keep herself out of the media – not that she seems to care. While most stars strategically plan things in their personal lives to occur just prior to career moves in order to generate publicity, this doesn’t seem to be the case with Spears. While the adage in Hollywood is that “all publicity is good publicity,” Spears’ personal drama seems to be affecting her fan base and her credibility as a musician.

Luckily, her record label is still supporting Spears and her career - though it might not last much longer. Spears’ album is already getting negative reviews and her family and friends are encouraging her fans to boycott her album, a move they hope will wake Spears up to her failing personal life.

Spears has yet to realize how her actions are affecting her career, though it couldn’t be more obvious to bystanders. What Spears really needs is to take (another) break from the limelight to take care of her personal life. Until she can regain some composure, no one will take her seriously. When her album comes out, it will undoubtedly be overshadowed by whatever is going on in her own life that day. She needs to realize that sometimes in Hollywood, less exposure is more beneficial.


http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/britney_spears

Oprah’s School Scandal

Oprah has finally hit a spot in her career where she needs a little crisis communication.

Allegations surfaced two weeks ago that a "dorm parent" had been accused of fondling a girl and physically and verbally abusing several others, including grabbing them about the neck, beating them and hurling them against a wall at her Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.

"I've disappointed you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," a tearful Winfrey told angry families who showed up for an emergency meeting at the Academy. “I trusted her," Winfrey told the families regarding the principal. "When I appointed her, I thought she was passionate about the children of Africa. But I've been disappointed."

A recent CNN poll asked the question “Oprah’s School Scandal: Will it tarnish her reputation?” 79 percent of the respondents said “No” while 21 percent said “Yes.” I would have to say that I agree that Oprah would have to do something utterly immoral before her reputation could ever be tarnished. This incident will only be a minor but important hurdle.

As for a crisis communication stand point, she’s doing the right thing. Oprah continues to maintain a reputation for having an overall “open and honest” policy with her publics at all times. “We don't blame you," a father was quoted as saying. "You have more passion for the school and its existence than anyone else in this country, including us parents."

Source:
http://tv.yahoo.com/contributor/30579/news/urn:newsml:tv.eonline.com:20071029:23d20729_b54a41fd_8e65_7a77b14e3914__ER:69381
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/showbiz.tonight/index.html

Travel and Leisure Rates the Least Attractive Cities in America

I was surprised to find that I have lived in two cities with the least attractive people in the United States, according to the recent poll, “America’s Favorite Cities,” rating cities by attractiveness. In fact, according to this survey the only place that has less attractive people than Dallas and Washington DC, is Philadelphia, the birthplace of our nation.

Looking into the way Travel and Leisure conducted this survey, I found that instead of seeking out a representative sample of the broader population by randomly selecting people, the survey relied on web site clicks. Nothing kept people from voting repeatedly or finishing the survey, which required them to rank 55 separate attributes of all the cities listed. The methodology was far from scientific, and the survey was irresponsible.

The bikini-clad, synthetically pretty people on South Beach in Miami, who were voted most attractive, are likely to be more appealing than Philadelphia residents wrapped in a coat and scarf with a runny nose. Additionally, South Beach is a tourist spot, and it is hard to tell who lives there. The unattractiveness of residents does not typically repel visitors from a destination so it should not have been included in this survey.

A respected travel publication should concentrate on listing positive attributes about our nation’s cities rather than shaming them based on such a shallow survey.

source: http://www.travelandleisure.com/afc/2007/

A Primary State of Disorder

I was fortunate to be invited as a guest of Professor Dotty Lynch to a discussion at the Capitol this afternoon regarding pending legislation that would subject the party primary calendar to federal control. With concern about this coming election's primary rush and heavy front-loading, some law makers and party officials are concerned about the negative effect that could result.

Taking part in the discussion were Professor Lynch, US Representative David Price, US Representative Sander Levin, David Norcross - chairman of the Republican National Convention's Committee on Arrangements for the 2004 Republican Convention, and the moderator, Professor James Thurber.

Congressman Levin presented a possible solution to the primary problem that he has been promoting. His idea involves dividing the country into sections of states. One group of states from each region would go on the same election date. This would be determined by lottery and rotate each cycle. While it is a plausible solution to the problem of front-loading the primaries, I think that dividing the nation up into regions that may or may not coincide with the naturally pre-established regional feelings and identities that already exist. Asking people from different states to subject themselves to a random lottery to determine their primary date will only create more unrest and frustration with the primary system.

It does appear that some action needs to be taken to change primaries are conducted so that candidates won't ignore those small states that take on pivotal roles because of their early primaries. Whatever kind of solution Congress comes up with to straighten out the crazy primary calendar will likely have to wait. It is too late to implement new legislation for the 2008 election, and whoever wins next year will likely be unwilling to change the system that helped get them elected. It is something to look ahead to though.

¿Habla Español?

The Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority has initiated bi-weekly Spanish classes for its front line employees to ease interactions with Spanish-speaking customers.

Eighteen Metro employees, including bus drivers, station managers, and street supervisors, are part of the pilot project meant to help fulfill federal requirements on language access for customers with limited English. The workers were picked to learn occupational-based, functional Spanish because they represent customer routes that are heavily populated with Spanish speakers.

This issue has sparked debate and raised questions about responsible spending. The Spanish lessons will cost Metro $11,900, and come from the agency's $1.9 billion budget for the 2008 fiscal year. At the same time, the transit agency has proposed increasing rider fares to help cover a $109 million budget deficit.

Still, in an international city like Washington, D.C., I think it is important for Metro workers to communicate with their customers. Latinos are the fastest-growing group in America and make up nearly 9% of the D.C. population. It is vital that city officials adapt to their customers needs and the evolving social trends. While the budget is a major concern, by catering to a Spanish-speaking audience and becoming more accessible to non-English speakers, Metro will attract more customers.

Sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR2007102402523.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20071023/METRO/110230061/1004/metro
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/11000.html

Photo Source: http://www.thinkoutsidethecar.org/metro.asp

No liveblog...

Unfortunately, they asked us to turn off all cell phones and blackberries once we got in the hall. I was going to try to do it anyway, but I got a scowling look from one of the coordinators right as the President was about to come on stage. However, Iw as able to grab this quick shot before I turned mine off. The University has also posted a video of the event that you can find a link to at the bottom of this post. It's about an hour long, but I highly recommend it to everyone.

Video of President Carter's Speech

Liveblog from Jimmy Carter Speech Tomorrow

Since I was lucky enough to get one of the 100 tickets to the Jimmy Carter speech tomorrow at AU,  I am going to attempt to liveblog the event. They're not allowing laptops, so I will be doing everything via my iPhone. My apologies in advance if things don't work out, but I'm not going to argue with the Secret Service if they tell me to put my phone away. Wish me luck!