Alexis Alagem

Imagine this scenario: you go out to a bar with some friends, have a few drinks, and in your semi-inebriated state think you are ok to drive home.  Everything is going well until you get pulled over because you are going five miles over the speed limit.  Busted.  The policeman asks you to get out of the car and does a Breathalyzer test to check your blood-alcohol level.  You are over the legal limit, you get a DUI and you have to go to jail.  Images of a dirty, crowded county jail flash through your mind.  Rats scampering beneath your feet, big burly men and women giving you come-hither looks and mystery meat that is mysteriously still moving...  With dread swirling through your mind, and sweat chillily sliding down your spine, you think, "Isn't there another option?"  Yes, in fact, there certainly is.

The Beverly Hills Police Department recently launched a new program called "Pay to Stay at the Beverly Hills Jail," where you can apply to stay in a nicer, more flexible jail...if you are willing to pay $110 a day, that is.  It is kind of like a hybrid of applying to college and requesting an upgrade at a hotel...or at least that is how I like to think of it.  Jail Supervisor Randy Neitzke brought this program to Beverly Hills because, "It is an amazing source of funding.  All of the revenue goes directly to the general fund of the city, which is one of the main reasons I started the program here."  In Los Angeles alone, there are ten or twelve other jails that have "pay to stay" programs, as well.  However, the Beverly Hills program is anticipating a lot more action than the other programs.  "Being Beverly Hills, we are going to have a lot of clientele, especially during the holiday season.  The upper clientele starts rolling in due to the Christmas parties and such if you know what I mean..." Neitzke states.  (It is hard to not comment on the amusing fact that these soon to be prisoners are referred to as "clientele," not inmates.) 

Here is how the program works: when someone is arrested for a non-violent crime, in any county or even any state, they can ask the judge to complete their jail sentence in a pay to stay program.  However, there are strict "booking and housing requirements," according to Officer David Jones of the Beverly Hills police department.  "A sentenced individual will not be accepted into the 'Pay to Stay' program if he or she has a history of violence, is a sex, drug or arson registrant or has a situation or condition that may endanger the health, safety or welfare of the other 'Pay to Stay' inmates or the Jail staff."  Those who want to complete their sentence in the program have to fill out an extremely long and detailed application (yes, just like applying to college!), and once they are cleared and accepted the real fun begins.

"Pay to Stay" clients have options when it comes to how they want to complete their sentence.  "There are three different ways people can complete their time here at the Beverly Hills jail," Neitzke says.  "The court may sentence an individual to serve straight time (consecutive days), weekends or work furlough, where the individual only serves his/her sentence at night after the regular work day."  Doesn't sound like a bad gig, right?  And it gets even better.  "Prisoners" in the program have very few responsibilities during their stay at the jail.  "We may ask them to help us sweep or dust from time to time, but we also have a janitorial staff to do that stuff...so no, they don't really have to do much," says Officer Jonas Lochey.  So you are probably thinking what do these inmates do all day if there are no chores?  Here is how the program is set up: there are two sides to the jail, one for males and one for females, with no interaction between the two.  Each side has seven cells (each with their own toilet) and one shower.  There is also a common room on each side, furnished with a table and chairs, and a couch.  On the women's side the common room looks more like the waiting room at a doctor's office: the table is covered with fashion and gossip magazines neatly arranged in rows.  The common rooms are also fully equipped with telephones, which can be used as often as wanted, and big screen televisions, which are on most of the day.  Individuals also have access to a fully equipped kitchen (yes, I was also in shock when I heard all of these perks!)  Inmates can bring in their own food (they must be factory sealed, of course) and cook it in the kitchen whenever they want after notifying the jailer.  Additionally, inmates are allowed to bring in comforts from home, including pillows and blankets and clothing (they must wear a jail issued top, but anything on the bottom.)  Can you just imagine some celebrity "checking into" the jail with their 2,000 thread-count sheets and fur jackets?  Yes, celebrities have stayed at the jail.  "We had Lindsay Lohan in here before for a short stint," says Neitzke.  "The kind of attention we get from our celebrity clientele has already attracted so many people who want to stay here.  We are anticipating a very long waitlist in the coming months."

So, if you, god forbid, wind up getting pulled over after those few cocktails with your friends, you can replace the images of rats and mystery meat with Pratesi sheets and big-screen televisions.  But remember, you better put yourself on the waitlist soon, because according to Neitzke, "This place is going to fill up, and fill up fast."  

Stalking (in the non-creepy sense of the word) is not a new phenomenon.  We can argue that Romeo stalked Juliet by climbing up onto her balcony, Tony Curtis stalked Marilyn Monroe in the film "Some Like It Hot," and Lucy Ricardo stalked any famous person she could get her hands on in "I Love Lucy."  These days, however, stalking has become so much more than physically following someone and finding out all of their personal information.  It has become something intricately complex at the same time as it has become almost scarily simple, and only one thing is responsible: The Internet. 

The Internet has allowed for the accessibility of endless information and resources.  You can find out everything from what Madonna ate for dinner last night to what your next-door neighbor donated to the Republican Party in the last five years just by going online.  The Internet is especially a great and easy tool for journalists to use to stalk, ahem I mean "research," their subjects, but how easy is it to turn the tables and stalk a journalist?  I can tell you right now, it is essentially effortless.

I have always been an avid CNN watcher and over the last few years I have become fascinated with Anderson Cooper.  Not only is he interesting, bright and spearheads remarkable stories, but I personally think he has a mysterious air about him that is, admittedly, kind of attractive.  So what does one do to find initial answers and uncover mystery (even if the mystery may be made up)? 

I began my search for inside information at, where else, but Wikipedia.  It is here that I find out that Alexander Hays Cooper (who knew?!) was born in New York City on June 3, 1967 and began his career in journalism as a correspondent for ABC News in 1995.  My Wikipedia search informed me of Anderson's childhood, his early and current career, and a little bit about his personal life.  I was left feeling informed, but something was still missing... The juicier bits!  I had some more stalking to do, and I knew just the place to go next. 

The first place to go for juicy information is PerezHilton.com, of course, and that is where I decided to continue my quest.  After a quick search, I found out that my beloved Anderson is in talks to replace Regis Philbin on Live With Regis and Kelly!  Although I usually don't readily admit to watching, I have seen him co-host the show before and think Anderson would be a great replacement for Regis.  However, somehow I feel that a move like this could jeopardize his credibility with CNN viewers.  I don't know...just a thought.  A lot of the mystery surrounding Anderson has to do with his sexuality, and I hoped that my search on Perez would uncover some information, but all I found was speculation and a few awkward video clips of Kathy Griffin trying to get him to come out of the closet.  These were entertaining and uncomfortable at the same time, as Kathy Griffin usually tends to be.

My last search led me to Twitter, because after finding out some background I wanted to see what Mr. Cooper himself was putting out into the universe.  His twitter page is full of links; links to articles, video clips and pictures all relevant to what is going on in the world right now.  There are slideshows and pictures of Anderson interviewing various high-profile politicians, and most of his links lead readers to his AC360 homepage on CNN's website.  His twitter page is amazing because it allows you to see everything he is working on, and everything that matters to him, but it is all work and nothing personal.  Which makes me wonder, does Mr. Anderson Cooper have a personal twitter account?

While stalking is considered by some to be an infringement of privacy, in this day and age it is inevitable.  The Internet, and websites, blogs and social networking sites, make it almost impossible not to be a stalker in some sense.  I was able to find out so much information about Anderson Cooper in such a short period of time, because it is all at my fingertips.  Anderson Cooper obviously has a very large digital footprint because of his celebrity and journalistic skill, but after doing a quick Google search of myself, I realized that we all have digital footprints, and even if they aren't vast (yet), they are out there and we have to be careful what we allow the world to see. 

Stay tuned for the next chapter of Anderson Cooper: Cyber Stalking the Grey Fox.

I consider myself beyond lucky to be almost twenty-five years old and say that I have never been to a funeral.  I know very few people who are so lucky.  My paternal grandfather passed away about ten years ago, but I was unable to go to the funeral, and I am fortunate enough to still have three living grandparents, not to mention two who survived the Holocaust.  However, I am unfortunate in the sense I recently lost someone who was taken away before the world was ready to lose him.  It was a first in the sense that I just attended my first memorial service, and a first because I had never lost one of my peers. 

There is absolutely nothing easy about losing someone you consider a friend.  The hardest part about this loss, however, was that the causes were mostly unknown.  There were a lot of whispers and gossip as to what aided in taking this magnificent life and talent away, but no one was sure exactly what happened.  This is where Twitter and the Internet swooped in and decided to lead conversation upon conversation about what could have, should have, may have happened.

So, Twitter.  I have to be completely honest, I have never been the biggest Twitter fan.  I signed up when everyone else was doing it because I didn't want to feel out of the loop and I wanted to see what it was all about.  I signed up, I saw, I experienced, and frankly within a couple of weeks I was over it.  I didn't hate Twitter, I actually found it quite amusing and enjoyed seeing what everyone was shouting about in the Twitterverse, but I didn't find it necessary either.  I stopped even signing in to Twitter, until I began Annenberg and starting using it for news updates (which I actually do consider a great tool). 

And then my friend passed away and the annoyance began.  Personally, I feel as though the element that makes Twitter amazing, the uncensored forum to exhibit your thoughts and feelings, is also what makes it awful.  The stories and rumors that started swirling about the death of my friend were overwhelming to say the least.  First, there were just RIP tweets from friends and fans alike.  Tweets that were sweet and comforting and showed how many people cared.  But then the speculation and false information began swirling.  Rumors about how he died, and who was to blame.  People having debates over Twitter, like they really knew what had happened.  I saw tweets such as, "Why did you ignore [him]?  "Why did you not save [him]?"  For some reason comments such as these bothered me.  This is when I began to question everything about Twitter.  It is not that I believe most of the information that I read on the Internet, but there are many people who do, and I didn't want the reputation of my friend to be tarnished by rumors created by people who didn't even know him.  Twitter allows this, though.  It allows rumors to perpetuate and become more and more complex until even friends, or journalists, have to question themselves and what they believe is really true.    

But, then again, maybe I am being too hard on Twitter.  Maybe I am over-thinking what Twitter really is.  It is just an open forum, an open conversation between any person in the world who wants to take part.  I can't be annoyed that there are others who want to discuss, I just have to pick and choose what to believe and what to spend time questioning.  It is actually heart-warming that there are so many people who care enough to spend time Tweeting about someone they don't know.  So, although, I annoyance was my initial feeling towards Twitter in this situation, I take back that feeling.   I realized that I don't hate you Twitter, I just have to start appreciating what you really are. 

As for my many firsts this past year, here is another one: holding back my annoyance until it is justified.