I first met Adam way back in 2008 during the first weeks of freshmen year. I was initially captivated- not only by his wit and charm, but by his sparkling baby blue eyes and his skyscraper-like height of 6’2 (a rare find in DC/AU).
Since that time, Adam has made quite a name for himself on campus. He is a Public Communication major, a three-time intramural soccer champion and an intern at the National Center for Creative Aging. However, his notoriety increased when he became a writer for The Eagle.
While Adam was abroad in Cairo during the fall of 2010, he wrote a phenomenal study abroad blog. Adam’s everlasting struggles with taxi drivers, his endless search for the perfect falafel, and overall sass had readers mesmerized at AU and abroad.
When Adam returned to AU, his roommate, BFF and Eagle editor, Joe Wenner, asked Adam to write a column. “Because I have no expertise in anything, I decided to write my column about issues that affect AU students. I decided to impart my wisdom on them- whether they wanted it or not.”
Adam’s second column, “The real Madrid: an exposé” created an unexpected “buzz” (to use the words of one enraged commenter). For those of you that were living under a rock, Adam’s article sarcastically argued that people should study abroad in places other than Europe. He used the Madrid program as “his microcosm for all of Europe.”
Adam’ inspiration for the article came when he was abroad in Cairo. He and his roommates would sit around on their computers and watch their Facebook News Feeds blow up with the pictures of their friends in Madrid. “They would all be the exact same pictures in different albums, and they were just constantly on our News Feeds. They ‘raved, cruised and rarely went to school’ and were overall just annoying (insert sarcasm here).”
Within days, dozens of vicious comments had been posted below Adam’s column. In Adam’s words, “The outrage was intense and unexpected. The people who I wrote about in the article were not the ones offended. It was completely random people that were the most offended. Many didn’t get my sarcasm and quite frankly, they weren’t my target audience. I examined the Madrid program through my microscope, zoomed in and looked at the flaws. Many did not like what they saw.”
I asked Adam about the craziest comments he received, “The comments very quickly became personal attacks. One of the craziest was a 1500 word response that the Eagle had to remove for use of heated language. My article was only 600 words. One commenter called me a ‘smug hipster,’ which I take as compliment.”
Adam, due in large part to his tall, manly stature, easily brushed off all these comments. He said the only ones that stung were the attacks about his writing style; “those were obviously just blatant lies.”
During the weeks of hate comments, Adam said that his true friends stood by him. About half of the comments that are up defended Adam’s humor and sarcastic personality.
At this point, Adam has totally embraced the controversy and even dressed up as a Madrid study abroad kid for Halloween. The angry comments have now been subdued for now…
Writer’s Note: With the publishing of this article, I realize that I just re-opened the Pandora’s Box of study abroad controversy by praising Adam, his writing style, and devilish good looks. I am ready and willing for all 1500 word comments for my 600-word article. Ready, set, go!