"People were waking up every morning wondering what was going on, so they'd turn on CNN," says Dr. Wilson Sylla, UGA professor of sociology and the principal researcher of the study. "They'd be met by a striking blonde who seemed strong, confident and intelligent. It was no wonder we all fell in love with her."
"She was so cool," remembers Josh Hamilton, of Lincoln, Neb. "I watch CNN a lot and I had never seen her before, turns out that was her first day on CNN. She had just signed with them a week earlier after being let go by Fox News. What a mistake that was, I'm sure heads rolled over at Fox for that." In November 2001 Hamilton created a Paula Zahn fan web site which he has since taken off line and abandoned. "I'm not sure why I was so enamored with her, but it sure made my wife angry."
"It was a very traumatic time for our country," explains Sylla, "and her poise on air came across as strength and knowledge in a time when we desperately needed assurance and guidance. And since it's clear that this country is not going to get any assurance or guidance until 2005 at the earliest, most of America latched on to Paula Zahn. Besides, she's totally babe-alicious," continued Sylla, indicating that he lost touch with pop culture around the release of "Wayne's World" in 1992.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," says Hamilton of Sylla's theory. "I was totally attracted to her when she had something new and exciting to say every day. But now that I've heard her interview Dolly Parton and some dentists about teeth whitening all in the same week, I realized she's kind of just like every other news anchor, reading a teleprompter and looking pretty. And what's up with that new haircut anyway?"
Hamilton then excused himself to retreat to his home office and continue work on his new web site entitled "The Unofficial Fashion Journal of Jennifer Lopez".
