The eBay Factor
The latest tell-tale sign that Lisa Nowak's story will go down as an official, classic American media frenzy – bidding for Nowak paraphernalia on eBay is getting higher.
The Houston Chronicle spoke to one seller, Joachim Horvitz, whose autographed picture of Nowak's NASA publicity still, "one of thousands NASA hands out each year to promote the space agency," was fetching $1,825.50 late yesterday. Sisters Marci Halverson and Natasha Newman saw their "package of Nowak memorabilia, which included signed copies of the Houston Chronicle on the day of the crew's return," fetching bids of $152.50.
Said psychiatrist Carole Lieberman of the tendency for newsmakers to generate such sales: "It' s a really tragic trend. People aren't seeing newsmakers as people anymore. ... They become cardboard people."