You guys were so harsh yesterday about the mercenary wedding plans of Heather Warnken and Michael Vallarelli that even our cold hearts almost twitched with a pang of conscience. And then Heather's brother Byron wrote to us about where we'd gone wrong in our earlier post. In the interest of fairness, we now post his letter, which describes Heather's heroic battle against an eating disorder ("she dedicated herself to recovery from the disease") and reaffirms her credentials ("She played DIII field hockey at Hopkins, where she graduated with something like a 3.7.")

[Ed Note: Before we print Byron's letter, we would request that, even though commenters are the ones responsible for what they publish here, that they do stop and think at least 1.2 times before hitting publish. There are lines we do enjoy watching people cross, and lines we don't enjoy watching people cross. Complicated? Sure! Let your conscience be your guide, as Marvin Gaye said.]

Anyway! Now on with the rebuttal!

Here's my blog post:

My sister was the Modern Bride of the Year. She will be on the cover of Modern Bride magazine later this year.

Let me give a brief rundown on my sister. She was a straight A student in high school. She played multiple varsity sports, had many friends, and all the while was battling an eating disorder she kept hidden from the world. In 1999, she came out of the closet with her eating disorder and was hospitalized for a month. She dedicated herself to recovery from the disease. Years later, after graduating from college, she ran a marathon, giving all the donations raised in her name to the eating disorders coalition.
She played DIII field hockey at Hopkins, where she graduated with something like a 3.7. She has had a job consistently since she was 17. She worked in San Francisco for two years before going to law school. She now works for Harvard Legal Aid bureau.

She's fucking brilliant. She's kind. And she has done more for the world than 99.9% of people out there.
Her fiance is one of the most stand-up guys I've ever met.

Gawker.com is a place where sad people like to whine and hate on people who have successes in life. Very sad people. People who spend their time whining are vexations to the spirit, and no good for a troubled world. A lot needs doing ... maybe they should go out and do it.

Hate speech has a very fine line...and I note you are approving every post. [Ed Note: Actually, that's not true.] You are walking a fine line. You people up for publishing a response?

Are you guys journalists? A serious question...

Byron