on gossip

There is big time gossip on a baseball player who is rumored to cheat on the road and nowwith Madonna.  I believe Lenny Kravitz when he says he is just friends with the baseball player's wife because I can be "just friends" with a married man.  Married people are still people and as a writer, artist and person I include them in the population that I can learn from.  

People focus on gossip because it is like a vacation and gives people relief and that is the same for people accusing innocent people because their lives are so empty that accusing someone makes their life seem suddenly important.  I remember flying back from Israel after a terrorist attack only to have this old bag accuse me of adultery with her even more elderly decaying husband which was not true but she did not seem to think there was anything wrong or evil or destructive about her accusation.  He had asked me to read his short stories.  I regret reading them.    Gossip is not just celebrity driven but it can be harmful to anyone.

When we were kids I remember a teacher had us sit in a circle and whisper in the next person's ear and by the end of the circle the original words had changed dramatically which happens often in gossip.

In my short story "Chopping the Street" I end with a shopping list of gossip on the main character including people talking about her being an international arms dealer, she is pregnant, etc.

Gossip makes money -- it is a "product" but before technology it always existed and is a flawed, it seems to come out of an emptiness, jealousy, envy, anger and has always been here and is here to stay.  Because of technology it has become global and big business.  

I don't date married men or men with girlfriends.  I will tell you that I have had guys lie and misrepresent themselves and enjoy suckering me and causing drama which makes them feel important which is very sad.  I enjoyed mocking "gossip" and ending my fictional story "Chopping the Street" with a list of gossip.   I use creativity to deal with what is happening in my life and this blog has become part of the process as well.