When you're the talk of the town

The gossipers. The whisperers. Whatever you want to call them, they’re inevitable. The butter these people churn is everywhere we turn and even when we don’t realize it.

What I do realize though, is that being a subject to gossip is one of the sacrifices one makes when living in a small town. It comes with the territory. Anyone who is somebody is going to be talked about and they just have to accept it. Even the nobodies are talked about; it’s unavoidable.

I’m not going to try and say that I don’t gossip, because of course I do. We all do, though, some are worse than others. But it’s the ones who are “worse than others” that we have to worry about. They make it an important part of their life to talk about yours constantly, so essentially they become part of your life without your consent. Andeeunfortunately, they make your news and what they assume about you public to everyone.

So what’s that good feeling one gets out of gossiping? There has to be something stirring and uplifting about spreading greasy words around; if there wasn’t, people wouldn’t do it. It’s a powerful one, that’s for sure. It’s a feeling of having control over whoever you’re gossiping about, almost like you can determine their fate with the words coming out of your mouth.

Gossiping isn’t all good or all bad. Surprisingly, it can have a plus side. Sharing a secret or two is good for the soul and can tie bonds between friends who are lacking trust. It can also be informative for someone who is unaware of a particularly important event or something that happened. And of course, gossip (which usually leads to drama), makes life interesting. Even the most mind-numbing person will admit that without a little craziness in the world we might all be a bit on the bored side. So, I say, without it going too far, gossip can be beneficial and nourishing.

There must be a fine line between what is healthy gossip and what is going too far. We still have yet to distinguish between the two, especially in this town.

Raven Romero , a Robertson High School senior, is an intern with the Las Vegas Optic. She can be reached at she can be reached at

ravenromero@gmail.com