I moved earlier this year, and one of the things I was most excited about was (true to form) new gossip venues. In my old neighborhood there were a few common ways to learn gossip: the dreaded NextDoor, a few Facebook groups, a frequently updated local blog. But the best way was a Yahoo Groups email thread that had been created in the early 2000s and maintained lovingly (if not updated at all) since.
In the Yahoo Group was the real dirt. There were people yelling about all sorts of things I didn't even know you could be mad about. There were fights over politics and Ring cameras and whether you should be allowed to park scooters on the sidewalks. But there was also a kind of beautiful community: people offering up free, gently used strollers, people asking for help shoveling their sidewalks.
Where we live defines so much of our lives. Having good neighbors can make your life richer and fuller and more interesting than ever before. But having a bad neighbor? Well. Having a bad neighbor can ruin your entire life, as you'll soon hear in today's episode.
Joining me for the Season 3 premiere is Samantha Irby. She's an American comedian, essayist, blogger and television writer. She is the creator and author of the blog bitches gotta eat! She has many books, but her most recent is called Wow, No Thank You.
I talked with Sam about why gossiping makes her nervous, having anxiety, and really trying not to need to say you're sorry. Then we got into some real nitty-gritty and tried to distinguish the difference between gossiping and bitching.
The gossip this week is about moving to a city where you don't know anyone, and trying to find a way to love your new home. It's a tale about a lake, and drive-thru daiquiris, and a homeowners association that is (somehow!) even more dramatic than the rest of them.
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(The transcript for this week’s episode can be found here.)
And if you do have some good goss that you want us to hear, the email for that is normalgossip@defector.com, or phone it in to 2-6-7-9-GOSSIP.
Thank you for listening to Season 3 of our show! We’re still learning and growing and having fun. We hope you are too.
