Thanks For Coming To Class!

Celebrity Gossip as a proper academic discipline? Why not? When done right, gossip is a study of human behaviour. In way many ways, there’s more value in it than the analysis of hockey statistics, and the person who does that for a living doesn’t have to deal with the smirk that accompanies the revelation of that particular pastime or profession.

Thanks to those of you in Halifax, Ottawa, and Calgary for coming to the first Faculty Of Celebrity Studies tour in partnership with vitaminwater! Until the bricks and mortar institution becomes a reality, for now the Faculty will travel and make its home in cafes, bars, lounges, and art shoppes (where we can drink!) like Fred’s in Halifax (FRED FOR MAYOR!!!), the Terence Robert Gallery in Ottawa, and the Hotel Le Germain in Calgary where the discussion was intense, intelligent, hilarious, and, at times, kinda combative...as it should be! It’s almost like... the Gossip Genie wanted this to happen.

The course was the Hollywood Playbook (with a diploma for completion!). The stars were Katie Holmes and Kristen Stewart. Coincidence or Conspiracy? It’s been a great summer for gossip...just in time for gossip class. Which we wanted to keep small to start but given the interest we had, next time, we will definitely be booking larger lecture halls.

Just because gossip is superficial doesn’t mean it can’t also be cerebral. Like, we have our own school crest, ok? The consumption of gossip is probably just as insightful, if not more, than other areas of study in observing how we communicate, how we set boundaries and expectations, how we aspire, what we judge -- a reflection of social culture. And besides, gossip is way more fun. We also get to talk about shoes.

See you next time!

PS. I’ve been submitting a few etiquette posts to the vitaminwater Tumblr lately. Here’s my article on golf and how to play it without being an asshole and there’s an adorable new interview with Jessie J from the Olympics by Joan Porter that’s just been added. It includes a hilarious detail about Henry Cavill too. Click here to read.