Gossip is a Hater's Game...by Latinegro

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope everyone had a nice relaxing weekend; I know I did. With the exception of going to Annamaria's ridiculously fun SURPRISE birthday dinner/game night - I didn't do a damn thing! Felt good. I did, however, manage to get a bad nosebleed and headache last night. I was so out of it that the wonderful, thoughtful, amazing Anthony Otero (aka "Latinegro") generously agreed to guest blog for today. Show my boy some love!




Hello all! The Latino Negro will be taking over the Brooke Spot for today. This is my first guest blog so please write your comments in Spanish...(yeah right!)

For those of you who do not know, I am a Syracuse Alum. I also work at Syracuse University as an Assistant Director within Student Affairs and love what I do. Last semester, I had to deal with an issue with one of my students that I wasn't entirely ready to deal with. There was this site called Juicy Campus (it does not exist anymore), where anyone could post, anonymously, any rumor that they heard on any campus. So, essentially, you can log onto this site, pick a school and read these posts - or even create one. I guess if you are a teenager, it might be appealing to find out who the biggest whore is on campus or who's fraternity was the wackest (these were real posts).

So, I knew several students whose business was very much out there for the public to see. I have read some of these things, and my reaction was like...wow. How times have changed since I was a student! I mean, this isn't really funny when you think about how many people can read rumors about how good some girl is at giving head or if some guy has herpes. Just imagine how crazy would be if students on your campus read this, let alone people on another campus!

I remember when I started going to college, I thought that I was in a whole new situation. I wouldn't have to deal with the pettiness of high school - only to find out that it is ten times worse. People talk about each other like dogs! There is no shame in it!

Of course with black and brown people on a campus as small as Syracuse University, it is even worse! I have heard so many things about so many people; and I wont lie, it was fun to tell stories about this person or that person. However, it is NOT fun when YOU are that person being talked about. In the case of these students, I knew them - and whether or not what they did was true or not, it really is no one's business. I am one to believe that we all have the freedom to do what we want...and be as freaky as we want ;-)

Gossip is a hater's game. Only haters really gossip. Sure, we all like a good story about someone, but let's think about how much harm that does. For example, a hater will say that this girl is a ho. Does it matter if it is true? Maybe she likes sex...who are we to judge? Perhaps, the hater (male) was dissed and is getting none from her. Perhaps the hater (female) is jealous that this girl got it like that. Let's not forget that those who a point finger will always have 4 fingers pointing back at them.

One would think that perhaps after college we would not gossip, because after all, we are more mature, right? Well that is crap too. How many gossip magazines are out there? How many gossip shows and websites are out there? How many times do I have to hear about Jennifer Anniston, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? It's crazy to think that we can tear each other down like this. But, when you look at the media (which I blame for many things), you can see how good we can get at it.

I bring all this up because I think that as we get older, we need to be aware of what is going on around us. Sites like Juicy Campus may be gone for now, but there are other sites popping up just like it. We all talk about how social networking sites like Facebook are wonderful - but we need to be aware of the downsides to social networking sites as well.

Granted, we are all adults here so I would assume we don't talk about each other... or do we?

- Latinegro