Better than fiction

I teach near what appears to be a very wealthy private school, one of those ones where, even though it's smack dab in the middle of NYC, the kids range in ethnicity from platinum to dirty blond. The cafe where I go on occasion for a pre-class coffee, pastry, and lesson plan review is also the one where mothers with it-bags come to gossip (or Gossip) after dropping their kids off at school and before playing tennis or otherwise working out. They are a fit bunch.

As I was thinking of ways to explain the difference in sound between "ton" and "temps," I inadvertently heard about an extremely messy divorce between Woman A and her husband. Woman B did not seem fascinated. To protect the innocent-ish, I will only note that the husband has parked the BMW he got the Other Woman at the country club's lot. Real Classy. Every time a Woman C or Woman D came into the coffee shop, they would notice Woman A and ask her, in this phonily concerned way, "How are you doing?" and she'd say, "Great, great!" with such stunningly fake enthusiasm, before continuing to pour her heart out to Woman B, who, soon after, had to get going. My lesson plans owe rather a lot to the invention of headphones.

The point is that what's actually going on in the world of which Serena may or may not be a part is far more juicy (or Juicy) than what happens on "Gossip Girl." Unless the folks behind the show pack in a bit more action, I may have to stop watching and start sitting in this coffee shop, headphone-free, on the days I don't teach.