“While humor and story telling can warm any occasion, a good scoop spreads through a room like an illicit and irresistible drug, passed along in nods and crooked smiles, in discreet walks out to the balcony, the corridor, the powder room.” La Cieca is delighted to learn that gossip is the new meth, at least according to the New York Times. (The article goes on to explain why gossip is also sort of like being at a military academy, which frankly is just getting a little too stimulating for poor La Cieca on a sultry day like today.)