Well All Press Is Good Press Right?

                "Notoriety for whatever reason, never seems to benefit the noted...just the notees." (the brilliant writers of the ever-so witty movie: Easy A). After hearing this quote in a movie fueled by gossip, the traveling of false information, whether intentional or not. However, earlier in the movie, someone remarks that a girl loved being thought of as a skank. She asked why he thought she liked being thought of that way, and he explained that at least she was being thought of. So this brings up the unanswerable question: is it better to blend in to the crowd, unseen, and therefore: drama free? Or is it more worth it to be the noted, to be thought of, regardless of the unpleasantness that may occur as a side effect?
               I've gone through my life in both ways, and I guess to have the best of both worlds, you must be the noted, however, when being noted of, you're being thought of in a positive way, rather than a negative way. However, in high school, that's never exactly how it works out in the end. In my French class, if Madame ever gives us "busy work" during class so she can secretly get some extra time to grade papers, a group of my friends all eagerly gather their desks around and create what we call a "gossip circle". Of course this "gossip circle" is really just an excuse not to do our French work, but it's also a chance for us to all catch up on the latest scandals. While I'm utterly entertained by exactly what my rebellious fellow classmates have been up to, sometimes I have to take a step back and try to imagine how I would feel if I was being exploited and mocked as we sometimes do. I realize we're high school girls, it's an inevitability to be involved in gossip and rumors, but on which side of the rumor would I want to be on?
              Is all press good press? Is it better to be the one that classmates care enough about to whisper about when they have a spare minute in class? Sometimes among this "gossip circle" we note how a certain girl is one of the nicest people we know, and she completely deserved the award she just won. Other times the focus of conversation will be on the embarrassing things a girl did on a very drunk night she just wants to forget and move on from. Notoriety has good and bad. However the only way to live it down, is to wait for yours to become old news. So which is better: waiting to live it down, or striving to live enough to have something to live down?