Choose Your Own Gossip Adventure

You know, there might not be a tougher job in the City of Philadelphia than local gossip columnist. Maybe firefighter. Policeman. Private eye for the state senate. Blogger. Alpaca farmer. Hot dog vendor.

Okay, so maybe it isn’t the hardest job in the world. But it is tough. How do you write gossip in a town with no celebrities? Really. I couldn’t do it. Sometimes this means items at the end will be random sightings of local TV anchors or football players, et cetera.

And then, today, it’s apparently make your own gossip item:

The world’s best-known Ben Franklin impersonator, Ralph Archbold, even has “Benjamin Franklin” on his luggage tags, reports a passenger who saw him on a US Airways flight from PHL to Miami yesterday morning.

Wait. We can do this? Sweet.

To: grossd AT phillynews

From: dmac AT philadelphiawilldo
Subject: Gossip ITem

So the other day I went to a Super Bowl party, and that was kind of fun. I know it’s not quite someone spotting Ralph Archbold on a plane, but I think it could be a good item.

Founding father flies to Florida [DN, 5th item]