5 Reasons Why Dawson's Creek is Still Awesome

I just recently finished a summer rewatch of Dawson's Creek on Netflix. I own the seasons of Dawson’s Creek on DVD, but thanks to Netflix, I was able to watch a lot of the series without having to get off the couch to swap out the DVDs. The ease of clicking "play next episode" also allowed me to neglect other things like cleaning my apartment or taking a shower. 

I remember watching Dawson's Creek for the first time when I was 11 and feeling so excited because my mom let me watch something that talked about sex. I also remember feeling extremely afraid to go to high school after watching the pilot because of their overuse of big words.

"Does everyone launch into a dissertation when they speak?" thought 11-year-old me. Of course, I didn't use the word dissertation because I had no idea what the word meant, but you catch my drift.

I also remember watching the show through it's six seasons and always believing that Joey should be with Dawson. I was young and naive then and couldn't understand all of the reasons why these two wouldn't work. Maybe this is the reason I fell for my best friend and we've been dating for 6 years: I projected my young fantasies of two fictional characters into my own life. 

It all makes sense now.

I had been meaning to do a rewatch sooner, but I remember the show jumping the shark in seasons 5&6, so I had put the whole thing off. Why couldn’t you just watch the first four seasons and abandon the ship before it started sinking?, you might ask. Because I’m not a quitter. When I commit, I commit myself completely, even through the often meta-ness of the writing, Oliver Hudson’s guest appearances, and Dawson's annoying only-child syndrome.

In the months of rewatching the show (and yes, suffering through a lot of season 6), I realized that Dawson's Creek is still awesome and here's why:

1.     The “K” Mart Episode

I’ve always loved episodes where characters are trapped together, thus forcing them to confront their issues. Possibly one of the few treasured episodes in season 6 happens when Joey and Pacey visit a K-Mart so Pacey can buy condoms to sleep with some random no-name that he met at a party. It’s minutes before closing, and the doors are already locked, but the two sneak in while a security guard is not looking. Long story short, they end up locked inside of a K-Mart for the night. They immediately begin screaming at each other about their sex lives post-breakup, which is just their obvious sexual tension coming to a boiling point. In the end, Pacey admits his feelings for Joey, and although unsure (because she’s Joey), she kisses him back and they sleep next to each other in the camping section of the store. And Alexia sits on her couch and beams with all the feels. JOEY+PACEY=4EVER

2. Pacey Witter aka “Man of my Dreams”

 
Most people who watched Dawson's Creek growing up had a crush on Joshua Jackson. I remember feeling excited the first time I saw him in the opening credits because I had loved him so much as Charlie Conway on The Mighty Ducks. Seeing him as Pacey made me forget the countless hours I’d spend wishing I were Charlie’s girlfriend, now, I wanted to be Pacey’s girlfriend. In my rewatch, none of that changed. If anything, my love for Pacey’s character grew stronger because of his charm and respect for the women in his life, which some people might also refer to as “white knight syndrome”. Whatever.  Plus, “I’m the best sex you’ll never have” is one of the greatest ways to get an older woman to throw away her already questionable morals and take a chance with a 15-year-old who works at a video store. Yes, Pacey Witter was then, is now, and will always be the fictional boyfriend I wish I had. 

 3. Jack stepping out of the closet as well as societal roles
Second best to Pacey Witter is the character of Jack McPhee. When I was 11, I didn’t really understand how important of a character Jack was for the show and for gay teens. Being a Black woman, I know how difficult it is to see people who represent me in TV and film, and when I do finally see characters of color getting great storylines (Olivia Pope of Scandal and Kat Graham of The Vampire Diaries), I feel included. Sure, Jack didn’t get a lot of screen time with dating and he wasn’t the main character of Dawson’s Creek (let’s admit it, Jack’s Creek would have been way more interesting), but he was a staple on the show. For one of the first times on television, there was a multifaceted gay character who didn’t fit into any preconceived boxes. Jack wanted to play football and join a fraternity, so he did. He did face scrutiny, but that’s reality. I’m glad the writers didn’t shy away from including his struggles because they allowed him to be portrayed as more than just “the gay guy in Capeside.” 

4. Joey Potter’s journey
Growing up, I loved Joey Potter. I really identified with a lot of what her character went through: absent father, shying away from situations because of the fear of getting hurt, and every cute boy wanting to date me (okay, that last one is made up). In rewatching the series, I found myself getting annoyed with Joey’s character, who I used to think could do no wrong. I felt at times she led a lot of men on and enjoyed having them fight over her while always knowing she wasn’t going to choose them.

Then, in the last few episodes of the series, I realized that her fear of being hurt was what led her to walk away from so many people in her life, and that’s when I began to respect her character’s journey. 

5. Natural beauty aka “I Woke Up Like This”
The most important lesson I learned in my rewatch was just how much makeup and strict dieting goes into playing a leading lady (or male) on television today. Think about it: everyone on the CW is breathtakingly gorgeous with crazy fit bodies for the teenagers they portray (I’m lookin’ at you, The Vampire Diaries). Do people in Mystic Falls even get acne? I guess not. 

I mean, sure Nina Dobrev and others on the show are good looking without the makeup, extensions, and sexy clothes, but they are selling the unattainable, which is why it was so refreshing to see Pacey’s acne, Dawson’s non-muscly “sixteen”-year-old body, Joey practically makeup-less, and Audrey in a crop top without a six-pack. These characters represented attainable beauty; they were more realistic. 

All in all, I'd say my rewatch was successful. 

So, thanks Dawson's Creek for teaching me that sex was too complicated to try and navigate at a young age. For creating the flawed, but "human" Joey Potter. And finally, thank you, Pacey Witter for remaining sexy ten years later. 

Image credit: moviefancentral.com

A Letter to My Future Black Son

First and foremost, I want you to know that I love you. I hope I tell you this enough and that from my love, you learn how incredible you are and how much potential you have to change the world.

As I write this letter to you, another Black person is being murdered just for being Black and therefore not being seen as a person at all, but an animal that must be hunted and killed.

The faces of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown burn brightly in my mind and I wonder to myself if you'll look like them. Will you have their kind eyes or boyish faces?

One thing I know: you'll have courage from all of those who fought back as they were dying to have their lives matter.

I want to believe so badly that by the time you're old enough to know the darkness of the world that the senseless violence and lack of regard for our bodies will have changed, but I'm not certain they will.

To be honest with you, son, I'm afraid for you.

Because you see, when some people look at you, they will only see their darkest fears looking back at them. They won't see that your heart beats in similar rhythms to theirs nor will they see the fact that your blood is the same color as theirs until it's spilling on the concrete.

I don't want to have to teach you things like: never wear a hoodie, always keep your belt tightly wrapped around your waist, don't hang out with too many Black people at one time, don't get too comfortable with your non-Black friends, don't walk around at night, and most importantly, don't do all of the aforementioned things while also reaching into the pocket of your coat.

No, I don't want to tell you these things, but they seem to be the only way I will be able to keep you safe.

Well, that's not entirely true. My other option is to never meet you at all.

Never having you would be the ultimate protection against all of this hatred and against having to know what it would feel like to lose you.

But it would also mean I let them win.

I sometimes fantasize that your only knowledge of racism will come from your reading about Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, or Jena 6 in history class, and that you'll come home from school, outraged, and tell your dad and I how you just "can't believe people could ever have been so hateful."

 I know that may never be possible, but I hope by the time you read this, the world will have woken up and started valuing our lives enough to actually protect us.

6 years and counting

If you are or have been in a long-term relationship, then you have probably been asked on numerous occasions why you haven’t married your partner yet.

In fact, you may have even found yourself getting married to your partner because of those ridiculously personal, judgmental questions/assertions from nagging friends and family. 

But, if you haven’t decided to tie the knot with your long-term partner, then you may find yourself in the same boat as me. If this is the case, welcome aboard!

A little background...

I have been with my boyfriend for six years. We both started dating when we were 21, him a sales associate at Staples who made a little over $8.00 an hour, and me, a student at a junior college who worked at a sandwich shop 10-15 hours a week (if I was lucky). In addition to my not so busy life, I was also about to transfer to a state university. I'd give anything to go back to the limited responsibility I had then: living rent free with my grandparents, easy job that ended when I clocked out, and endless amounts of warm (and good) home-cooked meals. But I digress.

The point is, we started dating young when neither one of us had a lot of money. Flash forward 6 years and we still don't have a lot of money. 

Even now, I feel like I’m giving all of this background information about my boyfriend and my relationship as justification for our not having wed yet. It's just a habit I guess from years of dodging the "hows" and "whys" of our relationship.

Just last week, my boyfriend’s co-worker started asking the dangerous question of how long he and I had been dating.

“Six years,” he replied, proudly.

“Six years? And you guys aren’t married?”

“Nope!” he said, once again proudly.

“Well, don’t you guys want to, like, make it official?” she asked again, probably confused and picturing us as swingers now. Or devil worshipers, which she might see as one and the same.

“Like Facebook official?” he said. 

I think the conversation ended there.

 

In the past year, I have also been asked similar questions, my favorite being: “Well, why don’t you guys just get engaged? You could have one of those long engagements, ya know?”

“No, I don’t know. What is a ring going to magically change?” I ask.

“It just lets everyone know that he’s committed to you."

  

Usually, I stop the conversation right here by getting myself pretty drunk.

What I should say, and never end up saying, is that a ring is not going to change a damn thing in our relationship. If we were the kind of people to cheat on one another, the ring wouldn't make us change our ways and consider the other person’s feelings. Instead, it would make us look really stupid when we had to change our status from “Engaged to” to “Single because we cheated.”

The idea of being engaged for a really long time just so we can be happily welcomed into the “right way to live your life” club makes me sick to my stomach.

It seems as though some people believe the engagement is the only way to declare that your relationship is strong. In the past 6 years, we have faced many obstacles, but we pulled through and are much stronger together now.

And just because marriage isn't in our foreseeable future doesn't make our relationship any less valuable to us. Our love does not grow weaker because we are "just" in a committed relationship.

Now, I’m not saying marriage should or should not happen in a couple's journey together. I have tons of friends who have known for a long time that they want to be a husband or wife someday, and I think it's wonderful.

I'm not even saying that we don’t want to be married someday, because for the record, we do, but when it happens, it’s not going to be because we need to fix something in our relationship that’s broken, or I need him to prove to me that he’s committed. 

Marriage will also not change the fact that I can be extremely selfish from time-to-time (he’ll say all of the time), or that he never closes the shower curtain after he’s taken a shower (it causes mold when left bunched up). 

It won’t change the fact that sometimes, I would rather not see him for a couple of days because I’m a person who needs space. 

It also won’t make me love him more than I already do. 

So, to those who feel it's well within their right to ask these personal questions to unwed couples, I encourage you to think twice because it's annoying, sometimes hurtful, and most importantly, none of your business. I can guarantee that you wouldn't like it if people started questioning some of your most personal life choices. So just stop.

Image credits: elitedaily.com, buzzfeed.com, http://sexandfessenjoon.files.wordpress.com, gifwave.com

An Introduction (Sort Of)

About a month ago, I woke up from a dream only to realize that the dream had been my life for the last year.

The dream was of me, newly graduated from an MA program in English, teaching college freshmen about writing.

It looked nice: I was making enough money to support my weekly Target habit, talking about writing (which I love), and actually reaching people who would usually rather double tap a picture than have a real conversation.

The dream even felt nice.

Sure, it wasn't exactly what I had planned to do while I was in graduate school (I had always considered myself as a writer first and foremost), but practicality set in and I realized that I was in need of paying back my student loans (which I deferred, but at least I get to go to Target whenever I want).

So, in the last year, I talked about other people's writing rather than write anything of my own.

And I really, truly liked it. 

But this summer, I decided not to teach. I traveled. I slept. I read 7 books.

I hit reset. 

And in doing so, I somehow woke myself up from a dream.


Being awake feels invigorating and scary. Invigorating because I feel focused once again on writing and making myself a better writer (which is why this blog exists). Scary because I know that changes are bound to come, and I'm not sure what those changes look like for the dream I was having.

The only thing I'm certain of is that the writing bug has bitten me again, and now instead of dreaming, I lie awake with excitement and angst, itching to get all of my ideas out and better my abilities.

I guess this is my attempt to do so.