Ok, admittedly, my number two nerd love is... not much of a nerd at all. She was a team leader for the preppiest sport ever organized (Coxswain. Heh, coxswain.) and rode a vintage motorcycle (my heart: VROOM!). But this dweebette (ahem, me) spent most of the summer of 2000 daydreaming shared picnics and bookclubs, so Young Americans’ Ms. Jake Pratt makes the cut.
- Jacqueline Pratt wants to scandalize her mother’s bourgeois sensibilities without sacrificing a hoity-toity education. The solution? Putting everything at stake to pass as “Jake” and matriculate at fancy pants Rawley Academy. And I thought I cared about book learning.
- As a Dawson’s Creek spinoff, Jake’s cynicism & witticisms made her both the Pacey (le sigh) and the Joey (high five!) of the Young Americans’ crew.
- She taught me everything I ever needed to know about binders.
- Hamilton’s (Rawley BMOC, eternal pretty boy Ian Sommerhalder) confusion over Jake’s feminine mystique was dwarfed only by my confusion over who I swooned for more. (a girlish boy? a boyish girl? i... both... what does this mean?)
- Jake, then Shane, now
2/3s of lady gays in my generation owe their “AHA!” moment to Kate Moennig.
(Dap. Per.)
- Watch the whole (poorly synced) series on Youtube, if you don't believe me.
Next week: a boy and his dolphin...
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