Ok, first off, could I be less timely with these posts? NYC Prep was on for a hot minute this summer and Lawson left Gawker before the season even ended. Despite that, I have to share. I told you this blog was random.
Like I said, this is super old news. But, the odd fantasy world Mr. Lawson has created within his recaps, which sometimes wander into Salinger meets Cheever meets Updike-like yarn-spinning narration, for the horrendous, borderline-irresponsible (join with me for the popular refrain of "Where are the parents?!) NYC Prep are worth returning to.
A little bit on NYC Prep: It's about a bunch of rich kids in New York who are held up for our ridicule. A little unfair in terms of a concept, no doubt. While we should have no compunction about mocking the frankly unbearable Vickies of Orange County or the vapidness of the bewigged Kims of Atlanta, the NYC crowd is underage, right? Is there some sort of Statutory Humiliation law in this country?
But Lawson's brilliantly observed tracts are littered with wonderful imagery, word choice (the lone public school girl in NYC Prep is named "Rags McTattershanty" in his posts)and insight that ameliorate one's shame at actually having watched this television abortion. And the feeling one gets in reading these pieces, that this gifted writer is battling with the idea that he is writing about frickin reality show teenagers to pay the billz, but still working to create something of value from this meaningless Bravo nonsense is at once inspiring and worthy of buckets of empathy for those of us contemplating our own cubicle-trapped days. And despite his mockery, his posts are never mean. In fact, his recaps recall the winsome turmoil of youth in a way the Bravo atrocity exhibition never did.*
So, Mr. Lawson, good on you sir. I will return to your Gawker archives with zeal.
*Disclosure: I will continue to watch whatever atrocities Bravo continues to churn out. It can't be helped.
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