Amy Lu's View

When I hear “Pete Davidson” I immediately picture this: 

This is wildly inaccurate.

Up until quite recently, I had no idea who Pete Davidson is. I now know that Pete Davidson is a current (or at least recent) SNL member and possibly a Kardashian boyfriend (I really am not interested enough to find out). I won’t share a photo because you probably already know who Pete Davison is, or can easily find out. 

Whoever Pete Davidson is, or isn’t, he is definitely NOT, PeteR Davison, the actor who played the Fifth Doctor Who back in the early eighties (January 4, 1982-March 16, 1984, to be exact). 

But that’s where my mind goes because that’s my frame of reference, my realm of knowledge. I know very little about SNL since 1993 but my heart and memories are steeped in Doctor Who, especially pre-reboot (“pre-re”? Yes I guess that is a thing). It’s pretty easy for me to ignore the missing “r” and extra “d” and conjure up Peter Davison. I definitely, totally, completely had a crush on him. Yes, please keep in mind he was the most crush-plausible Doctor in a pre David Tennant world. Forget walking 20 miles in the snow to school, kids…I had to have a crush on Peter Davison. 

The recent Wordle Word for January 19, 2022, was…SPOILER ALERT…Point. This may be a good word to reflect on at this moment. What is my point with sharing my Pete Davidson/Peter Davison confusion (and good heavens, speaking of confusion, just writing these two names frequently and in proximity is making me a little dizzy)?

My point: It makes me laugh. I hope it might make anyone who reads this laugh, too. 

It also makes me think about how and why we know what we know. It makes me ponder what information we share and value as a culture and subcultures, especially now as our unlimited media landscapes and information sharing tools can enable us to create smaller and more specialized tribes. 

It also makes me think about what it means to be “cool” or “old”–or what I think it means. Do I think I’m not cool enough to know who Pete Davidson is or do I think I’m too cool? (Yes, “cool” is probably way too outdated of a word but I think that just makes my point). 

I am solidly in the middle of the age continuum and not in anyone’s target market for relevance, but I can also be confused and ignorant in many situations that have nothing to do with age or hipness. Just recently when I heard about “cousins” having covid it took me a while to realize the conversation was about the Viking’s quarterback and not my friend’s cousin. #sportsball

I’m also fondly remembering way back when I was a teenager, circa 1987, and two of my friends were talking about “iced tea” and I said, “Oh yeah, I like iced tea, but unsweetened” and they just rolled their eyes because they were talking about Ice-T (the rapper).

Or…there was that time when a friend was talking about PT Cruisers and I asked her what they were and she didn’t believe me that I didn’t know.  

BUT I can have a good ten minute discussion of old Target clothing brands. Although…it took me a while to remember “Merona” just now. My mind kept defaulting to “merlot”. 

My knowledge, especially of popular culture, is definitely rooted in my age, my whiteness, my geekiness, and my lack of interest in things like cars and cooking and sportsball. Like all of us, I don’t know what I don’t know, but I’m shocked that you don’t know about the things that I think are important.

And this all makes us feel just a littler superior. Okay, a lot superior. We all know that. 

*Yes, I AM referencing Donald Rumsfeld!