— NPR pop culture blogger Linda Holmes on a recent New York Times piece whose lede began with a Sex and the City reference. (via npr)

Let me start by saying, I completely agree that comparing women in 2010 to Charlotte, Samantha, Carrie and Miranda is quite an outdated concept, especially for a Times trend piece. But I must confess that I am someone who occasionally (and unabashedly) says things like, “Remember that episode when Mr. Big…” or who blogs a Carrie quote about dating and New York City or who compares a girlfriend’s personality/sexuality to one of the Fab Four’s — all in the name of an easy, amusing, well-known reference. SATC, although well beyond its expiration date, is a piece of pop culture that still has a fun, ingenuous relevancy to daily life in the city. And it remains exactly that. No more, no less.

I was a freshman at Texas A&M when I began watching Sex and the City episodes online, almost five years after the show originally aired. As an 18-year-old who once visited and fell in love with New York several years prior, I was instantly enamored and mesmerized by the entire SATC culture. I wanted that lifestyle more than anything — the maturity, the glamour, the drama, the city as a backdrop. In fact, after watching several seasons, I declared the following on my amateur Live Journal on June 21, 2003:

I have OFFICIALLY decided that on June 1, 2006, I am moving to New York City…NO questions asked. I don’t care if i dont have a definite job…if I have nowhere to live and if no one supports me…I’ll be there.

Why NYC? Something tells me that New York City is my destiny…where I’ll find life, love and happiness…

To be honest, it was a hasty declaration, imprudently inspired by martinis and men and Manolos, but in reality, I simply wanted bigger and better. And I was convinced I could find that in New York. The rest of my entry goes on to say that I actually felt stifled in Texas — creatively, politically, culturally and academically — and that alone was enough to instill big city dreams.

There are (still) lots of women who watch Sex and the City and believe that’s what life is really like in Manhattan for single, pretty young things. But it’s not. And we all know it’s not — that type of success is generally earned. I knew this upon purchasing a one-way ticket, but it didn’t deter me from attempting to turn a version of this fantasy into my own reality.

There’s an enormous amount of contempt for women who aspire to be like Charlotte, Miranda, Carrie and Samantha (“Scary Sadshaws,” as they’re referred to on Gawker.com), and to some extent, for good reason. Moving to New York does not guarantee anything except the notion of possibility. But there are some of us — some of us once naively intrigued by the Fab Four’s fictional existence — who took that simple, silly inspiration and turned it into something so much more.

I’ve certainly moved on from the SATC glory days, but it’s important to remember that if something inspires you, no matter how outdated or implausible it may be, cling to it, make it your own and go as far as you can with it.