Telesedated
By Justin Rands.
My girlfriend was on the phone the other night and muttered out “poor unfortunate souls.” This phrase passed through the air, into my ears, into my head and electrified a part of my brain that sparked a memory of my past. Instantly, I began to sing the entire song from the movie The Little Mermaid. She gets off the phone. I sing the song, shake her and tickle her. She asks me how I know the song. I tell her that when I was very young and in day care, the adults used to wheel the TV in front of us and play the same movies over and over. Beauty and the Beast. Land Before Time 1 and 2. Aladdin. Robin Williams voice will forever remain in my head as the voice of Iago the red parrot. His voice has consistently annoyed the shit out of me ever since. The adults left us. Left us in a dark room with nothing more than a glowing screen and our imaginations. I remember some of them walking outside to smoke a cigarette. They stayed out there a long time. Talking. Sometimes laughing. Mostly staring at the playground equipment cemented into the sand box. I remember a man named John going into the other room to sit in a chair and stare into space for a long time. I only describe the movie to my girlfriend though. She smiles and blushes, calling me “cute” and hugging me. As my head lays on her shoulder and her arms squeeze around my body I think about what I just revealed to her. The fact that I lived a telesedated childhood watched by strangers.
Justin Rands has just graduated college from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Design, specifically graphics and drawing. He recently just got back from Europe where he realized that mostly everyone is looking for the same thing in this world and that even though America sucks, it is still cool, if that makes any sense. He likes to read and has just found out about 3:AM a while ago. He has been thoroughly reading Tao Lin and Noah Cicero. Parts of San Francisco remind him of the way Noah talks about Youngstown. His friends and girlfriend live in an area of town where tons of drugs are dealt, people are stabbed and recently someone got shot in the face. The only things he finds interesting are literature, basketball, and sex. He thinks art is pretty cool too. He resides in the Haight District of San Francisco and recently just turned 23.
First published in 3:AM Magazine: Saturday, July 14th, 2007.
