Nostalgia

The Girlfriends Walk Among Us

Posted on by "Bad" Billy Pratt

“Possession of the mind is a terrible thing; it’s a transformation with an urge to kill.”

Her name was Jessica and she went to my high school. She was my first real girlfriend, gained at a time when I had lost hope in ever getting a real girlfriend. One I really liked. One I was genuinely attracted to. One who made my heart flutter with anticipation– like every day dream you’ve ever had during that long static age when you’re aware of girls, their big eyes and emerging bustlines, ones confident in testing the elasticity of all formerly loose fitting tank-tops; all around you but a world a way and you’re still stuck on the very first screen; the master sword collecting dust; Gannon raping Hyrule with impunity.   Read More

Stoned at Wal*Mart and “Being Johnny Tangle” (2006)

Posted on by "Bad" Billy Pratt

“I know you better than you fake it…”

A few years after graduating college, with the idea in mind to become a literature professor, I found myself going to graduate school for a degree to teach high school English. Not a terrible idea entirely, but I was entirely unaware of what made it terrible; I was expecting it to be something that it never was- genuine– and this slight in understanding would set me back years.

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Steal Away the Night

Posted on by "Bad" Billy Pratt

“Runaway with me tonight, dream the dream and light the light.”

Maybe it’s just part of growing up, feeling the depth of responsibility which that role entails- or the side effect of a tendency to lean toward narcissism- but I’ve never been able to let go of guilt. Lying in bed at night, thinking, how could I have been better or what could I have done differently. You put pressure on yourself to live up to an arbitrary ideal, and when you don’t, you never let yourself forget it. Maybe this is why I can’t sleep at night.

And when I’m lying in bed restless, I’ll often think about Christmas 1983. I don’t think I have coherent memories earlier than 1983, and if I take a moment to really focus, I can remember the feeling of newness and exploration I felt at that age- almost as if I were conscious of it at the time, but I know this is probably only how I see things in retrospect. I was obsessed with Masters of the Universe– captivated by the cartoon, and there were no better days than going to Toys R Us and getting to pick out one of the figures to take home. Of course, I preferred Skeletor to He-Man; even at three-years-old, I wanted to be the bad guy.

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