On the three year anniversary of the launch of Randa’s Fans, I took a moment to reflect on what it’s all about, on what I’m doing here. “On Nodding Terms” serves as something of an update to this section, a little refresher to explore what I’m doing here with this memory project, an addendum to what I originally posted below. Turns out it may be a bit more than just nonsense. But only a bit.
February 2009: Origin Narrative
In order to answer the question, why Randa’s Fans (or, as I’ve heard it otherwise put: who the f*&k is Randa?), I need to tell a quick story. My best friend’s initials are JRS. Her father, who must have been one of the least pleasant human beings I have ever met, also had the initials JRS. Even as you see a pattern begin to develop, you might nonetheless be shocked to know that his dog, too, was JRS. My friend’s dad went by Randy. At birth, Randy and his twin brother were given the names Jimmy and James. That is perfectly unrelated to the story, but I couldn’t help but include it for its mind-numbing brilliance. Randy then went on to have three daughters, all of whom I have the great good fortune to call friend. Anyway, turns out that when my friend was born, the third of three children, Randy lobbied hard to have her named Randa. Absolute redneck megalomaniac. I had never heard this story until a couple of years ago when my friend shared it with a bunch of us, and I have to admit that I thought it was one of the funniest things I had ever heard. Seriously. Randa?
Because we were all together celebrating my friend’s wedding, I said then that we should have a fanclub called Randa’s Fans. It sounded great at the time, due in large part to the fact that we were drinking heavily. It’s possible we even convened the first official meeting, but who remembers.
Anyway, the question still stands: who are Randa’s fans? Any fan of this site, I guess. Or any fan of this story, too, would work. Any fan of a world in which twins could be named Jimmy and James, and it wasn’t a joke. Any fan of a class-a-hole father who can produce amazingly talented, brilliant, beautiful children. Any fan of possibility, of dodged bullets, of great names.
Any fan of nonsense, really.
you’ve got to include the dads’ middle names. seriously, that shit’s poetic.
Bill,
I just love you. I really do.
and me… I’m a life-long fan of Randa.
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Sorry … I’m starting to look like sort of a stalker, but this is just so good that I have to add my 2 cents. My own dad — who, unfortunately sounds a lot like Randa’s — wanted to name me Tawana. This is an openly racist man wanting to name a child Tawana. And get this … if my mother had allowed this, there would’ve been two (white) Tawana Paces in Newton, MS.
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Hey, my dad wanted to name me Cheetah. Tarzan was a popular Saturday afternoon pasttime at our home during the early 60’s. Unfortunately, he even convinced my sisters that this would be a great name. Thank God it did not happen.
Tish, thank you for this; I seriously just laughed out loud. Cheetah G Home just doesn’t have the same ring to it! (And I apologize in advance if Cheetah ever comes up in the future!)
It’s official. I am a fan for life!!!
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My parent’s named me…. Randa. And, I love it! Gasp.
We love it too!
And, just for the record, my father is not a Randy.