Southern Gentleman
I recently had the opportunity to meet a very polite, intelligent, and easy going Senior. His name is Will Elsen. Will grew up in a town just outside of Raleigh called Fuquay Varina, The Andy Griffith Show came to mind as he joked about walking to school everyday and fishing in the afternoons. But small town southern life seems to have left a mark on him. From what I gathered, he is the definition of a Southern Gentleman. The fact that he loves Duke Basketball further solidifies my casting him as a good ole’ southern boy.
Our first conversation, having only just met, was what you would expect. We shared a few things about ourselves; what kind of movies we like, what kind of music, sports, food, and so on. I gathered all the basic facts. I got a brief story of his life, leading up to present day. Then we talked mostly about college.
Will plans to graduate this May with a Communications degree, concentrating in Media Production. He has done a few short narratives, a music video, and some small public service announcements and commercials. His choice to pursue Media Production stemmed from his love of visual media, and so far he has loved the curriculum.
Overall Will seemed to be a pretty modest and reserved guy. But I knew there must be more to Will than meets the eye. The little time I spent in his presence in class didn’t give me the full story, so I interviewed a few of his close friends.
Apparently Will is some sort of artistic genius; when he wants to be. Now, I knew Will enjoyed art, and had done a few pieces here and there, but I had no idea how much of a part of him it was. His roommate went as far as saying his paintings and sketches were “extraordinary” and that Will has “an amazing gift of artistic expression.”
Will was even voted most artistic by his high school classmates and carried that with him to college. He originally planned to be an Art Major, but realized that for himself, art was much more rewarding and enjoyable when it wasn’t being graded. His friends say they rarely see him painting or drawing, but when he does, it is always remarkable. Now I pinned him as modest, but according to his friends he’s not modest at all. They informed me that when you get to know him, he is really quite confident and sure of his abilities. They almost insinuate a kind of passive cockiness. Apparently he knows he’s good, but doesn’t feel obligated to show it.
So apparently a lot of my initial assumptions about Will were true. He is normal, quiet, really nice, and confident. He is also a true southern gentleman, but with a twist. He is artistic and creative. He has drive and focus. His first impressions are always good, and only get better over time. All of his friends and loved ones value him as a positive part of their lives. When asked to sum Will up into one word or phrase, one friend said “Will will will things to happen.” I took that as him having the ability to make things happen, a testament to his hard and strong character.
I tried my hardest to pry and find out what skeletons he has hiding in his closet, or what secret bad habits or character traits he has but didn’t get very far. The closest thing I got was a complaint about how Will will get into arguments and rant and ramble about seemingly insignificant topics and how he gets carried away with his stories and the tales he tells. I say “so what?”, that just means he’s got enough going on upstairs to make the little things interesting, and that he can tell a great story. Add those to the list of great things about Will.
Filed under: 2008 Spring, Classmate Profiles