I’ve avoided making Jesse a WesCeleb for years, mostly because people have called me out for nepotism in WesCelebs in the past. I finally had to admit, though, that out of everyone here, Los Angeles native Jesse is about as well-known as they get—everyone knows this kid. You may have seen him shouting non-sequiturs in Gag Reflex or headbanging as lead guitarist in his band The Panthers, but did you know about his profound interest in Bruce Springsteen’s autoharp playing or how he feels about the military? That’s what WesCelebs are for.
KR: So, coming off of the Oscars, I have to as—is your hometown L.A. really like they say in “Crash,” a hotbed of racial tension and car wrecks?
JY: No, not really. Everyone just drives gorgeous Porsches outfitted with swimming pools in the trunk.The sun never sets. All elected officials are former action movie heroes.
KR: What are your thoughts on “Crash”?
JY: From the sense I get from the musical number [during the Oscars], it’s full of burning cars, wafting mist, and people moving in slow, zombie-like motions, which makes me think it must be a great film.
KR: So what is it that you’re going to miss most about Wesleyan once you graduate?
JY: The ability to shout “COLLEGE!” at any point in the day, even when I’m by myself. And all the incredibly awkward interactions with random people that I specialize in cultivating.
KR: I feel like that’s what makes you a Wesceleb-you know everyone. How do you pull that off?
JY: You meet lots of lovely people. At the end of the day everyone’s really nice. Nine times out of 10, other people are more interesting than you, so there’s always something to talk about. I realize that’s kinda trite, but it’s true.
KR: So what makes you interesting?
JY: My unironic music taste.
KR: Oh yeah! Talk about your love of Bruce Springsteen.
JY: I think, if anything, being at college has only nurtured my unending fascination with Bruce Springsteen. I’ve been to about seven or eight of his shows since I got to college, with a record of three in one month my sophomore year. Most kids my age don’t like him, largely because he’s earnest, unironic, and sings songs about Vietnam and American identity and all that jazz. No one believes in rock and roll anymore as a redemptive force, and Bruce totally believes in rock and roll. He’s one of those artists who’s been doing this for 40 years and still doesn’t suck at age 56. He’s not just touring bars and playing “Glory Days.”
KR: And how about your article for Backstreets?
JY: After seeing Bruce this summer on his last tour, I e-mailed Backstreets, which is this big Bruce Springsteen fan magazine with a few hopelessly dorky pointers. I said, “I just noticed in your updates you haven’t been noting the subtle things Bruce has been doing with the new set of instruments he’s been playing on this tour.” The editor-in-chief got back to me and said, “We’ve been looking for someone like you, could you write an article on this stuff?” It’s the thrill of my life. I’ve inserted myself at age 21 into one of the uppermost echelons of Bruce fandom, which is second only to Bob Dylan fandom in sheer baby boomer rock obsessiveness. There’s nothing I enjoy more than writing endlessly about rock music. Um, I’d also like to add that I have kissed a girl before. Seriously.
KR: You’re the founder of the “OMG Westerns” Facebook group. What’s great about Westerns?
JY: Westerns is so much fun, and everyone’s in it. It’s great because Richard Slotkin has the amazing ability to dissect all these aspects of our problematic assumptions about race, progress and the like but still communicate a real affinity for our sense of collective American identity, warts and all. It’s both revealing and affirming, I guess. He also plays with guns and talks about totally dirty stuff like sex, which is always a big bonus.
KR: And what about your accomplishment of a double marriage on Facebook?
JY: This is the greatest accomplishment of my life. Somehow, I was simultaneously married to two people on Facebook, being Nat Webb [’06] and Eliza Ford [’08], one of whom is my hetero-life mate and one of whom is my girlfriend. You can figure out which is which. But now Nat’s got a girlfriend, and he divorced me. It was a messy affair. He got the kids but I kept all the money and the yacht. I painted it pink and it’s called the H.M.S. Nat Sucks. It’s a British boat.
KR: What else have you been up to this year?
JY: I went to the US Military Academy at West Point in November. The government department sends one kid to this undergraduate foreign policy conference they do their every year.
JY: It was great just to see West Point. It gives you really startlingly profound respect for the armed forces, or at least the officer class. I’m going into the real world with a liberal arts degree and I have no idea what I’m doing, whereas the cadets know exactly what they’re doing and they’ve been trained immaculately to do it. It’s sort of the polar opposite of Wesleyan in terms of a college climate, all regimentation and strict order.
KR: So what’s something that no one reading this will know about you?
JY: I have hilarious waking dreams and nightmares. I sleepwalk, I have debates in my sleep, I get up and open cabinets in my sleep. Last semester, I apparently woke up in my sleep and shouted “Everyone to the compound!” My subconscious is way more interesting than I could ever possibly be.
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