HCND awkwardly asked Bobby Alvarez if he’d be amenable to a feature here on this site. In the midst of thesis crunching and snow in South Bend, Bobby said yes, because Bobby is that kind of person. And he gave one hell of a great interview.
Name: Bobby Alvarez
Hometown: Santa Fe Springs (LA!), CA
Major: Program of Liberal Studies
Major you wish you chose: Program of Liberal Studies (I’m a very self-assured person.)
Dorm Allegiance: Zahm House
1. Why do you think you’re being interviewed?
I’m not really sure. Looking back at past interviewees, the common denominator––aside from being attractive, which is a common enough quality––is a certain level of witty humor. I’m not very funny. Nor witty. I’m more like a nice purée of bland. So aside from being pretty good-looking, I’m not sure what I’ve done to earn this.
2. Who are you?
Wow, ask a more unanswerable ice-breaker why don’t you? Do you want me to wax philosophical here? I suppose you don’t, so I’ll give a quaint list of generic identifiers: I’m tall. I’m a dog person, but I have two cats. I love them too. I like food. Spicy is my favorite flavor (read into that as much as you want). My movie tastes are bipolar between depressing dramas and Pixar. And I like to give off the appearance of intellectual depth.
3. Taken/ Single/ It’s Complicated with Thesis?
Single. My thesis doesn’t complicate anything.
Did I say I’m single?
Really, I’m single.
Hard to believe I know, (that’s what my mom says!) but I’m single.
(*Single*)
Okay, that went a little overboard. I need to remind myself I’m not funny.
4. Favorite Domer dead, alive, or fictional?
Any one of the Zahm House Keepers I’ve had here. Margie, Big Mamma, Maurice, Larry, Sam (not entirely sure where you went), Archie––I love you guys. You pick up way too much of our shit and rarely get the thanks you deserve. A greater a part of Zahm and this university than any of us students who come and go every four years.
5. Post-grad plans?
I’m going to go on the lam to escape my student debt somewhere in Latin America. I’m going until they catch me and put me in a debtors prison or until I find an actual job.
6. In 25 years, you will be:
25 years closer to death. What? WHA-A-A-A-T? It’s true! Okay, too dark, too dark, I got you. I’ll try again.
More lonely than I am–––what? Again? Seriously?
7. What did you think you were going to do freshman year and why?
Freshman year I thought I was going to talk to girls. I went to an all-guys high school (I know, explains a lot, right?), so I thought with the fairer sex around I would actually communicate with them. But I didn’t. Actually, this article is the closest I’ve gotten to willful contact with females in my four years here. So, I guess, in a way, that expectation has been fulfilled.
8. If you could change one thing about ND what would it be?
Ducks around the lakes. I wouldn’t get rid of them, but I would have them move out of the way when you go running. It messes with my running cadence to do an awkward side-step and it’s not good survival instincts. It’s for their own good.
9. One thing you wish ND girls knew?
Don’t wear heels and for Christ’s sake, put on a coat! It’s cold outside! That cute one-piece is not worth it if you trip on your heels, fall into a snow drift, and catch hypothermia on the way to the party you’re going to. Personally, I could care less what you wear. Granted, one should dress up a little bit when going out, but for me that is throwing on a flannel instead of a t-shirt, not going full senior photo. There’s an issue of scale here. As for heels, I’ve heard way to many complaints about them to tolerate them. If they are so uncomfortable don’t wear them. Don’t worry that you can’t artificially enhance your posture without them. You aren’t going to catch a nice guy because of heels. Did I mention I’m single?
10. Favorite class you’ve taken?
Seminar VI in PLS. Technically, I’m taking it next semester, but we’re reading The Brothers Karamazov in that class. Totes my fave book. Stop reading this and read it right now. It will help your soul. I also enjoyed Seminar IV. Pascal is my homeboy.
11. Worst?
Hehe, not answering that. In PLS, we all know who teaches which classes. I don’t want to hurt the professor’s feelings. Nice guy though.
12. Bedtime?
4 am. Accompanied by a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.
13. Favorite spot on campus?
Around St. Joe’s lake, there is a bench in front of the seminary that looks across the lake to the Dome and Basilica. I’m usually running by it and can’t stop and sit, but easily the prettiest place on campus.
14. Biggest fear?
Mosquitoes in my room at night. Many of my most traumatic childhood experiences were because of mosquitoes trapped in my room at night. They drink your BLOOD, make you itch, and make that terrible buzzing noise as the fly by your year right when you’re about to fall asleep. My dad always said that he thought one of the best arguments against the existence of God is the existence of mosquitoes. I still haven’t found a response.
15. Guilty pleasure?
Sleep. I do it way too much. I’ve recently taken to napping as a form of procrastination. Not a good development.
16. What’s your drink?
Water and any other age-appropriate drink sanctioned by Du Lac. So, beer as well.
17. Mortal enemy?
I’m a pacifist, so I don’t have enemies, only friends who don’t know it yet.
18. Favorite decorative possession?
My bookcase. I hesitate to claim that a bookcase is a decoration, but hey, I’m a vain poseur. It has utility, too. I made it myself from a shoddy self-made tv-stand that I found in Zahm at the start of the year. So now it is a shoddy self-made bookcase and I love it.
19. If you could give one verb of advice for current students what would it be?
Learn. That is your job here. You are a student, an amazing job to have and one that very few people in the world get to have. You owe it to those people who can’t be here to learn. Learn about our world. It is a terrifying, sorrowful, wonderfully beautiful place. Drink it in. Learn from anywhere you can glean knowledge––a book in the library, a professor after class, a drunken friend at Feve, a child’s prayer in Appalachia or a child’s smile in Honduras––these are all sources of knowledge. And once you learn, act upon your learning. Allow all these people that form the product of what you know become a part of you and live for them as well as yourself.
Wow. That was a little grandiose. And not funny. I need to remember where I’m writing.
20. What’s your cause?
People.
21. What is the essence of being a Domer?
I wasn’t born into Notre Dame. I’m a Domer by adoption. Now, I’m going to be cliché here and bring up the grotto (I guess the funny part of this piece is over). Now, I’m not a person who goes to the grotto very often––I suppose I should go more often––but when I think of Notre Dame, I think of someone kneeling at the grotto. The act of kneeling, to me, is an act of struggle. We kneel when we come to a breaking point. We kneel when we have struggled for a long time and we’re broken and need to rest. I think that this struggling defines Notre Dame. A Notre Dame student is never satisfied. Someone might think that this restlessness is a pathological problem, but I don’t think so. I think that it means we are being honest. That is why I love Notre Dame. It is made up of contradictions, but we struggle with ourselves and our world. I think this struggling is the essence of being a Domer.