Special circumstances surround the last installment of Campus Cutie for this academic year. Relieved from his grueling exams and packing up in the St. Louis heat, Tom Bescherer escaped to a friend’s cabin in Michigan to finally celebrate the beginning of summer – so unfortunately we did not have the chance to meet in person. Nonetheless, being the nice guy that he is, Tom took some time to offer his insight on questions of music, sandwiches, dreadlocks and fighting Kanye West.
HC: Hometown?
TB: I’m from Sandwich, Massachusetts. Which is on Cape Cod.
HC: What are you studying?
TB: I’m an English Major and Chinese Minor.
HC: What type of music do you listen to when you study?
TB: Ooohh… really depends on what type of homework I’m doing. If I’m reading I’ll listen to more abstract stuff like Animal Collective or The Books. If I’m drawing Chinese I go for more synthie driving tempo stuff like Fuck Buttons or Crystal Castles. When I’m writing I like more lyrical music like Neutral Milk Hotel or Sufjan Stevens. I mix in a healthy dose of rap with all of it.
HC: Activities on campus?
TB: I joint DJ a KWUR show called And Ampersand Hour with my friend Andrew. I’m captain of the Tandem biking society. Haha, I also helped found Chess club but I really haven’t gone back since. I hear its really thriving in my absence.
HC: Favorite sandwich?
TB: At the campus Subway I always go for the BMT on Honey Oat, but in the real world probably Peanut butter and Banana. It’s really underrated but super delicious.
HC: What is your ideal day?
TB: Haha, probably something eerily similar to my day today, actually. My friends and I left campus early and went and rode these monstrous ATV’s on my friend Brady’s aunt’s farm, something I’d never done before. Now we’re at this cabin in Michigan and we’re going to go hiking and spend some time reading and hanging out.
HC: Favorite character of fiction?
TB: That’s really difficult. Probably either Yossarian from Catch-22 or this character Alessandro from a book my dad gave me called Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. They’re wildly different people but I guess what they have in common is how well realized they are as characters.
HC: Celebrity that you’d like to fight?
TB: Kanye West—I like his music but if I managed to knock out his teeth I’d make a fortune. I’d definitely take a swing at Donald Trump if I had the chance.
HC: Favorite spot on campus?
TB: I recently fell in love with the second level of the library. If you grab one of those comfy chairs by the window you can chill out and watch the hustle and bustle outside forever. It’s a really beautiful view.
HC: So far, what has been your favorite age?
TB: I’m happier at 20 than I’ve ever been.
HC: Summer plans?
TB: I still haven’t found a job! I thought I had an internship lined up but it fell through at the last minute. I guess we’ll see, I need to make a lot of money this summer to buy things for my apartment but I don’t know how I’m going to do it yet. I really want to go to one of the big music festivals.
HC: Would you be more likely to get dreadlocks or a rattail?
TB: Dreadlocks—I’ve seen people rock dreads but never in my life have I seen a well done rattail.
HC: Class that you would rather eat worms than have to re-take?
TB: QBA in the business school. What a rubbish class. Do whatever you can to avoid it.
HC: Celebrity that people say you look like?
TB: I’ve been told Hugh Grant is my celebrity doppelganger an alarming number of times since I came to WashU. Steve Buscemi maybe?
HC: Any tattoos?
TB: Haha no actual ones but we bought some fake ones at the supermarket today… Who knows what could happen?
HC: What is the top thing to do on your bucket list?
TB: I’d like to see more of the world— Maybe visit all the continents. Go skiing on all the continents maybe, that’d be incredible.
HC: What are you a snob about?
TB: I don’t know if I’m the one to ask about that. Music maybe?
HC: Do you drive too fast or too slow?
TB: Too fast. Definitely too fast.
HC: Any sophomore year regrets?
TB: Only that it was so short.