Student likes ‘jibbing’ and an unpredictable girl
Utah Statesman: Where are you from?
Johns: I’m from Chicago, Ill.
US: What brought you to Utah State?
Johns: Two main things: one, the mountains and two, I’m Mormon. It’s a better place to find other Mormons. In Chicago there are hardly any.
US: What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
Johns: I had some Pop-Tarts, cookie dough ones. They weren’t very good; they were horrible, actually. It was all I had.
US: Did you have some milk with your Pop-Tarts?
Johns: I didn’t. I was running out.
US: Why have you been reading The New York Times in the Bookstore?
Johns: One, it was free and two, I was looking at the mayor in Newark, N.J. It was talking about how the mayor was chatting with youngsters after midnight in the Housing Projects. That kind of hit home because there are a lot of ghettos in Chicago, too. It was good to get a taste of home again because there aren’t too many ghettos around here.
US: So around here, what do you like to do for fun?
Johns: I like skateboarding, snowboarding and long boarding. If it ends with “boarding,” I guess I like doing it.
US: Have you checked out some slopes here in Utah?
Johns: Yeah. I go up to Beaver all the time. It’s good stuff up there in the canyon like Tony Grove.
US: What’s your favorite snowboarding move?
Johns: I like jibbing, which is riding on rails. That’s probably my favorite to do because you don’t have to go up to the mountains. You can just do it here on campus, except they’re putting little knobs on the rails. That makes it kind of hard. But I guess that’s life.
US: Are you excited that the winter season is coming up so you can go?
Johns: Oh, I’m very excited. I think it will be amazing. Hopefully it will snow. It’s been cold so we’ll see.
US: What’s Chicago like?
Johns: There’s so much diversity. In just a matter of a couple of blocks you’ll find everything and every ethnicity.
US: Are you going to go back someday?
Johns: My mom wants me to go back for Thanksgiving, but I don’t really feel like it. I’d love to live there, but it’s pretty expensive. We’ll see how the career ends up.
US: What would be your dream date if a girl took you out?
Johns: I am a real big fan of the song “Unpredictable” by Jamie Foxx. If she did something weird that’s never been done before; something kind of stupid but super creative. Something simple like a scavenger hunt. You’d never do something like that in Chicago. Like nothing fancy, but thought-out.
US: So are you going to the Howl this year?
Johns: Definitely, I wouldn’t miss that for the world.-apwinega