Kevin Pynes is a senior from Lincoln, Nebraska and is pursuing an English major and a German minor. He was a Simpson Residence resident assistant for two years, currently serves as head of the Douglas H. Hawkins Writing Center, and is involved in theater. He most recently played the role of Amos Calloway in the Tower Players’ performance of “Big Fish” and plans to pursue acting after graduation.

If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be and who would be your archnemesis?

Flying, for sure. That one’s just kind of obvious. And it could even be flying that takes as much energy as it would to walk –– I’m OK with that. I’m kind of short, so being able to fly would be great, even if it was just a couple feet, because then I could reach everything I need to, and my foot has been hurt for like the last two years so that’ll be nice not to have to rely on my feet. My archnemesis would be Paul Landry. 

What’s the craziest nickname you’ve been called?

I’ve had a lot of nicknames because I am the youngest of eight. They all gave me nicknames. A lot of them were cute nicknames from my sisters. But my brothers would call me Jackson, for some reason, or Trayvon. I don’t know where that one came from. 

What is the most “Hillsdale” thing you’ve experienced?

The first interaction I had with a girl in my theology class was her looking me up and down and then asking me where I went to church. That was really awkward because I think she thought she was being subtle, but it was not subtle. 

If you got arrested, what would your friends assume it was for?

Public indecency. 

What is your spirit animal and why?

A bumblebee. I love bumblebees. They’re really cute, they don’t have stingers, they swarm, and they’re very fuzzy. Big fan. 

What is your best advice for freshmen? 

Do a thousand things when you first start off, but then narrow it down. Give yourself room to take risks. Be like, “Oh, I’ve never done a musical before, or I’ve never drawn before. I want to take that class and it has nothing to do with the economics I’m studying.” Or on the other side, if you’re an English major, see if there’s an economics course that you can take that you’re really interested in. But at some point, probably by sophomore year, you need to be narrowing it down a little bit so that you can really invest in the things that you care about. You can’t do everything and you’re gonna want to be really excellent at the couple of things that you really care about by the time you graduate. 

What’s your favorite childhood memory?

One time, my older brother Simon was chasing me through the house, and eventually I was going to do the classic little kid thing where you lay on your back and you start kicking your legs at them. But I had a variation on that where I would get in the swing on my stomach and then kick behind me and be swinging. It’s like, they’re not going to stop you. Unstoppable, unbeatable move. But I overshoot and my face just smashes into the ground. And then when I turn around, he’s coming at me super mad and then he just looks at me and he’s like “Oh, you’re fine, you’re fine.” I look at myself in the mirror, and it’s like half of the skin on my face rubbed off and it was just blood. I looked like Two-Face. That was really embarrassing. 

What’s your go-to comfort movie and why?

I don’t really have comfort movies, but I have melancholy movies. When I’m really sad or disappointed, I’ll watch “All About Eve” by myself. It’s Bette Davis’ best film by far. It’s about her being usurped by this other actress. It’s really an actor’s movie. It’s so good. That writing is excellent and she’s just amazing. Her career was over, and then she resurrects for this role and then blows it out of the water. It’s just really slow and intense –– I love it. 

What is your favorite place in Hillsdale?

I really love my house, Egypt. But lumped in with that is Oak Grove Cemetery. At night, it’s really quite beautiful, and a little spooky. If you’ve never been there, and your first time is at night, it’s very easy to get lost because all the trails aren’t very intuitive. The hills are very crazy and it’s super dark. I love the dark. I hate lights at night because it robs us from the stars, which are the most beautiful things ever made, and we sacrifice that to drive at night, which is awful. It’s very quiet in the spring if you’re there when the sun’s coming out in the morning or at sunset in the evening. Those trees are just the most beautiful in the fall. It’s the best in every season.