Eli Mekonen ‘20
(he/him/his)
1. What is your favorite word?
It’s a tie between behoove and poltergeist.
2. Where did you grow up?
I split my childhood and teenage years between Chicago and the D.C. area. Chicago definitely feels more like “home,” though. I go back at least once a year and I hope to start my legal career there.
3. What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?
Anything at Sweetwater Tavern in Centreville, VA. The white chocolate bread pudding is so good. Sometimes, I tear up when I eat it.
4. If you could meet one celebrity, who would it be and why?
Paul Tudor Jones. He’s pretty knowledgeable on the subjects of asset management and poverty alleviation- coincidentally two things I would like to learn more about. I could probably gain some invaluable insight hanging around a person like him. Also, I hear he went to a cool undergrad.
5. If you had to pick one song to play non-stop in the background of your life, what would it be?
Gilderoy Lockhart by Ehiorobo.
6. If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?
The ability to never get tired or hungry. Eating and sleeping are massive time sinks. The average person spends over 260,000 hours eating and sleeping. By comparison, it only takes about 2,000 hours of practice to become fluent in another language, and less than 62,000 hours to visit every country in the world.
7. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
A banana, croissant, and a cup of coffee. My normal breakfast, plus a banana and a croissant.
8. What’s your most interesting two-truths-and-a-lie? (And what’s the lie?)
I met Jesse Jackson, Chance the Rapper, and Kanye West all in Chicago.
Kanye was the lie. I met Jesse Jackson in a small Chicago airport and went to elementary and middle school with Chance the Rapper.
9. What’s the best (or worst!) PG-rated pick-up line you’ve ever heard?
“You dropped something …..” *Waits for person to look down.* “My jaw.” I’ve actually used this line with some success but I think the girls who talked to me after just felt bad for me.
10. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?
1 round trip ticket to any city in the continental U.S. after graduating from college (I chose Seattle).
11. If you could know one thing about your future, what would it be?
Whether I will be a practicing attorney long-term or change careers.
12. Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC?
*NSYNC, and it isn’t really close. No Strings Attached and Celebrity are incredible albums. The Backstreet Boys never matched *NSYNC’s star power or penchant for making outright bangers.
13. What’s your favoritething to do in Charlottesville?
Eat apple pie with vanilla ice cream at Carter’s Mountain Orchard.
14. If you could make one law that everyone had to follow, what would it be?
Mandatory (and free) courses in civics, consumer economics, and sociology.