Friend Feature: Owen LaChance
My high school prom date talks about the NYT's Connections, Diego Velasquez, and his optimal entertainment theory.
A big part of Close Friends is, well, the close friends themselves. In order for you to feel like this can also be a place for you to come, create something, and be involved, once a month, I will select one Close Friend to interview. I will then share that here with the other Close Friends. It’ll be fun! Hopefully? Whatever, you’ll be like my little monkeys whom I force to be part of my blogging escapades. I JUST WANT YOU FEEL INCLUDED. If you are interested in being featured in the future leave a comment below!
Now onto the first Close Friends Feature: Owen LaChance.
The first memory I have of Owen is from my freshman year of high school when I watched him perform a—highly dramatic—death scene in the school play. He was a sophomore, and his onstage death was undeniably convincing.
Owen and I didn’t become Close Friends until two years later when we were in A Midsummer Night’s Dream together. He played Flute. I was Puck. I have memories of us in the time between the last period of the school day and our daily rehearsals, sitting outside the auditorium, chatting. These were the moments in which our closeness developed: discussing the goings-on of our world, our town, and our production of Midsummer.
Owen was always someone in the high school theater department that people were drawn to because of his warmth and sense of humor. He is easy to get along with and a great person to have in your corner because of his unwavering support. Basically, Owen is just a great friend and an even better date on the dance floor. Plus, one time, when I had COVID, Owen went to Best Buy for me to pick up a Nintendo Switch and hand-delivered it through my window. I am grateful we have maintained our friendship over the years, and it is an honor to watch him grow into the epic person and educator of young minds he is destined to be. Please enjoy the conversation we had on a rainy Sunday night parked outside of Magic Fountain Ice Cream Shop in Summit, NJ.
Who and what are you?
Owen LaChance: I am Owen LaChance, and I am Jillian’s junior and senior year prom date.
Yucky Jill: That is a perfect way to describe who you are.
Where did you come from?
OL: I was actually born in Minnesota outside of Minneapolis. But moved when I was five, so I'm mostly from Chatham, New Jersey, hometown of Jillian Roche.
What are you doing here?
OL: Struggling with brain freeze currently.
YJ: We're eating ice cream.
OL: Because Jillian's in New Jersey, where I live.
If you had to rank our closeness on a scale from 1-10, (1 being strangers and 10 being we are one) what would you rate us?
OL: I’ll wait for the brain freeze to leave my head.
YJ: Take your time.
OL: It's probably like a seven or an eight.
YJ: I think I would rate us similarly. 7.6.
OL: 7.6 is your assessment?
YJ: We’re definitely past 5.
OL: We’re definitely past the 5 point. We correspond every day.
YJ: Oh, via connections?
(The New York Times’ Connections, that is!)
OL: Via connections. But it's not like we're getting deep in the goss. Yeah, so I'll stick with 7.5 or 7.6.
Who is on your close friends’ list (can be literal if metaphorical)?
OL: Definitely metaphorical. I don't use that feature. I'm a lurker on social media. I'm not a poster.
So my closest friend is definitely my friend Adina. She was my bestie in college. We lived together senior year. She’s the one that I go into the city to visit the most.
The birthday party attendance was pretty much who is on my Close Friends list.
YJ: See! I wrote in my first post that the barometer for who is on your Close Friends is people you would invite to your birthday party.
Who is one person from history you would want to be close friends with?
OL: It's a weird answer, though. Diego Velàzquez, a Spanish artist.
YJ: Yeah! Las Meninas.
OL: When I was in Spain, I went to the Prado Museum, and they had a lot of his works there. I was like, “What would it be like to be a painter then?” Because as a painter back then, your job was to get things historically accurate. You were the photographer of the time. So I’d just be interested in what that responsibility is like. If you ask me that question, tomorrow, it’ll be a different answer, but that’s my answer today.
What does it take to be a good friend?
OL: I think communication. I think great friendships end when people don't know how to talk to each other. And that’s how you maintain a friendship: communication. That’s why I like doing the connections thing because it gives me a little touch point. I can check in with them. Those little moments are what keep a friendship alive.
YJ: I think it's important that, when we're thinking of people, we reach out. That is something that's so lovely that I feel like sometimes we lose because we're scared of what they'll think. If you’re thinking about someone, that's so sweet, and you should tell them.
Tell a story you remember about your first friend.
OL: My first friend in New Jersey was Charlie. We were in the same kindergarten class. So, I'm new to New Jersey. I moved here like two or three weeks ago. I don't know anyone except my neighbors. And I walk into school, and people knew each other, from, like, preschool and things like that. And I don't know anyone.
It must’ve been snack time. I sat down next to Charlie, and he was like “Do you wanna be friends?” And I was like, “Yeah,” and then we were friends. It's so much easier back then. Just to be like, “Let’s be friends!”
YJ: I think there's something so lovely in that, though. Literally just being so explicit.
OL: It’s a special talent.
Do you like my blog? Be honest.
OL: Yes. I’m its biggest fan. I like it because none of the posts are so long that you can't read in one sitting. But they're all different. It’s a fun take because is it social media? But it’s not? It’s just someone’s thoughts.
YJ: I'm having so much fun. And I'm glad other people are liking it. That's the best part about it. Because I really did feel like “Am I just making this for myself?” That's not a good feeling when you're creating something. For it to feel like a completely selfish act. So I'm glad that people are having a fun time reading it. And I'm not just forcing people to pay attention to me.
Anything else you want to add/share?
OL: That’s what I want to add/share: I drive stick-shift.
YJ: That’s actually hugely impressive.
OL: The thing is that it is very addictive in that you get to drive, and you’re like “Oh, I’m a racecar driver. I can make the engine rev.” It’s more engaging. For someone who doesn’t have ADHD, I’m a very fidgety person. This is like my theory of optimal entertainment.
Optimal entertainment, for me, engages the eyes, the ears, and the hands. This is my big theory. That’s why I like video games. That’s the thing about TV—I’m actually really bad at watching TV because my eyes are engaged, my ears are engaged, but then I don’t know what to do with my hands.
Where can Close Friends find you? Any upcoming projects?
OL: I love plugging the fact that I’m in grad school. Send me good vibes.
YJ: So you can be found at grad school?
OL: I can be found at parties that Jillian throws at her apartment.
YJ: Okay, perfect.
Loved this convo, wanna now be friends with Owen as well & im putting my hat in the ring to get interviewed please
I also recently saw Las Meninas in the Prado! Thank you for making us all feel connected.