When I first tweeted out about the new Student Features section, I received a DM on Twitter merely three minutes later.

I was familiar with Ryann Mitchell before. I remember my first memory of him was listening to “Guapo” on his SoundCloud. I had barely know him then, but I genuinely enjoyed his artistic abilities.

I had made more memories with him, so his immediate DM didn’t surprise me. He always came off as someone who would be open to trying anything new. However, my schedule was hectic as it is, and I couldn’t decide a slot in my time for the interview. I did not tell him this, though. I only gave vague replies.

He messaged me on Thursday evening informing me that he is ready anytime. It was random and unexpected, but I replied saying that I was on my way. He was stuck in the parking lot of Target and he needed help jumpstarting his car too. I rolled on by underneath the evening sun and parked straight in front of his car to help jump start it.

I hadn’t even lifted the hood of my car when an older man drives by and asks if we needed help. We didn’t refuse. As the older man stops next to us and I move my car away, I head into Target to get a bag of hot fries while they handle the dilemma. When I come back, Ryann and the older man are still there. The complications seems more difficult than presumed. Out of random, we begin conversations with the older man.

The older man had randomly mentioned personal details of his life that shattered the barrier of us being strangers. He was a profoundly religious man who constantly blessed me and Ryann. It began with a story of his son who died, and another who had been murdered and by the grace of God had found the murderer.

“I forgive him,” he tells us. His energy carried nothing but positive energy and wholly goodness.

I learn that the man’s name is Jose Gonzales. Ryann’s car eventually starts, and we leave to say our thank you’s and goodbye’s. Jose pulls out a card to a church he attends in Whittier. I accept it and we part ways.

The sunset had already been stripped by the time we were done. Ryann and I drive to Autozone to check the battery of his car. Meanwhile, in the Autozone parking lot, the interview begins:

Joyce Zhong: What do you want to do in the future? (College, career, travel, etc.)

Ryann Mitchell: I have no idea. Nothing’s clear yet. So far, the only thing I have planned is applying to colleges and making a mixtape. That’s as far as I’ve thought ahead. After those two things, I’m going to see how the chips fall and see from there.

J.Z: Where do you plan to apply and what major?

R.M: A different variety of schools like UCI and SDSU.

J.Z: What are your long term goals in life?

R.M: Living in Southern California.

J.Z: Forever?

R.M: Of course  want to travel, but I’ve done a lot of skim-through research about where I want to be. I’d say that 47/50 states are not that interesting. You know- like the middle ones- where all the white people stay and all the black people die. There’s New York, there’s Florida, there’s Hawaii, there’s California. Okay, I guess it’s 46, but Hawaii only has beaches and stuff. It’s a good vacation spot but like…

J.Z: It can be isolating?

R.M: Yeah. New York is like California but a lot colder and more expensive. The beaches aren’t as good and there’s no Disneyland. Florida, besides Miami, there’s nothing to do there. There’s Orlando and Miami, but everything else is like Kentucky.

I even thought of moving out of the country. My dad’s from Panama, or if not there- either England or Canada mainly because my cousin, who went to Roosevelt, got drafted to the NFL but he only got the reserved seat and was injured. He bounced around a few teams for a few months. Then after that they realized that they couldn’t maintain him because of his injury so he decided to go to Canada to join the CFL. He plays with the Toronto Argonauts, so after high school, if I wanted to move there…

J.Z: How do you feel about life right now?

R.M: Life right now is in a position where it can go many different directions based on how my ACT scores end up in October, the colleges I get admitted to, based on how my mixtape goes. It seems like a joke and it started off as a joke but people lowkey liked it. I remember making that beat in 5 minutes in Ms. Oberdank’s class, and then I just wrote the words when I get home and recorded it on my phone. From that point on, it just snowballed into it and I started working on more beats and selling it to more people and stuff.

J.Z: Is art your release?

R.M: Yeah. I mean- it’s something to do. TV got boring. My XBOX has something wrong with it. I just got Netflix so I’m watching The Office. That’s something to do. I’m way to do anything active like play sports or jog. After I do homework, I have nothing to do so I just…yeah. All my extracurriculars are on school campus, so. I’m starting a Breast Cancer Awareness Club.

J.Z: What inspired you to open that club?

R.M: Well, I like the Pink Out game. That, and personally, my grandma died from breast cancer a few years back and I feel like I’ve always needed to do something in memory of her to take a negative situation and turn it into a positive. I’m gonna call it Blass Bouncil. It sounds stupid, but it’s one of those things that when you delve into it, it has good causes, intentions, and ideas. It’s like Tyler’s [The Creator] GOLF stuff. It does sound stupid, but when delved into, it’s good.

J.Z Did you have a good relationship with your grandma? Why do you feel like you need to something for her?

R.M: She’s always done something for me, even when I would stumble and mess up. She’d always forgive me for my mistakes and she always had a strong belief that I would always do something good in life. She’s given me nothing but love and positivity in her years of life. She’s always believed in me and was the definition of a good ass grandma, so I feel like this is the least I can do.

J.Z: What is your opinion of love?

R.M: Let me see. I don’t really… okay. So. Just an opinion. I feel like a lot of people misunderstand what love is. Right now, based on my small experiences and constant activities on Twitter, I feel like people misunderstand it and only see love as when people do cute stuff. It could be a Tumblr post and put a filter on it and that’d be cute to them. Or paragraph long text messages. I feel like people misunderstand it. I don’t know how to explain love. I don’t really feel that right now.

I feel like there’s a lot less love and a lot more insecurity. People are basing their insecurities on the fact that if someone is interested in you or if they have a boyfriend or not or do something cute they base their self worth on it and they get sad or whatever. People get boyfriends or girlfriends to satisfy their insecurities but they’re not really in love with each other. I don’t feel like a lot of people have felt love this early. I’m not saying that it’s impossible- it’s definitely possible- but I feel like it’s one of those feelings that people develop later in life.

J.Z: What is your biggest regret?

R.M: My biggest regret….is…. I don’t think I really have any big regrets.

J.Z: (I tell him my biggest regret.)

R.M:  Okay, I think I have something.

I have a little sister. Earlier in my eyes, I used to get into her head about things. She used to be a very, very chubby child, so I used to get into her about that. Well, I would mask it as an attempt for her to lose weight because it was becoming a serious issue, but then I would, instead of helping her in a positive way, poke fun at her. I would always make fun of her for getting bad grades when she was in elementary school. She sings a lot and she still sings a lot in the shower or in the room, but I would be extra critical about it. Personally, I still don’t think she’s a great singer, but I know now not to be a dick about it. I feel like I’ve given my little sister such a hard time even though she didn’t deserve it. I feel like my negative behavior towards her seeped into her personality and now she’s negative to me even though I’d made an effort for years now to be extra nice to her- have conversations with her, care for her- but I feel like she still has that negative vibe off me. It’s understandable because of what I used to do to her, but, yeah.

J.Z: What is your biggest struggle in life?

R.M: Let’s see. Hmm.

It’s kind of like the theme of this interview. I would depend my self worth on other people- like if they wanted to talk to me, invite me to social gatherings. I was very insecure about friends- people that I could consider my close friends- all hanging out and the thought of inviting me to what their doing didn’t even cross their mind. You can tell around school people have a base of friends, even if they hang around with other people- but they always have a base of close friends to go to. I’ve never really had that base. I’d just be like a floating ghost. I can still have conversations with people and float my way through parties and have fun but I’ve never really had a group-themed park day or just hang out. I’ve never even been in a group chat.

I’ve isolated myself a lot more particularly this year. I was never really anyone’s first choice for anything. Everyone on campus, for the most part, knows me, but I don’t have a lot of friends.

I’ve learned to become more independent and love myself a lot more because at the end of the day, when I die or when the years come, I’m not even going to remember any of these people or they’re not going to have any influence in my life. I’ve learn to love and accept myself without having to depend on other people. And if there’s any people that come into my life and is positive, I’m not going to deny them that. But for the most part, I’m not just buddy-buddy with everyone and be the ray of sunshine I was freshmen year. I’m more to myself nowadays.

J.Z: What event and/or who do you think influenced you to be who you are today?

R.M: My dad and I, ever since I was very small and lived in Bellflower, we used to watch The Fresh Prince before bed. Will Smith has always been a present figure in my life because I’ve watched his movies and I’m very familiar with how he speaks. I really, really, really loved his persona and that’s someone my dad is a fan of too. I feel a lot of his persona, not imitated, but has influenced how I speak and how charismatic I am and how I can make jokes and communicate with different people.

That, and Dwayne the Rock Johnson. It goes back to the same thing. It’s just two celebrity figures he was a fan of and they’re just personalities I would gravitated to.

Will Smith is more of an idol to me. He’s one of the reasons why, if I want to do anything in life, I’d want to go into that entertainment business. To be honest, if I don’t make it into that entertainment business, I’ll figure out a way to float and still be okay in life. But I feel like that’s my calling. I’m way too good at being charismatic and caring, and I feel like that’s in my nature of entertainment. I can kind of feel what people are desiring for, their needs and wants, and that’s why I was running for senior class council.

My dad has always wanted me to be a leader. When I was born, he wanted to call me Pharoah, and if not, then he wanted to call me Emperor. He still calls me Emperor. My mom didn’t like it but they wanted an Americanized name, so they called me Ryann. They put an extra ‘n’ in there to make it unique. He’s always told me I’m supposed to be a leader and not a follower. I feel like I fit that leader role easily but I’m not a perfect person and I still need to grow as a person. This year, I haven’t taken a lot of leadership roles because I feel like any attempt at taking a leadership role has always been “you’re doing this wrong” or “I don’t like this about you” so I’ve taken a step back and taking my own steps in different directions to see how things go.

J.Z: What’s one ideology you live by?

R.M: Be yourself, love yourself, be happy with yourself. Leave an impact.