taking it to the streets: 17th Avenue

This week, we decided to hop on our bikes, hit one of our favourite neighbourhoods and see how many nice boys we could find along the way. Seeing as I live and work on 17th Avenue, we figured it would be a good place to start. We ended up meeting so many amazing boys who worked in cool shops, danced in the street for fun, wore bow ties and celebrated their birthdays with their best girl friends and organized awesome music festivals.

Internet, we are happy to introduce you to the 17th Avenue boys who left a lasting impression…

James from Tubby Dog 

If you know James at all, you know that while he might not want to admit it, he is a really, very nice boy. 

Kim from Kawa

We walked into Kawa and ran into a friend behind the counter who insisted that we photograph Kim because he couldn’t say a mean thing about anyone and was the nicest boy around. 

dancers with swag, Fernando and Michael

These boys were so nice that they didn’t get upset or run away when we interrupted their filming to talk to them. They are competitive dancers with smiles like sunshine!

dapper birthday boy Mowno

We stopped Mowno because we loved his bow tie. When we asked the girls he was with if he was nice, their genuine smiles and nods in combination with his kindness to us strangers were enough to have us convinced. 

and the ever-so-charming Brian and Drew from Sled Island. 

We saw these guys from across the street and waited awkwardly at the crosswalk for them to walk towards us. They turned out to be organizers for Sled Island with awesome laughs, great penmanship and enough awkward pauses and smiles to make a girl blush.

Evan Wesley Acheson

We decided to switch it up this week and let our nice boy pick the location for our interview and photo shoot. We were delighted to hear that he wanted to meet at Vendome Café in Sunnyside. Being as professional as we are, we turned up a few minutes late, only to find Evan scribbling away in his Moleskine journal writing poetry.

A student of English literature, emerging poet and inspiring musician, Evan Wesley Acheson also gives one mean hug. 

You would never be able to tell by his charm and his way to keep a conversation going that he was home-schooled his entire life up until University. Evan has a playful, witty sense of humour and looks at you in a way that makes you feel like you are really being seen. He spent the first part of our interview asking us all of the questions making it feel more like an enthusiastic first date than an interview.

We learned that he has a special love for music and plays piano for several hours each day. When his family couldn’t afford a piano or music lessons as a child, he would listen to his dad’s classical music cassette tapes on Walkman and say to himself that he would one day learn to play. He was hooked on classics.  When family friends gave him their piano seven years ago and his inspiring teacher, Frank Lynch agreed to give young Evan piano lessons at half price, he started on a path that has lead him to becoming the talented front man of his band, Boreal Sons.

Evan shares his abundance of positive energy by making a difference in his community. For the last five years, he’s volunteered with Young Life of Canada, a non-profit organization that involves working with youth in high schools, leading by example and being a positive role model. 

By the end of our time together, Evan had us laughing, dancing and snapping as he serenaded us in the café, scouting the perfect climbing tree and then climbing it. We think he is a very special person who has been blessed with several talents and we are happy to share him with you.

 

Q&A

How do you take your coffee?

uhhmmm sometimes I’ll drink it black. Sometimes I will prefer a latte…especially if it’s a Phil&Sebastian latte

 

What do you like for breakfast?

Toast with peanut butter and honey and perhaps a jam in place of honey. This morning I had very fresh slice pumpernickel

 

Which sock do you put on first?

Uhh that’s a good question! The right.

 

Do you button your shirt from the top down or the bottom up?

I don’t know! I think from the bottom up

 

Really? You think?

I don’t know….I don’t think there’s any method to this madness

 

Tupac or Biggie?

You know what. I have like no knowledge of rap culture or history but didn’t biggie just sort of invent rap?

You can’t ask any questions. Just answer.

Biggie because I know very little about him. I know a bit more about Tupac and from what I know of him, I don’t like him.

Ouch.

Is that ok?

I guess one day I’ll find someone who likes Tupac as much as I do.

 

What time of the day are you at your best?

Probably 10 am.

 

Are you a morning person then?

You know. I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t know how to answer most of these questions. I think if I manage to force myself to wake up, yes. I am a morning person. I also function very well between midnight and 2am.

 

Who do you love?

I love my family. And my friends. All of them. Especially my close friends. I also love generic interviewers who ask broad sweeping questions.

 

Who/what brings out the best in you?

My community of close friends. Absolutely. Um. And time spent with that close community of friends… in combination with enough time spent by myself to unplug for a while and recharge myself

 

Are you an introvert?

I think I’m an introvert in disguise. I think that I can turn it on and off when I want to so I can be very extroverted and can talk to people and be a social butterfly. I get energy from both people and alone time.

 

What is the most romantic thing you’ve ever done or the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of love?

That is a TOUGH question!

That’s how we play at we like nice boys.

I’ve never had a girlfriend. Ever. But when I was 8 years old. My first crush was this girl I met a day camp named Kimberley. I remember sharing a kinder surprise with her and then accompanying her to a bouncy house where, we did jump and we had a wonderful afternoon.

Here’s the real question. Did you let her keep the toy?

This being my first experience with romance. I didn’t know how to be the most gentlemanly so I ended up not giving her a lot of chocolate and also not giving her the toy.

What?

Yeah.

Well you can’t be on the blog…

Awkard hesitance from all of us.

Define romance for us.

Romance is a great conversation. It’s being able to be really honest with someone else and completely discarding any sort of self consciousness and being transparent. Romance for me is hard because I like having conversations like that with all sorts of people. I guess romance for me would be sitting outside with a cup of tea and a nice book or writing poetry… in a forest.

I guess I’m terribly unromantic. Or am I? Am I an enigma? Who knows?!

…I’m such a nerd.

 

How do you deal with all the rabid fans that throw themselves at your feet?

If they’re rabid I suggest they take pills for that. Oh wait you have to take shots right??

 

You must know that you’re a heartthrob.

I think this is something people talk about and never gets back to me.

 

Celebrity man crush?

Bobby Darren.

Evan starts to sing “dream lover” and has us both dancing/swooning hard in the café

Real life man crush?

Dr. luke breski. He’s the most brilliant human being I’ve ever met

 

Where is the first place you want to travel to?

Everywhere! I want to go everywhere. Except maybe Antarctica.

 

What? But they have penguins in Antarctica!

They’re going to have penguins at the Calgary Zoo pretty soon. I will see the penguins there.

 

Anything else?

This is really nerdy. When I was in grade five I entered a homeschool geography contest and won third!

 

How many people were in the competition?

Like six or seven.

 

Check out Evan’s music! http://borealsons.bandcamp.com and http://borealsons.com

Christofer Schroeder

I have known Christofer Schroeder since I was 16 years old and still, after several years,  he continues to impress me. He is quick with his dad-like humour and charm and carries himself with a stylish confidence that you would not expect to find in a city like Calgary.

If you have ever had the privilege to be close to this boy you would know that he really is nice. He embodies nice. Chris Schroeder is THE nice boy. He will hold your door open for you, never keep you waiting and makes one hell of a date to grad. (this I know from experience)

We met up at Caffe Rosso in Inglewood at 8:45am before any of us had to work. He greeted us with enthusiasm and it was as though no time had passed since we last saw each other. It was difficult for me to not speak for Chris when he was describing himself because I am filled to the brim with fond and excited feelings and memories about him. He is a gentleman who appreciates the finer things but can also rock a second hand denim jacket like no body’s business.

Chris has traveled the world and speaks fluent German. He’s been to numerous countries to play soccer in different tournaments and took off right after high school to play with a club in Dresden, Germany for a year. Since then, he hasn’t been able to shake his wanderlust and has goals to travel as soon as he finishes his two degrees at the University of Calgary this upcoming year.

He shares his passion for his sport with kids and has spent the last few years volunteering with Big Brothers and Sisters teaching children how to play soccer. If this doesn’t make you swoon, you should also know that he has a German text tattoo dedicated to everyone he loves, on a place he sees almost every minute of every day.

He is the kind of guy you want to bring home to meet your mom and not only will she like him, but she may learn to love him so much that she’ll cry when he leaves. He is punctual, reliable, handsome, kind and will throw you a pun harder and better than anyone I know. 

Q&A (with a side of sass only served to old friends)

Coffee juice or tea?

Depends on the time of day. Coffee in the morning, tea when I’m sick or have a sore throat or if I’m skiing and juice is an ALL DAY type of thing.

How do you take your coffee?

 Black.

What do you like for breakfast?

I try and mix it up actually. I ALWAYS have nutella. Always! But then I usually have cereal or oatmeal.

Do you put the nutella on the oatmeal?

Nooo! On toast. Preferably multigrain and I also grab a banana if I can.

What side of the bed do you sleep on?

If I’m lying down?

No. When you’re not lying down. How else do you sleep on a bed?

The side closest to the bed side table.

Do you keep nutella beside your bed?

No. Actually, no.

Tupac or Biggie?

Biggie but if we’re talking East coast or West coast. I totally prefer the West coast.

What are you afraid of?

Uuummmmmm. That’s a good question. Being late for things. Being unorganized. That’s a terrible answer.

What is your best quality?

I think my best quality is that I try and see both sides of an argument. I always try and have an understanding of other things.

Who brings out the best in you?

I don’t know! Myself?

No. Who else?

My dog. Rudy.

Who do you love?

My parents, my family my friends, grandparents, everybody I know! Maybe that’s a little much but…

When was the last time you cried?

My grandmother’s funeral. 2007. When I go skating outside and its cold I get tears but that doesn’t really count.

Tell us about something remarkable you did?

Going away to Germany for a year to place where I didn’t know anybody to play soccer on a club team and lived with my team mates.

Do you like your food separated or touching?

I mix my food a lot.

Do you mix on the fork?

I mix on the fork. My food can be in their own separate areas but when I call upon them they come together…on the fork.

If you had one inanimate object that you couldn’t be without what would it be?

Like my Wilson?

Yeah, like your Wilson?

My watch so I wouldn’t be late for my rescuing. I think that goes together with my fear of being late. I want to be there when the helicopter lands.