Will

was photographed by Clayton Hauck
at See You Soon during a Keep it 100 session on February 3, 2025.

Interviewed on location and edited by Clayton Hauck.

“I've got a really wonderful and supportive partner that's bringing me joy; and I'm gonna go to the grocery store and cook dinner tonight and that's gonna bring me joy. ”

How are you doing today?

I'm doing pretty well. I'm a little stressed, but I'm doing okay and I have a lot to be grateful for.

What's stressing you out?

I've always got kind of like short, mid, and long term stress: I’m trying to find an apartment; I'm busy at work; and then just in the mid-term, I'm not totally sure what I'm doing with my time in my life.

What's bringing you joy these days?

Yeah, that's a great question, and I'm trying to focus on that and not get so bogged down in the details. Honestly, just little breaks from the cold are giving me joy; the fact that my plants are doing well is giving me joy; I've got a really wonderful and supportive partner that's bringing me joy; and I'm gonna go to the grocery store and cook dinner tonight and that's gonna bring me joy.

What do you cook? What's your favorite meal?

I cook a lot of different stuff. My favorite thing to cook for others, which is my favorite way to cook, is homemade pasta. When I was in grad school, the previous tenants in my very shitty apartment left a pasta machine, and I was like, I'm gonna [figure out how] to use this — and I did.

Handmade, like, from scratch pasta?

It's it's way more impressive than it is difficult.

Are you kind of a foodie? Do you enjoy eating out as well?

I like eating out. I like cooking at home. I'm not sure if I'm a foodie because I also eat lots of dollar ramen and red hot ranch. I like it all.

Is there a favorite restaurant or two you could recommend in the area?

I love Chef’s Special — Chinese food and cocktails. On the newer side, I really like Mano a Mano. And I'll just shout out Red Hot Ranch again because Red Hot Ranch is fucking dope.

Will’s Music Playlist:

“Really Short Songs”

Where are you from originally and where do you live these days?

I'm from Brooklyn, New York, and I live in the Brooklyn, New York of Chicago, which is the northwest side of Chicago in Avondale.

What brought you to Chicago?

A job initially, but this is the only city that I've ever moved back to. I moved to like eight different cities in my 20s, and when the pandemic hit, I had a chance to kind of really decide for the first time where I wanted to be, not just where the next job would be, because jobs generally went remote, and I was like, Chicago's everything that I really wanted: it has the big-citiness of New York but it's not so expensive; it's in the middle of the country, so other places are accessible; it just has kind of everything that I need, and I love it and it's super cheap.

If I ask you who your favorite artist is, does anyone come to mind?

I don't know shit about a lot of things, but I dated someone who was a painter in college and she got me really into Robert Rauschenberg, so I think he is really cool and I've got some of his prints.

With music, I'm really into specific music at specific times, so like, it's not my favorite artist, but my favorite music ever is Porches in like 2010 to 2014. It's Aaron Maine. He's basically in college in upstate New York, just putting out super low-fi, super beautiful music that's attached to some really meaningful parts of my life.

How does it feel to get hundreds of photos taken of yourself within a few minutes?

Yeah, I'll repeat what I said during [the photo shoot], which, I don't know how Padma Lakshmi does this for six hours a day! She's also really beautiful and like formally trained in doing that, but it's crazy because — it's just microsecond by microsecond, evaluating how you think you look, which can be actually kind of painful sometimes. I don't always like how I look and I don't always like thinking about how I might look, and so it's an adjustment. I know that you make me look really good, and you're a smiley guy [editor’s note: blushes], and so you make it fun — but it's definitely a trip.

Awesome. Anything else, any little fun stories or jokes or anything you wanna leave us with today?

No. (Laughs)

Did you watch the Grammys last night?

I did not. I was a very intimate Squirrel Flower show on top of the Metro last night, which was amazing. Also with other local musicians: Free Range and Hooray For The Riff Raff.

Do you have a favorite music venue in Chicago?

Great question. I think it’s gotta be The Hideout because I truly feel hidden from the rest of the city there. And I also kind of don't have cell service there, so I am literally hidden from the rest of the city.

Sweet, I love it. Thanks for your time.

Thank you.