Peter Ladwig, 22

Having a party tonight?
Well, I’m in town from Madison, Wisconsin, so I want to have a night out on the town. I’m visiting my old friend from high school. We’re going to hang out at her house first, have some drinks in and then go looking for a dance party. We’re kind of just going to feel the night out. If we have enough drinks, we might end up in Wrigleyville.

I gotta say, you’re looking like über-Wisconsin guy right now.
Yeah, that’s what I’m going for.

I don’t know what’s more Dairyland, the 30-pack of PBR you’re holding or the majestic deer on your sweater.
Yeah, just trying to represent. The deer’s a ten-point buck. If you count the antlers, there are ten points.

Have you ever gone hunting?
No, I haven’t. Which makes me a total weirdo in Wisconsin.

Would you ever kill a deer?
Probably not. Not that I would be opposed to eating a deer, but it just seems like a lot of work. Too much effort to go deer hunting. My friend and I are calling Jimmy John’s delivery for dinner tonight. That’s how lazy we are.

Are you the black sheep in your family because you don’t want to go into the woods and kill something?
Not really. They’re all hunters but they’re pretty cool about it. I’ve been fishing a couple of times, but that’s the extent of my outdoorsy, killing-animals experience. It’s just not my thing.

What is your thing then?
I’m a graduate student. I study science communication—how science topics get presented in media and how people learn about them.

Do you read a lot of academic journals? ’Cause there are some oddly specific ones, right?
Yeah, I recently came across the European Journal of Respiratory Health. [Laughs] I’m also interested in nanotechnology, so I’ve been reading Nanotechnology Today, Materials Today, Nature Nanotechnology. I’ve submitted articles to all of these publications, but I’ve been rejected every time.

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