Profile by alexander kim

The Everyday Hero A Profile Surrounding Erik Ballard.

Written And Designed by Alex Kim

“As a Torus, we generally have a hard time with attachment to people. It’s something I struggle with almost everyday of my life.”

-Erik Ballard

S

tanding in the streets of San Francisco is always an adventure. You tend to see a population of colorful characters wherever you go. Nothing like the saturation of the hipster movement taking over the Mission district, mostly on Valencia street.

While pushing and shoving

through the dense crowd of people, I see a figure in the distance.

He is really tall and minimal, wearing just a plain white t-shirt, jeans and a floral print hat. He’s carrying a bike on his shoulder and is wearing reflective blue sunglasses that is reflecting the sunlight right back to my eyes. He emerges from the swarm of people, and walks past people acknowledging only me as

we look at each other. We end up just smiling intensely as we keep making our way towards each other. He almost lets out a laugh as if I told him a joke, even though nothing was said. Just each other’s presence was enough to induce a euphoric and comic feeling. nce the crowds of people between us dissipates we finally get to each other. Nothing is said in the first few seconds, just the mutual knowledge that we are both

O

due for a long and intense hug.

It has been a while since I have seen him.

I can feel his sweat from riding his bike through the heat all day, and his beard rubs against my face a little.

It was rough, but rough in the kind of way that I’ve associated him with; not clean-cut and square, while at the same time not unkempt and dirty. He’s always been just

so real in my eyes that he has never gone away.

He expresses his flaws, and is extremely emotionally expressive and communicative. His abundance of impurities is a laugh riot. He’s always laughing, always cracking jokes and constantly drinking beer. He’s one of the most vulgar yet hilarious people I’ve come to know in my 17 years of life. My un-

cle, Erik Ballard, has always been this kind of guy to me.

I don’t see it ever being something that will change.

T

here’s little things about Erik that stand out that really make him who he is. His odd taste in music that can vary across the musical spectrum from punk to weird indy electronic. He always had a strange taste in music that really describes the way I see him quite perfectly. His love for biking is another thing I admire. He could bring his bike everywhere, and he does. We like riding togeth-

er because we both enjoy going fast and just being able to feel the wind in our face as the world passes by.

Nothing to hold us back, nothing making us stop and think, and nothing to worry about when we are watching the Earth itself revolve under our tread.

This really captures the inner freedom that Erik possesses. He can be so care-free, he can seem as if there isn’t a care in the world. This is

a sight rarely seen among people nowadays, he arguably lives with this carefree passion too often to “succeed” financially. However, I believe that to each their own and that if a man decides to feel free at the expense of certain duties or work then so be it, and simply enjoy. rik is 38 and doesn’t look a year younger. He has always been a

E

guy that had a hard time with the ladies. He’s so likable in his own way. He makes me feel the same way dancing in public does; like things aren’t so serious and I could care less what I look like when I do it. He’s a great guy with qualities that, while making him fun, loud, and hilarious also make him physically and mentally unhealthy to say the least. “As a Torus, we generally have a hard time with attachment to peo-

ple. It’s something I struggle with almost everyday of my life.” (Erik) Erik has first hand experience with the highest highs and the lowest lows.

His life always seems to be either euphoric or

depressed. It isn’t the easiest thing to watch, someone I genuinely love and care for that is so close to me having a hard time enjoying life at time, but I know he’d always be there for me.

“I am my own being, so is your mom, your dad and yourself. We all want what is best for each other because we love each other. That doesn’t mean they know what is best for you. Hell, I don’t even know what’s best for you; because…. I’m not you. You are entitled to make your own decisions, you are supposed to make your mistakes and learn from them just as I did.”

-Erik Ballard