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A few minutes with columnist Daniel DeFord

November 29, 2004

"A few minutes with" is a lighter look at a student who has recently been in the news.

Photo of Daniel DeFordDaniel DeFord happily traded his sunny hometown of Redondo Beach to bask in the fog on the SFSU campus. "I have a distaste for warm weather and I'm not much of an outdoor person," the freshman English major says. He clocks in hours on his computer in the campus dorm and is not the least bit shy about admitting his devotion to computer games. It was a stint as a game reviewer for the Daily Breeze, a paper published in Torrance, that led to a byline as a columnist at the ripe old age of 18. His column, titled "The Freshman," regales the folks back home with Mark Twainesque accounts of SFSU dorm life and "the road to manhood."

Why did you choose to attend SFSU?
My favorite computer game magazine, Computer Gaming World, is published in San Francisco. This is the industry I want to work in, so I thought I might as well take up residence as soon as I could. Besides, I love it here.

Favorite SFSU faculty member? Why?
Well, I've only been taking class for two months but as far as professors who are experienced, prepared and skilled at what they do ... I think my economics professor, Michael Potepan, qualifies. I'm not an economist, but I feel like I'll never attend a class of his where I don't learn something.

What are your long-term goals?
Computer games magazine editor.

What are your passions?
Besides computer games, it is writing. I love to write about the absurdities in everyday life.

Favorite food?
I love the tuna melts in the Student Center. I never had one before but I tried one and got hooked. Cheese and fish -- who knew?

Where do you do your laundry?
Funny you should ask. I devoted one of my columns to the fact that my dorm room is right across the hall from the washing machines. I usually blast my music and people doing their laundry come to listen. I don't mind it. It's not a bad way to meet women.

What is the last movie you saw? Give us a short review.
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." I love (Charlie) Kaufman; everything he writes is brilliant. If you want to know what I am inside all you have to do is see that movie. It really pegs me in terms of love and loss."

What person, dead or living, would you most like to meet?
Donovan McNabb. I'm a big Eagles fan. Or Will Wright, the creator of "The Sims."

Favorite quote?
One is from one of my all time favorite games, "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty." The quote is, "Without free will, there is no difference between submission and rebellion."

What is the toughest thing about being you?
I'm an incurable romantic. Really, I can't help it.

-- Denize Springer

         

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Last modified November 29, 2004 by University Communications