The Peak

SFSS Profile: 20 questions with Graham Hiscocks

By Kendra Wong

1. What is your favourite thing about SFU?

The people, not just the fantastic students that I’ve met in classes and in the Pub, but also the profs that I’ve had. I’m a Communications major and some of the profs are really cool people to talk to outside of class.

2. What is your greatest achievement?

Surviving the Simon Fraser Student Society elections without completely losing my mind . . . it was stressful for me to cope with the campaign.

3. What is your guilty pleasure?

Bacon. If I could live off bacon, I would.

4. Where to you hope to be in 10 years?

The CEO of my own non-profit organization — building schools, hospitals, and orphanages in underprivileged countries. Right now I’m launching my own non-profit organization to help people in the U.S. who lost their homes in the credit crisis to provide them with temporary shelter.

5. What was the last book you read?

Leaders by Richard Nixon. It was a detailed account of all the people Nixon had met throughout his entire life, during his presidency and prior to that. It included people like Winston Churchill and Chairman Mao. It was like a behind the scenes look at political life in other countries.

6. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Moscow, Russia. I find Russian history fascinating, everything from the Red Revolution to the Cold War. Moscow is such an old city, it has a lot of old and new aspects of Russian culture right next to each other. I want to see the sights, learn the history, and experience the cold winter.

7. What is your greatest fear?

That I won’t live life to the fullest. I’ve been trying to say ‘yes’ a lot more often. One of my friends wants to go skydiving, and although normally I would pee my pants at such a proposition, I, perhaps foolishly, said yes and we’ll see if I survive that.

8. What are you most grateful for?

My family and close friends; had it not been for the privilege that my parents bestowed on me as an only child, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Had it not been for my close friends, I would have had a very lonely life.

9. What is your biggest regret?

How hard I was on myself when I was growing up, especially in high school. I did well in school but I was a perfectionist. I remember having classes where I was dissatisfied with fairly good grades. I had unattainable standards of perfection. Since then I’ve become a lot more realistic.

10. What are your five favourite movies?

V for Vendetta, Fight Club, two films from Germany called Good Bye Lenin and Downfall, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

11. What is your biggest pet peeve?

When I go to a public place and the people I’m with talk inappropriately loudly and they’re oblivious to it. I’ve gotten so close to smacking them across the face to make them stop attracting attention to our table that I’m going to have to get people to sign a waiver when they go out to dinner with me.

12. What is the most important thing you look for in a potential mate?

Kindness. She could be an unkempt, smelly, hideous person with the IQ of a chain link fence, but if she were kind, I think I could grow to love her smelly, unkempt self over time.

13. What is the best date you’ve ever been on?

We were originally going for dinner in Vancouver, but she had secretly planned a scavenger hunt, so I would go down to the SkyTrain station and I would meet one of her friends who lived next door and he would give me a note that lead to the next clue . . . it took me about two hours to find her . . . I’ve never heard anyone else do that. We’re friends now, but I would love to do that for someone else.

14. If you could choose any five people to have an imaginary dinner with, who would they be?

Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi because I know he wouldn’t eat anything, Martha Stewart because she would cook the dinner, and Che Guevara because he would divide the food amongst us equally.

15. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?

The guitar, I had a lot of friends who were very good at playing the guitar, I was so jealous because they got all the attention from all the girls and I was the drama geek.

16. Who do you admire the most?

The current directors of the SFSS. This year we’ve got a good Board of intelligent, capable, kind people and I’m very surprised we’ve been getting along, especially in light of the previous SFSS Board. We’re going to have a much calmer Student Society and hopefully a more productive one.

17. What was your most embarrassing moment?

For my 21st birthday . . . I had it at the Pub but as the night went on people kept buying me drinks. By the end of the night, I had passed out standing up and I knocked over my water about eight times. My friends walked me back to my townhouse and had to clean up my vomit that I spewed out into our sink with our eating utensils.

18. If you could switch lives with anyone, who would it be?

A roman emperor, I want to see what it was like to be alive back in those days but also because it would be interesting to bring modern ideas back to that time and see what they think of them. For example, what would Plato think of credit cards, what would a military planner think of nuclear weapons.

19. You’re a history buff, what interests you about history?

I really like 20th century history. I love World War II, it was an incredibly epic story about tremendous evil, valour, bravery, and strangers helping each other. The Cold War was a very sexy period of history when the whole world was armed . . . the espionage was a cool element. I wonder how our children and grandchildren will look at us . . . I’m interested in seeing where humanity will be in 20 or 30 years.

20. Finish this sentence: Student politicians are . . .

People who should be interested in politics, but not politicians.