Ducky Joslin is a sophomore at NVU-Johnson majoring in Outdoor Education.

What is the story behind the name “Ducky?”
When I was really little my sister gave me the nickname because Iwas always following her around like a duckling with a baby diaper waddle, and I’d constantly be making duck faces at her. As I got older it never stopped and she started calling me variations of duck, like “duckerfly,” or “duck-child.” So, in essence, Ducky is short for Duck-child.

Favorite film?
My favorite movie will forever be “It’s Such a Beautiful Day” by Don Hertzfeldt. At first it seems like a simple animation with monotone narration and a story that’s disorganized and makes no sense, but after watching it over and over again I’ve found countless beautiful messages about how important it is to observe the tiny details of life on earth, and contemplate individual experiences in our short lives. I need to watch it at least once a month to remind myself who I am.

What do you like to do in your free time?
Painting, snowboarding, playing ukulele, [and] backpacking with my dog.

What is something you absolutely cannot live without?
I’m gonna have to say music. Whether I’m making it or listening to it, I need music.

Do you have a quote you live by?
Yes I do! By the spoken word poet Shane Koyczan and it goes, ‘Go down to the store, buy some light bulbs, and when you run out, buy some more because the light at the end of your tunnel needs to stay maintained.’ It’s kinda just like if you feel the luster of life drifting away and things aren’t looking so bright at the end of the tunnel, find find a new thing that makes the tunnel brighter.

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?
My English teacher in high school helped me through a really traumatic event by telling me to imagine that the event was like a tiny seed in my heart, and I’m not allowed to let it grow. I can’t water it or else its roots will spread and a tree is much harder to remove than a sapling. Essentially the moral is to deal with your problems as they arise, before they grow into something bigger.

What are you thinking about right now?
I was thinking about how cute it was when I squeaked this duck. You caught me there. *squeaks duck again*

Do any of your ducks have names?
Mr. Peanut-Head and this duck’s name is Doomsday. Not many of them have names. Most of them are just named after me, Ducky.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
Oh my god… When I somersaulted backwards off of a piano in front of my entire class, landed on top of my head, and got a concussion. I wasn’t on the piano for any good reason, I literally crawled up on a piano for no reason. Before [I] really sat down on the piano, I f***ing flipped off of it backwards and landed on top of my head, and got a concussion and like, neck damage. It was also really embarrassing because the entire class was watching and I never really lived it down.

Have you had a worst date? If so, what was it?
Yes, I have. It was my first and only boyfriend that I’ve ever had and we went on date to the movies to see Spiderman II… We were making out and, I’m telling you, it was so bad that I would have rather watched the lizard-man on screen than make out with this kid. I had his drool running down both sides of my neck and I went to the bathroom and gagged, and I’m like ‘Am I gonna throw up? I want to but I’m not going to,’ and I went back and I broke up with him after.

Best date?
My high school girlfriend and I would skip school all the time to go to our spot to swim and hike around. It was this secluded river in the woods and it’s actually where I first asked her out. Those were some good times. I brought her on a ton of dates so it’s hard to pick one, but I’m sure it was with her.

What do you like most about yourself?
The fact that sometimes I don’t give a f**k. Like sometimes I give too many f**ks but there’s sometimes I let it go and I’m like, ‘I’m gonna be literally insane,’… I’m letting it loose and having fun, and if you don’t think this is fun, you and I obviously aren’t the same kind of person. I’m a very strange person, I have fun in weird ways… I really enjoy the strange ways that I get enjoyment out of life, which is usually either jumping in a puddle and soaking your entire body, and laughing like a maniac in the middle of campus all by yourself… or it’s just running down the hallway, quacking at the top of my lungs.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Staying up to date on Johnny Depp’s life ‘cause his life is kinda going to shit right now and Johnny Depp was this great action that I love. I love Johnny Depp but he’s been such a shitty dude lately that I just like look him up all the time… And Logan Paul because he’s also really shitty and I want to know the next shitty thing Logan Paul did… I’m really done with Logan Paul lately but like, you know, [I’ve been] staying up to date on Johnny Depp’s life because did he beat his wife? Did he not beat his wife? Is he on heroin now? He looks like it.

Have you ever met a duck you didn’t like?
No, I have not. I can honestly say, 100 percent, no. I love all ducks. A duck has never attacked me or hurt me.

What would you want your tombstone to say?
I would make my tombstone funny, I am one of those people… I think, ‘She was a good old duck,’ or ‘She was good at being Ducky,’… I really don’t know but like, if anything, ‘She was a good duck.’

What about ducks do you love the most?
My favorite part of a duck is their quack.

What would your last meal be?
It would be a fifty ounce steak so big, I probably can’t finish it but I’m telling you I would… It would be a tribute to my Grandma because she was positive that I could eat a fifty ounce steak.

If you could go back in time to any time period, where would you go?
I would go back to the Native Americans, before [the] white man. I would be like right here, where I am now, before white men came to the New World and messed everything up because I really, really liked how those communities worked and I really, really like what they valued.

What obsesses you?
Worms. How goddamn relatable they are… Worms actually are great beings, they’re great for the earth, they’re fun to play with. Sometimes, they’re everywhere and you have enough worms to have 30 earthworms in your hands. I love collecting worms, I love relating to worms, I have a poem about worms. It goes like this,
‘I have a family of worms living behind my eyes.
But they don’t have mouths,
So they use mine,
To tell lies.
They came in through my ear
That’s why I can’t hear.
You point out the crude
In the corners,
Someone call the coroner.’

Can you tell us about your road trip experience?
Last summer, I went on a 28-day road trip, by myself, living in the back of my Subaru Outback. I made a bed back there and I just let myself be alone for 28 days so I could clear my head because my life had changed in so many ways in the past year, that I knew I needed to leave and be alone and think. I went and did that. I walked out of that experience with more self awareness, better time management, more self-confidence, and motivation than I’ve ever had in my life. I’m also doing it again, I’m doing it this summer.

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
If I could be anywhere in the world right now it would [be] somewhere cold and scenic, like Iceland or British Columbia… It would also be nice to go back to Alaska.

Can you describe your trip?
I was in Alaska for 20 days two summers ago. The whole trip was with a family friend who lives up there so we were able to avoid all the tourist traps. We experienced new things every day, and went to Denali National Park ,where I hiked and ate lunch with a herd of wild caribou. After that we camped on the Denali Highway for three days. We also did an overnight fishing trip on Resurrection Bay and slept on a black sand beach. In addition, I also went red salmon fishing in the Kenai river. We travelled over 1,000 miles on the trip.

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever been a part of?
I participated in GISHWHES– which is the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen. For example, some of the items were to get a picture of a rope-swinging nun (done and I look great as a nun) or to set up a free-standing door on the sidewalk and act like people are entering a fancy restaurant when you open the door for them. While doing the hunt, I helped break four world records, like, “Largest Online Photo Album of Hugs,” “Most Pledges to a Campaign [the “Complete a Random Act of Kindness” Campaign] amd two that have to do with “[The] Largest Photo Scavenger Hunt.” I also made clothes out of kale as an item.

If a film were to made about you, who would you cast to be the lead? Why?
I was a theater major for four years in high school so I would say me. Or maybe a live duck.