__Breah Samuels is already working on a large mug of fragrant Earl Grey before she and I even sit down to talk. Wearing several silver and leather bracelets and sporting a gray and white scarf, this self-described “half-assed hippie” can usually be found, frisbee in hand, on the Sunken Garden with her Women’s Ultimate teammates, or coordinating and hosting UCAB events as the reigning event-planning queen.__
**I stumbled across your personal blurb on the UCAB Homebrew website from your sophomore year. I was going to read it out to you and see if you could give me an updated version on the fly: “Breah is a sophomore here at the College and aside from kicking ass in Lodge 1 every other Thursday and going on long romantic walks with the UCAB squirrel, she also plays on the Women’s Ultimate team and threatens random violence at strangers. She hopes to one day be either a lion tamer or a garbage man’s trophy wife.”**
I think the only thing that’s changed about that is that I’d want to be the garbage man myself and not so much the trophy wife. Everything else is still pretty accurate, though.
**What’s been the coolest program event or guest you’ve had during your years here?**
My personal favorite UCAB moment was my sophomore year when I was Homebrew Chair, and we did an event called Homebrewaroo. I think they’re doing their third annual Homebrewaroo this year. It was something we had dreamed up as a committee. It was so laid-back and fun-loving and outside, and we had put so much time and energy into it. It was awesome.
**What’s your funniest memory from freshman year?**
Most terrifying memory from freshman year, maybe? One of my hallmates asked me to go to the beach with and her and some friends from home. So I went with them, but it turned out she’d only met the guys one time. Then we got in a car accident, and it was the biggest mess of a weekend. It was like my second weekend at school. It made me so terrified to leave campus ever again.
**Sounds bizarre. Any more-pleasant college trip memories?**
I went on the winter camping trip last year. It was one of the best times I’ve had in college. Everyone comes in not knowing anyone, and you feel like they’re your best friends when you’re there. You jump in a hole they cut in the ice in the middle of a frozen lake, and then you get in a sauna, and then you jump in the hole naked when it’s zero degrees outside. It’s this weird, freeing experience, but everyone does it together, so there’s this instant camaraderie.
**What about music? What would I be listening to if I turned on your iPod right now?**
Probably John Butler Trio.
**Are you the type of person who has a guilty-pleasure music or show?**
I’m so bad about that. Long car trips are reserved almost completely for old Britney Spears and private dance parties in my car. And I cannot get enough of the VH1 dating shows like “Rock of Love.” I’m so addicted to it, it’s really embarrassing. “Rock of Love” and “Charm School.” It’s so awful, so horrible. The whole time I sit there going, “Why am I watching this? This is so stupid.” [Laughs.]
**What was the last book you read?**
I think it was probably re-reading “Catcher in the Rye.” I think I’ve read it like three times now.
**Favorite?**
I’d say “Catch-22.”
**Do you have any unique hobbies?**
I recently started making small stained glass windows. It’s artistic, but everything has to fit so perfectly it’s also very technical. And also shuffling cards.
**What phrases do you feel you overuse?**
That I probably shouldn’t say. [Laughs.] Mostly my close friends and I call each other really derogatory terms as a greeting. It’s probably really inappropriate, especially in public. I need to learn to get that under control. I guess also “Hells yeah” and “for serious.”
**What’s the coolest city you’ve ever been to?**
Berkeley, Calf. I loved it. I had an ex-boyfriend who went to Berkeley. I went to visit him, and he had to go to class, so I spent the day wandering around Telegraph Street in Berkeley meeting people and talking to the street vendors who are all these crazy hippies. It was one of the best days of my life.
**What do you think is one of your defining characteristics?**
My half-assed hippiness. Basically, I’m way too competitive and aggressive to really be a hippie. I think people who don’t know me that well think I’m a really big hippie, but once you get to know me there’s all this anxiety that people don’t know about.
**What’s something people probably don’t know about you?**
One thing is that I would really love to be a stay-at-home mom at some point. I think people always assume I’m never going to have children, and I’m going to be this career-driven, “screw family” kind of person. I would really love to be able to stay at home with my kids and raise them like my mom did.
__As we part ways and Breah heads to her bike, she reminds students to come out for UCAB’s upcoming events: Homebrew’s “American Gladiators” themed Battle of the Bands and the biggest dance party of next semester: Girl Talk. Breah represents a cool and eclectic mix of qualities as the outdoorsy, Berkeley-loving, quasi-hippie meets the executive event planner with a weak spot for trash TV and old-school Britney. Hells yeah.__
