Proud Owner of a Single Snow Shoe

In his mind, at least, the life of Yan Xuan ’05 has been a study in contradictions. On one hand, he is the son of Chinese immigrants and a self-described “nerd.” On the other hand, Xuan grew up in that bastion of multiculturalism, the American South (Durham, North Carolina to be exact).

The contradictions don’t end there. Xuan is a Phi Beta Kappa Biochemical Sciences concentrator currently applying to med school. But he is also a resident—and current co-president—of the progressive Dudley Co-Op, a strict vegetarian and a “novice” member of the avant-garde. He’s a self-described private person, and yet according to his friends, you often can’t get the kid to shut up.

He’s got plenty to talk about. Xuan’s knowledge and interests run the gamut, from art cinema to progressive thought to the latest in indie rock.

But music definitely comes first. Xuan loves his music—both listening to it and creating it. “Music is my absolute passion,” he says. His tastes run to the underground, the indie and the experimental. A member of two bands that he describes as “future rock” in style, Xuan specializes in analog synthesizers and electronic music. He’s even carving time out of his premed course load to take a year-long electronic music class. A close friend of Xuan’s, Tim H. Wong ’05, remarks that “the reason Yan is interesting is that he’s got all these under-the-radar talents.”

Under-the-radar to the world, perhaps, but not to friends. “Yan surely has a tongue-in-cheek ironic self-promotion about him,” Wong says. The snowshoe that hangs on his wall is a testament to his love of the absurd. “I don’t snowshoe,” he says. “It’s meant to be ironic.”

But Xuan is not all bright yellow Pumas and post-modern bite. Says his friend Neil Ellingson ’05, “Beneath all the ironic detachment and hipster posturing, he’s sort of a good guy.”

He has a deep interest in women’s issues. In his first few years of school, he was heavily involved in the Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV) and was one of the only men in the group. Xuan describes his work on the Coalition Against Sexual Violence as “in many ways the most meaningful activity I have participated in.” As a male, he says, “being a very small minority within the group makes you reflect on how you behave.”

Though among the most public of Xuan’s achievements, CASV is not what he’s most proud of. It’s not all the music either. It’s not even Phi Beta Kappa. For Xuan, his biggest accomplishment is “being a part of the Co-Op community. It’s the only place at Harvard where I felt like part of something much bigger.” Spoken like a true man of contradictions.