Most Chill: Ethan Phan

Ethan N. Phan ’25 wants people to know that just because he’s chill, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about anything.

“That’s a common misconception of chillness,” he tells me, talking at a slow, unhurried pace, sporting a hoodie and a mullet.

There are many things that Ethan cares a lot about. He’s “super protective” of his bike, an old baby blue Cannondale that his aunt’s boyfriend gave to him. He always makes sure to bring it inside if it’s raining. He’s also passionate about environmental justice — his senior thesis for the History and Literature department is about the Neponset River in Massachusetts, which has been contaminated for decades but still hasn’t been cleaned.

Ethan’s also very into “putting people on” to the things he likes. Recently, he’s been recommending The Cellar, the bar where we meet for our interview. Stone walls and warm lighting make it cozy, and the value of the $3 Pabst Blue Ribbon draft can’t be beat (just don’t forget to bring cash — they don’t take card). Blues guitar classics play in the background, just loud enough to create an ambience, but not so loud that it drowns out conversation.

This semester, Ethan’s been coming with his girlfriend and friends to The Cellar around once a week to hang out. He tries to avoid popular spots in Harvard Square, he says, because “every time I’m going out and getting a beer, I don’t want it to be a social event.” The Cellar is still relatively close to his dorm, though, and has a great vibe.

“This feels like a good spot to put people on,” he says, “Show them a world outside of the world they’re currently living in.”

Ethan also loves putting people on to music, and if they take up his recommendation, he’ll “never let you live it down.” “Every time I hear that song, that’s my song,” he says.

Many of his recommendations are blues songs — he’s currently the blues comp director at WHRB, Harvard’s student radio. Depending on the person’s vibe, he’ll either recommend “Chains and Things” by B.B. King, an old blues song, or the more contemporary “Please Come Home - Live” by Gary Clark Jr.

Many of Ethan’s interests and hobbies involve music. He’s a baritone for the Glee Club — “it’s such a special place at Harvard where music nerds can just come together and sing,” he says — and the main thing he and his roommates do when they hang out is watch videos of live music performances. “We’re a huge Tiny Desk family,” he says.

A few times a week the four of them (plus his roommate’s three guinea pigs) will crowd into one of their bedrooms in their Mather low-rise suite, maybe grab some snacks and a few beers, and pull up videos on YouTube. He particularly likes watching Tiny Desk concerts featuring Lake Street Dive, a multi-genre band.

Ethan says his roommates are “chillers beyond my wildest dreams,” probably even chiller than he is.

“If you guys knew my roommates, I feel like there wouldn’t be any competition for Most Chill,” he says.

But Ethan stands by his superlative. At the most surface level, he says, his chillness can be seen when he’s walking with a group. “I move a bit slower,” he says. “I’m usually trailing behind.”

This is not an accident. “Moving slowly helps me not stress myself out,” he explains. “I think there’s a lot of areas where you can be very stressed out, whether it’s going to class or moving from one place to another, and those moments in between, I try to reclaim for myself.”

As Ethan sees it, chillness is, in part, a choice. He chose to study abroad in Aix-en-Provence, a small, picturesque town in the south of France, because “Paris would have been a little too, ‘Go, go, go’ for me.” Aix-en-Provence was exactly the vibe he was hoping for, with the only downside being the dirty looks he’d get while wearing hoodies, shorts, or flip-flops. He didn’t dare try sweatpants.

For Harvard students looking to become more chill, Ethan recommends that they simply give themselves more time. If the walk to class is 10 minutes, take 15 to 20. That way, you’re never in a rush. Maybe you’ll run into a friend and be able to chat for a few minutes. He tells me he showed up to our interview 10 minutes early.

“I wanted to get a beer and sit and chill a little bit, watch TV,” he says.

On the whole, Ethan thinks Harvard’s student body would benefit from chilling out a little more.

“People here are very driven, they know what they want to do, and they’re very passionate,” Ethan says. “But again, I don’t think that that has to be mutually exclusive from being chill, and I think if people just slowed down every once in a while, and took a deep breath, we’d all have a better sense of ourselves and also what we really want out of life.”

— Io Y. Gilman was the Magazine Chair of the 150th Guard. She can be reached at io.gilman@thecrimson.com.