Jonathan Jacobson 

Where you come from:
I grew up in a small town called Chester, in CT. I lived there until I was 18. 

What age you were at the time of the photograph:
I was probably 28. Definitely under 30. 

How old you expect to live to be:
Without any unexpected curves in the road, I think it’s realistic to hope for 100. 

Have you ever known anyone who died of AIDS?  No. 

Have you ever known anyone who died at a young age?
Quite a few, unfortunately. Some were pure accidents others were not so. 

What is something that you do that gives you real joy in life?
I like to complete personal projects, whether it be writing a short story, screenplay, or making a short film. I pride myself on coming up with good ideas but I rarely sacrifice the time or show the discipline to finish something. So, it gives me real joy to see a personal project completed. 

What about yourself do you really like?
I pride myself on being able to make myself, and others around me laugh, and not at someone’s expense. I’m also usually pretty good at introducing myself to people I don’t (yet) know and start a conversation. I’m good at cocktail parties. 

What would you like to see people do to change the world?
If everyone acts like they do when the power goes out, we’re going to be fine. Every time I’ve been in a power outage I’m always so happy to see most people acting very nice to one another. Every time I’m at the airport and have to board the plane, I lose all faith in humanity. 

What is one of your favorite memories?
In November of 1997 I was in Italy and had this marathon day/night/day of partying and exploring and talking and meeting new people, some of who I am still close with all these years later. One of the few times I was aware, at that very moment, of how rare and wonderful the situation was and how unlikely it was to happen again so perfectly.