It’s 10 p.m., and Brian Waswani Odhiambo ’12, a Political Science and African Studies major from Nairobi, Kenya — and a student DJ — is throwing a late-night party at his apartment that should be starting now. I’m standing in the doorway of his bedroom, which is strewn with winter coats. A modest-sized Kenyan flag hangs above his bed, and the walls are adorned with vinyl records at varying heights that Brian tells me he’s never listened to. A poster of The Godfather hangs across from a poster of Gandhi, which reads, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever.”

Except for his roommate in the kitchen, no one is here. Brian is standing beside me and writing out a letter to his neighbors about the impending party. It ends with “Thank you very much for understanding and not calling the police.”

I take a look at Brian’s bookcase — Antisemitic Myths and Darwin’s Origin of Species sit one shelf below a book of Lithuanian poetry, and a hardcover called The Osama Bin Laden I Knew. Between the latter two sits a mostly-full bottle of Heinz ketchup, and a smaller bottle of Red Hot Original hot sauce.

On the wall behind Brian, there’s a tiny picture of an old-school boombox marked with the words, “You sound good to me.”

For more about Brian and his life as a DJ, look out today for the March issue of the Yale Daily News Magazine.