Melany Perez
It was a warm Tuesday afternoon and blankets were sprawled all over cross campus with carefree students soaking up the sun. I had spent the day hunched over my bio notes in Starr and squinted at the blinding light as I exited the grand library doors. After my eyes had time to adjust from the intense glow of my laptop to the golden rays of the early October sun, I saw iridescent bubbles floating through the air. My demeanor instantly changed.
Yale needed bubbles, and Will Walker delivered. I’m sure everyone reading this has heard of “The Bubble Guy,” before. You know, the person you see blowing huge bubbles, putting smiles on everyone’s faces. But have you met them, blown bubbles with them, asked about their process?
The sophomore from Ezra Stiles College discovered their love for bubbles in high school with the help of their mentor, Mr. Matthews.
“He was the bubble guy, and I really loved what he did,” Walker explained. “He would make bubbles in the courtyard in the mornings, and he’d leave them out during exam weeks. He wanted to make students happy and share his passion with the school that he worked at.”
When Walker came to Yale, they thought they had left their bubbling days back home in South Carolina, until a friend convinced them to bring bubbles to New Haven last year. With a few tips from Mr. Matthews about recipes and wands, Walker began their own bubbling operation. They also credit Kathryn Dunn and Marc Levenson, faculty members of Stiles’ Head of College office, for helping them get off the ground.
Through trial and error, Walker developed a recipe for their bubble solution and operated out of their mystical lab, doubling as a Lawrence hall bathroom. The simple, three ingredient elixir consists of guar gum, unscented Dawn dish soap and water. Crafted to command bubbles that shimmer and dance through the air, Walker expertly fashions their bubble wands by connecting mop strings to poles with key rings.
For Walker, bubbling hits two birds with one stone; it combines their fascination with chemistry with their love for bubbles. They started out bubbling on Old Campus last year, and since then have expanded to Cross Campus and Stiles college courtyard.
“I really liked going to cross campus, mainly because it’s one of the only green spaces at Yale that isn’t gated off, so I’d meet people that aren’t Yale affiliated, that can be on cross campus, especially families.” Walker also bubbles for events for different residential colleges and causes.
Not only does bubbling bring joy to Walker, but to the entire Yale community. As a beholder of the bubble myself, they transport me to earlier times where I found joy in the simplest of pleasures. For a brief interlude, I shed the weight of academia and find myself caught in a moment of childlike wonder, even if the bubbles last only as long as their delicate dance in the breeze.
Walker is currently working to expand their bubbling operation. After conducting a thorough investigation, I have discovered that Walker plans to form a club in the hopes that students can learn the bubbling process and carry it on. With the institutional funding that Yale provides for clubs, Walker would be able to experiment more with their bubbles. They revealed to the news that they want to try making new wands that can blow a bunch of small bubbles simultaneously, and make huge bubbles that people can stand inside of.
Not only does Walker want to carry on the tradition of bubbling at Yale, but they also want to share the feeling that bubbling brings them.
“I feel like so much of what I work for has to last forever—it has to be something that sets a record or works toward a finite goal like an assignment or a task. But bubbles don’t work toward a goal; it’s making something for the moment,enjoying it, and knowing that it’s not going to last any longer than that.”