In my column, "A Day in the Life of 1 have the wondrous opportunity to interview and write about some of Deerfield 's most interesting characters. In this issue, I am particularly lucky to have the chance to get inside the head of one of Deerfield's best and brightest: that's right, girls and boys... the legendary Captain Deerfield, Tate Huffard '05.

To this day, Captain Deerfield's origins remain unknown. Some legends say he was created in a freak science experiment involving massive amounts of plutonium, Orangina, and a single hair from the head of Frank L. Boyden himself. Others claim that he was found in a cornfield after a meteor shower in the tiny mid western town of Smailville. However, what is known about the Captain is that, since his creation, word of his fantastic feats and glorious good deeds has spread to every corner of the world: from Deerfield's New England campus all the way down to the smallest South American village where he is known only as "El Capitán."

On the global level, he has joined the ranks of other famous captains such as Captain America, Captain Crunch and Captain (formerly of Captain and Tenille). Yet for Deerfield students, he has become much more than that: He's that little twinkle in the eye of Josh Lesko '05 as he scores the winning touchdown, that extra-green tuft of grass on the quad, and the last chicken cutlet at lunch!

When I sat down to interview Huffard, I asked him first and foremost what made him think he was capable of following in the hallowed footsteps of past Captains. He paused a moment, thinking, then responded by citing a specific childhood experience. "I once had a lemonade stand. A group of Choaties on their sweet new bicycles cruised up and asked for a nice, cold glass of lemonade. I gave them tap water and charged them extra." I then asked the obvious follow-up question, "If Choate was a breakfast food, what would it be?"

He replied, "It would have to be. . .1 don't know, but it would have to be something bad because I always stab everything bad on my plate until it is no more."

As Captain Deerfield this year, Huffard will have the pleasure and responsibility of motivating, captivating and completely firing-up the student body. When I asked him what his favorite part of suiting up as the Captain was, I assumed he would point to something inspirational or emotional. However, I was surprised to hear him, instead, cite something somewhat more.. . practical, proclaiming, "I like how tight my Deerfield spandex is, and the booby-tassels are also a definite perk."

Regardless of his fashion decisions, we can all rest assured that as Captain Deerfield, Huffard will continue to get students riled up and excited about Deerfield as his predecessors have done so well before him. For the next year, Tate Huffard will shine brightly in that twinkle, that tuft, that cutlet. After all, as Captain Deerfield himself put it best, "I may be human in my next life, but for now I bleed green."