Humans of Lee: Gideon Hill

Students across campus see Gideon Hill with his red hood flying in the wind behind him. Most students look from afar confused and simply call him “Cape Guy.”  

Hill, a senior accounting major, finds his cape as a solution that all students suffer from: the weather. 

“For the first segment of my freshman year, I was getting sick and tired of rain out of the blue, keeping me stuck in buildings when I needed to get somewhere else. I didn’t want to have to carry an umbrella everywhere, because that’s just awkward and cumbersome,” Hill said. 

With umbrellas out of the picture, Hill searched for another idea. He wanted to always have something on him that would protect him from the rain and wouldn’t take up space in his backpack. When Hill found his cape online, he bought it and has worn it with pride since. 

“What seemed like a practical idea to me is usually not something that would enter most people's ballpark without extensive consideration,” Hill said. 

He also wears it off campus as well and isn’t planning on stopping, even after he graduates. Hill said, “[it] depends on where I get employed and how lenient my employers are, but it is definitely something that, if possible, will get some use.”  

His cape has no sentimental value to him, and he has it for “practicality first, personal amusement second.” While most people walk past confused, he enjoys people asking him about his cape while passing him on campus. 

Hill recognizes that carrying a cape around is odd but “normalcy is overrated. Find your thing and make everyone else deal with it.”