“Once you walk around with a bouncy ball, you’ll never be able to walk around without a bouncy ball,” — Smile Guy, 2009.

Maybe you’ve seen him around campus, blowing bubbles or playing a long wooden instrument called a didgeridoo. Or maybe you saw his picture in the paper, though he would rather you’d have heard about him through word-of-mouth; it’s the purest form of communication, he says.

And, if you did see him, maybe you smiled, maybe you didn’t, though he would have hoped it was the former.

“Life shouldn’t be so boring. I can try to make it interesting, so I do,” said Smile Guy, a 20-year-old freshman art student. “I have a chance at changing someone’s day, so I take that chance.”

A few Wednesdays ago, Smile Guy, wearing a red knit hat and a smile mask tied around his neck, waxed poetically about why he does what he does while passing out free wax paper.

For most, it was just a Wednesday. For him, it was Free Wednesday, a day for Smile Guy, who asked that his real name not be used in this story, to pass out free stuff and see if he can’t bring smiles to people’s faces. In previous weeks, he had handed out such items as floss and bread.

The Smile Guy persona is, in a way, an icebreaker for him. He’s an artistic guy, as he’s interested in ceramics, jewelry and video art. He considers Smile Guy a form of art — “Is life art or is art life?” he often says.

He’s one of those students on campus who, every time you see them, cause you to take a second look. They’re those who stand out, those who are outside of the social norm.­

And he’s fine with that description; in fact, he welcomes it. Everyone else is the same. He wants to break up the monotony.

“I like that I’m the first, so I can share and lead this cause. I’m a leader,” he said. “When it comes to maintaining social relationships, I’m not that good. I’m good at leading.”

Most people walk right past him, never looking up, he says, though a decent amount smile or laugh. Some people stop and talk to him, while a few offer to help.

“The students at NIU are a sample of our generation. It helps me to see what this generation is going to look like when we grow up,” he said, though he often expresses disappointment in Generation Y. “There are no movements in this time,” he said. “We can do a lot more, but we don’t. We continue to watch TV, veg out. Nobody goes outside anymore.”

For now, what he does is his calling, his duty. Smile Guy doesn’t even require that you smile; he just wants to see if people are “able.”

“Everybody’s sad and too serious,” he said. “That makes life tough. Life shouldn’t be tough. That’s what I want to preach. So many people say, ‘I wish there were more people like you.’ I say, get a bubble wand.”