ETHAN FORD is a TWENTY SEVEN year old LOBSTERMAN who has been living in somerton for FIVEĀ MONTHS. he currently resides in EVERGREEN DOCK. he can be described as AMIABLE, STEADFAST, PERCEPTIVE, but is also known to be CONVENTIONAL, UNIMPASSIONEDĀ and SHORT-SIGHTED.
Ethan had his entire life planned out for him before he even took his first breath. He was to attend the best private schools, matriculate at a prestigious university, work in investment banking for five years (first as an analyst, then as an associate), go to a top five business school, get married somewhere along the way, and then take over his fatherās hedge fund when he retired. He would have kids, too, and they would follow this tried and true path into the indeterminable future.Ā
For the first 27 years of his life, this was the only thing he knew. His parents enrolled him at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, the best Boston had to offer, from kindergarten. He was the rough-and-tumble type from infancy, preferring recess where he could kick a ball around to the classroom, with its stuffy expectations and endless books. His parents didnāt mind. His father, in particular, relished this about Ethan, for in his outdated, traditional notions of masculinity, these kinds of boys made the best financiers when they became men.
When he was fourteen, Ethan was shipped off to Deerfield Academy, a boarding school, his motherās alma mater. There he played soccer and hockey and did poorly in his classes. At this point, his parents started to get a little worried. While he was still a good kid, he didnāt quite fit the mold theyād cast for him. He followed the path his parents had set out for him, but with none of the passion theyād hoped would develop organically. All he seemed to want to do was spend time on the field, on the ice, or with his buddies. Even getting a B in economics was a colossal struggle, that exacted inordinate amounts of effort from everyone involved.Ā
Despite the fact that ceramics was the only class Ethan got an A in at Deerfield, he still managed to get into Dartmouth, his fatherās alma mater (thanks, in large part, to a generous and timely donation). He spent most of his days drinking or skiing (or both). But so did the rest of the school, so things evened out alright.Ā
He landed a job at Barclays straight out of college, in New York. And he absolutely hated it. The path his parents had wanted him to pursue had never been right for him, but heād always found ways to tough it out. He could compensate for ten hours he spent studying for a calculus exam one weekend by going hiking with some friends the next. But investment banking demanded his all. He worked sixteen hour days six to seven days a week. He could no longer carve out time for himself to do the things he truly loved.Ā
And yet, he didnāt quit. He couldnāt bring himself to. He did the two year stint that was expected of him as an analyst, and then accepted his promotion to associate gracefully, without a fuss. Heād thought, for the longest time, that this was the only future possible for him. It was what his father had done. It was what all of his friends were doing. But when his time as an associate ran out and his managing director came to offer him a vice president position, he knew he had to put his foot down.
Ethan turned the position down, packed up his things, and left the city. He drove to the first place he could think of: York, Maine. Heād spent summers in York as a child, because his grandparents had a house by the beach. Then he decided to drive some more. He continued up the coast until he got to Somerton. He fueled up on gas and decided to grab some caffeine and something to eat at a local coffee shop. He munched on his croissant and downed his coffee by the window, where he had a clear view of the town, the beautiful summer day developing outside, the wind and the magnificently green trees and the ocean in the distance. Something deep in his gut compelled him to stay.Ā
So he did. He found an apartment to rent in Bridgeport and met an aging lobsterman looking to hire an extra pair of hands. It was grueling, repetitive work and he made a fifth of what he did in banking, but he loved it. He relished the physicality of it, getting up early, earning his living day by day.Ā
Heās made a new life for himself in Somerton the past few months. His parents call him at least once a day, imploring him to return to Boston or even New York, but heās steadfast. He knows they want him to apply to business school and return to the world of finance, and he also knows that heāll probably cave in one day and go back to what he knows. But a part of him that grows louder and louder each day wants to stay.Ā Ā
ethan ford is portrayed by oliver stark, and penned by liz.
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