Wide Tim⁠01 </span>Wide Tim is a whimsical student-illustrated incarnation of MIT’s mascot <a href="https://studentlife.mit.edu/cac/event-services-spaces/adventures-tim-beaver/mascot-history">Tim the Beaver</a><span style="font-weight: 400"> has become a quintessential representation of MIT culture. I love that beautiful little dude. It’s hard to go through the semester without seeing him, from a poster in the hall to a post somewhere on Instagram. I even have a little sticker of him on my water bottle that travels with me everywhere I go.

Today is his 3rd birthday, and he’s celebrating some of it right here on the blogs! I thought to ask him to say hello, so I’ll let him take it away. 

A Tale of the Widest Tim of All the Land

Part 1: Born to be WIDE

What do you mean 

“I could choose to

Double major in 

Eating and sleeping at MIT?”

To be honest…

IDK either, it kinda just happened; but 

Maybe it’s meant to be. 

Hi y’all! I’m Wide Tim, a beaver named Tim who has dreamed to be WIDE since Day 1!

On the day I was born, exactly 3 years ago today, I welcomed MIT’s Class of 2024 from quarantine to Killian Court.

Things got out of control when those memes made out of emojis in the CP*⁠02 Campus Preview Weekend, but online during the COVID-19 years 2021 Discord server were made, and Chris P. SM ‘13 published this blog post.

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I want to be… 

As WIDE as you could beaverly imagine. 

As WIDE as the Borderline tunnel or the Infinite Corridor is long, or the Green Building is tall.

Or, maybe I should dream bigger—how about 364.4 Smoots? (that’s like more than 2000 ft wide, btw!)

Or the total length of the subway routes? 

Or the distance from the Dome to the stars? 

*shrugs* goal-setting do be hard sometimes, maybe I’ll just never know for sure. 

But one thing I did know for sure was that if I wanted to become wider, I should go out and explore this WIDE place called MIT—and the world beyond it. 

And that’s the story of how @wide_tim started. 

Part 2: How WIDE I’ll go…

“What art classes should I take in 

IAP?”, “do I also get to

Dance in a lion, or a kaleidoscope?”

“Exciting! When’s your live concert? 

The vibe here is absolutely bananas, and 

I just want to see as much as possible, whenever 

My jam-packed sleeping schedule allows it! 

To be or not to be… WIDE? That’s not the question—the question is, 

How does one become WIDE? 

At first, I didn’t know how to become WIDE either. 

Heck, I didn’t even know my way around MIT! 

So I thought I’d ask people for recommendations and try as many of their answers as I could possibly manage—like the best ice cream recs in Bawston (a nearby town to MIT), new Pi day celebration ideas, CPW events, or singing with the entire MIT community during family weekend! 

Before I knew it, I’ve already been to more than 35 MIT club events…

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Gotten around so many places on campus…

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Traveled the world far and wide (and even to outer space)…

…and took enough classes in Eating and Sleeping to double major in them!

(I swear my majors are Legit™. At least MIT News and MIT Tech Review said they are. And I do take actual classes as well: here are is some footage of me taking electives for my concentration in Happiness)

And that’s the story of how I became WIDE.

Part 3: but what does it mean to be WIDE? 

“Wide Tim”, perhaps, isn’t just wide!

I am also:

DM requests and conversations,

Emojis and Reactions,

The autumn leaves, the winter

Ice, and the bikes on

Memorial drive;

Words of good hopes and 

Imaginations of the universe, 

Digits, letters, and musical notes; 

Equations that connect the trees,

The roots, flowers, and the STEMs…

I’m from a piece of each of us at

MIT, and beyond this place.

…wait, wait, hold on.

How did I become WIDE again? 

Actually, what does it even mean to be WIDE? 

To be totally honest, I loved my journey here so much that I forget to even think about being WIDE most of the time. Not only have I not figured out the exact formula for being WIDE, but I now also have even more questions about life! 

Maybe I’ll find an answer in my sleep tonight. Maybe I’ll know it when I go to graduate school for Nutrition and Deep Sleep Analysis. Maybe I’ll never know for sure. But at least, I’ve now got a new hypothesis: 

Maybe the secret to being WIDE is to not plan on it—but to see it, do it, taste it, feel it, enjoy it, and share the joy and love along the journey. 

As of now, I’m still collecting data to test this hypothesis. As of February 13, 2024, I’ve got n=165 observations, but I suppose that I’d only be more and more confident about my answer as I go out and have fun more and more times! 

And that’s the story of how I still haven’t figured out the secrets to being WIDE. 

Anyway, that’s beside the point for now, because…

I’M TURNING THREE (3) YEARS OLD TODAY!! 

That means I was <3 years old yesterday,

And ready as ever to spread even more <3 tomorrow.

And this Valentine’s Day…

I wish that we all take some time 

to love ourselves and love each other;

Together, let’s spread our love far and wide!

Part 3.14: width goes on and on

Exercise left to interested readers: check out widetim.com if you want to learn more about my origin story, mission, and collaborations—or check out @marge_z_art if you’d like to learn more about my creator, Margaret Z. ‘23! And if you ever have suggestions of what I should explore next, my DMs are open :)