The Joe Life

Within the first 60 seconds of “The Joe Life: Episode 8,” senior Joe Webster pumps his fists to Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda,” watches a flash mob wedding video in math class and holds a bottle-flipping contest between friends on his dance team.

Events like these are typical of Webster’s YouTube vlog series, The Joe Life.

As a hodge-podge of Webster’s previous week, the vlogs feature a range of different scenes — from his lifeguard stand at Sylvester Powell, to his fifth hour Spanish class, or even his conversation-to-self moments in his 2014 Ford Mustang.

To Webster, each seven-minute montage is a perfect reflection of his abundantly busy, absurdly lively and dance infused life.

“I think the best way I can express who I am, with the most detail, is to use vlogs and YouTube,” Webster said. “My whole story really plays out in a way when you watch it, and it’s really me.”

Webster’s “whole story” ranges from working the 5-7 a.m. lifeguarding shift, to practicing for his Miller Marley competition team from 4:30-9:30 p.m.

“[My life] is definitely busy, but I try to keep the vibe as positive as I can,” Webster said. “That’s kind of what led to the theme of the channel, trying to stay happy when you’re so busy.”

According to Joe, the vlogs became a reality simply because of how fun he thought they’d be. His unique personality, especially including the strange fusion of a goofy sense of humor with the stress that comes with a full schedule from 4:30 am to 9:30 pm, were what he considered to be the perfect ingredients for a vlogging channel.

“I saw these vloggers like Harper Watters and Jenna Marbles and how much fun they were having,” Webster said. “I just thought it would be so fun to try it out and see how it went.”

Webster draws inspiration particularly from Watters — a member of the Houston Ballet who shares anything from dancing tips to fun photoshoots on his channel. Through Watters’ channel, Webster wasn’t hesitant at the thought of sharing his life so extensively on social media.

“Harper’s really cool, obviously because he dances and everything like me, but just seeing him do his vlog with the dance aspect really seemed appealing to me,” Webster said. “It helped me so much to know that other people were doing this too, and that I wouldn’t be alone in it.”

To senior Allison Benson, Webster has also tickled the heartstrings of people around him by giving off his trademarked contagious and joyful mood. In moments where the vlog centers around school, he’ll often take a moment during work time in Spanish or after a Discrete math lesson to give his friends a chance to speak their mind or talk about their day.

Benson is a friend that often appears on The Joe Life. She enjoys getting on camera to share her tips for how to stay motivated during the long hours of the school day, and insisting upon her being Joe’s number one fan.

Benson sees how Joe’s vlogs forge happy and encouraged impressions on the faces of both people involved in the vlogs and interested bystanders.

“It really brightens the spirits of everybody, he always makes everyone excited by saying, ‘who wants to be in my vlog?’” Benson said. “It’s displayed on kind of everyone’s faces, and even people who aren’t in the videos are laughing and seem happy.”

Junior Riley Kimmel is another friend of Joe who is frequently featured on his vlog, where they banter about spring break tanning or bomb shelter building in Spanish.

To Kimmel, Webster’s vlogs bring a liveliness to Spanish that gives her a pleasing break from the monotonous vocabulary lists. She feels that the class is always asking for the break in the clouds that the vlogs bring in the more studious and devoted moments of the day.

“My whole fifth hour Spanish class, a ton of us are always just asking ‘when’s the new vlog coming out’ because they really [create] an upbeat and happy feeling,” Kimmel said.

Joe is delighted to know his friends and classmates are so keen to see his vlogs, even with the added work of creating them.

“I love having them enjoy it so much, and it’s definitely a pressure to make the vlogs as great as they can be with everything I have going on,” Webster said. “But honestly, as long as I’m having fun and expressing myself, that’s a good stress to have.”

Benson feels that the real reason for the “fun and expressive” feeling of every new episode is because of how real Joe is behind and in front of the camera.

“Joe’s vlogs just are him, and they give you exactly who Joe is through the constant dancing and staying positive,” Benson said.

Webster plans to continue vlogging through the summer and into college, and possibly even into his dance career beyond college. But, until he knows when the vlog series will end, he plans to upgrade and enhance the way the videos look, sound and flow.

“I’m planning on getting a new MacBook Pro next month, and that’ll really make editing easier and open up new possibilities for how the vlogs can take a step up,” Webster said. “It’s important to me to really keep improving because if the vlogs end up being something big that would be cool.”

Changes to improve the logistics of his vlogs may come, but Webster knows his one-on-one chats with the camera and constant lines of jokes will stay — he won’t alter himself to defer to how anyone else may want him to seem.

He holds the plans to keep his uniquely positive and particularly gut-busting attitude through whatever may come in the future in the highest regard. But most of all, Webster’s motto takes hold of everything that he hopes to achieve through the vlog.

In 2015, at a show that Joe performed in, a boy and his grandma came up to him backstage, the boy with a small piece of paper wetted with fearful, but excited tears. His grandma asked Joe candidly for an autograph, since her grandson was too shy to ask for it himself. This moment set the course for what Joe hoped to achieve in his vlogs, and in his overall life.

“I want to perform and even live with the hope to change someone’s life even in the slightest way,” Webster said. “Even if it’s anything from a smile to an autograph, the stress and fatigue of everything that I do is immediately worth it.”