Old Time Hawkey
“Cleave” is one of my favorite words because it’s evocative of imagery but also is its own antonym. It means to come together and it means to split apart (hence “cleavage”…think about it). A great example of cleaving is the Internet. On the one hand, it brings likeminded people together to enjoy their particular interests and hobbies and celebrate those idiosyncratic things they are passionate about. On the other, such splintering into sub-categories and insular groups can create greater distances between folks. One person who is able to bridge the chasm of multiple niche enclaves and genres—and do it all in an incredibly soothing and benevolent manner—is Old Time Hawkey.
The beloved TikTok darling has over 6.2 million followers on that platform, not mention hundreds of thousands following his adventures on Instagram, and over 57.5K subscribers on YouTube. This is not some unsung phenomenon or particularly well-hidden gem on the Internet—but it is a terrific source of good vibes. Old Time Hawkey appears to be a man named Fritz who lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (so he’s basically Canadian) with his two Australian shepherds, Donnybrook and Kris Draper. I’m gonna level with you—I didn’t dig too hard into his world. I really don’t need a milkshake duck situation where it turns out the dude is the biggest creep in the Michigan Militia or whatever fresh horrorshow lurks behind his otherwise pleasant demeanor. I need this small sliver of niceness in the world even if that means being willfully ignorant.
In any case, Old Time Hawkey is an utterly bonkers collision of disparate aesthetics, sub-genres, and niches that shouldn’t work—but it is insanely delightful and completely charming. Most of his videos find him offering up a nice can of ginger ale, preparing some sort of meal (often a recreation of some fast food or simply a comfort dish) using local ingredients and whatever rough tools he has in his log cabin in the woods, and enjoying it while also flashing over to some sort of retro piece of technology (like a GameBoy Color or a boombox). That is a massive amount of blending of cooking show, cottagecore aesthetic, ASMR, nostalgia, and more. But it miraculously doesn’t feel janky or incongruous; instead it comes off like the sincere interests and talents of a genuine person. It’s absolutely a cultivated persona, but it’s such a welcomed dollop of sweet chill that it is all good.
You can follow Old Time Hawkey on TikTok, or on his Instagram, or even his YouTube channel.