A Tale of Two Anyas

A Day in the Life of Devonte Keith, the BeeJay Anya Look-a-Like 

Devonte Keith | Staff Writer  

I’ve got a few titles under my belt, but none of course are “One of the top-ranked centers of the 2013 class” or, “Key defensive player of the N.C. State Men’s Basketball team.” These are all titles that freshman forward, BeeJay Anya holds. According to Black Twitter, Anya also happens to be my new doppelganger.

Throughout my life, I’ve been given many doppelgangers: my dad (of course), rapper Mike Jones, and even Corey Baxter from Disney’s That’s So Raven, among countless others. Even though these alleged look-a-likes don’t carry negative connotations, they do have a habit of becoming contagious and sticking with me for an extended period of time, especially when given media exposure. When it surfaced that NC State reached the NCAA tournament, I knew that the jokes would come flying.

It all started when my mom sent me a text message in the beginning of basketball season saying, “Number 21 for State looks just like you.” I laughed, thinking the resemblance would blow over, but to my disdain, it lasted all season.I couldn’t even go to Carmichael Gym without one of my friends asking me, “What happened to you in the game last night?” or “Why are you in Carmichael, don’t y’all have a game tonight?” There was even a time I saw BeeJay and his teammates in the Atrium and I overheard one of his teammates saying, “Look there goes that guy that looks exactly like you.” Anya disagreed.

The jokes exploded onto the social media scene as State entered the NCAA tournament. Whenever BeeJay did something, my mentions tab on Twitter would be on fire. Some even went as far as to put my picture next to his in comparison. I wasn’t very amused.

So BeeJay and I finally settled the score yesterday when he spotted me in the Atrium and asked me to come here. We gathered a group of students, and BeeJay asked the group “Do we look alike at all?” They responded by saying “No, but y’all do have the same nose.”

Though that wasn’t the particular answer I was looking for, I guess that’s as close to a “no”as I can get out of anyone. If the comparisons persist though, I may have to officially change my name to VonJay Anya.