Next on Netflix: Why You Should Watch Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
By: Lanie Brice ‘24
This year, Jonathan Van Ness launched his own Netflix series after finding success on the wildly popular Queer Eye revival.
10 Essentials for Online School Nobody Told You About
By: Celine Vazquez ‘24
As college students, we don’t get those organized back-to-school supplies lists anymore. We often look to the internet or asks friends to see what we need. However, with this semester being a new experience for everybody, it can be hard to find what materials are best to have a successful virtual semester! Luckily, I’m here to help! Here are 10 things I found extremely useful during USC’s 2020 Fall Semester.
10 Ways to Volunteer Online and Do Good From Home During COVID-19
By: Ngai Yeung ‘23
We are in the midst of an unprecedented challenge, united against a common invisible enemy. At this time, many of us may feel the urge to do something to help out, but social distancing rules prevent us from coming into contact with others and even just leaving our house. And while donating is another way to contribute, many are not in a position to do so due to the global financial situation now. Fortunately, modern technology allows us to make good use of our skills and do good from home no matter where we are in the world, whether it’s in the form of translating, playing games or counseling via text.
Club Spotlight: Figure Skating Club (USCFSC)
By: Sophia Pei ‘22
Whether you’ve been skating since you were 8 or if this is your first time hearing about it, if you’ve ever had the desire to learn to figure skate, you should look into USC’s very own figure skating club.
“Wait, was that USC?”: Movies & TV Shows Filmed on USC Campus
By: Karla Leung ‘22
If you watch enough television and see enough movies, it’s likely that you’ve seen a scene filmed on USC’s campus without even knowing it. Here are a few of the most notable films and TV series filmed on campus!
Tailgates, cornholes, and 100°F weather
By: Jonathon Xue ‘19
You wouldn’t believe how hot it was that day.
My Experience Traveling to China as a First-Year Business Student
By: Adriana Bernal Martinez ‘20
I remember the day I got this little red and yellow box in the mail. It was in late March of my Senior year of high school. I was coming back home from Debate practice at around 6 and at the sight of two little boxes just chillin’ on my doorstep, my breath caught in my throat. I wasn’t really sure what they were about whatsoever, but they seemed rather important and they had the colors of the school I had just committed to on them, so. I was anxious and excited and maybe a little teensy bitsy sweaty but upon opening them, I learned one thing and one thing only: I was going to China.
Celebrating Feminist Accomplishments in Music: FemFest 2017
By: Terry Nguyen ‘20
On Friday, April 5, USC hosted its fifth annual FemFest, a festival dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments and promoting women within the music industry. The event was made possible through the joined efforts of various feminist organizations on campus, including the Undergraduate Student Government, USC’s Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment, and MUSE at USC. On the Facebook page, USG Program Board and USC FemFest also contributed to hosting the event. FemFest 2017 was a six-and-a-half hour event that took place in Founder’s Park, starting at 5 p.m. with a variety of female musicians headlining the show. The event was free and open to the public, featuring local community vendors, musicians, and even members of the Trojan family.
USC’s First Feminist Media Festival
By: Terry Nguyen ‘20
On Sunday, April 2, the Women in Cinematic Arts hosted its first ever Feminist Media Festival. Although this was an inaugural event, the organization hopes to host more festivals in future years to improve inclusivity and diversity within an industry predominantly represented by cisgender white men. The USC School of Cinematic Arts is diverse in its student demographics — the school’s demographics reveal that it is 50% female. Unfortunately, the film industry does not reflect these numbers, as only 3% of women direct the top films of the field. Such events like the Feminist Media Festival aim to create and build a network of feminist filmmakers to pave the way for the film future.
4 Freshman Dining Hall Food Hacks
By: Terry Nguyen, ‘20
As a dorm-residing freshman, it is easy to complain about the culinary scene of the dining halls: The food is too bland, they serve the same options weekly, the cooked meat sometimes looks suspicious, they added cheese into your omelette again — you get the point — the list can go on and on. Nevertheless, as your days at the dining halls are coming to an end, you realize that you have developed some clever food hacks over the past months dining at EVK, Parkside, or McCarthy. It is an acquired skill, and dining hall food is also an acquired taste, especially after months and months of the same salad bar with the same offered options of condiments. You learn to look past EVK’s strange-looking edamame, and un-avocado-like “avocado” sandwich spread. The period of super salty kale and sauteed greens are also fading into the memories of first semester. As a soon-to-be sophomore, here are a few easy food hacks to make the most of your time at a dining hall before that all-you-can-eat privilege is replaced by an apartment meal plan — or, no meal plan at all.
Air + Style: Music Festival Recap
By: Terry Nguyen ‘20
What originated as a snowboarding competition 21 years ago in Innsbruck, Austria has grown to be a global event that merges the latest music and the sport into an unforgettable two-day experience. From Feb. 18 to Feb. 19, Air + Style brought the world’s best snowboarders to downtown Los Angeles’ Exposition Park and rising artists, like Grammy-award winning DJ Flume and USC alumnus ZHU. Despite rain or shine, the festival went on for both days from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., and crowds gathered enthusiastically between the Winter and Summer stages throughout the course of the afternoon into late evening. Their energy did not quell between the sets, as hundreds of people bunched towards the front of the stage, anxiously awaiting their favorite artists.
Meet the Blogger, Adri
By: Adriana Bernal Martinez ‘20
Hi there! I’m Adriana, Adri for short, and I’m a First-Year student studying Business Administration at the Marshall School of Business and minoring in French.
6th Annual USC Latino Student Empowerment Conference
By: Brandon Le ‘18
For the past 6 years, El Centro Chicano has been holding an annual conference to help empower Latinx students, and help them find their individual paths to success.
Gracefully Abroad: El Calafate
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
Last weekend I set several alarms for 3 AM Friday morning, strapped on my massive backpack filled to the brim with assorted snacks and jackets, double-checked I had my passport, and hopped into a taxi with my friend and fellow Trojan, Francesca, for our obscenely early flight (saving some moola, gaining some time) to El Calafate in the southern part of Argentina, a region called Patagonia. It may come as a surprise to some of you that your trendy-yet-functional-cold-weather-Patagonia-brand gear is named after a real place, but I can now officially confirm this fact first-hand and let me tell you, it sure is a beauty.
State of Emergency: Homelessness in LA
By: Felicia Zhu ‘17
This past Sunday was the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, 2016. USC hosted several panel discussions, and homelessness in Los Angeles was one of them. Here’s what was discussed in case you missed it.
Sexual Assault Awareness Week
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
This week, from April 11 to April 15 is Sexual Assault Awareness Week at USC. The gravity of the problem of sexual assaults on college campuses is starting to be recognized nationwide and hopefully this week will serve as a step towards addressing the issue on our own campus. If you or someone close to you is a survivor of sexual assault, then you know how important recognizing this week is, although it can be difficult or triggering.
My Alternative Spring Break in Baltimore
By: Megha Gupta ‘18
We land in Baltimore one early, early Saturday morning, and what do we see first but a Trump family? This trip did not get off to a favorable start. After flying for 6 hours from chilly, windy California the first day of freedom after two and a half grueling months of school, I don’t think anybody was ready for what was to come our way in the next week.
¡Felices Pascuas!
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
In my experience, the most difficult times abroad, whether for the culture shock or the homesickness, are during holidays back home. If you would like anecdotal proof, last Thanksgiving I was probably going on hour ten or so working in front of my laptop and a fan on my ISP in Nicaragua when I FaceTimed by family during Thanksgiving dinner. Eating a bag of peanuts and raisins from the pulpería while everyone I missed dearly passed the phone around mid-feast, including my new “brother” Kevin (who’s from Nicaragua studying in my home town), was a less than festive experience.
When Hillary drops by while you’re abroad
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
Last Thursday, I did what any productive exchange student would do in between classes- checked my instagram and ate yesterday’s dinner leftovers from my new tupperware. Such multi-tasking was dangerous and nearly caused me to choke on a spoonful of lentils because within the first few photos alone, I realized my fellow Trojans were with Hillary Rodham Clinton.