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.
Why the USC Memes Page is So Iconic
By: Terry Nguyen ‘20
What do you meme you haven’t heard of USC’s meme page? For the latest college trend this past semester, students are turning to a new fascination within internet culture: college-related memes featured on Facebook meme “pages” within a university subculture. As meme culture continues to grow in popularity, college campuses are adopting their own, specific brands of humor. USC is no exception. USC’s page, titled USC Memes for Spoiled Pre-Teens, takes its name inspiration from UC Berkeley’s — UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens. UCLA consequently named its group UCLA Memes for Sick AF Tweens, but the Trojan meme-makers would like to believe pre-teens are arguably cooler than “sick af” tweens. But the real question is: what makes USC’s meme page so iconic? An average USC student’s humor consists of more than simply bagging on UCLA students; it’s a combination of poorly Photoshopped Nikias memes, the slow burn torture of rising tuition, and the strange neo-Gothic pointy structures that guard USC’s gates.
Commemorating Remembrance Day for Japanese Americans
By: Terry Nguyen ‘20
The diverse city of Los Angeles contains boundless opportunities to immerse yourself in unfamiliar cultures and their traditions. February, although mostly celebrated as the month of love, is also Black History Month and in this stormy political climate, a significant and relevant time to commemorate the Day of Remembrance for Japanese Americans. On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, issuing the order to legally contain Japanese Americans in separate internment camps on American soil. The Day of Remembrance should be made aware of, and while we shame this period of American history for its discriminatory legislation, we should also strive to commemorate and understand the stories of those affected by this Executive Order. Below are a few events, exhibits and destinations you can visit if you want to further your understanding of American history and the effect of EO66 on the lives of many Japanese Americans.
Say What You Need to Say
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
Yesterday on Trousdale, there was a lot going on, so you may have missed the Postcards for Representatives table sponsored by USC Delta Phi Epsilon and Trojan Advocates for Political Progress. I stopped by in a bit of a hurry on my way to class and got a postcard to send to my representatives and some really helpful information about the Day of Action that I’d love to pass along to all of you.
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.
USG Presidential Debate: The Big Questions
By: Terry Nguyen ‘20
On Feb. 1, USC Annenberg Media hosted a town hall-style debate for the Undergraduate Student Government presidential and vice presidential candidates. The three presidential tickets for this year’s election – Austin-Morgan, Million-Vorhoff and Rachel-Rebecca — feature a diverse range of candidates from all aspects of the student body, and the topics they touched upon in their limited speaking time illustrated the goals and unique personalities of each platform. The questions were submitted by members of the undergraduate community, and topics such as tuition transparency, sexual assault prevention and diversity initiatives were raised. Each ticket was given approximately one minute to respond, and moderator Cole Sullivan selected the order in which they would answer. To those who did not tune into the USG presidential debate, here are a few important questions raised by members of the audience to the three presidential tickets and their responses:
Women’s March Los Angeles
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
Last Saturday, millions of people around the world took to the streets to march for women’s rights, our human rights. The New York Times assembled a photo from each city’s Women’s March, from Nairobi to Lima, Tel Aviv to Sydney (and, of course, dozens of U.S. cities). I get chills each time I scroll through the images of the different demonstrations (and not just when I catch a glimpse of the Antarctica march). What a tremendous display of unity: women make up over half of the world’s population and will not be silenced.
Gender-Based Violence in Asian-American Communities
By: Shannon Lam ’19
I was 10-years-old when I was first sexually harassed. I was at the grocery store with my parents. Normally, I stick by my parents, walking next to the cart, admiring the vast options of chips and cookies. However, at one point, my mom realized we had forgotten to grab the milk. Me, adventurous and trying to be as independent as a 10-year-old could be, offered to quickly go grab it. My mom was hesitant at first, but since the milk aisle was just a few aisles down, she let me go. It was only for a brief second, but as I leaned into the fridge to pick up the milk, I felt a hand on my butt. I turned around and a middle-aged man quickly walked past me. At first, I didn’t think much of it. Maybe I was taking up too much room in the empty aisle, maybe I was in the way, maybe it was my fault. When I walked back to my mom, there was a sinking feeling that was hard to describe at 10-years-old. Something didn’t sit right with me. I felt lost, I felt guilty, I felt violated. At 10-years-old.
Feminist Media Festival
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
USC WCA (Women of Cinematic Arts) launched the first annual feminist media festival on September 15th and I was thrilled to be there to witness the Opening Ceremonies. The goal of the festival is to produce art and connections, in the name of equality. It is, after all, widely known that the film industry has racial and gender biases. In general, there is a significant lack of diversity in terms of content creators as well as a related lack of representation on-screen of women and people of color, particularly in meaningful roles.
rupi kaur, a poet and more
by: grace carballo ‘17
rupi kaur is a writer and artist, now based in toronto, who graced usc with her presence last thursday to kick off mental health awareness month 2016.
Sign me up!
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
Campuses across the country recognize that extracurricular involvement increases student retention; basically, students are much more likely to continue their higher education at institutions where they feel a sense of belonging and purpose. To find smaller communities within our huge student body, to pursue new and exciting interests, to get to know new and different people, or to find people with similar beliefs - there’s no end to the reasons to get involved at USC.
The Beauty of Jujuy (And The Best Study Abroad Apps!)
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
It’s important that you know, both for accuracy of pronunciation and the sake of the rhyme scheme that Jujuy is pronounced “Hoo-hooey”. And our road-trip through the northern part of this province in Argentina was nothing short of breathtaking.
Let’s Talk Culture: Who’s paying the bill?
By: Ayman Siraj ‘18
The biggest fear for any international student coming to the U.S. for the first time is not being able to adapt to U.S. culture. It’s true that cultures are different as you transgress borders. When I was learning English, I was at a British School in Saudi Arabia and it led to a few funny encounters with my friends here in America. One such instance: My friend Tim and I went grocery shopping and I was like, ‘Tim, should I grab a trolley?’ Tim burst out laughing, and I didn’t understand why. He responded that it’s called a shopping cart here. While I wasn’t wrong, Tim and I at that moment realized that even though we speak the same language, there are subtle differences in word usage between different countries.
Gracefully Abroad in Salta, Argentina
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
While all of my USC counterparts are on the homestretch with finals week and the finish line of summer within sight, here in Argentina we are just starting midterms. What a time to be alive!
Gracefully Abroad: El Chalten
By: Grace Carballo ‘17
After Perrito Moreno and our short stay in Calafate, Francesca and I hopped on a 3 hour bus to get to El Chalten. We lucked out and were assigned the best seats, front row with a view that couldn’t be beat, but unfortunately a couple nabbed what was rightfully ours and we didn’t have the heart to ask them to move.
If USC Dorms Were People
By: Judy Lee ‘17
I’m going to preface this post by saying that I don’t mean to generalize in a derogatory way! Just some fun and games regarding our building stereotypes on campus. FRESHMAN: take this as you may.
5 Nostalgic #JustFreshmanThings
By: Judy Lee ‘17
To be quite honest, I was a very lame freshman. But even looking back, I wish I could relive some of the moments from those days. When it comes down to it, we may all have been pretty derpy kids, but we were carefree kids nonetheless. Here’s some things I miss.
New Blogger Introduction: Ayman Siraj
By: Ayman Siraj ‘18
It’s funny that in my native mother tongue of Bangla there is no word for ‘Hello!’ When I’m writing in English, my brain is thinking in Bangla while my hands translate to English. On that note, Hello! My name is Ayman and I’m a sophomore majoring in Chemical Engineering with a Nanotechnology emphasis and Cyber Security specialization (I know that is a mouthful). I’m stoked to be blogging for Trojans 360 and would like to thank Andrea & Felicia for giving me the opportunity to do so.
16 Things to Do Before Graduation
By: Emily Young MA ‘16
Class of 2016, we have 16 days till our hats are in the air. Here’s 16 ways how to make them count:
Holly’s Hit List (You Don’t Want To Miss This)
By: Holly Liu ‘17
This is where I present to you some of my top must do events for the upcoming week! This is the last week of class…you know what that means. DOOM. Jokes, as the semester comes to an end, make sure to buckle down and study. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have some last minute fun before crunch time swings around! This is probably my last post for this semester so until next time!