By: Grace Carballo ‘17

Between you and me, I’ve had a pretty rough day. This morning my laptop refused to turn on and since then, I’ve been rather bitter. (Please learn from my mistakes and back up your computers!) Also, s/o to the Laptop Loaner Program for enabling me to write this post. There’s one person who is getting me through these dark and stress-filled times. No, not my mom. Although she’s a constant source of comfort. It’s John William “Will” Ferrell. With Springfest shut down before the headliners and the USC administration forcing Lil Bill’s Bike Shop to move off campus, many USC students, myself included, have been feeling disappointed and frustrated as of late. (Sign the petition to show how much Lil Bill and his shop mean to this campus)! There’s one person who won’t let us down, one person who will always be our ‘Buddy,’ one person willing to be our Anchor(man) when our metaphorical ship veers off course. And that person is Will Ferrell: USC’s 2017 commencement speaker!

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

It recently came to my attention that I am graduating in less than 2 months, which means these last few weeks as a USC undergrad will be both the best of times and the worst of times. I’m as curious as you are to see what I do after graduation! These last few weeks aren’t all fun and games and increasingly desperate job applications! We, the seniors, have some decisions to make before Commencement 2017.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

Last Friday, I met some amazing and inspiring peers at the Diversity Networking Mixer at SCA through several rounds of “speed dating.” The event was hosted by Acción Latina, USC WCA (Women of Cinematic Arts), African American Cinema Society, the Asian American Cinema Association, and Queer Cut, the School of Cinematic Arts’ diversity organizations.

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.

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.

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.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

Sexual assault is a widespread problem on college campuses across the country and unfortunately, USC is no exception by any means. According to the 2015 survey by the Association of American Universities (AAU), among female college students, 23% said they experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact (ranging from kissing to rape, carried out by force or threat of force, or while they were incapacitated).

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.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

Moving in with someone is a big step in any relationship, so not matter how well you know your soon-to-be roommate, it’s perfectly natural to be a little nervous. Whether you met through mutual friends, knew each other in high school, found common ground in your generic posts in the USC Class of 2020 facebook group, or both opted for the “random roommate” in an admirable leap of faith, there’s no way you know what it will be like to live with them until you actually do.

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.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

When you’re thousands of miles away from home, everyday annoyances can seem like serious dilemmas, especially when they’re harder to solve in a country you aren’t as familiar with. It’s upsetting but not the end of the world when your laptop malfunctions at USC or your credit card gets lost or canceled, but when you’re several countries away from the nearest Apple store and your bank has no branches in your host country, it can be fairly terrifying to say the least. It happens to everyone at some point or another and just like that, the honeymoon phase is over.