Last week, Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, followed by incessantly large aftershocks. The prime minister of Haiti says more than 70,000 deaths have been recorded, with early estimates placing the death toll above 200,000 people. To put that into perspective, the death toll from Hurricane Katrina was 1,836. [...]

After conceding the vice presidential ticket, resigning as governor of Alaska and reflecting on her life in Going Rogue, Sarah Palin is back. Just when we thought the firestorm of Palin-centric jokes had been doused with the passing of time, Palin has reclaimed the media’s attention, this time under some very interesting circumstances. Earlier this [...]

Today, I swiped my meal plan card at EVK, and scanned my options only to realize there was nothing for me to eat. Now, I’m just sitting in my room without any food because I’ve run out of frozen meals … again. Although students have their complaints about Everybody’s Kitchen and Parkside Restaurant, no one [...]

“USC sucks!” “The giant has been slain!” “You guys are fast-paced downhill now!” By now, we’ve heard our fair share of taunts from Westwood and beyond. Why do these comments hurt so much? Why am I so offended? At the University of Southern California, the student body is drawn from a variety of different backgrounds. [...]

Oh, the joys of being young and in college: the lifelong friends we meet, the endless opportunities at our feet, the valuable access to knowledge and the places to go for advanced higher learning. And of course, there’s the partying to the wee hours of the morning, reckless nights we can barely remember and the [...]

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama addressed the nation from US Military Academy at West Point regarding his plan to end the war in Afghanistan. In the midst of rising unemployment, historic deficits and a new health care system, Americans listened attentively to the president’s words in search of an answer for why they should still [...]

Moments when schoolwork and real life collide are weirdly pleasurable. Such was the experience while I was reading a recent story titled “Satan, the great motivator,”  published by The Boston Globe on “the curious economic effects of religion.” Immediately, my political philosophy class popped into my head, specifically in the form of Max Weber. When [...]

For all of the notable academic awards, athletic achievements, amenities and extremely well-connected alumni USC has to offer, it just can’t seem to shake its reputation as an unsafe school. Any UCLA student would be happy to rattle off the alarming statistics that paint USC’s campus and its surrounding area as a war-torn jungle compared [...]

Syria is known as being a fairly progressive Islamic nation. Women wear jeans and go to school, and although they might not be considered entirely equal to men, they certainly enjoy a position of greater social power than their peers in countries such as Afghanistan. Today, Syrian women are challenging the presumption that feminism and [...]

As we’ve witnessed throughout the past year, change is immutable. The year opened with a historical moment, the inauguration of the first African-American president in the United States, Barack Obama. Followed by some unforgettable occurrences in pop culture as well — the Rihanna/Chris Brown debacle, the rise of Lady Gaga and Twilight takeover, to name [...]