The Emancipation of Mimi evokes feelings of nostalgia


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The summer of 2005 was one of the best summers I’ve ever had. I had just finished my favorite year of school (third grade was all that and a bag of chips), and I was ready for watching sunsets at 9 p.m., Detroit Tigers games, sleeping over at friends’ houses and gluing my eyes to […]

Asian-American beauty standards perpetuate colorism


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For most of my adolescence, I believed the lie that a lighter skin complexion was more worthy and signified greater beauty. As someone who grew up as a dark-skinned Asian, I knew I did not fall into that category. It was the first thing that anybody would ever point out whenever they saw me. I […]

Relationships require honesty


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I went to an all-boys school in Sydney, Australia, my whole life before entering college. At 15, the only girls that I really talked to were my mother and my sister. My mom is my mom, and well, my sister was 7 at the time. I did not have a lot of experience with girls. […]

More than just a lifestyle: my path to embracing veganism


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Bougey juice bars inhabited by Los Angeles’ swankiest hipsters, crunchy eateries packed with heavily pierced and tattooed rebels, and nature preserves encompassed by (high) tree-hugging hippies — these are some of the typecasts of vegans. Regardless of these awfully true stereotypes, veganism is trending for a variety of palpable reasons — mainly its unparalleled ethical, […]

Summer female blockbuster indicates systemic flaw


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It’s that time of year again -— when we return to classrooms, syllabi, assignments and beginnings as summer turns into fall and we have an entire new year of school to look forward to. For me, this new year rings a different tone, as I’m currently in the process of deciding whether to graduate a […]

Rapper Kanye West defies sophomore slump stereotype


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The sophomore slump may have started as an old wives’ tale, something to encourage students to work hard in school, but for musicians, it is a looming nightmare that has forced many of them into a cold sweat. A well-received first album doesn’t mean a damn thing in the world of music, and while the […]

Wearing a headscarf is a symbol of freedom

Noorhan Maamoon

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When I first stepped onto the USC campus on a scorching day in mid-August of 2015, I never expected to be a spokeswoman of sorts for Islam and the hijab. Would I have reconsidered transferring to USC had I known that people thought I was making a political statement by wearing a hijab? No, but […]

Teacher’s pet: A sonnet to schooling


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I unexpectedly ran into one of my former professors in the halls a couple weeks ago, and just about pooped myself. I’m usually more composed when interacting with people I find attractive, but I still haven’t quite mastered running into someone who is not only unwittingly hot, but also brilliant, engaging and mind-blowingly influential. Something like […]

Thank you Beyoncé for uniting us with music


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Last Saturday evening was just supposed to be another quiet night at home for me. I had planned to spend this time working on an enormous term paper due before the end of the semester, as well as to catch up on some work that I had left until the last possible moment. However, my […]

Broken: The surprising male fragility in HBO’s Vinyl

Minnie Schedeen

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Misogyny is no stranger to television. Likewise, it has been explored in Mad Men, The Sopranos and other shows of the past decade focused on the post-war depiction of the male psyche — one that was fragile and fragmented — rather than cop shows, medical shows and other ensemble stories. Don’t get me wrong, cop […]