THE STORIES THAT MAKE US

from The Stories That Make Us

by Claire Ramsay

THE SLIDE

THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH

VIGA SAMMY CHOI: NA TING THE MUSIC WORLD

BY CLAIRE RAMSAY

THE TRUTH IS UNCOMFORTABLE.

Despite his intense passion for music, Sammy expresses some difficulty in opening up about his music lyrics in the face of potential judgment.

A current junior studying Design at the University of Southern California, Sammy Choi has always been a creator. Sammy began making music back in high school, where he was exposed to a variety of music by a friend. While he wasn’t interested at first, his friend’s continual “force-feeding” of music influenced Sammy to eventually get into it on his own.

Later on, friends of his who attended a different school from the Palisades asked Sammy if he wanted to join them in creating a lo-fi song. Intrigued by the offer, Sammy tried writing a verse. To his surprise, those around him gave him positive feedback. He was proud of himself. Perhaps he could make music.

Back at his own school in central LA, Sammy noticed a kid DJ-ing in class. Attempting to make connections and broaden his musical career, Sammy reached out to the kid. They began producing together and the class DJ introduced Sammy to another producer, who he currently works with today.

Alongside this producer, Sammy eventually wrote his first full song. The first time he recorded the song, the guy who was mixing the song lost the file. Sammy had to re-record. By attending a studio over the course of 3 months, “The Truth is Uncomfortable” was written.

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Sammy questions and confronts this love interest by asking genuine questions regarding lies, manipulation, and unfairness in relationships. “The Truth is Uncomfortable” speaks to the notion of being left feeling confused and lost after a relationship ends.

While the truth may be uncomfortable for Sammy, writing his narrative through the medium of music has allowed him to grow both his musical skill and his personal confidence. This complex interrogation with discomfort presented through his emotional and deeply personal musical practice will only lead developing artists like himself to gain the needed courage to inspire others and share their music with a much wider audience.

Alex Hau’s Oasis of Serenity and Tranquility

It takes great thinking to answer a question such as the one we were asked today; What is one of the most life-changing and memorable days of your life? With years and years of lessons learned, days filled with joy and happiness, and moments of sorrow, answering this question could be quite challenging.

For Alex, a special day during the global pandemic turned into a day to never forget. After months of social distancing, staying home, and a great deal of uncertainty about the future, Alex found a great escape.

While being shut in a global lockdown, we were all tired of binge-watching the same movies and sitting on our couches. People found new ways of creating pandemic memories despite all our constraints. One great way Alex found to pass the time was to spend a day fishing on the San Joaquin River. No strangers, no technology, and just peace–sounds about the perfect pandemic trip, right? To make this trip happen, Alex convinced three of his closest friends from high school to join him. As they had not seen each other in months, it was an exciting reunion between the four friends.

With lots of planning, the group was up and ready to set out on their fishing trip-except one, still a sleeping beauty in bed. After many calls and alarms, Alex’s friend just would not wake up. With only one option left, they all jumped over the fence and started banging on his window. Sure enough, he was up and ready to go in no time. As 4 am came around, the group of friends was finally prepared to start their day! The drive from Cupertino to

San Joaquin River was just about an hour, allowing them to prep and wake up for their long day on the river. Excited and eager as ever, they finally arrive at the lake. As soon as they get off the car, their moods completely flipped. It was cold and foggy, and all of Alex’s friends just dreamed of going back to sleep in their warm beds. Despite being wholly miserable and numb, Alex reminded his friends how fun this experience would be.

To make the trip fun and stimulating, the group of friends competed to see who would be the first to catch the best fish in the area, the sturgeon. In the beginning, everyone was competitive and anxious to see if someone else would catch the sturgeon first. But as time passed and several hours passed, the group of friends caught the same boring fish, striped bass. Feeling defeated and tired of the cold weather, the group of friends just wanted to leave and go home.

Still enjoying his time on the calm river, Alex had another burst of hope and continued to fish. While sitting there, he felt more at peace than ever before, listening to the water move and leaves blowing in the light breeze. He realized how much he admired the tranquility of water and how much it resonated with him. In Alex’s moment of silence, he was suddenly brought back to reality when a sharp tug on his fishing pole alarmed him. This catch was different than the previous striped bass. It was stronger. It was rougher. It had to be a sturgeon. Thrilled and exhilarated, Alex’s friends immediately jumped up to help him reel in the fish. Thirty minutes later, they still weren’t able to capture this creature. Tired of the fish jumping back and forth, Alex’s friend grabbed the net and scooped the fish out of the water. Unexpectedly, the fish was an extremely large striped bass, not a sturgeon. Disappointing this was, Alex still was proud of his largest catch of the day. It brought the group of friends back together, happy and having a memory to laugh about forever. He was also able to share his catch with his grandparents. Surprising them with such a large striped bass, they all enjoyed a nice dinner together, bringing a long day to a comforting end.

Acheery attitude, bright aesthetic, and motivation for a good work ethic are all admirable qualities that a successful individual should possess. However, those who only recognize these admirable traits seldom recognize the hard work and determination that must exist as the foundation to build up such a strong character. Alexis Gallegos possesses all of these admirable qualities and looks to be on her way to success, but her battle to get to the point where she is today was a hardfought one that occurred not too long ago.

In the Fall semester of her junior year (2022), Alexis began to recognize herself relapsing into a bout of depression. As Alexis recalls, she was able to recognize the symptoms early on due to a previous experience with depression in her junior year of high school.

Depression acts as quicksand:

the farther you fall into the hopelessness of depression, the more di cult it is to try and escape. Learning from past experience, Alexis decided to take action early and made sure that she would prevent herself from falling deeper into the abyss. She rst began to raise her dopamine levels through watching her favorite show, Gossip Girl. While this may seem insigni cant, this is the rst crucial step that Alexis actively took towards resisting depression and taking her life back into her own hands. From there, Alexis began to look introspectively and realized that her priorities did not resonate with how she truly felt.

Growing up in a large supportive family, she knew that she could always ask for support when dealing with problems such as the one that was on her plate. Alexis sought help to get through her current bout of depression, and in doing so she was able to productively organize the priorities in her life. First, she deleted all of the social media on her phone. She determined that social media was not contributing to any of her goals, and that it was much more harmful than helpful to her mental wellbeing. As a result, Alexis’s screen time on her mobile phone decreased signi cantly; meaning her time to do everything else increased signi cantly. She got a new emotional support partner, a little goldendoodle puppy named Leia. Doing so not only gave her a new companion but also allowed her to reconnect with her love of nature/living things. Alexis began to rekindle her love for old passions such as going on hikes and going to the beach, now with more time than ever to get out and embrace nature. The increased free time also allowed her more freedom to explore other passions such as her love for electronic music and curiosity around fashion trends.

Alexis also frequently visited her sister who attends UC Berkeley. Together, they would walk around campus and explore the area, and Alexis came across a bookstore that she felt particularly drawn to. She began to explore their wide selection, eventually nding a passion for reading with the free time she had away from social media. In particular, she enjoyed reading from the vast selection of design books. When back at USC, Alexis began to really coordinate what she needed to explore her career. She joined a variety of clubs that were both helpful but also fun, such as InnoD. She also began to work on her personal branding, designing a website to showcase all of her past work. Even through gathering her stu together, Alexis was able to learn more about herself and began to realize that a marketing emphasis felt right to her rather than purely an emphasis in design. Now, a semester later, she is working hard towards preparing for a Master’s degree in Marketing while still having the time to enjoy reading, nature, fashion, music, and design.

It is important to recognize that Alexis did not always know what the right path was, and she was almost steered entirely in the wrong direction due to the unwelcome presence of depression. However, her strong will to avoid falling into depression’s grasp and her ability to recognize the power of baby steps in the right direction is what ultimately allowed her to get the place she is at today. Her journey is far from over too, and