DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING | Ashleigh Azarraga
DIRECTOR OF WRITING | David Sosa
DIRECTOR OF COPY | Sammie Yen
DIRECTOR OF PHOTO | Fin Liu
DIRECTOR OF DESIGN | Carlee Nixon
DIRECTOR OF MULTIMEDIA | Chiu Yen Vergara
WRITING
India Brown
Emily Cao
Halle Hunt
Amelie Melsness
Claire Sloniewsky
Olivia Smith
Liam Wady
PHOTOGRAPHY
Logan Aparicio
Kamryn Arjoon
Danya Auda
Erin Joe
DESIGN
Nicholas Corral
Zoe Hammer
Taryn Jones
Chelsie Lin
MULTIMEDIA
Franny Bateman
Lyric Campbell
Yuna Chang
Karla Huazano
Keilani Kozen
Mia Gabrielle Juni
Jill Ofodu
FUNDRAISING + PR
Ashleigh Azarraga
Karen Di
Rachel Okwudiafor Johnson
Miya Sugihara
TALENT + CREW
Jayden Adams-Ruiz
Rishika Bathwal
Nik Botex
Maya Campbell
Jillian Chan
Ariel Chang
Saige Chaseky
Meghan Chen
Davon Collier
Mellow Eaton
Seth Elkins
Theo Gkourlias
Kayden-Harmony Greenstein
Nate Greven
Sanya Gupta
Halle Hunt
Adeloluwa Ijidakinro
Alexie Ilaga
Rachel Okwudiafor Johnson
Ellen Landrum
Sophie Lee
Lucciano Luissi
Sira-Marie Mahoi
Jennifer Nguyen
Vera Riabova
Alexxa Riley
Elsa Rochelson
Lexi Rosser
Laks Sajith
Temi Salaam
Ellie Sardar
Jack Stalford
Nigel Steinhart
Bilena Zekarias
Rui Zhang
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4-5 | Letter from the Editors + Creative Director
6-13 | The Code
Liam Wady
The rules queer people hold under their bones.
14-27 | Breaking into the Boys’ Club
Halle Hunt
How far would you go for the game?
28-37 | Algorithm and Blues
David Sosa
How a young artist navigates a shifting industry.
38-49 | Got Game?
Amelie Melsness
Getting play and played on the field.
50-55 | SCene & Heard: The Cards We’re Dealt
Keilani Kozen
Two girls navigating the early-career scaries.
56-65 | The House Always Wins
India Brown
Habits die hard, how will the dice fall?
68-79 | Star-Crossed Lovers
Kayden-Harmony Greenstein
A Bruin and a Trojan. Our modern day Romeo and Juliet.
80-91 | The Roommate Game
Claire Sloniewsky
A different spin on “The Dating Game.”
92-93 | A Word From Our Sponsor
Special thanks to KACE Fruit Tea.
94-103 | Better Moves, Better You
Emily Cao
The game of self-optimization is a daunting project.
104-115 | In Mind, In Motion
Sammie Yen
A jack of all trades is harder than it looks.
116-135 | How to Game Night
Olivia Smith
Play along and see how the night goes. The choice is yours.
136-137 | Behind the SCenes
An exclusive look at our creative process.
In this incredibly last-minute version of my editor’s letter, I’m going to quote my dad. These words somehow migrate into the end of every life-advice conversation we have.
“There are rules and there’s reality.”
As I let you sit with that for a second, I’ll share my interpretation of this one-liner. There are rules: you fill out applications, your assignments or work have deadlines, and there are signs that line the sidewalks or intersections that advise you how to drive.
Then there’s reality: yes, you applied, but you also have been chronically on LinkedIn and connected with other Trojans who gave you a leg up when filling it out. Yes, there’s a deadline, but you reached out to your boss or professor, saying you were struggling and they gave you an extension.
Yes, it’s a red light, but there’s not a “No Turn on Red” sign…
If life is a game, then our choices are our playing pieces. This game is not a means to an end; it’s not that simple to win or lose. The rules that guide, confine, or divide could define our experience or they could be bent.
The reality is, unlike most board games, there is no straight shot to victory. There isn’t a Candyland path to the end or Yahtzee! when it’s finished.
Instead, you get to play a game of Uno with your dad, with the cards you’re dealt and with the rules you you make (and yes, all is fair in love and war). And maybe dad sneaks some extra cards under the deck on his next turn, or the shuffling is rough, but the game is on your terms.
The choice is yours.
(Special thanks to my co & creative, you guys make SCene a reality <3)
I’m going to let you in on a major secret…there is a strategy to winning the lottery.
Everyone, even the little girl at Target lingering by the toy aisle, has wondered the same thing: what they’d do if their numbers were called. It costs money to buy into playing, but it costs nothing to buy into dreaming. The problem is, we tend to imagine how much better our lives could be, fully forgetting that we’ve already won.
For me, getting accepted to USC felt like hearing the TV ring out every number on my ticket. Going on dates with my girlfriend feels like hitting the Powerball again and again. Working on SCene with Solana and Olivia are those scratchoff wins that prove lightning can actually strike twice.
My parents’ love of games taught me never to accept defeat, even when I’m staring it in the face, because there is always a move you haven’t made. Whether it was a chessboard, the plastic instability of Connect Four, or the cardboard battlefield of Stratego, my youth was spent learning how to turn the worst position into a winnable one.
So what about when you’re holding the flimsy, thin paper of a Mega Millions ticket, and everyone insists you’ve paid five dollars to stare defeat in the face?
Simple. Remind yourself you’ve already won.
The lottery might be luck. But seeing the wins already in your life? That’s the strategy.
Just don’t confuse strategy for certainty. Even good players lose. They just know how to keep playing. Whether you choose to use it or keep waiting for the numbers, that part is up to you.
Perhaps the next time you’re scribbling out your number picks for a ticket, you’ll think back to this SCene issue and consider adding an eight.
Games. Most of them come with a rulebook. A marked pamphlet with clear winners and a designated way to play. But college? College often feels less like Candy Land’s rainbow bridge and more like the Hunger Games arena.
After all, competition runs deep here. It’s the invisible hand guiding every social calculation. It’s in every conversation and every casual LinkedIn update. We attend USC, where ambition is both currency and cost.
M
aybe there are moments where you come out victorious. You cross the finish line on that 3,000-word essay submitted at 11:59 p.m. You score above average on a midterm. You get compliments on your outfit, and your project is used as an example in another class. For one fleeting second, you remember why you started playing in the first place.
Nothing about college is stable, and that’s exactly the point. But we keep stacking blocks and showing up even when our pants are wrinkled. The stumbles and the victory are stories worth telling, and that’s exactly what SCene offers.
Now, it’s time to put on your game face. Straighten your tower. Admire the creativity of this semester’s SCene roster. Let the games begin.
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
ven so, there are those other moments, the ones that make you feel like you’ve got the cheese touch. You’re the last kid picked in P.E. all over again, except now the kids wear business casual. Your mealprepped dinner’s gone moldy and your linen pants are wrinkled. You get run into by an electric scooter at the Trousdale crosswalk in front of what feels like the entire USC population. You loudly knock down a chair at a networking event right next to some of the most accomplished professionals in your industry. (Pure hypothetical examples, of course.)
f all the ways to make sense of the wins and losses, I like to think of college as a game of Jenga. You carefully hold your breath, hoping to extract the perfect block, but the tower’s structural integrity was flawed to begin with. But that sigh of relief when you place it on top?
E O N
othing beats the glorious illusion of balance, even when you know it’s temporary.
Written By Liam Wady | Photographed by Danya auda | designed by Taryn jones
ules are meant to be followed, but they are also meant to be bent, shredded, spat on and discarded. They can be both things, or none at all. In their truest essence, rules are meant to exist beneath the length of our bones, rattling along with us through each step.
There are just so many unspoken rules: saying “excuse me” when maneuvering around someone or knocking on someone’s door before entering when a romantic partner is inside. And who can forget the golden rule—treating people how you want to be treated.
There are always rules hammering away at us, and sometimes they differ for certain people.
I am a certain person who realized, once I liked boys in middle school, I didn’t really like myself. I would glance too long at hairy calves and pompous smiles and at the stupid way guys talk in their stupid voices. I was god-awful—wasting away my desire in a pile of gazes. But I was fine with wasting my desire at the time. I felt too ashamed to act. Eventually, I started tricking myself into thinking this would all work out: I would just lie low and attempt to blend in. Maybe not blend in, but just not stick out.
If only it were that simple.
I usually surrounded myself solely with women who were the loudest people in the classroom. I didn’t bother when it came to sports, always worming my way into being the last person to kick in the kickball line. I got along greatly with my English teachers. I waited outside the girls’ bathroom for my friends. I did cross country, and yes, that is the only sport I ever participated in.
And don’t forget the beautiful “gay voice.” Such a pity for me.
There are so many ways I could get caught and sent directly to the lion’s den. But I persisted and followed a code that now takes up space under the length of my bones.
Not being myself was the most important rule. It’s the summary of it all. I didn’t have to think about The Code because it came as naturally as tying my shoes. It was the default condition to please a straight audience.
So, I shall use my words like the knuckles of a punch here: we as queer individuals have been lined up nicely on the cutting board to be diced into squares so straight people can swallow us down easier. But should I even use the word “straight people” as they are mentioned? Or maybe I should summon another name. Maybe the straights or heteros or breeders or “those people” or any name I can swallow down a little more comfortably myself. Maybe I should call them “The Others.” Maybe that will do.
Andy is the first gay male friend I’ve ever had. Writing it down will make me fully believe it for once. Even growing up in Oakland, California, a couple of BART stops away from San Francisco, I was almost completely deprived of other men with similar experiences as mine. With Andy, it’s different, though.
We both laughed after discussing our shared experience of lying to our secondary school teachers about our favorite songs during icebreakers. My pick of the litter was “Unsteady” by X Ambassadors, while Andy’s was “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles. It was so out of character.
One main difference between our experiences is that Andy is more consistent in following his code since being at USC, especially because of his job at the university’s bookstore. Whenever Andy is working the register, he’ll greet the female customers with zero attention to the octaves of his voice, possibly sprinkling a compliment of “I love your necklace” as he scans their items. But with many of the male customers, it’s a different story. He’s reserved and quick with his short “hi.”
Writer Liam Wady ‘27 is from the Bay Area. He studies journalism.
Model Rui Zhang ‘26 majors in East Asian languages and cultures, plus communication, and has a matching tattoo with their mom.
I assumed Andy juggled his code with great difficulty in his Central Valley town of “little dead” Earlimart, but he assured me it was a controlled environment with the same faces every day—a practical “fish tank.”
I saw my move from my own fish tank (my graduating high school class was 65 people) and into the uncharted waters of USC as a chance to remake myself. I spoke more openly about my interest in men in The Others’ spaces and less frequently tweaked my personal interests that sounded “too gay.” I just wanted to like myself a little bit more. But then, I would catch myself dropping my vocal chords below my Adam’s apple or not bothering to correct people when they assumed I was into girls. “You’ve got curls for the girls,” one of my former coworkers told me. And all I did was smile without my teeth and wait for the moment to pass. I thought I was doing better, but I was still biting down.
The Code goes beyond a male, cisgendered landscape. My best friend and roommate, Rachel Barrus, understands the instinct
that is so inherent in queer bodies—the instinct to play our parts. When I first met Rachel with her dyed blond hair and polka-dot blouses, she would gush like a preteen girl about Skylar Gisondo and the boys who wandered into the Parkside dining hall. That was Rachel’s code, as unconscious as it may be. Looking back, Rachel, who identifies now as a lesbian, thinks that she was essentially performing womanhood, saying, “I felt like I was acting out a teen movie of how a straight woman would act. It was really hard for me, because I just felt like I was being dishonest with myself.”
The truest thing about The Code is how dishonest it makes me feel. Even though we follow different codes designed by the way we are perceived in society, Rachel and I are connected through our similar feelings of detachment from our true selves.
Rachel’s partner, E Saravia—who truly has “curls for the girls”—understands how gender and sexuality are molded by perception. E, who is nonbinary, is often mistaken for a boy
since they got top surgery. Because E is often perceived as a man, they’re able to move through the world as one. Rachel said when E is in more “manly spaces,” they become possessed by a frat boy. People often assume that Rachel and E are a straight couple—one of The Others—and men even step aside when E walks by.
It comes more naturally to E now to button up their voice and compose their mannerism within The Others’ spaces, specifically the male-dominated ones. We both follow such a similar code, one that goes beyond the black and white narrative of gender.
E said it was actually the fatal shooting of a transgender man at a bar that convinced them to come out to their mother. They told me they realized they didn’t want to die without being themself, and I had to sit still to control the tears swelling up in my eyes.
All we ask as queer people is the right to exist peacefully. Is that too much to ask? One of the main reasons why we follow our codes is because of safety concerns. Being a gay man
means I have to navigate through society by playing a game of picking and choosing how to act in certain places. But I’m tired of playing this game. So I’ve been trying new decisions by choosing to primarily place myself in spaces where I feel most secure and, most importantly, myself.
I’m trying my best not to “play the part.” I still feel The Code under my flesh, but I don’t want it to completely control me. It’s not The Code, or my code, or this code; it’s their code: The Others’ code that was written for me to follow.
I sometimes feel like people are always sticking Post-it notes on me, stating what they want or don’t want me to be. But what do I want to be? What really is my code? Maybe I should bend, shred, spit on and discard The Code. Maybe I should simply change it to a reminder that I am as normal as The Others. Maybe I will remind myself that until it crawls
Model Adeloluwa Ijidakinro ‘27 majors in theatre with an acting emphasis from Atlanta, Georgia.
BREAKING INTO THE BOYS’ CLUB
WRITTEN BY HALLE HUNT
PHOTOGRAPHED BY ERIN JOE
DESIGNED BY ZOE HAMMER
How far would you go to continue playing the game you fell in love with when you were 12?
Alongside one other girl, I began my rugby journey by joining the local middle school boys’ team. Hooked, I then played at a highly competitive level in high school until I split my head open during the first game of my senior season – prompting a debilitating concussion that took me out of the game for two years. Entering college, I tried distracting myself by diving headfirst into miscellaneous activities, but I couldn’t deny my love for the sport any longer. I rushed to get my Club Sports Pass and sign up for USC Women’s Rugby – all to see the error: Not Found.
So what did I do? I marched up to the USC Men’s Rugby booth at the Lyon Center RecFest and asked, “Would you let a girl join your team?” Eight large men looked at me, confused, as my hands started shaking, my heart began to pound and my face turned red. They responded by saying, “I guess… but you can’t compete with us.” So, I took what I could get and showed up to practice the next day. Throughout the practice, I had to take multiple long, deep breaths – not due to fatigue but due to the nerves generated by 40 boys and three [male] coaches looking at me sideways.
But, man, I missed the sport! I kept showing up to practices, helping them set up the field for their games, going to social events, and somewhere along the way, they finally started to learn my name.
This was also around the time that another woman started attending practices: Hannah “Nelly” Nelson, a rugger of 7 years. As Nelly explains, the team doesn’t “really know what to do with a woman amongst them, but generally, they’ve been really accepting. They’re very cognizant of the differences [between men and women], and that makes me more cognizant.”
Model and writer Halle Hunt ‘26 majors in philosophy and cognitive science and can shear sheep.
AM I MAINTAINING FEMININITY OR PERFORMING FOR THE MALE GAZE?
“It feels like every practice is a tryout – socially and physically.”
Whether it’s as an alien, a friend, a sexual object, or a teammate, I always feel like I’m being watched. Watched with a different eye than just a peer-to-peer relationship. So, when I wear my pink nails, pigtails and waterproof mascara to practice, is it to prove to the men that I am still a woman, or is it to prove to myself that playing what some consider a “masculine” sport does not compromise the strength of my femininity? To be frank, it’s probably both. It can be exhausting to spend hours of my week trying to anticipate how I’m being perceived, and, even more exhausting, how much I should care about that perception.
The easy answer is simply not to care. But the real answer is to figure it out as I go. Because it’s not the closer that I feel to the players that I can begin to feel more comfortable, but it’s when they start viewing me as a teammate that I can let my guard down. Making it feel inevitable that my actions are determined by their perception of me rather than my experiences with them. It feels like every practice is a tryout – socially and physically.
Thirty minutes before practice, like clockwork, I feel the pangs of anxiety in my chest: This will be the day that they decide they don’t need to do their feminist act of the year and keep me on the team. So, what do I do? I arrive almost an hour early to every practice. I set up the field for games that I’m not allowed to play in. I match everyone’s drinks at Rock & Reilly’s (alright, this one I quite enjoy). I go the extra mile. But what are you so worried about, Halle? Didn’t you receive their 2025 Player of the Year Award? Aren’t you the Vice President now? Both true! And, yes, I’m sure many of my anxieties are unfounded. But I can’t help but think that I would not have these honors and responsibilities if I didn’t (and don’t continue to) show up for the team more than almost anyone else.
EXPANDING MY 100%
Ihave fallen in love with the phrase ‘iron sharpens iron.’ Not an hour goes by that I’m not thinking about how I can better myself as a teammate –how I can get to their standard of iron. It’s a rude awakening when I’m reminded that I, personally, will never be the same standard of iron as a 200lb male athlete when we’re wrestling on the ground (try me in a ball chase down the field, and you might get a different answer). There are times, as Nelly explained, that “the feeling of getting picked last in gym class is very present.”
“Men’s rugby is different… but it’s a good different. It’s helping me build skills that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Similar to Nelly, I am grateful that I get to train with other “iron” because nine times out of ten, I am held to the same expectations as everyone else on that field. Of course, I notice that one time out of ten, where eyes scramble and brains fog trying to figure out what to do with me – like Nelly says, some drills feel like we’re in “gender jail.” I have to give grace to their ever-expanding adjustment period to a girl on the team, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy feeling underestimated or unimportant.
HAVE I BEEN ACCEPTED INTO THE BOYS’ CLUB, OR HAVE I SIMPLY DISRUPTED IT?
“To be accepted socially is to be seen less as a woman, and not more of a person.”
eing in primarily feminine spaces for most of my life, I was under the impression that the notion of a “Boys’ Club” was exaggerated or left in the ‘90s. As it turns out, “boys being boys” is alive and well! As I enter my second season with the team, traveling with the guys, going out with them, their guards slowly drop around the elusive “female” on their team. Slurs become more frequent, women are more objectified, and I can’t tell if I’m grateful that they’re comfortable saying their true thoughts in front of me, or if I miss the benevolent sexism that they might call “gentlemanly manners.”
As Nelly puts it, “It’s a bunch of college guys. The way they talk about women is not always something I like, and I guess it’s good that they feel comfortable being open about it… but, at the same time, I am a woman. What do you think of me that you think I’d be okay with what you’re saying?”
Personally, I’m not necessarily convinced that
they’ve become more comfortable with a girl on their team. It often feels that to be accepted socially is to be seen less as a woman and not more of a person. I become conflicted when they tell me that I’m “one of the boys.” On one hand, I’m thrilled to have such a stamp of approval, but on the other, I’m led to question: why do I have to be ‘one of the boys’ to be accepted? What is so devastating about a girl as a girl being your teammate and friend?
But, here I go generalizing! For every comment that prompts a scowl, there are two that make me smile. Whether they know it or not, I notice. I notice the men who open the huddle of conversation when I walk in. I notice the boys who hesitate to pass the ball to me. I notice the men who treat me like a teammate, and I notice the boys who treat me like I’m temporary.
“Why do I have to be ‘one of the boys’ to be accepted? What is so devastating about a girl as a girl being your teammate and friend?”
BREAKING INTO THE BOYS’ CLUB | Halle Hunt
RUGBY’S RUGBY.
“Gender
divides are sewn into the fabric of organized sport, but seam rippers exist!”
So, what exactly have I learned from this experience? That rugby boys secretly love to watch “Too Hot To Handle” in a crammed hotel room. That, with a little convincing, even rugby boys like ribbons in their hair every once in a while. That pitchers of beer are always on the table, even if it’s a Monday. And that gender divides are sewn into the fabric of organized sport, but seam rippers exist!
I don’t always like how I’m treated on the team, and I’ve never liked it when I’m told that ‘no respectable male coach would want to coach a women’s team.’ But I don’t have to like every part of the game to enjoy playing it, and, perhaps with grace and patience, I can begin to change some of the social rules and strategies the more I play.
Oftentimes, gender divides in athletics can promote safe and camaraderie playing environments, but depending on inequitable resources and personal comfort, official and unofficial gender divides can severely limit the goal of a game – to have fun!
As Nelly says, “rugby’s rugby!” So play some f*cking rugby! Joining what some deem a “masculine” sport or a maledominated team as a woman can be empowering, fun and an opportunity to grow in ways you might not have considered before. And, boys, when a woman joins your team, please remember that she is your teammate – treat her like it.
ALGO &
Written by DAVID SOSA • Photographed by FIN LIU • Designed by OLIVIA HAU
RITHM
BLUES
How a young artist navigates a shifting music industry.
Among the worries of songwriters today –– artificial intelligence; high-risk, low-reward concert expenses; and industry gatekeeping –– the advent of Digital Service Providers, also known as streaming services, marks another high hurdle for a young artist to clear.
While some of the biggest artists can credit their success to the algorithms of Spotify or Apple Music, the streamers hold the keys to a more unpredictable music-making future than before. On any given day, a single from years ago can garner millions of streams and literal overnight success.
But that day could never come at all.
“The nice thing about streaming platforms is that it makes it really easy to put out your music, which means a lot more people can listen to it,” said Sofia Gomez, a USC sophomore and musician from Miami, Fla. “I do think it is also oversaturated, which also makes it hard for people to listen. It’s kind of ironic how streaming services work.”
Flash back to 15 years ago, the industry looked a little different. Music CDs were still the primary source for music consumption, Spotify would not launch in the United States for another year and Apple’s de facto music service was iTunes.
Nowadays, streaming services dominate. According to a March 2025 report from market research firm MIDiA Research, streaming revenues made up about 61% of global recorded music revenues in 2024.
Model Meghan Chen ‘26 majors in popular music and prides herself on her completely natural eyebrows.
While the music industry is by no means an easy one to break into, some musicians are finding their own paths to breaking into the mainstream. Sofia, who is majoring in popular music performance and minoring in music industry, has been enjoying a successful year. At the start of the semester, she opened for JID during USC’s Welcome Back concert as one of three student musicians.
Years’ worth of hustling and writing contributed to that moment Sofia took to the stage. For as long as she could remember, she had her eyes set on music. Singing was a sixth sense for Sofia and something she did as young as 4 years old. Everyone around her took notice; her principal invited her to sing the national anthem at school. (While recounting the experience, she said, “Do I remember this happening? No, but they told me the story now that I'm older.”)
Serendipitously, Sofia went from singing along to “American Idol” singers to landing an audition for “American Idol” at 17 following a fateful Instagram direct message from an executive producer she initially thought was too good to be true.
Getting to audition in front of Katy Perry, Lionel Ritchie and the rest of the judges was an eye-opener. It also marked the first time she realized a music career was possible on a professional level and did not have to be limited to a hobby solely for the ears of friends and family.
Since then, Sofia learned how to maintain consistency between her online persona and her on-stage presence, a point she stresses is essential in how she carries herself as an artist.
“I don't want there to be a separation between myself and my artistry. I want that to feel like it's like one thing, which is why I kept my own name,” she said. “I don't have a stage name. I feel like my whole brand and my whole thing is that I want to wear my heart on my sleeve, especially as a songwriter.”
Finding herself in a considerably good spot career-wise, Sofia decided to focus on simply getting better. During what she called her “gap year” from releasing music, she dedicated her sophomore year to learning and writing, whether for herself or others. However, for an up-and-coming artist like Sofia, navigating a shifting landscape like the streaming world can present challenges that did not exist years ago.
ALGORITHM AND BLUES | David Sosa
“As a musician, you can't really live off of just streaming. Which I think is a problem.
I should be able to live off my music.
But instead, you have to live off your brand.
You have to not only put out music, but you have to have brand deals…I think that it's very hard and we should be getting paid more for streaming services.”
Fortunately for Sofia, the DSPs and their algorithms have so far worked in her favor. As of writing, Sofia’s 2023 single “159 Days” is sitting at about 750,000 streams on Spotify, while the music video on YouTube sits at about 34,000 views.
The song itself is a breakup anthem about a one-sided relationship, where Sofia “Was a chapter of his book” and “He was the title of mine,” she sings in the first verse. It’s the sort of subject matter that young popstars such as Olivia Rodrigo and Selena Gomez have made entire careers out of, the former’s “drivers license” being the most recent and apparent example.
But, “159 Days” did not find steady listening numbers from streaming services alone. Sofia also believes there is more to promoting yourself online than simply dropping music on DSPs. For most emerging artists, TikTok has become a major outlet for song announcements, interacting with fans or sudden surges in popularity, sometimes for simply 15 seconds of a track.
That may be true in some cases. But another platform ended up being a launchpad for “159 Days” and its subsequent takeoff.
“The reason [“159 Days”] did so well on streaming services was because it went semi-viral on Instagram Reels, which is so random. On TikTok, it got I think half a million views. But it was Reels that was really getting me that reach,” said Sofia. “The algorithm for me on Instagram is so much better than TikTok.”
To get to that point, Sofia developed a following on Instagram through covers of hit songs, day-in-the-life videos and glimpses into her creative process. 15 or 20 years ago, most, if any, artists’ interaction with fans would be limited to crowd work at concerts or an obscure blog post accessible today via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
While Sofia recognizes the value of a developed brand, she thinks it comes at the cost of labels and other people of interest in the music industry overlooking the music itself.
“A label won't look at you unless you have a bunch of followers,” said Sofia.
“People have stopped looking at the art for the art and how good it is and have only looked at the numbers you make on social media.
Writer David Sosa ‘26 studies journalism. He performed in a Clippers’ halftime show in 2014.
Written by Amelie Melsness
Photographed by Kamryn Arjoon
Designed by Carlee Nixon
GETTING PLAY AND PLAYED ON THE FIELD
Game, the ability to successfully attract your sexual or romantic interest, is a skill that is hard to pin down. A varying concoction of intuition, chemistry and charisma (shortened to the monosyllabic colloquialism “rizz”) is often required, but the rules of the game—and how to play it—are overarchingly enigmatic.
At USC, we are especially enthralled with game: its touchdowns and fumbles, its shameless players, pitiful piners and persistent go-getters. We may work hard, but we play even harder. We play to win.
Despite the game’s mystifying nature, we try to simplify it into strategies and psychologies, pointing to stats and forecasts for ultimate success. So, without further ado…
Let’s play ball.
Drafting the Roster
Well, not quite. You first need to choose the players.
Some of us don’t put much thought into our rosters. Maybe you make eye contact and hear wedding bells, or stalk them ever so slightly, romanticizing the fact that they play the guitar. (Run. Run for your life.) Maybe you see a baddie at a frat party and immediately decide you’re gonna stagger your drunken self over to them.
You scribble down your suitors, adding them to an everevolving list. As the inescapable Taylor Swift sings, “I’ve got a blank space baby… And I’ll write your name.”
The more players on your roster, the more games there are to dribble. And we love that thrill. The adrenaline of charged looks and uninhibited imagination makes life, well, electric.
A number of us resort to the slot machine: dating apps. A cushioned court for courtship, there are no misses, just dopamine hits or blissful ignorance. But as those nondescript names and faces pile into your matches, they blur together, and split-second hopes become a graveyard of what couldn’t be.
(I’ve unearthed my own matches, and there are approximately 200 sorry souls rotting in swipe-right purgatory across platforms.)
Zombies resurrect from the necropolis, slinking down Trousdale in broad daylight and a Stüssy shirt. You may
GOT GAME? | Amelie Melsness
The defensive move is to tactfully… do nothing. You may not have their number, Instagram, Snap or their address to send a carrier pigeon. But if it’s meant to be, you’ll bump into them in a serendipitous meet-cute and finally catch their name.
Or at least, make it seem like you’re doing nothing. The trick is putting happenstance in your own hands. They repost party deets on their story? You were planning on going anyway. You see them about to head up the dorm building stairs? Pretend you don’t and climb a few steps ahead so they can spot you first. “Oh, hey!” you say as you turn around, swishing your hair. “Didn’t see you there!”
(Hot girls employ this method. I’d know.)
Tails: Offense
You don’t wait for a miraculous run-in. You’re a scoring slugger in any setting: parties, class, Insta DMs, the dining hall, the line at Target or a club meeting.
But, it’s not a race. You strike up a casual convo and walk them home, or slice them a brownie from a large batch you baked. You sneak in a flirty line if you’re feeling cheeky. It’s cute and better yet, natural. Good things don’t happen all at once.
Model Janelle-Paige ‘26 is from Los Angeles. She has a pet bunny named Stella and dog named Tofu.
Amelie Melsness ‘27 is a public relations and advertising major. She started writing when she was nine.
Writer
Or you do what I like to call flirting at those unlucky souls the huzz.
Exhibit A: At my inaugural college party, a determined junior business major said I looked like Laufey after demanding my name, year and major. When I commented that I love her music (somewhat hyperbolically), he started verbally accosting me.
“TOP 5 SONGS? YOU GOT TOP 5? WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5 SONGS? LAUFEY SONGS?”
Needless to say, I made my overdressed escape, platform heels passing yard lines at a running back’s pace.
In the vein of clumsy confrontation, I’ve compiled a peer-reviewed qualitative study called the Hinge Opener Hall of Shame (fabricated for LEGAL PURPOSES):
However the coin lands, you gotta get’cha head in the game before things get intense. (Gotta get’cha get’cha get’cha get’cha head in the game!)
If you’re a hit-and-quitter, you dust your hands off after getting that sweet touchdown. Walk it off and hit the showers, buster. You’re done for the night. *You jump into my embrace in GOOOAAAL-like celebration, our noses a mere millimeter apart in an
But for those of us here for the long run, what comes after all that? You gotta get a grip to keep the
The Ghost
They disappear in a puff of smoke, so you work your ouija board.
The KICC
Aka the “keep it casual cool,” aka they want to duck you without taking a hit. (They’ll tell you they don’t want a relationship in college, then post their anniversary a month later.)
You scream into your pillow, then look up to the skies like that Willem Dafoe At Eternity’s Gate meme. You are NOT getting a grip. Not knowing where you stand
So you FaceTime your friends and share your screen to give them a play-by-play of texts and minute interactions. Y’all chart meanings and extrapolations from time stamps, manifesting destinies with mantras and mass-produced crystals.
The Existential Spiel
They have to “find themselves” and take shrooms in the mountains or whatever.
The ironic thing is, these fouls require you to be in competition with your goal person.
As you near the final quarter, you ask yourself: Is this what I wanted? Am I feeling overjoyed, or is it the anxiety rattling in my concussed brain?
Model Raghav Sinha ‘28 is from Chicago. He ran a 10k in Nike dunks and placed second.
eviscerated.
You may feel lost if the game doesn’t go your way and need time to recoup. That’s fine. Not everything has to play out perfectly. Most things don’t.
The commodification of romance may have subconsciously indicated otherwise, that it’s some high-stakes competition that boils down to a final score within a strict structure. You’re either team Conrad or Jeremiah, Edward or Jacob, Aiden or Mr. Big. Love Island and The Bachelor reframes moments and restrict possibilities, pitting suitors against each other to increase intrigue. The gamified architecture of dating apps catalyzes dopamine hits to motivate paid subscriptions. Crystals are bought and AI is chatted with in times of desperate need.
But that isn’t real life. Real life is in the moment. Real life is you, them and your friends laughing at you in the corner.
Feel fully. Get messy, and I mean M-E-S-S-I. Put it all out there. It’s supposed to be fun. It’s a bunch of grown people chasing each other for a ball, for God’s sake.
SCene and Heard with KEILANI KOZEN
Keilani is joined by Katie Havens, a senior journalism student, to discuss how the two navigate the game of being in their early career.
Want to listen in on the full conversation? Find out what happens next on SCene and Heard, a SCene Magazine podcast.
THE CARDS WE’RE DEALT
Note: The transcript has been cut for brevity.
KEILANI: At the end of the day, life’s a game. I had this idea for an episodic series where I get insights from USC students and explore how the game looks different for everyone, depending on the choices we make and the resources we bring into it.
KATIE: Describing it as a game is just a perfect analogy, because it really is. My philosophy has always been to fake it till you make it, and I’m constantly doing that. I’m sure other people are too. I have no clue what I’m doing, even though it might seem like I do. We all have something to learn from each other.
KEILANI: I fully agree. You’re a senior, you’re basically at the finish line. But looking back, how did you feel coming into USC as a journalism major? Did you have any experience going into it? Did you know what you were getting yourself into, or were you just kind of like, “Well, I’m here, let’s just see what happens.”
KATIE: I could not have had less of a clue. I transferred in after my freshman year, so I was undecided for the entire first year. When it came time to fill out my applications and choose a major, I had no idea. I just thought, “Well, I like to write, so I guess I’ll do that.” Then I showed up at USC and found out it’s one of the most renowned journalism schools in the country and that many students already had journalism experience. It was really intimidating because I was thinking, “I have no experience, and I don’t even know if this is what I want to do.” It felt kind of like I was in limbo. I think it took me a while to kind of find my footing.
backgrounds, mean everyone starts with different advantages and different “stats” that can really shape the experience. Sometimes it even feels like they can make or break it. But we are here to level up and build our skills so we can reach our overall end goals, even though that path looks completely different for each of us.
KATIE: Yeah, I’m on my own path, and I can take it at my own pace in a way that feels right for me. I don’t need to focus on what other people are doing or make myself feel worse because of it. You can’t do everything perfectly, and that’s okay.
KEILANI: I’m really glad you mentioned that, because sometimes I consider myself pretty extensively involved. But then there are moments when I look at other students, and on paper, it seems like they’re doing way more than me.
: I’m sure everybody feels that, which is the crazy part, because we’re all stuck in our own little bubble. But when we actually talk to each other and realize we’re all feeling the same way, it feels a little bit more comforting.
: It is very reassuring. Coming into [USC], did you feel overwhelmed? For me, it almost felt like there were too many resources. There was always a career fair or a company visiting, and I was thinking, it’s barely the third week of school and I’m already supposed to be thinking about all this. Did you have a similar experience?
KATIE: Well, networking is the biggest thing in journalism. Anyone would tell you that, but it is really intimidating… You’re kind of coming in blind, or at least that’s how it felt for me. I think the way that I built myself up was by being ready to listen to people who did know things, learning from them, and then gaining confidence in my skills from there… I think it’s a gradual thing, and it takes time. When you realize that everybody’s here to learn, it takes some of the stress off of it.
KEILANI: Yeah, absolutely. Going on to our next topic, over your time here at USC, how has your current skillset helped you or even hurt you?
KATIE: I knew how to write, I knew how to speak to people, but I wasn’t confident, and that’s what really hurt me. I think now that I exude more confidence in what I’m doing, it makes me feel like I have more skills, even though I always knew how to speak to people…
KEILANI: That makes a whole lot of sense.
KATIE: Not to flip the interview on you, but I am curious. Since you’re a Viterbi major, what made you want to be a part of SCene?
KEILANI: I think I found the Instagram and thought, “Wait, this looks really cool.” Last fall, I joined the Daily Trojan and stayed with it for a year. Then, in the spring, I took on a bunch of journalismrelated stuff…I fell in love with the aesthetic on Instagram, and I loved the teasers and the theme reveal. So I applied for the multimedia team and saw they had a podcast position. That’s basically the Viterbi-to-SCene pipeline. Have you done anything outside of your comfort zone? Have you ever had to make any sacrifices in order to win, whether that meant sacrificing your personal integrity or…
KATIE: That’s a good question. It’s tricky with journalism because it’s so interpersonal. There’s a lot on the line sometimes, making sure you don’t hurt people in the process and weighing the pros and cons of putting certain information out. I’m aware that this is a choice every journalist probably has to make at some point. As for my future, I’m not quite sure what I want to do, but I want to do something impactful and something that helps the greater good. I want to make sure that what I’m doing is ethical. When you put something out, it’s out there, you know?
Even when you are off the clock, it’s like, “Oh, this is an opportunity.” I know you mentioned that there is still some uncertainty in your future, which is obviously more than okay. I feel like, as a society, we need to destigmatize that more. This is a very subjective and arbitrary question, but as of now, do you feel you’ve won?
KATIE: I think it’s kind of hard to measure, and there is always the next thing to be doing. I don’t love this part of what I study or what I do, but you finish one thing and people are like, “Oh, great, here’s the next thing to do.” It never stops, and I never have time to think, “That was a good thing I put out.” I just start focusing on the next task or the next problem I have to fix. I don’t really have the time to think about whether I’ve won or not, because there is always more to win. And I think that’s great, because I’m not someone who wants to feel satisfied. I always want to keep going and keep getting better. So the answer is yes and no. I’m happy with where I am right now, but I’m also excited to keep gaining more knowledge…But sometimes I do want a moment to recognize that I have made achievements.
KEILANI: We don’t know the impact it’s going to have on the people who view it or read it or watch it. This applies to any field, but… at the end of the day, you’re just doing your job. There is a degree of responsibility, but at the same time, there are some things that are outside of your control.
KEILANI: It completely alters your brain chemistry, because that becomes your mindset.
KEILANI: Yeah, you want the opportunity to celebrate your success and bask in it. But because there’s always something new to do, I find myself fixating on my mistakes instead of my successes, too. It’s funny, because last week I was on the phone with my mom, and I was thinking that even though I’m not exactly where I want to be in terms of skill set or job, that doesn’t discount everything else I’ve done. It’s so easy to focus on what you don’t have instead of everything you’ve already accomplished.
KATIE: I’d be concerned if you were already where you wanted to be after only three years of college. You can be accomplished and still not be exactly where you want to be. We’re all just trying to do our best and make it, whatever that looks like, and we need to keep having these conversations. There’s always something to learn from other people.
KEILANI: For sure. Everyone really is on their own path at the end of the day, and there’s no rush. We should enjoy it while we can.
THE HOUSE
Written by India Brown
Aparicio
Designed by Carlee Nixon
Photographed by Logan
ALLWAYS WINS S
THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS | India Brown
Perhaps a familiar scene comes to mind. A hazy backroom. A handsome green felt poker table splashed with a rainbow of six-stripe chips, crowded by a dozen men in glossy jackets. Tension hangs in the air as thick as the smoke from Cuban cigars, which themselves are pincered by knuckles dressed in gold signet rings and hair. Maybe women circle on the periphery, serving trays of canapés and liquor as dark and deep as the players’ pockets.
It’s sexy, illicit, rich — an embellished portrait of gambling that may very well exist beyond the silver screen, though I myself couldn’t say. I learned to play poker at age nine on the floor of my bedroom with Hershey’s Kisses for currency. I quit after I ate all my chips, leaving my father and brother to finish the game.
My general, novice perception of gambling — which is to say gambling as an industry, separate from the minute risks we calculate and take every day — falls into two opposing camps: the glitzy allure of Las Vegas casinos, and the sobering reality of addiction. Both seem to parlay our innate attraction to thrill and recklessness into a cultural image, whether that be one of financial prowess or irresponsibility.
Whichever camp you belong to as a player might have more to do with how much money you can afford to burn than anything else. I view these disparate associations as a bell curve, on which that feeling of dazzling exhilaration teeters atop a fragile peak that can just as quickly descend into a serious problem.
My simple distillation of gambling began to deepen when a boy at my high school won a rumored $600,000 on a sports betting app, off an alleged $20 wager. The news captivated the student body, and the boy soared to popularity, earning the respect of upperclassmen and the social status of prom king. Apparently, online betting had been a favored pastime of the young men at my school, unbeknownst to me or any girls I was friends with.
Model Jayden Adams-Ruiz
‘27 majors in acting and is from Norfolk, Virginia.
Two realizations emerged from this: one, that gambling seemed to be a predominantly male activity, and two, that it came with a unique kind of taboo. In gambling, you’re heralded if you win and siloed if you lose, even in games completely based on luck. I don’t think the boy at my high school would’ve been socially received so well if he’d lost half a million dollars. In fact, he’d probably be regarded as immature, out of touch, and irresponsible. Are cigarette smokers met with pride when they don’t get lung cancer?
On my bell curve of gambling habits, a new point surfaced somewhere between the glamorous poker player and the debt-ridden addict: the casual young man, bound to the game by social forces, akin to the weekend drinker or occasional smoker. He wasn’t indulging in lavish, high-stakes games, and he wasn’t wagering away his life savings. Did he hit the sweet spot? Did he strike an impossible balance between risk and safety, thrill and control, excess and restraint? And most importantly, why was he always a man?
“Shame is, of course, intrinsic to any addiction, but with what other vice is that shame predicated on the skill of the user or the outcome of the activity?”
When I arrived at USC, these groups of guys manifested themselves in neat divisions along 28th Street, organized by fraternity affiliation and united in the simple pursuit of harmless, “degenerate” fun (their word, not mine). Again, the gender binary seemed striking. On any given night, there is a high chance that a group of frat guys is gathered in someone’s room, playing a game of poker or betting on sports or watching the endless scroll of online slots. I’d put money on the fact that no sorority house is as enraptured by gambling, or even participating in it at all. Safe bet, right? But why?
I decided to try to talk to some of these men in an effort to understand what the appeal is and why gambling is so entrenched in masculinity or male camaraderie. After all, I, too, could download Stake, ReBet, PrizePicks or FanDuel, some of the many online casino and sports betting apps — yet I am utterly uninterested in them. Sure, a trip to the Bellagio with a few hundred spare bucks sounds fun, but that seems a far cry from scrolling alone in your room, wagering meager dollars on a sporting event in a different timezone. While I waited for a couple of young men to finish their poker games and text me back, I consulted some experts.
“There’s something about a young male athlete that’s driven by competition, dopamine and beating an opponent, and the gaming companies have figured out how to plug into that.”
“My program has been going on for almost three years, and it’s about 95-96% men,” Dan Field, clinical director for Westside Gambling Treatment Center, told me over the phone. “The cliché is that women are escape gamblers. That is, they tend to play slots, and they don’t really crave the action as much. Men like games like blackjack and craps and sports betting, which often target a male audience.”
It made sense to me that gambling, essentially the gamification of risk-seeking, would reflect the gender disparities of the preexisting industries it piggybacks off of — in this case, sports. My female friends and I would have no reason to bet on a match we wouldn’t watch in the first place. But I wasn’t satisfied with such a trim and tidy answer. Still in limbo with the frat guys, I probed the experts further, certain there must be something deeper beneath the surface.
Professor of public policy Jason Doctor, who specializes in decision making under uncertainty within healthcare, explained that a variety of factors contribute to the gender binary I noticed manifest in USC Greek life gambling— namely, boredom.
THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS | India Brown
Model Seth Elkins ‘26 majors in theatre and is afraid of ferrets.
“If people are bored, they’re more likely to gamble. And if you’re talking about a fraternity situation, there’s a lot of effort to always put on entertainment in some form, whether it’s watching sports or having a party. So gambling becomes this kind of way to fight boredom by making it more exciting. There may be more to it than just your attitude towards winning or losing money.”
Doctor also told me that men are more likely to increase their gambling under the influence of alcohol, whereas studies haven’t found that same effect for women. He said that a sense of taboo might condition women to view gambling with judgment among themselves, having not been the target consumer for media that glamorizes the activity. Young men may grow up with fathers who gamble regularly, cementing and normalizing the practice as a mainstay of masculinity. Women don’t see other women gamble as much, so we assume there is an implicit, unspoken reason why we shouldn’t.
At this point in my reporting, there was only one stone left unturned. I needed to actually speak to these young men I’d been talking about. The problem was: none of them wanted to have a conversation with me, and the ones who did finally agree to be interviewed asked to remain anonymous. They assured me that they were not ashamed, per se, of their gambling habits, but rather weary of their names appearing in this article on the off chance that any future finance employers are reading SCene.
Less than ideal for a journalist, but their insights weren’t particularly revealing, anyway, given my conversations with experts. They corroborated what I’d already heard: poker games are commonly held several times a week, with relatively low buy-ins. No grave amount of money is lost or won. It’s social and more exciting than, let’s say, watching a movie — it’s a way to up the stakes of an otherwise chill hangout without risking anything real. Sports betting is huge, especially among young men keen on statistics and specific teams or athletes.
Do these boys worry about harmless habits spiraling into serious addiction? For the most part, no. But they did heavily emphasize that Greek life is neither the beginning nor the end of their gambling. It’s not the fraternity they rushed that keeps them in the game. It’s the one they were born into.
Writer India Brown ‘27 is a journalism major. She is also a part of KXSC and the Daily Trojan.
StarCrossed Lovers
WRITTEN BY
KAYDEN-HARMONY GREENSTEIN
PHOTOGRAPHED BY LOGAN APARICIO DESIGNED BY ZOE HAMMER
Colloquially known as the “Mickey to Mickey flight,” the route from Orlando to Los Angeles is rarely quiet. Every seat is taken, the overhead bins are filled to the brim and each row contains at least one crying child wearing a pair of rodent ears. The plane itself is internationally-sized, the kind with three aisles that seem to stretch forever and make you pray that you’re not seated in the back. I’ve flown it enough times to know what’s coming. The nauseating smell of sunscreen as the plane fills like a tin can of sunburned sardines returning home from their vacation to the theme park capital of the world. For me, this flight isn’t the end of a vacation; it’s the transportation back to my other life. The flight I take to go back to college, and most importantly, back to my girlfriend.
This past August, I boarded the plane with my usual strategy in mind: watch enough engaging movies to fill up the entire flight. I essentially program my own inflight Sundance. After a round of polite apologies and awkward sidesteps through the four-seat aisle, I was finally able to set my sights on the screen directly in front of me. I braced myself for the usual in-flight worries: turbulence, bathroom breaks and retrieving my bag from the overhead. I had not expected to worry about a simple question: what brings you to Los Angeles?
Writer and model Kayden-Harmony ‘27 majors in media arts and practice and can play guitar behind her head.
“Yes, I’m actively living out some high school theater teacher’s modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet.”
The man to my right, who I assumed had understood my polite “let’s not have a conversation” head nod, asked the question as we taxied. He looked to be in his early 60s, and I told him I was returning to USC for the semester. His eyes lit up. With youthful excitement, he exclaimed (far too loudly for a plane), “I’m a Trojan too!” Having had my fair share of Ubers back to campus covered by generous alumni, I knew the Trojan network had its ways. So I leaned in, not entirely opposed to seeing where this conversation would lead. Then came the usual, “Oh man, f*ck the Bruins!” I met his school pride with a shy smile and a quick Fight On. Then, certain I’d agree, he confidently said, “I bet you find Bruin men as repulsive as I find Bruin women. God, they’re ugly.”
This was new and for a second, I didn’t know which correction was scarier: telling him that he’d misread my sexuality, though he wasn’t entirely wrong that I find Bruin men repulsive, it’s really just men in general, or revealing that I was, in fact, dating a Bruin. The truth is, the person I love most wears blue and yellow. Yes, I’m actively living out some high school theater teacher’s modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet.
I didn’t go into college planning to have a scandalous affair across enemy lines. For most of my freshman year, I fell for the propagandized ideology that dating a Bruin would fundamentally go against what it means to be a Trojan. But, as it turns out, attraction doesn’t respect the boundaries of football rivalries. Still, that doesn’t make the rivalry any less exhausting.
Dating a Bruin feels like coming out all over again. When I meet new people, I find myself calculating if it’s safe to reveal that I’m dating the “enemy.” I can’t even play the “I forgot to bring a change of clothes” card to steal my girlfriend’s hoodies, because showing up on campus wrapped in UCLA blue is viewed as treason amongst Trojans. You’d think game day would be the perfect couples activity. The cute carousel rivalry post, ending with the two of you kissing under a cheesy caption like “love wins [except on game day.]” In theory, it’s romantic. In practice, it’s an anxiety-inducing negotiation of loyalty. Where do you sit? Who do you cheer for? You don’t want to sit apart, because parting is such sweet sorrow or whatever, but you also wouldn’t be caught dead wearing blue. And you definitely don’t want her getting ripped to shreds for wearing it in the Trojan section.
STAR-CROSSED LOVERS | Kayden-Harmony
Model Elsa Rochelson ‘27 majors in theater design and production at UCLA. She loves masc lesbians.
“But the only time in my life that I’ve ever felt I’ve truly belonged is when I’m with my Bruin.”
In truth, it’s all a little ridiculous. College pride trains us to believe that belonging only counts if it excludes someone else. Cheering for one thing automatically means hating another. We’re sold merch that tells us who we are, but also who we’re supposed to root against. As a newly indoctrinated freshman, I insisted that I’d never dare date a Bruin. I bought into the compulsive need to form an identity as a Trojan by creating and hating the “enemy.”. It wasn’t enough to simply say I go to USC; I had to feel like I was part of a culture at USC. So, like many, I fell headfirst into the rivalry. Even now, I still get lost in the excitement before a game, in the sea of cardinal and gold that floods the Village every fall, and in the familiar comfort of cheering for a team amongst thousands of others.
But the only time in my entire life that I’ve ever felt I’ve truly belonged is when I’m with my Bruin. The very person the school I love has engineered me to be against.
WRITTEN BY Claire Sloniewsky
PHOTOGRAPHED BY Fin Liu
DESIGNED BY Taryn Jones
From the University of Southern California, the dating capital of the world, it’s...
The Dating Game!
[cue enthusiastic crowd applause and “Spanish Flea” by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass].
Though this 1960s romance television show jingle plays repeatedly only in my head, it has become the soundtrack to my Instagram DMs since committing to USC. Contrary to popular belief, the most difficult part of becoming a college student in an unfamiliar place isn’t cramming as many seemingly impressive grades and extracurriculars as possible into the Common Application, and it isn’t the whole “getting accepted” part of the process. For me (and every other anxious freshman at USC), it’s finding the perfect roommate.
is currently undeclared and once had a pet monkey
Model Sira-Marie Mahoi ‘29
My USC acceptance story is funny, mostly because I wasn’t supposed to come here in the first place. After months of deferrals and a dramatic rejection from my Early Decision school (all on the East Coast), I rolled the dice and opened my University of Southern California acceptance alone in my car in the parking lot of my local Walgreens. As excited as I was, my next move was figuring out how to meet people from across the country. I was determined to meet as many West Coast and international students as possible and put a certain amount of pressure on myself to live entirely new experiences, especially when committing to a private school with such diverse student life.
Partially on a whim and a creeping sense of urgency, I decided to enter the dating pool that is the @uscclass.2029 Instagram account, filled with profiles of other roommate hopefuls. Sending a post to the account is equivalent to creating a dating profile, as you choose all of your best photos and advertise niche interests with the
intention of selling the best version of yourself to the internet’s most eager USC newcomers. Mine went exactly like this: “Hi! I’m Claire, and I’m from Long Island, New York. I’m not 100% committed to USC, but it is definitely my first choice. I’m planning on majoring in English and love reading, baking, going to concerts, listening to podcasts and going to the beach! I can’t wait to make more friends and possibly find a roommate. Please feel free to reach out!”
I mean, could my post get any more predictable? I even included a picture of my cat on the last slide. Every other person’s post sounded exactly like mine. Everyone was always “extroverted and introverted,” “likes to go out, but also stay in,” “considering rushing, but isn’t sure yet.” @uscclass.2029 was a sea of carbon copies, and I was one of them. I decided to DM almost everyone who posted. Suddenly, I became the chooser, or Bachelorette (classic “Dating Game” terminology). My inbox was stacked with mystery contestants.
If you’ve never watched “The Dating Game,” or have never used Instagram DMs to find a long-term living partner (basically the same thing), here’s how it goes: the chooser asks each of the contestants a list of questions, to which they each give different answers. Think: “If we went on a date, where would you take me?” The chooser then picks which contestant to take on a future date based on their responses, and the winners are announced. In my case, instead of a date, the prize was a future dorm roommate.
My go-to questions were:
1. Where are you from?
2. Was USC your first choice?
3. Have you ever visited?
4. Why USC?
5. What’s your major?
6. Why that major?
Most conversations stayed entirely surface-level and ended when one person ghosted. Some interactions were unexpected, like asking me to be their roommate after our first conversation, or only continuing the conversation if I said yes to joining a sorority.
I received one notification from someone who hadn’t posted, but had seen my profile and messaged me first. About five minutes into the usual, superficial conversation, she admitted to having stalked my post about a recent Childish Gambino concert in New York that she also attended. Still surface-level?
Model Ellie Sardar ‘29 majors in dramatic arts and has been to all 50 states
Model Jillian Chan ‘29 majors in BFA acting and grew up in a family that fosters babies
THE ROOMMATE GAME| Claire Sloniewsky
I was intrigued and excited to have a real conversation. And so came Genna: an extroverted, “Dancing with the Stars” enthusiast from Manhattan. Unlike me, she is never nervous to order her food from a restaurant. She’s obsessed with the Starbucks pumpkin chai (add oat milk) and has an addiction to vacuuming the dorm (which she claims is untrue and only necessary when combating crumbs). Spoiler alert: her first message was the end of my experience playing “The Dating Game” in my DMs and the beginning of befriending my new roommate.
When Genna and I continued messaging, our conversations went differently from they had with the other contenders I’d been talking to. We didn’t feel the need to discuss our “Why USC?” answers, but instead learned each other’s traumatic high school experiences. She learned the name of every person who had “wronged” me, and I knew the name of every person in her high school class (only 80 students). We texted about our love for New York bagels, the music artists topping our Spotify Wrapped, our emotions towards moving thousands of miles away from home and the firm decision to never turn on the dorm’s big lights (fairy lights only). I felt comfortable expressing my opinions about room preferences and the clubs and organizations I hoped to join. We even related to one another about our difficulties in finding the right roommate. Genna’s experience was not unlike my own, and my informal interview with her proved that.
“I remember the second I reloaded my Instagram, just a week after getting accepted into USC,” she said. “I think my intention was to find someone who wanted to socialize, as well as prioritize their alone time. My advice when finding a roommate is to find someone similar to you, but not exactly the same. I’m grateful for our friendship, the dorm’s fairy lights and the conversations I could have never expected from Instagram.”
Four months before move-in day, I showed Genna all my cards when I asked her to meet me in New York City. We then officially became roommates and chose each other as winners of our version of “The Dating Game.” I’m not saying that Instagram roommate hunting is always a success. I’ve heard countless horror stories about roommate switch-ups and constant bickering. All I know is that there’s a possibility that the online search works. How else are you going to find someone who will go great lengths to get Swedish candy and Cava with you in the city upon first meeting in person? Failed DMs, surface-level connections and a terrible list of six questions are the only ways I’ve found to meet someone who will feel right in all of those categories and amongst all mystery contestants. If you don’t play, you’ll never win the game.
This is Claire Sloniewsky saying see you next time on The Dating Game, and straight ahead.
Claire Sloniewsky ‘29 is currently studying English. She is from Long Island.
THE ROOMMATE GAME| Claire Sloniewsky
Writer
KACE brings a fresh take on Taiwanesestyle iced tea—where real brewed tea is shaken with real fruit juice for a refreshing experience. Founded by Ashley Yao and Kyle Gillaspy, KACE draws from their Taiwanese and Filipino roots to create ready-to-drink fruit teas that celebrate authentic Asian flavors in every sip.
Written by Emily Cao
BETTER BETTER YOU MOVES,
Photographed by Danya Auda
Designed by Nicholas Corral
AGoogle Calendar with days stacked like Tetris blocks. A personal hardship turned into a LinkedIn post or Instagram reel. A watch that tells you the time and how many calories you burned during a workout. Lists of tasks, books and goals with the promise of a better person at the end of it – someone more fit, more productive, more enlightened.
It can be hard not to see ourselves as one big, unfinished project, or perhaps pawns in an unending game of 4D chess. It’s a game that has a single objective: to make better moves than you did yesterday.
Writer Emily Cao ‘27 studies journalism and narrative studies. She is also the Daily Trojan’s Features editor.
“SELFOPTIMIZATION IS AS MUCH ABOUT PERFECTION AS THE STATE OF PROGRESS ITSELF.”
CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER: CRAFTING SELF-IDENTITY
Self-optimization, according to sociologists Daniel Nehring and Anja Röcke, is a set of discourses and practices that push for continuous self-growth, involving the pursuit of the “optimal, imaginable version” of our bodies, our mental and emotional states and how we move through the world.
Freshman film & television production major Vera Riabova is a social media influencer who garnered a following by posting content about positivity and self-love. As a lifestyle influencer, she both practices and preaches self-optimization to her tens of thousands of followers, scoring brand deals along the way.
Like many influencers, Vera is hyper-aware of the role algorithms play in pushing her content to the right audience. She leans into it, developing a strong personal brand as a positive lifestyle guru, complete with day-in-the-life, workout and travel content.
“My ideal follower is someone that cares about fashion, cares about beauty, well, just overall, cares about the image that they [convey] to other people. Also, cares about sports, cares about taking care of themselves, or romanticizing life and focusing on the good side of life,” Vera said.
Vera’s promotional content includes a range of self-improvement products like teeth whitening and dorm organizing, though she is selective about which brand deals to take.
“I don’t want just a bunch of random brands who don’t have the same values as me,” she said.
Being a lifestyle influencer takes a lot more than just hitting the record button. In the realm
of digital influencing, self-identity becomes a strategy game rife with optimizing herself for the algorithm.
For example, to embellish one’s tastes and values is a strategic move in its own right. Keeping current with and adapting to trend cycles is only one piece of the puzzle. Vera’s also gone as far as taking online courses centered around personal branding for content creation, as well as personally seeking constructive feedback on her profile from users who fit her picture of an ‘ideal follower.’
To then perform it, with the purpose of attracting the right audience of followers and brands, is another tactic. It can feel impossible even for the average person to disaggregate between online and real identities. For Vera, as statistics became a metric for self-worth, becoming an influencer closed the gap further.
“It’s so hard not to let that pull you down, because not every reel is going to go viral, obviously,” Vera said. “Whenever I go on Instagram and I see, like, ‘Oh my god, this amount of people followed me in the past month,’ it’s hard not to attach that to myself, [my] value and self-worth.”
Vera deftly followed up by saying that it’s something she’s “been working on.”
Sometimes the immediate goal of playing a game isn’t to win, but to get better at playing. Selfoptimization is as much about perfection as the state of progress itself.
For Vera, “your only competition is you from yesterday.”
GETTING AHEAD OF THE GAME
Kevin Lindenmann, a Gould Law grad student, swears by the Forest app to increase his productivity. The app is marketed as an “antiprocrastination” timer with features that block phone distractions, from locking apps to pausing notifications.
Users who complete a successful focus session are rewarded with a (virtual) tree, while getting distracted causes it to die. The metaphor for growth is pretty straightforward. The more productive you are, the more trees you grow. As you grow more trees, your forest becomes bigger.
“I know it’s silly, but it really does work. It’s great. It’s kind of like a game, but for productivity,” Kevin said. “You can see your progress over the years and I think that’s very cool.”
As a law, history and culture major and pre-law student, junior Emily Banuelos aims to optimize herself for law school, and subsequently, employment. Part of that is relentlessly pursuing a stacked resume.
“If at least I get my foot in the door for one law firm, it would open more doors because every single law firm wants you with prior experience, already knowing how to work in the office, [doing] internal audits, for example,” Emily said.
She applied for “probably 150” internships on Handshake during the last internship application cycle.
“You have to sacrifice some things. For example, sometimes I sleep later, sometimes I have to keep interviewing. [Maybe] I didn’t get the first like, 60, but maybe I’ll get the next 40,” Emily said. “It’s a numbers game.”
Self-care is non-negotiable, however. Nearly every minute of her waking day is allotted to an event or task on GCal.
“With routine, I strive better, and I’m more organized in my thoughts. Having a workout in the morning and getting eight hours of sleep increases my productivity level so much,” she said. “I need to create these little habits, because that’s the only time I feel good, happy and fulfilled.”
With self-optimization, we “work on ourselves,” and we carefully toe the line between ambition and self-care so that we don’t burn ourselves out. We can have our cake and eat it, too.
Model Vera Riabova ‘29 majors in film and TV production and loves modeling.
THE CULT OF SELF-OPTIMIZATION | Emily Cao
“BECOMING
A BETTER PERSON IS CONFLATED WITH BEING A BETTER INDIVIDUAL.”
A GAME THEORY OF SELF-OPTIMIZATION
Each move in a game, including the losing ones, is encoded with the understanding that: a) the game can be won and b) there is an optimal way to win.
Self-optimization operates on the same playing field. While the everyday act of taking care of oneself is necessary to being healthy, self-optimization implies that there is a way to win at life. Oftentimes, this translates to eliminating the inefficiencies, friction and negativity present in it.
This is the byproduct of a broader cultural shift away from the collective and inward, towards the individual. When structures for human connection, something inherently inefficient, are no longer stable under neoliberal capitalism, becoming a better person is conflated with being a better individual. In its place, the efficient operations of self-optimization codify social value at the metric level.
Whether we are conscious of it or not, the practice of selfoptimization is encultured, alive and well in our social and economic institutions — maybe even more so at an institution like USC. Inspirational quotes plastered on the walls of the Village gym, for instance, preach willpower, good habit-formation and individual autonomy to reach success. Endless reams of “selfimprovement” products and services – nutritional supplements, anti-aging skincare, self-help books and workout classes – all sell the idea of constant self-growth.
There is undeniable merit in taking an active role to better ourselves. Nehring and Röcke stipulate that certain selfoptimizing practices lead to a higher sense of self-efficacy and satisfaction.
Still, the culture around self-optimization primarily serves the pawnbrokers to our pawns, or the institutions and people that profit from the big business of the self. If life truly is a game, perhaps the winning strategy is found not in stacking an intricate, Tetris block-adjacent calendar, but the basic building blocks of community instead.
INMOTION,INMIND
Written by Sammie Yen
Photographed by Erin Joe
Designed by Nicholas Corral
IN MOTION, IN MIND| Sammie Yen
My hand has held a pen for as long as I can remember. I slipped the writer identity on like a glove and never took it off. Scrawled in cartoonish spiral notebooks and strips of scrapbook paper, my first stories were ambitious, wordy and clumsy. At a young age, I was living dozens of lives outside of my own childhood sandbox, lives that had more color and certainty than mine. My parents caught it on a 2000s camera once. Me hunched over a piece of paper. A trembling and now distant memory.
Writing came to me before confidence did. Not writing was never an option. Even when I didn’t know how to spell, phonetic approximations did just fine. Letters stumbled into a meaning I knew. It made me stubborn — I knew a thought could live forever outside of my head if I pressed hard enough. To build something entirely from my mind made me feel brilliant, and I came to the realization that imagination was the highest form of invention. Being a writer meant becoming anything.
My sixth grade English teacher taught about subtext, the idea that what isn’t written still matters. The whole concept of it rearranged me. Writing wasn’t only what was on the page? Sentences stored breath, and I felt that power when I wrote. Writing was gentle withholding and a forceful breath all at once. My high school sophomore English teacher told our class that anyone who writes well can get whatever they want. She said it casually, but her words echo in my mind to this day. I didn’t know what “whatever I wanted” was, but it clicked in my 15-year-old brain that writing equaled power. That the sentences I wrote with a shaky graphite pencil could reach out and touch someone else. That the voice I thought lived in my head could speak and be heard.
My career ambition crystallized quickly. I wanted the literary life. Not just as a job, not just as something I did well, but as the singular axis around which my life would turn. I imagined myself, years from then, hunched over a desk in a room lined with books, a single lamp casting a circle of light over the page. I would write morning to night, filling notebooks and becoming a published author, making a decent living and giving the occasional lecture at a New England university.
Model Saige Chaseky ‘29 majors in dramatic arts. “My Girl” by The Temptations is her favorite song.
Going into university, I imagined I would major in Narrative Studies, pursue the specialized Literary Editing & Publishing Master’s degree and join an on-campus literary magazine. My predestined USC journey was still, methodical and controlled, living neatly within Dornsife, writing and familiarity.
Then I got to USC — and by extension, Los Angeles — and my rosy, drifting vision of postgraduate life and the scary, capital C-word “career” dissolved.
in sports at USC was also infinitely easier than working within the English department. Athletics is ubiquitous on campus, and its influence at USC is undeniable, no matter how much you (literally) buy into it. Ambition, and what I like to call “hungriness,” thrives in sports spaces, and I kept getting rewarded for it.
“I wanted the literary life. Not just as a job, not just as something I did well, but as the singular axis around which my life would turn.”
From anyone’s definition, USC has always been a sports school through and through, but I never imagined a life like it existed until I was within it. I lived on the periphery of this bubble for some time. It helped that my family were longtime Lakers fans, and I had also grown up playing basketball.
I had never thought about these two paths intersecting or interrupting one another, as they lived within neat temporal boundaries. There was time designated within school to read and write, and there was time designated after school to practice. A writer’s workshop differed from a sweltering gym, and I liked that I could do both without having to sacrifice one or the other.
I loved basketball, but never lived sports the way I lived writing. That distinction changed once I had started a marketing internship with the Athletics department, as soon as I stepped onto campus. I started writing for sports, and then I fell into the world. “Fell” might be too passive of a word. I sought it out, finding and saying yes to more opportunities than I can count. Working
This tension, between writing and sports, between complete control and a tiny bit of chaos, actualized another struggle: the cultural – or maybe entirely self-inflicted — pressure to find and rely on one niche or specialty. Labels like the “hyperspecialized creative” or “multipotentialite,” which feel like a hollow mouthful of nothing, scare me. If I focus on one particular passion of mine, would the other passions go away? Would they be stuck in stasis, lacking proper nurturing if I don’t give everything I have to them? Almost every day, I weigh the odds, calculating what each side means to me. Does choosing writing mean losing something essential? Does choosing sports mean sacrificing another fundamental part?
I felt something in my heart when I stepped into Annenberg’s studio for the first time, and my stories that once lived in secret pages shifted to a live studio. If writing is still and solitary, sports are motion and collective. It’s swift, loud, rhythmic and a lot is thrown into something like a live show all at once. It’s literally a team sport, it’s a collection of overlapping, strong voices and opinions and it’s bigger than myself. I’m not the sole author of a story like this.
IN MOTION, IN MIND| Sammie Yen
Writer
Sammie Yen ‘27
studies communication and narrative studies. She is from Pasadena.
It feels almost criminal to confess I liked this incomparable flow. It had just been so different from my life leading up to USC. The difference thrilled me, and I thought, yes, this is the work I want to live in. This is the path I’m going to take for the rest of college and the foreseeable future. I could have a career powered by pure adrenaline rather than introspection, and it wouldn’t necessarily be sacrificing the storyteller inside of me. These stories would be fleeting moments but just as alive as my creative work.
Right?
Nobody has their life figured out in college, and I have to keep reminding myself that’s what college is for. USC offers constant reinvention, rediscovery and retries. But, when I meet the diligent, lockedin film and production major who has a career lined up in an L.A.-based film studio, or just a peer who is so sure they’ve got it all together, it triggers an intense envy. At the same time, I’d love to be a jack of all trades and pursue all my passions in a cycle of continuous learning.
Writing and sport both demand unique instinct and meticulousness. Although I believe writing can make me live inside my head, there’s a physicality it draws upon. Just the act of pen-and-paper writing is weighty, while athletics contain a delicacy and an artistry.
Maybe the real revelation isn’t that sports and writing can coexist, but that they were never as separate as I thought. The qualities that made me a writer are the same ones that drew me to sports media: the hunger to capture something true and the need to translate experience into something others can feel. I’m not splitting myself in half. I’m discovering that I was always whole.
I’ll keep my pen, and I’ll keep my motion. Writing on, always.
HOW TO GAME NIGHT
Written by Olivia Smith
Photography by Kamryn Arjoon
Design by Chelsie Lin
Ever heard the phrase “life is so random?”
INTRODUCTION
Well, I’m going to have to strongly disagree. Life might seem random or unpredictable, but this may be because you’re not really paying attention. If you stop and look around, you’ll see all those seemingly “unexplainable events” are the direct result of the roads you travel and those you pass by. The effect won’t always come immediately after the cause, but trust me, it’s on its way.
You don’t just fall into things in life; you make decisions that lead you somewhere—call it inevitable, call it divine intervention or call it luck. The only problem with making a decision is that you rarely know if it’s the right one until you are too far committed to go back. Such is the way of life. Even our bad decisions can teach us something if we’re willing to do the work. So I’ve
made a game about the decisions we make. Sure, in the grand scheme of life, there are probably going to be more important decisions to make than “how to game night,” but that’s not the point. The point is to experience one decision at a time.
The game is simple. At times, you will be met with a few options, make your choice, and follow the instructions to see what happens to you next. Your choices will lead to the success or disaster of the night. Just like life, the adventures you take are a result of your choices, and you cannot go back.
Commitment is key! Think carefully before you make a move. One mistake can be your last!
Writer Olivia Smith ‘28 is an American popular culture major.
It’s the week before school starts, and you’re a new student, so you’ve been spending most of your days having those awkward elevator conversations with your roommate, doomscrolling on your phone, calling your mom, and overall cursing the sick-prick who decided you should have even gone to college (aka…you). So it’s been an extremely productive week for the introverted hermit crab living inside of you, but not so much for your social life. No worries, because you’ve already got a friend.
Well, friend might be a stretch of the word. Really, it’s someone who also went to your high school, and while during those years you never so much as spoke more than 10 words to each other, a familiar face is still familiar.
And you lucked out ‘cause this person is super friendly and has invited you to a game night at their house. Sounds fun, until you realize this means you are trapped in a room with practically strangers all night! You can already
think of all the short-lived conversations and wall-observations you’ll have. Your mission for the night is to leave the party with some friends and maybe not make a huge fool of yourself. It might sound easy now, but trust me, it’s harder than you think.
ARE YOU READY, PLAYER?
GO TO CHOICE 1 TO START
CHOICE 1
You’re sitting in your bed, indulging in a TV-binging-Instagramdoomscrolling combo—a classic pastime of yours—when you get a text from your high school acquaintance asking if you’re still coming to the game night. On one hand, you’re comfortably snuggled into bed, flaunting a baggy hood and sweatpant set. On the other, you’ve spent the last week in that set desperately longing for some social interaction.
The choice is yours. You can choose to go to the party and attempt to make friends. Or you can choose to stay bundled up in your bed, with your fuzzy socks and occasional breaks for food and ice cream.
If you decide to go to the party
If you decide to stay at home
CHOICE 2
RESULT 1B
CHOICE
2
You decided to go to the party, great! But you read the message wrong. The party started at 9, but you got there at 8! You’re early and the party is still being set up. Awkward.
The host is still setting up. They look stressed as they scramble to find the board games and reorganize the table decor for the twelfth time. They are one of those people who insist on not asking for help, even if they have to push a boulder up a cliff on their own. Still, you could ask to help them out.
There are also four corners in the living room. Which means four places to curl into and stew for the next 30 minutes while you wait for them to start. This surely won’t be your last chance to socialize, and you’ll be so deep into your phone you won’t even notice the time go by. You could wait it out there.
If you decide to help the host
If you decide to stand in the corner
RESULT 2A
RESULT 2B
Model Ariel Chang ‘26 is from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She has a dog named Fifi.
CHOICE 3
Everyone has arrived, drinks are flowing, conversations are happening, and you find yourself floating around different clusters of people, eavesdropping and thinking of witty comebacks to say if you ever decide to open your mouth.
Suddenly, the host calls you out, declaring that as the newest attendee, you have to choose the first game. How hard could it be?
The first choice is Uno, a universal game of conflict. Known more for its double-crossing and backstabbing tactics than nearly any other game. It’s bound to kick the energy into overdrive.
You could choose Mousetrap. Sure, it’s a rare game. But it’s a classic that everyone knows the name of. You can’t go wrong with a classic, right?
The last option is Taboo. Everyone loves guessing games when everyone is good at guessing games. And the only way to know if you’re good is by playing.
If you decide to play Uno
If you decide to play Mousetrap
If you decide to play Taboo
RESULT 3A
RESULT 3B
RESULT 3C
Model Mellow Eaton ‘29 has a short tongue and can’t roll her R’s. Her hometown is Los Angeles.
CHOICE 5 CHOICE 4
You’ve got a friend. Yay! But you also have an enemy, and this, for some reason, feels somewhat like a net zero. It’s okay, because you’ve decided to stick to your ally. What are the chances your enemy is also friends with your ally?
Incredibly high, apparently, because that’s the case. Great. Now you have to win over your new enemy. This could be easy; all you have to do is say the right thing.
Right now, you’re just listening to your ally and your enemy sling inside jokes between each other, while you watch like a fly on the wall. You could either interject into the conversation or laugh along and try to blend into the conversation. The choice is yours.
If you decide to change the conversation
If you decide to blend into the conversation
RESULT 4A
RESULT 4B
You’re still floating around between pockets of people, making casual conversation, but you’re starting to settle in. And each person is seemingly starting to like you. Everyone gravitates around the snack table and you see your chance to solidify your presence in the group.
The conversation is finding a natural lull. You could choose to mention someone in the group’s outfit. Or you can make a joke.
If you decide to mention someone’s clothes
If you decide to make a joke
RESULT 5A
RESULT 5B
CHOICE 6
Games are played, snacks are devoured, and the conversations are nearly exhausted. But there is still time for one more activity. The host decides that since you had the first pick of the games, you should have the last pick as well. It’s not like the first time choosing the games wasn’t hard enough.
Despite your brain telling you not to, you agree.
There are two activities yet to be done. You can choose to play Jenga. Jenga is a natural palette cleanser; it’s simple enough for everyone to get the rules without having to be explained, and usually calm enough for no shenanigans to erupt. It seems like a safe bet.
Or, you can choose to do karaoke. Karaoke is one of those activities that everyone wants to always do, until they realize that it doesn’t just involve listening to people poorly sing, but also contributing to those poorly sung songs. It can either invite anxiety and a general feeling of social doom or allow people to cut loose and be their most unhinged selves.
There’s no guarantee that the night will end well, but at least it’ll end with a bang.
If you decide to go to play Jenga
If you decide to do karaoke
CHOICE 7
CHOICE 7
CHOICE 8
You’ve decided to play Jenga! This is a great final game; it keeps energy high and allows for conversations to flow. Plus, whoever heard of a Jenga game going south, it’s practically impossible.
There’s a slight dilemma, however. You planned on going first because you helped set up the tower and because, well, it’s easier. But someone else in the group wants to go first.
You can either choose to let them go first. Or choose to go first.
If you decide to go let them go first
If you decide to go first
RESULT 7A
RESULT 7B
CHOICE 8
You decide to do karaoke. How fun! There’s just one slight dilemma. You see everyone quickly split into pairs and trios. You feel your options dwindling to none and can’t find the nerve to speak up. But don’t panic. You see a person who looks groupless as well. The only problem is that this is a person you didn’t really get to talk to.
You can choose to pair up with them and form an unlikely partnership based solely on desperation. The possibilities of them hating you, of you having horrible vocal chemistry, and an overall dread of talking to another new person swirl around your head. This could be a way to make a new friend, or ruin your chance of getting into the friend group.
Or, you can choose to do karaoke solo. Doing things solo isn’t always a bad thing. Plus, it gives you a whole stage to show off your undeniable voice. This might just be the safest way to end the night on a high note.
If you decide to sing in a pair
If you decide to sing alone
RESULT 8A
RESULT 8B
Model Rishika Bathwal ‘29 majors in business administration and is ambidextrous.
Model Alexxa Riley ‘27 is a black belt in taekwondo. She is from Sacramento.
RESULTS Loading....
Model Theo Gkourlias ‘29 majors in chemistry. She was a dancer for 14 years.
RESULT 1B
You’ve decided to stay home. Fine. But you’ve lost out on your chance to make friends. Maybe next time you’ll make a better decision.
GAME OVER
RESULT 2A
You decide to help the host, and you’re glad you did. You never knew how much you two had in common. The next 30 minutes fly by and you two are able to set up completely. You’re starting to feel more comfortable and are able to relax a little.
CHOICE 3
RESULT 2B
You find refuge in one of the corners of the room, glued to the wall like it’s your only friend (and right now it is your only friend). You find a seat, tucked into the corner where the couch and wall touch, and rest there. You forgot your headphones, but that’s alright because you’re too far removed from everyone else for them to hear you anyways.
But just as you’re starting to settle into your phone, two girls come into the room, whispering information about some unknown person.. You sense them inching closer to you, threatening sanctuary with steamy gossip and cattyenergy, but can’t find a stealthy way to leave. Instead you sit there, listening unwillingly to the sound of piping hot tea spilling out of their lips. That is, until they notice you eavesdropping.
This is a major overstep, even though you didn’t really mean to do it. The girls berate you with false allegations of your nosiness and you’re more embarrassed than anything. Before the night has even begun, you decide to leave.
START OVER
RESULT 3A
You decided to play Uno! Let the chaos ensue. After agreeing upon all dirty tricks and stacking rules, the group is sent into anarchy. It’s a swarm of pick up 24’s, triple skips, swapping decks, alliances, and doublecrossing. The game is brutal! But for the last two rounds you were able to form an unbreakable alliance with a player, which resulted in a respective win for the both of you. The only down side is now you have a full blown uno-enemy, someone who forces you to keep your cards hidden under your legs.
Overall, it could be worse, sure you’re walking away with an enemy, but at least you’ve got a friend!
CHOICE 4
RESULT 3B
You chose Mousetrap. Quickly, you realize that despite knowing the name of the game, no one actually knows how to play the game.
So you all spend the next 45 minutes trying and failing to set up the game, and fighting over which convoluted version of the game to play.
In the end, the night was brought to a screeching halt. Everyone decides, the night is a bust and swiftly leaves, all because you wanted to play Mousetrap.
START OVER
RESULT 3C
You decided to play Taboo! Now, this is a game everyone can get behind.
You’re paired off into teams, and you get to show off your unnatural ability to guess poorly described words. Soon, you start operating on a telopathic frequency with your teammates. You’re hyperaware of every movement they take and every synonym they say.
Never have you felt like you were living in the brain of someone else, but right now you feel yourself living in the head of 4 other people. It’s creepy, but you kind of love it.
You’re starting to bond with your teammates. They share your same twisted humor and vast knowledge of relatable brainrot references.
They seem like they might just be your people, if you’re able to hold on for the rest of the night.
CHOICE 5
Model Temi Salaam ‘27 studies public relations and has never seen the Harry Potter or Star Wars franchises.
RESULT 4A
You decide to interject and try to change the conversation into something everyone can contribute to. That seemed like the right thing to do, until you realize the only thing you all have in common is the Uno game you just played.
You start reminiscing about the last round and the way you absolutely obliterated your Uno enemy. This is the wrong thing to bring up. But it was far too late when you realized this and the words were already cascading out of your mouth. How awkward.
You successfully, though accidentally, ragebaited your Uno enemy into a 20-minute tirade about the their yet-tobe-seen Uno skills. The speech is loud, concerning, and excruciatingly long. By the end, even the people who originally weren’t involved are fully aware of the situation.
You feel you need to desperately escape this situation. But how? Easy, you quickly pack up your bags and walk out of the party without saying another word.
What a way to end your night.
START OVER
RESULT 4B
You decided to laugh along and blend into the conversation. What a great discussion. You elegantly relate their conversation to one of your crazy high school stories, which you slightly embellish for shock factor.
You’re so smooth with it, your enemy has no time to notice this interjection. And your ally is completely infatuated with you. They both want to know more of your crazy stories, and you gladly share them.
Your conversation quickly erupts into a series of traded stories, each one a little more revealing, and filler words connecting you all. “Yassss” and “Exactly” lie in between every other 4th word.
Your former enemy’s opinion of you has completely changed. You can now even see you two becoming friends.
CHOICE 5
Rachel Okwudiafor Johnson ‘26 studies communication and is from the Bay Area.
Model
RESULT 5A
You decide to mention someone’s clothes.
This comes off as a cheeky dig.
Everyone looks really disturbed. And then offended. Then the person you made the comment to starts to get a little teary-eyed.
Finally, you’re starting to read the room, and it’s telling you you’ve done something wrong. But it’s too late because before you can even explain yourself, or attempt to recover your clearly fumbled bag, you’re being not-so-subtly kicked out of the party.
Great choice.
START OVER
RESULT 5B
You decide to make a joke about how you hate awkward silence. The joke’s setup is a lot longer than you remember, and you can hear the voice in the back of your skull telling you to get to the punchline already.
Thankfully, the group loved your joke. A conversation soon erupts about those awkward moments when you’re stuck in a confined space with a stranger and you don’t know if it’s a talking situation or a-bury-your-nosein-your-phone situation.
You feel seen by these people, and they seem to resonate with you and your socially awkward tendencies.
CHOICE 6
RESULT 7A
You let them go first. No biggie. You go second and the game goes on without a hitch!
The game is played in the background of conversation. You continue to get to know everyone. You discover the host has most of the same classes as you and agrees to help you navigate campus. Eventually, the game is stopped altogether, but no one even notices.
You all decide to spend the night at the host house, unwilling to end the night. As people start to doze off, and only the dimmest lights illuminate the room, you start to think you might have found your people.
Congratulations, you made it through the whole night, making the right decisions where it counted. And leaving with lifelong friends.
YOU COMPLETE YOUR MISSION!
RESULT 7B
You decided to go first. No biggie. Except it is very much a big deal.
During the middle of the game, the structure balances on a single brick and the collective prayers of everyone trying not to get out. You take a brick from the near bottom, making a bold move that surely will doom the person behind you.
You’re getting cocky now. Overly confident that you’ll win, you start trash talking and making digs at everyone.
But the person after you just won’t stand for this. In a fit of blinding rage, they flip over the table, sending you and the Jenga pieces crashing into the ground. BAM! Followed by astounded gasps that flood your senses.
The next thing you remember, you wake up in the hospital, surrounded by all but one of the game night attendees. They tell you the person is unanimously kicked out of the group, making perfect space for you in their friend group.
It might not have gone exactly as you planned, but at least you still got your friend group and one crazy story to tell.
RESULT 8A
You choose to sing in a pair. Smart move. Sure, you didn’t know this person before, but once you two went on stage, it was as if they knew you your whole life. You guys killed your duet so well in fact, the rest of the group had to join in.
You inspired a legendary dance party, which will definitely go down in friend group history. The group continues to sing songs until everyone’s voice is dry and hoarse.
You all spend the night at the host’s house, unwilling to end the night. As people start to doze off to sleep, and only the dimmest lights illuminate the room, you start to think you might have found your people.
Congratulations, you made it through the whole night, making the right decisions where it counted. You’re leaving with forever singing partners and lifelong friends.
YOU COMPLETE YOUR MISSION!
RESULT 8B
You decided to sing alone. Normally, there is nothing wrong with doing things alone. But for some reason, you decide to sing a duet. Alone
As you butchered the overlapping singing and quick changes to different voices, you see everyone in the crowd’s faces’ twist with the same question you begin to ask yourself, why did you do this?
It was a question no one ever got the answer to because as soon as you finished your song (which seemed to last hours), you quietly packed your things and made an exit for the door. There is an equal level of embarrassment spread throughout, preventing anyone from saying anything as you. Everyone is painfully aware that you will go down in the group’s history as that weird person who once sung a duet and successfully killed the vibe of a pretty fun night.
Perhaps the best thing to do is hope the host invites you to the next game night so you can make some better choices.
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Model Jennifer Nguyen ‘28 is from San Diego and she likes to dance.
