As a proud citizen of the New Orleans area for the last 11 years, I was rather disturbed by Miss Duckett's article depicting the "passage of 1,461 days" that have "made little to no difference for many [New Orleans] areas." Continue reading...

As the semester comes to a close The SeeSaw is tipping over. This fourth issue marks a memorable milestone as the co-founders step aside to let a new crop of leaders fulfill their visions with this special issue. We are recruiting a new kind of leadership, from the farmer boy on Tatooine to the princess on Alderaan. We are breeding a new hope. We have a few Jedi Masters staying on, to impart the Force on our new rebel team. Continue reading...

Writing 140 has become the bane of my existence. I was not prepared for what this seemingly simple college writing course would entail. As a transfer student, I was frustrated when the writing course I took at Bryn Mawr College was not accepted, but I assumed that this class would be no sweat. The issue I have with the course isn’t that it is difficult, or that my teacher is bad (she’s actually really nice…please give me an A). The problem is that the grading rubric has clearly been put together by a close friend of the Devil if not the Devil himself. Continue reading...

What’s the difference between WRIT-140 and WRIT-340? The students? The professors? The expectations? Well, yes—yes to all of them. Though both writing classes have a similar goal, the difference lies in theory and practice. Usually, WRIT-140 is linked to a social issues course, helping the countless wandering freshman and sophomore transfers learn the tricks of the trade—you know, logos, pathos, ethos—the glorious skills of rhetorical writing, all intertwined with an academic context. The rhetoric is: these students have no idea what good writing is. Continue reading...

I recently sat down with Carey Drayton, the man more affectionately known as “Chief” by USC students, faculty and staff. Between talks of New Orleans gumbo, Rawls’s theory of relative morality and childhood anecdotes, Drayton offers his thoughts on leadership gathered from a career in law enforcement that has spanned thirty years and both coasts of the United States. The SeeSaw: Why campus law enforcement? Drayton: God chose it for me, I didn’t choose it. That’s as honest of an answer I can give you. I started out as an electrical engineer. It’s like the saying – I was a Jack of all trades, master of none. I wound up in [campus law enforcement] because it was a way to make extra money. I’m a kid from New Orleans, my parents were lower middle class…I needed a way to support myself in school. And that’s how I did it – in this job. I can’t imagine doing anything different. Continue reading...

As graduation looms near, I realize that for better or for worse, my college experience has been different than that of the average undergrad at USC. Every Friday night, instead of dolling up for a house party or catching a drink at a local bar, I head to South Los Angeles and meet with my favorite accomplices: the women of Women’s Creative Collective for Change (WCC). Founded in 2006 by USC students Tani Ikeda and Marissa Sellers, WCC is an student-led organization dedicated to creating a safe, supportive space where women of all backgrounds, colors, and sexual preferences can share their stories through artistic expression. Coming together with the understanding that art represents a vital tool for the empowerment and healing of women and their communities, every Friday women are given the opportunity to become poets, visual artists, filmmakers, dancers, and actors, and are also encouraged to facilitate their own workshops based on their skills and interests. Continue reading...