...and their memories

Melanie Asp
My farewell column. Add your own memory

Michael Ausiello
During my Daily Trojan heyday, I penned a weekly column called Short Cuts that contained gossip about USC and showbiz in general. Does anyone remember that? Add your own memory

Trisha Fike
She wrote 60+ articles, mostly film reviews and interviews with actors and directors, for the paper as a freelance contributor. Add your own memory

April Haitsuka
http://www.dailytrojan.com/article.do?issue=/V130/N62&id=03-american.62d.html Add your own memory

John Hoelle
Thanks for your note. The alumni page is clearly a labor of love! Your name sounds familiar, but I doubt we had much contact. I started drawing a single-panel cartoon for the DT my freshman year, under a very laid-back graphics editor named Trent Tanaka (name remembered with a little help from your page). There were only two comics or so per day if I remember, because Jordan Crane was abroad in some country or other. Then he came back and became editor, and mightily extended the comics page with syndicated strips like Jim's Journal, Feet of Clay, and others through Onion syndicate. I remember he was very proud the day the Comics Page was actually a full page. My cartoon, "Yeah, Whatever," ran that day. Jordan became a friend and starred in one of my super-8 movies (I am a film-production grad). I saw him once a few years back at Mr. T's Bowl in Highland Park where we were both at a farewell concert for a local USC grad populated band, the Mashnotes. He was on his way to San Diego to be on a panel about self-publishing comics at the largest comic convention in the world. Anyway, as I said, being a cartoonist who worked at home, I was an ephemeral presence in the DT office, so I don't have too many stories. After Jordan graduated and I got pretty deep into my senior year of producing and shooting student films, I drew cartoons only infrequently for editor Ben Ackerman, in my memory a soft-spoken but very funny guy. The only DT zeitgeist in the late 90's that I recall was the sexual politics column by Laura Lanchester and Ken Braslow... I would love to be a larger part of any alumni get-togethers, potentially even at a club where my band is playing! Heh heh. We have a number of dates around town this month... check the website. Take care, man. And thanks for the archives. Best, John Add your own memory

Eric Jackson
Working on the DT? Long, late hours listening to Ron grumble about "Those f%##ing students." Waiting for said students to finish, so we could paste it all up and go home. Does anyone still know how to REALLY cut and paste? Me? I was the guy with no hair (US Marine) who used to date Duryan Bhagat, and shared the world's smallest house with Ken Braslow. Add your own memory

Laura Lanchester
the other day my father mailed out one of the last boxes of crap I had left at his place when I moved out years ago, and all my old DTs, I mean literally every DT I ever breathed on, more or less, was in that box. And I of course had to go through every glorious one. [The] sifting through of all the papers made me super nostalgic, and I wrote the following after that experience: "I'm feeling all nostalgic about the DT, after scouring through every single issue I ever contributed to in my four years as a staff member. The stack, all nine inches, represents everything I'm most proud of creating/writing/editing/accomplishing in my time at USC, and plenty of other stuff I can't believe I actually passed off as journalism. I remember being Daily Trojan Staff Member of the Year the semester I worked for photo, city and diversions all at once, but mostly it was just because I let Sean Conley manipulate me and he was appreciative. Michelle Ladd firing me as co-photo editor the end of my sophomore year. Being Melanie Asp's right hand girl. Writing only two unsigneds. Saying whatever it took to get on the Quote List. Getting Jeremy Zink to go on the record about the Trojan Knight hazing manual. Getting drunk for the first time in my life at Roy Nwaisser's parties. George Stankow massaging my shoulders while I was typing my photo captions on those green-screened-old-as-hell-terminals before the Macs came. Doing the crossword in the middle of the city room with Quinn Olsen. Playing that game on the Macs that made Butthead say, "Uh, burritos" over and over again and driving Nick Divito and April Haitsuka crazy. The Genocide file. Having Vic Manley hold my hair while I was puking in Jordan Crane's upstairs bathroom. Last Shop nights. Getting all my friends in the paper for Trojan on the Street. Box-ing. Trying to corrupt the young, innocent minds of Greg Kheraghosian, Jason Spencer, Joe Soqui and Armen Keulian in the sports office. Jen Hamm getting me stoned. Going on a date with the hot new sports guy before anyone else did. Smoking on the balcony with Ben Acker. The Student Senate election scandals. Getting the negative scanner. Nik Trendowski's fascination with the LA bus system. DT romance. Fighting over every single line of The Morning After with Ken Braslow. Developing my pictures of Comic Relief until 3:30am on a Sunday night, and leaving the darkroom an hour before the Northridge earthquake hit. Hiring Troy Witt. Ron. Mona. Feedback Fridays. James Brown's guide to giving a good blow job. The option. The senior editor retreat at Lake Henshaw. Getting to go to Universal, Six Flags, and the Renaissance Pleasure Faire for Summer Trojan features. Basically spending every waking moment and even intentionally blowing off class just to hang out in the city room. I wrote for Viewpoint, Diversions and City, was a Photographer and Photo Editor, Copy Edited, was Managing Editor and did one Graphic. It's really no wonder I graduated with a less than spectacular GPA, but I wouldn't trade it for the world." Add your own memory

Shawn Le
Describe what? well, let me think of something worthwhile ... hold on a second ... just a little bit more ... okay, here's one to ponder ... I'm non-commital about New York in June, how about you? Add your own memory

Victoria "Vickie" "Vic" Manley
Sadly, Vickie's farewell column isn't available online anymore. I'll go dig it up someday. Add your own memory

Duncan Martell
He was awarded "best assistant city editor" for the fall semester of 1994, if he recalls correctly. Says: "I wasn't actually there all that long, most likely becuase I was a graduate student. But I do have fond memories of working with undergrads on their stories, as I edited their copy and they stood, hovering behind my shoulder. The camaraderie and sense of teamwork that bubbled up from us both coming up with a new lede on the fly was great fun." Add your own memory

Alison Murray
I never did write for the DT, just hung around playing with x-acto knives, Add your own memory

Travis "Nep" Smith
Probably my best memory of the Daily Trojan is the time George and I literally dove into the sports office to hide from something in the city room, and Matt White, without asking a single question, looked up from his keyboard, saw us, and reached for his baseball bat. We turned and ran so fast, our shadows had to catch up. To this day, there's no doubt in my mind that he was going to bludgeon us to death if we interrupted him from filing his column on time. p.s. He's an Air Force special attack guy now. Add your own memory

George Stankow
My best memory of the DT (at least, the best one for public consumption) didn't even happen there -- during the 1992 riots, I was constantly on the phone with various members of the staff, checking to make sure everyone was all right, spreading information, planning for a special issue if we survived.... Because of the DT's reporting network,, I got to tell my dorm floor that finals had been canceled, about a half hour before the announcement filtered its way through official channels. Add your own memory

Rob Verdi
I really had a lot of fun writing for the D.T. Great college memories. Add your own memory

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