...and their memories

Kamron "Kam" Barron
My farewell column Add your own memory

Shashank Bengali
Elisa may have told you, I was a city writer in the fall of 1997, projects writer in the spring of 98 and editorial columnist in the fall of 98. I remember those as being relatively quiet semesters, but the biggest news events were the labor union threatening to strike and some controversy in DPS over one incident of alleged officer racism and another incident of an officer molesting a high school student. As a projects writer, I did a series on DPS that looked at the department's role on campus and how the department was being perceived in light of the controversy. That series got great support from Elisa and the other editors at the time. I remember Dave Khalaf being the resident cut-up. I remember Mike Cisneros REALLY got into the Blood Bowl. I remember Jon Cassidy being great to write for, and being so keyed up during his speech to become editor in the spring of 99 that his hands were shaking visibly. And I remember watching Mac 10 and De La Soul perform in Hahn Plaza from the best seats on campus -- the DT office. My biggest regret is that I didn't get to work for Christine Frey or with the phat new computers they got installed more than a year ago. Add your own memory

Kelly Brinker
I noticed David is already on the site. He is a very private guy and he might kill me if I spill the beans on him. I think it is OK to tell you that he lives in Burbank with his dog, Missy. Add your own memory

Kyle Buchanan
You may remember Kyle for doing investigative reporting duties for the front page, avoiding staffers who tried to conscript him into an editing job, and missing a DT party where he got an award for his work. Does anybody still have that award? Because I'd like to pick it up now. ;-) Add your own memory

Rachel Campbell
I doubt I have much to add really because I lived in the Diversions office until Fall 2000 when I was managing editor. I'm sure you know how the Diversions people tend to be oblivious to everything else besides movies and films. Heck, we didn't even have a window to the outside world! However, the one night I will always remember will be election night 2000. We had an assignment editor who lives for presidential elections like some people live for watching the next USC football game. For him, watching the "results" was the most exciting thing. He even had a poll going for members of the staff to make their predictions on who will when and by how many electoral votes. Simply put, it was pure craziness election night. To top it off, 10 minutes before we were about to send the DT off for the night with the top article saying that no official declaration of the winner had been made at press time, the news stations said Bush won. So, we changed the first few paragraphs and put a banner headline saying something like Bush wins. And that's how it came out the next day, much to our embarrassment and dismay! So, that was probably my most interesting night at the DT. Hope that helps. Add your own memory

Jessica Emerson
The only DT alum I'm particularly close to is Christine Frey, and since she was an editor-in-chief, I'm sure you already have her info. To tell you the truth I only covered the theatre beat for one year at the Trojan, and I didn't spend too much time around the office. I actually had several bad experiences with the copy editors, including once where they changed a Virginia Woolfe quote (guess they thought they could do better), and once when they changed the word "roles" (as in "good roles for women in theatre") to "rolls" (as in "dinner rolls"). You don't have to include that, though! Add your own memory

Christine Frey
My farewell column. Add your own memory

Ryan Hochgesang
My farewell column. Add your own memory

Matt Hutaff
Re: DT life in the late 90s... to my recollection, aside from some strong investigative stuff involving a teacher's signature being forged by the Business School and an expose regarding the Trojan Knights and their hazing rituals, I don't really remember any craziness. Most of the City stuff is pretty dry, usually. I do remember the Sports staff pissing off Keyshawn Johnson and being summarily ignored by the entire football team. My participation pretty much ended in terms of daily time spent there when my term as Graphics Editor expired in Fall of 1996. It was fun. The people were nice, except they were far too motivated given the material they were working with. :-) I write satire so at most I was writing once every couple of weeks, and my columns were routinely edited for no reason despite repeated attempts to figure out why. Mostly I stuck around for the friends. When they all graduated in Spring of 1997, I took my leave. The people two years my senior were my favorites and I wish I kept in contact with them. Now, thanks to your site, I can. :) Add your own memory

Greg Keating
Titles: Photog (is there anything better in this life?) Add your own memory

Tariq Malik
I was on staff for only two separate semesters (I double majored in Print Journalism and Astonomy until math decided to strike me down my senior year and I busted Astronomy down to a minor) in Spring of '96 and Spring '99. Because of my dual studies I didn't get to hang out much at the DT offices, so I couldn't tell ya about the issues inside other than Jin Whang was a great editor. Oh, and I liked Matt Hutaff's stuff too. I was around for the big breakup when the J-school decided its students needed to get more special reporting classes in, and they cut classes like Government Reporting and Arts and Sports from 4 units down to 2. My first semester I used to cover Fridays and only took one day off to drive home for spring break. Of course THAT would be the day that one of the dorms caught fire and torched 8 apartments, ousting 36 people. One of my close friends was one of them. I was in those apartments the night before too... But my biggest thrill was writing about the opening of Denny's (honest) which was my first lead story and my first EVER with art. I still have it, too. Ah...good times. The second semester around ended up providing the impetus to my career, when I wrote a profile on parapalegic med student Suzy Kim. She was inspiring, and recruiters seemed to like the clip (and I scored my one and only photo credit). Some of the more memorable people on the staff? well, I still stay in contact with Olivia Hemaratanatorn. She's one of my best friends in the world and works for Variety in Los Angeles. Franke Santos I chat with every now and then, and Thuy-Doan Le. I remember procrastinating with Kelly Pullin and running out to give blood instead of writing my story. Yeah, good times. Add your own memory

David Mendenhall
I miss all of my friends from the DT, as well as all of our days and nights spent working there together, and I hope everyone's well! Add your own memory

Ryan Pearson
Ryan won the Jim Murray scholarship in 2000. Add your own memory

Joel Sandi
Titles: Diversions/Lifestyle (can we pretend that never actually happened?) Add your own memory

Matt Scott
Joanna Niles will be remembered for throwing the best staff meetings complete with jello shots and loving distain for the sports department. From all of us who worked with her, we would like to thank her for keeping the film fridge well stocked with beer. Add your own memory

Scott Smith
My farewell column Add your own memory

Keisha Thomas
I started at the DT as a City staff writer when I was a broadcast journalism, but then found that covering lost bicycles wasn't really my thing. I switched to the School of Cinema and the Diversions section and never looked back. Add your own memory

Shant Thomas
Sayz Kelly: My favorite memory of Shant was when we had a group of people walking us home from the Christmas '97 party that we had in Colin's frat house, the two of us were too drunk to walk by ourselves. They were taking me home first so as we walked down the row, we ran into a bunch of sorority girls and Shant yelled to them, "You're blond, you're beautiful, and you're facists." Add your own memory

Luke Thompson
My involvement with the DT was fairly minimal beyond turning in articles. Amusingly in retrospect, this was before everyone had email, so I'd turn in articles on paper and some poor soul would have to retype them! Ironic that journalism is now the medium I find myself in. Probably my most controversial piece was an article about how awful the football mentality was. That week, though, there was some controversy involving Keyshawn Johnson, so my article went ignored. Rush Limbaugh was the campus hero back then. May still be for all I know. Add your own memory

Elisa Ung
My farewell column. Add your own memory

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