...and their memories

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

Michael DePaula
What was it like for me to write for the DT in the '90s? Well, it was pretty fun. I had a great time because I had been looking for an outlet to express what I thought were grievances not, at that time, being addressed. We had a lot of opinions on campus policy and national/international events, but nothing I remember that addressed the peeves me and some of my peers began to develop. I did write an opinion about the meeting between the catholic church and the heads of the protestant churches to try and work out their differences; a meeting I thought that had ominous undertones in light of what I'd grown up hearing about Biblical prophecy and how, one day, we'd live to see church and state once again unite. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone read it. Or at least it was the one article I never received feedback (positive or negative) on. As I recall, a lot of columns were written about Clintonomics and about the sins of the USC administration and its policies. Memorable staff? I can recall the names of Claire Luna, Dave Khalaf and Sharon Stello offhand, but I'd have to read a list to recall more. I do remember there being quite a number of aesthetically pleasing women on staff... :) Add your own memory

Erik Fong
As far as the DT staff at the time I was around, I wish I could tell you more but I can't. I wasn't a very integral part of the paper. I did CD reviews here and there and never really hung out with the staff. Honestly, I felt pretty out of place. I asked DT staffer Rachel Campbell out via email once (currently ranked #634 in my list of the top 1000 lamest and nerdiest things I've ever done in my entire life) but that's about it. If something pops into my dumbass' head then I'll be sure to let you know. Add your own memory

Christine Frey
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

Matthew "Matt" Kredell
was only on the DT for one semester, as an assistant sports editor in Fall 1999. I didn't have much time for it because I worked at the Los Angeles Daily News throughout my time at USC. 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

Jason Margolis
Wrote about Womens Crew, Mens Golf Add your own memory

Yvonne "Evie" Ngai
A quote that describes Evie well: "The Oregonian thinks they're getting a copy editor, but what they're really getting is an obsessive-complusive freak." -- Blake Hennon (spring 2003's editorial director). Says Evie: When Petey was EiC and I was managing editor, we tried to fool the "rookies" (first-time senior editors) into thinking there was an initiation process involved with becoming a senior editor. We told them to beware, that we would make them do something crazy their first night of boxing. I remember two distinctly: Patrick Kinmartin, sports editor, and Katie Lemmon, copy chief. On Patrick's night, we made him run up and down the hallway while yelling repeatedly at the top of his lungs, "Peter is the best editor ever, and Yvonne is a beautiful princess." For Katie, she had to somehow get a DT hanging from Tommy Trojan's sword. She ended up wrapping a paper around a water bottle that was tied to a rope, and she threw the bottle around the sword, letting it loop several times so it would stay. I'm surprised we never got in trouble because of the TommyCam, which caught every moment of our adventure. Then there was the time when I was city editor and freezing to death at my desk in the corner. Mona had bought me a heater and an extra one that she put in Ron's office, although he never used it because he was never cold. So that day, I went in there and took his, too, and plugged it in next to mine in the same outlet. I turned both of them on, and five minutes later, the entire back wall of the office went black. "Pop, pop, pop, pop" went the computers along that wall, one by one shutting themselves off. I'd blown a fuse! After that, I was never again allowed to have both heaters on at the same time. Add your own memory

Kevin Pang
Rachel Campbell and Mark Carpowich chose me to pen a column for the then-Diversions section my freshman year in 1999, and only now do I realize one thing: none of them [columns] ain't even close to a good clip when applying for news internships. Then somewhere along the line, I became Lifestyle Editor and Design Director. I recently (May2003) visited STU 421 for the first time in about 6 months. Saw Ron Flores and made fun of some of the DT staffers...but otherwise, good times. The Daily Trojan was for a lot us, our home away from apartment/dorm during our college years. Here are some memories I can recollect, 1999-2002: