Hey guys! We’ve been working hard here sending out all of the #ViterbiAdmit letters, but just wait until the #ViterbiSwag comes your way. It’s going to be awesome. I remember that I was so excited when I finally committed, but I only had my one USC shirt from Explore. I think I wore it almost every day during the last few months of senior year. Pretty much borderline obnoxious, but it was worth it.
Anyways, I wanted to write about how I sometimes spend my Monday evenings. Today, I had class from 10 AM to 4 PM, but now I have some free time on campus. If I’m tired, I’ll usually just head home and unwind for a bit. But recently, I’ve been attending the QuASA general meetings at 6 PM and then going to URap discussion at 7:30 PM. So what are all these acronyms and what do they mean?
QuASA stands for the “Queer and Ally Student Assembly”. I guess the best way to describe it would be an umbrella organization- they basically manage all of the student-run queer stuff on campus, like clubs and events. They are responsible for sending out the newsletter, and publicizing all the cool LGBT stuff going on. Though they do work with the USC LGBT Resource Center, they actually aren’t the same organization. There is typically a general meeting every Monday, and sometimes the meeting will have a theme. So last Monday, my friends Albert and Vanessa presented about “Gender and Sexuality in Video Games and Comics”. It was really cool to talk about these themes that are present in these huge industries, and it was fun to nerd out a little bit too. Plus, it was nice to hang out with my close friends at the start of the week!
Last week, I went and grabbed TroGro after the QuASA meeting with my friend Maddy, and then we headed back for URap at 7:30 PM. During these meetings, a student-run facilitator will bring up topics that are up for discussion, usually “hot topics” with varying opinions. It’s a great way to meet other LGBT students, and it also allows for some really cool conversations. The environment definitely varies with the topic, but it is consistently interesting. Last week, we talked about reclamation of the word “queer,” and whether or not this could continue on with other words. I really enjoyed the discussion, and I am definitely going to be attending as many URap meetings as possible (and dragging my friends to it, too!).
So, those are the two events that I attended last Monday. But that is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to LGBT events and clubs going on all the time. Under the QuASA umbrella, are more special interest clubs, like QPOC (Queer People of Color), FAB (Freshman Advocacy Board, for first-year LGBT and Ally students), and JAGS (Jewish Alliances for GLBTs and Straights). There are also community service and political clubs, such as OUTreach (which my roommate from last year runs) and Trojans for Equality. There is even Ally Alliance, composed of straight-identified students who advocate for LGBT rights. And this doesn’t even include the events put on by the LGBT resource center.
Anyway, I hope that was a good run down of some of the acronyms that get tossed around. And now, I’m leaving my research lab to go to the QuASA meeting! My day is certainly not over yet.
