Daily Bruin – Page 32

The Daily Bruin newsroom made me who I am today, one comma at a time -30-

A list of words and phrases the Daily Bruin ruined for me, forever: “Oxford comma,” “slack,” “centered around” and “unique.”

Before I joined The Bruin my freshman year, I was a staunch Oxford comma supporter. I’m surprised I even got in, considering I definitely used the extra pop of punctuation throughout my application to the Arts & Entertainment section – an application I flagged the second I touched down at zero week’s Enormous Activities Fair.

When I arrived here, I was afraid to drown myself in extracurriculars. Though UCLA was my first choice in the college applications process, my admission from the waitlist made me feel like I was UCLA’s second choice, and I worried I wasn’t cut out for the competitive academic atmosphere and involvement-Olympics so prevalent on this campus.

Take it slow, I told myself. Join one enormous activity. The choice was a no-brainer. I was extremely involved in my high school newspaper, and I was ready to take my journalism experience to the next level: Daily Bruin. Little did I know just how much of a level up The Bruin would be.

The no-Oxford-commas rule was only the first of many lifestyle changes necessary to work on the paper. OK, “lifestyle” may be a little dramatic, but anyone who’s ever written any sort of assignment knows how personal criticism and change can feel in the moment. That feeling is the reason I nearly cried when a draft for my first Bruin assignment came back to me as one giant, bolded block, rife with dozens of edits.

I would guess that almost every Bruin staffer in the A&E section knows that feeling of embarrassment and shame. The reason we receive so much criticism is because all of our editors care immensely about us, our section and the paper. To all the editors who bolded ruthlessly and axed my Oxford commas during my first year in A&E – Gail Acosta, Will Thorne, Shreya Aiyar and Lindsay Weinberg – thank you for taking the time. Thank you for making me a better writer. Thank you for caring.

Apart from the bolded messages, more conversations about edits took place, of course, on Slack – The Bruin’s official communication network. “Slacking” doesn’t mean slowing down or relaxing to me anymore, and it never will again. Slack is where we editors scheduled every meeting and photo shoot, assigned each story and panicked when any or all of our content for the week inevitably fell through. Slack was the root of all my second-year nightmares.

But Slack was also where we exchanged funny quotes from sources and reassured each other that tomorrow would be a better day. It’s where I joined UCLA’s most legendary intramural softball team – Soft Balls, Hard News. It’s where I received an invitation to my very first college party – and anyone who knows me knows how humiliatingly on-brand that is for me. It’s where I scored free tickets to Harry Styles’ inaugural solo tour. In short, Slack was also the launch-point for many of my favorite memories at the paper, most of which centered on my year as an assistant editor.

Notice how I said, “centered on” and not “centered around.” This one’s for you, Emily McCormick and Nate Nickolai, my fellow 2016-2017 assistant A&E editors and grammatical sticklers who are the reasons I cringe – and smile a little – every time I hear or read that darned phrase. Emily, I will never understand how you magically convinced writers to pick up all of your weekly assignments, but I never doubted your impeccable writing and soothing kindness would catapult you to superstardom. Yahoo News is so lucky to have you. And Nate, thank you for being by my side through it all since the very beginning – I can’t wait to see you kill it at Variety. Four years later, The Bruin has still never seen a more iconic duo.

If I ended this column by claiming my time at The Bruin was unique, it wouldn’t survive the first round of A&E edits. “Aren’t everyone’s experiences unique? Use a more specific word.” My time at The Bruin was challenging, exciting, exhausting, rewarding and formative beyond measure. The proof is in any assignment, journalistic, academic or otherwise, I’ve written in the past four years – plenty of en dashes and not a single Oxford comma.

Carras was an A&E senior staff writer for the Daily Bruin from 2017-2019. She was previously a 2016-2017 assistant editor of the A&E section, overseeing the theater, film and television beat.

Words of advice to my past self about news writing, life in LA -30-

As I write this column, I’m struck by how fast my time at UCLA has gone. When you’re knee-deep in midterms and questioning yourself on why you just didn’t take an easier route and become a superhero like you wanted to, it seems like the quarter will never end. But, it has. And now with the ending near, I’d like to think that I’ve learned a thing or two.

So in the tradition of reflecting on my experience here at UCLA, I thought about what I would say to myself as a first-year.

Write for the Daily Bruin. Seriously. Working on news stories not only improves your writing but challenges you. All that beautiful, deeply opinionated language that you inherently have and have honed with your English major is utterly useless. Don’t waste your time. The people want to know when Covel is opening up, not take a trip down Bruinwalk with an introductory prologue. Get to the good stuff – quick. The news beat is super fast-paced and interesting, and you get to meet some of the coolest people on campus. Plus, you get a very sweet shirt. By the way – blue is definitely your color.

A- grades are not failing. I know, it’s tough. You thought you were going to continue that perfect straight-A streak and when you get your first A- grade, you have a meltdown. Guess what – you’re at UCLA now. Classes are hard. Trust me when I say, you will make it out of this alive. So stop having breakdowns every time you go home for the holidays. It’s not cute and your parents don’t want you spoiling Christmas.

Stay informed. Just watching “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” on CNN every weekday is good. Setting Google alerts for Westwood news; reading the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and USA Today; watching news on KABC-TV, NBC, CBS and Fox local affiliate channels; and subscribing to the UCLA Newsroom are very good. Being a part of the news beat means you’re going to be constantly absorbing news. A news cycle is fast and it’s all right that your iPhone is littered with media apps and alerts. You’ll feel overwhelmed at first, but don’t worry if you miss a story. There’s always a new cycle the next day.

Associated Press style if your best frenemy. You and the AP Stylebook will have a very intricate and challenging relationship. Some days, you’ll be the best of friends. Some days, you’d be OK with being on “Dateline NBC” because you’ve strangled the AP Stylebook to death. But it’s the only way you can write an article in journalism, so you better get comfortable with using it because it’s not going away. AP Stylebook – can’t live with it, can’t live without it.

Go to Hollywood. Explore all that Los Angeles has to offer. There are tons of places you can visit that you can’t afford, lots of ways to get lost and stuck in traffic and so many different events that you can’t get into – you’ll never be bored. And then visit the J. Paul Getty Museum. Drive along the coast of Malibu. Learn about all the famous celebrities that frequented Sunset Boulevard. Explore the Griffith Observatory and sit and dream while listening to music at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. LA has everything for every mood. Let it spoil you.

Join organizations. Aletta, it’s great that you want to participate on campus and make a difference. Clubs are exciting and inspiring, like pretty shiny objects that you want to collect. But do not, I repeat, do not join all six organizations at once. Because there’s this thing called weekly meetings that you have to attend – weekly. Coupled with your responsibilities as a member/writer/webmaster/officer, you will be exhausted by the time you get everything done. Which leads into the next point …

Four hours of sleep is not sleep. That’s a nap.

Be proud. You will be intimidated by the eight-clap at first. But once you get it, you’ll understand that UCLA is something to be proud of. Ambush your parents with UCLA mom and dad shirts and stock up on onesies for the kids you haven’t even had yet. Get lost in the spirit, wear your blue and gold with pride and buy Josie and Joe Bruin plushies for all your friends. Especially the ones that go to that other school.

Make sure to have fun. Make connections, network, enjoy your friendships. Because when it’s all said and done, and you’re sitting in Pauley Pavilion, smile-crying, you will miss every single moment of being an UCLA undergraduate. Oh, and thank your mommy and daddy. You wouldn’t be who you are without them.

Cooke was a News reporter for the city and crime beat 2018-2019.

The Opinion section sharpened my ideas, pushing me to a higher standard -30-

I always had strong opinions growing up, so when I saw Daily Bruin Opinion was hiring, I thought, “Why not?”

When I sauntered into the office for the first time, as a far-too cocky second-year, I was in for a rude awakening. The interview was hard, much harder than I had expected. I was asked to articulate pitches that critically examined a campus community I had been part of for just over a year. I learned rather quickly that it’s one thing to have opinions, but it’s another to present and defend them eloquently.

By some miracle, Daily Bruin Opinion took a chance on me, and thus started a wild ride that would truly shape my undergraduate college experience. Through the Opinion section, I was instantly connected to a small but mighty community of individuals who refused to ever accept the world around them just as it was. Rather, they strove to advocate for the world they wanted every step of the way – with eloquence, intellect and a little bit of spice.

While other students were socializing, this dedicated group of writers would sit through hours of Undergraduate Students Association Council meetings, comb through pages of the University of California’s budget report and deconstruct Westwood policies. I have truly never met another group of people so knowledgeable about and dedicated to understanding the communities which they are a part of.

My time in the office has truly made me a more informed individual and pushed me to be analytical in my approach to every argument. I can’t even count the number of times that I would excitedly pitch an idea in the office, only to have it deconstructed in a million different ways. It was through this process that I gained an appreciation for thinking through issues and arguments from multiple angles. I learned that being persuasive involves understanding the other side just as much as your own.

While the entire Opinion section was amazing, I don’t think anyone can claim more credit for my development as a writer and columnist than Keshav Tadimeti – the editor assigned to me from day one. No matter how crazy the pitch or off-the-wall the argument, Keshav has always given me the trust and encouragement to pursue it over these last three years. He has always demanded and ensured that the final product was a quality column, one that was well-argued and well-sourced. He taught me that it was all right to take risks in writing as long as you had the evidence to back it up.

More than that, Keshav always pushed my writing style to be dynamic, engaging and persuasive. When I’d get into the weeds on a wonky topic during the editing process, he’d push me to be conversational and clear. It’s through these editing sessions that I learned having good ideas wasn’t enough – it was equally important to communicate them well.

However, my time at the Daily Bruin wasn’t just confined to writing Opinion columns. The resources in the office allowed me to explore new mediums for my ideas. I appeared on podcasts and worked on video projects, all the while learning that, with a little elbow grease and a good idea, I could produce quality media, on par with the outlets I consumed. For me, this has made entire mediums of expression far more accessible than I ever dreamed them to be.

Additionally, in my final year I had the amazing opportunity and responsibility of being a staff member represented on the editorial board. Here, I had the opportunity to directly interview politicians and high-level administrators. With the weight of the institution behind every editorial we published, I had to grapple with the responsibility of representing the campus and the paper. Furthermore, late nights spent arguing over endorsements or tough campus politics forced me to become more informed than I had ever been. At the end of it, I feel as if I emerged an individual informed on my community – capable of going toe-to-toe with people in positions of power and able to clearly articulate my beliefs.

These last few years have truly been a wild ride. When I stepped into the office years ago, I had the opinions, but it was Daily Bruin that gave me the tools, knowledge and ability to argue them effectively.

For lack of a spicy kicker (Keshav would be sad), I just want to say one last time – Opinion for life!

Busco was an Opinion columnist 2016-2019 and a staff member of the editorial board 2018-2019.

Musician explores bedroom pop, strikes a chord with independently produced single

Spencer Spring’s latest single “Bubblegum Boy” follows a crush blown out of proportion.

The second-year English student began making bedroom pop music last year – staying true to the genre by producing music in his own room.

Embracing the style’s lo-fi aesthetic, Spring said he creates his lighthearted tunes entirely on his laptop. “Bubblegum Boy” was written, performed and produced as a solo project, thus fully embodying the independent spirit of his creative process, he said.

“I just recognize the value in stories. In terms of music, both stories and moods are important,” Spring said. “Moods go way further than what genre dictates – utilizing the sound itself that has musical aspects and then writing something that sets the mood on top of that.”

Spring said his background as an English student has affected his songwriting by inspiring him to write poetically. Second-year psychology and economics student Dominic Bandoni said Spring transferred into the English major after coming into school as a business economics student. The change allowed Spring to explore his passion for writing while honing his skill by constantly practicing, he said.

Spring often writes his songs in one sitting – going with the natural flow of his emotions rather than overthinking the songwriting process, he said. Spring first wrote “Bubblegum Boy” while daydreaming about a crush, and the song follows the entrancing experience of being attracted to a new person.

The lyrics follow a familiar lovestruck feel as the speaker confesses his feelings to the audience. Lyrics reveal the tension between reality and fantasy when developing feelings for a new person as Spring laments “I think that there’s something, but you say it’s nothing.”

The love song evokes a dreamy state of mind that led to the single’s cover art, he said, which depicts Spring dressed in pink playfully looking at an outstretched piece of bubblegum.

“When I produced (“Bubblegum Boy”), it gave me pink vibes. When I closed my eyes, I thought pink,” Spring said. “And then I thought, ‘Oh, what’s pink? Bubblegum is pink.’”

Making music has helped Spring make connections with a variety of people, he said. Third-year cognitive science student Bella Boshara met Spring in an audio engineering class that helped them both learn basic music production.

Boshara said Spring’s confident-yet-caring personality is reflected in his lyrics because he often writes about personal topics, she said.

“(Spring’s music) draws on difficult emotions, like heartbreak or finding one’s self. And I feel like they give a voice to those difficult situations,” Bandoni said.

Spring’s confidence to display personal-yet-relatable lyrics makes his music intriguing, Bandoni said. Despite the fact that Spring often writes based on very specific people or situations, the passion he exudes allows listeners to resonate with his music regardless of whether or not they have been through the experience themselves, he said.

Spring said he hopes to improve on his music production as he studies abroad in Paris in the summer. Focusing on producing new music, Spring said his goal is to develop an EP produced entirely by himself.

Creating music independently can pose a struggle, Spring said, but platforms like SoundCloud and Instagram provide greater opportunity for artists to reach a large audience. He said he believes music is something that needs to be shared to help people get through universal struggles.

“The goal with music is to help people because music is something that can be enjoyed by everyone,” Spring said. “I look towards music that has helped me at some point, either through evoking a feeling of joy or somehow managing to put into words something that I did not think could be put into words.”

Email Wheeler at awheeler@dailybruin.com or tweet @AlyssaWheeler99.

‘Mas’ bands to reflect multicultural themes at upcoming Carnival celebration

A parade of masked, costumed performers will roll through Hollywood to celebrate international cultures.

The Hollywood Carnival Parade is part of the Los Angeles Cultural Festival, a four-day celebration of LA’s worldwide cultures taking place from June 27-30. The Carnival performances are arranged and choreographed by “mas” bands, groups that wear specific masquerade costumes as part of a larger cultural theme chosen by the individual groups.

Graduate acting student Ulato Sam joined Winery Mas because the mas band reflected his Caribbean roots, as each group reflects a specific culture. During the Carnival parade, participants sing and dance on their respective floats until they cross the stage and are judged on their performance.

Originally from Jamaica, Sam said he has participated in various Carnival celebrations all over the South, from Atlanta to Alabama. When Sam decided to participate in Carnival in Los Angeles, he wanted to find a band that was reflective of Caribbean culture as a whole rather than only his country of origin, he said.

“Jamaicans are known for (being) high energy – we’re entertainers, we’re dancers,” Sam said. “But (the Caribbean) is several different islands, all with a unique history.”

But regardless of their background, Graham Goddard, founder and costume designer of Winery Mas, said anyone can participate in the Hollywood Carnival. Goddard said he encourages anyone with a notion of celebrating Caribbean culture to perform with his band.

Alumnus Daniel Johnson said he will also be celebrating with Winery Mas, but not as part of the main performance. Having learned about Caribbean culture through Sam, Johnson said he was intrigued by the idea of participating in this performance as a way to expand his cultural horizons.

“It’s completely different from what I’m used to, but I’m … kind of adventurous and interested,” Johnson said. “Being dressed and expressing love for the culture, I think it’s really good to see.”

Each mas band brings its own theme to Carnival, and this year’s theme for Winery Mas is “The Birth of a Kingdom,” Goddard said. On each float, the mas band has a DJ playing Caribbean music, but when the float crosses the stage in front of the Carnival judges, the dancers perform a choreographed skit.

Goddard said his band’s skit is a Disney-like story of a prince saving a princess from a kidnapper, with all of the other kingdoms coming together to help the prince in his quest. The theme, Goddard said, would be the power of the island nations to come together toward a common goal.

“If anyone is looking at this from an artistically conceptual perspective, they will see … a visual story being told with these cultural costumes being presented,” Goddard said. “The story will be part of the spectacle.”

Various groups of dancers make up Winery Mas, but the group Sam and Johnson are dancing in is called the Winery Warriors, said Goddard. Each dancer’s costume primarily features black wings, shorts and shoulder armor. It is accented with neck chains, wrist bands and leg bands that have a platinum finish. The featured piece of the costume is a large, reflective mask that covers the performer’s entire face. Sam said he was particularly drawn to this aspect of the costume, as he feels it has a lesson to teach within the context of Winery Mas’ story.

“When you realize that every person is a mirror, you realize that every person is going to teach you something about yourself,” Sam said. “The hardest thing in the world to do is to look at yourself … and be objective.”

Goddard, who designed all of Winery Mas’ costumes, said he wanted to give each performer an opportunity to make each costume their own and modify it to represent their own culture. Sam said he plans to utilize colors from the Jamaican flag by adding green and gold in glittery or jeweled adornments to his already black costume. He will also bring a large Jamaican flag with him, but said he will have to be judicious with his dance movements, as draping the flag over his costume makes it hard to dance in the gyrating style typical of a Caribbean Carnival.

“As a Jamaican, I think I’m obligated to have a giant flag,” Sam said. “(But) sometimes the flag gets in the way of the fun.”

Johnson will also be performing with the Winery Warriors, wearing a costume similar to the one Sam will wear, he said. Sam said he is most excited about sharing the communal nature of the music and dancing, as it feels representative of the Caribbean island nations as a whole, with each group getting to share its way of expressing culture.

“It’s like seeing the breeze blow and a hundred leaves moving at the same time. Imagine two hundred, sometimes a thousand people coming down the road dancing in unison,” Sam said. “For a day … all our energy is towards Carnival, but by the same token you have different beats, different rhythms.”

E-mail Wilson at jwilson@dailybruin.com or tweet @wilson_db

Baseball narrowly drops first game to Michigan 3-2, must win twice to advance

The Bruins will again have to win multiple elimination games in order to advance.

No. 1 UCLA baseball (51-10, 24-5 Pac-12) fell to Michigan (45-19, 16-7 Big Ten) 3-2 in the first game of the Los Angeles super regional. The Bruins will now have to defeat the Wolverines in two consecutive games to earn their spot in the College World Series.

UCLA rattled off three consecutive wins to make it out of the first round of postseason play after losing to Loyola Marymount in its second game of regionals last weekend.

“We’ve been in this situation a few times all season long,” said coach John Savage. “We won 51 games for a reason; there’s a lot of trust and confidence in that clubhouse and belief. Our backs were against the wall a little bit last week, and certainly it is this weekend.”

After only producing one hit and trailing 3-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Bruins rallied for two runs but the comeback effort fell short.

Redshirt sophomore Jarron Silva led off the bottom of the ninth with a pinch-hit walk before infield singles by sophomore center fielder Garrett Mitchell and junior second baseman Chase Strumpf loaded the bases with one out. Toglia knocked a two-RBI single to right to cut into the Michigan lead on the first pitch he saw.

Following a Michigan pitching change, senior designated hitter Jake Pries and junior left fielder Jack Stronach stranded men on first and third to stop the potential comeback effort.

“We didn’t do anything the first eight innings,” Savage said. “At the end of the day, like I said, (Michigan) made more pitches, and they had some better at-bats.”

Junior right-hander Ryan Garcia retired the first six batters he faced before a single and double in the fourth placed two runners in scoring position. Center fielder Jesse Franklin hit a two-out, two-RBI single to right to give the Wolverines a 2-0 lead.

“I think we went a couple fastballs early; he ended up staying with the changeup,” Garcia said. “(I) tip my cap to him, (I) made and mistake and he took advantage of it.”

A wide pick-off throw by Garcia in the following frame allowed a base runner to advance from first to third. The Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning, sitting down 12 consecutive Wolverines after his throwing error.

The next Michigan batter to reach base got on with a double in the eighth and advanced to third on a passed ball. A sac-fly increased the Wolverines’ lead to three and a single by the next batter prompted Savage to pull Garcia in favor of redshirt senior right-hander Nate Hadley.

Garcia ended his night having given up two earned runs over 7 2/3 innings and striking out eight.

After not producing a baserunner the first time through the lineup, the Bruins’ offense threatened with men in scoring position in the fourth and fifth.

Sophomore center fielder Garrett Mitchell led off the fourth with a walk and advanced to third via a sac-bunt and fly-out before junior first baseman Michael Toglia hit an inning-ending groundout to first.

In the fifth, senior designated hitter Jake Pries led off with a single and junior right fielder Jeremy Ydens’ dropped fly ball put runners on first and second with one out. Freshman catcher Noah Cardenas grounded into an inning-ending double play on the next pitch to keep the Bruins off the board.

Michigan right-hander Karl Kauffmann tossed eight shutout innings with eight strikeouts before getting pulled with one down in the ninth. Kauffmann was 9-6 with a 2.62 ERA entering Friday.

“Kauffmann was outstanding,” Savage said. “Threw the ball extremely well, pretty much handled us the entire evening.”

Game two of the super regional will take place at 6 p.m. Saturday at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

In my time at The Bruin, I learned to value the story, not the storyteller -30-

Storytellers have a curse: They’re not their stories.

I know, it’s ironic.

And I could end my final column for the Daily Bruin right there.

But that would seem absurd, not just because you’d expect someone who’s edited nearly 40 of these farewell pieces to give you some quality words of wisdom, but also because you’d hope one of the most-feared journalists in Westwood can spare more than 12 words.

So I’ll elaborate.

My sign-off column for the Daily Bruin has been eight years in the making. Back when I was far less a pain in Chancellor Gene Block’s rear end, I volunteered to be a summer campus guide to usher in bright-eyed seventh graders to our middle school. During the training for that too-social-for-Keshav-Tadimeti endeavor, the teacher in charge had some advice.

“There are three kinds of people,” she said. “Those who made it happen, those who saw it happen and those who wondered what happened.”

I don’t remember the context – perhaps she was talking about the dance-off hazing my whack middle school thought was cool in 2011.

Regardless, my mind was set: No way was I dancing to Justin Bieber, but no way was I missing the chance to see a bunch of short kids who think they can break dance.

It didn’t dawn on me until last year, when I was slaving away in Kerckhoff Hall 118 for my third iteration of the Daily Bruin Graduation Issue, that my middle school teacher’s words were the story of my life.

I see things that happen. I write about them for the people who wonder. And for the longest time, I believed being the fly on the wall was a chicken way of living.

But it took me three years at the Daily Bruin to realize that’s the story of every journalist. We observe the world around us and share with the community – be it as straight news reporting or as honest, value-driven opinions.

The Daily Bruin is filled with hundreds of these storytellers. Be it an admissions scandal, a murder-suicide, a blazing fire, a coercion-filled student government election, a botched response to a measles outbreak, allegations of bribery against athletics officials or the chancellor wanting to dip from the quarter system, the many awe-inspiring student-journalists of the windowless bayou that is UCLA’s unofficial journalism school put their heads together and report it to the Westwood community every day.

Not for the glory. And not for the red carpet walk.

That might seem hard to believe coming from me. I’ve been responsible for nearly every opinionated Daily Bruin piece you’ve read in the past three years. I authored 35 Opinion columns, and edited – or rewrote – close to 852 columns, editorials, podcasts, op-eds and letters to the editor. Close to every one of the past 459 issues of the newspaper has been sauteed with my structural edits, whipped with my wording changes or spiced up before served to the information-hungry Westwood populace. Heck, I even beat a special correspondent to the Los Angeles Times in a Twitter fight.

The byline appeal was nice. The name recognition boosted my ego. But I never did it for the glory.

I never won an award for a column I wrote – save for one I pieced together about the tetanus-inducing state of Boelter Hall’s bathrooms. I didn’t even get so much as a response from the Bruin Republicans, despite searing them alive in 919 words of spice. About all the fame I got was from the fact that I scared the living daylights out of the undergraduate student government via scathing columns and a graphic documenting how much they goofed around on social media.

But, to a large degree, none of that really matters. I told stories because they needed to be told, not so I could revel in a viral Twitter moment. Ironically, the most honest stories I edited or wrote without regard for what people thought garnered the most attention.

The projects I organized to shed light on the University of California’s institutionalization of sexual harassment and UCLA’s awkward relationship with equity, diversity and inclusion sent ripples through Murphy Hall. An editorial I drafted during the college admissions scandal about the cynically inaccessible state of higher education caught the eye of National Public Radio. And the editorial board’s rueful take on the UC’s attempts to protect harassers earned us the title of the best college newspaper editorial board in the nation.

Sure, not everyone told stories solely for the sake of them. Some of my colleagues co-opted the Daily Bruin to live out their fantasies while steamrolling others’. Some vilified their peers and courted the public’s support to lambast them.

It wasn’t pretty. Storytellers aren’t meant to be their stories, no matter how much they want to. Journalism is a mirror reflecting the truisms of our world, and the more you decorate it with vanities, the more you distract from its purpose.

I tried living by that ideal. I reflected UCLA and Westwood the best I could these past four years. I didn’t always get it right, and I certainly wasn’t always read.

But I lived the storyteller’s curse. And it was a beautiful one.

Tadimeti was an Opinion columnist in 2015-2016, assistant Opinion editor in 2016-2017, the Opinion editor in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, the Podcast editor from 2017-2019, an editorial board member from 2016-2019, Graphics contributor in 2018-2019 and Copy contributor in 2018-2019.