Newsletter #24

Hi Everyone,

There's always been an interesting juxtaposition for me at USC, especially during this time of year. In my day job, everything is sort of front loaded. Sure, there's the standard fire drills- crisis moments that come up and we deal with on any given day- but generally speaking the heaviest part of my workload is immediately before and at the beginning of every semester. That sense of slowly moving towards Winter Recess is always front of mind. Honestly, I start thinking about it every year in January, right when we return. To use a Christmas analogy, it's like the Star of Bethlehem. A distant promise with a long journey ahead, but it's ever present and it gives me hope. By Commencement, I consider myself already halfway there. Once Fall starts, after the dust from move-in settles, it feels like the home stretch. By the time we hit Thanksgiving it's smooth sailing through to the Winter Recess. 

Other than the really busy times, I'll admit, I'm comfortable. I am blessed to be in the position I’m in, and I love what I do. I'm grateful for my team and my colleagues. I'm appreciative that I’m trusted to make decisions for my area. And most importantly, I have that coveted work-life balance. It hasn't always been this way. 

Early on in my USC career it was 50-60 hour work weeks (sometimes more) and regularly with a 6th day. Don't get me wrong, that was a sacrifice I made, and it was willingly given. I knew what I was in for, and I did it year after year. Aside from keeping my head down and working hard, I had two simple goals. Be among the few to go from Assistant Manager to Associate Director, and to get my 15-year letter. Pretty much everything I did- including nights, weekends and holidays- was chalked up to “paying my dues”. I paid these dues for myself and to advance my career, and for the wife I hadn't yet married, and the kids we hadn't yet had.

In addition to hard work, I owe much of my career growth to things I've learned over the past 16 years. My mentors, bosses, colleagues, and friends at USC have all shaped who I am. Without a doubt, USC has made me what I am today. But sacrifice and loyalty, commitment and integrity are just a few reasons why USC was lucky to have ME for the past decade and a half. That’s what I brought to the table, and all of those things I had well before I started here. It’s why this relationship has worked out as long as it has.

So herein lies the juxtaposition. The relative predictability of work, a steady trajectory, consistency of schedule- yes, even when the days were very long- all contrasted with the chaos of everyday life outside of work. As I've shared, it's been a pretty craptacular year, and the past few weeks didn't disappoint. 

Our tree climbing dog, Luna, who made a guest appearance in the last Newsletter clearly enjoyed the spotlight. Last Wednesday, just one day after my wife turned in her last final for her Fall semester- and on our 14th anniversary no less- Luna again mysteriously teleported out of our backyard. Mind you, I already severely butchered the tree she was climbing, so this mystery is the gift that keeps on giving. We discovered her absence just minutes before we were headed out the door to drop the kids off with a cousin and enjoy an anniversary dinner together. Instead, we circled the neighborhood in separate vehicular search parties for roughly two hours. Ultimately we headed home, depressed and defeated, planning to regroup and design some “Lost Dog” signs which I would put up on my way to work the next morning. Our daughter took a shot at one while sitting cross legged in front of our window, looking out on the street for almost 2 hours.

After putting the kids to bed, we had some very romantic standing-in-the-kitchen slices of semi-warm Trader Joe's pizza, and tried to salvage the night by watching Stranger Things together. When the phone rang at 10pm, it was our neighbor. Our dog had teleported into their back yard. Ecstatic, we hustled over and brought a very dirty and tired Luna home with us. We were relieved.

Not to be outdone, and because it's 2025, our other dog, Kiara, decided she wanted to contribute in a memorable way too. Just a few days prior to Luna's escape, at around 9pm on Sunday night, both dogs got into a pretty bad fight in our family room. They're not vicious dogs, they just act like sisters, and they fight over food when hungry. My daughter had forgotten to feed them, and earlier in the afternoon she left a bucket of treats on the floor. When she got up to grab the bucket at my request, Kiara attacked Luna. 

Because both kids were in the room, I jumped in to separate them, upon which Kiara tried to separate my pinky from my hand. I had a number of smaller bites and scratches on my left hand, but my pinky was really badly cut and bleeding profusely. After getting the dogs separated, tending to my wounds (with significant help from my wife), and then cleaning blood off the couch, we tried to assure the kids that “they weren't going to make us put down either dog”. The next morning, while waiting to be seen in Urgent Care, I Googled “the proper way to break up a dog fight”. Apparently, I was doing it wrong.

In addition to the dog craziness, we spent this past weekend consumed by soccer, which amazingly wasn't all bad. My son played in a tournament out in Santa Clarita. It ended up being 4 games spread across Saturday and Sunday. To make things extra complicated, and because I can't help myself, I formed a “ref team” with two other soccer dads and we volunteered to cover a few extra tournament games as a crew. Overall it was good times, and there were no signs of my son's nagging injuries: knee, ankle, other ankle, eyes, or concussion. A Christmas Miracle.

To add to the crazy, my daughter's South Pasadena (AYSO Region 214!!!) team made the Area playoffs. As an 8th place team, we thought it would be one and done. Instead, the girls proceeded to win two knockout games on Saturday, and a semi-final on Sunday morning before falling short in the Final to a very good Pasadena team Sunday afternoon. My daughter had to play the whole tournament in goal when our other goalie broke her wrist early on in the weekend. My daughter was in net for, and won, her first penalty shootout as a goalie. The only bad turn was when she hurt her back diving for what would be the fourth goal in the 5-0 loss in the final. Mind you, my wife took my daughter to all of her weekend games, so I got to experience her tournament run mostly via text update, but on Sunday I rushed back from Valencia in between my son's two games to catch the second half of the championship in Arcadia. Or more accurately, I drove 55 minutes to get glared at by my daughter.

When I showed up, my daughter was standing in goal immediately in front of my parking spot. Her back was turned to me as she was facing the field of play. There was a stoppage due to an injury so I had an opportunity to surprise her. I thought she would be super happy to see that I came all that way to watch her in the championship game. “Hey birthday girl!” was immediately met with a very upset “the defenders kept letting people get behind them. I keep telling them not to but they're not listening!” I didn't find out until I sat down next to my wife that they were only down 2-0. Once the 4th goal got scored and she came out due to injury (and after we had her tended to and calmed down) she permitted my release so I could rush back up the 210 for my son's final game. I picked up my Dad in Montrose on the way, and we rode out together to watch my son’s team win the 3rd place game. We regrouped at home late Sunday night to have some sushi and cake. It was my daughter's 12th birthday.

Why do I share all of this? Not because my story is special. It's no different from many of yours. I share it because it’s just who we are as family members, and as Trojans. We live our life bound by our sense of commitment, and the responsibility to take care of and cheer on others. We give our time and ourselves willingly, sometimes to our own detriment. We navigate life's chaos independent of our day jobs, and still show up to work every single day and give our best. Just like at home, at work we act selflessly to help our students, our colleagues, our direct reports, and our bosses. We act decisively to protect the institution, the assets, and the people. We tend to those who are sick or injured. We talk them through their challenges. We patiently answer their questions. Sometimes we even let them glare and yell at us. We don't let the trauma, drama, and chaos of the outside world affect our commitment to serve those we are here for. In showing up every day- or at least most days (our vacation accrual rate is pretty good)- we never questioned if our future would be honored. We expected that the dedication, resolve and loyalty we showed to USC would be reciprocated unquestionably.

Until last October, when we found out that USC views its promises and commitments to its family different than we do. As optional. And so here we are, in our varying states and statuses, current and former, angry or resigned, but still somehow giving it our best in each moment. Our community betrayed, but determined and resolute, now focused on a different Star, with the long journey still ahead.

And still we Fight On. We are 417 strong.

I don’t have much in the way for you to do this time. Consider that my Christmas Gift to you. A Newsletter with just a few links. So here are some updates.

Table of Contents

• Ongoing TAB discussions

• Storytelling updates

• Back on Instagram

• Discord

Ongoing TAB discussions

Similar to the intentional slowdown when I started as President of the Staff Assembly, there's been a little bit of a shift to doing the actual work. I'm pleased to report that I've been able to speak with Interim President Kim on two separate occasions about the future of TAB. One was at our Department meeting which he attended and spoke at, the other was last week on a phone call in preparation for the General Assembly meeting later this morning. GA will be the third time, and TAB is one of the planned topics for discussion.

For those who haven't heard this from me, the response both times was similar. At our Department meeting, he responded by saying “I'll take a look at that”, followed by “there will probably have to be trade offs”. On our phone call, I mentioned that I'll be asking him about TAB during our meeting, and shared that I've been appreciative of his openness to engage on difficult topics. There wasn't time for a deep discussion, but I shared that TAB is considered unfinished business by both the Staff Assembly, and me personally. I offered to meet and discuss further when he is ready and has time.

While it's not a commitment to a full reversal, I'm still optimistic. Sure, I have to be, but our stories aren't ones of entitlement, but instead aggrievement. The decision was deeply counter to our Values- literally every single one of them- and any “healing”, at least for me, requires the decisions of Fall 2024 to be reversed. For the first time since then, I feel like that’s at least being considered.

Storytelling updates

This Winter Recess I'll take a shot at recording my USC story. It will be the first episode for our community. I plan to do it in podcast format. My kids will be giving me a handheld digital recorder for Christmas (don't worry, I'll act surprised) which will allow me to record anywhere. I have a few folks considering recording an episode with me. You can fill out our storytelling survey if you'd be willing to do a sit down with me and share your story. It will be audio only, if that helps.

Back on Instagram

Did you see it? Our return to IG was fun. Thank you for all of the survey responses. I couldn't do it without your input. The posts give light to your individual experiences, and it helps personalize our cause. Special thanks to the community member who helps with all of the posting and design. She's been down for the cause since literally day one (October 18th, 2024).

Over the break, we will likely pause our IG efforts again, but I'll start January off with another survey. They may feel redundant, but we’re just looking for authentic takes from our community. Even if you feel like you're saying the same thing, we really need your thoughts and feelings to continue to tell our (your) story. As we move forward, I'm open to ideas on how we can evolve and improve.

If you haven’t yet, check out our page and some of our posts.

Discord

I peeked today. It's still there, but it’s been quiet. We’ll take a little break and come back to that when we’re ready. It’s been a tough few months…

The goal in all of this is to remain visible. It's understandable that the deficit needs to be corrected first. But when the University finally puts itself back together again, we need to be present and top of mind. Before we can even think about trusting again, we need to be made whole. And in order to be made whole, we need to remain present, engaged, and united.

I hope you'll keep up the good fight with me. And equally important, I hope you find some peace this holiday season.

Thank you for being here, and see you in the new year, if not sooner.

Phil

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