Newsletter #25

Author

My15 atUSC
January 16, 2026

Hi Everyone,

Insert obligatory overly excited halfway through January “Happy New Year's” salutation here. Just kidding. “Happy New Year!”

I hope your holiday season was everything you wanted it to be. Mine felt unusually short. In the past, I'd take two plus weeks around this time of year. This time it was a quick 7 day break, and it was busy.

It included a trip to Disneyland, where our family rekindled a very special Christmas tradition via a reunion with some of my cousins. Growing up, every Christmas brought a convergence on Los Angeles for the families on my dad's side. He was one of five, which meant I was one of 13 grandkids. The first 11 of us were boys.

Turners would come in from Pasadena, Cincinnati, Santa Barbara, and Sacramento. For about a week, it was pandemonium around my grandparent's house, and the Hotel down the street in Eagle Rock. My childhood house was nearby on the Pasadena/Eagle Rock border, and served as the overflow house. It was the place the cousins fought over going to for late night sleepovers complete with cable TV, an Apple II GS, Nintendo, Atari, and Intellivision II. These are some of my fondest memories of childhood. Our tradition was, every Christmas Eve the entire family (25+) would caravan down and enjoy the Happiest Place on Earth together. We would pair up in pods of similar age and run around the park together with periodic meet ups for meals. My grandpa and grandma would give each grandchild their Christmas gift, Disney Dollars, right after we bought tickets but before we went through the gates. The only requirement was that everyone had to get on the train at the Main Street Station and ride it all the way around the park with grandma before we each ran off. That, and my brother and I always had to get something at the magic store on the way out.

So it was extra special to have some of the cousins in town this year- four from San Diego and four from Sacramento- especially given how 2025 went. It was a blessing to watch my kids experience Disneyland similar to how we did, with their cousins. I was also personally excited to experience Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge for the first time. Perhaps that dates my last trip well enough for some of you. The last time we went, my daughter was in a stroller and my wife was still pregnant with my son.

For most of us at USC, the Winter Recess alone is a special tradition, even if it's not specially tied to celebrating Christmas. It's something we look forward to, enjoy in the moment, and reflect fondly on afterwards. It was when contemplating that, the idea of tradition, and in fact researching the definition of the word for this Newsletter, when I stumbled on what I did. 

I’ll first preface all this by sharing what some of you already know about me. I didn't come to USC as a college graduate, or with any interest in TAB for myself. I went to CSUN in the late 90s where I goofed around just enough to get 60 units, play 4 years of ice hockey, and fall in love with food service management. I was a sandwich artist and supervisor at the Subway near campus. I failed out of college, mostly through non-attendance, but also largely because I was an irresponsible 20 year old who would have rather partied and played hockey, bass, and/or video games. I enjoyed the classes I was interested in, mostly religious studies stuff like Jewish History and the Bible, and I also enjoyed math and creative writing. But if I wasn't interested, I just wouldn't go. Foodservice, not academia, is the journey that brought me to USC as a staff member in 2009.

It was only more recently with the help of a neighbor and close friend (who is also faculty and a counselor at GCC) that I was able to transfer my CSUN units over to PCC. With his guidance, I was able to line up the equivalent units and petition for the conversion of some of my specialized CSUN classes into PCC ones. After calculating in the units taken at PCC when I was in high school, he helped me discover that I only needed a few more classes to get my AA in Humanities. And so during the tail end of the pandemic, I took a virtual tennis class and an online asynchronous public speaking course (suckers!)…and the following semester a health class (again virtual and asynchronous) along with another semester of tennis, this time in-person. In May 2023 I earned my AA. Game, set, and match.

Part of my goal was to get my associate's degree so I could transfer to USC to complete my bachelor's. “Experience as a substitute” isn't typically listed on upper management positions at USC, everything is simply “degree required”. This meant that I was probably at my positional cap around the senior manager/associate director level, and that anything above would require at least a bachelor's. Since my last few years at CSUN mostly counted as “F’s” I had some GPA ground to make up just to get accepted. My PCC grades were all A’s, but I was probably going to need some extra classes just to pull my GPA above water. However, such is life that as soon as I got serious about my next step, my wife decided that she wanted to go back to school for her MSW. All good. So here we are.

I share all of this as it's probably the most prevalent insecurity I carry working at a place like USC, even to this day. There's always been an implied hierarchy at USC, simply by being staff. And it's definitely pronounced when you don't work in an academic unit, not even taking into account the degree requirements for positions that I just mentioned. Mind you, I don't feel this judgement or comparison with colleagues in my department, or even amongst other staff I interact with. I'm good at what I do and I enjoy my role in service of the mission and the institution. But in a place where email signatures come with letters before and after names, and acronyms and titles are used to signify importance- or imply required deference- before we’ve even met, it doesn’t always feel like the most inclusive place. I know there isn't malintent behind these things, and I recognize that for many it's a badge of pride and accomplishment, and a symbol of things overcome. They've earned that right, and this is Higher Ed, but it doesn't diminish how “othered” it can make you feel. But I digress…

So as the grandson of a Methodist Minister (who happened to attend USC on TAB starting in 1935) I have always had his interest in words and definitions. Obviously he was much more studied, and was deeply immersed in the languages and translation of the Bible. But wordplay (you saw my poem, right?) is fun for me. I'm not talking about Shakespeare or hardcore English Lit mind you, but wittiness, double entendre, puns, dad jokes, silly rhymes, hidden meanings, all my jam. I guess the best way to describe us is that I'm a logophile, or perhaps a lexophile, whereas he was a linguaphile. So when I stumbled across this, simply searching for the definition of the word “tradition”, it immediately caught my eye. Now indulge me for a second while I pretend to sound smart.

Tradition, from the Old French (tradicion) and Latin (traditio). The Latin “traditio”, from the Latin “trans” (across) and “dare”(give). These two together, “tradere”, which provides the following common English derivatives: tradition, traditional. But interestingly, also, traitor and treason.

More from the Oxford Latin Dictionary:

Tradere

To hand over, deliver (into the keeping or control of a person, institution, etc.). (b) to pass on (non-material things). (c) to impart, pass on (qualities, attributes, etc.).

To hand over (a person, etc., to be at the disposal of another); (refl.) to put oneself at the disposal (of). (b) to entrust (to the practitioner of a profession). 

Were the decades of service not our tradition? Did these long years not constitute “handing over ourselves into the keeping or control of an institution”? Did we not “put [ourselves] at the disposal of” and “entrust [ourselves] to the practitioners of a profession”?

And From The Online Etymology Dictionary: 

"betray, deceive," come from the Latin tradere "hand over," from trans "across" + dare "to give".

Perhaps the Online Etymology Dictionary isn't the gold standard in Latin derivatives, but my point is simply that these definitions are inextricably linked. The tradition of TAB was something they never had a right to take away. How could it be possible, or fair, or moral, or ethical for them not to deliver on what had been promised, and what we had earned? We had given ourselves to them. Many of them had even used this benefit themselves, for their own children! How could they not see this? Did they really think the legal language they added to our letters absolved them of this duty?

In researching this, much of “tradere” refers to the surrender. To entrust, or give up control, or place into another's care. This isn't me on a rant, or “just one person's take”, this was the tradition of thousands of employees. We gave our lives to USC all based on the promise of TAB and the 15 year letter. A tradition for a tradition. We surrendered, we entrusted. And we were betrayed. Giving just some of it back nothing short of “traditio traditur”, a tradition betrayed.

I understand that in this exact moment, January 2026, we aren't going to immediately get TAB reinstated. The University still has work to do to ensure that we're not going to find ourselves back in this position again. But as we hear that things are recovering, our wound is one that will need to be healed if they want to have any hope of us feeling the same connection and pride for the institution- and its traditions- that we once did. Perhaps, I'd argue, that the only way we will find our way back to tradition and the institution, is for them to honor the institution, and its tradition, in the first place.

Itaque pugnamus. And so we Fight On. 

We are 418 strong.

Sure it's a New Year, but it's the same mission. “New year, same mission”. Maybe we'll make some buttons. It's more catchy than my first idea, which was “2026 couldn't possibly be crappier than 2024, unless it was a repeat of 2025, right?”

So let's see where 2026 takes us. Thanks for being here.

Table of Contents

The My15atUSC Podcast

I finally did it. During the break I was able to get a 23 minute episode recorded. Santa or my kids (I forgot which, but I acted surprised) gave me the handheld recorder. Santa clearly plans really well because he coincidentally brought my son a Shure mic and collapsible mic stand along with some new XLR cables. They came with a new wah-wah pedal for his guitar set up. After a few days writing- and the family trip to Disneyland- I took a shot at it. A day and some overnight Amazon fuzzy mic covers and a new wind screen later, the second take was recorded. Fortunately I did music in a past life, so learning to use the audio editing software (Audiate) wasn't too bad.

So with that, as of New Year's Day the “My15atUSC Podcast - Episode #1” is available on the major podcast platforms (Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and Apple). Now it's up to you to actually make it #1. Seriously though, it serves as an intro to our cause for anyone who doesn't like reading my novels Newsletters. Feel free to reply to this email and let me know what you think. Your replies only get seen by me.

Up next I'll record a second episode, probably a bit more of a personal story, then we can hopefully start telling some of yours. I have a few folks that are open to being interviewed. I can also connect with you privately to hear your story and we can agree to tell it in a way that makes you feel comfortable while keeping you anonymous. I'm also looking for TAB recipients (your kids who have already graduated?) to do some interviews with. I know it may feel a bit uncomfortable, but don't worry, I took one for the team and did it first, and it turned out ok. Just think about it.

You can find the My15atUSC Podcast - Episode #1 on:

Storytelling Survey

So this is the same survey I've threatened you with for months. If you've already bailed on your New Year's Resolution, I got a new opportunity for you right here. Please consider it, and let me know if you're interested in lending your story to our cause.

Here’s the Storytelling survey.

TAB Dreams (NEW Survey)

For those of you who may not be up for an interview, that's ok. This community has always been about “participating exactly as much as you're comfortable with”. Hopefully this survey will be a way you can contribute.

As I mentioned in the last Newsletter, it may feel redundant, but I'm looking for your feedback. Surveys serve two major purposes. They keep me aligned with community sentiment and they are the content we use for social media, mainly Instagram. Just give me a sentence or two, or a few paragraphs if you're feeling spicy. Hopefully this survey’s theme helps you express your feelings about the whole thing. Just do me one last favor. Those of you who are more inclined to leave just a few words, try to make your simple responses a full sentence. Otherwise I can only do word clouds with them (without adding my own words).

Here’s the TAB Dreams survey.

My15atUSC on Reddit

And finally, I went ahead and created a My15atUSC Reddit account. It was in response to a question posed in the r/USC Sub posed by a former 15-year staff member regarding TAB. At this point, I think it's fair to bring our movement to as many public places- still respectfully of course- as possible, especially as the University appears poised to start hailing itself as “healed” and looks to turn over the reins to a permanent (but maybe not new?) leader. It also serves as a way to provide information to those who don't yet know about our community, or the changes to TAB. If a single Google search lands them at that Reddit post, it's mission accomplished. Those of you on Reddit, I hope you'll help upvote that post and the replies. You can find our account here, and the post is on our profile page.

I also understand if you're not interested or willing to connect yourself to this movement via public Reddit comments. I had to create this account for that exact reason.

So here we are, many of us now back in the swing of things after the first week of classes, with the obligatory acknowledgement of “a restful break” expected from all. And with a few more weeks of “Happy New Years!” still ahead (until February 1st if that's ok with everyone?), so shall we carry ourselves forward and begin to tell ourselves that it’s already Spring.

I hope you'll continue to carry on with me in this new year as our struggle is not yet won. Perhaps, with your help, this is the year we will get it all back.

Take care until next time,

Phil