Elizabeth's Writ 340 Blog

This past week, I attended with Women's Beer Forum at the Eagle Rock Brewery with Elisa and a couple other students from Professor Clark's other sections. This month's meeting was called "Haze Craze". When we first walked in, it was quite different than I was expecting. There was a small bar on your right with a bit of seating on the left. It was really busy! Behind the seating, there was a window into the room where they make beer. We got there a bit early, so we decided to get a beer. We asked one of the women behind the bar for a recommendation. I can't remember the name, but it was delicious! They then opened the doors to the beer making room, and we went in. We were then handed another beer!  Here is Elisa double fisting! After about 10 other women entered the room, the forum began. She told us different things about beer such that beer is produced through the fermentation of yeast. She also explained what makes a beer hazy vs clear.  My mo...

At Brighter Futures, our mission is to help enroll homeless children and teenagers in school, aid in costs of attending, providing a safe space for academic growth, and ultimately providing homeless youth with brighter futures.  The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a federal law that was passed in 1987 and re-authorized in 2015 that guarantees certain rights for homeless children. This act requires schools to provide “equal access to the same, free, appropriate public education, including public preschool education, as provided to other children and youths” (McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, 1987).  But, the Los Angeles Unified School District does not even crack to the top 10 in the percentage of homeless students enrolled compared to other districts (EdSource).  Brighter Futures will team up with local shelters, as well as doing its own public outreach, to help raise the number of homeless youth enrolled in the LAUSD. All of my life I h...

Though I grew up in an upscale neighborhood, there was one thing that plagued the area: homelessness. Brentwood is located next to the Veterans Center. This institution includes a hospital as well as other services for Vets. Due to this, there was always a lot of homeless vets that would sleep on the streets outside the center and  surrounding  the area. Due to PTSD and other mental problems, veterans did not have jobs, leading them to be homeless after fighting for our country. Every winter, a military storage warehouse on Wilshire in Brentwood, becomes a homeless shelter, providing hot meals and a bed to many of the homeless veterans. Every year, with my school, I would go and volunteer there;  preparing and serving meals. It was sad to see the amount of homeless trying to get into the shelter for the night, many with obvious mental and drug issues Now attending USC, I live in an area even more struck with homelessness. I drive down Skid Row on a monthly basis and see...

I have never really had the desire to do freelance graphic design because frankly, I am lazy and just can't be bothered. For some reason, in the past couple months, I've had people contacting me asking me to do freelance for them. When someone comes to you and say's they'll pay you; you just can't say no! In the past few months, I have done freelance projects for a clothing company, a communal workspace, a tutoring company, a female empowerment media platform, and a wearable lingerie company. Some of these projects have been so much fun and rewarding, while others have been an absolute pain in my ass! The first project I did was for a company called MadHappy ( madhappy.us ), which is an apparel brand which promotes positive thinking. The CEO got my contact and called me and told me he needs someone to design a sweatshirt for them. This sweatshirt was especially important to him as it was an homage to his friend who had passed away. This made me feel the pressure. ...