Street: What's the soundtrack to your life? Benjamin Alisuag: The soundtrack to my life is In Search Of… by N.E.R.D. for multiple reasons. I can definitely appreciate the artistry that the group puts into their work, from the production to the music to the lyrics. And Chad Hugo is Filipino!
Street: There are 2 types of people at Penn… BA: Those who dress fly and those who wear Penn hoodies every day. No sweatpants in public.
Street: Who's the coolest person you've ever met? BA: My mother, hands down. In high school, my friends always told me I had the cool mom. And just to give you a sample of her coolness, some of her interests include John Legend, hip hop and teaching me how to make the perfect margarita.
Street: What's your guilty pleasure? BA: Danity Kane, 3 Musketeers bars, text messages and peach-mango VitaminWater.
Street: There is a Facebook group entitled "Ben Alisuag is the Truth." How did this come about, and how do you feel about being "the truth"? BA: My friends created that group freshman year. In my first Excelano show, I did a poem called "I Spit" and I spoke about the socioeconomic and racial inequalities I experienced growing up. After the show, people kept coming up to me and calling me "the truth." For the record, according to urbandictionary.com, "the truth" is defined as a superlative; the greatest or most positive form it is possible for a person or thing to be. See also: "the shit."
Street: You were one of the founders of Pennoys. Why the unusual spelling? BA: Pennoys is a Filipino a cappella group. It's a play on words… a "Pinoy" is another term for Filipino.
Street: Are there any other words you enjoy misspelling? BA: As a proud English major, I try not to misspell any words. Although sometimes I spell swagger as "suagger."
Street: You're obviously quite busy around campus. What do you do to unwind after a long day of running campus organizations? BA: True, you'll most often see me unwinding at Mad4's happy hour. But the true remedy for a long day is reading a book of Pablo Neruda's poetry or spending a Friday night indoors with food and good company. Street: What's the best part of being in Sphinx? BA: Besides our dope hoodies… the fact that 1/5 of us are also part of the Oracle Senior Honor Society.
Street: How do you rep the Bay in your daily life? BA: First off, I've permanently included "hella" into my daily vocabulary. I also wear my sunglasses at night, keep the line-up fresh and listen to 2pac religiously. I'm thinking about getting "thug life" tattooed on my stomach.
