Author Archives: Kate Mays
A Savage approach to sex-ed
Everything I learned about sex I learned from Dan Savage. I wish that was a gross exaggeration, but it’s not. I’ve spent most of my life ignorant of, misinformed about, or terrified of sex. For the uninitiated, Dan Savage is an internationally-syndicated sex and relationship advice columnist. Think a male, gay, “Dear Abby” who instructs readers on how to pull off things like threesomes and polyamory instead of successful dinner parties.
Checks and balances? Not at GU
When I first heard that the Georgetown University Student Association wanted to strip the advisory boards of their votes on the Funding Board, I thought it was a joke. I know GUSA senators sometimes demonstrate an inferiority complex about their perceived inefficacy, but this seemed to be an outrageous power grab, even for them. Moreover, I was convinced that it couldn’t be done.
What would Betty Freidan do?
When I was younger, my mom refused to let me watch two Disney movies: Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. I asked her years later about what I thought was a strange prejudice against the delightful animated fairytales, and she explained that she didn’t want me growing up absorbing stories of women being saved by a white knight.
The secret life of an Am-Stud Major
Much to the dismay of my father, a computer scientist, all three of his children pursued majors in the humanities. When my twin brother shared with us that the engineering and pre —med majors at Johns Hopkins, who make up roughly 75 percent of the undergraduate class, call history classes and the like “arts-and–crafts time,” my dad chortled in tacit agreement.
Liquid candy-hol
Even though I gave up on Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny a long, long time ago, my Mom still puts presents from “Santa” under the tree and gives us Easter baskets after Church. Incidentally, my parents also send me Halloween candy and a Valentine’s Day package every year, and if you’re wondering, neither is [...]
Consumin’ culture
I did not drink on Saint Patrick’s Day. I do not intend to snub mid-week drinking—I’ve had better times over a few drinks on a Tuesday than I have on many Friday nights on the town; I had a midterm Wednesday morning. Eddie, a friend of mine who is also in the class, chose to [...]
Prohibit Sobriety
People can’t seem to help comparing our current economic crisis with the Great Depression. Fortunately for this generation, when the Dow crashes 500 points in a single day or you get fired from that investment banking job, you can legally take solace in a bottle of the hard stuff. If we learned anything from the [...]
Magis causes row with neighbors
“I live on 35th St. … and I’m a chronic complainer,” Eugenia Kemble, a resident of West Georgetown, announced. The other 20-or-so people in the Off-Campus Life Resource Center at the corner of 36th and N streets chuckled, and the introductions continued.
Aphrodisiacs
In Act II of Macbeth, a porter, who had been “carousing till the second cock,” tells MacDuff that drink “provokes the desire, but takes away the performance,” a phenomenon known in the States as “whiskey dick,” or overseas as “brewer’s droop.” I am not one to refute the Bard’s wisdom; however, according to a recent [...]
Drink to health
I had a Russian teacher in high school who told the class that in Russia, the fool proof home remedy for any ailment was a big ol’ shot of vodka. It clears the congestion immediately, she told us. I laughed; her people also swim outside in Moscow winters to stay healthy—they surely are not to [...]
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