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August 2008

Page 13 Cartoons

Dispatches from the Obama campaign

With deepening gloom, I had continued to call people, hoping I’d strike gold and find a volunteer. The next day passed uneventfully. I paced the room, talking eagerly to whoever picked up their telephone. Occasionally, pedestrians would slow down or stop when they saw that someone was walking around inside the office, but they’d soon move on again, and my hopes for a walk-in volunteer would dissipate into the sweltering August air.

By August 28, 2008

Editorials

DCPS loses with Capital Gains program

“School is Money,” the original name of a D.C. Public Schools pilot program being instituted this fall wasn’t referring to the intangible value of an education, nor was it trying to relate to students using slang. Rather, it was alluding, quite literally, to the program’s substance: paying students—up to $100 each every two weeks—for good academic performance, behavior, and attendance. Since renamed Capital Gains, the initiative is modeled after a program underway in New York City and has been championed by DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee in a press release as an effective way to “re-engage students and increase their potential.” Though Rhee has shown a refreshing willingness to shake-up DCPS, Capital Gains misses the mark. The program is a cynical vote of no-confidence in the District’s students, a waste of scarce resources, and an abandonment of every educator’s true mission: teaching students to love learning for its own inherent value.

By the August 28, 2008

Sports

Sports Sermon: First Annual D.C. Cup

As a freshman in Harbin Hall who couldn’t see anything but the football field outside of my dorm room window, I would probably have been considered a shoe-in to attend the 2006/2007 season opener against Holy Cross. I didn’t—I slept in. For me, a football fan with familial claims to powerhouse programs like West Virginia and Tennessee, Holy Cross was just another name in our outdated fight song and Georgetown football barely even existed at all.

By August 28, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: Leila, “Blood, Looms and Blooms”

Blood, Looms and Blooms is the most captivating electronica album I’ve heard since The Knife’s Silent Shout, though her latest release “electronica” doesn’t begin to capture the veritable musical circus Leila Arab is orchestrating.

By August 28, 2008

Sports

Field hockey rebuilds

Despite the fact that more than half the team is new to college, Georgetown field hockey has high hopes for the 2009 season. The squad welcomes eight freshmen to its ranks, as well as new head coach Tiffany Marsh and assistant coach Emily Beach. Both joined the team as interim coaches during the first week of August last season.

By August 28, 2008

Editorials

Celebrating the new LGBTQ center

It took a horrific hate crime, numerous protests by GU Pride, and countless hours of meetings between dedicated administrators, faculty, and students, but on Tuesday Georgetown finally took a giant step forward with the official opening of the LGBTQ Resource Center. Located on the third floor of the Leavey Center, the center marks a new chapter in Georgetown’s history as it strives to become a truly inclusive university for all of its students, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. The center promises to become a vital resource for LGBTQ students at Georgetown and all those who helped create it should be commended for their tireless dedication to helping Georgetown address the needs of all of its students.

By the August 28, 2008

Leisure

Concert-going munchies

The D.C.-concerting-novice may not know where to seek out the best sources of quick and cheap pre-show energy or post-show replenishment. Here’s a short guide to enhance your concert-going gastatory experience.

By August 28, 2008

Leisure

Hamlet 2-Rollicking Ribaldry

Imagine the most ludicrous, politically incorrect version of High School Musical possible. It would probably look a lot like Hamlet 2, whose cast is led by a Napoleon Dynamite-meets-Zoolander drama teacher (Steve Coogan).

By the August 28, 2008

Sports

Little big league

While Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony led fans in a chant of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” after Sunday’s gold medal game in Beijing, a far more unlikely group of heroes were treated to the same cheer half a world away. After flirting with elimination a day earlier in the semifinals of this year’s Little League World Series, the team of seventh-graders from Waipahu, Hawaii emerged triumphant in the title game, beating the opposing squad from Matamoros, Mexico, 12-3. Hours after China sent off the world’s athletes with an ambitious closing ceremony, the fans in Williamsport, Pennyslvania—most of them face-painted parents or sunburned little sisters—departed as well. There were no fireworks or lip-synching nine-year-olds, only tired dads loading poster-boards bearing messages of good luck and empty coolers into their RVs.

By August 28, 2008

Voices

The last person on Earth without a cell

As time wore on, I got attached to the idea that rejecting technology signified a bohemian, responsibility-free existence. Everyone with their cell phones and iPods and fax machines could just go work at Merrill Lynch and rape the earth. I would be barefoot and bake vegan cupcakes, the American answer to Amelie, sprinkling joy wherever I went, free from the onerous burden of communicating with others.

By August 28, 2008