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September 2008


Editorials

5 dollar Yates fee is 5 dollars too many

Broken workout machines, TVs turned off or worse, turned to GUTV, grungy locker-rooms: Yates Field House hardly provides a luxurious gym experience. But it’s convenient and, thanks to the mandatory Yates fee included in everyone’s tuition, it doesn’t cost Georgetown students anything extra. Until now—Georgetown unveiled a new policy this semester of charging Yates members five dollars for fitness classes that were previously offered for free. Cutbacks can’t be avoided during tough financial times, but surely the University can weather the storm without destroying arguably the best service offered by Yates.

Leisure

Los Cuates: not the spice of life

Los Cuates isn’t a bad Mexican restaurant. But it’s just average, and in a city with so many options for dining out, average is worth about as much as Los Cuates’ barely-passable salsa.

Voices

One thing that the Dems and CRs can agree on

Last Friday, The Hoya ran a column entitled “Fight for your Political Rights” by D.J. McLaughlin (SFS `10), which contained numerous factual inaccuracies and misquotes. McLaughlin irresponsibly lambasted the College Democrats and College Republicans for being “censored” by University policy concerning political activity on campus. He demonstrated an appalling lack of understanding of federal election and tax law, as well as the activities and goals of the College Democrats and Republicans. Both organizations, in a bipartisan fashion, would like to use this opportunity to debunk his fallacious accusations.

Page 13 Cartoons

Bomb blast in Islamabad affects more than just Pakistan

Although I did not realize it at the time, the hotel is eminent not only because of its extravagance, but because it neighbors the embassies of foreign dignitaries, the President’s office, and the parliament building. Perhaps most importantly, the Mariott serves as a symbol of corrupt Pakistani decadence and of the government’s unpopular alliance with the United States.

It is no shock, then, that it was the prime target of a terrorist attack.

Leisure

Critical Voices: TV on the Radio, “Dear Science”

It is always astonishing when a band consistently improves in leaps and bounds with each and every release. One starts to wonder why we even bother to listen to the drivel that comes from other artists, rather than just wait for the next, exponentially improved release from one of these meteoric bands.

Leisure

Liquor lit

On Saturday, legions of writers will descend on the Mall for the National Book Festival, the country’s annual celebration of, by, and for bibliophiles of all stripes.

Authors will sit in the crisp fall air, arrayed in all manner of worn cardigans and tortoise-shell glasses, signing autographs for eager book-lovers in Tevas and socks, for batty school librarians, and for scarf-draped “aspiring playwrights,” and they will all be yearning for a strong drink.

Leisure

George de Forest Brush paints people and dreams

There are countless portrayals of the American Indian available to those who seek them. Less easy is the task of finding images of Native Americans that are unadulterated by centuries of stereotype. Luckily, the National Gallery of Art, in conjunction with the Seattle Art Museum, have compiled a small exhibit of images of American Indians by the painter George de Forest Brush, a late 19th century American artist who fell in love with “the noble savage.”

Leisure

Critical Voices: Friendly Fire, “Friendly Fire”

It’s fitting then, that St. Albans-based Friendly Fires come at the idea from the other end on their self-titled debut album, mixing rock influences into their more electronic sound. Nowhere is this mixture more clear than on “White Diamonds,” which plays like a T Rex song for the post-disco era, loping guitar riffs, cowbells, and all.

Sports

Sports Sermon: The death of the ticket stub

Resting on the corner of my father’s dresser in our old house was a tall glass pitcher full of ticket stubs. Having long ago lost its identity as a generic container, the pitcher transformed with each new addition into something more. By the time I was old enough to care, it was overflowing and looked more like a Cézanne still life than a simple glass. That’s just how I treated it—as a masterpiece. One of my favorite things to do was to empty it and rifle through the stubs, exploring every event my dad had been to, from Rush concerts to Penguins games. Every single ticket in that pitcher was the ultimate souvenir—a paper rectangle that made the same simple but important statement: he’d been there.

Editorials

The oilman with the clean energy plan

What do you get when you cross a grizzled oilman with one of the most dire energy crises in America’s history? The answer may be surprising, at least for anyone not familiar with T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oilman who has been traveling the country in support of what he sees as the solution to America’s energy problem: the Pickens Plan. Speaking in Gaston Hall on Monday, Pickens laid out a clear strategy for reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil through natural gas and wind power. With oil prices showing no signs of decreasing, the U.S. needs to wean itself off foreign oil or face serious economic and environmental consequences. Pickens offers a clear way of doing this.