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Leisure

A journey through grief and New York

According to the “seven stages of grief” theory, dealing with loss typically means journeying through different emotions—from shock and denial to pain and guilt—experienced before acceptance. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, though, nine-year-old Oskar Schell’s own path is anything but linear. Looking through Oskar’s eyes, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close director Stephen Daldry deftly handles this fragile material and crafts a cinematic adaptation true to Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel.

Editorials

NDAA an inexcusable violation of civil liberties

On December 31, President Obama signed into law the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, one of the most constitutionally questionable bills in the history of the United States. The law broadens the definition of the “War on Terror” and legalizes the indefinite detention of foreign nationals and American citizens. While the President issued a signing statement promising to disregard this final provision, one ought to remain intensely skeptical of this claim—indefinite detention, while not yet officially applied to American citizens, is already regularly practiced abroad, and Obama’s rhetoric doesn’t change that it is now part of official law.

Editorials

GSC holds Georgetown to its Jesuit values

As the only campus organization dedicated to the needs of workers, the Georgetown Solidarity Committee plays a uniquely vital role on Georgetown’s campus. Although the University administration is nominally committed to the Jesuit value of social justice, many of the subcontracted workers on campus, including Leo’s workers and custodial staff, work long hours for meager wages, all while receiving inadequate healthcare services.

Editorials

Extra funds best applied to public schools

Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and his administrative staff rang in the new year by doling out the $42.2 million that D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Natwar Gandhi, projected as a surplus from initial predictions for fiscal year 2012’s revenue. Gray allocated over half the funds—$21.4 million—to D.C. Public Schools. The announcement stood in stark contrast to the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula used in the Per Pupil Funding Analysis in the Mayor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011, which established a requirement for public and public charter students to be funded equally.

Voices

American system fails to provide educational equity

Isaac Newton, one of the all-time greatest minds in the field of physics, touched upon a fundamental truth when he humbly admitted that “if I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Because knowledge is a global public good, as philosophers almost universally agree, Newton was entitled to the combined wealth of human knowledge accumulated before him; accordingly, his addition to this wealth became the right of all men after him.

Voices

Canada autism registry: Safety at cost of sensitivity

Recently, the city of Ottawa, Canada formed a child autism registry. A collaboration between the Autism Organization of Ontario and the Ottawa Police Department, the registry allows 911 dispatchers to respond to emergencies involving children with autism spectrum disorder. The two organizations argued heavily for the formation of the registry, saying that it would help these children receive optimal emergency care.

Voices

Carrying On: Politics beyond the Hill

A few nights a week, I run roughly two miles to the White House and experience a brief moment of awe that, despite all that has happened during my time at Georgetown, the white walls still stand—untarnished, opaque, and foreboding. Every so often, I like to remind myself that I live in a city where leaders make decisions that resound further than a few city blocks. I will be the first to admit that I haven’t paid as much attention to the decisions made within those walls as some of my peers have. What I have paid attention to, however, is the image these leaders have constructed—who it is they wish me to see beyond the walls, rather than who they are within them. Just last week, I found myself lingering in front of the White House as men dressed in orange jumpsuits piled into a makeshift prison in the middle of the sidewalk clutching “Close Guantanamo” signs through the bars, in response to a promise made during Obama’s campaign that will likely go unrealized.

Voices

Counterculture condemns copulation with contraception

In modern media, sex is often portrayed as a tool for pleasure. The cast of Jersey Shore doesn’t show love or commitment to each other, and Cosmopolitan only monetizes and sells sex as recreation. Instead of signifying a unique relationship, intercourse has been reduced to the simple sharing of a sensation. Even hundreds of years ago, philosopher Immanuel Kant recognized the negative ramifications of this most basic, hedonistic use of sex: “Sexual love makes of the loved person an Object of appetite; as soon as that appetite has been stilled, the person is cast aside as one casts away a lemon which has been sucked dry.” According to Kant, those who engage in casual sex are reduced to mere objects and insatiable animals.

News

Georgetown to move SCS downtown

During his yearly sit-down with campus media outlets, University President John DeGioia announced Georgetown’s plan to provide a new location in downtown Washington for one thousand School of Continuing Studies students by the end of 2013.

News

City on a Hill: Gray should side with Occupy

Last Thursday, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray released a letter sent to the head of the National Park Service requesting the removal of Occupy protesters at McPherson Square.

News

GUSA campaigns for vote on SAFE reform projects

Last week, Georgetown University Student Association Senior Counselor Sam Ungar (COL ’12) sent an email to GUSA senators and campus media announcing the creation of Students for a Better Georgetown, an independent advocacy group of GUSA members involved in Working Groups for Georgetown Energy, the Social Innovation and Public Service fund, and the New South Student Center. Ungar said the group intends to mount an “aggressive” pro-referendum campaign, encouraging students to vote for the fund allocations.

News

Obamas join Georgetown to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy

On Monday, Georgetown held its tenth annual “Let Freedom Ring” Concert at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall in celebration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

News

University releases final Campus Plan

After almost a year of hearings, Georgetown submitted its final defense of its 2010 Campus Plan to the D.C. Office of Planning on Friday.

Sports

Tennis serves up start of spring season at VCU

With the spring season quickly approaching, the Georgetown varsity men’s and women’s tennis teams are eagerly anticipating their upcoming matchups. In 2012, both teams are facing much greater expectations, even after a promising 2011 finish.

Sports

Men’s basketball looks to fix flaws

The Georgetown men’s basketball team returns home this week to face Rutgers on Saturday. While no coach would scoff at sweeping such a quick turnaround, Head Coach John Thompson III wants more from his team as the gauntlet that is Big East conference play rumbles on.

Sports

Sports Sermon: Parallels between NFC’s Final Two

At the beginning of this season, football experts looked at the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants and immediately wrote both off as pretenders, saying that no one in the right mind would pick either to win their division or capture a Wild Card spot. And honestly, who could blame those experts?

Sports

Double Teamed: Enjoy the ride, Hoya fans

While this year’s Hoyas are not quite a revelation from recent teams, the positivity surrounding the squad is tremendously refreshing. Though Georgetown’s early success is no indication of an end to the postseason dry-spell, we can only hope that fans can keep this season in its proper context.

Sports

Hoyas prepare for Cardinals

After consecutive dominating wins against Big East opponents Syracuse and Marquette, the Georgetown women’s basketball team is now gearing up for a tough matchup against Louisville on Sunday. They are now No. 19 in the AP poll, giving them a newfound confidence going into this weekend’s game.

Sports

Hoyas confront realities of Big East play, drop second straight

After rolling through the nonconference schedule, the Georgetown men’s basketball team looked poised to waltz through Big East play on their way to the NCAA Tournament. Over the weekend, the... Read more

Sports

Thompson’s sharpshooting leads Hoyas in rout of NJIT

Just two days after needing a last-second three-point to escape Alabama with a win, Georgetown made sure it would need no late-game heroics in its first game back home. The Hoyas (7-1) routed NJIT (3-4) 84-44, taking advantage of opening runs in each period to keep the Highlanders from ever being competitive.

News

Sweeney’s arrest jeopardizes future of AUC programs

On Nov. 23, Georgetown student Derrik Sweeney (COL ’13) was arrested in Cairo, Egypt, on allegations of throwing Molotov cocktails at police during a protest in Tahrir Square. He and three other American students were detained and released from jail on Nov. 25. Sweeney returned to his home in Missouri a day later.

News

Independent retailers struggle on Wisconsin

On Nov. 29, the Citizens Association of Georgetown met with neighborhood residents to address the longstanding issue of fostering Wisconsin Avenue independent businesses, which have struggled to establish themselves in the area.

News

Students, faculty discuss Occupy’s future at two panels

On Tuesday evening, two different speaker panels organized by Georgetown Occupy and McDonough School of Business Dean David Thomas, respectively, provided contrasting viewpoints on the two-month-old Occupy D.C. protest in... Read more

News

Saxa Politica: Budget summit breakdown

In Nov. 2008, Nick Troiano (COL ‘12), then a GUSA senator, staged a sit-in in a Student Activities Commission constitutional meeting to protest SAC’s closed voting policy. In response, SAC chair Sophia Behnia (COL ‘09) shouted, “You can all stay in here for this vote, I don’t give a damn!”