Archive

Throwback Jack: A history of Hoya hazing

For Hoyas today, the first week of October is marked by increasingly frigid weather and the imminent onset of midterms. But back in the 1950s and early 1960s, it was marked by an important tradition, the Rat Race. The event, which usually fell on the first Sunday in October, was essentially a school dance that served as the culmination of a week-long hazing process for the freshmen. It was a well-deserved reward for the newcomers since, according to yearbooks, the hazing process included performing menial tasks such as car-washing and shoe-shining for their upperclassman tormentors. A 1951 yearbook also mentioned that “all freshman were required to have their hair cut to a scant half-inch” (the school had not yet gone co-ed) and had to wear “the traditional ‘Beanie’ at all times.”

By Sadaf Qureshi October 6, 2011

Critical Voices: Rodney Atkins, Take a Back Road

Since his debut album Honesty in 2003, Rodney Atkins has been steadily gaining popularity, with several of his singles topping the Billboard Country charts. Like many country singers coming out of Nashville in the early 2000s, Atkins fell victim to the transition of country music into a more mainstream genre manufactured for a wider range of audiences. His new album Take a Back Road, as its title implies, veers away from this trend and recklessly hurtles into the backwoods of home-grown traditional country laced with a hint of rock ‘n’ roll.

By Kirill Makarenko October 6, 2011

Education reforms deserve an Incomplete

Although Washington is touted as a promising laboratory for national education reform, alarming reports released last week by D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson show that school reforms in recent years have done little to alleviate the problems D.C. public school students face.

By the Editorial Board October 6, 2011

GU’s Indian initiatives hold great promise

Georgetown’s international collaborations expanded again last week with the announcement by Nirupama Menon Rao, the Ambassador of India to the United States, of a new Chair of Indian Culture and Society affiliated with the School of Foreign Service and Georgetown’s English department.

By the Editorial Board October 6, 2011

Critical Voices: Future Islands, On the Water

It is not often that a title perfectly captures the sound and feeling of an album. However, On the Water, the newest release from Future Islands, does just that. A brilliant collection of 11 tracks that ebb and flow between the band’s characteristic electronic sound and its more recently developed minimalist rhythms, On the Water showcases this Baltimore trio’s best collaboration yet.

By Mary Borowiec October 6, 2011

Features

Lambda rising: How LBGTQ activism came to Dupont

When it was first published in Oct. 1969, the Gay Blade, a gay-centric newsletter that was later renamed the Washington Blade, had a curious distribution strategy. Nancy Tucker, a founding co-editor, personally delivered the issues directly to bars.

By Rachel Calvert September 29, 2011

Mr. Warhol goes to Washington

Andy Warhol, the king of pop art, once asked, “Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?” This query perfectly captures Warhol’s revolutionary take on the... Read more

By Mary Borowiec September 29, 2011

50/50 balances heartbreak with humor

If you caught a TV commercial for 50/50, you’d be forgiven for expecting standard Judd Apatow-esque fare with a macabre plot twist—spinal cancer—providing new and interesting ways for Seth Rogen and company to get laid and/or high. The marketing is a bit of a misrepresentation of the movie’s tone, but it’s not exactly A Walk To Remember, either. Toeing the line between these two emotional extremes is a sincere story about two funny guys confronting a serious disease.

By Jake Schindler September 29, 2011

Oktoberfest taps into D.C.

Americans are proud of their beer. We name baseball stadiums and theme parks after beer companies, our children know what Budweiser is before they learn how to write their names, and we have made a tradition of cracking open a beer while watching—well, while watching anything. But while Americans are guzzling Bud Light and watching NFL games this Sunday, they’ll be missing out on the greatest beer tradition this world has to offer: Oktoberfest.

By Mark James September 29, 2011

Dual quarterbacks excel in explosive Hoya offense

Typically, it never works out. Football teams, whether at the professional or collegiate level, almost always name one quarterback––a single voice and leader––to orchestrate their offense. The Georgetown football team, however, has successfully bucked this trend thus far this season, having been propelled to a 3-1 record on the backs of quarterbacks Isaiah Kempf and Scott Darby.

By Kevin Joseph September 29, 2011

Sports Sermon: The Bills, Lions… and the Hoyas

In an action-packed week of football, no story was more surprising (and exciting to fans in economically anemic post-industrial Great Lakes towns) than the unexpected and oddly simultaneous emergence of the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions as winning teams. Along with the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, the two long-hapless franchises are the only undefeated teams in the NFL.

By Daniel Kellner September 29, 2011

Dennin looks to go the distance

After missing most of last season because of a sports hernia, senior distance runner Mark Dennin, has recovered and returned to the Georgetown men’s cross country team. Dennin, a key component of the 2009-2010 team, hopes to be back to full health this season as the No. 22 Hoyas compete with a stacked Big East field that includes five other ranked teams.

By Melissa Sullivan September 29, 2011

Wild, wild, wild card

Why is everything changing in sports? The NCAA’s conference realignment is the greediest game of musical chairs ever. The NFL had to fight through a lockout, and you better believe Roger Goodell hasn’t finished pursuing an 18 game schedule. The NBA likely won’t have a season this year. And perhaps the oldest of the major American sports, baseball, has been questioning its playoff model for the last couple of years.

By Nick Berti September 29, 2011

Soccer stifled in stalemate

The Georgetown men’s soccer team couldn’t hit net in Tuesday’s marquee matchup against Penn State. Luckily for the Hoyas, the Nittany Lions were stifled as well, leading to a 0-0 draw. It marked the Hoyas’ first scoreless tie of the season as they get set to ride their good form into Big East play next week.

By Abby Sherburne September 29, 2011

Whiskey Business: No illusions about absinthe

Ever read any Baudelaire? How about Oscar Wilde? Admired a Van Gogh or Degas? Most famous artists of the late 19th century can attribute their creative genius to one powerful, mysterious type of alcohol: absinthe.

By Mary Cass September 29, 2011

Byte Me: Please don’t Google me

In my last column, I argued that with people already overwhelmed by the likes of Twitter and Facebook, Google Plus did not offer enough to justify investing even more time in a social network. It didn’t seem like a controversial statement to me.

By Kelsey McCullough September 29, 2011

Critical Voices: Feist, Metals

Metals sounds as if Feist drove away from home in a car filled with every instrument she could find at the flea market. She went into the Canadian wilderness and made music with anyone she met out there. At least, that’s what it looks like from the album cover with her chilling out on a tree limb.

By Nico Dodd September 29, 2011

Critical Voices: Blink-182, Neighborhoods

After eight long years of uncertainty and chaos, Blink-182 has returned with Neighborhoods, the group’s first full-length album since 2003. Though numerous botched attempts at a comeback seemed to signal the band’s dying moments, Neighborhoods explodes from the ashes of heated arguments and broken friendships to proudly declare, as vocalist Mark Hoppus did at the 51st Grammy Awards, “Blink-182 is back!”

By Kirill Makarenko September 29, 2011

D.C. mourns another victim lost to gender violence

Last Sunday, a candlelight vigil was held in Dupont Circle to honor the late Dr. Gaurav Gopalan, a gay man and prominent member of Washington, D.C.’s LGBT community He was found dead in women’s clothing on an 11th Street sidewalk two weeks ago, a victim of gender violence.

By Patricia Cipollitti September 29, 2011

City on a Hill: D.C. schools still struggling

As time goes on, more and more cracks have begun to show in ex-D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s educational reforms. Even as investigations into the citywide standardized test cheating scandal continue, the focus turned this week to the sad state of many middle schools in the District.

By Gavin Bade September 29, 2011

Dean Martin Iguchi talks new programs, ideas for NHS

The School of Nursing and Health Studies operated without a permanent dean for one year, from June 2010 to June 2011. After a year’s search for a new dean, Dr. Martin Iguchi was appointed Georgetown’s new Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies in July. Iguchi said that during his tenure, he will work on expanding the school’s online nursing master’s program and establishing relationships with health-related community-based organizations inside and outside of D.C.

By Holly Tao September 29, 2011

GU alumni donations recession-proof

While many universities’ alumni donations have been impacted by the economic downturn, the Georgetown Fund, Georgetown’s alumni giving fund received more donations during the 2011 fiscal year, which began on July 1, 2010 and ended June 20, 2011, than in the 2010 fiscal year.

By Rosa Bichell September 29, 2011

City leaders disappoint on ethics reform

In recent months, D.C.’s government has come under fire for corruption and shady relationships with lobbyists. Now, more than ever, the D.C. City Council needs ethics reform.

By the Editorial Board September 29, 2011