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Voices

Constant news updates won’t tell you the complete story

Every once in a while, I try to emulate the majority of my classmates by actually following current events. But despite my valiant effort to watch CNN and Fox News this week, I am not significantly more knowledgeable about the issues that affect the world than I would be if I had spent the time sleeping.

Voices

Knicks’ success hearkens back to its old winning Spree

As a lifelong Knicks fan who has spent the last decade allowing myself to be convinced that the likes of Antonio McDyess, Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Penny Hardaway, Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, Malik Rose, Don Chaney, Larry Brown, and Isiah Thomas could contribute to a competitive Knicks team, it’s incredibly rewarding to watch the current squad putting up big numbers in the win column.

Voices

Possible Republican candidates are praying for victory

The religious right is back on the Road to Victory. Early in the 2012 election season, socially conservative members of the GOP are attempting to rally their conservative Christian constituents, tapping into a formidable grassroots mechanism rooted in evangelical communities. The Tea Party, meanwhile, is making moves to secure the allegiance of the institutions that shape the religious right and its electoral potency.

Sports

Hoyas hoping to salvage early woes in Big East

Mired in a season-long slump, the Georgetown women’s softball team (9-28, 3-2 Big East) decided to forget about the past and focus on the Big East grind that awaited them. That philosophy paid dividends two weekends ago when they started on a run through the conference against Connecticut. They took one of two games and got their confidence back in defeating quality opponent.

Sports

The Sports Sermon: Baseball 2.0

As the attention spans of Americans continue to decrease, Major League Baseball finds itself in a tough situation. America’s pastime hasn’t changed its game in over a hundred years, and it’s not in any rush to cater to the multitasking-obsessed population by altering its regulations. Hockey changed its rules to increase scoring after the 2004-2005 lockout, and the NBA has frowned upon defense.

Sports

Lacrosse getting back on track

The Georgetown men’s lacrosse team (5-4) entered Tuesday’s game against Mount St. Mary’s attempting to do something the squad had not accomplished all season: win consecutive games. “We told the guys it was about time we strung some wins together,” head coach Dave Urick said.

Sports

What Rocks: Sophia Thomas

Sophia Thomas doesn’t know the meaning of “sophomore slump.” After an impressive first year, she is on track to double her freshman numbers. In just nine games, she has already posted 21 goals, three more than her total for last year. Not bad, considering last year she won the Sheehan Stanwick Rookie of the Year Award.

Features

Pell Grants in peril: Fighting for funding

While most Georgetown juniors are busy finding an internship or making plans for their last summer as undergraduates, Kelsey Hendricks (COL ’12), has a much more urgent concern: returning to Georgetown for her senior year.

Sports

Backdoor Cuts: Best in show?

Now that the college basketball season has finally come to the end, we know a few things for certain: Georgetown can’t catch a break in March, Jimmer Fredette is the second coming of Joseph Smith (or maybe just Danny Ainge), and UConn is the national champion.

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Leisure

Lez’hur Ledger: International Pillow Fight Day: It’s going “down”

I arrived on the scene expecting a ruckus. After all, it was the spot for D.C.’s celebration of International Pillow Fight Day, right on the Mall directly adjacent to the Capitol Fountain. Given the Mall’s wide, open space, I expected a genuine melee to ensue. The Facebook description gave the impression that the event was deliciously unsanctioned. We were supposed to keep our pillows discreetly stowed away, until, upon some secretive cue, we broke out into a spontaneous spree of bedding-based combat. I had high hopes for participating in some boisterous mayhem, perhaps with the threat of pillow-on-riot-shield action looming over our heads.

Leisure

Hanna: Like Kill Bill, with a teenager

There’s one thing you should know about Hanna—she’s got pierced ears. This girl, who snaps necks and sheds blood like it’s her job, who was raised by her father (Eric Bana) in a remote cabin just below the Arctic Circle, who was trained by dear old dad in God knows how many languages and fighting styles but has never seen a television, heard music, or used the Internet, apparently found time to throw on a pair of earrings in between hunting elk and outrunning a ruthless bunch of assassins led by CIA handler Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett).

Leisure

O burger, where “art” thou?

The location of HERE, Rosslyn’s newest restaurant, feels as organic as its menu’s hand-cut fries. Nestled naturally into the main floor of urban art center Artisphere, its tables spread out from the bar opposite the venue’s ballroom. The idea of integrating a restaurant into Artisphere was one that excited Mike Tuson, HERE’s head chef. “[The surrounding galleries] really centered the space,” he said. Yet for the art center, HERE’s opening has created quite the opposite effect—though exhibitions may frame the restaurant, HERE has finally anchored Artisphere. Where the ballroom, theatre and galleries once orbited around an awkward space cluttered with empty couches, they now have a gravitational center.

Leisure

Let’s get it poppin’

The popsicle is the epitome of childhood summertime nostalgia. From Push-pops to flavored ice, nothing captures those lazy days when summer meant neighborhood games and swimming pools rather than internships quite like a good old-fashioned popsicle. In effort to recapture those days of minimal responsibility, Pleasant Pops, a company that has reinvented popsicles for the adult palette, is sponsoring the Popapalooza this Saturday, Apr. 9. This spring kickoff event will feature Pleasant Pop’s highly sought-after popsicles, performances by local musicians, and free face painting and magic shows. Through its co-sponsorship with the Mount Pleasant Business Association, Popapalooza is being held at Lamont Park in Mount Pleasant.

Leisure

Critical Voices: Jamie Woon, Mirrorwriting

It’s rarely fair to directly compare one musician to another, but Jamie Woon will likely find himself pinned next to James Blake on the reg with the release of Mirrorwriting. Which is a bit ironic—Woon’s first single was released more than two years before the hot-shot London producer appeared on the scene. But the pair’s combination of blue-eyed soul and dubstep—two of Britain’s biggest contemporary musical currents—landed them both in the BBC “Sound of 2011” poll, just months before each would release his full-length debut.

Leisure

Critical Voices: Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues

Although they’re often lumped together with indie rock artists, Fleet Foxes are, at heart, a folk group. That folksy sound helped them develop a steady listening base with their eponymous 2008 debut, and they remain true to it on their sophomore release, Helplessness Blues. The album proves to be a strong follow-up, with shining moments that are pleasant enough to make even the grouchiest person smile yet powerful enough to get the lethargic stoners out of their seats.

Leisure

Banger Management: More like Warped Snore

For millions of American kids, the Vans Warped Tour was the pinnacle of the adolescent summer. Founded in 1995, Warped Tour capitalized on the burgeoning popularity of extreme sports, combining the best of skate culture with the biggest underground punk, metal, and ska bands. In its inaugural year, the Warped Tour featured an impressive roster of alternative powerhouse acts, ranging from the West Coast stylings of Sublime, No Doubt, and Pennywise to the East Coast melancholy of early emo and post-hardcore forefathers like Seaweed and Quicksand. For many teens growing up the ‘90s, the Warped Tour became a comfort zone, where their music and hobbies, snubbed by the mainstream, were accepted and celebrated.

Leisure

Internet IRL: iPhones: High-tech cocaine

I have a confession to make—I’ve been sleeping with my cell phone most nights. Yes, it may seem like we’re never apart. I can talk to it for hours, and I can’t keep my hands off it. I can’t be away from it, even at night. I think I’m in love. And I’m not the only one who’s been engaging in such a, er, modern romance. This weekend, I noticed my neighbor Tristan Deppe (COL ’12) had phone numbers written all over his arms. When I asked him about his interesting choice of body art, he told me that it was because his phone was broken due to “water damage.” Left phoneless, he needed a way to keep track of girls’ numbers, and this was his solution.

Voices

A tough late-night call

Georgetown has been grappling with the issue of sexual harassment for some time. From hate crimes to sex crimes and everything in between, our campus community has been plagued by an unhealthy and often dangerous sexual dynamic. The situations in which harassment are most likely to occur often involve alcohol, which sometimes makes the decision of how to react to it more difficult.

Voices

The quality of children’s television is no longer All That

A month ago my friend sent me an email titled “START GETTING EXCITED LIKE NOW,” with nothing but a link to a screenshot of a press release from Nickelodeon Studios in the message’s body. They were announcing plans to produce brand new episodes of cartoon classics like Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, Angry Beavers, and Doug, with production to commence on Mar. 14. Like any other kid who grew up with the shows that made the network an instant nostalgia inducer, I was ecstatic. Turns out it was a hoax pulled off by some punk ass kid in California that knew a little Photoshop. Damn high school kids.

Voices

Student leads the way by being a committed follower

Some people, when they’re looking for music recommendations, turn to Pitchfork or other indie blogs. I simply open up iTunes and check out the top 100 songs. If I don’t have one of the top 10, I get anxious and download whatever I’m missing immediately. I’m a trendaholic.

Voices

Lead me into tempeh-tation and deliver me from cheese-vil

Growing up in a conservative Christian household, observing Lent has always been an intricate part of my cultural and religious identity. But this year I wanted to abstain from something that would truly challenge my willpower—my Diet Dr. Pepper fast from last year didn’t quite cut it.

News

New boathouse stalled by Park Service delays

Georgetown University’s efforts to construct a boathouse on the Potomac River, which have attracted millions of dollars in alumni donations and cost more than $1 million in lobbying fees, have come to a halt as the National Parks Service continues to delay a report critical to its progress.

Editorials

No more futile concessions on Campus Plan

Last week, the University announced a series of concessions in the bitter fight over the 2010 Campus Plan, including the addition of 250 undergraduate beds either on-campus or at a satellite location and the introduction of a hard enrollment cap of 15,000 students. Administrators agreed to these conditions after weighing suggestions from the District Department of Transportation, the Office of Planning, and the community. However, signals from the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and lessons from previous campus plans show that such concessions are nothing more than useless and unwise capitulations.

News

NHS students raise money for African orphanage

Four seniors in the School of Nursing and Health Studies returned from their fall semester abroad with a mission—help the fledgling Mother of Mercy Babies’ Home in Ghana.