Archive

  • By Month

All posts


Editorials

Gray’s patronage, spending, raises questions

Vincent Gray swept into the D.C. mayor’s office partly on his promise to weed out corruption and restore legitimacy to the city’s government. Two months into his term, Gray has failed to uphold that promise. The unscrupulous behavior of his administration may not be criminal, but it has seriously eroded what little trust D.C. residents still have in their government. Gray needs to clean up his image.

News

Saxa Politica: Back to the GUSA future

Georgetown University Student Association presidents only occupy their post for one or two years, making it difficult for them to leave a mark on student life or deliver on optimistic campaign promises. The incoming GUSA executive, Mike Meaney (SFS ’12) and Greg Laverriere (COL ’12), would do well to heed the words of their predecessors—eschew flashy plans for those that will leave positive impacts.

Sports

Georgetown can’t overcome Wright’s absence against Syracuse

On an emotional Senior Day, with their leader sidelined by an injury, and in front of a record home crowd, the script was set for Georgetown to pull off a storybook comeback against their archrival. But there was no Hollywood ending for the Hoyas, as the absence of Chris Wright proved too much to overcome. Syracuse (24-6, 11-6 Big East) prevailed 58-51 as Georgetown (21-8, 10-7 Big East) faltered in the clutch. The normally sharp-shooting Hoyas saw their hands go cold for the second game in the row in front of a crowd of 20,276, the most ever for a Georgetown game at the Verizon Center.

Sports

Baseball’s four-game split is right on track

Despite posting a disappointing 24-31 overall record and a 5-9 record in the Big East last year, the Georgetown baseball team enters this season with some minimalist goals, but a mild sense of confidence. Georgetown has struggled in Big East play in recent years, often finishing last.

Sports

The Sports Sermon: The big one

During the Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green era, the Hoyas played plenty of big games. Every game in their Final Four run, of course, was huge, but even for regular season matchups, screaming fans consistently packed the Verizon Center thanks to the constant position at the top of the conference standings.

Sports

Hoyas lose their leader in defeat

On a day when students arriving early to the Verizon Center were given “gray-out” t-shirts to wear to Saturday’s game against Syracuse, the Georgetown men’s basketball team seemed to have their sights squarely on the Orange. But, in what can only be described as a classic trap game.

Features

The doctor is out: Saying farewell to Porterfield

On Friday afternoons, Dan Porterfield’s office in Healy Hall becomes an informal salon where students stop by to discuss classwork, mull over career concerns, or simply to partake of the ice cream that constantly fills his freezer. The tradition spans years, an emblem of the welcoming, receptive persona Porterfield’s colleagues and students consistently describe.

Sports

Defense halts streak, Pitt

In their Wednesday night match, the Georgetown women’s basketball team rallied to overcome a nine-point deficit in the first half and beat the Pittsburgh Panthers (13-14, 5-9 Big East) 67-57, ending a two-game losing streak. A buzzer-beating three at the end of the first half by junior Alexa Roche changed the momentum of the game.

Sports

Backdoor Cuts: Pujols holds the Cards

In an era where money and fame seem to be the strongest motivations for many of the biggest names in sports, it’s encouraging to feel that some just want to be the best professionals they possibly can. St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman Albert Pujols has long been the face of this small group.

Leisure

Tenn Cent Fest opens with Menagerie

Most are familiar with Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. In honor of this prolific playwright, this March the Davis Performing Arts Center is presenting the Tenn Cent Fest, a month-long celebration and exploration of Williams’ work and legacy. The first component of this festival, The Glass Menagerie—a play that characterizes Williams’s southern-gothic tone—opens this week. It’s a big, complex undertaking, and the Department of Performing Arts manages to pull it off with impressive skill and execution.

Leisure

Sheen and Estevez visit G’town, talk Nixon

On Friday, actors Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez visited Georgetown to discuss their upcoming film The Way, a story about a man traveling the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage in Spain. Interview transcribed by Leigh Finnegan. Did you decide to come to Georgetown because it’s been too long since St. Elmo’s Fire? Estevez: I haven’t been here since then! We got in so early this morning I haven’t gotten a chance to look [around].

Leisure

Lez’hur Ledger: Salsa, ¡aye caramba!

“We’re going to take you on a mambo-salsa cha cha cha ride!” With a voice lifted right from Vince Schlomi of ShamWow commercial fame, emcee Earl Rush of StuckonSalsa.com goaded a group of nervous, mostly thirty-or-forty-something couples onto the dance floor, and cued the DJ. Though it may have been dark, windy, and oppressively cold outside, the bright lights of the ballroom of Rosslyn’s Artisphere bathed the auditorium in reds and yellows. Starting this week, the urban arts center is hosting weekly Tuesday night salsa lessons, followed by a large live band that was made up of about as many musicians as there were people on the dance floor.

Leisure

Critical Voices: Radiohead, The King of Limbs, pro

With the release of their eighth full length album, The King of Limbs, Radiohead has found itself more pigeonholed than ever. Everybody seems to have a preformed opinion about the band’s impressive, critically-acclaimed cannon, and projecting that opinion onto Limbs. This is a standard reaction for a Radiohead release—as a result, most of what people say about Limbs will likely reflect opinions they had before album opener “Bloom” crescendoed past its initial piano loop. But these eight songs deserve to be looked at in their own right.

Leisure

Critical Voices: Radiohead, The King of Limbs, con

King of Limbs is boring.” That’s a popular refrain regarding Radiohead’s briefly-anticipated LP, already a polarizing album less than a week after its release. Lacking the band’s trademark dynamism, Limbs shows Radiohead in rare, understated form. Taking this approach now is strategic—with Arcade Fire as the new bombastic fearmongers for the smarter-than-you set, it sets the group up to brush off accusations of dullness: “We meant for this to be a mellow record, it’s you who doesn’t get it.” But this implication skips over a lot of things.

Leisure

Fade to Black: Cage against the machine

The glamorous world of Hollywood has always had its ups and downs. But no matter the industry’s condition, one man has managed to keep audiences and insiders on their toes. Defined by his notable voice, characteristic facial expressions, and dramatic range rivaled only by Daniel Day Lewis, Nicolas Cage has done it all. His work has earned him roles in films by the Coen Brothers and David Lynch, and even an Oscar. Yet the later works in the Cage canon—films like Bangkok Dangerous and this Friday’s Drive Angry 3D—prompt one of the most-pondered questions of our day: What the fuck is Nic Cage doing?

Leisure

Amuse-bouche: Living on a shell-tered diet

Today’s kitchen kingpins really bust their thesauruses to describe eggs. In various cookbooks and TV segments, I’ve heard eggs lauded as rich, hearty, creamy, savory, decadent, delicate, firm, tender, runny, flexible, lively, interesting, versatile, vibrant, fudgy, super-loose, zesty, fatty, buttery, brothy, foamy, piquant, nutty, inspired, and spirited. Egg descriptors have even bordered on the sexual: arousing, tantalizing, voluptuous, titillating. Self-proclaimed eggophile Wylie Dufresne once told New York Magazine that he would like to rub Hollandaise sauce all over his body.

Voices

The Wheel World: D.C.

Everyone is familiar with the urban cyclist stereotype—he or she is skinny, wears spandex but not a helmet, and is usually plotting a way to slip through a red light, only to be narrowly missed by oncoming SUVs. I’ll admit I have a certain fascination with these law-defying speed demons. Because rather than zooming past them in a car or observing them from a clunky Circulator bus, I generally find myself in front of them, then blocking their path, and finally watching them zip through an intersection, barely avoiding traffic, as they rush ahead of me.

Voices

Pop music’s legitimacy may render Bieber fever terminal

He’s watching you as you walk to Lau. He’s at your Thursday evening pregame. He’s balling out in the NBA. He’s rocking the red carpet in Hollywood. He’s in the Super Bowl (albeit in a Best Buy commercial). He’s even in a body bag on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Though only 16 years old, Justin Bieber has gone from lowly Ontario preteen to international superstar in the blink of an eye.

Voices

Law enforcement needs to prioritize for student safety

For reasons that are unclear to me, last semester I began seeing excessive numbers of law enforcement officers in the Georgetown area. Their teeming presence did not by itself bother me. Whatever the reason, I still felt a sense of security knowing there were always police nearby if needed. But at the same time, I noticed an increase in Department of Public Safety-issued write-ups for rambunctious parties and Phishy aromas, and it seriously irked me.

Voices

Finding a sense of self by blogging as The College Prepster

Traveling is quite the ordeal for me. There I was, pacing back and forth between Dunkin Donuts and the newspaper stand in Reagan International Airport. Fellow travelers were whizzing by, only adding to my growing anxiety. Caught up in my own thoughts, I whipped around when I heard my name, “Carly?”

News

On eve of GUSA election, campaigns woo voters

The idea of being an “outsider” is a key feature in today’s GUSA election, which marks the culmination of two weeks of campaigning for the four 2011-2012 GUSA presidential candidates and their running mates.

News

ANC criticizes Campus Plan, proposes enrollment cap

As the D.C. Office of Planning prepares its report on Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan for the city’s Zoning Commission, Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Council has put forward a draft of its own positions to be considered at next Monday’s ANC meeting.

Editorials

Charlie Joyce and Paige Lovejoy for GUSA

In a Georgetown University Student Association election that features high-profile running mates, a deluge of YouTube commercials, and cliché campaign slogans, it can be easy to miss the presidential ticket marked by sound judgment, competence, and a clear work ethic. Charlie Joyce (COL’12) and Paige Lovejoy’s (SFS’12) campaign has made few waves, but their combined experience and knowledge of the issues make their ticket the most effective and refreshing choice for executive.

News

Clubs, SAC lock horns over funding

A collection of more than 20 student groups plan to publicly voice their frustration with the Student Activities Commission’s new funding guidelines. “We were given no formal opportunity to provide feedback on the existing Funding Guidelines prior to the release of the new funding guidelines,” the group wrote in a letter, which will be released Thursday.

News

News Hit: Vandal burns lawn signs

Last weekend, lawn signs that voice opposition to Georgetown’s Campus Plan were found burned in front of a Burlieth home. The three burned red-and-white signs, which display mottos like “Oppose GU’s Campus Plan” and “Our Homes, Not GU’s Dorms,” were discovered on Monday morning.