Archive

Mourning the demise of DIY fashion

It’s obvious that times have changed, but in past decades, people held on to vestiges of the do-it-yourself spirit. Groovy 70s gals routinely crocheted vests, and jeans of the 1980s were bathed in sinks full of bleach. No such trends exist today, though.

By Katherine Norton September 4, 2008

Sweet cuppin’ cakes

From an etymological perspective, a cupcake is a cake, but in a cup. A name as commonplace as cupcake, like any word said too many times, loses the emotional connection to its referent, and many have forgotten just how marvelous cupcakes can be.

By Michael Keller September 4, 2008

Critical Voices: Fujiya & Miyagi, “Lightbulbs”

The opening of Lightbulbs, the third LP from Brighton, UK, quartet Fujiya & Miyagi, is uncomfortably similar to the beginning of the band’s 2006 Transparent Things: singer and guitarist David Best chants, “Vanilla, strawberry, knickerbocker glory” much like he intones “Fujiya, Miyagi” in the song “Ankle Injuries,” as a drum beat replicates the earlier song’s bassline. “I saw the ghost of Lena Zavaroni,” Best whispers, like a harbinger of tragedy. (Zavaroni was a child star that died at 35 due to complications from anorexia.) The album only gets worse from there.

By Daniel Cook September 4, 2008

Critical Voices: Ra Ra Riot, “The Rhumb Line”

Ra Ra Riot is an enigmatic band. A mere six months after their formation, this Syracuse sextet worked their way to the stage of the CMJ Music Marathon and shortly thereafter played esteemed festivals like South by Southwest and the South Street Music Festival. The group’s defiance of the standard slow stagger towards acclaim is even more admirable when you take their genre into consideration. Ra Ra Riot’s indie pop niche is usually flooded with ambiguous, recycled material, but The Rhumb Line mixes the instrumental bounciness with the vocal serenity of a Belle and Sebastian ballad. The product can only be described as a tranquil yet danceable medley of sounds.

By James McGrory September 4, 2008

Burger out of Hell: Ray’s raises the stakes

My meal, the Soul Burger Number One, was a small skyscraper, consisting of two fluffy toasted Brioche buns, a large leaf of romaine lettuce, a thick slice of tomato, three slices of Applewood smoked bacon, grilled rings of red onions, a pile of Cognac and sherry sautéed mushrooms, a half melted slice of Swiss cheese and, sandwiched in between it all, a 10 ounce patty of hand trimmed, freshly ground, premium aged beef.

By Vivian Chen September 4, 2008

Editorials

Making a difference, one bite at a time

Former convicts running a catering business—sound like the culinary version of Con Air? So one might think, but think again. It’s actually a description of the Corp’s newest business partnership.

By the Editorial Board September 4, 2008

Editorials

Evans for Ward 2 Councilmember

There’s at least one election this year where more of the same is a good thing: the Democratic primary for Ward 2 Councilmember. Next Tuesday, residents of Ward 2 will head to the polls to choose between Councilmember Jack Evans, the 17-year incumbent, and Cary Silverman, the president of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association and a former ANC commissioner. (In a ward where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 5-to-1, the Democratic primary almost certainly determines the general election winner.) While Silverman brings a refreshing focus on community improvement to the campaign, the Voice’s Editorial Board endorses Councilmember Evans, who has proven himself an effective advocate for Ward 2 during his 17 years on the Council.

By the Editorial Board September 4, 2008

Editorials

New Leo’s takes it down a notch

Georgetown students who returned to campus this fall expecting a new, improved Leo J. O’Donovan Dining Hall must have been sorely disappointed. New? Yes. Improved? Not by a long shot, what with the tacky décor, cluttered downstairs floor plan, and uninspired food. Dining Services needs to restore order to the design of Leo’s and improve the food instead of ruining the décor next time they’re planning renovations.

By the Editorial Board September 4, 2008

Everything to gain for Hoyas in first D.C. Cup

Despite winning only three games in the past two years, the Georgetown football team is looking to the 2008 season with unabashed optimism. They open their season this Saturday in an historic match-up called the D.C. Cup against Howard University, the first ever meeting of the two teams.

By Corey Sherman September 4, 2008

Perfect record put to test

The Georgetown women’s soccer team might have hoped to start the season strong despite the absence of star sophomore Ingrid Wells, but at 3-0-0, the team has performed above and beyond preseason hopes with the best start in program history. The Hoyas’ perfect record will be on the line this weekend as they take on both Mississippi State and Hartford in the George Mason Tournament.

By Liz Kuebler September 4, 2008

Fantasy Fetish

The NFL’s regular season starts on Thursday, which means that enthusiasts all over campus and the country will have finished drafting their fantasy teams and are now waiting to see how those investments will pay off. A 2006 study by outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. estimated that over the next seventeen weeks, thirty-seven million fantasy footballers will spend an average of fifty minutes a week tinkering with their accounts, costing employers nearly $18 billion in lost productivity. According to the same study, the average fantasy owner spends an additional thirty-four minutes a day thinking about his team and as much as $500 on software to give him an edge over his former friends.

By Jeff Bakkensen September 4, 2008

Sports Sermon: ACC Woes

When the Atlantic Coast Conference lured the University of Miami, Virginia Tech, and later Boston College out of the Big East in 2004, the goal was clear: turn the basketball-crazy ACC into a football powerhouse. The cross-conference exodus seemed to be just the right move to jumpstart such an evolution—Miami had made it to BCS bowl games in each of the last four years and Virginia Tech and Boston College were known heavyweights.

By Anthony Francavilla September 4, 2008

Home opener looms for undefeated Hoyas

The men’s soccer team practiced to an interesting soundtrack yesterday afternoon—sporadic blasts of mediocre southern rock played through the recently added speakers on Kehoe Field. While the discord wasn’t exactly conducive to instruction, head coach Brian Wiese was more than happy to make concessions for the sake of the venue.

By Anthony Francavilla September 4, 2008

Features

The New Face of DPS

On January 18, 2003, Kevin Curry, an African-American student at the University of Texas, had been playing the piano in the student union before a fraternity meeting when a white UT Police Department officer approached him. According to Curry, he left to go to his meeting. The officer followed him into a stairwell.

By Will Sommer August 28, 2008

Court to ASK: the wrong answers

After more than 20 years of tutoring and mentoring juveniles in the D.C. court system, Georgetown’s After School Kids program is on hiatus this fall. The program’s five-year contract with the D.C. Superior Court ran out in May and has yet to be renewed, forcing ASK to cancel its programs indefinitely due to a lack of funds.

By Alisha Crovetto August 28, 2008

Saxa Politica: Rankled

What do the numbers 9, 23 and 76 have in common? They’re all rankings Georgetown has received recently. College counselors surveyed by U.S. News and World Report ranked Georgetown ninth, tied with seven other schools; the actual U.S. News ranking kept the University in its 23 spot; and Forbes, the newcomer in this year’s ranking bonanza, sent Georgetown crashing down to 76, behind the likes of Wabash College (12) and Kalamazoo College (57). No, I haven’t heard of them either.

By Kate Mays August 28, 2008

Not so sub-prime

Georgetown and several other area colleges have agreed to a new Code of Conduct for dealing with student loan lenders. The agreement, put together by the D.C. District Attorney, prohibits universities and their employees from profiting from their dealings with student lenders.

By John Cooke August 28, 2008

On the Record with John DeGioia

On Wednesday, University President John DeGioia held a sit-down with student reporters, who questioned him about campus news and issues. Below are excerpts from their conversation.

By Will Sommer August 28, 2008

Hardy: Hardly Recognizable

After three years of renovation, Rose Hardy Middle School in Georgetown reopened its new, bright blue doors on Monday. Along with the physical improvements, Hardy may be one of the schools used as a testing ground for a new program in which middle school students are rewarded for academic success.

By John Lawless August 28, 2008

Curbing Traffic

Georgetown could soon see some relief from its chronic traffic problems. A study by the District Department of Transportation, to be released by the end of the month, gives suggestions for how the neighborhood can better handle vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles.

By Dylan Richmond August 28, 2008

Bias incident in Burleith

Early Saturday night, a group of Burleith residents harassed a Georgetown student and his friend, shouting homophobic slurs at the pair from their lawn. The student they taunted, a senior in the College who wished to remain anonymous, said he was harassed by twelve to fifteen men, all of whom appeared to be drunk.

By Molly Redden August 28, 2008

Beat it: Unexpected Results

Every once in a while, an artist will follow a string of homogenous-sounding records with an absolutely unexpected curveball. Bloc Party are the latest to do it with their breakbeat-influenced, bombastic electronic album Intimacy, which was a surprise release much like Radiohead’s In Rainbows. And it was Radiohead who made perhaps the most famous curveball record over the last decade: released in 2000, Kid A is a blippity bloopity electronic record released after one of modern rock’s most bombastic and powerful statements, OK Computer. But Radiohead was hardly the first band to disappoint fans with high expectations.

By Justin Hunter Scott August 28, 2008

Hamlet 2-Rollicking Ribaldry

Imagine the most ludicrous, politically incorrect version of High School Musical possible. It would probably look a lot like Hamlet 2, whose cast is led by a Napoleon Dynamite-meets-Zoolander drama teacher (Steve Coogan).

By the Voice Staff August 28, 2008