Editorials

The oilman with the clean energy plan

What do you get when you cross a grizzled oilman with one of the most dire energy crises in America’s history? The answer may be surprising, at least for anyone not familiar with T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oilman who has been traveling the country in support of what he sees as the solution to America’s energy problem: the Pickens Plan. Speaking in Gaston Hall on Monday, Pickens laid out a clear strategy for reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil through natural gas and wind power. With oil prices showing no signs of decreasing, the U.S. needs to wean itself off foreign oil or face serious economic and environmental consequences. Pickens offers a clear way of doing this.

By the Editorial Board September 25, 2008

Leisure

Liquor lit

On Saturday, legions of writers will descend on the Mall for the National Book Festival, the country’s annual celebration of, by, and for bibliophiles of all stripes.

Authors will sit in the crisp fall air, arrayed in all manner of worn cardigans and tortoise-shell glasses, signing autographs for eager book-lovers in Tevas and socks, for batty school librarians, and for scarf-draped “aspiring playwrights,” and they will all be yearning for a strong drink.

By admin September 25, 2008

Editorials

5 dollar Yates fee is 5 dollars too many

Broken workout machines, TVs turned off or worse, turned to GUTV, grungy locker-rooms: Yates Field House hardly provides a luxurious gym experience. But it’s convenient and, thanks to the mandatory Yates fee included in everyone’s tuition, it doesn’t cost Georgetown students anything extra. Until now—Georgetown unveiled a new policy this semester of charging Yates members five dollars for fitness classes that were previously offered for free. Cutbacks can’t be avoided during tough financial times, but surely the University can weather the storm without destroying arguably the best service offered by Yates.

By the Editorial Board September 25, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: TV on the Radio, “Dear Science”

It is always astonishing when a band consistently improves in leaps and bounds with each and every release. One starts to wonder why we even bother to listen to the drivel that comes from other artists, rather than just wait for the next, exponentially improved release from one of these meteoric bands.

By Shira Hecht September 25, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: Jackson Browne, “Time the Conqueror”

Jackson Browne fans are accustomed to tender vocals, swinging melodies, and a clean cut sound. Time the Conqueror meets most of these expectations. Since his heyday in the 1970s, Browne has continued to produce a steady stream of ballad-heavy albums, but Time the Conqueror is his first new album in six years.

By Caroline Klibanoff September 25, 2008

Leisure

Critical Voices: Friendly Fire, “Friendly Fire”

It’s fitting then, that St. Albans-based Friendly Fires come at the idea from the other end on their self-titled debut album, mixing rock influences into their more electronic sound. Nowhere is this mixture more clear than on “White Diamonds,” which plays like a T Rex song for the post-disco era, loping guitar riffs, cowbells, and all.

By Matthew Collins September 25, 2008

Editorials

Get out the vote, starting on the Hilltop

Many Georgetown students will have their first opportunity to vote in a presidential election this upcoming November, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Whether America elects its first African American president or its first female vice president, voters have an unprecedented opportunity to break down barriers for women and minorities. The country’s mood is unique too; the overwhelming majority of voters are looking for change after an administration that has wrought eight years of havoc on this country. It’s time for Georgetown students to exercise their rights by requesting an absentee ballot and voting for whichever candidate they feel will bring the change we need. There is no excuse for students who live four miles from the Capitol and two-and-a-half miles from the White House to avoid participating in our democracy.

By the Editorial Board September 25, 2008

Voices

Flirting with finance as time runs out

When I was little, I wanted to be an astronaut (until I heard about the Challenger disaster). I wanted to be an astronomer (until I figured out they have to stay up all night). Then I realized that I just wanted to be the person who gets to make up the stories about the constellations—an illustrious profession I refered to as being a “mythologist.” And since the cosmos-naming gig never came through, here I am: suit-less and clueless and feeling incredibly behind because I have neither a job offer from Crédit Suisse nor a second round interview with Goldman Sachs.

By Simone Popperl September 25, 2008

Page 13 Cartoons

All we are saying is give football a chance

I’m not an unrealistic idealist: I know as much as anyone what our season was like last year. I know we’re still building a program that only recently joined I-AA. And I know that we’re facing as tough a schedule as ever. So I don’t have expectations of sweeping the league or watching a Football Championship Sub-Division playoff game on TV this season. But I do know that anything can happen on the gridiron, that every game is a fresh start, and that our team is talented enough to put up a fight every week. So I show up every Saturday ready to watch something special happen, to witness a time-expiring field-goal or a game-ending sack, to stand at the front of the bleachers when the game is over and triumphantly sing the fight song with a victorious team.

By Nick Sementelli September 25, 2008

Page 13 Cartoons

Bomb blast in Islamabad affects more than just Pakistan

Although I did not realize it at the time, the hotel is eminent not only because of its extravagance, but because it neighbors the embassies of foreign dignitaries, the President’s office, and the parliament building. Perhaps most importantly, the Mariott serves as a symbol of corrupt Pakistani decadence and of the government’s unpopular alliance with the United States.

It is no shock, then, that it was the prime target of a terrorist attack.

By Nafees Ahmed September 25, 2008

Voices

One thing that the Dems and CRs can agree on

Last Friday, The Hoya ran a column entitled “Fight for your Political Rights” by D.J. McLaughlin (SFS `10), which contained numerous factual inaccuracies and misquotes. McLaughlin irresponsibly lambasted the College Democrats and College Republicans for being “censored” by University policy concerning political activity on campus. He demonstrated an appalling lack of understanding of federal election and tax law, as well as the activities and goals of the College Democrats and Republicans. Both organizations, in a bipartisan fashion, would like to use this opportunity to debunk his fallacious accusations.

By admin September 25, 2008

Sports

Football’s home debut

“Dear old Holy Cross,” as Georgetown’s antiquated fight song refers to it, was anything but dear to Georgetown’s football team last season. The Crusaders sent the Hoyas home with an embarrassing 55-0 shutout loss. Memories of the beating must be lingering in head coach Kevin Kelly’s mind with just days left before Georgetown’s home opener against the Crusaders, especially after a similarly lopsided loss last weekend to Yale.

By Tom Bosco September 25, 2008

Sports

Fast Break: Men’s Soccer

For the second weekend in a row, the 24th-ranked Georgetown men’s soccer team will have to face two conference foes in three days. This time, the Hoyas (6-2-0, 1-2 BE) have the added challenge of doing it on the road, as they travel north to take on Rutgers (3-2-2, 0-1-1 BE) and Villanova (4-2-1, 1-0-1 BE).

By Tim Shine September 25, 2008

Sports

Sports Sermon: The death of the ticket stub

Resting on the corner of my father’s dresser in our old house was a tall glass pitcher full of ticket stubs. Having long ago lost its identity as a generic container, the pitcher transformed with each new addition into something more. By the time I was old enough to care, it was overflowing and looked more like a Cézanne still life than a simple glass. That’s just how I treated it—as a masterpiece. One of my favorite things to do was to empty it and rifle through the stubs, exploring every event my dad had been to, from Rush concerts to Penguins games. Every single ticket in that pitcher was the ultimate souvenir—a paper rectangle that made the same simple but important statement: he’d been there.

By Anthony Francavilla September 25, 2008

Sports

Georgetown women’s soccer finds its go-to girl

Ranked first in the Big East for goals (8) and points (19), eleventh in the nation for points per game (2.38), ninth in goals per game (1.0)—the list goes on. It’s not terribly surprising for a member of a top 25 caliber women’s soccer team like Georgetown to enjoy that much success, but for junior forward Toni Marie Hudson, it’s a start unlike anything she could have imagined.

By Liz Kuebler September 25, 2008

Sports

The NFC: No Fluke Conference

J.V. B-side. Rec league. Semi-pro. The No Fun Conference. These are just a few of the names that football pundits have called the NFC in recent years, and, until now, they’ve had good reason.

By Walker Loetscher September 25, 2008

Sports

Former Hoyas shine under Friday Night Lights

Teen pregnancy, tragic paraplegics, “spirited” cheerleaders ,and football—who doesn’t yearn for the halcyon years of high school? Springsteen may have written many a nostalgic song about those glory days of skinny-dipping down by the river after school, but unlike Georgetown grads Matt Bassuener (SFS ’08) and Brent Craft (MSB ’08), he never got to return to the place where the magic all began. As two of the newest additions to the cast of NBC’s award-winning television series, Friday Night Lights, the former Hoya football players are reliving the dream of secondary school, except this time around, there’s no homework, they get paid for showing up, and the school’s head cheerleader is dating Derek Jeter.

By admin September 25, 2008

Features

The Murphy Code

It was a dark, rainy afternoon in Bamberg, Germany, but Fr. G. Ronald Murphy wasn’t about to let inclement weather thwart his quest. The Jesuit priest, a professor in Georgetown University’s German Department and scholar of medieval literature, was not looking for an obscure manuscript or a quiet refuge in which to spend his sabbatical. Rather, he was seeking the single object that has had the power to capture the imaginations of men and women for centuries, a relic which has inspired works of art ranging from the Arthurian legend and The Da Vinci Code to Indiana Jones and Monty Python. He was looking for the Holy Grail.

By Traviss Cassidy September 18, 2008

News

Prof attempts Malaysian takeover

Malaysia has entered a period of political turmoil and transformation as Anwar Ibrahim, a former Georgetown professor, seeks to take control of the government. Ibrahim, who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Malaysia in the 1990s, announced that he has secured the support of enough members of Parliament to remove the ruling National Coalition from power. If this transfer of support comes to fruition, Ibrahim will become the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

By Eric Pilch September 18, 2008

News

City on a Hill: D.C. and the Series of Tubes

After years of serving District residents with a truly subpar website, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer is nearing completion of an across-the-board overhall of the entire DC.gov portal. And while OCTO’s plans sound promising—the words “social networking” and “Web 2.0” came up a lot in an e-mail from OCTO’s spokesperson Annaya Smith, and her office seems to have gotten wind of a trendy little thing called Facebook—OCTO and the city need to proactively reach out to residents in order to make the new website the “virtual public square” OCTO wants it to be.

By Molly Redden September 18, 2008

News

Townhouse Transformation

Georgetown University is turning the 1400 block of 36th street into a collection of Living and Learning communities called Magis Row. About 40 students attended an informational meeting about the new community on Tuesday.

By Will Sommer September 18, 2008

News

Coming (kind of) soon: Bloomingdale’s

A three-story Bloomingdale’s department store will be opening at the Shops at Georgetown Park in August 2011, according to a Macy’s Inc. press release announced last week.

By Alisha Crovetto September 18, 2008

News

Bloomberg: economy in crisis

In the middle of a week that has seen stocks tumble precipitously, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had the economy on his mind. Speaking to a packed Gaston Hall yesterday, he told the audience that the government is not addressing fundamental issues at the heart of the downturn.

By John Lawless September 18, 2008

News

It’s GUSA time again

“Welcome to the world of politics,” Brett Nadrich (SFS `12) said.

Hoping to represent Village C West’s Y-Wing, Nadrich is one of 73 students running for the 36 Georgetown University Student Assembly Senate seats. The candidates began their campaigns on Tuesday with a flurry of flyers, posters, and Facebook groups.

By Molly Redden September 18, 2008

Leisure

Avedon: power and politics in portraiture

“Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power,” a comprehensive collection of 200 images of iconic figures of the past and present spanning five decades, presents interesting ideas about who qualifies as a political figure, and what constitutes a person in power.

By Colleen Kearns September 18, 2008