Emilia Brahm

Leisure

Under the Covers: Cyber goes post-modern

It’s 3:00 a.m. You’re in desperate need of some Chunky Monkey to finish your essay and a latte while you’re at it, but you can’t bring yourself to get up. (Plus, nothing is open at this hour but CVS.) Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door, and an angel wearing a “Kozmo” logo hands you the aforementioned treats. Is this heaven, the far future, the cutting edge of technology, perhaps?

By October 3, 2013

Leisure

Marxist manic pixie girls

It’s hard to imagine a Healy Lawn devoid of Vineyard Vines and Sperrys. But even Georgetown had an edgier age when The Who and The Grateful Dead were typical lineups at our spring concert. Beyond the gates, anti-establishment America flourished, and Jonathan Lethem’s new novel Dissident Gardens pulls you by the hand through a maze of iconic rebellious decades.

By September 19, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: Capitol kiss and tell

As the industrial skyline of my beloved hometown, Milwaukee, Wisc., faded from view, I felt ready. The three-hour flight to Reagan passed quickly. I pretended to read until I could see the first twists of the Potomac out the window. Then came the gothic spires of Georgetown, the townhouses, the government buildings, and as the plane tilted—there it was, the Washington Monument, its polished surface proudly proclaiming a successful democracy with liberty and justice for all.

By September 5, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: Americanah, a dream deferred

If you didn’t read Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie this summer, you have no excuses—classes don’t start until Wednesday. Now is the perfect time to read Adichie’s novel, a story of cross-continental love, hair-braiding, and race in America. Aug. 28 in particular is an especially apt time to pick the book up because this Wednesday is the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

By August 26, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: A chat with Josip Novakovich

Josip Novakovich is a writer of short stories, essays, and novels, with many published to popular acclaim. He was recently shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize for “literary excellence… in a writer’s entire body of work.” Born in Yugoslavia in 1956, Novakovich grew up in Daruvar, in what is now central Croatia.

By April 25, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: A book as bland as matzah

Mystery, a love triangle, cross-cultural conflict, and a foreign setting—what more could you want in a summer read? And for us internationally aware Georgetown students, Second Person Singular’s author, Sayed Kashua, is yet another of its attractions.

By April 17, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: Sandberg leans in, falls short

“The blunt truth is that men still run the world.” Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead asserts that gender inequality in the workplace is rampant. Sandberg’s book calls on you, women and men of Georgetown, to lean in—“be ambitious in any pursuit”—to combat this phenomenon.

By April 4, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: Laura makes the sun shine

I was having one of those days. It was nauseatingly bright all morning and dreary when the afternoon covered the sky with clouds. No one was saying the right thing, and to the friend that asked if I was “sick or tired or something”: yeah, don’t even say that when I’m in a good mood. On the way back from class, prepared to hide from the world in a shuttered room with only Netflix for company, I got the unfailingly splendid email from the RHO announcing a package.

By March 14, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: Pow! nails a home run

How do you take your meat—if you do? Well-done or still bloody? Are you queasy at the thought of slaughter or do you ignore the source of your Leo’s, Tombs, or 5 Guys burger?

By February 21, 2013

Leisure

Under the Covers: Caution: Anti-Fragile

Georgetown student: congratulations, you are on the right track! On your way to being Mr. Secretary of State, Ms. President, Mr. Non-Profit Manager, (or more likely) Mr. Consultant. You’re absolutely right—that summer internship you snagged will endear you to the right people to land a slightly above-entry-level job after graduation, so in 10 years, your salary will be high enough to pay off your law school debt and fund a social life in your off hours.

By February 7, 2013