Opinion

1, 2, 3: it’s not as easy as A, B, C…

When I say I am bad at math, I don't mean bad in the modest Georgetown "I didn't get a 5 on the AP subject test" sense. I mean bad as in sometimes I find myself wondering how many quarters are in an hour, before I remember that quarters go into dollars and minutes go into hours. It's difficult to explain that you're late for class because you confused cents with minutes.

By Sarah Harman November 20, 2008

Proposition 8 allowed hate to dominate

On November 4, Proposition 8 amended the California state constitution to define marriage as something solely between a man and a woman. Hate, intolerance, and willful ignorance wrote discrimination into... Read more

By Angel Humphrey November 20, 2008

The other fútbol’s crazier fans & wimpier wages

Flags erupted out of a sea of black and red as already-hoarse voices roared their approval. Even the enormous flags, the drum of creaking metal and a haze of smoke couldn't obscure the fact that D.C. United was now up one-nil, though I could only see the scoreboard if I bounced especially high off the rolling grandstands. It was my first experience at an MLS soccer game, and I loved every minute of it. That's why when I read an article on the area blog DCist last week outlining the laughably low wages earned by a majority of MLS players, I was outraged.

By Hunter Kaplan November 20, 2008

Facing sexual harassment on the subcontinent

In rapidly modernizing India, eve-teasing has emerged as a popular form of social control of women. The Eve-teasing Bill, which the Indian government passed in 1984, defines it as “consisting of the following actions: when a man by words either spoken or by signs and or by visible representation or by gesture does an act in a public place, or sings, recites or utters any indecent words or song or ballad in any public place to the annoyance of any woman, he may be arrested.”

By Miykaelah Sinclair November 20, 2008

The unbearable decisions of being (a senior)

When confronted with decisions I’m like an ostrich with its head in the sand. I sense the danger of the open-ended environment around me. Time lurks nearby, hunting me down... Read more

By Madeline Reidy November 13, 2008

Georgetown needs more turkey time

By planes, trains, and automobiles, Hoyas from all across the country will be wending their way home for Thanksgiving in just a few short days. Too bad the University’s schedule... Read more

By the Editorial Board November 13, 2008

The Corp should charge for plastic bags

New York, home of the $15 cup of coffee, the $5 chocolate chip cookie, and the $3 million studio apartment, is about to add a price tag to a convenience... Read more

By the Editorial Board November 13, 2008

I’m glad my president will be smarter than I am

With Barack Obama’s election as President of the United States, a recent trend among American politicians has been broken: the election of “average joes” to the presidency, and that’s a good thing. Do you really want an average American running our country? I know I don’t.

By George D'Angelo November 13, 2008

In pre-registration, knowledge is power

As anyone who’s preregistered for a class taught by a celebrity professor like Madeleine Albright or Donna Brazile knows, when it comes to picking your courses, you can’t always get... Read more

By the Editorial Board November 13, 2008

Does your beard hang low?

There's one question that I regularly encounter in Morocco with my newly-grown beard. "Are you Muslim?" the vendors ask in Arabic. I've come to realize that in Muslim countries, a beard carries a specific meaning, or at least something other than, "I'm too lazy to shave."

By Dan Newman November 13, 2008

Think Prop 8 is bad? Wait till you see Act 1

As I scrolled through the election results on CNN.com, I felt like I was being punched in the gut with gray clouds closing in on my Democratic euphoria. "Ban on gay marriage in Arizona"-CNN predicts "yes." "Ban on gay marriage in Florida"-predicted "yes." "Ban on gay marriage in California"-still counting, but looks like a yes. Again and again, rights denied, unfair divisions imposed, equality rejected. But the one that hurt the most was a measure I hadn't even known was on the books. Act 1 in Arkansas, "Ban on gays adopting children"-called as a "yes."

By Shira Hecht November 13, 2008

ANC student rep needs to rep students

New student Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, Aaron Golds (COL `11) must make sure that, unlike past student commissioners, he always remembers to represent students and not the wishes of other ANC commissioners.

By the Editorial Board November 6, 2008

Ensure the rights of Qatari workers

Georgetown has commendably taken steps to ensure humane working conditions for workers at SFS-Q. The other American universities in Qatar, including Carnegie Mellon University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Cornell University, need to follow Georgetown’s example and stand up for workers’ rights.

By the Editorial Board November 6, 2008

What’s a fair housing lottery worth?

Housing Services should affirm its commitment to making a fair housing lottery and bring an end to the biannual raffle.

By the Editorial Board November 6, 2008

My Catholic catharsis

My name is Chelsea Paige and, until recently, I was scared of Christianity. For about one-third of the world's population, Jesus is numero uno. But for that largest of religious diasporas, the Jews of the New York metropolitan area (or the ones I know, at least), Jesus was altogether foreign-a vague, amorphous being who lay at the core of the religion which brought us the Crusades and the Inquisition. Oddly enough, my visceral reaction to Christ stemmed from silence rather than any anti-Christian propaganda: my teachers failed to mention him once during my fourteen years of Hebrew school.

By Chelsea Paige November 6, 2008

MUN: Kicking ass, and taking Ivy names

Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service is one of the leading undergraduate schools for the study of international affairs, and Georgetown is located in the nation’s capital. One would assume that Georgetown should naturally dominate the collegiate Model UN circuit. Unfortunately, until two years ago, we didn’t.

By Jasdeep Singh November 6, 2008

50% Austrian, 50% South African, 100% American

I understand why my parents came to America. Where else can two fresh-off-the-boat, kiss-strangers-on-both-cheeks-in-front-of-the-local-blue-collar-bar foreigners eventually become locals? In the late 1970s, they stepped off a plane in appallingly-polyestered Kennedy International Airport as outsiders and by the grace of the American experiment, they now celebrate Thanksgiving, watch college sports, pay taxes, vote, do yardwork, have potlucks, and cheer for U.S. Olympians alongside Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution. They criticize this country, but they always acknowledge that in no other place in the world would the union of a South African daughter of a pogrom survivor and an Austrian son of a Nazi ambulance driver have been possible. I accept this, but even so, I've always wished I had not been born in America.

By Simone Popperl November 6, 2008

The tea party’s over: the plight of India’s workers

Because of the expanding tea industries in both Kenya and Sri Lanka and the overall decreased demand for tea in our coffee and latte-chugging world, the tea industry is facing a downward spiral in India. Plantation after plantation has had to shut down, especially in the Darjeeling region of West Bengal. While many plantations are still pulling in a substantial profit, the owners are not reinvesting their profits back into their plantations and their workers. Instead, they are putting their money into other industries and failing to adjust their laborers' salaries to inflation in the market.

By Sarah Marie Ryan November 6, 2008