Voices

Trains: they’re the only way to fly

After a few too many flights where pilots sighed, “Well, we made it,” and fellow passengers made the sign of the cross as the wheels finally managed to stick their landing, I knew it was time to find a different way to get around. Because they seemed to succeed where planes failed—with wheels firmly attached to the ground at all times—I began to take trains everywhere I went.

By Sara Carothers September 18, 2008

Voices

The SAT is to Georgetown what the appendix is to your body

Georgetown’s emphasis on standardized testing is harmful to both the University and prospective students. Georgetown should follow in the footsteps of Wake Forest, Bowdoin, Smith, Bard, Middlebury, and other highly regarded institutions of higher learning that have recognized the limitations of the SAT. It’s time to phase out the SAT and make the test optional for applicants to the class of 2014.

By Eric Pilch September 18, 2008

Voices

The disturbing way of the world

Suskind’s book, when put together with Scott McClellan’s What Happened, Barton Gellman’s Angler, and Bob Woodward’s The War Within, paints an extremely dark, deceptive, and frankly, evil picture of the Bush administration. While there have been many accusations over the past eight years, these books offer fairly definitive proof of Bush and Cheney’s two terms of illegal operations. Unfortunately, with the media completely fixated on the election, no one seems to care. Bush is hardly talked about anymore (with the exception of comparisons to McCain), and outrage at his presidency seems to be dwindling.

By Brendan Brown September 18, 2008

Editorials

Juicy Campus: thanks, but no thanks

Thought middle school was tough? You’ve probably never been to Juicy Campus. Within days of arriving at Georgetown last week, the gossip site was flooded with threads about who’s sleeping with whom, who the hottest person on campus is, who’s promiscuous, and who’s an asshole, to pick out a few topics. As if that wasn’t enough, all of the allegations, which frequently called out students by name, are made under the cloak of anonymity, without any repercussions for the posters. The answer to the Juicy Campus phenomenon is not for Georgetown’s administration to censor the website, cutting off access for students using Georgetown’s internet connection. Rather, it falls to us—the students of Georgetown—to practice a modicum of restraint on the site, always keeping the golden rule in mind—don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to be said about you.

By the Editorial Board September 18, 2008

Editorials

16 fewer townhouses for the rest of us

It sounds like an idyllic, almost utopian community: 16 groups of four students united by common interests and a commitment to social justice living together on a block of colorful townhouses just outside the main gates of Georgetown. But even if Magis Row—the new living and learning community that Residential Life has created for the 2009-2010 school year—manages to live up to the University’s high expectations, which seems unlikely given its ambiguous mission, the program’s benefits wouldn’t outweigh the damage it does to the student body as a whole. By taking 16 townhouses out of the housing lottery, the program subverts the fairness of the housing selection process and unduly favors a group of students hand-picked by the University over the general student population.

By the Editorial Board September 18, 2008

Editorials

Feds shouldn’t take aim at home rule

In 1973, Washington won home rule: the right to govern most of its affairs free from Congressional interference. Now Congress is considering a bill that would take away the city’s self-government on one of the most important issues in the District: handguns.

By the Editorial Board September 18, 2008

Voices

Law, order, and crappy coffee

As impassioned soliloquies ran through my head, my mother sought to bring me back to earth. She explained the mind-numbing boredom that accompanies jury duty of any duration. Worse, she explained that it is incredibly unlikely that I would ever be chosen for a jury because my father is a lawyer and I have an aunt and an uncle who are former members of the NYPD. No matter how reasoned her thinking, I dismissed everything mother dearest said, and began to prepare my remarks for the other members of the jury.

By Dan Newman September 11, 2008

Voices

How I almost became a saint

It was time for dinner with my parents, and I had something important to tell them.

“I’ve decided to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” I said. “The baptism will be on Saturday.”

By Traviss Cassidy September 11, 2008

Voices

The Dark Night: walking home alone

I hadn’t felt safe at night since the eighth grade, when I was taught to be afraid of the dark. The class was technically called self-defense, but it focused much more on fear than survival skills. Our co-ed gym class was divided for the month or so it took to teach us girls to cross the street, walk with our keys in hand, and not talk on the phone. Not to mention the Miss Congeniality-esque defense maneuvers that I would never, ever use. It became clear that the point of the class was to learn how to avoid dangerous situations, not to learn what to do if such a situation actually occured. It’s a valid point, and many of the pointers were useful for teenage girls growing up in a big city like Chicago. By the end of the unit, though, we were all convinced that we would get mugged if we took the El after dark, and God help us if we didn’t have a twenty in our wallets for the mugger.

By Allie Reiner September 11, 2008

Page 13 Cartoons

Give me liberty or give me death?

The poverty-stricken masses of Cairo are fed-up with an oppressive government that doesn’t care, a supposedly “grand America” that supports this negligent regime, and a city that doesn’t offer so much as clean air. “Religious” leaders seeking power use the compelling context of Islam to attract these people and to convert them into devotees. These figures augment their status in relation to the government and obtain a personal following. They promise a sanitized political system and a chance for people to have greater ownership over their own lives. Social services, like the hot meal that government welfare rarely provides, entice the average person to keep coming for more.

By Mark Lerner September 11, 2008

Editorials

Who you gonna call? SafeRides?

Two Georgetown students were robbed while walking home alone late at night this past week—one was held up at gunpoint, and the other was suffocated. While city dwellers have to accept certain risks, including the possibility of muggings and worse crimes, these two incidents had one disturbing aspect in common: the victims were within the limits of the Department of Public Safety’s SafeRides service, which was designed to prevent exactly these kinds of attacks from occurring.

By the Editorial Board September 11, 2008

Editorials

Georgetown becomes totally RAD

Potential attackers, muggers, and ne’er-do-wells, beware: the women of Georgetown are about to take matters into their own hands. Last week, Director of Public Safety Jeffrey Van Slyke announced that, beginning this semester, Georgetown will offer classes in Rape Aggression Defense Systems (RADS) to interested female students. RADS, the preeminent self-defense program in the country, has been taught to over 300,000 women since the organization was founded in 1989 and is offered at schools across the country, as well as at nearby universities such as Catholic University, George Mason, and Johns Hopkins. Female students at Georgetown should take advantage of RADS classes offered at Georgetown as a means of protecting themselves against potential threats and taking control of their personal safety.

By the Editorial Board September 11, 2008

Editorials

7” of rain and barely a wet vac in sight

When it rains, it pours. And when Tropical Storm Hanna finally hit the District of Columbia late into the night last Friday, Georgetown, along with the rest of the District, got drenched. Hanna’s seven inches of rain cut off roads, broadened the muddy Potomac, and flooded the apartments and townhouses of unlucky Georgetown students. According to University Spokesperson Julie Green-Bataille, Facilities prepared for the storm as it slowly made its way up the coast toward the Hilltop, gathering sandbags, pumps, wet vacuum, plastic sheeting, and tarps, and putting extra staff on duty on Saturday. Unfortunately, their preparations proved no match for Hanna, leaving many students to fend for themselves as they waited for ultimately unsatisfactory assistance. The next time it’s faced with a storm of Hanna’s magnitude—a rare occurrence, but a dangerous once nonetheless—Georgetown should do more to protect itself and its students from the fallout.

By the Editorial Board September 11, 2008

Editorials

M St. water woes

Last Sunday at around 6:30 a.m., a fire hydrant burst on 33rd Street, closing a busy stretch of M Street and flooding Starbucks, Qdoba Mexican Grill, and the apartments of some Georgetown students.

By Sarah Hunter September 11, 2008

Editorials

Hanna hits Georgetown

Tropical Storm Hanna hit the Georgetown campus late Saturday morning, bringing strong winds and rain and causing damage to student residences.

By Ana Doherty September 11, 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

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

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

Voices

The lives of others

Podcasts of This American Life and other radio shows devoted to making real-life snippets into stories got me through my bus commute this summer. Call it voyeuristic, but I’m fascinated by the simple truths of other people’s lives. I love to hear a stranger laugh about night terrors that had him convinced there was a jackal in his bedroom, a woman talk about the time she tried to write a break-up song despite her lack of musical abilities (and got in touch with Phil Collins for pointers), a man explain how he unwittingly became a paid spokesman for California foster kids at the age of 17.

By Simone Popperl September 4, 2008