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

Page 13 Cartoons

McCain chose VP for style, not substance

More significantly, it seems that McCain doesn’t respect women for their qualifications but simply uses their gender for political advantage. Is this McCain’s way of telling us that he believes women can be easily manipulated for political gain instead of being respected for their own career accomplishments? McCain has shown us that he doesn’t respect women, and that he will go to desperate measures to get himself elected, an occurence that would put our country at risk.

By Sasha Wasserstrom September 4, 2008

Voices

Moscow: all grown up and out of vodka?

During our chats, I found that all but one of my workmates were married or engaged, two of them had children, and one was already happily divorced. The oldest of them was twenty-five. They spent their evenings in cooking dinners to feed their growing families, their Saturdays at the zoo in lieu of sleeping off a monumental clubbing night, and their salaries on the latest eco-summer camps and environmentally-friendly living instead of on live-in lovers and python handbags.

By Anastasia Stepanova September 4, 2008

Voices

Bullfights? “Não.” Espresso? “Sim!”

Walking up to the Moorish-style stadium in Lisbon, camera in hand, I was prepared to see a small drove of burlap-clad animal-rights activists banging on tambourines and chanting about respect for all living beings. What I did not expect to see was a group of average-looking citizens of all ages, standing respectfully behind barricades and police lines, holding signs reading, “Bullfighting is neither art nor culture.”

By Lynn Kirshbaum September 4, 2008

Editorials

Van Slyke needs to address his past

Boasting an impressive blend of academic background and practical experience, Dr. Jeffrey Van Slyke, Georgetown’s Director of Public Safety since June 1, seems like an ideal candidate on paper. However, as the Voice’s cover story this week details, a number of controversies in Van Slyke’s past raise questions that he needs to address before the Georgetown community can put their trust in him.

By the Editorial Board August 28, 2008

Editorials

Celebrating the new LGBTQ center

It took a horrific hate crime, numerous protests by GU Pride, and countless hours of meetings between dedicated administrators, faculty, and students, but on Tuesday Georgetown finally took a giant step forward with the official opening of the LGBTQ Resource Center. Located on the third floor of the Leavey Center, the center marks a new chapter in Georgetown’s history as it strives to become a truly inclusive university for all of its students, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. The center promises to become a vital resource for LGBTQ students at Georgetown and all those who helped create it should be commended for their tireless dedication to helping Georgetown address the needs of all of its students.

By the Editorial Board August 28, 2008

Editorials

DCPS loses with Capital Gains program

“School is Money,” the original name of a D.C. Public Schools pilot program being instituted this fall wasn’t referring to the intangible value of an education, nor was it trying to relate to students using slang. Rather, it was alluding, quite literally, to the program’s substance: paying students—up to $100 each every two weeks—for good academic performance, behavior, and attendance. Since renamed Capital Gains, the initiative is modeled after a program underway in New York City and has been championed by DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee in a press release as an effective way to “re-engage students and increase their potential.” Though Rhee has shown a refreshing willingness to shake-up DCPS, Capital Gains misses the mark. The program is a cynical vote of no-confidence in the District’s students, a waste of scarce resources, and an abandonment of every educator’s true mission: teaching students to love learning for its own inherent value.

By the Editorial Board August 28, 2008

Voices

Unpaid? Uninterested

My dad never went to college. My siblings and I were raised on the tenets of hard and honest work, no matter how much we hated our jobs. In high school I bagged groceries at a local supermarket. For two years, I bit my tongue as suburban moms complained about the rising price of peaches and the bruises on their cantaloupes. But I never regretted taking the job, because even though I absolutely loathed standing for five hours ringing up groceries, I had one thing to be grateful for: I was getting paid.

By Madeline Reidy August 28, 2008

Voices

The last person on Earth without a cell

As time wore on, I got attached to the idea that rejecting technology signified a bohemian, responsibility-free existence. Everyone with their cell phones and iPods and fax machines could just go work at Merrill Lynch and rape the earth. I would be barefoot and bake vegan cupcakes, the American answer to Amelie, sprinkling joy wherever I went, free from the onerous burden of communicating with others.

By Sarah Harman August 28, 2008

Voices

Biloxi, three years later

Biloxi is the cultural center of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a region that has always been more New Orleans gumbo than Mississippi catfish. In fact, it was the original New Orleans, founded around twenty years before the Big Easy ever came into existence. It is a city settled by French, Croatians, Cajuns, and Vietnamese, a city that is proud of its Catholic heritage and cannot live without its Mardi Gras, a city where a po-boy is always lunch and no dinner is complete without French bread.

Three years ago, it was all swept from under my feet.

By Dylan Richmond August 28, 2008

Page 13 Cartoons

Dispatches from the Obama campaign

With deepening gloom, I had continued to call people, hoping I’d strike gold and find a volunteer. The next day passed uneventfully. I paced the room, talking eagerly to whoever picked up their telephone. Occasionally, pedestrians would slow down or stop when they saw that someone was walking around inside the office, but they’d soon move on again, and my hopes for a walk-in volunteer would dissipate into the sweltering August air.

By Nick Wertsch August 28, 2008

Editorials

Baby steps for GUSA and its fellows

Dowd managed to get the GUSA Summer Fellows program up and running by the start of the summer, giving five students with unpaid internships free Georgetown housing for the summer. It’s an encouraging sign from the usually ineffective GUSA.

By the Editorial Board August 22, 2008

Voices

Chernobyl’s concrete ghost town

Several miles, two passport checks and one release form later, I stood 500 feet from the reactor—known as The Sarcophagus—that released uranium dioxide into the bodies of 50,000 people in fewer than 36 hours.

By Chelsea Paige August 22, 2008

Voices

Carrying On: Plumage Pilgrimage

I didn’t know it before I took the job, but the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where I worked sees 325 different species of birds throughout the year. As a result, it’s a world-famous birding site, drawing visitors from allover the globe. Late spring though August is the prime time for migratory birds, and the number of birders following them made it feel similar to what I imagine it must be like to work in Mecca during the Hajj (that is, if Mecca were visited primarily by upper-middle-class, middle-aged white couples).

By Dan Newman August 22, 2008

Voices

Pride of the People’s

In the last two weeks I have heard the Chinese national anthem more times than I have in the rest of my life put together. Although I’m sure any avid Olympics viewer is starting to become familiar with the song, being in Beijing this summer means that those notes follow you everywhere. Not only is every television in the city tuned into the Olympics, but the new buses, subway stations, and subway cars are all equipped with TV screens so you won’t miss a single moment. Montages of gold medal moments air in between all programming, so in a given day I could see the same flag rise at least twenty times. It’s gotten to the point where I saw a group of inebriated Germans singing the Chinese national anthem on the Olympic Green and wasn’t surprised that they hit all the right notes.

By Vivian Chen August 22, 2008

Voices

This Georgetown Life: First days of school

On the last day of summer before the start of second grade, I sat at the pool with some friends playing with a bee sting remover. The device is like a plastic syringe and uses suction to pull the sting out of the flesh. Who knew that suctioning the thing to your chin could be so outrageously fun? Prancing around in my little Speedo, I exclaimed, “look, I’m a Pharaoh!” as it dangled from my chin, or “now I’m a unicorn!” when stuck to my forehead. What I should have anticipated is that I’d be showing up on the first day of school with perfectly round purple dots about one inch in diameter all over my face.

By the Voice Staff August 22, 2008

Editorials

DPS needs to regain students’ trust

It will take a vast overhaul, one which DPS seems to be committed to making, for the University to regain students’ trust and make them once again feel safe on campus.

By the Editorial Board August 22, 2008