Voices

From D.C. to a dung hut

If you had predicted freshman year over dinner at Leo’s that I would join the Peace Corps, I would have laughed till ginger ale shot out my nose. Then I would tell you about a trip my family took to Kenya when I was seven. I ate gazelle, chased baboons, and enjoyed myself thoroughly. But, visiting a Masai village, my brother pointed at the walls of the dung huts and told me just what dung was. Shit? I was in the Business School freshman year, and though I didn’t know what I wanted to do after, my plans in no way included a dung hut in Africa.

By Kathryn Brand February 15, 2007

Voices

Carrying on: A desperate woman knocks

My dad and I had just sat down to a spaghetti dinner when the pounding on the door began. It was furious and incessant, as if someone were trying to knock the door down. My dad hurriedly shuffled to the door and opened it a crack. A screaming woman forced her arm through the opening and the rest of her body followed. Someone, she said, was trying to kill her. Running over, I caught a glimpse of the snowy moonlit expanse outside the front door. There, wild, noble-looking and gray, stood a Siberian Husky. The door slammed shut, and my dad twisted the deadbolt into place.

By Austin Richardson February 15, 2007

Voices

Monologues counterproductive

I would like to thank Jessica Bachman (“Censure for a Censor”) for raising important questions about my not funding subsidies for tickets to the Vagina Monologues in my role as Faculty in Residence for the Culture and Performance Living and Learning Community (CPLLC). I would also like to thank her for writing a balanced article, even though the editorial staff of the Voice cut out most of her quotes of my substantive arguments. (I’ve seen the original form of her piece, and it is much better and fairer than what the Voice published.) I would, nonetheless, like to respectfully disagree with Ms. Bachman’s opinion that my conscientious decision not to subsidize tickets to the Vagina Monologues was religious discrimination against the students who wanted to see it. My current policy is to personally match the price of each ticket purchased by a CPLLC member with a donation to My Sister’s Place, the charity that the Monologues support. I feel that this is a reasonable compromise between either subsidizing the tickets or not subsidizing them.

By Alexander Pruss February 15, 2007

Editorials

Planting a new SEED

Imagine being in a lecture class of 100 people, in which five or six come down with a disease. Normally they would be rushed off to treatment, and steps would be taken to ensure the safety of the rest of the students, right?

By the Editorial Board February 15, 2007

Editorials

A green, clean, energy-saving campus

Going green is a grassroots movement. Just as our nation’s leaders have been reluctant to change, universities have other priorities, like raising money and attracting top professors.

By the Editorial Board February 15, 2007

Editorials

Student loans, sleaze and subsidies

Hitting all of the usual sweet spots—defense, Medicare, Social Security—President Bush’s latest budget also takes a small but important step towards fixing a problem inhibiting fair student lending: private lending companies.

By the Editorial Board February 15, 2007

Voices

Chillin’ with my faux Jew ‘fro

I hate yarmulkes. They mess up my hair. And because they cover up the spot on your head where men typically begin balding, I used to think that they make you go bald.

By Keenan Steiner February 8, 2007

Voices

Blackwater in hot water in Iraq

Most people have not heard of Blackwater USA, a “professional military company” located in the countryside of North Carolina, where the landscape is dotted with tanks, helicopters and firing ranges. Today it, along with Haliburton, is one of the largest private contracting firms operating in Iraq. Hired by the U.S. Department of Defense, its employees play a vital role in military operations, fulfilling positions ranging from bodyguards to mechanics. Oversight of these contractors, however, is severely limited. Not part of the military chain of command, and outside governmental disciplinary procedures, their presence in the combat zone can be extremely disruptive.

By Christa Montani February 8, 2007

Voices

Carrying On: the secret of my happiness

Last weekend a friend of mine and I were throwing a pair of cowboy boots across the room at each other and a rogue shot knocked out my front tooth: about the worst possible thing that could happen in that situation. My friend begged my forgiveness with his head cradled in his hands, but I wasn’t concerned. I flashed him a broken grin and laughed, then pulled out the phone book and called a dentist. Problem solved. The lesson I learned from this was not to be more careful with my teeth, but that hockey players really don’t have it as bad as I’d thought.

By Michael Bruns February 8, 2007

Editorials

GU needs more diversity

Pearls and freshly fallen snow aren’t the only overwhelmingly white features of the Georgetown campus; the student body here on the hilltop remains true to its tradition of a prevailing Caucasian majority.

By the Editorial Board February 8, 2007

Editorials

Somebody buy this girl a drink

Although it took her long enough to get her act together, Jenna Lowenstein (COL ’09), who represents Georgetown students on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, deserves recognition for finally listening to student demands and reversing her position on an ANC petition to the University to limit student parties off-campus to one keg.

By the Editorial Board February 8, 2007

Editorials

Free advice for Ben and Matt

During their campaign, Ben Shaw (COL ’08) and Matt Appenfeller (COL ’08) made many promises. Of course, student government is limited in what it can accomplish, and can only be relevant if it listens to students and represents their interests. The Voice urges our new leaders to focus on a few very important, relatively accomplishable issues.

By the Editorial Board February 8, 2007

Voices

Censure for a censor

Believe it or not, there is a group of Georgetown students who would rather spend their Friday nights baking bread from scratch or watching King Richard III at the Shakespeare Theater than competing in beer-pong tournaments. These students live on the Culture and Performance Living and Learning Community (CPLLC), a unique outlet for creative Hoyas. But when the CPLLC refused to subsidize its members’ tickets to the University-sponsored production of Eve Ensler’s the Vagina Monologues, I was confronted with the sad reality that even Georgetown’s more progressive institutions are unable to escape censorship and discrimination.

By Jessica Bachman February 8, 2007

Editorials

Styacich/Dougherty in ‘07

Election season is back, filled with YouTube videos, Red Square posters and a million e-mails.

By the Editorial Board February 1, 2007

Editorials

We just wanna dance

Despite being underage, many Georgetown students take advantage of D.C. dancing at nightclubs.

By the Editorial Board February 1, 2007

Editorials

Trying to catch ‘em legislatin’ dirty

If the “Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007” makes it through the Senate this week, and it almost definitely will, it will be the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade.

By the Editorial Board February 1, 2007

Voices

Our father, who art in Congress

One night last spring, working as a host at a ritzy Washington restaurant, I met a conservative congressman and his wife at the door. Knowing their table was far from ready, I started chatting while hanging up their coats. Discovering my Georgetown affiliation, the congressman’s wife demanded to know my religious and political views. The congressman rolled his eyes, clearly wanting to leave his work at the office, but when his better-half found out I was both a liberal and a Catholic, she demanded to know how I feel about abortion. The air of pleasant small talk dissipated after I said “pro-choice.” She smirked at me. “Not very Catholic, eh?” For the rest of the night, whenever we passed, she would lean over and ask, “Jesus change your mind yet?”

By Tim Fernholz February 1, 2007

Voices

Bonding through brutality

I’m a firm believer in the unifying powers of a good game. You can’t beat that surge of adrenaline and camaraderie that accompanies a rousing round of Pictionary and the toe-curling thrill that every painstakingly organized game of mafia creates. I have a special place in my heart, however, for backyard games.

By Katherine Norton February 1, 2007

Voices

Heelys: wheely, wheely fast

It had rained the night before and, as my classmate fluidly sailed past me on the slick asphalt path, my reaction was that I had witnessed a miracle. It was my first time seeing a pair of Heelys. The first messiah had walked on water—could the second one glide inexplicably across wet pavement?

By Sam Sweeney February 1, 2007