Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

Voices

Communist ball games

VOICES BY JULIA COOKE The first time my friends and I tried to go to a baseball game here in Cuba, we rode the bus for 45 minutes, got off at the wrong stop, and walked to the stadium, which turned out to be deserted. “No hay,” a guard at the stadium told us, “no more.” Instead of happily watching a baseball game we were stranded in the outskirts of the city.

By the March 25, 2004

Voices

Georgetown’s basketball webpage of record

John Reagan is into Georgetown basketball. He graduated from the McDonough School of Business in 1984, having capped off his senior year by taking one of the University’s charter flights to Seattle, where he slept on the floor of a local gym with other fans and watched the Hoyas win their only national championship.

By the March 25, 2004

Voices

All the news that’s fit to ignore

Imagine an entire country where the only inhabitants are 14-year-olds. Gossip lurks behind every corner. The system of government features a roomful of uptight, insecure representatives shouting insults at one another. Almost everyone is in need of braces.

By the March 25, 2004

Editorials

Firing Esherick: the first step

Late Tuesday night, Georgetown issued a statement from University President John J. DeGioia firing men’s basketball head coach Craig Esherick. Esherick, who took over from Head Coach Emeritus John Thompson in 1999, had just finished leading the Hoyas to a 13-15 season, making the team ineligible for postseason play for the first time in 31 years.

By the March 18, 2004

Editorials

Interhall’s policy is smokin’

Last week Vice President of Facilities and Student Housing Karen Frank informed Georgetown students in a March 12 on-campus e-mail that she will implement Interhall Council’s proposal to adopt a smoke-free residence hall policy. According to Frank, smoking will be prohibited in all residence halls, apartments, and townhouses as well as near entrances and air ventilation intake systems, effective at the end of this semester.

By the March 18, 2004

Editorials

Display some lead-ership

Since the Environmental Protection Agency announced the presence of dangerous levels of lead in the District last month, Washington has been buzzing with anger and fear as people worry about the safety of their drinking water. Many criticize the EPA’s testing standards, while others have blamed city officials for failing to foresee the potential lead problem and deal with it accordingly.

By the March 18, 2004

Editorials

‘Eternal Sunshine’ lights theaters

Have relationship woes and gripes? Does your girlfiend spend more time decorating potatoes than hanging out with you? Don’t be too quick to complain about idiosyncrasies. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, written with the eerie intelligence of the famed Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) and directed by Michel Gondry (various Bjork videos), the film clearly executes its message-that perfect relationships are elusive.

By the March 18, 2004

Voices

Eagle Scouts gone wild

“And now we … we … uh…” Armando stepped down from the podium to confer with Scoutmaster Miller. The two huddled together against the church basement’s wall, seemingly unaware that they were in plain sight of the forty or so individuals assembled. Uncomfortable silence filled the room as the ceremony to induct my good friend John into that venerable brotherhood, the Eagle Scouts, ground to a halt for the third time in the ten minutes it had lasted thus far.

By the March 18, 2004

Voices

Keyboard confessional

VOICES BY ROB ANDERSON Forgive me Father for I have sinned. I’ve stopped going to confession. Well, I haven’t stopped, but I don’t go to a priest anymore. See, there’s this website now, Father. It’s called grouphug.us. It’s just, I don’t know, a lot less awkward than honestly confessing my sins to an 80-year-old man sworn to a life of poverty and chastity.

By the March 18, 2004

Voices

Skipping rocks across “the pond”

“I wish I was back in Barcelona! Its fantastic there, the people are so beautiful! The sun is always shining and the culture is fabulous!” Jane Hoya is especially enthusiastic about her dearest Espa?a, and it sounds like a very nice place, but I sure am tired of hearing about it.

By the March 18, 2004

Editorials

Learning from botched elections

When students return to campus after Spring Break, a month will have passed since the Georgetown University Student Association held elections for its presidential and vice-presidential positions. The student body, however, will still not know the outcome of that election.

By the March 4, 2004

Editorials

WGTB Recommends …

The WGTB staff listens to virtually every new release that comes out on CD and vinyl. They have donated their list of their best and most-played albums. 1. Xiu Xiu-Fabulous Muscles 2. The Walkmen-Bows and Arrows 3. Blonde Redhead-Misery is a Butterfly 4. Charizma and PB Wolf-Big Shots 5.

By the March 4, 2004

Voices

Yokohama nights

VOICES BY SCOTT MATTHEWS “She a friend of yours?” I ask, gesturing toward the girl grinding with an older, sweaty American businessman as he awkwardly contorts his mis-shapen carcass in a grim parody of dancing while 50 Cent blares over the sound system. My friend’s response is lost under the heavy bass, but I can tell from her expression that her answer amounted to something like “hell no.

By the March 4, 2004

Voices

The ugly truths of women and war

During the early months of the Iraq war, a new type of “friendly fire” was cheerfully revealed by the media to be sidelining troops: female soldiers were being taken out of action by pregnancies conceived while on mission. But the tales revealed in a front page New York Times article last week were altogether different.

By the March 4, 2004

Voices

Helping you help yourself

Isn’t volunteerism great? I really admire people who spend their weekends selflessly dishing out soup to the homeless or visiting shut-in convalescents. With every sandwich distributed or item of clothing donated, volunteers infuse society with optimism and hope for a brighter future.

By the March 4, 2004

Voices

Letter to the Editor

“Vote your conscience” Sonia Mukhi’s piece on presidential politics and negative campaigning (“Fragmented Democrats cannot succeed,” Feb. 26) begins and ends with an unfounded assertion that John Kerry is the better Democratic nominee, while the entire middle is a de facto endorsement of John Edwards.

By the March 4, 2004

Editorials

Racism: a tradition of toleration

EDITORIALS Four years ago, a rash of high-profile hate-based incidents occurred at Georgetown. In response, students and administrators cooperated to address serious omissions in the student code of conduct regarding bias-related offenses. Now, a new movement is preparing to tackle another form of racism, one that is more subtle and pervasive.

By the March 4, 2004

Editorials

Sen. hatches bad gun law

It’s safe to say that Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) doesn’t live in the District. It’s also safe to say that from his house in the posh Federal Heights neighborhood of homogenous Salt Lake City he has little grasp of what the introduction of handguns would do in America’s most murderous city.

By the March 4, 2004

Voices

I’ll teach you to speak Aramaic

VOICES BY BILL CLEVELAND Three years ago, Fr. William Fulco, S.J. received a phone call from a production company asking him to help translate a movie script. “Hey, Padre, its Mel. I’ve got a project for you,” said a voice on the other end of the phone. As a professor of Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he teaches courses like “Near Eastern Archaeology” and “Intermediate Classical Hebrew,” his litany of languages includes Aramaic and Latin.

By the February 26, 2004

Voices

No good shawarma in Georgetown

“What’s your hometown?” You heard it all through New Student Orientation and you’ll probably hear it for the rest of your time at Georgetown, every time you meet someone new. It’s a pretty simple question, answerable in one word. This is not the case for me.

By the February 26, 2004