Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

Voices

A hegemony of gluttonous ignorance

As America kicks into the new millennium with war, contradictions that have lurked beneath the surface of our society emerge everywhere, including Georgetown University. The author James T. Farrell wrote that “America is so vast that almost everything said about it is likely to be true, and the opposite is probably equally true.

By the March 27, 2003

Editorials

Same work, same wage

Every morning, Georgetown students walk into clean, sanitary classrooms and bathrooms all over campus. They have air-conditioned dorm rooms in the fall and clear walkways in the winter. But even as students are enjoying these indispensable services, many of those who provide them are not paid enough to feed and house their families and access basic health care.

By the March 20, 2003

Voices

Nous accusons

No president has ever been quoted advising the American people to “Scream loudly and swing a big stick at everyone.” The recent methods of protest by many Americans, including Washington-area students, however, make the phrase more than applicable. The original quote by Theodore Roosevelt is “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.

By the March 20, 2003

Editorials

GUSA administration successful

Outgoing GUSA executives Kaydee Bridges (SFS ‘03) and Mason Ayer (SFS ‘03) have led one of the most successful administrations in recent memory. They achieved a variety of their goals, and made progress on a variety of issues. Above all, they have demonstrated an understanding of both University bureaucracy and students’ needs.

By the March 20, 2003

Voices

Hit me dealer one more time

Out of the sun-eaten cotton fields of Mississippi, they rise like beacons of good tiding from the desolation that flanks them. At least an hour from the urban oasis of Memphis and past numerous billboards harkening their splendor, these self-sustaining complexes breathe life into both the agricultural lands that are their nearest neighbors and the myriad visitors that flock to their call every day.

By the March 20, 2003

Voices

A Sarajevo story

We stood at the Sarajevo bus depot, Mike and I, squinting into the sunlight that filtered down past the snowy hills through the tissue of smog that wrapped the city like a package. We were pretty pleased with ourselves for having gotten the Bosnia entry stamp in our passports, but we weren’t really certain what to do next.

By the March 20, 2003

Voices

Losing the right to be indifferent

Walking around campus after President George W. Bush’s speech on Monday night, I could hear people whispering and talking to each other. “Maybe we shouldn’t go to class tomorrow in protest.” “I blame Congress for giving him a carte blanche.” “We can’t let France dictate our national policy.

By the March 20, 2003

Voices

Come fly away with me

I am sitting in the Sbarro at the Miami International Airport. With six hours to kill before my connecting flight, I’m wondering what to do. I begin to concentrate on the couple next to me playing rummy. The husband-I assume they are married-is frustrated because he is losing.

By the March 20, 2003

Voices

Home for the holidays

I have always looked on a bit surprised as those around me triumphantly declare that they are going home over a given weekend. I have never really felt comfortable at home—odd, given that home is supposed to be subjectively defined as where one is most comfortable, safe, familiar.

By the March 6, 2003

Editorials

No fly zone

Next time you only have two dollars and are dying for a Chicken Madness, think twice before overcharging your credit card at Wisemiller’s: It might effect your ability to fly any time soon. In the government’s latest move to tighten security, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new Computer Assisted Passenger Screening System (CAPS II) will assign a threat level in the form of a color to everyone who purchases an airline ticket.

By the March 6, 2003

Voices

What would Jesus do?

Millions of dollars have been made from selling T-shirts, wristbands and bumper stickers inscribed with the letters “WWJD” short for “What Would Jesus Do?” A recent ad campaign aimed at curbing the use of gas-guzzling SUVs implied that Jesus would drive a more fuel-efficient vehicle out of his love for the environment and rhetorically asked, “What would Jesus drive?” Since the American public and marketing firms have poured millions of dollars into the idea of what Jesus would do, it is sensible to explore this question when we stand at the precipice of a major war led by a self-proclaimed Christian whose outbursts of evangelicalism are more frequent than Bob Dole’s erections.

By the March 6, 2003

Voices

?Donde est?n mis pantalones? Costa Rica!

Most of y’all are getting ready for Spring Break. You’re excited, I know. Girls, that bikini’s definitely gonna be sexy. I know you’ve been working hard in Yates so your bum looks cute for the frat boys. And Eduardo, your Speedo will look fabulous down in Brazil, trust me.

By the March 6, 2003

Editorials

Emergency unpreparedness

February brought a flood of e-mails and letters from the administration to faculty, students and parents about the state of safety at Georgetown. When the federal government raised the “terror alert” to orange, the University responded by overloading students with unnecessary information and justifications of its policy since Sept.

By the March 6, 2003

Voices

New York City, my Jerusalem

I stepped out of the bus into cold rain in Chinatown, New York City at 11 p.m. Friday night. It had already been a long night—six hours on a bus that had more rows of seats crammed into it than it was supposed to. All I wanted to do was get on the Q train, sit down in a place where I could move my legs, walk the six blocks to my row house in Brooklyn and get some sleep.

By the March 6, 2003

Editorials

Don’t call 911

On Jan. 15, emergency operators put on hold residents, who were trying to report what became a fatal house fire in Dupont Circle for over two minutes. Records show there were 13 emergency operators on duty at the time, but it is not clear why calls reporting the fire were not answered.

By the March 6, 2003

Voices

Playing though the pain

I rotate writing this personal column with a senior in the college, Peter Hamby. He is my closest friend at Georgetown. Last spring, his brother Patrick died in a car accident. Peter’s never written a column about what happened. That’s because what he has to say is too overwhelming to fit into half a page.

By the February 27, 2003

Voices

They will like us when we win

Recently I have found myself arguing with my parents about the situation in Iraq. They believe that the Bush Administration is being too aggressive, and that France, Germany and Russia are taking the right approach. As a result, I find myself leaning toward supporting war solely out of spite.

By the February 27, 2003

Editorials

GUSA: Clean up your act

Georgetown University Student Association elections are never a flawless process, and there has already been one especially ugly election this year: The returns from the election for first-year GUSA representatives were not certified by the assembly until almost a month after the election was over.

By the February 27, 2003

Voices

Finding myself, between the sheets

Back in one of my high school English classes we read the great American novel, The Great Gatsby. Gatsby isn’t just any book to Manhasset, the town I grew up in. The novel takes place on our shore and surrounding locations. Seventy-eight years after its publication, the social mores of the novel survive.

By the February 27, 2003

Editorials

Empty promises, not empty beds

In anticipation of the 780 beds to be provided next fall by the newly-completed Southwest Quadrangle, Director of Student Housing Services Shirley Menendez told students in an Oct. 31 e-mail that the University would “have enough space to accommodate all students who want to live on campus.

By the February 27, 2003