Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

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

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

?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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We’ve got better Facilities

Last Monday morning, in the wake of D.C.’s 18-inch snowfall, a lone member of Georgetown University Facilities Management’s townhouse crew stood at the corner of 37th and O Streets in front of the Village B apartment complexes, shoveling. He didn’t stop until he reached N Street, clearing the entire walkway by himself.

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

Voices

Track 03–The Scientist

Snow means real life is paralyzed; the only way to spend a day pent up inside your house, because you can’t open your front door, is doing nothing at all. I watched Empire Records, and it was phenomenal. I’d forgotten how much I love AC/DC and Coyote Shivers, the flannel shirts and long greasy hair.

By the February 27, 2003

Voices

I hate ‘Kumbaya’

I got a letter in the mail the other day. Usually, seeing my name on an envelope is like my birthday and Halloween all in one, but reading this particular letter was punishing, mean, even degrading. I, after all, was the one who had written it. When I wrote that letter, Father Pat promised me two things.

By the February 20, 2003

Voices

Earth-shattering epiphany

Who would have thought that a single color could be so loaded? Sure, plenty of colors mean something, make instant connections in your mind, but those tend to be cursory. Green, blue and yellow may mean something, but they don’t make a statement about you.

By the February 20, 2003

Voices

Get out that Starter jacket

I got it in my head that I had to look north as I decided where to attend college last year. As I explained to distressed parents and pets alike, “It’s just not cold enough for me in D.C.; I need sub-zero temperatures and blankets of snow from the second week in October to the last week in April to function.

By the February 20, 2003

Editorials

Vote Morgenstern/de Man

Being an effective leader of the Georgetown University Student Association has nothing to do with slick politicking or bold promises of reform. It requires a strong working knowledge of the University’s administrative system and experience with using GUSA to implement change.

By the February 20, 2003

Voices

I kid you not

This past weekend, as I was standing behind my apartment and staring up at the trees that laid bare by the winter’s cold, I came to an important understanding about my life: I cannot have children. This sudden awareness of my procreational limitations was not an epiphany gained from watching the neighborhood squirrels.

By the February 20, 2003

Editorials

Get on your feet

As part of Georgetown’s increased security efforts in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a Department of Public Safety vehicle has been stationed at University entrances, Healy Gates and Reservoir Road, 24-hours a day. While the car adequately addresses campus traffic control, it has not been as successful at policing crimes occurring near campus: On Feb.

By the February 20, 2003