Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.



Editorials

Only YOU can prevent injustice

Interested in improving community relations? Sick of fighting with your neighbors about noise? Want someone who’s not necessarily a “resident, tax-payer, or home-owner” to represent you on the Advisory Neighborhood Council? You’re in luck, but you’re going to have to vote.

Editorials

Obstacles at the polls

How many people would think twice about going to the polls if they knew that a person would be standing in the booth with them? For D.C. voters who are visually impaired or have limited hand mobility, and are thus unable to vote using standard methods, this is the reality of going to the polls, and it constitutes a clear infringement on their right to vote in private.

Editorials

On sale now: Our space

“The first sign it was a mall was when the Sunglass Hut moved into the Registrar’s Office. Or was it when Foot Locker took over Copley Formal Lounge? Wait, it was definitely when the Sbarro opened up in the ICC Food Galleria!” said Jane Hoya (SFS ‘12), when asked about the rapid development of the University Square Shopping Center.

Voices

Set your tazers to deep fry

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably a radical, right-wing gun-collector with a penchant for kinky bondage-style sex and a harrowing addiction to whippets. You probably also go to a fair number of concerts, which is a little closer to what I actually want to talk about.

Voices

A two-state solution

As an incoming first-year student at Georgetown and an active Israel supporter, I had heard a lot about the debate over the Israel issue on campus. The things I had heard labeled Georgetown an anti-Israel campus and even anti-Jewish in some respects. As such, I was nervous when I arrived on campus, but I was equally eager to get involved with Georgetown’s pro-Israel and Jewish student groups.

Voices

You have no idea how tired I am

First of all: I am tired. I am true of heart! And also: You are tired. You are true of heart! ?Dave Eggers, at the beginning of his book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Now: I have never been so tired. You have no idea how tired I am. I truly hope you are not as tired as I am.

Editorials

A long overdue change

The statistics on sexual assault, while oft repeated, somehow never lose their ability to shock. Somewhere between one in four and one in five women is a victim of rape or attempted rape during her lifetime. The majority of these incidents involve young women, making college campuses one of the most dangerous environments for women.

Editorials

Give them a refund

In 1935, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group that honors Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War, donated $50,000 to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. This contribution covered one third of the building costs for Confederate Memorial Hall, a dormitory that provided free housing for female students who were studying to become teachers and were descendants of Confederates.

Editorials

Wasting time

Last spring, Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez announced that he would hire a new part-time Special Assistant to the Vice President who would address the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. After months of discussion between the administration and the diversity working group about the creation of a resource center, both sides seemed to be content with the decision.

Editorials

Sexy Girl Scouts and bacon bits

Though some of us believe we are too old or too cool to still dress up, hot-pants Heidi and S&M Spiderwoman were already defying the norm of preppiness at the Guards last Saturday. Many more young women will freeze radiantly beneath pink wigs, feather boas, fish nets, fake eyelashes and little else Thursday through Saturday.

Voices

A plum village of the mind (more clich?s)

Early October, the south of France. I lay languidly, rocking from side to side in my hammock, the Mediterranean sun streaking through the dense foliage, a gentle breeze gusting through the vineyards, carrying the smell of fresh figs and the last remnants of late morning mist.

Voices

A good walk ruined

What would you call a person who took delight in whacking a tiny spherical object hundreds of yards toward a barely-visible goal? To make things more interesting, imagine that the ball had to be no more than 1.680 inches in diameter, couldn’t weigh more than 45.

Voices

The girl who whimpered rape

We enter an apartment; why are we alone? After this my memory is muddled, hazy. I vividly see myself entering the doorway. My smile fades, I feel frightened. Through a cloud of alcohol … he is on top of me. I open and close my eyes, lethargic and sedated.

Voices

Correction

The Georgetown Voice takes mistakes seriously. We will correct all mistakes of fact in our stories and publish appropriate clarifications as soon as possible. “Students participate in death penalty awareness,” which appeared in the Oct. 17 issue of the Voice, incorrectly referred to the speaker at “Live from Death Row,” as a pardoned death row inmate.

Editorials

Radio free Georgetown

All radio stations, whether they are broadcast over AM/FM or the Internet, pay a royalty of 3.5 percent of all revenues to songwriters and producers. But now, the implementation of new royalty fees for Internet radio stations is putting the future of small stations like Georgetown’s WGTB in danger.

Editorials

At least they don’t sell crack

The Britney concert sold out before you realized she was coming to town. Dad wouldn’t let you charge those Caps tickets on his American Express. For whatever reason, you find yourself ticketless, standing in front of the MCI Center, talking to a guy on the sidewalk who is offering you decent seats for five bucks over what you would have paid at the box office.

Editorials

Worth it for the parking alone

With a potential $323 million budget deficit on its hands, the D.C. Council is looking for new ways to increase revenue. What better way to bring the city money then by raising parking fines? Well, how about expanding the city’s free parking privileges to include even more District employees at the same time?

According to the Washington Times, more than 1,000 city employees now enjoy parking perks.

Voices

The Manassas diaries

There were four of us that early Monday morn, four sad bastards facing futures without certainty. There was Redding, the erstwhile philosophy student from Georgia who owned one too many scarves. There was Mike, a sexual deviant from Arizona with a quick wit and a goatee.

Voices

Letter to the Editor

I read with interest your editorial “Time to ask and tell” (Oct. 10, 2002). There are real costs to integrating the openly gay into the ranks. This is not to say that those costs may not be worthy of the goal, but let’s fully understand the ramifications of what you are advocating.

Voices

Now back it up

You might have heard of “Minnesota Nice,” but as far as I’m concerned, it stops right where my personal bubble starts. Throughout my childhood, I didn’t like to touch people in public. I’m not talking about regular public displays of affection, although I rarely support that either.