Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

Editorials

Marijuana: Why not?

District of Columbia voters will have the chance to vote, perhaps as early as November, on the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes following a March 28 ruling by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan.

Sullivan overturned a federal law known as the Barr Amendment that forbade the District from placing the question on the ballot, decreeing that the Barr Amendment limited free speech and he judged that “the Constitution does not allow Congress to pre-clear acceptable viewpoints for public debate and expression.

By the April 4, 2002

Editorials

Crack kills

Show us an efficient super-criminal with civic aspirations, and we’ll show you a way to get this city running tight as a drum. Unfortunately, all anybody’s been able to show us is last week’s Metro section story in the Washington Post detailing former D.C.

By the April 4, 2002

Voices

Trials and tribulations in Chilean Patagonia

My friend Helen and I are studying abroad in Santiago, Chile. During Easter, we decided to visit the Torres del Paine national park, which includes the longest vertical drop in the world. The park is extremely remote, requiring a plane trip and four buses to arrive.

By the April 4, 2002

Voices

Alpha males, alpha problems

Spring Break at Georgetown always conjures up demons, and the most recent “week of vice” was certainly no exception. As of January, reports filtered in from Hoyas near and far who were planning strange and inadvisable outings. One small band apparently flocked to the Florida Everglades for the world crocodile wrestling championships, only to head on to the body-wrestling haven of Key West-Georgetown.

By the April 4, 2002

Voices

Asking for a definition

Things couldn’t get much worse for the Catholic Church. In the past few years, a spate of scholarly books have taken the ecclesiastic hierarchy to task for its abominable treatment of European Jewry during the Holocaust; similar tomes have unraveled the manufactured mythology the Church used to quell critics past and present regarding its collaboration with Italian and German fascism.

By the April 4, 2002

Editorials

A black and white issue

Georgetown has a reputation as an African-American-friendly school. Surveys in Black Enterprise, movies such as Boyz N’ the Hood and Georgetown’s stories basketball program have created the popular image of an institution that is open and welcoming to black students.

By the March 21, 2002

Editorials

Too much compromise

In a letter to the campus community released Tuesday, Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez detailed his proposed compromise on the issue of a resource center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. This compromise represents an important step forward for the University, but it raises questions about the administration’s decision-making process.

By the March 21, 2002

Voices

Finding a place in Asian-America

I hail from the Los Angeles megalopolis, a region renowned for its Californian sunshine and super-sized East Asian population. While in high school, I used to detest this sad fact. No, I did not have yellow fever, and the Asian-American youth scene was rather despicable.

By the March 21, 2002

Voices

Ending on a positive note

Second semester senior stress? Is this actually happening? It’s always been ingrained into my head that second semester seniors and stress went together like Georgetown men’s basketball and the NCAA Tournament. Seniors told me last year that no one studies second semester, no one worries, no one stresses and everyone just kicks back with a beer or 10, ticking off the days until graduation.

By the March 21, 2002

Voices

Letter to the editor

If cities truly exist to “poison and mar their surrounding environment,” as they do according to Ian Bourland, then the question “Why rate a city?” in his diatribe “Philadelphia does not deserve to live” (March 14, 2002) quickly becomes all the more puzzling.

By the March 21, 2002

Editorials

Changing the Church

A scandal has erupted among Catholic parishioners that has become a national disgrace. The Boston Globe reported Jan. 6 that the archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, had sheltered a pedophiliac priest rather than reporting him to the authorities. When Cardinal Law discovered that this priest had raped several boys, he simply sent him on sabbatical to Rome, the Globe reported.

By the March 14, 2002

Editorials

Knock Tyson out of D.C.

Sadly, the D.C. Boxing and Wrestling Commission voted unanimously at Tuesday’s public hearing to grant former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson a license to fight in Washington, D.C., which may result in a June 8 bout between Tyson and current champion Lennox Lewis at the MCI Center.

By the March 14, 2002

Voices

On the comedy of a century

If I were to write a novel, it would definitely be set in the 19th century. Because, as I think we can all agree, the 19th century is the most hilarious century of them all. Of course, I wasn’t the first person to figure this out; popular culture today is replete with references to this age.

By the March 14, 2002

Voices

Letter to the editor

It’s rare that a single off-the-court decision can end two decades of consistency, undermine the legacy of recent players, send one of the school’s best players out on a sour note, alienate fans and harm the current players’ chance for future success. Skipping the NIT manages to accomplish it all.

By the March 14, 2002

Voices

Kaap Stad

“Kaap Stad, brotha?” the toothless man in the window asks as the minibus slows down to the curb. “Yeah.” I hop in to the crowded taxi and fork over two-rand-fifty for the ride into town from Mowbray, my neighborhood. That’s less than 25 American cents. The vehicle is crowded, as they usually are.

By the March 14, 2002

Voices

Philadelphia does not deserve to live

I am one of the few, the proud transplants from the western United States to Georgetown. Upon my arrival two years ago, I was confronted with a host of perplexing new experiences: subways, stupid accents and, most amazingly, condensed travel time. The rapidity of, nay, the existence of interstate train travel allows one to traverse the Eastern Sea Board in the time it takes to drive to many of the respective state lines west of the Mississippi.

By the March 14, 2002

Editorials

The season’s over?

This past Sunday, the Georgetown Hoyas Men’s basketball team decided not to play in the National Invitation Tournament, ending its streak of 27 straight postseason appearances. Head Coach Craig Esherick said that his team initially accepted an offer but eventually declined because tournament officials could not guarantee them a home game at the MCI Center?which will host part of the NCAA Tournament?or an away game close to Washington, D.

By the March 14, 2002

Voices

An illusory love

I find it unfortunate that in recent issues of this Catholic university’s newsmagazine, the only pieces dealing with Catholic issues have shallowly criticized its teachings. Catholicism has a tremendous amount of truth, peace and splendor to offer. Before going any further, I hope it is not presumptuous to assume that the students and professors that come to study and teach at this Catholic institution of higher education do so voluntarily, much like the adherents of Catholicism freely choose to practice that religion.

By the February 28, 2002

Voices

Letter to the editor

In reference to Bailey Somers’ article, “Gonzalez examines Corp’s finances” in the Feb. 21 issue of The Georgetown Voice, several of the major points of the article need clarification. From the opening line, the article misrepresents the true nature of the relationship between Dr.

By the February 28, 2002

Voices

Knowing better

Every so often, my father will tell this story from high school: He broke his arm pole-vaulting without a mat. After he had the cast removed, he decided to pole-vault again?without a mat. He broke his other arm. Each time I hear this story, I ask myself several questions: Why did he want to pole-vault? Why did he do it without a mat? Wasn’t there anyone else around who thought pole-vaulting without a mat was unsafe? Why does Dad tell this story when it makes him look dumb? The question that I find most perplexing is this: Why do people repeat actions that have failed in the past? Almost everyone does it.

By the February 28, 2002