Opinion

Thoughts from the Georgetown community.

Editorials

Two pages too little

Following several months of discussion between students and administrators, Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez rejected the proposal to create a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender resource center. Gonzalez, who had remained silent for weeks on the issue, issued a formal written response to GLBT committee members last Tuesday.

By the February 14, 2002

Voices

Finding a way forward

I prayed the other night.

I was lying in bed when it occurred to me how incredibly lucky I am to have a family, a group of friends and a campus community who care about and respect me in my entirety?and could care less if I like guys or girls. So I thanked God for that.

By the February 14, 2002

Voices

Te presento mi coochie snorcher

Just off the elevator on the third floor of Leavey, I picked up the audition material for The Vagina Monologues. I took my place amidst a dozen or so girls (women) waiting to be called in and turned my attention to the script. I got to word six. Then I stopped.

By the February 14, 2002

Voices

Sweet as citronella

There was a time in my life when the autumnal shades of melancholia seemed to settle upon my cognizance as if they were the brittle leaves that that sensuous season litters upon the sidewalks and streets of our homes, neighborhoods and parks; and if the degree to which the melancholia weighed upon my mind is at all in proportion to a quantity of those shed leaves, then I would place this cerebral organ in a rich birch forest in the deepest woods of New England (my salutations to the ancestral home of the American fall) in late August, when the winds begin to carry a touch of venom, and the sun grows bashful, subjecting itself to public scrutiny for increasingly shorter and shorter periods of time.

By the February 14, 2002

Voices

Canadian lit. 101

A friend of mine called the other day, just to chat. We talked and gossiped for a while. Then she said, “Well, Jen, the real reason I called is because I was reorganizing my father’s bookshelves this morning, and I realized that when you write a book, I won’t know where to file it.

By the February 14, 2002

Editorials

Vote Bridges/Ayer on Feb.11

Students need effective leaders for the Georgetown University Student Association—ones who don’t just promise change, but who can advocate and deliver tangible results. Our most effective advocates next year would be Kaydee Bridges (SFS ‘03) and Mason Ayer (SFS ‘03).

By the February 7, 2002

Editorials

Don’t play in The Yard

Students will vote Monday for a new student government, the Yard. We cannot endorse it for three reasons.

In the proposed Yard Commons, club leaders would be required to organize themselves into nine clusters, and each cluster would send a representative to the Council.

By the February 7, 2002

Editorials

GUSA Presidential Election Minutes: Feb. 3

Matthew Brennan (SFS ‘03)/Sean Hawks (CAS ‘04)

Brennan: so we bring a very good mindset to GUSA leadership. two viewpoints—I am a finance side, and Sean has a lot of GUSA experience. we have clear goals to achieve in the next year; if you look at our platform, its all things that can happen.

By the February 7, 2002

Voices

Like a prayer

I prayed the other night.

I was just lying in bed, feeling pretty good, and suddenly I found myself saying the “Hail Mary” in my mind. I’m not sure why. I wasn’t looking for a favor.

Praying might be the kind of thing that some people do all the time, but God and I haven’t been on speaking terms in a few years.

By the February 7, 2002

Voices

Declaring a major

The last time I spoke with Professor Lepgold was about two weeks before Thanksgiving.

It was just around the time that pre-registration was due and I had just gotten an e-mail reminding School of Foreign Service upperclassmen that they needed to have their faculty mentor sign their meeting confirmation slip or they would not be allowed to pre-register.

By the February 7, 2002

Voices

In your life

I have often heard that you should write what you know; a college student would be better to write about matters like classes or drinking beer, than say, a narrative about the Civil War from the perspective of a Union soldier. However, right now, the only thing I feel like I could write from knowledge would be the template of a Matt Foley motivational speaker sketch on Saturday Night Live.

By the February 7, 2002

Voices

Panic reigns as Internet access lost

Panic struck a normally peaceful first-year dorm early Tuesday morning when students awoke to find their Internet service disconnected. Roommates who hadn’t spoken in weeks turned to each other in horror, exchanging tearful embraces and words of consolation.

By the February 7, 2002

Editorials

DeGioia: there’s more to state

University President John J. DeGioia focused primarily on non-controversial issues in his first State of the School address Tuesday. He applauded the Georgetown community for how it handled the events of Sept. 11, praised the senior class for its unprecedented leadership and reaffirmed dedication to fostering strong faculty, facilities and financial aid programs.

By the January 31, 2002

Editorials

Responding without responding

Fortunately, University President John J. DeGioia responded last week to the Medical Center faculty petition protesting his decision to appoint current Executive Vice President Sam Wiesel to a new executive position in the Medical Center. Unfortunately, his response offered too many words with not enough substance.

By the January 31, 2002

Editorials

Improving our school

The reputation of the city in which a university is located can be as important as the reputation of the university itself. A Georgetown University located in a dilapidated capital known worldwide for its crime and bureaucratic nepotism is a far cry from a Georgetown University located in a safe, stable city.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Oh, Dana Dixx

A romantic at heart, I believe in The One. The One is the one for whom you are The only One and vice versa. I had one once. Yep, she was The One. The One who got away: Dana Dixx, the first love of my life.

Dana Dixx. Even now the name gives me pause. It skates across my tongue like a youthful Brian Boitano then passes through my lips, which close after it like a parting kiss while its sweet sound lingers in my ear?which was more or less all she left me with when it was over, just a pretty name and the face to match.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Have football, will travel

Saturdays are days of mourning at Georgetown. Instead of happily bounding out of bed, grabbing some Tylenol and heading off to the Tombs to get steeled for the game ahead, the average football fan awakes to the unhappy reality that if he or she is to feed his or her addiction, it will be done cheering on some other college with a good football team.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Give me a touchdown

I used to be the nerdy kid in elementary school.

That was the kid whose genuine attachment to the learning process was overshadowed by those who had a genuine place in the cool group.

The “cool group” used to fascinate me. I always wondered what it took to be a Sunset Elementary “cool” member.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Until Today

Until today, I took for granted the ability to translate my thoughts into coherent verbal expressions. Then I arrived in Paris. Suddenly I am mute. Words catch in my mouth like overcooked oatmeal. Well-meaning, but perpetually exasperated French people cannot understand that I live at 4 rue Alfred Bruneau.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

A public service announcement

It seems that we have reached that time of year again when the characteristically Scandanavian weather patterns in Washington abate and make way for summer. Our winters are usually tedious and unspecacular ordeals, marked by murky and gelid conditions, biting wind and little in the way of aesthetic precipitation.

By the January 31, 2002