Voices

Voices is the Op-Ed and personal essay section of The Georgetown Voice. It features the real narratives of diverse students from nearly every corner on campus, seeking to tell some of the incredibly important and yet oft-unheard stories that affect life in and out of Georgetown.

Voices

Carrying On: One Foot in the Promised Land

"There will probably never be a day when I wake up, look in the mirror, and see the face of a Jew or a non-Jew. The face will always be just a little bit of both, somewhere in between."

By September 26, 2020

Voices

On falling in love with a dead author

I did not expect to fall in love with a dead author amid a global pandemic and a social revolution. Yet here we are. And how beautiful it is to be here.

By September 25, 2020

Alumni Speak

I was a poll worker during COVID: Here’s why I’m worried for November’s election

The protocols in place worked for our small election, with only 1-2 voters per hour. However, much higher turnout in November will complicate that, especially with the convergence of voters from all parties.

By September 11, 2020

Voices

What makes the Voice extraordinary?

Undoubtedly, freshman year of college is as much a journey to find a sense of “home” in a foreign environment as it is anything else. Georgetown can be a mental... Read more

By the August 29, 2020

Voices

How to grow your own digital best friend

How my best friend and I got so close despite just having the internet—and how you can grow yourself a digital best friend, too.

By August 28, 2020

Voices

Learning what it means to be alone

"It was naïve of me to assume that I could avoid being alone on campus forever, and now, preparing for completely virtual classes, I’ve had to reflect on how I will deal with loneliness this semester."

By August 28, 2020

Carrying On

Carrying On: What COVID-19 taught me about class and my classmates

"It would be a mistake to assume that COVID-19 has created these gaps in educational access. All it’s done is bring them to light."

By August 28, 2020

Voices

Carrying On: Becoming friends at a distance

Amanda Chu and Natalie Chaudhuri tell the fabled story of their friendship—from proseminar classmates to Voices editors to quarantine best friends.

By and August 26, 2020

Voices

Georgetown, divest from prisons: The moral arc won’t bend itself

"For all students, Georgetown’s complicity in the prison-industrial complex is also our complicity. We have a direct interest in Georgetown’s actions and reputation, making us stakeholders in our university."

By August 26, 2020

Alumni Speak

Why Georgetown students should support D.C. statehood

D.C. statehood is not an issue of just taxes or borders. Civil rights, racial justice, and democracy are at stake. Statehood would open up pathways for the 700,000 residents of D.C., 54 percent of whom are people of color, to advocate for themselves and access the same democratic processes that people living in states do.

By August 16, 2020

Voices

Telehealth: The future of mental health care

The pandemic has completely changed the landscape of mental health care, one of the key components to battling mental illness.

By August 10, 2020

Voices

An open letter to my fellow white friends: Let’s talk about race.

Speaking out against racism is more than an action. It is a process of recognizing the ways in which white people contribute to and benefit from institutional and societal racism. It is a process of realizing feeling guilty is a privilege—that Black people and other people of color have been living with the effects of this racism for their entire lives. 

By July 9, 2020

Voices

To support vulnerable students, a tuition decrease is not the answer

By supporting a tuition decrease, we put countless faculty and staff members at risk. We deplete already-scant resources that help level the academic and social playing field for socioeconomically disadvantaged students like myself who depend on tuition revenues for funding. Ultimately, we risk undoing much of the progress made over the last five decades towards creating a more diverse and inclusive Georgetown community.  

By July 8, 2020

Opinion

Popping the Georgetown Bubble

"My classmates would walk around with thousand-dollar winter coats, wear designer bags, and avoid Leo’s at their every convenience. Meanwhile, I added three jobs to my plate and was juggling more than I could handle. Going from classes in Walsh to shifts in Reynolds (a hike), I often found it near impossible to ever leave the Bubble or even to discover any clubs I was passionate about."

By June 28, 2020

Opinion

I’m a survivor. And no, your policies aren’t enough.

"Georgetown and its students say survivors are not alone. We write it on the walls of our buildings and host rallies and shout together, but what will you do when the perpetrator is your friend or partner? What will you do when rejecting them means a major change in your life? What will you do when empowering a survivor is inconvenient for you? What will you do when your student organization is enabling abusers? What action will you actually, truly take to make sure a survivor is not alone?"

By June 26, 2020

Opinion

Threading: How my eyebrows have been a window to my soul

No matter the answer, my previous “cure” for my hair was one of many small things I took for granted, and one of the many small habits that I, like many others, didn’t realize I valued until they were gone.

By June 22, 2020

Voices

The Gates-way to discovery

“So it’s been dormant for 5000 years? If that thing erupts, I’m gonna be furious.” I laughed at this witty exchange, having stopped flipping channels to check out an episode... Read more

By June 9, 2020

Opinion

Black lives don’t matter—that’s why we’re protesting

I’m tired of Black lives not mattering. I’m tired of seeing people who look like me die. I’m tired of having to educate our “allies” on how to show up for our community. I’m tired of knowing my children will have to modify every aspect of their behavior and mannerisms to ensure they aren’t misconstrued as threatening. They’ll have to grow up too fast and give up pieces of their childhood for their own safety. I’m tired of your complacency. I’m tired of wondering if I’m next.

By June 3, 2020

Voices

Quarantine mindfulness for generally flawed, very scared people like me

I’ve rarely studied meditation in a formal sense, but the basis of mindfulness critical to its practice have always been an important part of my personal philosophy. For someone who has often struggled to feel in control in uncontrollable environments, mindfulness is an essential tool.

By May 27, 2020

Voices

One in the one-in-three

That night, I became one of the one-in-three women who has experienced sexual assault or coercion—without even realizing it. Yet despite our prevalence and the gravity of our circumstances, policymakers—like Betsy DeVos' new Title IX policies—continue to neither recognize nor support survivors of sexual assault. 

By May 26, 2020