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.


Opinion

Life Lessons from the Voice

The Georgetown Voice helped prepare me for a career in media, and my experiences at the paper taught me great lessons in teamwork, friendship, humility, and gratitude. But more importantly,... Read more

Opinion

What Does the Voice Mean to You?

My memories of the Voice are too numerous to capture in a couple hundred words, unless I default to a Larry King-like, ellipses-riddled regurgitation. Driving all night to Storrs, CT... Read more

Opinion

What Does the Voice Mean to You?

One of these other Carrying On’s will say that this magazine is a family. That it has no application. That it welcomes everyone, regardless of experience. These statements are wonderful... Read more

Opinion

What Does the Voice Mean to You?

As a 17-year-old from a just-okay public high school in rural California, in fall 1990 I found Georgetown deeply intimidating. I felt like an impostor among polished classmates from prep... Read more

Opinion

What Does the Voice Mean to You?

I wasn’t present for the Voice’s birth in 1969, but I was there for a couple of those early pre-K years. I arrived at Georgetown a few months after the... Read more

Opinion

The Friendship Vow: In Sickness and in Health?

The power of my story compelled me to write this piece. But my parents reminded me what having my full name attached to an honest description of my illness would... Read more

Opinion

Strive for Imperfection

Last month, my day often started with sharing an understanding smile with the Lau security guard. If you’ve stumbled into the library anytime from 5-8 a.m., determined to study for... Read more

Opinion

Carrying On: My Parents Don’t Sleep in the Same Bed and That’s Okay

In the summer of 2010, a young English instructor, emotionally unprepared for the chaos of elementary-school classrooms, told the story of a monster that devoured disobedient little children. The cautionary... Read more

Opinion

Home for the Weekend

From kindergarten through 12th grade, I walked three-quarters of a mile to school almost every single day. Even when it was raining and passing cars soaked me. Even once I... Read more

Opinion

Carrying On: She’s Beauty, She’s Grace, She’s Worried about Race

“Pick the person in the room you find the most attractive.” Club initiations can range from truly terrifying to truly weird. After interview questions about my qualifications for joining the... Read more

Opinion

Friendship Knows No Age

Let me tell you about my friend. Just like the start of many friendships at Georgetown, we met in class. We got to know each other and started scheduling lunch... Read more

Voices

Carrying On: Amanda and the Pimpin’ Focus

When I was a kid, I wanted my first car to be a Ford Focus. I dreamed of whipping my cool, worldly friends around my tiny Texas town in a... Read more

Opinion

Taking Control by Opening Up

When I was a kid, I used to rewatch Monsters, Inc. all the time, enough that I wore out the family VHS tape. Do you remember that scene when one... Read more

Opinion

We Were Never Silent: Calling for a More Inclusive Feminism

Coming to Washington, D.C., for college, I looked forward to my first Women’s March. In the weeks leading up to the event, I ordered red bandanas from Amazon to resemble... Read more

Opinion

Panama’s Lesson to the World

Pope Francis’ announcement that Catholic youth from around the world would convene in Panama City for World Youth Day 2019 provoked an expected enthusiasm in many Panamanians. For a small,... Read more

Opinion

Just for the Joy of It

A few weeks into my first semester at Georgetown, I noticed an open music room—a rare sight in the perpetually busy student center—and made a mad dash to claim it.... Read more

Voices

Carrying On: Learning to Speak My Family’s Language

“Do you speak Korean?” asked my friend, sitting on the floor of my freshman year dorm room. “No…” “Well, have you ever been to the country?” “No,” I responded, “but—”... Read more

Opinion

Ten Pounds of Paper and Ink

One journal is striped, slightly water-stained, and held together with a hair tie. Another is sturdy and black with “Carpe Fucking Diem” printed on the front. One is covered in... Read more

Voices

The Brand New Truths of Social Media Advertising

The World Wide Web is a beautifully bizarre land where a Kickstarter for a man making potato salad can raise $55,000. At the same time, the 2017 Women’s March, the... Read more

Voices

#MuteRKelly Black Girls Need Support, Too

Content Warning: Sexual Assault and Abuse In 2005, MadTV parodied R. Kelly’s urban opera, “Trapped in the Closet,” in a skit called “Trapped in the Cupboard.” Within the first minute... Read more