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

The ethics of Super Bowl advertising

Was there ever really a time when athletes could be considered paragons of morality? Years before Tiger Woods slept with every cocktail waitress in the greater Orlando area, the American public gave up trying to look up to sports stars as role models. And between Janet Jackson’s nipple, Prince’s giant penis-guitar, and any beer commercial ever, the Super Bowlbowl should have even less moral credibility.

By February 4, 2010

Voices

Paralysis on the operating table: Awake and afraid

On January 3, while many of you were still celebrating the new decade with themed parties or family vacations, I was preparing myself for a routine tonsillectomy. Aside from getting my wisdom teeth out, this was my first surgery, so I was not quite sure what to expect—other than a really sore throat and lots of ice cream.

By February 4, 2010

Voices

Protesters’ pro-life arguments prove ill-conceived

A quarter of a million activists descended on D.C. this past weekend to advocate for the sanctity of human life. As a liberal vegetarian seeking to understand the nuances of the pro-life argument, I ventured down to Constitution Avenue—notebook in hand—to question the marchers in the 37th annual March For Life.

By February 4, 2010

Voices

Islamic studies: The jihad against ignorance

But as I perused the January 7 issue while home over winter break, one article caught my attention. It was Cal Thomas’s column, “Administration reluctant to call a war a war” that caught my attention. The piece, notable for both its absurdity and a rather unflattering reference to Georgetown, demonstrates not just the ignorance of one small-minded small-town man, but a frighteningly widespread misunderstanding of Islam.

By February 4, 2010

Voices

Coffee break: Bringing addiction to a grinding halt

My freshman fall semester was spent in line at MUG and Uncommon Grounds deciding which drink to try. The delicious-sounding names of the drinks made them that much more enticing—who wouldn’t want to quench her thirst with a drink called “The Anarchist,” “The Yankee Buster,” or “The Peter Cottontail”?

By January 28, 2010

Voices

The secret life of an Am-Stud Major

Much to the dismay of my father, a computer scientist, all three of his children pursued majors in the humanities. When my twin brother shared with us that the engineering and pre —med majors at Johns Hopkins, who make up roughly 75 percent of the undergraduate class, call history classes and the like “arts-and–crafts time,” my dad chortled in tacit agreement.

By January 28, 2010

Voices

Lessons learned between a rock and a hard place

I’d been living by the motto “work smarter, not harder” for a long time. Why walk across the Key Bridge, for example, when you could stand outside the Southwest Quad and catch a GUTS bus that’ll get you to Rosslyn at the same time? But as I reflected on the old sermon I realized that the point of the priest’s story was that the existence of a shortcut isn’t always enough to make taking that shortcut worthwhile.

By January 28, 2010

Voices

Logistical fault lines, too, run under Port-au-Prince

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince on January 12 affected three million people—killing over 100,000, about 80 percent of whom had to be buried in mass graves. Thousands still require medical attention, millions are homeless, and many lack necessities as basic as water and food.

By January 28, 2010

Voices

‘Roids are all the rage in the baseball world

The biggest sports story over Christmas break was hardly even news: Mark McGwire used steroids for most of his fifteen years of baseball-crushing. But the consequences of this admission are less readily apparent. McGwire had been left out of Major League Baseball’s prestigious Hall of Fame for suspected steroid use.

By January 21, 2010

Voices

The arts at Georgetown: a work in progress

I almost didn’t come to Georgetown because I thought the arts program was so bad. In my family, art was more important than friends, schoolwork, and sometimes physical health. After I finished my freshman year of high school with a very strong GPA, my mother took me aside with a worried look and asked me, “But what are you doing to be creative?”

By January 21, 2010

Voices

No end in sight for the floundering “War on Terror”

With General David Petraeus, the architect of the surge in Iraq, speaking in Gaston Hall today, questions about the rise of American militarism and misguided nation-building projects loom larger than ever. In replicating the Patraeus strategy in Afghanistan, Obama ignored the lessons of history, the advice of foreign policy experts, and the views of the many Americans and Afghans who are tired of war and foreign intervention. Instead, our president urged U.S. forces to intensify their efforts in Afghanistan as a necessary step in the vague and unending “War on Terror.”

By January 21, 2010

Voices

Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Cali anymore

I’ve gotten paler and seem to walk faster. Flip-flops have been replaced by rainboots and Chipotle or Qdoba is really the closest thing to Mexican food I can find. I’m starting to think J.Crew is more of a cult than a clothing store, and I’ve accepted that people actually walk on escalators. I attribute every brain malfunction to frost bite and check the weather report on a freakish basis. I’m from California, and over winter break, I realized just how different my life is on the East Coast.

By January 21, 2010

Voices

In defense of satire

I’ve watched the mounting anger over the alleged racism of the Georgetown Heckler with no small amount of concern. As a recent Georgetown graduate and a longtime contributor to the... Read more

By December 16, 2009

Voices

Pimpin’ (yourself) ain’t easy, but is it necessary?

The news all this weekend revolved around Tareq and Michaele Salahi crashing the first state dinner of the Obama Presidency. The couple managed to be photographed with Vice President Joe... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Voices

Winless football season leaves one fan with the blues

Georgetown football made history this year by recording its first winless season since the program began in 1874. This unfortunate milestone won’t come as a shock to anyone on campus—members... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Voices

The Universal Life Church: When “mister” just won’t do

No one is ever going to address me as Dr. Baumgardner. This is not a surprise, as I have never planned on being a doctor. I don’t have a mind... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Voices

Trading candy and costumes for Gatorade and tiny shorts

A child’s greatest nightmare is that Christmas (or whatever respective holiday he celebrates) will somehow be stolen. The fear of losing Christmas compels normally delinquent children to behave kindly during... Read more

By December 3, 2009

Voices

Condoms anonymous

Trekking to class a few weeks ago, my condom supply as depleted as my bank account, I was thrilled to spot the H*yas for Choice table in Red Square. I was psyching myself up for my free rubber restock, when I recognized the male figure standing squarely in front of the giant jar of condoms, chatting with the girl manning the table. Let’s just say that he was one of my more dubious decisions from freshman year.

By November 19, 2009

Voices

He kept poking me, so I quit facebook forever

“I don’t have a Facebook.” I’ve had to say that every few days for the last few months. It’s been met with every response from “Are you crazy?” to “You’re... Read more

By November 19, 2009

Voices

I wish I had as much sex as the people on television

“I’m turning it off,” my mother would say as we were sitting down to dinner. She didn’t care that there were only 2 minutes left of Hey Arnold and it... Read more

By November 19, 2009