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

You’re studying too much— yes, you

However, the real problem is not overstudying on an individual level; it’s the culture that idolizes productivity. When work for work’s sake is valued over a healthy lifestyle, students feel pressured to perform and guilty for not meeting the standard. Mental health issues, exhaustion, and taxing workloads become trophies of success.

By March 7, 2023

Voices

The curse of “let’s get a coffee”: How networking has corrupted our friendships

Ultimately, we have lost track of what it means to spend valuable time with other people. Networking culture governs the way that we make plans, spend money, and converse; its format is designed to keep potential close friends at arm’s length by limiting interactions to annual catch-ups and coffee.

By March 4, 2023

Voices

Increasing equity at Georgetown begins with reforming Blue & Gray

Being a tour guide means generally presenting Georgetown positively to visitors. But as three guides of color, we often tiptoe between spouting the information the Office of Undergraduate Admissions wants us to share and acknowledging our lived experiences beyond the brochures.

By , and February 18, 2023

Voices

Students subverting students: The Corp must prioritize employee empowerment

The Corp’s institutional design favors—and will continue to favor—the status quo over true, progressive changes.

By February 17, 2023

Voices

Reimagining Club Culture

I want to look back at my experience with Georgetown’s club culture—one of dismay, frustration, and disillusionment—and center on the upsides of open-app student associations, which I hope will become a bigger part of Georgetown’s future.

By February 7, 2023

Opinion

Heroin chic and the price of beauty

Supermodel Bella Hadid left very little of her svelte figure to the imagination as she walked the runway in a dress spray-painted upon her nearly naked body for Paris Fashion Week last October. The message is clear: Big asses and boobs are out, protruding collar bones and wrist bones are in.

By February 4, 2023

Voices

After Lunar New Year gun violence, I devote myself to grief

Perhaps it’s mere human instinct to measure ourselves by shared tragedies, but there’s something brutal about the unregulated bullet being a defining genre of timestamp for our generation.

By February 3, 2023

Opinion

We need to chat about ChatGPT

If the implications of ChatGPT in an academic environment will be substantial, the implications in greater society will be even more profound. ChatGPT is able to draft lease agreements based on a given location and even code websites, tasks that have previously required significant training. For the vast majority of people, this technology will only make life easier—and less expensive. However, for those who make a living off of these skills, the proliferation of AI could be detrimental.

By January 21, 2023

Voices

It’s time we reconstruct our view of protests

“Constructive” protests are generally nonviolent and informative to the other side, with the hope that people who previously disagreed with you will come to see your cause and make concessions. If a protest doesn’t meet these goals and expectations, however, it is often written off altogether, deemed instead “unconstructive,” “unhelpful to the cause,” or in the extremes even labeled as “riots.”

By December 6, 2022

Voices

The true crime of ‘true crime’

The rise of true crime in popular culture has prompted novel conversations about how we depict killers and victims in storytelling.

By November 20, 2022

Voices

Despite the negatives, D.C.’s restaurant industry needs Initiative 82

The newly passed Initiative 82 will help build a better restaurant industry, but it must tear the industry down to its foundations first.

By November 19, 2022

Voices

What happens when it is not the child who needs to be taken care of?

When you believe that you are solely responsible for someone's well-being, you also worry that your departure will be the sole reason for their deterioration.

By November 13, 2022

Voices

COP27, Human Rights, and The Climate Crisis

COP27 has been tasked with overcoming past criticisms while also dealing with new challenges that are arising inside a country with high levels of censorship and repression.

By November 13, 2022

Voices

Solving polarization won’t fix our society’s injustices

Today’s society is not a utopia, and it’s important to realize that politics is and will always be personal—especially for marginalized communities, which is why it is necessary that we work towards progressive action instead of reduced polarization.

By November 1, 2022

Voices

I’m a ‘Type 1 diabetic,’ not a ‘person with type one diabetes’: Rejecting person-first language

PFL is a norm that many non-disabled people have attempted to universalize, regardless of personal linguistic preferences within the disabled community. While some disabled people are fine with PFL, many prefer IFL, especially in recent years.

By October 23, 2022

Voices

Pull up the dictionary: We’ve got to redefine language learning

Despite spending hours learning vocabulary and practicing pronunciation, we remain estranged to the cultures of the languages we study.

By October 9, 2022

Voices

Model UN must solve its own problems before it tries to solve the world’s

Model UN inculcates within participants the mentality that the world can be their playground and that people can be their pawns.

By October 7, 2022

Voices

You can’t spell cura personalis without CRP: Collegiate Recovery Programs and why Georgetown students need one

In accordance with its central tenet of care for the whole person, Georgetown University should provide sufficient support to students in recovery by establishing a Collegiate Recovery Program (CRP).

By September 29, 2022

Voices

Searching for a smile: Reconsidering trauma narratives in media

Dominant representation of trauma-centered narratives paints a misguided image that happiness is rare—or even unattainable—for people of color.

By September 25, 2022

Voices

Beyond inclusivity: Why Georgetown must better support its affinity spaces

We need to radically and intentionally reimagine what successful affinity spaces should look like, and the conditions must be set by the people they’re made for.

By September 24, 2022