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

Surviving Georgetown: Reflections from a Rape Survivor on Georgetown’s Campus

There was no support group to rely on, no therapy I could access, and a blatant disregard for rape, sexual assault and survivorship. Dreams of safety and freedom in my new home at Georgetown quickly faded away.

By April 30, 2023

Voices

I am my father’s daughter

This is a story about my dad, and about me too—but it starts with Joann, the original one. She was my paternal grandmother who died when I was a baby.

By April 30, 2023

Voices

What happened to the movie theater intermission—and could we please bring it back?

What happened to the movie intermission? Where did they go, those 10-15 minute breaks in films when the lights would rise and you could (finally) debrief the first half with your friends? Today, when you watch an old film with a built-in intermission, it feels like a relic from an era when actors spoke with mid-Atlantic accents and the credits rolled at the start of the movie. 

By April 29, 2023

Voices

THEO 101: The Problem of Google Calendar

There are certainly benefits to visually dividing up one’s day in color coordinating blocks and receiving phone notifications of events, and I fully utilize the service to keep track of myriad life happenings. But the way Georgetown students use it is borderline obsessive, perhaps straight up deviant.

By April 26, 2023

Voices

Even as memory fades, joy remains

The problem is, people seem to think that for our family to be happy, we must have the experiences a typical family would have. But the reality is, my grandmother’s dementia isn’t going anywhere. It’s an illness that will only continue to get worse, and as a family we are limited by our responsibility to her. But that doesn’t mean we don’t find joy. Our joy simply deviates from the norm. It exists despite the coexistence of hardship.

By April 18, 2023

Voices

A definitive list of correct opinions

As the senior most opinionated people of the Georgetown Voice, we decree that the following opinions are correct and final. We will not be elaborating. No arguments.

By , and April 1, 2023

Voices

How embracing sexual fluidity can liberate queer sexuality

I contend that being open to the idea that our sexuality can and may change can reduce queer (and perhaps even straight) people’s anxiety surrounding their sexual identity and encourage them to live their most authentic selves without fear of alienation.

By March 25, 2023

Voices

Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are not the same. Equating them harms all Jews.

Antisemitism and anti-Zionism are linked, and the former certainly can be present in the latter, but it is not always. In fact, assertions that the two are inherently synonymous are themselves antisemitic.

By March 24, 2023

Voices

We need to fight Biden’s proposed “asylum ban.” Here’s how you can.

Vocal, visible public opposition to the proposed policy is imperative. The proposal is currently in its public comment period, which will expire on March 27th. During this period, any member of the public can submit a statement with their thoughts on the proposed policy.

By March 23, 2023

Voices

“Gifted kid burnout” is very real

“Gifted kid burnout,” however, is an internet term coined by Gen Z in recent years. Plainly put, it refers to students who were placed in advanced-level classes early in their educational careers, only to discover that they can’t maintain the same degree of academic excellence as they get older. They’ve been straight-A students all their life, their personalities slotting perfectly into the spot at the top of the class. But mediocrity crept up on them, until they feel like they have failed their past selves.

By March 22, 2023

Voices

Incalculable but invisible: Why Georgetown should erect a statue of Madeleine Albright

Though history best remembers Albright as a pioneering politician in a previously exclusively male role, she always said, “I am sometimes known as secretary, but most of all, I like being known as professor.” Thus, Georgetown should erect a statue of Albright in order to honor her contributions to higher education at the Hilltop, global politics, and, most importantly, her advocacy for women’s and refugee’s rights.

By March 21, 2023

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