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

Yokohama nights

VOICES BY SCOTT MATTHEWS “She a friend of yours?” I ask, gesturing toward the girl grinding with an older, sweaty American businessman as he awkwardly contorts his mis-shapen carcass in a grim parody of dancing while 50 Cent blares over the sound system. My friend’s response is lost under the heavy bass, but I can tell from her expression that her answer amounted to something like “hell no.

By the March 4, 2004

Voices

The ugly truths of women and war

During the early months of the Iraq war, a new type of “friendly fire” was cheerfully revealed by the media to be sidelining troops: female soldiers were being taken out of action by pregnancies conceived while on mission. But the tales revealed in a front page New York Times article last week were altogether different.

By the March 4, 2004

Voices

I’ll teach you to speak Aramaic

VOICES BY BILL CLEVELAND Three years ago, Fr. William Fulco, S.J. received a phone call from a production company asking him to help translate a movie script. “Hey, Padre, its Mel. I’ve got a project for you,” said a voice on the other end of the phone. As a professor of Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he teaches courses like “Near Eastern Archaeology” and “Intermediate Classical Hebrew,” his litany of languages includes Aramaic and Latin.

By the February 26, 2004

Voices

No good shawarma in Georgetown

“What’s your hometown?” You heard it all through New Student Orientation and you’ll probably hear it for the rest of your time at Georgetown, every time you meet someone new. It’s a pretty simple question, answerable in one word. This is not the case for me.

By the February 26, 2004

Voices

Fragmented Democrats cannot succeed

As election time approaches, all disheartened and disillusioned with the current administration are dealing with a difficult internal conflict. On one hand, we have to work to remove Bush from office. On the other, our efforts appear frighteningly fruitless.

By the February 26, 2004

Voices

The pitfalls of expression

Somewhere in my bedroom there’s a wooden box filled with empty journals. Some are small and leather-bound, some are handcrafted with homemade paper and colorful string. Others are standard yellow legal pads with “Journal” printed in pen upon the first page.

By the February 19, 2004

Voices

Come for the view, stay for the food

VOICES BY MIKE O’ROURKE Stomach growling, I rush into the Leo J. O’Donovan dining hall at 2:15 for a late lunch.I walk through the doors and wait patiently as the visitors in front of me pay in cash.After several minutes of arguing with the cashier, they pass through.She swipes my card, and I walk quickly towards the top level and pass through the halfway-closed doors.

By the February 19, 2004

Voices

Letter to the Editor

Inaccurate representation of The Georgetown Academy Perhaps the next time College Democrats president Scott Zumwalt dares to throw around slanderous words like “racist, sexist and homophobic,” all charges he levels at The Academy in your last issue (“GU Alum and Top Frist Aid Resigns,” Feb.

By the February 19, 2004

Voices

Don’t Asian-hate, appreciate

When the University student survey asked me about my ethnicity last year, I didn’t identify myself as “Asian-American.” Instead I checked the “Other” option and typed in “Japanese-Canadian.” Then I wrote an angry letter back to the surveyors about how it was inappropriate for them to exploit my ethnic background in order to say that Georgetown was “diverse.

By the February 19, 2004

Voices

Aquatic baggage check

VOICES BY SONIA SMITH Even the crustaceans were glistening from sweat that typically muggy summer afternoon in New Orleans. Reclining on the quad at Tulane University, innocently enjoying a snow cone, I was a disinterested bystander at the order of the day—crawfish racing. In Sin City, this event musters a level of excitement second only to Mardi Gras.

By the February 12, 2004

Voices

Campus burlesque tour

Hey everyone! Welcome to Georgetown University, my name is Guy Whitey Corngood and I’ll be your overly enthusiastic tour leader! Not only can I walk backwards while talking, but I can also summon enough fake enthusiasm to end every single one of my sentences with exclamation marks! Wow! Now, don’t be afraid, take my hand, and I’ll show you the wonders that abound at Georgetown! We’ll finish up at the Leavey Center around 12:30 for lunch.

By the February 12, 2004

Voices

Parasitic globalism invades intestinal tract

When I decided to study abroad in Ecuador, I had no idea that what would begin as an opportunity to learn Spanish, study at an Ecuadorian university, volunteer at a local elementary school and became a dance on Ecuadorian tabletops would end tragically in an Ecuadorian emergency room.

By the February 12, 2004

Voices

Getting alumni to give it up

Last year, Georgetown met its capital campaign goal of raising $1 billion. The University had raised its goal from a $500 million campaign announced in 1995 as the program’s success far exceeded expectations. This fundraising is an integral part of the University’s strategy for the coming years, as it will fuel both endowment growth and the construction of new facilities, a process that is already well underway, with the Southwest Quad getting broken in by this year’s residents and ground already broken on several other projects.

By the February 5, 2004

Voices

Bologna and babies

The first lesson I learned during my trip to the Islamic Republic of Iran this winter was that it is impossible to find a real mocha in Tehran. Secondly, one should not spark a political conversation in a university, especially since a student basij spy is around the corner.

By the February 5, 2004

Voices

I still believe

VOICES BY DAVE STROUP It hasn’t been the greatest few weeks for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, but he still has my support, and I still maintain that John Kerry looks like one of the tree people from Lord of the Rings. I traveled to Iowa the weekend before the caucuses as part of Howard Dean’s “Iowa Perfect Storm,” to meet up with my girlfriend Esther and a friend of mine.

By the February 5, 2004

Voices

Correction

The Georgetown Voice takes mistakes seriously. We correct all errors of substance in our stories and publish appropriate clarifications as soon as possible.

By the February 5, 2004

Voices

Wesley and me

VOICES BY JASON MAURICE Jan. 17: “Welcome to Manchester, where it’s a balmy 16 degrees. Anything you leave on the plane will be divided among the flight attendants.” And thus the cheery Southwest crew introduces Ariane and me to New Hampshire, where we are spending the weekend with our friend Hillary, the Women’s Outreach Coordinator for Wesley Clark.

By the January 29, 2004

Voices

Reconsidering civil war

War has been the name of the game for humanity’s most recent spin around the sun. American soldiers have been sent to oust a dictator from the lands of wind and sands, and democratic battles are being waged against Iran and North Korea. Never before has an entire continent made a concentrated and personal attack on a leader in the way that Europe threatened Bush with steel tariffs.

By the January 29, 2004

Voices

A new veneration of leadership

“It’s usually not this cold here,” Alice said as she ushered me into her apartment. She said it as if it would warm me up, as if I should have been happy to know that my toes usually wouldn’t be frostbitten after waiting 30 minutes outside in the middle of a New Hampshire winter for an old lady who said she’d be home at 10:30 A.

By the January 29, 2004

Voices

Are you there, God? It’s me, Nathaniel

VOICES BY SCOTT MATTHEWS Boy, there sure are a lot of Starbucks around! It seems like everywhere you go there’s another Starbucks! I mean, how many Starbuc … “Damn it!” I yell as I slam my fist down in anger and frustration, accidentally hitting a cactus that just happened to be there.

By the January 22, 2004