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

Sweet as citronella

There was a time in my life when the autumnal shades of melancholia seemed to settle upon my cognizance as if they were the brittle leaves that that sensuous season litters upon the sidewalks and streets of our homes, neighborhoods and parks; and if the degree to which the melancholia weighed upon my mind is at all in proportion to a quantity of those shed leaves, then I would place this cerebral organ in a rich birch forest in the deepest woods of New England (my salutations to the ancestral home of the American fall) in late August, when the winds begin to carry a touch of venom, and the sun grows bashful, subjecting itself to public scrutiny for increasingly shorter and shorter periods of time.

By the February 14, 2002

Voices

Canadian lit. 101

A friend of mine called the other day, just to chat. We talked and gossiped for a while. Then she said, “Well, Jen, the real reason I called is because I was reorganizing my father’s bookshelves this morning, and I realized that when you write a book, I won’t know where to file it.

By the February 14, 2002

Voices

Finding a way forward

I prayed the other night.

I was lying in bed when it occurred to me how incredibly lucky I am to have a family, a group of friends and a campus community who care about and respect me in my entirety?and could care less if I like guys or girls. So I thanked God for that.

By the February 14, 2002

Voices

Te presento mi coochie snorcher

Just off the elevator on the third floor of Leavey, I picked up the audition material for The Vagina Monologues. I took my place amidst a dozen or so girls (women) waiting to be called in and turned my attention to the script. I got to word six. Then I stopped.

By the February 14, 2002

Voices

Like a prayer

I prayed the other night.

I was just lying in bed, feeling pretty good, and suddenly I found myself saying the “Hail Mary” in my mind. I’m not sure why. I wasn’t looking for a favor.

Praying might be the kind of thing that some people do all the time, but God and I haven’t been on speaking terms in a few years.

By the February 7, 2002

Voices

Declaring a major

The last time I spoke with Professor Lepgold was about two weeks before Thanksgiving.

It was just around the time that pre-registration was due and I had just gotten an e-mail reminding School of Foreign Service upperclassmen that they needed to have their faculty mentor sign their meeting confirmation slip or they would not be allowed to pre-register.

By the February 7, 2002

Voices

In your life

I have often heard that you should write what you know; a college student would be better to write about matters like classes or drinking beer, than say, a narrative about the Civil War from the perspective of a Union soldier. However, right now, the only thing I feel like I could write from knowledge would be the template of a Matt Foley motivational speaker sketch on Saturday Night Live.

By the February 7, 2002

Voices

Panic reigns as Internet access lost

Panic struck a normally peaceful first-year dorm early Tuesday morning when students awoke to find their Internet service disconnected. Roommates who hadn’t spoken in weeks turned to each other in horror, exchanging tearful embraces and words of consolation.

By the February 7, 2002

Voices

Oh, Dana Dixx

A romantic at heart, I believe in The One. The One is the one for whom you are The only One and vice versa. I had one once. Yep, she was The One. The One who got away: Dana Dixx, the first love of my life.

Dana Dixx. Even now the name gives me pause. It skates across my tongue like a youthful Brian Boitano then passes through my lips, which close after it like a parting kiss while its sweet sound lingers in my ear?which was more or less all she left me with when it was over, just a pretty name and the face to match.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Have football, will travel

Saturdays are days of mourning at Georgetown. Instead of happily bounding out of bed, grabbing some Tylenol and heading off to the Tombs to get steeled for the game ahead, the average football fan awakes to the unhappy reality that if he or she is to feed his or her addiction, it will be done cheering on some other college with a good football team.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Give me a touchdown

I used to be the nerdy kid in elementary school.

That was the kid whose genuine attachment to the learning process was overshadowed by those who had a genuine place in the cool group.

The “cool group” used to fascinate me. I always wondered what it took to be a Sunset Elementary “cool” member.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Until Today

Until today, I took for granted the ability to translate my thoughts into coherent verbal expressions. Then I arrived in Paris. Suddenly I am mute. Words catch in my mouth like overcooked oatmeal. Well-meaning, but perpetually exasperated French people cannot understand that I live at 4 rue Alfred Bruneau.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

A public service announcement

It seems that we have reached that time of year again when the characteristically Scandanavian weather patterns in Washington abate and make way for summer. Our winters are usually tedious and unspecacular ordeals, marked by murky and gelid conditions, biting wind and little in the way of aesthetic precipitation.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Lucky to wear the blue and gray

As a second-semester senior, I often find myself reflecting on the many reasons why I have come to enjoy my undergraduate experience at Georgetown University. Several events during the past week made me especially appreciative of being a Hoya.

On Friday night, nearly three hundred of my fellow seniors and I packed into The Rhino Bar and Pumphouse for a night of drunken revelry.

By the January 31, 2002

Voices

Talking loud in church

On Sunday Cardinal Theodore McCarrick presided at a Eucharist in St. William’s Chapel, at which 21 students?some, though not all, lesbian and gay?remained standing throughout the liturgy. Their silent presence drew attention, a handout said, to Georgetown’s failure to address “the needs of its students without regard to age, sex, religion, race, sexual orientation, handicap, color, national or ethnic origin.

By the January 24, 2002

Voices

The light in the attic

Now, before anyone accuses me of being a too-intense Shel Silverstein devotee, I want to point out that I’ve been driven to keeping the light in the attic on by circumstances outside my control. Yes, a single bulb burns in my attic on T Street, and will continue to burn for the foreseeable future.

By the January 24, 2002

Voices

Shortly thereafter, there was contempt

In order to properly understand why I’m so angry at AT&T, you’ll need a little bit of background.

I guess in order for things to be perfectly clear, we’ll have to go back to the magical month of June in the magical year of 1980. It was a strange time for the United States.

By the January 24, 2002

Voices

Falun Gong-a path to one’s true self

Perhaps you’ve seen me sitting out on Healy Lawn, with legs crossed and eyes closed in peaceful meditation amidst the hustle and bustle of the early afternoon. So what is this meditation practice? Is it tai chi? Yoga? Why do I practice it? Actually, this practice is called Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), and my reasons for practicing it are much deeper than mere stress relief and peace of mind.

By the January 24, 2002

Voices

Idle days in Richmond

Austin Powers: “Two things scare me. One is nuclear war.”

Basil Exposition: “What’s the other?”

Austin Powers: “Excuse me?”

Basil Exposition: “What’s the other thing that scares you?”

Austin Powers: “Carnies. Circus folk. Nomads, you know. Smell like cabbage.

By the January 17, 2002

Voices

A new message …

“Writing an article ? “

I just put that away message up.

“Writing an article ? “

That should get a huge response. I mean, the brilliance of it, the sheer splendor of the wit. It’s amazing. It really is. Writing an article ?

It’s got that simplistic beauty to it.

By the January 17, 2002