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

Dog days are over

In a boy’s life, there are a number of rites of passage allowing him, in some sense, to become a man. There’s his high school graduation, his first car, and his 21st birthday, to name just a few. For me, however, each has come with great ceremony but no great sense of growth. I feared it might only be at my retirement party that I no longer felt like a little kid anymore. Until my dog died.

By the October 13, 2011

Voices

Hoya Saxa: the evolution of the yell of all the yells

Students making their first tour of Georgetown are first directed to Leo’s, then introduced into the cult of Hilltop mythology centuries-old buildings, a legendary basketball team, Bill Clinton. Somewhere over the years, “Hoya Saxa” became part of that arsenal. We chant it, we wear it, we tell the story. We love it. If you’re unfamiliar, the tale goes something like this: once upon a time, Georgetown boasted a stellar football team, who kicked and pummeled their way to victory every week on Copley lawn. Fans would watch from the stone wall bordering the lawn.

By October 6, 2011

Voices

Back from summer camp, into the wild of Georgetown

If you think walking on cobblestones is difficult, try running barefoot through the woods. For every time you’ve sworn at the uneven sidewalks outside the front gates, I’ve cursed at protruding tree roots and thorny green briar bushes that seem to be purposefully mauling my legs. Believe me, I have more than a decade’s worth of scars, and one nerve-damaged pinky toe, to prove it. Why on earth would anyone want to keep going back to the middle of some God-forsaken forest for 11 years? It’s called summer camp, and I go back because I love it.

By October 6, 2011

Voices

Poker bluffing its way into sports fans’ hearts and hands

This week has been an interesting one for online poker. Last spring, a number of online poker sites—including Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and AbsolutePoker—were sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for bank fraud and money laundering, among other allegations. On Monday, French investment company Groupe Bernard Tapie purchased online gambling website Full Tilt Poker. Even though poker has gained a lot of mainstream exposure in the past decade, and the game’s competitiveness has risen, it still does not get the attention given to other entertainment sports.

By October 6, 2011

Voices

Locked up abroad

The decision to study abroad can be daunting. With single-semester, summer, and yearlong programs in an endless number of exciting, exotic locations, the abundance of study abroad experiences gives students the ability to craft an ideal program that combines fun with enrichment. Still, I doubt a nearly four-year stint in an Italian prison is on anybody’s shortlist.

By October 6, 2011

Voices

Georgetown and the CCP: an exclusive relationship

Let me say from the start that I have nothing at all against dialogue. However, when dealing with an authoritarian regime like the Chinese Communist Party, there seems to be a fine line between an open exchange of ideas and an approach to engagement that is more permissive than it is persuasive.

By September 29, 2011

Voices

Candidates full of hot air and not running out of steam

While watching a recent Republican Presidential debate, I was puzzled by the reaction to Rick Perry’s signing an order that required mandatory vaccination against human papillomavirus for sixth grade girls in Texas—an uncharacteristic move for a staunch social conservative like Perry.

By September 29, 2011

Voices

Smithsonian 9/11 exhibit captures a moment in time

Partially overlooked in the glut of media coverage of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks were two exhibits here in Washington which used artifacts from the three attacks. For just nine days leading upto September 11, the Smithsonian Museum of American History displayed a small collection of visceral reminders of 9/11 that gave viewers an intimate sense of what exactly happened to victims that day.

By September 29, 2011

Voices

Qwikster off to a slow start

Last week I got an email from Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, that began, “Dear Emma, I messed up. I owe you an explanation.” Well thanks, Mr. Hastings, but … excuse me? I do have a Netflix account, but the letter seemed a little more personal than anything I usually hear from heads of major companies.

By September 29, 2011

Voices

Waking up to the harsh reality of public education

Last year, my mother retired from teaching after 35 years of dedicated service. At her retirement party, I was unable to count the number of former students in attendance. A number of them gave speeches praising her for her talent and her ability to inspire. Now lawyers, doctors, authors, dancers, and musicians, they all recognized her enthusiasm and dedication as the catalyst for their intellectual growth and success.

By September 22, 2011

Voices

This is just the same old story: another Hollywood remake

A few months ago, I found myself tossing back my usual concoction of Sour Patch Kids and popcorn at the K Street Theater while watching the previews before No Strings Attached. The previews, in line with the coming movie, consisted of much of the same repetitive rom-com themes that every girl occasionally indulges. When the preview for Friends with Benefits came on, however, I did a double take—wasn’t that the exact same movie I came to see?

By September 22, 2011

Voices

Injury drives student skeptic to peace of mind at Down Dog

If you live in West Georgetown, chances are that sometime during the day you’ve noticed any number of well-toned young women clad in yoga pants and toting a tightly rolled mat, trooping off to some hidden fountain of youth. It’s a mesmerizing migration, and one that until fairly recently I’d thought to be off limits to the general population. Their destination, Down Dog Yoga —located behind Dean and Deluca off of M street—has in recent years become a staple for both aspiring and established Georgetown yogis.

By September 22, 2011

Voices

Fighting Irish take on Vatican

Studying Irish history is a lot like watching Rocky. As with every Irish hero, Rocky is an underdog with a lot of heart, a lot of will, and an incredible ability to accept a beating. And like every Irish hero, Rocky loses. Unlike Rocky, however, the Irish continue well past six fights. Ireland’s history is marked by rebellion after rebellion. The legacy of the bloodshed and failed freedom fighters belie, by stereotype and by my experience, the true nature of the Irish people: boisterous, but ultimately passive and habitually willing to submit to (Catholic) authority.

By the September 22, 2011

Voices

Aramark panel brings Jesuit values back to the table

“Organizing has opened my eyes, has opened my kids’ eyes...to caring about people who don’t look like you,” Leo J. O’Donovan Dining Hall worker Tarshea Smith said, holding back tears. Smith, speaking at a celebratory panel discussion Tuesday about Aramark workers’ unionization victory last spring, expressed how the union and student organizers have affected her life and the lives of her two young sons. The audience, comprising students, workers, faculty, and Georgetown community members, was held rapt by her story and the stories of other workers who spoke at the gathering.

By September 15, 2011

Voices

For student, juggling is more than just clowning around

When I go to Yates, you typically won’t find me on the track, treadmills, bikes, or even pumping some iron. No, you will usually find me in one of the racquetball or squash courts—despite the fact that I don’t play either sport. You’ll see me throwing up circular discs continuously into the air, only to catch them and throw them right back up. You will see me juggling, and those rings are just one of the props you can find in my ragged and torn juggling bag.

By September 15, 2011

Voices

Human trafficking jams America’s founding principles

In the summer of 2009, I traveled with my family to the crown jewel of Arab entrepreneurship and advancement, the metropolitan emirate of Dubai. Known for the sudden and explosive expansion of its tourism industry, Dubai has established itself as a prime vacation spot for world travelers within the last couple of decades. As a tourist myself, I was held in rapture by its glittering architecture and record-breaking monuments. The lure of the city veiled my eyes from the corruption of its creation, itself an expression of the failure of humanity to recognize and support the rights of its members.

By September 15, 2011

Voices

Fundamentalist fundamentals

Michelle Bachmann. Republican presidential hopeful. Representative of Minnesota’s 6th congressional district. Federal tax lawyer. Mother to 28 children, five of her own and 23 through the foster-care system. And—most importantly—evangelical Christian. The term makes even the mildest liberal cringe in disdain. Critics of Bachmann and the entire Tea Party movement see evangelicals as bigoted, racist, homophobic, and xenophobic radicals who have hijacked America and seek to limit our freedoms and propagate hate. Growing up in an evangelical household, I can say that this hardly represents the majority of evangelicals.

By September 15, 2011

Voices

A child’s vocabulary of terror from ground zero

I remember hearing the words vividly, sitting in the cafeteria of my Chappaqua, NY, middle school: “Planes have crashed into the World Trade Center. We don’t know much else right now, but we believe it to be the work of terrorists.” As time went on, hysterics escalated. When we returned to our classroom, one kid broke down in nervous, hiccupping tears. His mother worked on one of the top floors of one of the towers. We didn’t know what to say. We were kids. We tried to grasp the situation and assure ourselves everything would be okay. I remember feeling helpless and having no idea how to feel, what to think, or what to expect.

By September 8, 2011

Voices

Crew coach sets sail, rower lays anchor with a new one

When we come to this lovely institution of higher learning, no matter if we shuffled straight out of boarding school or have never spent more than a few nights away from home, we all look for someone to replace the comfort and sense of calm our parents instill in us. Your parents may drive you up the wall, but I have never come across anyone who was not thrilled at the thought of having a home-cooked dinner with a family member they love after months of nothing but Leo’s. For the past three years, my sense of calm has always come from my coach, Glenn Putyrae.

By September 8, 2011

Voices

Great Chinese Takeout: Sub-Saharan Africa’s misfortune

By now we’ve probably all heard how China is taking over Africa. But it’s one thing to read about it, and another thing to have your water shut off for three months in your dorm in Botswana as a Chinese firm diverts all of the town’s water to its construction site. Everywhere I went in sub-Saharan Africa, the phantom of China followed me. Scuba diving in Mozambique, I was told illegal Chinese fishing boats had overfished the last tiger shark in the area four months before my arrival. The Chinese-made truck I was hitchhiking in the back of broke down two hours after we crossed the border back into Botswana.

By September 8, 2011