VOICE The Georgetown
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March 4, 2016
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MARCH 4, 2016
THE GEORGETOWN VOICE Volume 48 • Issue 12
staff editor-in-chief Daniel Varghese Managing editor Kevin huggard news
executive editor Christopher Castano Features editor Graham piro news editor liz teitz assitant news editors lilah burke, caitlyn cobb, thomas stubna
culture
executive editor Joseph pollicino Leisure editor Brian mcMahon assistant leisure editors Tatiana Lebreton, Caitlin Mannering, Maneesha Panja, Sarika Ramaswamy Sports editors Alex boyd, robert ponce Assistant sports editors Santul Nerkar, Tyler pearre, phillip steuber
opinion
Executive editor chris almeida voices editor charles evain assistant voices editor Joseph Dipietro, Leila Lebreton Columnists Louisa Christen, Yafet Negash, Austin Stollhaus, The Knights of Columbus
“Connecticut Avenue, NW” Photo Courtesy of DDOT DC
contents
Editorials
Carrying On: Even If There Are Donuts Brian McMahon Now You See Me Rachel Brooks Burning Issues and The Round Table Austin Stollhaus and The Knights of Columbus Uprooted: The Displacement of Georgetown’s Black Community Lilah Burke Disengaged District: A History of D.C. Sports Chris Almeida Spring Breakdown Sports Staff Beautiful Yet Self-Aware Devon O’Dwyer Whisky Tango Foxtrot Brings Laughs but Lacks Depth Erika Bullock
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Leisure editors Mike bergin, jon block assistant leisure editor danielle hewitt Sports editors Jay benjamin, Matt jasko assistant sports editors jonny amon, chris dunn
design
Executive editor megan howell cover editor patricia lin Spread editor johnny jung Photo editor Brooke dudek assistant design editors Emma francois, alli kaufman, abbey Roberts, eleanor sugrue, vance vaughn
copy
copy chief Anna Gloor editors Clara Cecil, Claire Goldberg, Michelle Kelly, Isabel Lord, Bethania Michael, Hanh Nguyen, Kate Phillips, Greer Richey, Dana Suekoff, Suzanne Trivette, Gabriella Wan
online
online editor sahil nair social media editors naba rahman, tiffany tao
Staff writers
Ben barrett, amanda christovich, brendan crowley, elizabeth cunniff, margaret gach, nicholas gavio, andrew granville, christian hallmark, susanna herrmann, cassidy jensen, noah nelson, brendan pierce, isaiah seibert, J osé Villalobos, tyler walsh
staff designers
erin annick, natalia campos, april hyein choi, samantha lee, andrea leng, may li, kyua park, angela qi, lindsey reilly, morgan trevett editor@georgetownvoice.com Leavey 424 Box 571066 Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057
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The opinions expressed in The Georgetown Voice do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University, unless specifically stated. Columns, advertisements, cartoons and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the General Board of The Georgetown Voice. The university subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression of its student editors.
business
general manager tim annick senior associate, finance and alumni outreach naiara parker senior associate, accounts and sales jessica ho
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
read more on georgetownvoice.com NEWS On the Record: GUSA Executives Joe Luther and Connor Rohan As their term comes to a close, President Joe Luther and Vice President Connor Rohan sat down with Lilah Burke to reflect on the past year. They discuss their successes, failures, and desire to abolish the GUSA Senate.
Andrew Sullivan
LEISURE Blue Roses: Ford Theatre’s The Glass Menagerie is Rare, Delicate Amy Guay reviewed the Ford Theatre’s The Glass Menagerie, a graceful retelling of Tennessee Williams’ classic. Elegant sets and performances define the production.
Scott Suchman
COLUMNS Talking Tech Check out the Columns Section for Yafet Negash’s analysis of the standoff between Apple and District Courts surrounding the unlocking of the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists.
Lessons from Literature Also online: Louisa Christen gives her thoughts on Friedrich Durrenmatt’s The Physicists, and our common responsibility regarding the advancement of science.
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EDITORIALS
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MARCH 4, 2016
Mixed Signals
GUSA’s Inconsistent Commitment to Student Engagement Every so often, GUSA calls on the student body to speak as a whole. These referendums are often held up as the most forceful of the tools that GUSA can wield toward directing administrative policy. Our elected student leaders point to these undertakings as pivotal events for asserting student positions in campus discussions. As past campus debates on issues like the satellite campus have made clear, these referendums often do serve this purpose. This Editorial Board, however, believes that GUSA has fallen short in managing the referendums they hold so dear. At best, when conducted transparently with a clear purpose, referendums amplify the voice of the student body on the most important campus issues. At worst, these votes advance the priorities of GUSA with little regard for the wider student body. Recently, they have too often taken the latter form. Two recent issues have highlighted this problem: pre-registration and divestment from fossil fuels. On the first, GUSA eventually decided to host a referendum. On the second, it declined to do so. GUSA voted against holding a referendum over the issue of divestment largely due to its belief that it would prove difficult, if not impossible, to achieve a high enough level of education on this issue among students for the referendum to have meaning. At the Senate’s Nov. 15 meeting, Senator William Morris (COL ‘19) said, “My concern would be that the campaign would only cover one side of the issue.” He and others argued that, aside from Deep Dheri (MSB ‘16), a student who publicly voiced his opposition to the referendum, no one would step up and campaign against Fossil Free, and that students would therefore be biased in their voting. Another senator voiced his concern. “People are going to read this as ‘do you want to help the environment?’ and would not have a clear counterargument available. ‘It’s not going to be fair; I think it’s going to be pushed one way,’” he said. GU Fossil Free, the group most active in advocating for divestment, issued a statement in response, which read, in part, “In order to alleviate concerns on lack of education, GU Fossil Free proposed and reached out to third party groups and those willing to argue in opposition to divestment to create unbiased and comprehensive educational materials.” This proposal failed to satisfy GUSA’s concerns, and the referendum never got off the ground. With pre-registration, on the other hand, GUSA has shown much less worry about the level of issue awareness among the student body. Following a town hall on the issue, when then-Registrar John Q. Pierce told
attendees that he felt a student-wide referendum would be premature without first working with the Academic Councils, GUSA voted on Jan. 24 to add a referendum on the issue to the Executive ballot. At the meeting, Senators Eric Henshall and Michael Fiedorowicz both explained that a two-week informational campaign would be part of the referendum process to educate the students. This campaign was insubstantial at best, with a flimsy flyering effort that failed to convey any justification for either position, and failed to help voters make an educated choice. Why, in the case of divestment, did the complexities of such an informational campaign pose an insurmountable obstacle to holding a referendum, yet make for so insignificant a concern in the case of pre-registration that an informational campaign never actually took place? It has to do with GUSA’s priorities. In the case of pre-registration, GUSA’s priorities were clear. Senators said during the debate on the resolution to add a referendum that they believed the administration had misinterpreted students’ opinions on live registration, and called an assumption that students support live registration “inaccurate.” GUSA felt confident that the student body would line up behind its hope to avoid live
registration, and therefore used a referendum as a way to give greater power to its own opinion. The problem of an informational campaign, so crippling in the first case yet a non-issue in the second, served as a convenient excuse for GUSA to select for its preferences. Our elected student leaders hold up referendums as polling tools for discovering the will of the student body. In the lengthy debate on whether or not to hold the divestment referendum, several senators argued that referendums should be reserved for discerning and promoting students’ voices on issues that are pertinent to student life. But recently, they have not been used this way. Instead, they have been used as tools for reinforcing those policies GUSA has already decided are beneficial for Georgetown students. There is no doubt that referendums can direct campus policy. They are the most powerful forums available for student participation in policy-making at Georgetown. Given the force they possess, referendums must be administered with transparency. If they are to be a means of polling for student opinions, then GUSA should not get in the way of a referendum that might go against its own wishes. If not, GUSA should stop pretending otherwise and drop any pretense of asking for student input in its decisions.
Eleanor sugrue
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
Even If There Are Donuts
Carrying On: Voice Staffers Speak
Making the Most of Limited Time “How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” — Dr. Seuss Time fascinates me. It has ever since I was old enough to count down the minutes left in obligatory Sunday church services, with this enamorment even earning me the nickname “Timex.” As it turns out, this was simply a friendly moniker masking anxiety and neurosis. Now, my fascination focuses less on escaping mass for the sake of consuming prodigious amounts of donuts, generously donated by parishioners more devout than I. Instead, I cannot help but think about the four years we spend here and the confounding ways in which they pass. I do not intend to get philosophical—I am not True Detective’s Rust Cohle; I am not The Sound and the Fury’s Quentin Compson. After years of reading and discussing Faulkner, I still do not know what he is talking about for the most part, but it is suffice to say that embodying one of his characters sounds less than ideal. As for Mr. Cohle, I do not know if I could even find the substances one needs to take in order to exist as he does, let alone stomach them. As a second-semester junior, I have been asked “How’s school?” approximately 37,826 times at this point—by friends and parents and others who might as well skip the empty formality. But, all jokes and genuine appreciation of people invested in my life aside, I never really know how to answer. On the rare occasions when I avoid routine, monosyllabic responses, I tend to talk about time, about how the college years simultaneously speed by and contain with-
in them what feels like lifetimes. I vividly recall climbing far too many stairs moving into Harbin in sweltering heat, but apparently this occurred two and a half years ago. My roommates insist we have inhabited our cozy and beloved Village B apartment for only six months, but I swear we have done years’ worth of bonding and damage. I do not think I am saying anything new or revolutionary. Many of you, college student or otherwise, feel the same. But I seem to be getting worse and worse at controlling time, with my awareness of its ebbs and flows now suspect at best. I want time to fast forward, stop, and slow at my discretion, but I cannot even keep it straight. Recently, I remembered that I am somehow 21 years old and in my sixth semester of college. Harry Potter had destroyed two horcruxes by his sixth year at Hogwarts. I felt old. I never seem to notice time passing before me. Only when landmarks pop up does the fear and obsession come rushing in. My sister’s college graduation alerted me of the horrifying fact that I myself had started college. Malcolm Butler sealing a Patriots victory in Super Bowl 49 reminded me that it had been ten years since their last championship, and that I was apparently far removed from being the carefree pre-adolescent who had celebrated it with reckless abandon. Roy Hibbert’s 2008 game-winning three against UConn, a shot my dad and I watched gleefully in a raucous Verizon Center, feels like it happened yesterday, but the relentless mediocrity of our current Hoyas has reminded me that this is not the case. In my brief experience as an “adult” of legal drinking age, each purchase or order of alcohol has led to me awkwardly and unconfidently stating
that I am indeed 21. Left to my own devices, I might still think I was twelve. But what does any of this mean, besides that I most definitely still measure high on any scale of neurotic tendencies? I am not entirely certain, but I have made one important observation regarding time: we have a lot of it. In my first weeks and months at Georgetown, I mostly counted down the days—until vacations or long weekends or major sporting events, any interruption of the self-inflicted monotony that I dreaded and for which I took no responsibility. For too long, I felt like we had too much time here, but really we have more than we deserve, which I take to be an important distinction. We all talk and hear about how busy we are on a daily basis. The weight of academic, personal, and professional expectations leaves most students feeling rushed at some time or another. But this busy life, when compared with the lazy and time-counting one I created for myself upon my arrival at Georgetown, is a good one. With the resources and opportunities available to us, why not fill our schedules (within reason)? The key is actively thinking about and choosing that with which you want to fill your schedule. David Foster Wallace asserted that college education is, when it comes down to it, about “learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think.” If that is the case, and if our schedules are to be full and overwhelming, we should make every effort to be overwhelmed not by pressure and tasks that fit someone else’s idea of important but instead by the classes, people and pursuits that invigorate and inspire. I am now happy to act only intermittently in ways aligned with my childhood nickname. Of course there remain days and classes and conversations that drag on. Some days threaten to make me a Quentin, but those days end. I try to live out Wallace’s words, actively considering my choices, thoughts, ambitions, and growth. I often fail. But I can at least sometimes embrace the fullness of my Georgetown experience, whether it feels in a given moment to be rushing by or trudging along tauntingly. I would recommend doing the same, though for all I know, everyone else has already learned this lesson. Judging by the slumped bodies and deadened faces I have seen populating Lau 2 for the last week, I would guess that many others forget it at least sometimes. Regardless, here is my shout into the din: fill- as best you can - rather than count the time. It will wane away whether we mark it or not, so never count it down- even if there are donuts.
BY BRIAN MCMAHON
HE is a junior in the College. SAm lee
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VOICES
6 THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
Eighty-Nine percent of Americans feel they do not know someone who is trans
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MARCH 4, 2016
Now You See Me The LGBTI Movement Beyond Marriage Equality The image of a champion is subjective. How an image is built in the eye of the public can decide the ultimate fate of a person, or even an entire movement; after all as the saying goes, “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” In the case of the American LGBTI rights movement, positive narratives have been the primary vehicle for progress. When constructed properly, a favorable public representation can humanize a movement in a way that sows the seeds of acceptance in the public opinion. Last summer, the groundbreaking Obergefell v. Hodges decision resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage in all 50 states, and the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it would move towards allowing transgender service members to openly serve in addition to extending the Military Equal Opportunity policy to gay and lesbian service members. So “Love Wins,” and the LGBTI community has everything they could want, right? Not quite. Despite the progress made recently in the United States, there is a difference between the supposedly supportive public opinion surrounding LGBTI issues and the realization of the goals of the movement for comprehensive and inclusive rights for LGBTI people nationwide. Legislation explicitly providing and protecting rights for LGBTI Americans is notoriously lacking at the state and federal levels, and perhaps the most damaging void left so far by the rights movement in the U.S. is the lack of non-homogenous queer representation, both in the media and in official data collection. The LGBTI community is not and never will be composed exclusively of people who are white, cis-gendered, strictly homosexual, (upper) middle class, or any combination of the four, so why is it so often represented as such? At the 2015 Social Good Summit, actress and trans rights activist Laverne Cox hosted a panel titled “To Be Counted,” which discussed the urgency of data collection, especially surrounding trans rights. While the lack of diversity in data collection (i.e., inclusion of more racial and ethnic minorities as well as a greater variety of sexual orientations, gender identities, and socio-economic classes) is a widespread problem in the LGBTI community, the damaging effects this void has on the trans community is often disregarded. In the U.S. and across the world, there is little to no official data on trans citizens, which leads to greater difficulties when addressing issues from healthcare to hate crimes. While trans visibility is on the rise in the media, 89 percent of Americans feel they do not know someone who is trans; trans Americans are less likely to be afforded protections and rights under the law in the states where they live; and people who identify as trans face an exponentially higher risk of violence and suicide attempts. Cox was a dynamic moderator of her panel, and she made one of her most striking points when she turned to the audience and asked: “What message are we sending to transgender young people when we don’t count them? We’re telling them they don’t matter.” After a day and a half of panels and speakers full of pleasant commentary on the importance of youth and its power moving towards 2030, this thought was shocking, but it rang true. At times in my life I have felt disenfranchised, but to not have my identity counted or considered to the extent that trans people face worldwide would be truly devastating. In many ways, building a stronger, more inclusive cultural narrative surrounding the queer movement could be the key to cementing a comprehensively accepting society for LGBTI people. Already we have seen the beginnings of queer representation in pop culture through popular shows such as Modern Family and Orange is the New Black. However, even with the
commons.wikipedia.org
growing list of shows including LGBTI characters, the number of realistic representations that aren’t stereotypical sassy, cisgender (typically white) gay males is still fairly small. While this may not seem to be a point to complain about—cue the cries of “at least you have something”—take into consideration that queer people of color are affected disproportionately by the violence and discrimination that LGBTI people struggle against. My Social Good Summit colleagues and I were already well aware of the power of media, so it shouldn’t be difficult for us to understand the importance of including genderqueer and queer people of color in the media we present. Even if we don’t actively work to make others aware of this importance and power dynamic, there is no excuse for not acting upon it ourselves. Seeing positive portrayals of someone who is black and genderqueer on TV or online or in a movie may not change everyone’s opinion, but simply acknowledging that someone like that exists could change a few opinions, if not a life. Being seen is the first step to progress, but simply seeing a problem doesn’t create a solution. For the LGBTI community, it may be difficult to proceed with hope or determine the next steps in the face of aggressive, high-profile transphobia and homophobia both at home and abroad. Luckily the United States and countries worldwide have been presented with not only an opportunity, but also a channel to pursue LGBTI rights and visibility through their involvement in the United Nations. Two years ago the United Nations launched the Free and Equal Campaign, focused on international education on LGBTI issues, as well as promoting visibility and rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex persons. Additionally, while there may not be a specific goal introduced with the new Sustainable Development Goals that focuses specifically on LGBTI progress, the implicit broadness of the agenda leaves openings for LGBTI issues to be brought to the forefront. After all, as a marginalized community, LGBTI people are affected to a higher degree by the issues the Goals set out to tackle. Greater visibility and data collection for the LGBTI community is only one of many steps to the ultimate goal of a world where everyone is truly free and equal. However, while the LGBTI community must still push to have its rights fulfilled, there are now others pushing with it.
BY RACHEL BROOKS
She is a junior in the College.
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
austin stollhaus
The Round Table
Rhodes Gone Wrong
Do No Evil
On Feb 15th, students at the University of Cape Town, South Africa started a riot. They vandalized statues, set fire to college transports, firebombed a vice-chancellor’s office, and burnt several paintings in a protest to “decolonise” public education. The internet’s keen-nosed irony hounds quickly discovered that one of the paintings burned was by Richard Baholo, a black anti-Apartheid painter, depicting a figure holding a sign that read “No to violence.” The riots that resulted in thousands of dollars’ worth of paint and irony going up in flames began in 2015, when students demanded UCT remove the “colonial” statue of Cecil Rhodes, founder of the Rhodes Scholarship. The protests have also denounced student housing shortages and tuition fees, but its primary aim remained to “decolonise” education. The hashtag #RhodesMustFall erupted on Twitter, spreading the protests to Oxford University and UC Berkeley. From South Africa to North America, we have seen similar protests. In the months past, #BlackLivesMatter protesters took over streets and libraries, blocking traffic and walking out on exams to make their point heard. University of Missouri students protesting in solidarity with Ferguson chanted “White silence is violence!” at awareness rallies. And even at our very own Georgetown, student protests pushed the University to rename Mulledy and McSherry Hall, due to their namesakes’ involvement in the slave trade. First and foremost, this is a discussion that needs to be held. And in many places, students seem to be the ones leading the discussion. In part, this is because colleges are meant to serve as trade shows for nascent ideas. Social media also allows more people than ever before to participate in “hashtag activism” (hashtivism?) and organize on an unprecedented scale—and as college students in the 21st century, we couldn’t be more plugged in if we could download Buzzfeed straight into our skulls. What are probably long-overdue conversations about race and inequality in society are being held on a level that borders on involuntary—even people trying to stay out of these discussions wind up exposed. This is good, until works of art wind up on fire.
“The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay.” - 2012 Democratic Party Platform “Courts should have the option of imposing the death penalty in capital murder cases.” - 2012 Republican Party Platform No single American political party holds a monopoly on morality, nor can any one candidate claim to be the torchbearer of Catholic social teachings. For the last few presidential election cycles, the Republican Party has been portrayed as the voice of people who love guns and Jesus, while the Democratic Party has been made the voice of tree huggers and feminists. Yet, no party as of late has served as the natural home of Catholic voters. Often times, Catholics face a dilemma in voting due to the different emphases of each major party on central tenets of Catholic social teaching. Republicans are more aligned with the Catholic view on issues like same sex marriage and abortion. Despite that, the GOP is hardly in line with Pope Francis’ call to welcome the stranger and denounce unrestricted capitalism, particularly presidential frontrunners Trump and Sen. Cruz. Are the Democrats the quiet moral majority? Probably not. Secretary Clinton and Sen. Sanders are more aligned with the Church on environmental stewardship and workers’ rights, but they are always on the opposite side of the courtroom on abortion, a practice the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has called an “intrinsically evil act.” Gone are the days when your parish priest was running for your local Congressional seat, but that too was not the solution. It seems that Catholic voters sit in a double bind: whichever candidate they choose, they violate the principles of their faith. Yet, time and time again, the Church has convinced its followers that voting is not only a civil duty, but also a religious duty. The
I submit that there are good and bad forms of protest. And as students as well as citizens, we have a responsibility to know which are which. Civil disobedience should remain an option—the whole point of a protest is to force people to listen to your grievances, and that almost always involves inconveniencing someone. In the same way no one has ever made an omelet without breaking a few eggs, sometimes social change has to stop traffic. But there comes a line—and it’s usually the line that divides “protest” from “riot” –where the aggrieved party becomes the problem. And burning art we find “problematic” like higher-educated Brownshirts is definitely not helping anyone’s case. When we protest, it’s our prerogative to make our voices heard. But as annoying as it is to admit, it’s also our responsibility to keep ourselves in check. As members of #RhodesMustFall and #BlackLivesMatter have complained, peaceful protest is very, very slow. Picket lines and sit-ins don’t have the attention-getting flare of flaming cars. They argue that if the protest is too polite, the powers that be can simply ignore them. And that would be a good point—if protesters had any other alternative. But this kind of behavior doesn’t just make authority acknowledge protesters-it also gives authority an excuse to write them off as crazed fanatics. Courtesy of a few out-of-control students, every single critic of #RhodesMustFall now has shiny new photos of burning artwork for the front page of their blog. The moderate allies of the protesters, the ones who might otherwise be out in the street, see these pictures and get cold feet. And without the moderate masses on board, the protest is no longer a popular movement—and every university and media outlet is free to write them off. And it is at this point, without widespread public support, that change effectively becomes impossible. We saw this happen with #BlackLivesMatter—the candlelight vigils ignored on Fox in favor of rioters tipping cars. And unless we practice restraint, we’ll see this happen with every major social movement. Even if you don’t believe in a moral line that shouldn’t be crossed, common sense dictates that the desire to achieve change means we should keep it under control.
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knights of columbus
VOICES
Burning Issues
Catholic Church is fully cognizant of this Catch-22, and under Pope John Paul II, she even restrained herself from endorsing candidates for elected office. Even so, the leadership of the Church is torn in deciding who is worthy of receiving votes. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken a hardline on pro-life issues like abortion, the death penalty, and euthanasia. Alternately, Bishop McElroy of San Diego believes this is an oversimplification—he argues that there are four pillar issues, which include abortions as well as environmental stewardship, assisted suicide, and poverty. Considering the dilemmas facing the Church and the moral quagmire in which voters will find themselves, Catholic voters should not base their decision on political platforms. Instead, they should base their decision on the character of the candidates. There is one idea on which all factions of the Church can agree, and that is the virtue of prudence. Prudence, in political terms, means that each issue is treated with respect and all sides of the debate are heard. Saint Thomas Aquinas stated that prudence is “right reason in action”. In 1974, then Sen. Joe Biden addressed this very issue. “I think the issues are merely a vehicle to portray your intellectual capacity to the voters ... a vehicle by which the voters will determine your honesty and candor.” It can be difficult to measure the intrinsic character of candidates within a thirty-second sound bite, even so, the power in choice that voters wield will determine the course of one of the most powerful nations on earth. You should expect the candidate whom you choose to exercise the same care and consideration for each issue affecting the country as you do when casting your vote. For the sake of the marginalized, the unborn, the stranger, the natural world, and the future of your country, you must choose wisely. All things considered, being a Catholic voter can be tough. There is, however, one clear choice this primary season, and that is prudence. Written by Max Rosner
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MARCH 4, 2016
Uprooted: The Displacement of Georgetown’s Black Community By Lilah Burke
M Street in Georgetown - 1954
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DDOT DC
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
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n 1957, the year Little Rock Central High School was desegregated, Sen. John F. Kennedy bought a house in the Georgetown neighborhood. Attached to the deed was a restrictive covenant: the house could never be “used or occupied or sold, conveyed, leased, rented, or given to Negroes or any person or persons of the Negro race or blood.” At the time, Washington D.C was 54 percent black. Georgetown, where black people made up only 9 percent of the population, was a white community in a black city. This was not always the case. Just decades before, the neighborhood had a different complexion. In 1930, Georgetown was 30 percent black. Even earlier, in 1880, 5,000 African Americans lived in the neighborhood, many of whom were former slaves. The history of black Georgetown cannot be told entirely in numbers. In Black Georgetown Remembered, a book and documentary recently re-released on its 25th anniversary, it is told through the stories and recollections of Georgetowners, past and present, who knew the area as a lively and intimate black community. David W. Powell, producer and director of the movie, recognizes that the interviews must be taken as “factually inaccurate,” because memory is a tricky thing. Despite this, the interviews capture the narrative of the community as it is remembered: the burgeoning, the blossoming, and the dispersal. The black Georgetown that comes out in interviews is a tight-knit social circle. “There were no strangers among the black community,” said Neville Waters Jr, in the film. “You not only knew which barbershop [someone] went to, but you knew who their barber was.” It was a community that felt a responsibility to take care of its own. “I remember when my mother died,” said Ernstine Henry Green, in her interview. “But we had 20 mothers. Everyone on the block was our mother after that.” Many of the stories center around Mount Zion United Methodist Church, the oldest black congregation in the city, and other black churches in the area. Others involve Rose Park, where residents remember playing as children. The tennis court was the second home of the Peters sisters, who went on to win 14 doubles titles in their later careers. Today, Mount Zion, on the intersection of 27th and O Streets, still fills its pews with black parishioners, but many of them drive in from outside the neighborhood. Though the tennis courts have been dedicated to the Peters sisters, Rose Park is no longer filled with black children. By 1958, the eulogy was already being written. “No children,” said Charles Marshall III then, according to the book. “No Rose Park Warriors—no more. They’re gone. Don’t have enough people to play softball, to field a community softball team. Different time.” Professor Maurice Jackson, of the History Department, African American Studies Program, and an Affiliated Professor of Music, moderated an event panel in Gaston Hall last Wednesday for the re-release of the book. When he opened the floor for questions, Jackson implored the audience not to focus on the decline of the community. “I’m as mad as anyone about gentrification,” he said. “But I restrain myself because this is Black Georgetown Remembered night.” The audience was filled with former and current residents of Georgetown, reliving the objects of their nostalgia with one another. Removal and displacement were soft-spoken undercurrents. Some anger seemed to bubble from the questioners, faced with the portrait of a community they feel was unjustly taken from them. Like Jackson, the audience members seemed to be trying to restrain themselves. The story of how black Georgetown lived is an important one, but one that is best told in the words of current and former residents. That landscape is one all students should familiarize themselves with. The second story of the two works, the story
of how black Georgetown was dispersed, though it was not the subject of the event, is equally important to current students. “Black Georgetown lives,” said Jackson. “But black Georgetown is changing. The city is changing.” In 1920, Georgetown was an “independent and dynamic” black community, according to the book. The neighborhood boasted six black churches and hosted black-owned businesses, black doctors, and black social groups. Because of the lack of zoning restrictions, residents could start up small firms out of their own private homes. The gas lamplights scattered throughout the neighborhood were lit every night by a “patient, black old lamplighter, who is remembered by many as Jasper.” The complexion of Washington began to change in the 1930s, under Roosevelt, as America’s federal bureaucracy grew with the New Deal programs. Scores of white federal civilian employees moved into the District.
“I’m very, very proud of my roots in Georgetown. Every occasion that I have to mention it and to brag about it, so to speak, I do.”
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egregation was a forced reality in the city, and many black residents, faced with economic hardships, found themselves living in substandard dwellings. “I lived in a house where there was no inside toilet,” said Josephine Caroll Smith, who lived on 26th Street until 1924, in her interview. “I lived in a house where there was no hot water. I lived in a house where there were no conveniences.” Boarding houses and alley homes gave black tenants an affordable place to live. These dilapidated but restorable Georgetown houses became attractive for new white Washingtonians. Before the word “gentrification” was even coined, the racial makeup of the neighborhood began to turn over. The dispossession of black residents from their decaying housing began under the mantle of historic restoration. A report delivered at the 1936 Conference on Better Housing Among Negroes portrays the changes as a coordinated and conscious effort on the part of institutions. “The dispossession of Negro residents,” it claims, “is part of the redevelopment project, and it is jointly managed by the city’s leading realtors and their allied banks and trust companies … As a matter of policy, the lending institutions of Washington deny credit to colored people in regions being prepared for whites … Many Negro tenants have been evicted so that white owners could remodel and rent or sell to whites at substantially increased prices. And as the white developers have moved into Georgetown, they have covenanted it block by block with racial restrictions to keep any Negro from returning.” Many blacks in the area did not own their homes, and renters were the first to be ousted. “It is very common for landlords to just flood the building or to cut the heat off,” said Jackson at the event. “It happens all over the country. It just so happens that Georgetown was the first area.” A new District zoning law, the Alley Dwelling Act of 1936, was passed with the goal of razing alley houses. The black population of these alley houses found themselves displaced. Some of the houses were in fact not razed, but refurbished, and sold to affluent whites. As government expansion continued to bring in white workers into World War II, the process of gentrification began to peak. The Georgetown Citizens Association (GCA) and Progressive Citizens Association of Georgetown advocated for the safety, sanitation, and well-being of the community. Their ranks were closed to African Americans. A 1945 report to the GCA characterized Georgetown as “a neighborhood where rich and poor, white and colored, living side by side, have no neighborly contact, share no civic interest.” The civic groups began to concern themselves with the “slum” conditions of their black neighbors, and how best to eliminate them. The number of black tenants in this decade dropped from 599 to 313. By 1950, it was estimated that black residents comprised less than one tenth of Georgetown’s population. The Old
- Pauline Gaskins Mitchell
Georgetown Act of the same year was the final push out for those who were left. The act aimed to preserve and protect historic architecture as prices were climbing, but the associated bureaucracy of the process opened the door for further government discrimination. All remodeling had to be approved by Architectural Boards and the Fine Arts Commissions, who held the neighborhood to a new standard. Boarding houses were to be converted to single family dwellings. “Many families simply could not afford to comply with new zoning restrictions and were forced out by renovation cost,” the book explained. Valerie Babb, one of the authors and a former Professor of English at Georgetown, mentioned at the event that there were stories of agencies taking over houses, painting the porch white, calling it restoration, and selling the homes to white families. “Was it deliberate?” a questioner asked, referring to the gentrification. “How do you define when someone sees they can make a profit and starts condemning buildings, so the people living there have to leave?” asked Babb, in response. “[Or] start raising real estate taxes so high that people can’t afford to pay them?” Yes, the panel agreed. It was deliberate. And Georgetown came to resemble the place we know today: quiet, affluent, and white.
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ctober of last year saw the discovery of “Operation GroupMe” by The Washington Post. Georgetown business owners and retail workers used a group messaging app to report and describe to one another suspicious or “sketchy” activity in the neighborhood, ostensibly to prevent crime. The correspondence, which led to few arrests, faced accusations of racial profiling. Workers would share photos of black store-goers, with descriptions such as “rachet” or “suspicious,” telling others to watch out. The incident seems to be a final underscore to the changes in this community. Decades ago, these streets where retailers report their black clients were filled with black businesses and a vibrant black community. “I’m very, very proud of my roots in Georgetown,” said Pauline Gaskins Mitchell, Georgetowner since 1908, on the film. “Every occasion that I have to mention it and to brag about it, so to speak, I do.” The history of black Georgetown still tugs at those who lived it, even after all they have come through. There is the sense that something precious was lost. “I miss that part of my life,” said Eva Calloway to her interviewer. “We get along very beautiful now, but they don’t have that love that we had then.”
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Disengaged District: A History of D.C. Sports
washington senators starting pitcher walter johnson shakes hands with President calvin coolidge in 1925.
National Photo Company Collection
By Chris Almeida
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d Cole remembers Jan. 30, 1983. He remembers grocery stores in his suburb closing early. He remembers sitting with his in-laws around a television. He remembers excitedly thrusting his fist into the air, accidentally punching the ceiling, and wiping the blood off his hands. On Jan. 30, 1983, the Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl for the first time. In moments like these, sports franchises can do more than just reflect the images of their cities. They remake the cities themselves, and shape the outlooks of the people who call those cities home. “Teams can be great unifiers. That was definitely true of the Redskins in their heyday. They were a great unifying force, because people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, different socioeconomic backgrounds, all followed the team with a certain level of intensity, and it was something that you could talk about with anybody,” said Cole. ”Just in your daily life, you go to the grocery store, and you start up a conversation with whomever. You could talk to anybody about it.” Cole was born in 1953 in Prince George’s County, Maryland and now lives in Arlington, Virginia. Aside from a two-year stint in Philadelphia, he has lived in the Washington, D.C. area for his entire life. Growing up, Cole supported the Redskins and the city’s baseball team at the time, the Washington Senators. During Cole’s formative years, both teams were, in his words, “really bad.” But that didn’t stop him from watching baseball and football religiously. “I think in the 1940s, the team had been really good,” said Cole. “My dad was a season ticket holder for the Redskins and had been for many years. He could remember when the team was really good. But things go in cycles and waves, and in those early ‘60s especially, they were really bad.” Cole remembers correctly. The Redskins had only one winning season during the 1960s. In 1969, when Vince Lombardi left the Green Bay Packers to coach in Washington, the team went 7-5-2. Lombardi died of cancer before the
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beginning of the 1970-71 season, but his involvement seemed to breathe new life into the formerly fading franchise. “Around 1970 when Vince Lombardi became the coach, the team and the city became completely reenergized. And that was fun,” said Cole. The Senators struggled during the 1960s as well. “The baseball team was kind of pathetic as competitors and never had good seasons,” Cole said. “Nevertheless, there were a couple of individual players who were good, like Frank Howard, and as kids we used to get excited when he would hit home runs.” The Senators franchise that had been in Washington since 1901 left town after the 1960 season to become the Minnesota Twins. They were replaced the next season by an expansion team that would remain in Washington until the end of the 1971 season before leaving for Arlington, Texas and becoming the Texas Rangers. With the departure of the Senators and no existing basketball or hockey franchises in Washington, the Redskins remained as the only major sports franchise in the city. Conveniently for Cole, the team began succeeding during the 1970s after hiring former Los Angeles Rams coach George Allen. Allen, who served as the team’s coach and controlled personnel management, ran the team by the motto “the future is now.” Allen aimed to improve the Redskins by trading draft picks for veteran players, and his strategy was largely successful. The team reached the Super Bowl in 1973, losing to that season’s Miami Dolphins—the only undefeated team in NFL history. “They made it to the Super Bowl. They didn’t win under him, but it was thrilling to see your team reach that ultimate game,” said Cole. “It was like, ‘I can’t believe it.’ The team we had watched struggle all those years is now in the championship game of the whole league. That was validating for the city.” The Redskins managed to maintain a winning record for much of the next decade but didn’t reach the Super Bowl again until 1983.
Many happenings much more consequential than the winning and losing of games occur in Washington, D.C. every day. Yet, sports, functionally meaningless in the lives of many, can change the outlook of a town. For many years, the residents of the nation’s capital had no team they could proudly support. But now that their teams had reached the pinnacle of their leagues, fans didn’t have to struggle to believe that a championship was around the corner.
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ich Micheli remembers Jan. 30, 1983, too. He was only 13 at the time, but as the son of season ticket holders, he had followed the Redskins for years before their triumph. Micheli is now 45 and runs his family’s restaurant in the D.C. area, where he’s been his entire life. 32 years later, the importance of seeing the Redskins win the Super Bowl is not lost on the long-time fan. “It was nuts. It was upside down. I was at all those home games … The point is, I was active in the fandom of the team, and it was insane,” he said. The next year, the Redskins earned an NFL-best 14-2 record and reached the Super Bowl again. By now, the mentality surrounding the team, at least for Micheli, had changed. “I think the very next year, they played Oakland. I didn’t even watch that Super Bowl… We were travelling so I didn’t actually get to watch the game live. For me, it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to win. But they ended up losing,” he said. “I think that year the Redskins scored the most points in the league. They set a record for points scored and the defense was great … At that point you thought there was going to be a Super Bowl every year. It was like the feeling they must have in New England now.” In the decade following their first Super Bowl, the team, under coach Joe Gibbs, stood as one of the NFL’s model franchises. The Redskins would win two more Super Bowls
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
and have only one losing season. Washington was buzzing about the Redskins. During the Redskins’ two decades of dominance between the early 1970s and the early 1990s, they weren’t alone. The Washington Bullets won four conference titles during the 1970s and captured an NBA Title in 1978. “The Bullets won a championship in 1978, and we were excited for the Bullets, and I do know that the next season we went to a few Bullets games because of that,” said Micheli. “There was excitement. This is a sports town.”
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Teams can be great unifiers. That was definitely true of the Redskins in their heyday. They were a great unifying force because people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, different socioeconomic backgrounds... - Ed Cole “For so long, the two major sports teams associated with Washington, D.C. … the teams struggled so badly that you just didn’t know anything different. You think, ‘Oh, this is just the way it is supposed to be. We’re just not that good.’ And it doesn’t really connect to the city, and yet, somehow, people make the connection,” said Cole. “And I think as a kid especially, you make that connection … you identify a city’s stature with the performance of its teams. It’s sort of a childish way to look at it, and, of course, I was a kid at the time, but I think, honestly, there’s some truth to that with adults across the country, that a city’s stature is connected to the performance of its teams.”
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NBA’s top scorers, Arenas led the team to four consecutive and the Cavs had started their series slowly. But, it was the playoff appearances from 2005 to 2008. Though the team only same thing as ten years earlier,” said Baquedano when asked won one series, against Chicago in the 2005 playoffs, Arenas if he has ever believed that one of his teams could win a was one of the league’s most eccentric personalities, known championship. “We were just trying to talk ourselves into for hitting game-winning shots and giving himself nicknames, believing that we could beat LeBron in a playoff series even “Agent Zero” and “Hibachi”, among others. though we know that we can’t do that.” “I loved that. Unless [John] Wall turns into some incredible Constine gave a shorter response to the same question. player, and we win championship after championship, I don’t “Never. A championship has never been anything think any team is gonna be stronger in my memory than that close to real.” three or four year Gil, Caron [Butler], [Antawn] Jamison stretch. I just loved that team. Gilbert is still my favorite Wizards player. The way he played … the confidence, the arrogance … just everything about him,” said Constine. “I here’s a certain resignation in the way that Constine and remember 2007, I think, against Utah, when he jacked a shot Baquedano speak about their teams. The excitement at the buzzer from half court, and just turned around as the that you hear in Cole and Micheli’s recollections of shot went in. I still remember that exact play. I remember the championship seasons is completely absent. Though the jersey Utah was wearing. They were wearing their horrible disappointment of the past two decades has been real for powder blue jerseys.” both the young and the old, it seems that the successes of the Yet, the Wizards’ glory during the Arenas years was relative past have instilled an unbreakable optimism in those who have and short-lived. In each of the next three seasons, the Wizards experienced victory firsthand. would lose to LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. Arenas’ For the twenty-somethings in the D.C. area, “it” has career was derailed by injuries and off-court incidents and the never happened. Super Bowls and NBA Finals have been Wizards dropped to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. like fictitious events. But even as a generation of fans grows “It was fun that the most entertaining player in the league, more disillusioned with their teams each year, a single taste it seemed, was playing in Washington. It was perfect, because of victory could change the way that they view sports. it was the beginning of the era of following sports on the “It’s very satisfying to see your team win it all. Looking internet, and he had a cool blog on NBA.com that I remember back to those younger years, I thought, ‘Oh, wow, wouldn’t reading when I was in middle school,” said Baquedano. “He it be great if our team, one day, could win it all,’ but you would share funny stories on this blog, and it turned out that think that it’s never going to happen,” said Cole. “Then, he was a crazy person, obviously, but we were happy that he eventually it does happen. When you’ve been following a was scoring points and that the team finally made the playoffs. team, and you feel connected and engaged with the whole There was that streak where he hit three or four buzzer beaters process, you think that if it never happens again, at least it in a few weeks, but the fact that that’s the most exciting thing happened once.” that happened is pretty sad, right?” The Redskins and the Washington Nationals, which came to Washington in 2005, had struggled during these years as well. The Capitals found regular season success after drafting winger Alexander Ovechkin, who became the first athlete from a major professional Washington sports team to win an MVP since Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann in 1983, but never advanced past the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As the decade came to an end, excitement for Washington sports was largely in decline. “You always felt like you would watch the Redskins game during the day and it would be bad football, maybe they would win, and then on Sunday or Monday night you’ll watch the Colts play the Patriots and that was the real big leagues,” said Baquedano. “There has always been such a gulf in quality between the teams that we rooted for and the teams that actually won.” Now, all four of Washington’s major sports franchises have the potential to make the playoffs each year, but very few would call any of the teams legitimate title contenders. The Nationals have had the most promise. They have the reigning National League MVP in 23-year-old Bryce Harper along with a roster full of top flight talent. In recent years, the team has often been the odds favorite to win the World Series in March. But in the past four years, the team has failed to even reach the NLCS, twice losing in the NLDS, and twice missing the playoffs altogether. No team from Washington has even reached a conference finals since the Capitals won the Eastern Conference Playoffs in 1998. “Last year, I thought it was possible that we could make the Finals, but I’ve never thought the Wizards could win a championship in my lifetime. Last year, there was a small window where we were winning the series against the Hawks, Gilbert Arenas, of the washington wizards Keith Allison
en Constine and Joshua Baquedano don’t remember Jan. 30, 1983. They don’t remember the Bullets’ championship in 1978. They don’t remember the Redskins’ Super Bowl wins in 1988 or 1992, either. Both Constine and Baquedano were born in 1993, more than a year after the Redskins’ last Super Bowl win, which is also the city’s last championship in a major sport. Constine’s first memories of Washington sports are from September 2001 when Michael Jordan announced that he would be coming out of retirement to play two seasons with the Wizards. Jordan’s comeback was a promotional success for the team, capturing the interest of many fans, and though Jordan was far removed from his prime, he averaged over 20 points per game during his two seasons in Washington. Still, the Wizards, far from contending for a title, missed the playoffs in both of Jordan’s seasons with the team. The Wizards and the Redskins both struggled during the early 2000s. But the emergence of Wizards star point guard Gilbert Arenas reenergized the team in 2004. As one of the
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MARCH 4, 2016
The Voice breaks down the spring sport season.
MEN’S LACROSSE
SPRING BREAKDOWN
Joe Pollicino
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Next Game: March 5 at Hofstra University Faceoff at 12:00 p.m. Start of Big East Play: March 26 at Marquette. Face-off at 1:00 p.m.
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this year. With three Preseason All-Big East selections on the team, including sophomore goalkeeper Nick Marrocco, junior midfielder Peter Conley, and sophomore midfielder Craig Berge, Warne is excited about the potential of this team. “I think this is probably the most athletic team we’ve had.” And unlike in years past, the Hoyas feel that this team has the talent to compete with the best in the nation. “I think that our guys are up to the challenge,” said Warne. “This year is different in that guys know if we play well, we can absolutely win any game.”
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Fresh off their first winning season since 2012, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team (03, Big East) entered 2016 ranked No. 14 in the country in preseason polls and second in the Big East behind reigning national champion Denver. However, these high hopes have yet to translate to results. The Hoyas lost to No. 1 Notre Dame in their season opener 12-7 in a neutral site contest before losing on the road at No. 13 Towson 10-7 and dropping their home opener to Mount St. Mary’s 11-7. After an unexpected 10-win campaign last season that just saw them narrowly miss a chance the enter NCAA Tournament, Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Warne knows his team will have a target on their back this season. “We’re not going to sneak up on anybody this year,” said Warne. “I think our guys understand now that when we play somebody, we will get respect.” Warne is confident in his team to challenge for the Big East as well as the NCAA Tournament
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WOMEN’S LACROSSE Tyler Pearre After a disappointing 2015 campaign in which the team failed to reach the .500 mark for the first time in over a decade, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team (0-3, Big East) will look to bounce back to their usual form in the 2016 season. This year’s team will feature 10 new freshmen, adding youth to a roster that includes eight seniors. As a result, the Blue and Gray are more athletic and dynamic than last year, an opportunity on which Head Coach Ricky Fried hopes to capitalize. “We’re young and we’re aggressive,” said Fried. “It’s kind of a blessing and a curse in that our freshmen are playing well, but they also have a lot to learn in order to play at this level.” One freshman who has made an immediate impact for the Hoyas so far this season is midfielder Francesca Whitehurst, who currently leads the team in scoring with five goals. In the team’s most recent loss at Princeton, Whitehurst scored four goals, three of which were unassisted. While youth will be a major factor in the outcome of this season, the Hoyas will have to improve their play on the road in order to succeed. Last season, the team managed a disappointing 2-5 record when playing away from the Hilltop and have already lost their first two road games of the season to No. 1 Maryland (3-0, Big Ten) and No. 6 Princeton (3-0, Ivy). Georgetown will play a total of nine games on the road this season, compared to just seven at Cooper Field, making the need to figure out their road woes even more pressing. “We just have to focus on doing what we do well and not worry about things that you can’t control,” said Fried. “When you’re on the road, you get distracted by a lot of outside energies, and so we’re trying to stay focused on the task at hand.” If there is anything the Blue and Gray will want to carry over from last year’s team, it is their stellar play against fellow Big East opponents. The Hoyas won six of seven games against conference foes in 2015, including a five-game win streak to end the regular season. Through the first three games of the 2016 season, the Hoyas have still yet to earn a win. Still Coach Fried believes that this year’s squad has the potential to be great. “We’re going to continue to get better each week of the season. There’s going to be a lot more opportunities for us as we learn to play together. I think this could be an exciting team to watch.” Next Game: March 5 at Towson University. Face-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Start of Big East play: April 2 at Vanderbilt. Face-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
BASEBALL
the strength of their pitching, which set a program record with a combined 3.95 ERA in 2015. Ace starting pitcher Matt Smith will lead the historic staff as he returns for his senior year following an All-Big East First Team 2.80 ERA performance in his junior season. The Hoyas finally returned home to Shirley Povich Field Tuesday afternoon after starting the season with six straight games on the road. During the single-game homestand, the Hoyas shut out UMBC 1-0 in freshman pitcher Jake Cushing’s first collegiate start. Junior closer David Ellingson continued his ninth-inning domination, building off his All-Big East Second Team 0.75 ERA performance in his first season as a closer in 2015. The junior has yet to give up a run through three appearances on the season, mowing down the UMBC hitters in the final inning with two strikeouts for his second save of 2016. “I’m not sure what kind of offensive team we’re going to have,” said Head Coach Pete Wilk. “But I think we can pitch it and catch it.” Though the Hoyas were forced to say goodbye to Georgetown’s first ever Big East Player of the Year selection in catcher Nick Collins, who was drafted by the Oakland Athletics following his senior year in 2015, sophomore outfielder Michael DeRenzi has emerged as the offense’s newest star. The starting right fielder has slashed his way to a .517 batting average through the first seven games of the season, including a 6-for-6 performance in the series finale against Davidson. DeRenzi continued to lead the Blue and Gray in the victory over UMBC, going 3-for-4 with a double. Despite boasting one of the hottest bats in the conference, Wilk is still skeptical about his offense as a whole. “It’s still hard to say,” said Wilk, who is now in his 17th year as Head Coach. “We’ve seen one or two Big East-level pitchers. Until we start to see some of that level of pitching, which we will this coming weekend with Florida Atlantic, it’s still very hard to say. Yeah, we’re racking up some hits and everything, but we haven’t exactly faced a bunch of Cy Young Award winners in recent days. I think we’ll have a much better gauge of who we are offensively through spring break.” The Hoyas’ talented pitching staff, along with DeRenzi’s hot bat, were not enough to make up for sub-par defense through the first few series. According to Wilk, the Hoyas’ lack of field time is a significant disadvantage. “I think that we are going to play better defense than we’ve shown once we get some reps [on a field], which we will take care of in Florida.” Wilk and his players will open spring break with an away series at Florida Atlantic on March 4, before participating in the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Port Charlotte and Port St. Lucie, Fla. on March 8. Though Wilk is disappointed with his team’s defensive performance, the veteran coach is proud of their determination and grit. He hopes that competitive spirit will travel with them to Florida. “This team will fight. I think we’ve proven that,” continued Wilk. “We’ve come down to our last strike a couple weeks ago, and we were struggling yesterday, and we kept battling our butts off and crawled back into the game. I’m proud of that.” Next Game: March 4 at Florida Atlantic University. First pitch at 6:30 p.m. Start of Big East play: April 8 at St. John’s University. First pitch at 3:00 p.m.
Alex Boyd The Georgetown baseball team (3-4, Big East) will seek its second-straight Big East Tournament berth following last year’s 25-28 campaign, including 8-10 in the Big East, that earned the Hoyas their first trip to the conference tournament since 1986. The Blue and Gray will likely rely once again on
SOFTBALL Phillip Steuber After a disappointing beginning to the season, the Georgetown softball team (2-10, Big East) is hoping to improve on last year’s 15-32 performance, including 5-14 in conference play, that led to the team missing out on the Big East Tournament. The Hoyas’ two wins have come against Fairfield University, 8-2, and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, 13-6. Though many of the losses have not been close, the Blue and Gray have demonstrated their determination in a close 3-1 defeat against neighboring Towson University in the Charleston Southern Tournament, and a 7-6, extra innings loss to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in the Carolina Classic “I’m happy with how we’re playing. I like our fight,” said Head Coach Pat Conlan. Beneath that 2-10 record, there are still some positive signs for the Hoyas. Freshman first baseman Sarah Bennett was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll after her standout play in the Carolina Classic on the weekend of Feb. 27. Starting in all four games at the Classic, Bennett led the team offensively with seven hits, including two doubles and a home run. She also posted a team best .467 batting average and an .800 slugging percentage. On the defensive side, Bennett recorded 19 putouts at first base over the four games. While the team went 1-3 on the weekend, veteran-style play from the youthful Bennett has become a staple in her first 12 games, and if she continues to play at such a high level, she may be able to help lift the Hoyas in Big East play. “[Bennett] is certainly hitting the ball like a very experienced college player,” said Conlan of the freshman. “It has been exciting to see a freshman come in and perform on a consistent basis.” Although Bennett has been a source of production so far, her standout play alone has not been enough to secure victories for the Hoyas, who have been unable to match the offensive production of their opponents early in games. In the first four innings, opponents have outscored the Blue and Gray 84-33. “I actually think we have been getting off to pretty good starts,” Conlan explained. “But other people are getting off to better starts. We seem to be scoring early, but our focus now has to become scoring more often, not just early in the game.” As the team returns to Washington, D.C. for the District Invite on March 4, they’ll look to do just that for the rest of the season. With over 30 games remaining in the season, the Hoyas certainly have time to polish their game on both sides of the ball. “The area I’m most concerned about is the consistency,” said Conlan. “I think we’re pitching better; I think we’re swinging the bats well. I think we’re a little inconsistent on defense. We need to put the three parts together. When we do, we’re going to be a tough team.” Next game: March 4 vs. Monmouth for the District Invite. First pitch at 12:00 p.m. Start of Big East play: March 25 vs. St. John’s University. First pitch at 12:00 p.m.
For refreshers on your favorite fall teams that will be returning to action this spring, go to GeorgetownVoice.com/section/sports/.
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ast June, all of The 1975’s social media accounts dramatically disappeared for The title track, “I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware 24 hours. The move resulted in a mini frenzy among loyal fans, who anxiously Of It,” is surprisingly reminiscent of Owl City’s lighthearted electronic sound. The speculated what was happening. What emerged after the blackout was a color slow song transitions into one of the bouncy headline tracks, “The Sound,” which the scheme change, a 180 degree shift from the classic black and white vibe of their first group recently performed on Saturday Night Live and will likely get some radio play. album to an electric pink and white, ‘80s inspired aesthetic. The upbeat, alt-pop song is easy to sing along to and will be a highlight of The 1975’s While the strategy may have been a tad gimmicky, the shift reflected The 1975’s live repertoire when they go on tour this spring. new direction in their online buildup to I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Likewise, “This Must Be My Dream” is an uplifting alternative anthem, interYet So Unaware Of It, their sophomore album, released on Feb. 26. The album title, spersed with pleasant touches of jazz. “Paris” exhibits The 1975’s stunning ability while wordier than most, reflects the stream of consciousness present throughout the to juxtapose a carefree, catchy tune with darker lyrics that explore drug use and self British group’s record. harm. The album concludes with “Nana” and “She Lays Down,” two soft, raw acousFronted by Matt Healy (vocals) and Adam Hann (guitar), The 1975 sought to live tic pieces that show off Healy’s vocal vulnerability as he sings painfully, “And in the up to the popularity of their 2013 debut self-titled album, which found success with the end, she chose cocaine / But it couldn’t fix her brain” in the latter song. hits “Chocolate” and “Girls.” While technically an alt-rock group, the band branches I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It shows off the out to experiment with many genres in I Like It When You Sleep. In addition to their texture, depth, and emotion that The 1975 can pack into a single album. The 17-song traditional upbeat alt-rock sound, The 1975 dabbles in some slower, emotion fueled record runs 75 minutes long, but, despite the length, the variety and seamless transielectronic pieces, an acoustic song or two, and even some ‘80s inspired funk. tions make it worth listening to from top to bottom. The record begins with “The 1975,” the exact same dramatic, slow building elec- Voice’s Choices: “UGH!” and “The Sound” tronic song that started off their first album. It’s both wistful and emotional, preparing by Devon O’Dwyer listeners for the journey to come while giving a little nod to fans of their debut record. The song slowly crescendos and, just before it hits its climax, cuts off and plunges into “Love Me,” a danceable ‘80s inspired funky piece that criticizes the inauthenticity and shallowness of celebrity culture (“She’s got a beautiful face but nothing to say”), perhaps in response to The 1975’s personal experience with rising fame and attention. The album continues with “UGH!,” a bouncy, staccato tune about cocaine. Drug use is a common theme throughout The 1975’s songs, which Healy often sings about with a mix of anxiety, angst, and pleasure. “UGH!” concludes with Healy belting, “I’m not giving it up again,” over and over again. “She’s American” returns The 1975 to their alt-rock roots. The group is arguably most comfortable in this genre, and it shows. The effortlessly catchy song, reminiscent of their first album’s hit “Girls,” is a shout out to their American lovers, with clever cultural lines, like “If she says I gotta fix my teeth then she’s so American.” The album flows into slightly hazier territory with the next three songs, “If I Believe You,” “Please Be Naked,” and “Lostmyhead.” “If I Believe You” is a slow, electronic-jazz ballad featuring a sax solo in which Healy sings wistfully about love, loneliness, and religion, while “Please Be Naked” is a purely instrumental piece featuring piano and some well-produced electronic noises that could be used in a meditation studio. Likewise, “Lostmyhead” is a cathartic, slow pop-electronic tune that gradually builds in sound, but its defining feature is its nod to “Facedown,” a track off of their first album. Careful listeners of both albums will recognize the parallel— while the songs contain different electronic sounds, they include a similar set of lyrics about losing one’s head sung in the same tune. Both songs reflect The 1975’s focus on mental illness as a defining theme in their music. All three songs are good, but they don’t pack quite the punch that we know the band is capable of and ultimately act mostly as transitional pieces. “The Ballad of Me and My Brain,” a louder, alt-rock piece, continues with the theme of mental health, as Healy recklessly belts out that he’s worried he’s losing his brain. The song physically sounds like someone spiraling out of control, in contrast to “Somebody Else” and “Loving Someone,” songs that return to a more delicate, emotional view of love. “Instead of selling sex,” Healy belts out in the latter, only to be cut off by his own electronic vocals, “I think I should be loving someone.” Both songs take a break The 1975 Releases Expansive New Album from the sex and drug-infused world of The 1975’s louder pieces to pause for some refreshing vulnerability.
Beautiful Yet Self-Aware Ana Viotti/flickr
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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE
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LEISURE
Job (Half) Well Done
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Brings Laughs but Lacks Depth
IMDB
hiskey Tango Foxtrot makes perfect sense—under certain conditions. It is un-
doubtedly the combination of directors Glenn Ficara and John Requa’s (Crazy, Stupid Love) rom-com orientation, writer Robert Carlock’s (30 Rock; Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) socially-aware comedic sense, and Tina Fey’s witty, charming humor. It is not a war drama, but rather a comedic look into the difficulties of living in a new place and culture, with the war in Afghanistan as its backdrop. WTF catalogues the adventures of Kim Barker (Tina Fey), a bold reporter with a propensity for swearing and ignoring rules, after she quits her mundane desk job as a broadcast news scriptwriter to take a war beat job in Afghanistan. There, she meets an intrepid female war reporter, Tanya (Margot Robbie), her Afghan tour guide turned best friend, Fahim (Christopher Abbott), and falls in love with Iain (Martin Freeman), the overconfident Irish freelance photographer (who happens to have a big heart—surprise!). Throughout her five years in Afghanistan, Kim is swept up into a world of military affairs, war politics, cultural misunderstandings, and crazy nights out with her new foreign-correspondent friends. Tina Fey’s witty, intelligent humor is a good entry point into Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’s mixed genre. She is a strong female lead, and, while the recurring “Fours become tens in Afghanistan” joke about Fey’s appearance—a common source of Fey’s own jokes and humor—becomes repetitive quickly, she does a wonderful job of portraying Barker as a thoughtful and strong-willed female protagonist. Kim must deal with blatant sexism and obstacles in her journalistic endeavors, and she does so with great force and intelligence. She shines in comparison to the other characters, who fall a bit flat. Tanya fills the stereotypical party girl role, albeit in a foreign correspondent’s shoes. Fahim’s character is well-developed, and shows a man torn between his friendship with Kim and his obligations to his family. Iain is at first a slimy character but grows endearing over the course of the film. His relationship with Fey’s character is dynamic and enjoyable to watch. Nevertheless, Fey’s character is the most engaging in the film. Rather than a coherent plot with clear rising and falling action, WTF presents a collection of adventures and journalistic achievements, which it tries to link together using conventional romance and adventure storylines. The plot itself is not bad, but I found that
the film’s prescribed culminating moments failed to excite. The storyline definitely benefits from Fey’s acting, though, as she gets to throw her witty punchlines out in a variety of amusing cultural and social situations. It’s fair to be wary of the “white woman goes to foreign place and is heroic” narrative that could have played out with WTF, especially with its more comedic approach. And while this narrative takes the stage on occasion—it is centered around a white female journalist entering a war zone, after all—for the most part the film calls itself out when it gets falsely sentimental. There is a wonderful scene in which Kim explains her reasons for moving to Afghanistan, and she speaks of her life-changing realization made while on a spin bike at the gym. Without missing a beat, her friend chimes in with a comment equivalent to “that was the whitest thing I’ve ever heard”; the film rarely misses a beat with these self-aware moments. Its humor is a delicate thing, and hits only a few unfortunate bumps along the way. Furthermore, on the note of humor and subject matter, the film could have been more culturally attentive. A few of the Afghan jokes fall short, and some of the dialogue, particularly the translation scenes between Kim and her interviewees, is a bit far-fetched. The film most disappoints, though, with its flat portrayal of Afghan culture: hijabs are bad, every Afghan man is overtly sexist, and in every scene where there is a crowd of Afghans, they are all yelling in an untranslated foreign language and shoving the foreigners around violently. The sympathetic Afghan character, even, is played by an American. Overall, though, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is an entertaining film for two reasons: Fey’s great performance and the underlying true narrative beneath it. I would imagine that, complimented with a readthrough of Kim Barker’s book The Taliban Shuffle, the film would be complete. On its own, however, it falls just short of being a deep look at foreign journalism. As a comedy, though, the film meets and occasionally surpasses expectations; despite the solemn background of war, comedy maintains its stage presence, with Tina Fey standing in the spotlight. Whiskey’s lighter moments entertain, but its portrayal of a culture in war does not go down quite as smooth. by Erika Bullock
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Sports Spring Break
Vacation Destinations
Women’s Golf at Fresno State for Fresno State Classic 3/7-3/8
Men’s Basketball at Villanova 3/5 12:00pm Men’s Basketball Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden in NY 3/9-3/12
Women’s Basketball Big East Tournament at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago, IL 3/5-3/8 Men’s Lax at Hofstra 3/5 12:00pm Men’s Lax vs. Fairfield 3/8 3:00pm Men’s Lax vs. Hobart 3/12 12:00pm
Women’s Lax at Towson 3/5 3:00pm Women’s Lax at Duke 3/9 3:00pm Women’s Lax vs. Penn 3/12 3:00pm Sailing in Charleston, S.C. for Bavier Team Race 3/5-3/6
Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track NCAA Championships 3/11-3/12 in Birmingham, AL Softball at Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Washington, DC for District Invitational 3/4-3/6 Softball in Tempe, Arizona for ASU Louisville Slugger Invitational 3/11-3/13 Men’s and Women’s Tennis at UC San Diego 3/7 Men’s and Women’s Tennis at UC Irvine 3/10
Baseball at Florida Atlantic 3/4-3/6 Baseball at Port Charlotte and Port St. Lucie, FL for Snowbird Baseball Classic 3/8-3/13 *Bolded TExt Indicates Location*
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