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VOICE the georgetown

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STUDENT GROUP LAUNCHES DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN PAGE 4

FOUR HOYAS SELECTED IN MLS DRAFT PAGE 6

RENWICK GALLERY SHOWCASES 21ST CENTURY ART PAGE 11

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969  January 24, 2013  Volume 48, Issue 3  georgetownvoice.com

W R I T E R S' B L O C K

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january 24, 2013

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letter to the editor

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Voice Crossword “****Word of the Day—Solve” by Tyler Pierce

ACROSS 1. Lab concoction holders 6. Grub 10. Butt sex 14. Brothers’ keeper?

15. Blazed 16. Was a passenger 17. Jose, who developed a method of mind control

18. Retro hairdo 19. Rubbish 20. Breast, wing, drum, and thigh with fries & soda 23. Whore 24. City near Düsseldorf 25. The president, when he rejects a law 28. Final alternative

31. Norse war god 32. Fugard’s A Lesson From ___ 33. Dolly, for one 36. Only chance to get 20. Across and 50 Across for only $11.49 40. Pig pen 41. Line dance 42. Chills and fever 43. Ballsy 44. LPs 46. Shitty sample 49. Cell-phone button (Back when cell phones had buttons) 50. Personal order of chicken, french fries & a soda 56. It’s south of Georgia 57. Side squared, for a square 58. Blonde talk-show host 60. Buffalo’s lake 61. Unit of pressure 62. Discharge 63. Variety of chalcedony 64. Arch type 65. “A merry heart ___ good like a medicine”: Proverbs DOWN 1. ___ deferens 2. Footnote abbr.

3. Au fait 4. “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” for example 5. Paper clip alternative

puzzle answers at georgetownvoice.com 6. Navigational aid 7. Kind of res.

8. Shrek, for one 9. “__ a thunk?”

10. Online university based in Illinois 11. Standards 12. Hacienda brick 13. Allow to be known 21. Sketchy nightclub 22. Stop 25. A priest takes them 26. Modify 27. Minuscule 28. Thomas Gray work 29. Kind of jerk 30. Member of Cong.

32. Barley beards 33. Irritable 34. To meow sharply 35. English for 37 down 37. Latin for 35 down 38. Drunk 39. Surf city in SoCal 43. Dressed for Dip Ball, maybe

44. Neckline shape 45. Got a little closer 46. Dumps 47. ___ cotta 48. Broadcasting 49. Flat replacement 51. Partnership for Peace grp.

52. Hot rum drink 53. Dehydrated 54. On the safe side, at sea 55. For fear that 59. Degree in math?

Answers to“Ringing in the New Year”

ARE YOU A LOGOPHILE? Share your love of words and help us write crosswords.

Email crossword@georgetownvoice.com.

editorial

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VOICE the georgetown

Volume 48.3 January 24, 2013 Editor-in-Chief: Keaton Hoffman Managing Editor: Gavin Bade Blog Editor: Connor Jones News Editor: Matt Weinmann Sports Editor: Steven Criss Feature Editor: Julia Tanaka Cover Editor: Neha Ghanshamdas Leisure Editor: Julia Lloyd-George Voices Editor: Sara Ainsworth Photo Editor: Miles Gavin Meng Design Editors: Amanda Dominguez, Madhuri Vairapandi Projects Editors: Alex Graham, John Sapunor Puzzles Editors: Andrew Duverney, Tyler Pierce Contributing Editors: Leigh Finnegan, Kevin Joseph Assistant Blog Editors: Isabel Echarte, Ryan Greene, Caitriona Pagni Assistant News Editors: Lucia He, Julia Jester, Jeffrey Lin Assistant Sports Editors: Chris Almeida, Chris Castano Assistant Cover Editor: Lauren Ashley Panawa Assistant Leisure Editors: Alex Golway, Kirill Makarenko Assistant Photo Editors: Tiffany Lachhonna, Andres Rengifo Assistant Design Editor: Teddy Schaffer

Staff Writers:

Emilia Brahm, Rachel Calvert, Will Collins, Emlyn Crenshaw, Brendan Crowley, Alex Lau, Lindsay Leasor, Keith Levinsky, Claire McDaniel, Liana Mehring, Vanya Mehta, Joe Pollicino, Heather Regen, Cole Stangler, Melissa Sullivan, Ambika Tripathi, Cannon Warren

Staff Photographers:

Rebecca Anthony, Max Blodgett, Julian de la Paz, Matthew Fried, Kirill Makarenko, Tim Markatos, Tess O’Connor, Larissa Ong, Matt Thees

Staff Designer: Karen Bu Copy Chief: Morgan Manger Copy Editors:

Kathryn Booth, Grace Funsten, Tori Jovanovski, Rina Li, Sonia Okolie, Caitriona Pagni, Ana Smith, Dana Suekoff, Kim Tay, Suzanne Trivette

Editorial Board Chair: Patricia Cipollitti Editorial Board:

Maitane Arana, Aisha Babalakin, Gavin Bade, Nico Dona Dalle Rose, Keaton Hoffman, Julia Jester, Caitriona Pagni, Julia Tanaka, Galen Weber

Head of Business: Aarohi Vora The Georgetown Voice

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday.

This newspaper was made possible in part with the support of Campus Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress, online at CampusProgress.org. Campus Progress works to help

young people — advocates, activists, journalists, artists — make their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn more at CampusProgress.org.

Mailing Address: Georgetown University The Georgetown Voice Box 571066 Washington, D.C. 20057

Office: Leavey Center Room 424 Georgetown University Washington, D.C. 20057

Email: editor@georgetownvoice.com Advertising: business@georgetownvoice.com Web Site: georgetownvoice.com 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. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the Editorial Board. 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. The Georgetown Voice is produced in the Georgetown Voice office and composed on Macintosh computers using the Adobe InDesign publishing system and is printed by Silver Communications. All materials copyright the Georgetown Voice. All rights reserved.

On this week’s cover: “Creative Writing” Cover Design: Madhuri Vairapandi (COL ‘14)

the georgetown voice 3 FUELING INJUSTICE

Divest from fossil fuels to preserve values

Yesterday, a group of students presented a letter to President DeGioia asking the University to freeze all new investments in fossil fuels and divest from current holdings within the next five years. The students, known as GU Fossil Free, also demand that Georgetown increase transparency and accountability in the investment process by giving the Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility review and veto powers over the University’s investments.

The University should stand by this proposal and try to meet the demands of GU Fossil Free as soon as possible.

Divesting from fossil fuels is no easy task, as records of previous divestment campaigns at Georgetown suggest. In 1986, it took more than three years of constant student pressure and 35 student arrests for the University administration to commit to divesting from American companies engaged in apartheid-

era South Africa. Moreover, it’s almost certain that fossil fuel investments currently represent a much larger portion of the university’s endowment than South African business did in the 1980s.

However, considering last November’s launch of Georgetown’s $20 million Environment Initiative, the University has a demonstrated commitment to environmental welfare.

As a university that takes pride in its Jesuit ideals, Georgetown should not only be concerned about the devastating implications of global warming on the environment, but also the danger it poses to human communities.

According to the Clean Air Task Force, coal burning is linked to 21,000 American deaths and another 300,000 cases of acute cardiac and respiratory illnesses every year. In a country that lacks a universal public healthcare system, this means that lower income brackets suffer the most from America’s addiction to dirty energy.

Georgetown has the resources to take meaningful action on climate change and the social responsibility to divest. Although the University depends on the endowment for crucial programs like financial aid, there exist a myriad of sound and profitable investment alternatives that don’t compromise Georgetown’s financial or ethical integrity.

Universities across the nation have seen similar campaigns start up over the past year.

Even though significant progress has been made on smaller campuses, no campaign has been successful at a university with an endowment larger than $1 billion. As one of the nation’s most prestigious universities, Georgetown should serve as an example for its peers—we demand that the University divest from fossil fuels according to GU Fossil Free’s timeline, sending a clear moral message that today’s generation does not stand for environmental injustice.

TREADING LIGHTLY

License plates highlight statehood struggle Two weeks ago, Obama finally announced his decision to use the District’s “taxation without representation” license plates on the presidential limousines in time for last Monday’s inauguration. Although it is a small act, the President’s use of the politically significant plates is a meaningful step forward in the struggle for D.C. statehood.

First authorized by D.C. leaders in 2000 and now standard issue for District residents, the license plates are a powerful allusion to the American revolutionary slogan: “Taxation without representation is tyranny.” Indeed, D.C. citizens find themselves at the mercy of legislators they do not elect and who come from wildly different demographic groups and geographic regions from the average Washingtonian. D.C. residents pay federal taxes but have no voting representation in the U.S. Congress, the body that controls local courts, reserves the power to overrule local laws and budget decisions, and may even abrogate the District’s elected local government.

Though President Clinton briefly used the plates during his last weeks in office, Bush was quick to remove them from presidential cars.

D.C. rights advocates have waited four years for a decision from Obama, who publicly expressed his support for D.C. statehood as early as 2007.

In a recent statement, White House officials said Obama’s use of the license plates demonstrates the President’s “commitment to the principle of full representation for the people of the District of Columbia and his willingness to fight for voting rights, Home Rule, and budget autonomy for the District.” This expression of solidarity is promising, but with the hard battles Obama faces in the new term, we doubt that he will actively dedicate himself to D.C.’s plight.

Fortunately, District residents have taken the struggle into their own hands. Last October, a bill to amend the Home Rule Act was introduced in the D.C. Council. The bill pushes for budget autonomy, which would allow the District government to allocate and spend locallyraised tax revenue without having to wait sev-

eral months for congressional approval and to operate on its own fiscal calendar. Mayor Vincent Gray signed the bill earlier this month, and residents will vote on the issue in a referendum on April 23.

The bill’s legality has been questioned by several lawyers, including the District’s Attorney General Irvin Nathan, who claim that the only way to secure budget autonomy would be for Congress itself to amend the Home Rule Act. Nevertheless, statehood advocacy organizations insist that the Charter does not prohibit budget control from amendment through referendum. Evidently, city leaders agree—or at least they are willing to take the risk.

If supporters of the bill are correct, then the referendum can only be overturned by a disapproving vote from Congress within 35 legislative days, in conjunction with Presidential disapproval. As this renders Obama’s support for District rights crucial, we hope that his decision to adopt D.C.’s protest license plates is more than symbolic.

STRIKING OUT

Obama faces high expectations in second term This past Monday, President Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term.

His inauguration speech was a refreshingly progressive call for action, unequivocal about what needs to be done but broad enough to inspire and allow for policy maneuvering.

The president has recorded significant legislative achievements in his first term, and has expressed hope for continued progress on fixing the still broken economy and addressing global climate change in the next term. Yet the president’s record also includes a substantial number of misguided policies, most deplorably his unchecked use of drone attacks in foreign nations. These policies will need to change if he is to be remembered as a great president.

With the Affordable Care Act, the Fair Pay Act, and the Wall Street Reform Act, President Obama took major steps toward a more fair and equal nation. But 7.9 percent of Americans remain without work, poverty and income inequality are still near historic highs, and working- and middle-class families continue to struggle to pay for higher education. An overriding focus of the Obama administration must continue to be on reducing unemploy-

ment—not through misguided deals to reduce the deficit, but through continued government spending and stable public policy. Without action on the economy, the prospects of our nation’s unemployed and underemployed will continue to be bleak.

While unemployment is a formidable challenge, the greatest problem confronting America today is the threat of global climate change.

Surprisingly, the president gave the issue more than one sentence in the inaugural speech, a marked increase from any of his rhetoric since cap-and-trade failed to pass in 2009. Although the president has been a weak advocate for the environment in the past, we hope his address symbolizes a shift in priorities. The key for the president will be to keep the issue at the forefront of the national consciousness as well as to use the full influence of his office to limit carbon emissions and promote clean energy development at home and abroad. This includes decisively rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline project.

The president Americans heard on Monday spoke powerfully on behalf of equality and justice for all Americans. Unfortunately, Obama’s greatest weakness is the way he

treats the citizens of other nations. Obama declared that enduring security does not require perpetual war, yet his relentless drone strikes in Pakistan—where unmanned drone attacks are six times higher under Obama than Bush— and other foreign nations are just that. There is currently no law or enforceable guidelines on how the administration and the CIA may use drones, even though some estimates place the number of civilian casualties in the thousands.

The continued strikes not only violate the Constitution and the rights of Americans, but also severely tarnish the image of the U.S. abroad.

America has been weakened by this administration’s use of drones, and it is up to the president to place strict, unambiguous, and public limits on the scope of drone strikes.

If the president can heal the American economy, begin the fight against global warming, and end his misguided use of drones, his legacy as one of the great Democratic presidents will be secure. If he can’t, he risks becoming a president whose substantial achievements were overshadowed by an inability to address the age’s most monumental challenges.

news

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january 24, 2013

GU Fossil Free pressures University to divest within 5 years

by Isabel Echarte GU Fossil Free, a new student group created last semester, delivered a letter to President DeGioia’s office Wednesday morning requesting that Georgetown University immediately begin a process to divest from coal, oil, and natural gas companies within five years.

The letter requested that the administration and Board of Trustees follow schools such as Harvard University, Vassar College, Middlebury College, and Swarthmore College, in “making substantial moves to begin the process” of divestment, said the group in their press release.

GU Fossil Free also suggested the school immediately abstain from making any more investments in fossil fuel companies ,and then continue to remove all current investments in such companies within the suggested time frame. The group believes five years allows for the necessary research on the impact of such a decision and for alternative investments.

The letter asserts that such a decision has no up front cost for the University and will only

affect possible future returns, which the group says can be replaced by other investments.

“Fossil fuel companies are responsible for the deteriorating condition of our planet.

They pose a threat to public health, and they have a long track record of disregarding human rights,” said Sydney Browning (COL ’15), a member of GU Fossil Free, in the press release. “Consequently, GU Fossil Free believes that investment in any such companies signifies complicity in carrying out one of the most profound injustices of our era.”

GU Fossil Free said that in the past Georgetown has maintained its commitment to the ethical oversight of its investments through its recent decision to terminate its contract with Adidas earlier this year and Russell Athletic in 2009. The letter said that making this decision would also sustain its demonstrated interest in ecological issues evident in its launch of the Environment Initiative last year.

“If Georgetown takes its Jesuit identity seriously, as well as its oft-stated commitment to sustainability and the environ-

ment, its actions must match its rhetoric,” said the group in its letter to DeGioia. “In this case, that means putting the University’s money where its mouth is and immediately freezing all new investments in fossil fuel corporations and beginning a five year process to divest completely from them.”

The group believes the school will be able to disclose where the endowment is invested without affecting the confidentiality of other investments. The University’s investment portfolio is not public, a standard practice among most private higher education institutions, and it is not clear to what extent, if any, fossil fuel investments make up that portfolio. The letter cites Middlebury as an example of a school disclosing the amount it invests in fossil fuel companies in light of its own student divestment campaign.

The President’s Office has given the group’s proposal to the Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility, which reviews such requests to “determine whether a proposal has a valid basis,” said Stacy Kerr, Assistant Vice Presi-

dent for Communications, in an email to the Voice. Next the committee will decide whether it should be considered further by either the Board of Directors or the Committee on Finance and Administration.

“We take these concerns seriously,” said Kerr. “In fact, that is precisely why last year we enhanced the Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility with the ability to make recommendations about our investment practices.”

The group also included in its proposal a request to give the CISR review and veto powers over all new endowment investments, saying this action is crucial to ensure Georgetown continues to choose ethical places to put its money after the divestment campaign has ended.

Mark Waterman (SFS ’13), a member of GU Fossil Free, said he hopes the administration is willing to sit down with the group and further discuss the proposal, though he expects some “pushback.”

“What we hope will happen is that we’ll get a timely response from the university regarding our letter and … that

they’ll be receptive to our proposal,” said Waterman.

The group plans to continue the initiative by rallying individual student, faculty, and alumni support. Many student organizations have already pledged to help advance the campaign, said Browning. The College Democrats, College Republicans, GU Pride, MEChA, Eco Action, Solidarity Committee, Interfaith Council, several faculty members, several other organizations, and club sports teams will join GU Fossil Free in this campaign, according to the press release.

GU Fossil Free, which started with three students after they heard about a similar campaign at Vassar, is optimistic that they will be successful in this initiative.

“I just want to emphasize that we view this as an opportunity for Georgetown to become a leader in environmental sustainability,” said Browning. “If Georgetown divests, it will send a strong message that we must combat global climate change.”

In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that Voice staffers are among the letter’s signatories.

Simkin alleges that there may be collusion between Deputy Associate Regional Director for NPS Steve LeBel and other potential bidders for the property. “[LeBel] seems to have some agenda,” Simkin said. “It might even be a sweetener deal for an organization like Guest Services.” Guest Services runs concession stands at the National Mall, as well as Thompson’s and Fletcher’s Boathouses.

NPS Associate Regional Director for Communication Jennifer Mummart denied Simkin’s allegations. “The National Parks Service has absolutely no preconceived notion of who will operate the boathouse under a concessions contract,” Mummart said. “It could just as easily be the existing operator as it could be a new operator.”

When it came time to renew the lease on the property, NPS discovered that Simkin’s name was not on the lease, requiring the issue of the RFQ to legally issue another contract.

Simkin argues that NPS has no right to issue the lease.

“There’s been a finding, at least at this point, that the lease that the Parks Service had had with the city for the land was subject to cancellation if the Parks Service ever amended what was going on there on the river,” Simkin said. “They’ve amended it twice since then, we found out, so that means that it’s reverted back to the city’s control and ownership, yet they’ve been acting as if they’ve been the landlord.”

With a legal battle on the horizon, Simkin is beginning to get nervous. “I’m just a mom-andpop operation here, but I know that there’s going to be a fight,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate one that didn’t have to happen.”

Although Jack’s is closed during the winter, preparations for the warmer months need to begin.

“The bottom line is they are just killing me. I have to start hiring folks and buy boats and all that, and I am just paralyzed,” Simkin said. “Here we [Jack’s] are doing well, and big brother, or city hall, or whoever you want to call it, decides they’d rather give it to someone they’re friends with.”

Owner of Jack’s Boathouse faces legal battle over property rights

by Ryan Greene

Jack’s Boathouse has been renting out kayaks from the Georgetown waterfront for nearly 70 years, but a legal battle is beginning to develop over the rights to the property—and the current operator of Jack’s is alleging that the National Park Service (NPS) has made a deal with a major competitor.

Last December, the NPS informed the owner of Jack’s, Paul Simkin, that the lease would not be renewed at the end of January. A flood of public outcry, including petitions to city officials and a support group on Facebook, has temporarily suspended Jack’s’ closing.

On Jan. 18, the NPS released a Request for Qualifications, seeking new ownership for the property.

“The existing operator, Jack’s Boathouse, will be allowed to compete for the contract and remain in place until the contract has been awarded,” reads the RFQ. “The NPS is committed to protecting park resources and providing access to outdoor recreation, and a concession contract will ensure

Georgetown Voice ARCHIVES

A Georgetown institution for 70 years, Jack’s Boathouse may be forced out. that the nation receives fair compensation for commercial ventures inside this national park.”

Simkin is angry that the NPS is acting—in his view—as though it can give away his business.

“They’re going to put this out to bid, and they’re asking me to bid on my own company,” Simkin said. “They put a thing out that had all of my trade information, asking me to bid against myself.”

Besides being forced to bid against himself, Simkin does not believe the NPS is operating on a level playing field.

“With the Parks Service, it’s weird because it’s almost one hundred percent subjective,” Simkin said, “meaning you can give them the best information, and they can think, ‘We just choose not to use you, and we don’t have to tell you why.’”

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the georgetown voice 5

Students honor MLK’s legacy with service, celebration

by Lucia He Throughout this week, the Georgetown community is celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with several events organized both on and off campus to commemorate the 50th anniversary of King’s call to justice and embrace of radical social change.

On Saturday, Jan. 19, a group of around 250 Georgetown students, faculty, and staff volunteered at the MLK Day of Service, organized by the Center for Social Justice in cooperation with the DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative. The event was selected as an official part of the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s National Day of Service.

“Each year, in honor of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., members of our community gather together for a day of service,” said Georgetown President John DeGioia on the occasion.

Volunteers worked in service projects in Ward 7, one of D.C.’s poorest and most socially marginalized neighborhoods. Service projects such as food preparation and elderly outreach were held in five different sites around the ward, including three elementary schools, a

senior citizen home, and a recreation and community center.

“I think it was great because we didn’t go to a site and complete service ‘on’ a community,” wrote Sergio Elias Pianko (MSB ‘15), one of the site leaders for the event, in an email. “We worked with community partners to target and develop the service initiatives they felt were necessary and, by doing so, service grew organically from within the community.”

Several volunteers echoed Pianko’s sentiments.

“It was truly an exceptional experience, for it prompted me to reflect on issues such as family values, old age, and solitude,” wrote Stephania Sferra Taladrid (SFS ‘15), who

coUrteSY GeorGetown UniVerSitY

Mary Brown was honored with the John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award.

Certifiably screwed

It’s not often I agree with anything a Chamber of Commerce has to say, but even I have to admit the D.C. Chamber and its business lobby allies have a point in their criticism of the Certified Business Enterprise program. On Tuesday, they wrote a letter to Mayor Vincent Gray asking him to veto a bill passed by the D.C. Council late last year tightening up requirements for businesses participating in the program.

The CBE program was established in 1977 during now-Councilmember Marion Barry’s (DWard 8) reign as mayor with the goal of helping minority-owned businesses win city contracting deals long dominated by white companies. The program works by giving participating companies a leg up in the contract bidding process. Even Barry and his allies concede the program has spiraled out of control. Alan Suderman at Washington City Paper, the only reporter in the city to substantially cover the issue in recent years, writes,

volunteered at a senior residence.

“The most enriching part, beyond my own narrative, was to become aware of the impact one’s actions can have; the way in which one can foster altruism, engaging with the community and embracing the legacy of Martin Luther King.”

Georgetown also hosted the 11th annual Let Freedom Ring Celebration in collaboration with the Kennedy Center on Sunday evening. The event aimed at capturing the life and legacy of MLK through musical performances influenced

by King’s work and his letter written from Birmingham, Ala. The event featured Smokey Robinson, who sang with the Let Freedom Ring Choir. As part of

“... 20 years after courts limited race-based programs, the CBE program has morphed into an unrecognizable mess ... the setup gives mammoth, politically connected firms unfair advantages, invites waste and fraud, and actually hurts, rather than helps, smaller minority-owned businesses.”

For now, don’t worry about the bill itself that’s got the business community peeved. The companies are concerned about having to set aside more money during construction projects and deal with more legislative oversight, but it’s their push for a complete reassessment of the program that we can all get behind. After all, the CBE program’s been implicated in any number of scandals, such as the construction of the new Anacostia High School, well chronicled in the City Paper archives.

Though there have been several attempts to reform the CBE program, business leaders point out, none have questioned its basic premise. Perhaps this is because a number of councilmembers have something to gain from

the program as is. Just before they passed the bill, Councilmember David Catania (I-At-Large) proposed an ill-fated amendment that would have limited the number of preference points a CBE company could receive if more than half of its workforce came from outside the District, giving an advantage in the bidding process to those businesses that actually employ local workers.

Sounds reasonable, but the amendment was dead on arrival.

Vincent Orange (D-At-Large), who

city on a Hill

by Gavin Bade

A bi-weekly column about the District Suderman calls “self-appointed champion of the CBE program,” said there wasn’t enough time to vet the proposal, functionally standing up for the current CBE companies that have majority nonDistrict workforces.

Catania speculated after the meeting that some of his colleagues didn’t vote for the amendment because of personal business interests. At first look, he may be

this annual tradition, members of the Georgetown and D.C. community joined the choir to perform at the celebration.

As one of the highlights of the evening, Georgetown awarded the 11th annual John Thompson Legacy of a Dream Award to Mary E. Brown, co-founder of the Washington, D.C. organization Life Pieces to Masterpieces. Brown has been working to improve the lives of young African American boys and men by helping them graduate from high school and transition into higher education and eventually the workforce.

“Mary Brown is a visionary who saw a need for an organization to empower young people in our nation’s capital,” said DeGioia.

“We are delighted to honor her in the spirit of Dr. King for her mission to transform lives and communities right here in Washington, D.C.” In continuation with the celebrations, students, faculty, and staff will gather in Copley Formal Lounge on Thursday evening to reflect on King’s ideas of justice and on challenges that remain unresolved.

“It’ll be a space where members of the Georgetown community can reflect on the legacy of Martin Luther King’s work on their lives,”

onto something. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), head of corporate relations for a CBE road-paving company Fort Meyer Construction, voted against the amendment. Bonds said she didn’t know off hand how much of Fort Meyer’s workforce is from the District, but the fact that she had to be asked illustrates the conflict of interest. Catania isn’t free from the criticism either. His employer, M.C. Dean Inc., could very well have a CBE as a competitor one day if a French firm vying for a $100 million streetlight contract successfully relocates to Ward 8.

Now, we shouldn’t pretend this is the only place where crony capitalism rears its ugly head in District governance, but Georgetown could have a say in this one.

As it turns out, our university supports the program. A page on the Georgetown Institutional Diversity, Equity & Affirmative Action site says we go for CBEs pretty much whenever we get money.

“It is the policy of Georgetown University,” it reads, “to provide maximum opportunity to Certified Business Enterprises to participate in the performance of

said Ricardo Ortiz, an Associate Professor in the Department of English who will be offering his own reflections on the impact of King’s work in his life.

In addition to these events, efforts have been made to include the work of MLK in Georgetown academics. More than 20 classes have incorporated the “Letter From Birmingham Jail” into their curriculum.

Each one of the schools at Georgetown has at least one class that studies the letter, including the School of Foreign Service in Qatar.

“It’s such a beautifully written letter and piece of scholarship,” said Andria Wisler, executive director of the Center for Social Justice Teaching, Research, and Service. “The letter speaks to so many great topics – racial injustice, economic injustice, even health disparities.”

The week will culminate tomorrow, Jan. 25, with Zora, a one-woman performance by Georgetown alumna Yvonne Singh (COL ’82). The performance relates the life and work of folklorist, anthropologist, and author Zora Neale Hurtson to Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”thropologist, and author Zora Neale Hurtson to Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

contracts funded fully or partially by funds from the federal government or from financial benefits derived from bond issues approved by the District of Columbia or funded by private funds.”

As disheartening as it might be to see our administration involved in such a shady program, it presents us with an opportunity. If we can marshal the political influence of District business interests, concerned citizens, and D.C.’s biggest employer (that’s us), we can build a coalition strong enough to overpower the personal business interests of many Councilmembers.

The Mayor has already said that new reforms for the CBE program are coming down the pike, but if history’s any guide, it’s going to take a lot more than another promise. If Georgetown and District politicians can rally together to support the local business and worker, they’ll be vocal and public about their opposition to the Certified Business Enterprise program as it is today.

Can’t believe Gavin agrees with a Chamber of Commerce? Tell him at gbade@georgetownvoice.com.

sports

6 the georgetown voice

january 24, 2013

Four Hoya seniors drafted to Major League Soccer

by Chris Almeida This season was a huge success for the Georgetown men’s soccer team. The Hoyas finished as the second ranked team in the country, made it to the final of the College Cup, and Head Coach Brian Wiese was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Coach of the Year.

A strong senior class helped the team through a difficult schedule and drove the success that came largely from gritty, 11th hour wins.

Included in these triumphs were wins over Marquette, Syracuse, and Maryland. All this came to fruition when four seniors from the team were selected in Major League Soccer drafts.

Tommy Muller, Ian Christianson, and Jimmy Nealis were taken 15th, 22nd, and 37th, respectively, in the MLS SuperDraft last Thursday, and midfielder Andy Riemer was selected in the MLS Supplemental Draft as the sixth pick.

Muller will head to the San Jose Earthquakes, Christianson to the New York Red Bulls, Nealis will ply his trade with the Houston Dynamo, and Riemer will join the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Wiese is elated for his seniors.

“We had such a good season and such a fun group of guys that I think did everything right,” he said, “and I think for the guys who are returning behind this group of seniors, I think they can look out and say, ‘Well that’s what happens when you do things right.’ You have a great year collectively as a group and individually these guys went out getting opportunities that recognizes what they’ve done for the program.”

Wiese thinks the success of this senior group will help attract even more talent to the growing program.

“From our end, it’s a sign of where we are trying to get to and where we want to be,” he said.

“When you’re talking to recruits in the process, they all want to be pros. They’re seeing guys now going through the whole process, getting their degree and being a pro. I

think that’s one of the great things about the program here now is that we’re getting kids that want to be pros, but this is about that Georgetown degree too.”

This year stands in stark contrast to the recent past, as no Georgetown men’s soccer player has been drafted since 2007. This could in part be due to the increased attention the team received during their run to the College Cup, but Wiese said he anticipated the departures even before this season.

“You don’t know when guys are going to go, but we expected all of them to go ... these teams are obviously drafting them because there’s a good chance they might set to what they need. We expected all four of those, all four of our five seniors, to get drafted at some stage, so we’re very happy that it looks like they all found great starting spots on hopefully good homes to start their pro careers.”

While having four players drafted says a lot about the rise of the men’s soccer program, the departing seniors also clearly prize their education. Sticking out the four years academically is something valued by the program and the coaching staff hopes it will be a defining feature of Hoya athletes.

“Why would you put yourself through that academic rigor just to leave in a year?” said Weise. “This is about becoming a complete person, you know. In a funny way it goes back to that underlying ideal of the University, where you try to really turn, from a freshman to a senior, you really try to see the development of the whole person and that’s what’s happening to these guys. So it’s the perfect role model for what we’re looking for.”

Nealis, Riemer, and Muller have all graduated a semester early, whereas Christianson still has a semester remaining. It is not unheard of for an athlete to come back to complete their education.

Most notable on the Hilltop, basketball star Jeff Green left school for the NBA but later graduated with the Class of 2012 while recovering from surgery. Clearly, at least some Hoya athletes treat George-

MATTHEW FRIED

Jimmy Nealis is among four Hoyas heading to play professional soccer.

town as an experience in itself, not just a springboard to the pros.

Nealis said the mentality of playing until graduation helped him wrap his head around going pro. “I’d say it took about four years before I really had the intention of playing professional soccer and needed Georgetown as my way to do that,” he said. “I think this

year, going to the College Cup really helped me and the other three teammates who got drafted.”

With both the success in the College Cup and the MLS drafts, hopes are high that Georgetown soccer is on its way to becoming one of the country’s elite programs.

Augmented recruiting power as well as additional monetary do-

nations are perks of such success, generating excitement within the program for future seasons.

“I think you’re not going to see many years go by now without at least one person trying to go pro,” said Nealis. “And I think that’s a great mentality that the coaching staff has shifted the program toward.”

the Sports Sermon “He’s going to get asked about it probably 32 times at the Combine. Everyone is going to ask him about it.

It’s hard for us to understand—why he wouldn’t know?” - John Elway on Manti Te’o The dedication on the part of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the admitted mastermind, and his two accomplices definitely deserves a second thought.

The first reaction elicited from the public was one of general outrage directed at the scheme because all of the sympathy felt for Te’o was unfounded and the plot was downright cruel.

The second reaction really should be pure amazement that for four years, from the time Te’o was a freshman at Notre Dame, these three people spent hundreds of days invested in this hoax. They hatched a plot that even included having “Lennay Kekua,” the fictional girlfriend, breath into the phone to simu-

thinking, “You know, I’m getting tired of this,” and calling it Manti Te’o has successquits— is unprecedented. fully transformed ESPN’s onThe question that probably line site into a special edition will never get answered but of Entertainment Tonight with should be asked is, at the end of what is honestly one of the all this, is Te’o actually that devmost elaborate public dupes astated that this turned out to be on which the press has feasted a hoax? What would he consider its eyes. If it is true, that is. If to be the worse situation, the one this story really is of a second where he is humiliated in front place Heisman finalist spendof the national eye or the one ing four years developing a where the woman he actually long distance relationship with loved died of Leukemia? Looksomeone he had never met being back at the situation, no one fore, then maybe the NCAA should be enraged or even anshould start looking into safer gry about it. Relief should be the helmets to prevent brain damoverpowering emotion; relief age to their student-athletes. that such a sad story turned out What is one of the most to be just that—a story. striking aspects of this case, Te’o will probably never if not Te’o’s unbelievable put this behind him and the gullibility, is the media will hold Pete Rose Central dedication it took onto it for a while.

Da bettin’ line on the end of the It will define him pranksters orchesas he goes into the Dookies Margin Hoyas trating the whole NFL draft and is (underdogs) (duh!) scheme. selected by a team. (favorites) “Every day. I slept It will pop up in Flyers Suspension Rangers on the phone with his first few years Liverpool her every night,” Te’o on a pro team and Form Arsenal said. “... I’d be on the within the team Louisville DSR Hoyas phone. And she had he will never hear complications from the accident, late her post-car accident coma- the end of it. But for the most and she said the only thing that tose state and they stuck to it part, he will be able to move could help her sleep was if I was day in and day out. on from this. on the phone. So I would be on the All the media attention reIf he does not become a phone, and I’d have the phone on ally should not be centered breakout star in the NFL then the whole night.” on Te’o. He was tricked and it no one is going to care enough After a lengthy interview may or may not have affected about him for the story to rewith ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap, his game performance. In any surface in a big way. Even if the world got its answers case, the media should really he does become a franchise straight from Te’o himself, just lay off him for a while. name for some pro team, then during which he adequately The real story needs to be his outstanding play will showed he was not in on the Tuiasosopo and the woman eventually beat out the jabs hoax. This makes the quotes who talked Te’o to sleep every about the sports world’s most from him even more astound- night. How they avoided the impressive dupe. ing in the fact that they showed suggestion of video chatting The tale of Te’o boils down someone actually had to talk so that the two lovebirds could to an emotionally-vulnerable to Te’o every single night until see each other while they talked athlete, a great use of modern he fell asleep. Within the laun- is another feat in itself. What communication techniques, dry list of events in the duping brings this hoax above and be- and a ton of commitment. were a near-fatal car crash, an yond is surely not Te’o. In an Working up a fuss over the extended coma, group spiri- unfair stereotype, athletes are hoax is not the way to go. It’s tual conversations that includ- not known to be the sharpest just an entertaining story that ed Te’o’s parents, and several tools in the shed, but for some even Hollywood couldn’t plans to meet up. girl to go all that time without have done better.

by Steven Criss

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Men’s basketball splits weekend road trip Tennis begins Spring agenda

by Brendan Crowley The Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team (13-4, 3-3 Big East) had an up and down weekend for the ages, suffering an embarrassing loss to the University of South Florida (10-7, 1-4 Big East), a notorious Big East bottom feeder, before rebounding just two days later with a dominant win over the University of Notre Dame (15-4, 3-3 Big East).

The Hoyas opened the long weekend Saturday night against the Bulls of USF in Tampa, Fla., who entered the game searching for their first win in conference play.

Behind hot shooting from freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who notched 11 points in the first half, the Hoyas jumped out to an early lead, gradually extending their advantage to 11 points. But USF kept the game close, trimming the Hoyas lead to just eight at the half.

The Bulls carried their momentum into the beginning of the second half, hitting 7 of their first 9 three-pointers and quickly grabbing the lead from the Hoyas with just under 15 minutes to play.

The rest of the second half was a blow-by-blow contest that saw the Hoyas trail by as much as 7 points before eventually cutting the deficit to just 1 with 2:33 to play. Star sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. kept the Hoyas in the game, leading all scorers with 21 points—his third straight contest with at least 19.

But the Hoyas were ultimately unable to close the gap. Despite three opportunities to score in the final 90 seconds, all after time outs, the Hoyas finally fell 61-58 after Porter Jr. missed a hopeful threepointer at the buzzer.

Two days later, the Hoyas traveled to South Bend, Ind. to take on No. 24 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were looking to get back on track after losing two of their last three games, both to unranked opponents.

Georgetown was impressive from the opening tip, dominating the first half behind more hot shooting from Porter Jr., who once again led all scorers, this time with 19 points. The Hoyas never trailed after the 2:10 mark and entered the half with a comfortable 13-point lead.

Markel Starks set up a number of plays from the point.

JOHN DELGADO-MCCOLLUM

The Hoyas as a bad romance

Envision a girl who does not really know what she wants. One minute, she wants to pursue a relationship. The next, she backs off a little bit, fearful of commitment.

The common theme for the guy invested in this girl is simple-–maddening frustration.

That vexing inconsistency marks the Georgetown Hoyas’ Big East campaign thus far. Rather than a fleeting relationship on the line, though, a national ranking was sacrificed a couple weeks ago.

How frustrating has it been?

Well, for starters, I just tried to rationalize it by comparing it to a vacillating girl. But the potential, as with the relationship, is there.

The Hoyas have all the talent in the world—a fact fans that watched them take down UCLA and push Indiana to its limits in November cannot seem to shake.

Nor should they. Those performances mark the full potential of this year’s Hoyas. When it wants to be, John Thompson III’s crew is a top-10 team.

The Hoyas have become somewhat reactionary in that sense.

One night, they will get outplayed in every facet of the game. The ball doesn’t look like it could fall through a Fisher-Price hoop on nights like these. After presumably getting ripped apart in practice the next day, the Hoyas have consistently countered their inconsistency with a focused performance during the next game.

That bounce-back effect has been the most predictable aspect of this year’s Hoyas. After the USF debacle, I ventured that Georgetown would absolutely beat up on Notre Dame, a far superior opponent to the Bulls. After all, they followed up an unwatchable 37-36 Tennessee win by blowing out Texas at the Garden. Longwood got the brunt of the Hoyas’ vengeance, getting blown out by 36 points just two days after the Blue and Gray struggled to beat Towson.

Part of the problem now is that the offense is too reliant on Otto Porter Jr. to bail them out.

The second half opened with a furious Notre Dame run that saw the Hoyas’ lead evaporate to 3 points with just under 12 minutes to play. Georgetown responded with an 18-0 run of their own, eventually extending their lead to as much as 22 points, putting the game out of reach.

According to Head Coach John Thompson III, weathering Notre Dame’s second half run was the key to the game.

“I think we just settled back in,” he said. “We kind of expected them to make a run. They have too many good players … I thought we did a good job chasing them off the three-point line.

In the second half they got off 11 [three-pointers], and so I think we were just able to settle in and we hit a couple shots.”

Porter Jr. echoed Thompson’s sentiments. “Like Coach said, we knew they were going to make their run, and we just tried to stay composed,” he said. “Just continue to play. We don’t want to get rattled or anything like that, and I think we did a very good job at that.”

As for where his team stands after such polarizing results, Thompson had little to say on the subject.

“I don’t think this is the time to start summing up the team. We weren’t good the other night; we were good tonight. Hopefully we’ll be good the next night.”

Next up for the Hoyas is a date with No. 5 Louisville University (16-3, 4-2 Big East) this Saturday night at the Verizon Center. Tip-off is slated for noon.

An all-around player like Porter Jr. thrives in a well-oiled offensive system. He is by no means a ball-stopper and should not be jacking up shots. With the way Georgetown has milked the shot clock without finding a good look, leaving it to Porter to throw up illconceived jumpers, it’s no wonder the offense has been so anemic.

A lot of those poor offensive possessions have to do with overpassing. The situation has actu-

Double-Teamed

by Kevin Joseph A bi-weekly column about sports

ally gotten a little better since Greg Whittington was declared academically ineligible. Whittington lost confidence with his shot and consequently became the primary culprit of the offense’s over-passing.

That alone does not elucidate the Hoyas’ inconsistency. The woes offensively start and end with starting center Mikael Hopkins. Thompson always assumed

by Steven Criss The Georgetown men’s and women’s tennis teams opened up their spring schedule this past Friday in Richmond, Va. where they faced off against Campbell and Virginia Commonwealth.

Although the men lost both their matches, the women managed a split with a win against Campbell and a loss against VCU. Georgetown enters the 201213 season coming off of a marginally successful last season, in which both the men and the women made it to the second round of the Big East Championship. Despite the exit of two of the program’s top players, Lauren Greco and Andrew Bruhn, Head Coach Gordie Ernst still has high hopes for the season.

“My expectations are very similar to our year last year,” he said. “The girls knocked off a team like Syracuse, which we’ve never done before, and I think we have the potential to do that again, beating a team of that caliber.”

Much of Ernst’s faith is being stored in two of his senior captains, Charlie Caris and Vicky Sekely, who have more than proven their ability to win matches, as both have over 100 wins apiece in their Georgetown careers. That being said, sophomore Sophie Panarese was the only one on the women’s side able to win a singles set against VCU, suggesting that in the void of graduating

someone would stick their neck out and shine in the middle for the Hoyas—à la Henry Sims last year.

The problem is, no one really did and an unprepared, undersized Hopkins was thrust into the limelight. Ultimately, the sophomore will be fine. But for now, physical players like Moses Ayegba are just as useful in the paint.

There is simply not much depth in the middle, as freshmen Bradley Hayes and Brandon Bolden are clearly not ready to step in to even spell the regulars. Thus, Thompson has to hope Hopkins improves a little bit and that Ayegba’s inspired performance of late is no aberration.

In actuality, the Whittington suspension has actually fixed one of Thompson’s other problems by necessity: depth. Ayegba and Aaron Bowen are finally getting extended minutes in his absence, while freshman D’Vauntes SmithRivera has finally gotten the opportunity to shine behind Jabril Trawick and Markel Starks.

That’s a pretty formidable eight-man rotation, especially

seniors and injuries, the team will have to rely more on its young standouts like Panarese.

“She’s a great competitor, she loves to play, and she’s one of those players who’s going to win a lot of matches this year for us,” said Ernst.

For the men, another of those young talents is sophomore Daniel Khanin. The Baldwin, N.Y. native is a highly regarded member coming from the prestigious Bollettieri Tennis Academy, a live-in tennis training school in Bradenton, Fla. that has churned out stars like the Williams sisters, Maria Sharapova, and Andre Agassi.

“The guy’s got firepower like anyone in the league ... he’s played against some of the best [amateurs] in the world. I think that he’ll surprise some people,” Ernst said of Khanin.

Both the men and women will be on the road this week when they face Duquesne on Friday. The women will then take on Pittsburgh in their Big East opener the next day, while the men will be on the road at Toledo.

Ernst assures that this season will not be without its host of challenges, but the most glaring will be sustaining a high effort level in all their matches.

“In my seven years here we’ve had some ups and downs, we’ve had some good teams and we’ve had some not so good teams. The biggest challenge when we’ve had good teams is to get them to bring it every single match.”

on the defensive end. Assuming Whittington can get his grades sorted out, he will return to a better-defined team than the group he unceremoniously left.

Perhaps by then, each of the players will have carved out specific offensive roles. As it stands now, Thompson is discovering just how adept Trawick and Smith-Rivera are at creating their own shot off the dribble, an asset that can help any stagnating offense.

There’s still plenty of time for Georgetown to turn this season around. A couple of momentous wins, maybe against Louisville and Syracuse, and they are right back in the national spotlight.

That girl may never commit—the poor guy may be in limbo for quite some time.

Thankfully for Hoya fans, we’re dealing with a bouncing ball and nylon net. There’s a full roster of players and coaches that can, and I predict will, buckle down and right the ship.

Strike up a romance with Kevin at kjoseph@georgetownvoice.com

feature

8 the georgetown voice

january 24, 2013

Creative Expression at Georgetown Stil Fiction

By Katie Mitchell

In preparation for its imminent arrival at Georgetown, last year’s incoming freshman class was required to read the novel How to Read the Air for the Marino Family International Writer’s Workshop. Grounded in the author’s Ethiopian heritage, the book is linguistically elegant and uses a melancholy, poetic lyricism to tell the tale of a young man struggling to overcome his family’s troubled past.

For many students, this is the extent of formal contact with the language arts and creative writing they will encounter at Georgetown during their four years of matriculation.

All of this despite the fact that the novel’s author, English professor Dinaw Mengestu (COL ‘00), is a highly acclaimed writer who was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2012. The MacArthur Foundation awards its fellows a “Genius Grant” of $500,000 for the purpose of freeing the them to pursue their creative interests uninhibited by financial restrictions.

Mengestu has devoted his life to the craft of writing. “I show up to my writing every day, and I show up in the same way that most people show up to their jobs,” he said. “Most times I’m sitting at my desk by 9:30 in the morning and I’m working until the end of the day.”

Although creative writing remains his main focus, Mengestu has had to balance myriad responsibili-

ties as his work has gained exposure.

“You grow into a public role that you learn to fulfill. It becomes an extension of your writing career,” he said.

“There’s the very private side that involves you sitting in a room with your books and your computer day after day, and there’s the very professional side that involves being able to speak about your work and actually reach out to your readers.”

Another new responsibility Mengestu shoulders is teaching creative writing on the Hilltop, which has given him new insight into the student body at Georgetown and how it has changed since he graduated. In particular, the openness to creative writing he sees on campus today was nowhere to be found during his undergraduate career.

“There weren’t really that many students trying to write fiction or poetry or whatever the case might have been ... It’s something that I think has changed dramatically from when I was an undergraduate,” Mengestu said. “I’m thinking of two classes that I’m teaching now, I think that my students are incredibly talented, not that they all want to be writers, but they seem to really be serious about the act of writing.”

Despite Mengestu’s praise, Georgetown remains a relative unknown in creative writing. Despite the many acclaimed alumni in the University community—such as

Jonathan Nolan (COL ‘99) who cowrote The Dark Knight and Robert Baer (SFS ‘76) whose books inspired the film Syriana—and its location in a city with a burgeoning poetry scene, the Hoya of Letters is not a figure we often idolise. Creative writing events on campus are few and far between, rarely receiving the fanfare of sports or academic competitions, and oncampus events like Saxa Slam and the Corp’s occasional creative writing contests have a tendency to relegate creative writing to the status of a hobby, rather than a bona fide academic pursuit.

“It’s not like some universities that actually have creative writing programs and concentrations, if not majors,” said Mengestu. “[Other schools] have a large number of students that are interested in writing professionally for their careers, they have literary journals that are very ... engaged with a very long tradition and history behind them.” *** Despite the obscurity of the creative writing community, there are many student writers at Georgetown who share Mengestu’s love of language and say their cohort is growing, if only in fits and starts.

“In high school I wrote poetry all the time—terrible poetry,” said

David Ebenbach, an English professor, sees growth in Georgetown’s creative writing opportunities.

GAVIN MENG LUCIA HE

Kasia Clarke (COL ‘13), an editor at The Anthem, a student literary magazine. “During my 11th grade class when my grandfather was dying, and I read “Funeral Blues”

by Auden, and it really spoke to me, and I thought, that’s how my grandmother must feel. “ “[Poetry] ... spoke to me in a way that other art forms didn’t, and poetry has rosary words and lines that you can just take,” said Madeline Collins (COL ‘13) a senior English major. “On some very immediate level, [I write] because I love reading and I love language, and you could say that language is something vital and sacred. It’s kind of a privilege to be able to use language and to spend time on it and see what it does.”

Collins says that she has built a strong network of friends and peers to talk about creative writing, swap books, and critique each other’s writing. “People that I share my writing with and talk about writing with tend to be people who I’ve met through classes … specifically the Lannan Seminar,” she said.

The Lannan Poetry Seminar, a course taught through the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice, is an intensive study of poetry and its intersections with contemporary culture through lectures, readings, and informal dinners with poets. The Lannan Center, which is affiliated with the Folger Shakespeare Library and the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series, as well as several other literary organizations in the D.C. area, organizes lectures and readings throughout the year along the theme of social involvement.

It has brought such writers and figures such as Margaret Atwood, Charles Simic, and Dr. Cornel West to campus, and organizes an annual symposium to expose students to professional writers—the 2011 edition featured Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz.

Mengestu reflected on a similar experience during his years as a student, saying most of the people invested in creative writing were “able to all intersect at some point over those four years that we were

the Lannan Seminar “was probably the most critical ... time while in the department and being an English major that actually felt like I was being fostered as a writer.”

Mengestu does credit Georgetown with developing his writing skills. “I think I knew I wanted to be a writer before I came here,” he said, “[but] what I found here was a really great department, a lot of really great professors ... who, when I was young and trying to figure out which path I was going to take, were really willing to help and encourage me and read my writing.”

Nonetheless, the support Mengestu received as a student remains a rel-

Dinaw Mengestu, MacArthur Fellow and Georgetown English professor.

GAVIN MENG

here, and the Lannan Seminar was probably the biggest and most important part of that … we were spread across the University, people who were not necessarily English majors who had some sort of serious creative intent behind their studies.”

These comments are striking in light of the statements that were part of his speech for the Marino Workshop during the fall of 2011, where he remarked how initially unhappy he was with Georgetown. He claims

feature

georgetownvoice.com

atively weak force compared to the culture of competition and corporatist achievement on the Hilltop. David Ebenbach, a Georgetown English professor who specializes in creative writing and has published three books within the past year, acknowledged several subtle social dangers of the Georgetown academic culture.

“If you are in a highly competitive and judgmental atmosphere, you probably won’t allow yourself to do things that are risky because

then you might make mistakes,” he said. The intense pressure here to devote time only to résumé-worthy pursuits is one reason Ebenbach feels cultivating a safe, creative, and collaborative space on campus is essential. “The community is so important [because] there’s a prevailing wind we’re pushing back against.”

Kelley Kidd (SFS ‘13), an avid poet and student in Professor Ebenbach’s Introduction to Creative Writing class, agreed. “I think an environment that is so driven and perfectionist is a danger [to] creativity, and I think that is something that needs a space and an opportunity to flourish here.

Kidd thinks the academic culture at Georgetown sucks in students who would not usually be predisposed to such areas of study.

“There are a lot of people who go to this school and say, ‘I really don’t want to be the traditional Georgetown major. I don’t want to be a Government major, I don’t want to be in International Politics, or maybe I do, but it’s not enough,’” she said.

“And everyone thinks that they don’t belong here because they like beautiful things and they like art.” This sentiment has been echoed by students who believe, like Kidd, that their career-driven education is not enough.

In editing The Anthem, Georgetown’s only literary magazine, Clarke has been frustrated by how seemingly small and isolated the writing community is. She has submitted work to several other Georgetown artistic competitions and groups, and received a stifling response.

“I asked them what they thought and they said, ‘that’s too weird for Georgetown.’”

She agrees, however, with the consensus that it is important to create a community. She’s found hers online, maintaining a daily poetry blog that now has over 2,500 regular subscribers. “Once I had people reading it,” she said, “I had to keep it up, and now I can’t just abandon these people who want poetry in their lives!”

English professor David Gewanter says there have been small but significant changes in the University’s approach to creative writing. “The Lannan program actively cultivates a student community,” he said. “The [English] Department will soon be considering whether to propose a creative writing minor.”

Georgetown, he argues, fosters an environment conducive to creativity.

“GU, in developing social sensitivity and responsiveness, actively supports and encourages students to explore creative forms both as personal expression and as active social tools,” he said. “To find your voice in a creative form is to articulate your engagement with the world.”

Gewanter added that creative writing provides a necessary counterpoint to today’s weary bloviating. “Washington is fairly sagging under rhetoric, underfed amidst the sound-bites and piecharts, the recycled catch-phrases and slogans that substitute for fresh approaches to the world and our role in it,” he said. “Creative writing looks outward and inward, puts the writer on the line even as she invents new worlds.” *** Despite the negative perception of the creative culture here and its apparent tendency to get lost in the chaos and competition of Georgetown academia, students recognize there is a strong creative energy in the student body—one that just needs to be tapped into. “[The creative writing community] is thriving and supportive, and it’s there if you seek it,” said Adam Greenberg (COL ‘13), a senior English major whose thesis focuses on poetry.

Many students still see a need for more systematic changes in the attitude of the University toward artistic pursuits. While Collins feels her “professors foster creativity,” she says Georgetown needs “a general encouragement of creativity, which would entail larger institutional changes.”

Mengestu echoed Collins’s sentiments. “It’s not that there aren’t a lot of students who are very creative and committed to art, it’s that there’s not such a history of it here,” he said.

Students and teachers alike recognize that creative writing and attentive reading are both skills worth

the georgetown voice 9 fostering, ones that are essential to learning how to engage in and shape our culture. “When you’re looking at a bookshelf you’re looking at a conversation, and part of being a writer means joining the conversation, which means not just writing and talking, but also listening,” Ebenbach said.

Collins agrees a community is important for a writer’s growth.

“I don’t think writing is a solitary pursuit,” she said. “Language isn’t a solitary thing. It’s inherently the opposite, so writing can’t be solitary … I know that there is so much to be gained from sharing it with people and getting feedback and taking responsibility for something by putting it out there.” Clarke added, “If you don’t discuss and you don’t read poetry, [then] you can’t write good poetry.”

Mengestu said that while his writing is done in solitude, he agrees with Collins that investing in a writing community is incredibly important for the University as a whole, regardless of one’s department or major.

“If you have a large concentration of students who are seriously engaged with the act of writing, you probably have a large concentration of students who are seriously engaged readers, and that continues to make this sort of vibrancy,” he said.

“So, writing is very solitary, but I think when you’re in an undergraduate environment and you find likeminded people you begin to spark a debate and a dialogue across a broad range of literature that doesn’t end with the bell when people pass out into the halls.” *** To Mengestu, interdisciplinary study and dialogue happens naturally, and those who write and read are engaging in a wider, holistic conversation that permeates nearly every discipline.

In general, conversations about writing are very important to him.

“I’ve had really wonderful experi-

ences talking to people about my work, some of the best experiences I’ve had and those experience were also equally draining, quite exhausting, because you’re talking about something that’s incredibly private,” he said. “You’re also having this exchange and it’s wonderful to see your readers, and it’s wonderful to realize that this private endeavor actually has a dynamic element to it.”

Mengestu also acknowledges there are difficulties inherent in the pursuit of a career in writing, regardless of institutional encouragement. “I would probably try to dissuade [aspiring writers] as actively as I can,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t love writing ... but you have to be able to see all the obstacles and still want to do it. I think you have to be very honest and clear-sighted about the challenges that come with it. So if you don’t care about it to the degree where it feels passionately necessary, it’s not going to compel you enough to make you really want to do it.” “[Writing is] quite frustrating on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “At the same time you do have those wonderful moments when a book is actually starting to take off, or you just feel like you’ve made moments of real progress in something that’s been taking two, three years out of your life. Those are really great, beautiful moments.”

Mengestu is hopeful about the future of creative writing at Georgetown, and anticipates that intelligent, motivated students will continue to change their culture and make their own connections. He sees a future for English majors, and this network of dogged and determined writers who feel a passion for what they do, even if their job prospects seem slim.

“I think part of being an English major is being engaged with the experience of being human,” he said.

“You’re engaging literary texts as a way of trying to understand what you’re doing here on this Earth, and I can’t think of any more inherently

GEORGETOWN VOICE ARCHIVES

English students see classtime as an important opportunity to foster Georgetown’s creative community.

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

january 24, 2013

Mark Wahlberg introduces mediocrity into Broken City

by Theresa Wrzesinski The game of good cop/bad cop is a familiar one, having been played countless times by directors in the detective genre.

Our protagonist shifts from one side of the law to the other, bringing a question of ethics to the forefront of a film’s consciousness. The Book of Eli director Allen Hughes’ Broken City is hardly a departure from this ho-hum yet satisfying formula, but it muddles the narrative structure by thrusting a complex and intricate corruption drama into the mix for the viewer to digest. Themes of sex and power, good and evil in a corrupt city unfortunately become lost in the shuffle that is an unsustainably convoluted web of stories.

Beginning with a tipping point that drives the rest of the plot, Broken City tells the tale of Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg), a New York City cop who was unceremoniously removed from his post due to

lez’hur ledger

a hushed-up murder accusation and who now runs his own detective business. Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe), and police commissioner (Jeffrey Wright) who fired Wahlberg remain in power that teeters on the upcoming mayoral election.

Hostetler enlists Taggart in investigating his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), for cheating. Taggart does his job, but doesn’t realize what job he was truly hired to perform and what consequences it brings. This leads him to investigate the true horrors of politics and personal agendas that are part of a murder, a secret land contract, and two-faced politicians, all in pursuit of election.

The promo displays a macho, throw-down, knockout action movie that features an intriguing plot with well-known actors. Instead, Broken City saves the action for its final quarter. While it’s fast-paced, with exciting car chases and hand-to-hand combat, a good movie would not have left all

the energy for the ending. Furthermore, the film introduces a variety of sub-plots without sufficiently connecting the dots.

Though there is a clear distinction between these stories, the lines drawn to connect them are underdeveloped. On the other hand, the script for many characters, especially Crowe’s, is very well-written, but this upside is overshadowed by the lack of continuity in the plot and by how Crowe executes it.

Unfortunately, the truly commendable performances come from the lesser-known actors such as Wright and Alona Tal, Taggart’s assistant, but these are overlooked by most critics due to the mediocre acting from Wahlberg, Crowe, and Zeta-Jones. Wright is very convincing as a man with his own agenda and selfish motives, almost as much as Crowe in the pursuit of re-election. The police commissioner ’s advantage is playing defense with more backing for his goal. At the same time, Tal shows passion-

ate believability as Taggart’s overworked assistant with a true interest in his profession and a lingering concern for him that extends beyond the boundaries of a professional employer-employee relationship.

Wahlberg didn’t fall too far from his magnificent performance in The Fighter, but he

didn’t bring it all to the set. His signature Boston accent and rugged features are present on screen as always, but he has a certain wide-eyed look that hardly translates into visible depth of character. Much like the film he is the face of, he adopts a half-hearted approach that doesn’t tap into the story’s full potential.

“Dammit, I knew I should have opted for AAA Roadside Assistance.”

IMDB

Ballin’ at the Inauguration, or, Stevie for president

by Gavin Bade At first, when I woke up the morning after the Inaugural Ball, I thought the cheeky bloggers over at Buzzfeed had stolen my angle for this Lez’hur. There it was at the top of my morning Twitter feed: “The Inaugural Ball Was Just Like Prom.”

In a way, they’ve got a point.

There certainly were cheesy photo opportunities, dresses, tuxedos, and an impressive amount of awkward guys positioning themselves around the outside of the dance floor, eyeing the younger women with the same expression I assume non-vegetarians usually reserve for an extra-rare fillet.

But, the more I thought about it, the less this ball had in common with my prom, because my prom was wild. We rented out a trolley to get there, and by the end of the first 10 minutes inside I learned daggering is not only a murder technique but also a euphemism for sexy Caribbean dancing / the most intense cardio of your life.

One of my friends became a minor YouTube sensation after he was the only one who could handle

Sharay’s booty, and another ate a magic brownie and peed himself on the floor. In a phrase, everyone came to get down.

That wasn’t really like my experience Monday night.

We got in a cab around 7. After 40 minutes of creeping through traffic, we got out in Foggy Bottom because it was quicker to walk. We hoofed it like 10 blocks to the Convention Center. I discovered the security was porous enough that I could have brought my flask, and proceeded crestfallen but undeterred.

There was some country star on stage when we got down to the floor. “How drunk are you?” he yelled. No one said shit. I decided it was time to fix that. We ended up stealing those first beverages (apparently you needed a drink ticket). I realized we were probably the youngest people there.

Then, I got the first thrill of the night. Erin Burnett, that hottie brunette CNN anchor, was there with a stuffier-than-usual Piers Morgan. They were up off the ground in a media booth chatting, backs to the stage. I decided to inject a bit of absurdity.

“Marry me, Erin Burnett!”

I called. She didn’t answer because she was on TV or something, but I did get a swift jab in the ribs from my date. Not as bad though as the guy next to me when he yelled “Yeah! Show your titties!” I guessed some people were drunk after all.

Obama arrived at around 9:30 unannounced. That’s when the irony of being at the ball really hit home: I didn’t vote for the guy.

But whatever. Michelle’s hot and Jennifer Hudson can belt.

There was really only one reason I wanted to be there, anyway: Stevie Wonder. And oh my God it was worth every ounce of bullshit that night. We sang every lyric, I broke out the white-boy dance moves, we pushed through the crowd as if it were 9:30 Club. Problem was, we were pretty much the only ones; the people there were downright robotic. An act would come on, they’d all raise their phones to snap a pic, and then look down to Instagrind it. No one thought my screams of “Stevie Wonder for president” or “Fuck the Lord, praise

Stevie” were funny, and they seemed annoyed that anyone would sing along with “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” But by this point I was in ecstatics and didn’t care.

We decided to push up to the front for the next act. It was my man John Legend, and he did a version of “Redemption Song” that tore your heart right out of your chest. Again, the crowd wasn’t moving, and my ass-shaking to “Green Light” inevitably hit some of them. No one had the nerve to say anything though until the Bidens appeared. Jamie Foxx came out to serenade them with a divine interpretation of “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” I was trying to have a nice slow dance with my girl, until this potato-shaped lady next to us said, “Um, excuse me, but you just elbowed me in the neck.”

If I’d had any balls, I would have been like, “Oh yeah, lady?

What’s your wrinkly ass doing in the third row then?” But I didn’t.

Instead, Tiffany “accidentally” whipped the hag with her hair and she waddled off.

I don’t know why, but everyone seemed to have it in their heads that Beyoncé was going to come on. Maybe she played for the “real” ball upstairs (I think they got Katy Perry too). But the headliners, Soundgarden, might as well have been a fire for how quickly the women in heels made for the doors when they came out.

At first, I was a bit miffed no one else wanted to enjoy themselves at the ball. But, I realize who these people are: stuffy, District pseudo-socialites, probably more miffed there weren’t famous people to shmooze than happy to see a god in a man’s body play music (Stevie, duh). They probably all had work at 9 the next morning, and they partied like it. But, no matter. No one was there to tell me and Tiff not to have a good time, and we sure did. I guess in that way, it was kind of like prom—just about as fun as you wanted to make it. And at least this time, the grumpy adults who refused to dance couldn’t tell me and my date we were cuttin’ the rug too deep.

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the georgetown voice 11

“A Martini. Shaken, not stirred.” — Goldfinger

Renwick: Gallery of the 21st Century A meal fit for schmiels

by Dayana Morales Gomez It’s not often that yarn sculptures foretell the future of art, but the Smithsonian’s latest exhibit hardly meets one’s traditional expectations of craftsmanship. The 40 under 40: Craft Futures exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery arrives to D.C. 40 years after the museum’s founding in 1972, showcasing a vast range of craft art made post-9/11, when the “20th century effectively ended.”

The exhibit demonstrates to viewers the new directions of art in the 21st century, combining every medium from ceramics and metalwork to industrial design and installation art.

Much of the exhibit was created not just by hand but also with the help of various graphic design workstations, evincing a shifting

medium among contemporary artists. Christy Oates’s “E-Waste” was created digitally, as was Erik Demaine’s self-folding origami.

Oates’s oeuvre showcases Marquetry, a veneer technique made nearly extinct due to its labor-intensive production. New technology, particularly the advent of the 3-D printer, is reinvigorating the art form.

Although such innovations may appear to downplay the talent presented at the Renwick, it’s fair to note that art is an expression of the time, and above all these 40 artists are showing us in a tremendously beautiful fashion the vast artistic possibilities that even the most overlooked of materials can offer us. Sabrina Gschwandther, for example, took the film of a 1960s movie and converted it into a quilt, two now-antiquated crafts being brought back to life.

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

If this is the best use we can find for 3-D printers, we’re doing something wrong.

Bunanameh more than ‘meh’

Buna Alkhas experienced 25 years of estrangement from his motherland, Iran, and from his father, the renowned Iranian-Assyrian artist, poet, and translator Hannibal Alkhas. This exile transformed Alkhas as he made his way around the world, while back home Iran was pulled through a totally polarizing metamorphosis.

Bunanameh, the travel diary of his reunion with both father and homeland, is just as intense as one would imagine. But Alkhas isn’t one for overt dramatics; his reunion story includes humorous anecdotes, poetry, and drawings stitched together with handwritten colorful prose. It is a visually arresting chronicle bursting with life even in the stifling atmosphere of despotically policed Iran.

Buna Alkhas’s Iran is depicted as an oppressively bureaucratic nation scrambling to control a suffering, discontented people. The

“Moral Fashion Police” stalk the streets to punish women who dress “inappropriately” in public, so they do not “lead men astray.” Simultaneously, 24-hour marriages legitimize and forgive what would otherwise be prostitution. Regulations on moral code abound, but drugs run unchecked: “Cocaine, crack, crystal meth, pills, pills, pills, everything. Syringes and pill packets litter the sidewalks. I heard a young girl brag in a corner store, ‘My baba doesn’t need to take sleeping pills to sleep.’” Caught up in their power plays, the government, the Ayatollah, and the Imams are unconcerned with the problems Iranians face in daily life.

With these daily travails, it is no wonder that post-revolutionary Iranian society suffers from collective schizophrenia: “A taxi driver asked me what differences I saw in Iran after being away for 25 years. I said, ‘I’m really sorry

Perhaps the most intriguing piece at the exhibit, however, was a fully immersive meditation room constructed by Nick Dong. Entitled the “Enlightenment Room,” the rectangular space is lined with elliptical tiles, with a reflective floor and ceiling.

If nothing else, the experience of the “Enlightenment Room” alone makes the visit worthwhile.

Other notable works included another installation art experience, Knitting is for Pus****, by Olek. The room imitates the structure of a standard apartment, only with everything made entirely of yarn. Various quotes line the walls, adding a personal touch to the work, and the bright colors play off one another to create a truly kaleidoscopic experience.

It’s hard to deny how much things have changed since 2001, let alone 1972. Many of these artists are discredited because of their age, but it’s hard for an art aficionado to leave unimpressed by the work created by such young people from all over the world. Most of the pieces are not in 2-D, and anyone unwilling to get hands on won’t be in for any fun. But the true beauty of 40 Under 40 comes in the changing media of art, as 3-D pieces bring art outside the purely visual sense and into the endless possibilities of a tactile world.

to say so, but it seems to me that everyone is a little bit crazy.’ To which he replied, ‘Only a little bit! How kind of you!’”

Alkhas manifests his eccentricity through obscene humor almost offensive to encounter. He drops it deftly into beautifully worded pages, even those deriding the flaws of the new Iran. On one page, Alkhas cites Hafez and praises the Iranian people for their beauty and intel-

Under the Covers

by Emilia Brahm a bi-weekly literary column lect, but on the next, he embarrasses partygoers with sexual innuendos drenched in alcohol.

This raunchiness just may be Alkhas’s reaction to the daily absurdities of Iran. He is desperate— desperate to make people laugh, to get a reaction, to feel happy. This need sometimes presents itself as immature humor, and is made only

by Alex Golway DGS Delicatessen aims to bring classic Jewish cooking to Dupont Circle. Advertising itself as a “Restaurant, Sandwich Shop, and Bar,” the deli takes a modern approach to Jewish cooking.

While such an approach may seem refreshing, however, it renders the word “delicatessen” almost arbitrary.

DGS is less a delicatessen and more a restaurant attempting to specialize in the food of its namesake: the wood and tile décor alone make it appear clean almost to the point of sterility. A set of curtains behind the front door give way to the sandwich shop— which sells a grand total of six different kinds of sandwiches—and a staircase, where the maître d (seriously? I need to make a reservation here?) leads customers to the dimly-lit dining area. The wait staff is young and friendly, but they’re eager to recommend everything on the menu, from cocktails (the perfect complement to your Reuben!) to dessert: when the drink menu is fuller than the dinner menu, I think there’s a problem at this delicatessen.

A few standards, including pastrami and corned beef on rye, chopped liver, matzo ball soup, knish, and smoked salmon, give

more intense by the everyday horrors faced by Iranians.

Buna Alkhas himself is saved by the vibrancy of poetry and art.

Fortunately, his book is too. It is really no wonder that people go crazy under the stifling blanket of Tehran’s toxic smog and nonsensical rules, but Alkhas’s memoir shows that the beauty and vibrancy of poetry, storytelling, food, dance, and other Iranian arts guarantee the survival of an incredible people.

These “ropes of passion” pull Iranians out of the “sewer of daily existence,” but Alkhas carefully points out that art is crucial not only in a society as oppressed as Iran. “I spent January 1st until May 1st of 2003 in SW Poland and never saw the sun, the wind would howl from the south and the crows would have their weddings and caw doom into your veins, and this happens regardless of what type of government exists.

Any kind of art would let you see the beauty in the gray.”

DGS at least some right to call itself a deli. The pickle plate, which includes pickled radishes and fennel among the dills and halfsours, is a pleasant surprise, but the pickles were smaller than I expected and more salty than sour.

The pastrami sandwich is tasty, but unremarkable considering its $13 price: it’s warm and chewy, but the rye bread and the house mustard pack more flavor than the meat itself – not to mention that this easily-devoured sandwich doesn’t have a lot of meat to begin with.

For maybe a couple dollars more at one of New York City’s more famous delis, you can get something twice as large, and unlike at DGS, you won’t feel the incongruity of eating in a place that looks clean and fashionable while serving food that tries to compete with your Jewish grandmother’s.

DGS is a good restaurant, but it’s definitely not your typical deli: the menu is sparse, the portions are small, the food is expensive, and the modern décor is less than inviting. When I walk into a deli, I expect to be overwhelmed by sights and smells of meat and cheese: DGS doesn’t tempt me in any of these ways. DGS is alright I suppose, but after a visit it’s hard to believe they have the chutzpah to call themselves a delicatessen.

Alkhas was told by a family friend soon after the revolution to “open Hafez’s collection of sonnets and choose a poem at random [This is quite a common ritual, especially with Hafez.

People ask questions or just seek direction. My Baba wasn’t superstitious at all, yet he was amazed at how Hafez knew the answers.]”

This is what Hafez had to tell me about Bunanameh: “Wheresoever beauty flies / Follow her on eager wings / Beauteous wild imaginings.”

“Wheresoever she may tread / Lovely vivid flowers arise / Springing swift as thoughts unsaid.”

Even amid the ugliness of Iranian politics and daily hardships, Alkhas takes this philosophy to heart, finding beauty and laughter in the most unexpected places.

Start a revolution with Emilia at ebrahm@georgetownvoice.com

leisure

12 the georgetown voice

january 24, 2013

C r i t i c a l V o i ces

Bad Religion, True North, Epitaph After almost two years of rumors and speculation, Bad Religion has finally released their 16th album, True North. Since their start in 1979, the punk rock band has become known for their three-part harmonies, intellectual lyrics and religious commentary and their latest opus is no different. As in the past, they continue to use their music to tell a story. For this album, the narrative is all about finding one’s way in the world, using an internal compass to find the way to “true north.”

This album also contains as much fierce guitar and drums as the band’s past works. This is evident in the first song on the album, “True North,” that begins with a 20-second strong drum and guitar intro before lead vocalist, Greg Graffin, begins belting out the confused, raging lyrics.

Additionally, in “The Island” and “Changing Tide”—the last two songs of the album—the band uses similarly fast-paced drumming to tie the tracks together. The idea behind it is that “The Island” represents the question about whether one should continue to live by society’s rules or do what he wants, while “Changing Tide” represents Bad Religion’s answer: people should stop caring about what other people think and turn inward for direction.

“Vanity,” the shortest song on the album at a little more than a minute, is an intense and thoughtprovoking track, critical of society’s claim that we are all, “disgraced to face our own humanity.” However, the hard drumming, harsh guitar sound, and breakneck pace makes the words hard to hear and understand at first listen, detracting from the intended message of the song.

Even so, this album is a perfect indication that, although the band’s members may have changed over time, their sound certainly hasn’t.

In each song, fans can find at least a small piece of the old school Bad Religion music they know and love, whether it be frontman Greg Graffin’s introspective vocals or guitarist Brett Gurewitz’s thrashing chords.

What becomes clear by the final power chorus is that there is an undeniable connection between True

Taking care of showbiz

We live in a sad world when Twilight sequels sell out weeks before they are released. Fortunately for the film industry, however, a new generation of production and distribution companies has turned heads with the innovation of profitable art house films.

Megan Ellison, the 26-yearold heiress of multi-billionaire Larry Ellison’s fortune, founded Annapruna Pictures with a new approach to film production. This nascent company puts up serious money for films that Hollywood would categorize as “art house,” a genre usually deemed “independent.” Through this radical approach to filmmaking, Ellison takes these tentatively “low-budget” projects and pours money into them, breathing life into otherwise moribund creations.

Judging by their box office numbers, many of Ellison’s projects come across as inauspicious.

To Ellison, however, one could presume that it is the quality of the project—not the box office outcome—that constitutes her criterion for a successful film. As an underwriter of contemporary art house auteurs such as Paul Thomas Anderson and Spike Jonze, Ellison has taken it upon herself to transform these filmmakers’ unconventional imaginations into filmic realities. In other words, it is a film’s artistic potential, not its potential profitability, that captures Annapurna Pictures’s interest.

While Ellison’s company has a noble undertaking, the sustainability of its approach to filmmaking is questionable. First of all, it’s not every day that a billionaire heiress decides to throw her money into experimental art forms--unless Paris Hilton’s perfume line could be considered an avant-garde cultural contribution. The risk severely outweighs a film’s chances of being

North and the band’s past records, one that peels back another layer of a punk rock institution.

Voice’s Choices: “Changing Tide,” “In Their Hearts is Right” —Zakiya Jamal

Ra Ra Riot, Beta Love, Barsuk As is the case with all instruments, synthesizers demand moderation and proper place within a finished musical product. Such devices are hardly appropriate in a full-blown experimental framework, particularly one that lasts hardly 30 minutes. Syracuse-based Ra Ra Riot, however, ignores these practices on the indie rock band’s third studio album, Beta Love, bringing an unpolished, unnatural, and chaotic creation into the world. solvent, so it takes someone with a skewed perception of money like Ellison to throw 10 million dollars into a Joaquin Phoenix Scientology satire like The Master.

That’s not to say Ellison hasn’t seen success, however. As the producer of Zero Dark Thirty and True Grit, she managed to gain back

Reel Talk

by John Sapunor a bi-weekly column about film much more than would have been expected, but it is unlikely that profitability was her primary concern. With a willingness to expand, not constrain, budgets, Annapurna gives its projects unprecedented levels of flexibility. By transferring her power into the hands of the director, Ellison is single-handedly starting a big-budget art house revolution.

But let’s face it. One day, Ellison will either run out of money

From the opening track “Dance With Me,” frontman Wes Miles’s upper-octave indie pop sugar is swallowed by a cacophony of erratic sound effects. The lyrics, which struggle to make a statement in and of themselves, are joined by what appears to be a malfunctioning drum machine complete with awkward claps, inconsistent cymbals, and an unexpected ethereal solo comprised of beeps more akin to urban air pollution than an integrated section of music.

Offering no respite, even the title track falls victim to the unending synthesized menace. Although “Beta Love” does not engender as much of a haphazard feel, the soaring, high-pitched chorus and its aura of bells and whistles brings with it painful memories of the album’s first song.

Beta Love’s lowest point, however, comes at “What I Do For U,” a track weighing in at just 1:44. Awkward panning, unexpected variations in reverb and volume, and other assorted filters make the mere 104 seconds feel like an eternity.

An album made up entirely of jumbled recordings would be relegated to the ranks of helpless filth, never to see the insides of a Walkman or Spotify playlist again.

Fortunately, Ra Ra Riot manages to or die. The task of carrying on her legacy belongs to distributors and innovative marketing wizards, like the Weinstein brothers whose production company takes on smaller, higher-quality films. Recently, The Weinstein Co. distributed the critically acclaimed dramedy Silver Linings Playbook, managing to milk $70 million out of its $20 million budget. With the proper marketing tools, then, Hollywood production companies can fight the unrelenting tides of pop culture and make quality films profitable. Major studios have begun to take note of the profitability of properly marketed indie darlings.

Indie film distribution branches have emerged out of Fox (Fox Searchlight), Paramount (Paramount Vantage), and Sony Pictures (Sony Pictures Classics), leveling the industry’s playing field. These distributors have convinced troves of moviegoers that critically acclaimed films need not be oriented towards niche markets. People can

include several redeeming tracks in the mix. “When I Dream,” “Is It Too Much,” and “That Much” all effectively balance moderate synthetic sounds with rock influences for well-structured, clean results. What sets these tracks apart from the rest of the album, and what makes them its saving grace, is the welcome use of soothing strings.

The success of string sections in place of the pervasive synths demonstrates the reason for the album’s failings: synthetic sounds merely attempt to compensate for the departure of Ra Ra Riot’s cellist, resulting in noise appearing in sections that otherwise would have been dominated by refreshing resonance. This weak substitute instead leaves much to be desired, particularly in the category of aesthetic appeal.

Thankfully, the album’s short length means that the listener is not dazed and confused for long. Synths certainly are advantageous in the appropriate time and a place, but Ra Ra Riot has found neither. Beta Love mercifully concludes with the appropriately titled “I Shut Off,” a signoff that comes 20 minutes too late.

Voice’s Choices: “Is It Too Much,” “That Much” —Kirill Makarenko finally enjoy the latest Lars von Trier feature without feeling the slightest bit pretentious.

While the sustainability of these profitable indie flicks is up in the air, the large distributors taking part in the trend could portend a promising future for a new phase of filmmaking. By putting trust in their filmmakers’ abilities, movers and shakers like Ellison are making room for more creative directors and screenwriters.

In fact, a newfound respect for cinema’s artistic merit is a likely byproduct of this phase, so the reach of its vitality pumping organs may be greater than initially expected. The day when movies like The Master vanquish Transformersesque prequels may be dawning upon us. Okay, maybe not, but it could probably outdo some shitty Adam Sandler comedy about cross-dressing ninjas.

Show John your art house at jsapunor@georgetownvoice.com

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— Madhuri Vairapandi

voices

14 the georgetown voice

january 24, 2013

In a welcome result, Israel moves towards the center

by Fred Messner In many ways, the results of Tuesday’s Knesset (parliamentary) elections in Israel proved a relief to Americans supportive of the Jewish state but concerned about the radicalization of its political discourse and its pursuit of shortsighted and self-destructive policies toward Palestine. Bucking a number of polls that had shown a wide advantage for the right wing and religious parties, Israelis elected a surprisingly heterogeneous Knesset, the control of which will be hotly contested and unstable.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is almost certain to remain at his post, saw his unified nationalist Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu party plummet to 31 seats out of 120. The two parties combined for 42 seats before the merger was announced. Also encouraging was the limited seats won by Naftali Bennett’s far-right national-religious HaBayit HaYehudi (The Jewish Home) list, which will likely finish with 12 seats, fewer than most pundits had predicted. Bennett, who made a small fortune selling his software startup and serves

in one of the Israeli Defense Force’s most prestigious commando units, had mounted an effective attack on Netanyahu’s right flank, dismissing the notion of a Palestinian state and instead proposing to annex the majority of the West Bank, leaving the most densely populated sections in a noncontiguous archipelago of Palestinian “autonomous areas” connected by bridges and tunnels.

The big winner of the right wing’s lackluster showing was Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, which garnered an unexpected 19 seats and could play kingmaker in coming negotiations to form a governing coalition. Lapid, a former TV host, campaigned as a representative of Israel’s secular middle-class (the “center-center,” as he refers to it), and has mainly focused on ending preferential treatment, most notably an exemption from the military draft and housing subsidies, for the Haredi (ultra-orthodox) community.

The social-democratic Labor party, led by Shelly Yachimovich and smaller left wing parties, including former foreign minister Tzipi Livni’s pro-two-state solution HaTanuah party and the far-left Meretz list, also

exceeded expectations. The coalition that will emerge will probably be made up of Netanyahu, Bennett, and Lapid’s parties, as well as any smaller parties that are willing to join on their terms. Shas, the Sephardi Haredi party, may be left out of the coalition for the first time in years.

Now, you are probably wondering how this upheaval will affect the comatose peace process with the Palestinians. Unfortunately, and even with so much still uncertain, the answer is a resounding “not much” for several reasons. First, there is little pressure coming from any segment of Israeli society to immediately pursue a negotiated two-state peace with the Palestinians. Surprising as it may be to American ears, the Palestinian question, which carries existential implications for the Zionist project, simply was not an issue in this campaign. The days of peace marches in Tel Aviv are long over, crushed under the weight of the Second Intifada and Gazan rockets, not to mention years of successful delegitimization from the right. Even the Labor party, which spearheaded the Oslo Process throughout the 1990s, conspicuously avoided staking out a position on the

West Bank at all. And though broad majorities of Israelis continue to support the principle two states for two peoples, even larger segments believe it impossible to implement.

Coalition politics and intraparty shifts will also constrict any movement forward with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu, who has at times shown willingness to negotiate with the PLO, if not take positive steps on the ground, will find it much more difficult to satisfy Western demands for progress as long as HaBayit HaYehudi is in the coalition. Bennett has promised to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state at all costs and will be unlikely to go along with even token negotiations that are unlikely to bear fruit. Lapid, for his part, has outlined terms for any two-state deal, namely the retention of all of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, that are a non-starter for Palestinians.

Even if Netanyahu were to restart negotiations—an unlikely prospect—Lapid would almost certainly be satisfied with the mere resumption of the process and would not push for a final status deal. As for Netanyahu’s party, it has moved far to the right since the last round of

their high school’s different cliques—my personal favorites being “Girls Who Eat Their Feelings” and “Sexually Active Band Geeks.” Although the cliques in my high school cafeteria were nowhere near as hilarious, a similar system did exist. But if you were to ask me which table I sat at, I wouldn’t be able to tell you, because in all honesty, I felt, and still often feel, just as lost as Lindsay Lohan’s character did.

Throughout the course of my own social life, I’ve never really belonged to a defined clique, nor have I ever had my very own personal group of friends. My best

friends were usually scattered all around the school cafeteria, eating lunch with their respective cliques and friend groups.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not one of those dark, brooding, and antisocial kind of guys. In fact, I’m probably the exact opposite. It’s just that the idea of spending all of my time with a single group of people has never really appealed to me. I enjoy actively meeting new people and making new friends. I love being in large groups, and I’m always trying (and often failing) to make people smile. These can be hard to do if one gets too attached to a particular social circle.

In short, I’m definitely a people person, but while I’ve been called a “social butterfly” numerous times, it isn’t that simple. Yes, I admit that I’ve earned somewhat of a reputation for being “that guy who is friends with everyone,” but I’m not so sure if I actually deserve this title. While I delight in the initial chase of a friendship, as soon as I’ve been with a certain group of people for longer than usual, as soon as things start getting more intimate and personal, I start to panic. I leave, and I search for another group of people to spend time with—because deep down, I’m terrified. Despite my innate love of roller coasters, horror movies, and Ouija boards, one of the things I find most frightening is

forming close relationships with other people.

To some extent, this fear comes from my upbringing.

Growing up, one of the things my family stressed the most was the old adage, “Familiarity breeds contempt,” and as a result, I’ve always been wary of spending too much time with a certain friend or group of people. I’m afraid that if I do, I might grow to dislike them, or worse—they might end up despising me. That’s why I’d much rather flutter around from group to group, making penis jokes and exchanging funny anecdotes, instead of sharing deep and personal experiences, because in all honestly, I’m terrified of opening up to people, and I certainly don’t want anyone knowing my worst fears, my deepest, darkest secrets, or my countless personality flaws. I guess that’s also why I always try to maintain such a sunny disposition—because deep down, I’m afraid that I’m actually a terrible person, and I don’t want anyone to ever see that side of me.

Yes, I admit that my fears are somewhat irrational, but they are certainly not out of the ordinary—especially among my fellow freshmen. We’ve spent so much of our high school careers sorting out our identities and figuring out our places in the world that we have a hard time readjusting when we arrive at college.

Everything we once knew about ourselves is thrown up in the air,

elections, to the degree that every single Likudnik elected this year is on record as supporting either full or partial annexation of the West Bank.

But while this government is unlikely to pursue any renewed peace initiative with the Palestinians, there is no guarantee it will be around for very long. Any possible coalition will be unstable, as conflicts over the relationship between synagogue and state and economic issues split along different lines from security and territorial concerns. Governments in Israel almost never last the full four years and there is no reason to believe this one will be any different. If diplomatic pressure comes to a head in a tangible way for Israelis, or if Netanyahu proves unable to handle the competing demands of his coalition, we could see new elections. If so, we can only hope the Israeli shift to the center signifies a long-term trend and not a one-off event.

Fred Messner is junior in the SFS. He’s “Crazy in Love” in love with the Georgetown-Israel Alliance, of which he’s a member.

From caterpillar into cocoon, a social butterfly emerges

by Rio Djiwandana By now, I’m sure everyone has seen Mean Girls, considering it’s arguably the best teen movie of our generation. But for those of you who have been living under a rock for the past eight years, let me fill you in on one of my favorite parts of the movie: the cafeteria scene. New girl Cady Heron, who at this point is still a ginger and not yet a drug addict, walks into her high school cafeteria with Janis Ian (some girl in dark, angry clothing). Janis hands Cady a detailed, colorful map that accurately depicts the seating positions of

TEDDY SCHAFFER

Sweatpants are only acceptable for the athletes... Do you even go here?

and while the core parts of our identities may remain the same, nothing is immutable.

Luckily, all college students go through this together—even the ones who seem perfectly confident and in control—but contrary to what others may insist, it’s perfectly okay. After all, college is probably the last time in our lives where it is acceptable to be unsure about who we are and what we want. In the next few years, we’ll be asked to make so many decisions—choosing a major, finding a career path, committing to a significant other—so why not take this time to really find ourselves? Or we could wait 20 years, have a mid-life crisis, and hop on a plane to Southeast Asia, like Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love—but that’s an entirely different piece to be written.

No, I may not have found a clique of my own, but that doesn’t mean I’m unhappy. I love all the friends I’ve made, but I also love meeting new people and mixing things up. Maybe one day, I’ll find a group and stick with it, but until then, I know that I’ll be just fine—as long as I don’t start eating my meals on one of the toilets at Leo’s…

Rio Djiwandana is a freshman in the College. He loves to “Party” with all the “Single Ladies”, but don’t be looking for him to put a ring on it!

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15

The wrong conversation about mental health and violence

by Lydia Brown Whenever a mass shooting or other act of horrific violence occurs, the mainstream media, political pundits, and members of the public are quick to jump to one of two conclusions—the perpetrator was either autistic or had a psychiatric disability. Aside from the obvious prejudice against disabled people that underpins either assumption, both of these conclusions are not merely wrong, but incredibly irresponsible and unacceptably dangerous. The vast majority of autistic people and those with psychiatric disabilities are not only nonviolent, but much more likely than nondisabled people to be the victims of violent crime than the perpetrators of it. When autistic people or people with psychiatric disabilities do commit violent crimes, disability is rarely a factor in the commission

AMANDA DOMINGUEZ

Even Freud couldn’t figure this out.

of the crime. These insinuations place autistic people and those with psychiatric disabilities at extreme risk for further victimization.

For this reason, I am deeply disappointed in President Obama’s plan to reduce gun violence. Do I condemn violence? Of course. Yet, when public discourse is rampant with both overt and implied messages that there is some connection between mental disability and violence, that most violence is committed by the mentally disabled, or that mentally disabled people are more likely to be violent than the non-disabled, it is impossible for me to remain silent in the name of unity or cooperation. I am morally obligated to speak against ableism cloaked by the façade of good intentions.

We could imprison every mentally disabled person in the United States, and violence of all kinds would still continue at the same rates. We could vastly improve access to and availability of services and supports for those with psychiatric disabilities, and rates of violence would also not decrease.

There is, therefore, absolutely no reason to include discussion of the (admittedly dismal) state of mental health services as part of a discussion on reducing gun violence, except to pacify public sentiment that conflates violence with mental deviance. Disclaim-

As print media lay dying

I grew up with Time. Every week, I would find it sitting around the house and either read it at my leisure. There was comfort in knowing it was right next to the daily newspaper. While, I would typically ignore the local paper, save the sports section, I always read Time thoroughly.

Now I’m in college, and hoping to graduate this semester. I haven’t read a print copy of Time since high school, outside of my riveting trips to the dentist’s office. There seemed to be little point. After all, I most likely already read the analysis of current events on the internet last week.

If I was really craving Time’s perspective, I could always just head to their website, for free, and avoid the risk of my shiny print copy getting lost in Georgetown’s archaic mail system.

All that said, when Time’s partner in crime when it comes to current events on the newsstand Newsweek came out with their final print issue this week, it was a little alarming for me. Suddenly, all of these publications that I had grown up with, from Highlights (you know you loved it) to Sports Illustrated seemed to be in imminent jeopardy.

Yet, I still believe people desire that comprehensive, wellsourced version of stories. And so, perhaps the supposed death of print media is overstated.

There are numbers to back that up: The New York Times registered a 73 percent in total average circulation for their weekday edition last year. For every newspaper that is struggling to maintain its readership, there are a

Let the Voice be your voice. We accept opinions, letters to the editor, personal experiences, and creative writing that are exclusive to the Voice. Submissions do not express the opinion of the board of the Voice. The Voice reserves the right to edit submissions for accuracy, length, and clarity. To submit, email voices@georgetownvoice. com or come to the Voice office in Leavey 424.

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ers that the majority of mentally disabled people are not violent do little to decrease or minimize the impact of emphasizing mental health services as a key component of a plan to address violence.

The fact that the Obama administration is centering the discussion about gun violence around the issue of mental health services suggests that it is pandering to the troubling assumption that only someone who is mentally disabled is capable of committing heinous crimes. This assumption is based on societal prejudices against disabled people, which will only be increased by this type of rhetoric.

Furthermore, while there are genuine concerns both by people with psychiatric disabilities and allies about access to appropriate and desired support services, one devastating consequence of this type of public discourse is increased stigma against mental disability and higher likelihood of mentally disabled people developing internalized ableism and thus not seeking supports or services that they might have otherwise wanted to find. Also underpinning much of this rhetoric is the unspoken assumption (taken for granted) that the appropriate response to mental disability is “treatment” in the medicalized sense, rather than removal of societal, legal, and attitudinal barriers to full inclusion and accessibility. couple of more that remain at status quo or are improving.

Major newspapers like The New York Times have resurged these days. Local newspapers still have relevance as well– news in a small community sense cannot really be found at a breaking news pace on television like the audiences those other national papers serve.

Carrying On

by Kevin Joseph

A rotating column by Voice senior staffers

Internationally, newspapers are booming in certain areas.

We have to keep in mind that in places like India– here internet is not the norm for the large population– newspapers do serve a vital role. Vernacular journalism readership has actually continued to increase in these areas.

But, in an all-too prevalent trend these days, there is credence to the notion that print media is on its deathbed. It has run its course in some sense, making way first for the Internet and then for other technological revolutions–be it exclusive online content, the Kindle, or the Twitter revolution.

It is imperative for both policymakers and the public to recognize the dangers inherent in suggestions that only mentally disabled people are capable of committing violent crimes. It is necessary that we develop theories, policies, and practices that challenge the systemic ableism that simultaneously denounces and endangers the disabled. We ought to condemn violence, not behavior that is simply unusual or inconvenient. It should never be acceptable to juxtapose a conversation about reducing violence with a conversation about targeting an entire group of people—particularly a historically marginalized population.

There are many conversations about disability that need to be happening, including discussions both about improving current service provision by public and private entities and about reconstructing societal conceptions of disability and the disabled experience. But it is never appropriate to politicize those conversations while simultaneously perpetrating ableist notions about disabled people for the sake of political expediency.

If we are to actually discuss the connection between disability and violence, why don’t we address the systematic abuse, torture, and killings of disabled people across the U.S.?

Timeliness is the name of the game these days–breaking the story first trumps everything, even fact checking. It is the same tragic flaw in modern-day journalism that wrongly implicated Adam Lanza’s innocent brother Ryan in the Sandy Hook shootings in December. As news happens, people want it to understand it in real-time and don’t particularly mind hitting refresh on Twitter until their fingers go numb for details.

Even print journalism’s successor, the Internet, has seen its initially noble pursuit of truth hijacked by the pursuit of Internet hits. Sites like Bleacher Report and Huffington Post masquerade as news sites (Bleacher, specifically for sports) but look to gain the majority of their traffic through features like gimmicky slideshows.

Aggregation is simply cheaper than maintaining a comprehensive newsgathering operation. Take a look at the Manti Te’o situation as an example.

Deadspin broke the story, doing a masterful job in exposing the hoax of Te’o’s dead girlfriend.

Sure, the report got plenty of attention, but the major networks like ESPN worked Deadspin’s report out of their coverage as soon as they could.

Hate crimes against the disabled are rarely tracked and almost never included in discussions about crimes targeting people for actual or presumed membership in particular groups, but it is rampant and pervasive.

Unscrupulous service providers and educators enact violence against disabled children placed in their care and under their supervision, often but not always in the name of treatment or therapy, and they are exculpated by the law.

Parents and caregivers of disabled children and adults abuse and murder their charges, and they are exonerated in a court of public opinion that perceives them as heroic martyrs suffering because of a “difficult” child. Disabled people are raped, literally and figuratively, when officers of the law refuse to acknowledge violations of their bodies as prosecutable crimes.

If we must investigate the relationship between psychiatric disabilities and violence, we ought to investigate the attitudes that permit these unforgivable crimes. Why isn’t that conversation happening?

Lydia Brown is a sophomore in the College. Georgetown students often ask her who “Run the World.” Her answer?

“Me, Myself, and I.” The major outlets did a pretty poor job crediting the sports site with breaking the story to begin with. Thankfully for Deadspin, they take themselves pretty lightly too, responding to Donald Trump’s congratulatory tweet with a simple, “Go fuck yourself.”

The work these journalists do is often underappreciated, at least until we hear of tragic tales abroad. Just last week, two freelancers covering the war in Syria– Yves Debay and Mohamed Al-Massalma – were killed in the pursuit of information (largely unreported in the United States), full truth on a war that the world may have otherwise been left quite misinformed. The medium– print or digital–through which such information is conveyed is largely irrelevant.

For now, the death of print media mayerstated—but it’s real and certainly not fantastic. What we valued from valiant reporters like Debay and Al-Massalma are still alive and well. The industry is just evolving, with print as its unfortunate victim.

Hell, take this column as an example. No one is going to read it, at least in print. Well, maybe that’s just because it’s in the Voice.

A Day in the Life This week marks the beginning of a new Voice serial, “A Day in the Life.” This semester we’ll be asking our readers to submit a story about what it’s like to be in the personal life of a prominent figure, either on or off the Hilltop. We start off with Voice staffer John Sapunor spinning a tale about how it feels to be GUSA heartthrob and scooter aficianado Cannon Warren’s made-up girlfriend. Each week, we’ll give you a suggestion of who you can satirize next, but if you have a better idea feel free to knock us out! Submissions should be 800-1300 words and emailed to editor@georgetownvoice.com by 10 p.m. Monday night. Please keep submissions respectful and fun. Mean-spirited works will not be considered. The Voice reserves full editorial rights over all submissions. Next week, we think it’d be great if you could let us know what it’d be like to be ANC Chairman Jack Evans’ wife. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

It was love at first sight. Cannon Warren, the prominent GUSA senator and flamboyant scooter fanatic, was standing in the GUGS line, pleading with one of the grillers to cook

finger on. But it turns out this precarious attraction would also cause the end of our relationship. That’s the story of how our relationship began.

Here’s how it ended.

It’s a nippy spring morning.

At 10 a.m., Cannon rolls up to my apartment on his red scooter. He’s wearing a leopard vest over a button-down ruffled shirt. His Goldblumstyle tortoiseshell glasses send a quiver up my thighs. As he had made clear in an early morning Snapchat dick-pic, Cannon had the day off, and he only had one thing in mind: Settlers of Catan.

I open the door. He folds up his scooter and gives me a smooth smooch on my right cheek.

Here is a man who knows how to please his girl.

his burger mediumrare. Medium-rare? Only a man with chutzpah orders a GUGS burger medium-rare.

Anyways, he didn’t get his way, but after locking eyes with him, I could tell he had instantly calmed down.

“Well, hello, lady.”

“Umm, hi.”

“I couldn’t get those effin’ GUGS dudes to cook my burger right. Damn bureaucracy.”

“Tell me about it. You got a name?”

“Cannon. You know, like the ball.”

Waiting in that line taught me a few things. First, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this “Cannon” character. He had something I couldn’t put my

“You have the board set up?”

I shake my head hesitantly.

“Well shit, let’s get the ball rolling.”

He walks into my crib like he owns the place. His hands are like a pair of eyes scanning the room—there’s nothing he won’t touch. While looking for the board, he gets momentarily distracted when he comes across a vintage Mighty Ducks hat. Here goes another interrogation.

“Whose is this, babe?

“I thought it was yours.”

“Well, it’s not.”

“Oh.” “Oh? Oh?” “Hey, Cannon, quit it with the accusatory tone. Someone at the party probably left it here.”

of Cannon Warren’s fake girlfriend

I can tell he’s jealous of the hat.

Does he think I’m upgrading boyfriends? It’s hard to say, but the situation cools down.

He apologizes for his tone, but it’s obvious this hat mystery is lingering in his mind.

We start Settling at about 11 a.m. Cannon has a few of his loser friends over to join in.

Why do I put up with this shit? Do you think I like playing heated games of Catan for pleasure?

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I do it for the sex. Still, our torrid bedroom sessions have been waning because of this goddamned board game.

Anyways, I’ll spare you the details of the board game, but Cannon lost.

And trust me, you don’t want to see Cannon lose.

When his friends leave, Cannon brings up the hat. After deciding I’ve had enough of this Catan bullshit, I come clean.

“Cannon, if you must know the truth, there’s another man in my life. He cooks me breakfast. He treats me to romantic dinners on the waterfront.

Oh, and you’ll love this. He plays Dungeons and Dragons without forcing me to sit in on his five hour sessions.”

“Dungeons and fucking Dragons? You’re fucking a D&Der? I think you should leave.

Really, just get out.”

“Cannon, this is my apartment.”

“Oh. Right.”

He scoots away into the horizon. A great weight has been lifted off my chest. My love affair with Cannon has come to its inevitable conclusion, and I couldn’t be happier. Still, I’m not lying when I say Settlers players have a sexual adroitness that D&D fanatics don’t come close to.

—John Sapunor