10 6 2011

VOICE the georgetown

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SAC WRESTLES WITH FUNDING TRANSPARENCY PAGE 4

WOMEN’S SOCCER BATTLES IN BIG EAST PAGE 6

CLOONEY’S MARCH OF DOOM PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w October 6, 2011 w Volume 45, Issue 7 w georgetownvoice.com

Keeping the classics alive

2 the georgetown voice

october 6, 2011

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Voice Crossword “A Very Potter Crossword” by Tyler Pierce

Across 1. Where there was no room 4. Exclamation of sudden understanding 7. Labors (over) 12. Hoopster Shaq

14. Male progeny 15. Sleep condition 16. Gaze unceasingly 17. Menacing old lady 18. You might be asked to find them for a function in Pre-calc 19. Spellcaster’s singing quality?

22. Put an ___ the madness 23. Fanfiction author Lue’___ 28. Murders 32. Killer British greetings?

37. Hindu practice of fidelity 38. Device useful for its shock value, abbr.?

39. Ask for a burger and fries, maybe 41. Non-purebred’s retraction?

44. Head, Fr. 45. Something handed down in a will, hopefully 46. Andean mountain dweller 50. Chalice for a Franciscan?

58. Classic gaming system 60. “You’ve got mail” website 61. Hipster’s beverage of choice 62. Arnold’s unibrowed nemesis 63. Variety show filmed at 30 Rockefeller Plaza 64. How Mermaidman gets when his nap is disturbed 65. Doesn’t leave 66. “The Say ___ Kid,” Willy Mays 67. “___ Loser,” 1964 Beatles Song Down 1. “___ the wild blue yonder,” line from the US Air Force

answers at georgetownvoice.com Song 2. Close to 3. Undercover drug cop 4. Ghostly pale 5. Obsessively collect and keep 6. Teen trouble 7. Tea at Starbucks 8. More than ajar 9. As to 10. Mr. O’Donovan 11. Airline based in Stockholm, Swe. 12. CIA predecessor 13. Jet or Robert 20. ___ Big Fish, ska band 21. Conceited person who overdresses and womanizes, slangily 23. Cassette replacers 24. Wife of Jacob 25. Irritate 26. There is a famous one in Hammurabi 27. Larceny 29. Runs fluidly 30. “I think you should go ___!”

31. Lead character in popular Indian sitcom “Bidaai” 33. Lay backwards 34. Common Korean surname 35. Hubbub 36. Fraction of a religious group 40. CEO Drummond 42. Philadelphia has a cracked one 43. Like Beethoven by the time he died 47. Necessary canine accessory 48. Repent 49. One of the American Girls 50. Rousing party 51. Threesome, for example 52. Partiality 53. Progressive salesperson from commercials 54. Wife of a rajah 55. Celeb couple 56. Gillete offering 57. King, Sp. 58. Sounds emanating from a spa 59. Vietnamese holiday

Are you a logophile?

Share your love of words and help us write crosswords.

E-mail crossword@georgetownvoice.com

editorial

georgetownvoice.com

VOICE the georgetown

Volume 45.7 October 6, 2011 Editor-in-Chief: Tim Shine Managing Editor: Sean Quigley Blog Editor: Leigh Finnegan News Editor: Holly Tao Sports Editor: Daniel Kellner Feature Editor: Rachel Calvert Cover Editor: Iris Kim Leisure Editor: John Sapunor Voices Editor: Kate Imel Photo Editor: Max Blodgett Design Editors: Michelle Pliskin, Catherine Johnson Projects Editor: Rob Sapunor Crossword Editor: Scott Fligor Assistant Blog Editor: Ryan Bellmore Assistant News Editor: Neha Ghanshamdas Assistant Sports Editors: Abby Sherburne, Kevin Joseph Assistant Leisure Editors: Mary Borowiec, Heather Regen Assistant Photo Editors: Julianne Deno, Matthew Funk Assistant Design Editor: Kathleen Soriano-Taylor Contributing Editor: Nico Dodd

Staff Writers:

Nick Berti, Geoffrey Bible, Kara Brandeisky, Mary Cass, Emma Forster, Kirill Makarenko, Kelsey McCullough, Sadaf Qureshi, Adam Rosenfeld, Jake Schindler, Melissa Sullivan, Nick Thomas

Staff Photographers:

Sam Brothers, Richard De La Paz, Lucia He, Kirill Makarenko, Tim Markatos, Jackson Perry

Copy Chief: Aodhan Beirne Copy Editors:

Claire McDaniel, Kim Tay

Editorial Board Chair: Jackson Perry Editorial Board:

Gavin Bade, Tiffany Brown, Rachel Calvert, Ethan Chess, Sean Quigley, J. Galen Weber

Head of Business: Keaton Hoffman The Georgetown Voice

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday.

the georgetown voice 3 MADE IN INDIA

GU’s Indian initiatives hold great promise Georgetown’s international collaborations expanded again last week with the announcement by Nirupama Menon Rao, the Ambassador of India to the United States, of a new Chair of Indian Culture and Society affiliated with the School of Foreign Service and Georgetown’s English department.

Next week, a summit on higher education with leaders from both American and Indian governments and academic communities, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will convene at Georgetown.

The University’s deepening relationship with Indian institutions holds great promise for the Georgetown community.

As India’s economic importance continues to increase and as America’s relationship with Pakistan continues to deteriorate, South Asian studies is an obvious candidate for expansion at Georgetown.

It is a welcome change to see the University pursuing international relationships that have value to the entire Georgetown community. In contrast, the school’s increasing ties with oppressive Chinese government institutions offer little to Georgetown scholars and students, while our expanding relationship with India offers a great amount of academic value. Fruitful engagement with a democratic, pluralist government is exactly the kind of international collaboration that Georgetown ought to seek.

Though Rao argued that India is not in competition with China for global status, her remarks on the value of the higher education summit set India’s government apart from its oppressive neighbor.

Reflecting on the similarities of the United States and India, Rao said, “The spirit of inquiry, creativity and the tradition of imparting knowledge have been the hall-

marks of our two societies.” Such virtues seem less important to the Chinese regime with which the University has dramatically increased ties. Georgetown has 27 agreements with Chinese institutions, compared to just six with Indian ones.

Rao’s hope for education in India to be a “vessel for social change” stands in stark contrast to the efforts of two of Georgetown’s partners in China, the Central Party School and the State Administration for Religious Affairs, essentially finishing schools for the Communist Party elite. The University has yet to explain adequately how training senior Communist Party bureaucrats does justice to our core Jesuit values. On the other hand, affecting social change has always been a mission of the Jesuits and of Georgetown specifically. The University’s growing relationship with India is an excellent way to keep doing that.

COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT

Club disciplinary process needs reform This Friday, the University will evict the Voice from its office in Leavey 413.

The Center for Student Programs has ordered the paper to switch offices with the Georgetown Debate Team after an incident in August that caused $4,000 worth of damage to several Leavey Center offices, allegedly involving two (since dismissed) Voice editors and a former staffer who were attempting to report on damages to the new Science Center caused by Hurricane Irene.

While the Voice recognizes the need for disciplinary action following the damages, having the paper move into the debate office—a significantly smaller space than the Voice’s current office— makes no sense. The room is ill-suited to hold the 25 to 30 staffers that have inoffice responsibilities on weekly production nights. The punishment hampers the paper’s ability to maintain the same

level of coverage and attract new members, punishing everyone in the organization for the actions of three. There was a wide range of less severe punishments available to the administration, including mandatory training in journalistic ethics and stricter oversight, that wouldn’t have done long-term damage to the Voice. Ultimately, the lack of a real appeals process made the consideration of any alternate punishments impossible.

The relationship between student groups and the administration is unfortunately one-sided. Disciplinary mechanisms are not structured to consider evenly the interests of both parties, and, in the event of a conflict, student groups start out at a disadvantage.

For example, Erika Cohen-Derr, the Director of Student Programs, is the advisor for all media board groups, but in this case was also in charge of punishing the

Voice. As the Voice’s advisor, Cohen-Derr was the paper’s logical advocate during the sanctions process. But the paper lost a major source of institutional support when she was assigned the task of punishing it.

Serious reforms in the student group disciplinary process are needed to give groups a fair shot at defending their interests and receiving proportionate sanctions. Groups should have independent advocates outside of the sanction process who can liaise with the administration on their behalf, in addition to advisors within CSP that will advocate for them.

Furthermore, if student groups were more involved in deciding their punishments, it would encourage mature leadership rather than detached indignation.

The absence of a balanced disciplinary process effectively leaves student groups out in the cold.

SURVEY SAYS

This newspaper was made possible 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 413 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 ... Father Schall

Education reforms deserve an Incomplete Although Washington is touted as a promising laboratory for national education reform, alarming reports released last week

by D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson show that school reforms in recent years have done little to alleviate the problems D.C. public school students face.

These statistics raise important questions about whether the D.C. model of school reform is actually raising achievement levels for all students. Policymakers must realize that it is not only factors within school buildings that affect student outcomes. Students’ economic and social realities are powerful indicators of educational performance, and they must be addressed by public school systems just as mediocre teaching is.

The statistics revealed that almost 10 percent of eighth graders and 12.5 percent of twelfth graders have tried to kill themselves.

Nearly 30 percent of eighth graders have had sex, and 15 percent of middle-school

students are involved in a gang. 18.4 percent of sixth graders missed school last year because they felt unsafe, and 13.9 percent of middle-school students said they had been afraid of being beaten up at school.

Furthermore, according to the Washington Times, more than half of dropouts leave school by ninth grade and over 80 percent of those who drop out leave before the end of tenth, limiting their ability to gain essential work skills.

Shocking statistics like these are common in low-income school districts nationwide, and in each case the predominant underlying cause is poverty. New York’s schools made headlines for a 2009 schooladministered survey that revealed similar statistics about attempted suicides, and, as Michigan Public Radio reported in June, Detroit’s third and fourth graders recently recorded the lowest scores ever measured on nationwide standardized tests.

Scholars have long recognized the impacts of financial stresses, such as foreclosures, addictions and marriage problems, on students and their families. Nevertheless bureaucrats and politicians across the country continue to address education reform as if performance in school is separate from issues outside of the classroom.

If self-styled educational reformers like former DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee, Florida governor Rick Scott, and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker are really committed to improving public education, they also need to be committed to alleviating the poverty of many students and their families. Right now they are not. Fixing public education by improving learning standards and holding teachers accountable is important, but if policymakers only focus on these problems, their reforms, and the students those reforms aim to help, will continue to fail.

news

4 the georgetown voice

october 6, 2011

Lack of transparency in SAC spurs new student group

by Vanya Mehta On Tuesday, student group leaders received an email announcing the formation of the Student Group Union, a student group alliance created in response to perceived transparency issues with the way the Student Activities Commission allocates group funds.

Emma Green (COL ’12), a former Philodemic Society treasurer, is heading the initiative.

In the email, Green wrote that the SGU would be a way to increase dialogue among student organizations and with the administration.

The SGU is partially the result of a broader, campus-wide push to increase cooperation and communication among student groups. The SGU email mentions that groups “have lots of reasons to connect with one another (such as in massive campaigns against SAC) so it makes sense to have a mechanism in place for forging these connections.”

SAC is currently in the process of making changes to the funding guidelines that outline how the organization allocates funds to student groups. A draft proposal is to be made on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at a round table discussion with student groups.

While acknowledging steps in the right direction for SAC’s new system, SAC Commissioner Dalvin Butler (COL ’13) believes the process is not as open as it should be and that student groups are still unhappy with their involvement. Asked about the current SAC working group sessions, Butler said, “We’re operating in a vacuum.”

SAC Chair Andrew Koenig (COL ‘12) said that it was vital for student organization leaders to be aware and involved in the process of forming a new system.

“There is a perceived lack of transparency in SAC, and SAC commissioners in years past didn’t do much to change that perception. The way the programming arc was created

… enforced the perception that SAC wasn’t transparent,” Koenig said. “I see it is a perceived issue and we need to respond to this.”

SAC commissioner Carlos DeLaTorre (COL ’13) paints a different picture. He said that student organizations are a part of the ongoing dialogue each step of the way.

“Student groups are always at the table. Their concerns are always addressed,” DeLaTorre said. “I think it’s a big misconception that SAC working groups meet in private, that’s not what we’re envisioning.

We’re looking to establish these meetings to come up with the ideas and then talk to organizations to hear their ideas.”

While SAC has involved students in redesigning the funding guidelines, students say they are still concerned about the lack of transparency in the process of SAC’s decisions for funding groups.

SAC has a weekly Monday meeting where student groups

can make proposals, but the votes on these proposals are closed.

The process “means that on our records and on the official minutes, who voted and in what manner isn’t recorded,” Koenig said. “The lack of transparency [involves] the funding process.

We are encouraging a lot of student input in this process.”

GUSA Vice President Greg Laverriere said the GUSA Fund, which provides funding for student organizations that are not able to get money from SAC, remains committed to keeping students involved every step of the way.

“The meetings are all open to the public the whole time and their votes are all public and recorded,” Laverriere said.

“They are willing to debate the issue while you’re sitting at the meeting.”

Colton Malkerson (COL ’13), a GUSA senator who has worked on negotiations with SAC in the past, pointed to some of SAC’s previous transparency issues.

the advantages of moving into the state-of-the-art space, department chairs are emphasizing the importance of continued funding and support for science programs at Georgetown as the school attempts to stay competitive among top-tier institutions.

There is a common consensus among science faculty at Georgetown that the Reiss building, built in 1962, is not technologically able

to support the experimental work done by modern researchers.

“The infrastructure in Reiss isn’t built to do the kinds of things we need to do in research labs,” Ed Van Keuren, chair of the physics department, said. “It’s too old to handle the electrical and plumbing and everything else.”

While the new science building will incorporate modern technology and infrastructure, a crucial feature of its design is improvements on interdisciplinary space. The Reiss building is interdisciplinary in that it houses the biology, chemistry, and physics departments within the same structure, but nothing about the building facilitates collaboration between the departments, which each occupy their own floor.

“It is hard in this building to interact with the lab right next door to you because everything opens out onto a hallway, but is separated by these cement walls and doors,” Biology Department Chair Steven Singer said.

In the new building, each research floor will house faculty from each of the three different departments, and professors who conduct similar research will be placed in close proximity. “There will be equipment shared, meeting spaces

that are shared, and much more opportunities for interaction then there are in [Reiss],” Singer said.

Van Keuren, however, expressed the concern that having a building with mixed departments and spaces will make fostering a sense of community within each department more difficult.

The professors agree that the new building will have a positive impact on their specific departments.

“It will give us first class quality space and improve the quality of teaching and the quality of research,” said Yuye Tong, chair of the chemistry department.

But professors emphasize that the new building, while a significant step in the right direction, is only a short term solution that must be supported by continued development.

“It gives hope to students seeing that Georgetown is really doing something for the sciences, [but] I would say it is a starting point,” Tong said. “If there are no sustained efforts following by future investments, I think that this kind of attractiveness will dissipate in the future.”

The new building is not projected to significantly impact the

“SAC has always struggled with transparency, and the last time they made any substantial changes to their bylaws they did so in secret,” he said. “I’m not criticizing SAC, [but] I think student advisory boards can always be more transparent in their reforms.”

SAC commissioners appear to have come to a consensus on their commitment to student involvement in funding guideline reforms. The main issue now is how SAC will continue the dialogue with students.

“I don’t think that there is room to say that we aren’t trying our darndest to get student groups at the table. They’re already there and we want to increase that presence,” DeLaTorre said.

Butler offers some forewarning for student leaders about the SAC reform process. “Student organizations will be able to give feedback which SAC may or may not consider. It’s not guaranteed that SAC will consider this feedback,” Butler said.

Science faculty stress importance of Reiss renovation

by Amy Liu Georgetown’s new Science Center, conceived and designed from the start to emphasize interdisciplinary learning and research, has excited science faculty with the prospect of increased opportunity for cross-department interaction and easier exchanges of ideas once the building opens.

But while they look forward to

Lucia He

The renovation of Reiss is necessary for GU sciences to advance, professors say.

number of researchers or faculty at Georgetown. It has the capacity to hold all existing science faculty, but leaves almost no room for expansion. For future development, Singer, Tong, and Van Keuren all cited renovation of the Reiss building as critical.

Singer said the renovation of Reiss is not predicted to happen anytime soon.

“It’s under discussion but there is no timeline,” he said.

This could pose a problem not only for the further development of the sciences, but for the competitiveness of Georgetown among its peer institutions. In recent years, schools like Stanford and Princeton have been devoting significant funds to the construction of new science space. For example, Stanford, in addition to having departmentspecific buildings for biology, chemistry, and physics, recently added a “Bio-X” building solely dedicated to interdisciplinary research.

The consensus at Georgetown is that even with the new building, a renovation to Reiss is necessary to keep pace nationally.

“Without sustained financial investment in the sciences—particularly in space and buildings—we cannot do it,” Tong said.

news

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 5

New South Student Center may use SAFE funding

by Soo Chae and Connor Jones At a forum on the proposed New South Student Center on Monday, architects from SmithGroup, Georgetown University Student Association senators, and University administrators revealed updated designs for the project and indicated that students would still have more opportunities to provide input on the final design of the center.

Significant additions and suggestions to the center may result in dipping into the Student Activities Fee Endowment or increasing fundraising for the project.

Based on the parameters presented at the forum, the approximate cost of the program is $15.5 million, partially financed by the University’s soon-to-belaunched fourth Capital Campaign, which is designed to bring in approximately $200 million for infrastructure projects like the NSSC. The goal is to open the space by August 2014.

However, Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson stressed that this date is “not a commitment,” but rather “a date that seems reasonable.”

GUSA senators said the possibility of spending part of the $3.4 million endowment from student funds in addition to University fundraising is being explored as well. If the project does receive student finances, the amount will

probably range from one million to two million dollars, though more dialogue between students and the University will be necessary to determine to what extent endowment usage is worthwhile, they said.

In the case of endowment spending, the referendum language would specify which addons the student endowment is tied on to, but it would by no means substitute University fundraising.

Potential add-ons to current design, like an outdoor patio space, a courtyard, a convenience store, fireplaces, or a skylight would mean increasing the price tag of the project to the $17 million range, with approximately $2 million from the endowment. Endowment spending could be arranged to speed up the fundraising process as well.

“If the fundraising campaign is lagging behind so it could delay the project by a year or two, it would be a question of using some percentage of it to help the university,” GUSA Vice-President Greg Laverriere (COL ’12) said.

Laverriere added that taking students’ input on the design of the center will be a prime concern when deliberating over potential utilization of student finances.

In addition to possible increases in funding, Bill Ash, an architect from SmithGroup, noted that there will be more opportunities for student input once

Illegitimate legislators This week the Georgetown University Student Association swore in the 27 newly elected student senators elected to serve their fellow classmates for the coming year. Their friends and their fellow residents have likely congratulated them for their victories.

But are congratulations truly in order after this election? The answer is both yes and no.

The GUSA Senate elections drew in significantly more votes than last year’s election. In 2010, there were 1,033 votes cast in the non-at-large elections and 970 votes in the at-large election. This year saw a dramatic increase with 2,040 votes received in the non-at-large elections and 1,523 votes in the atlarge election.

A number of Senate seats— especially in freshman residence

halls—had races with far more candidates than in the past. Notably, there were seven candidates for New South’s lone senate seat this year compared to only one candidate last year.

Although many have criticized GUSA for having too few candidates to make legitimate elections, that argument certainly can’t be made this year.

However, it may be premature for the student body to rejoice that we have finally fixed the problems that plague GUSA elections. A number of senate districts saw dismal turnouts despite an excellent overall turnout in the elections.

According to data compiled

by The Hoya, an upperclassman senator represents an average of 265 students and freshman sena-

the design phase of the project officially begins.

Once the administration reaches a general consensus on the rough sketches of the project, there will be more emphasis on student forums to tackle the general ambience of the NSSC—for instance, whether it will resemble the glassand-steel modern look of Hariri or be based on dark wood like older University buildings.

Currently, the scope of the program includes a food-service venue in a “club-like” setting, a multi-purpose room, a new Riverside Lounge with breakout rooms and open study space, and an area dedicated to recreation and gaming.

The NSSC could also mean more performance space for musicians and performance artists on campus. The multi-purpose room, with a standing capacity of 400 people, could potentially be equipped with portable stages and other movable furniture for performances or events.

Other functions of the room include pool tournaments, lectures, banquets, and a variety of other events.

The idea of the center housing a pub similar to the one proposed in Healy Hall seems to be dead, but Olson said the project could include a space where alcohol could be served occasionally.

“There is serious interest in exploring a venue that serves

TiM MaRKaTOS

The New South Student Center has been redesigned, but could cost more. tors represent approximately 300 of their dormmates. Three members of the newly elected GUSA Senate were voted in with 20 votes or less—this means that less than 10 percent of their constituents voted for them.

This is, however, an improvement from the 2010 elections. Those elections saw a senator elected as a

Saxa Politica

by Geoffrey Bible

A bi-weekly column on campus news and politics write-in candidate with a total of four votes—his four roommates in his Henle apartment—and four other senators elected with less than 20 votes.

Although no one expects full participation in a GUSA election, having members elected to the senate with such a small number of votes continues to delegitimize the

organization in the eyes of students and administrators.

The transition committee of the GUSA Senate—a group of lameduck senators charged with overseeing the senate between the end of the spring semester and the fall elections—added two additional at-large seats to the body. Rather than creating additional representatives, the GUSA Senate should focus on ensuring that its elections actually validate their members’ senatorships.

The minimum-threshold vote on the Student Activity Fee Endowment Reform last year is an example of how GUSA could further legitimize its elections. In order for the vote on SAFE Reform to be valid there needed to be a minimum of 2,000 votes cast, regardless of whether the votes were in favor or against the reform.

The implementation of a minimum threshold for GUSA Senate

alcohol, to an extent that alcohol service will not become a single overarching goal of the space,” Olson said.

There is still open discussion about how many hours per week the venue would serve alcohol and how it would be run, he said, but the main concern is to prevent the venue from being primarily used as a student stop for alcohol.

Olson emphasized that the center will be targeted to undergraduate students, most of whom will not be of legal age to consume alcohol.

Based on the current plan, most of student organizations’ offices and workspaces will reside in the Leavey Center, which will undergo renovation after the NSSC construction is completed.

Still, the current template is very much still up for changes, and only serves as a general outline for the project.

“There will be more discourse to incorporate students’ vision of the NSSC,” GUSA Senator Tyler Sax (COL ’13), who has been facilitating interactions between student and the administrators as part of GUSA, said. “Our goal is to ensure that students have an appropriate and an important voice in the designs and inputs, and that’s regardless of whether student money goes into it or not.”

elections would help to combat the problem of people turning the elections into a joke and writing in candidates who eventually win without even knowing that people are voting for them.

It is unreasonable to think that it would be possible to get most students to vote—and vote seriously—in a GUSA election, without reform. In the meantime, several members of the senate will continue to lack legitimacy for their positions.

So congratulations to those members of the newly elected GUSA Senate that were elected by a significant percentage of their constituents. Hopefully after some electoral reforms every member of the senate will deserve to be commended on their elections.

Make GUSA senators work for their votes with Geoffrey at gbible@ georgetownvoice.com

sports

6 the georgetown voice

october 6, 2011

Seniors strike Pitt, set to continue Big East play

by Melissa Sullivan After a rocky start to the season, the Georgetown women’s soccer team (10-4-0, 4-2-0 Big East) defeated conference rival Pittsburgh 6-0 on North Kehoe Field this past Sunday.

The six-goal explosion was a scoring high for the Hoyas this season, with senior forward Camille Trujillo contributing two to bring her career goal tally to 28, enough for second on the Hoyas’ all-time list.

Despite the blowout, the weekend was not without its blemishes. The women fell to West Virginia 3-1 on Friday, a disappointing result after the team out-shot the Mountaineers 21-13 in the second half.

Head coach Dave Nolan said he recognized the match was a missed opportunity against an import conference foe.

“I’d like to think the feel we can create changes against anybody,” Nolan said. “But I think they also now have to recognize that you got to come out from the first minute…you need leadership and you need personality.”

The team clearly took the lessons he gave them to heart, putting on their best performance against Pittsburgh with an aggressive outlook early, opening the scoring just 24 seconds into the game.

Trujillo, whose deadly finishing has propelled the Hoyas for much of the season, believes the team can still learn from

their prior mistakes even after the big win.

“I feel that the season has gone fairly well,” she wrote in an email. “There were some games that I think we could have won, but we have learned from the mistakes made in those games and focus on the games ahead. We can’t dwell on results in the past; we just need to do our best in the games remaining.”

In addition to Trujillo’s stellar play, fellow senior Ingrid Wells added a goal and an assist to become the first Hoya to score 100 points in a career.

The milestone is not Wells’s first major accomplishment during her career in the blue and gray. The redshirt midfielder took off what would have been her sophomore year to play with the United States Under-20 Women’s National Team, as they made it to the 2008 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. This past Sunday, Wells flew out to California to participate in the U.S. National Team Camp.

The underclassmen will have big shoes to fill once these key players graduate, but so far they seem up to the challenge. Freshman Daphne Corboz showed promise for the future, producing dangerous crosses during both the West Virginia and Pitt games.

Such performances have Trujillo confident in the underclassmen and their future contributions to the program.

“The younger players have been doing a phenomenal job

ABBY GREENE

Camille Trujillo is playing her way into the Georgetown record books.

stepping up for the team,” she wrote. “I have seen individuals’ confidence increase when they step on the field due to their efforts in practices.”

The Hoyas’ dominant victory should not be overstated, though. The Panthers are just 1-9-4 overall, but Trujillo is still

proud of her team’s response to the frustrating opening to the weekend.

“I thought we played very well as a team after a tough loss against West Virginia,” Trujillo wrote. “We responded to the loss in a positive manner and we were able to get a great result.“

The Hoyas will look for a repeat performance against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Friday.

At 5-6-4, Cincinnati’s record suggests the Hoyas will come in as the heavy favorites, especially having won convincingly last year 3-1. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. on North Kehoe Field.

the Sports Sermon “I do like the idea of hitting people with a stick, so I think I might’ve been all right.”

— Jets Coach Rex Ryan on playing lacrosse with Pats Coach Bill Belichick time was up—just seven years after having lifted the Curse of the Bambino.

The historic proportions of the Red Sox collapse have sent the organization spiraling into chaos. Despite finishing third in the MLB’s toughest division and displaying one of the finest offenses of recent memory, “the choke” has franchise officials forcing drastic change.

While they insist they don’t blame Francona, clearly something went on between him and the team’s management that led him to walk away on his own accord. It also appears to be only a matter of time before general manager Theo Epstein is “allowed to leave” as well. But

(regrettably) wanted to leave because this whole season had If a manager or coach can been particularly deflating. win a championship during After a winter that saw his his tenure with a team, he is squad catapult to the thirdalmost always considered a highest payroll in baseball, the success. If he wins two titles— incessant pressure to provide the first breaking an 86-year the owners with a return for championship drought and their investment understandthe second coming just three ably wore him down. years later—then he surely The Boston fans and media must be considered a messiah. have to accept considerable Such is the story of Terry blame for this unfortunate turn Francona, former Red Sox of events as well. Francona isn’t manager and franchise legtheir first victim. After all, these end. Winner of two World are the same people that turned Series, in 2004 and 2007, FranBill Buckner, an honest big cona guided the Sox to eight leaguer with more career hits straight winning seasons and than Joe DiMaggio or Mickey five playoff appearances.

Mantle, into a cursed man.

But with success comes While Sox fans went into greater expectations, and few hiding, avoiding their Yanfan bases take exkee-sympathizing Pete Rose Central pectations as high friends at all costs, Da bettin’ line as Red Sox Nation. the Boston meDespite his two dia was rapidly Dookies Margin Hoyas titles, Francona calling for the or(underdogs) (duh!) failed to meet ex- (favorites) ganization to do pectations this year something, senYanks Fisted Tigers and is no longer sationalizing the Jets managing the team. incident The Sanchise whole Pats Heading into as if it was someD’backs Home hangover Brewers September, the Red thing other than a Sox led the Wild Card race by the Red Sox front office re- storm of injuries and slumpnine games with just 27 left to states that it is not blaming ing bats that caused the Red play. Over the next month, the any individuals, especially Sox to go 7-20 in September.

Red Sox slowly crumbled be- Epstein and Francona, for the Under no circumstances could fore capitulating on the final team’s cataclysmic demise. this collapse go unpunished, pitch of their season, with a I’m not buying that for a they claimed, regardless of the blown save loss to the Orioles second. Prior to this season baseball rationale behind it. enabling the Tampa Bay Rays there were hardly any jobs in No one really believes Franto sneak into the postseason sports safer than Francona’s cona didn’t have another good by the thinnest of margins. and Epstein’s. The fact that season left in him or that the The Red Sox started their both may be gone just a week he’d lost respect in the cluboffseason a month sooner than after the Red Sox were elimi- house—nothing could be farther they had expected to on Open- nated from postseason conten- from the truth. Nevertheless, ing Day, when sportswriters tion clearly shows the Sox are Francona had to go after the around the country seemed pointing fingers. After all, why season to soothe the wounds of to almost unanimously pick make these drastic changes if a city that thought another title them to be American League they still thought they had a was already in the bag. Expectaand even World Series cham- winning formula? tions toppled yet another hero. pions. Instead of wearing a Saying you don’t blame So congratulations, Red new ring, Francona will spend Francona doesn’t make it Sox Nation. You have just suchis winter job-hunting after true. Besides, Francona isn’t cessfully run the best manager mutually agreeing with the gone because of the fallout of in franchise history out of Red Sox front office that his the last few days. He said he Beantown.

by Daniel Kellner

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Men’s soccer extends streak Hoyas fall to Bison

by Nick Berti The No. 13 Georgetown men’s soccer team (7-1-3, 2-00 Big East) put their nine-game unbeaten streak to the test Tuesday night under the bright lights of the Multi-Sport Field, coming up victorious 2-1 against crosstown rival American University (4-6-1) in only their second time ever playing on the synthetic surface.

The non-conference matchup wasn’t a cakewalk by any means, though, as both teams fought hard for D.C. bragging rights.

“We’re so close to each other there’s such a natural rivalry,” head coach Brian Wiese said.

“There’s always gonna be a little bit of an edge to it.”

Yet, the local rivalry was just one of the many dimensions of

the game. The turf field certainly had an impact on the players as well.

“The ball’s a little bouncier here,” Wiese said. “It’s a little tighter, big boys are going to be be playing rough and in tight areas,” Despite the physicality of the game, the Hoyas managed to get on the board fairly early.

Redshirt senior Ben Slingerland connected for his first goal of the season with a header in the 17th minute off of a corner kick from sophomore Steve Neumann.

Before the Hoyas could catch their breath, the Eagles answered quickly, unleashing a breakaway 30 seconds later to even the score at 1-1. But as the first half was about to come to a close, Neumann swung in a corner that ricocheted in off the post, giving the Hoyas a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

ABBY GREENE

Steve Neumann has impressed throughout the Hoyas’ unbeaten run.

Stadium name games At the end of next year’s NFL season, the AFC and NFC champions will head down to New Orleans for the Super Bowl. However, as of this past Tuesday, the stadium hosting the game will not be called the Louisiana Superdome, as it has been the previous six times it hosted the event. Instead, the teams will be trading blows in the newly licensed Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The naming rights deal is just the latest in a long line of sponsors throwing their brand onto stadiums, so it’s about time Georgetown got in on the action. Although the men’s basketball team plays in the Verizon Center, the Georgetown football, lacrosse, and soccer teams play at the painstakingly generic Multi-Sport Field.

While such a functional and descriptive name might be ap-

propriate for your local middle school, it is hardly suitable for a Division I home field. As a major sports power in the D.C. metro region, Georgetown athletics can and should attract a wide range of potential advertising partners to give Multi-Sport Field a legitimate name.

Selling the naming rights to a stadium is highly beneficial for both parties involved. In the Mercedes-Benz deal, the Saints will receive enough cash to no longer need state subsidies, while the automaker gets a fantastic advertising opportunity. Earlier this year, the Jets and Giants inked a deal with MetLife for the naming rights to their new stadium that will pay up to $20 million annually for 25 years.

Although Fortune 500 companies are certainly itching to bid

Nevertheless, Wiese wouldn’t have minded a little more breathing room.

“It would have been nice to have gotten another goal or two in there.” Wiese said. “We had the set pieces look very dangerous today.”

The goal and assist added to Neumann’s team-leading 16 points. Since Neumann has arrived on the Hilltop, he’s tallied a team-best 44 points, with junior Ian Christiansen a distant second with 26.

The Hoyas failed to build on their lead, but Wiese was happy with the way the squad protected the lead in the last half, especially after having let it slip in the first half.

“I didn’t feel too nervous in the second half at all ... [they were] making things very predictable,” the sixth year coach said. “I think once we got the lead, I felt very secure that we weren’t gonna lose, the second time.”

The test from American might be just what the Hoyas need before they head out to Morgantown for a match against Big East rival West Virginia. The Hoyas will have their now 10-game unbeaten streak and undefeated conference record on the line.

“I think [West Virginia] had the longest home winning streak in the country,” Wiese said. “So they don’t lose games at home very often, and they’re a heck of a talented team. We’re gonna have to have one of our best performances to get any kind of result there.”

Players from the team could not be reached for comment.

for the naming rights to the MultiSport Field, Georgetown ought to begin on a smaller scale to bolster both the school and community.

Not to mention, a quaint little company better suits our breadbox of a stadium. Can you imagine the football team playing under the lights on Homecoming at SweetGreen Stadium? Not only does this encourage a healthy lifestyle, but

Double Teamed

By Adam Rosenfeld a rotating column on sports could also make Georgetown the potential host of a mini Sweet Life Music Festival (cha ching!).

Rather than dye our field an atrocious Boise State blue, we could make our own greenest green you’ve ever seen. “SweetGreen green” would surely become the new fad for collegiate groundskeepers everywhere.

by Kevin Joseph The road stretch of their Patriot League schedule has yet again bested the Georgetown football team. After crushing Marist last weekend with a historic offensive performance, the Hoyas fell 35-18 on the road to Bucknell. The team failed to put up much of a fight early on, falling into a 28-0 hole by halftime.

The Hoyas battled back, scoring 18 unanswered points, but the rally came too late in the game to change the outcome.

Head coach Kevin Kelly hopes to move on quickly with a battle against Wagner coming up this weekend.

“First series, we fumbled the football. From that point on, we gave up some big plays on defense,” he said. “We did do a good job of coming back.”

Kelly’s view on his team’s rushing game may be an understatement, as the Hoyas produced -3 rushing yards on the day, a stark contrast to their consistent ground output this season.

Despite the great experience of the secondary, the defense made numerous errors to help unleash the Bucknell passing game, with quarterback Brandon Wesley to throw for three touchdowns against the Hoyas.

The defense still made some stops, despite its tendency of giving up big plays.

The team has relied on junior outside linebackers Jeremy Grasso and Rob McCabe, but

For a more carnivorous option, the school could opt for Wingo’s Field, encouraging our players to soar to new heights while paying tribute to a Georgetown chicken carry-out institution.

Add a few more seats around the field, and the administration could open a bidding war to make the new name the Chipotle or Qdoba Bowl. If the team ever played on a Monday, tickets could be half-price.

Perhaps the most lucrative name could belong to Georgetown’s new most famous tourist attraction—Georgetown Cupcake.

Not only would the Georgetown Cupcake Coliseum be an attraction for students on game days, but it also would undoubtedly lure thousands of misguided tourists looking for long lines and expensive cupcakes. In addition to more fans, Georgetown athletics would gain added publicity and revenues from appear-

Kelly shifted them to the inside for the game, saying he was looking for players that could run and had a nose for the football.

McCabe, in particular, has been the Hoyas’ most consistent defensive player, as he currently leads the Patriot League in tackles with 54.

After turning the page from the Bucknell defeat, the Hoyas are focused on facing Wagner, who handed the team perhaps its most difficult defeat of the 2010 season.

The Hoyas lost 22-16 in double overtime on an 80-yard interception.

Kelly knows last season’s heartbreaker still leaves a sour taste with the Hoyas.

“That’s in the back of our minds,” he said. “I guess you could call it at payback game.”

Despite the loss, the Hoyas remain at 3-2 with the bulk of their conference games still ahead of them. A win this week followed by a win against Howard would set them up nicely for their return to campus for the Homecoming game against Colgate.

“We’ve had, overall, our best week of practice,” Kelly said. “I’m happy with the way the guys have handled the loss. I told them that we can still obtain all of our goals–have a winning season and still win the Patriot League. We can’t stub our toe again, but we have the opportunity.”

Players from the team could not be reached for comment.

ing on sports broadcasting powerhouse TLC. The simple fact is that, in sports, everything is for sale. Seemingly every stadium is now named after a sponsor. On ESPN, any 30-second phone interview is now brought to you by Subway. Soccer jerseys feature the team’s main sponsor prominently on the chest, with only a small patch just below the shoulder reserved for the team logo.

Heck, Syracuse and Pittsburgh’s defection to the higher-paying ACC have shown us that even entire athletic programs are for sale.

Georgetown has fought the good fight for too long. Now it’s time to cash in. There is simply no place in the modern world of sports for a highly descriptive and functional field name. It may be just the shake-up our football program needs.

Bid for the naming rights to Adam at arosenfeld@georgetownvoice.com

feature

8 the georgetown voice

october 6, 2011

feature

georgetownvoice.com

A life in learning: Father James Schall

I

by Aodhan Beirne n the moments before his Elements of Political Theory class, Father James Schall, S.J., stood in the hall, chatting with earlycomers about the weather, the readings, and

other courses. Schall not only knew all of his current students by name, but also recalled almost all of his recent students.

He made introductions among the students standing in front of him, and a large, comfortable conversation started.

This conversation seemed to carry over into class. The period involved little group

Wolfington Hall: consistently rated one of nation’s top party dorms.

IRIS KIM

discussion, but was rather a series of conversations between Schall and individual students.

To Schall, this conversational teaching style fosters students’ intellectual engagement.

“College students learn most from talking to each other. You have to have ways for students to converse,” he said.

“That’s why education is fostered by a good campus.”

When class began, Schall asked if he had failed to call on anyone during the course so far. “I don’t want anyone to feel left out,” he said. With 100 students crowded into a large White-Gravenor classroom, it would seem easy to be left out during a 50 minute class period.

However, Schall’s custom of pacing the aisles—addressing questions and comments to students at random—makes it difficult to shirk participation. Despite his sniper-like questioning style, his students appeared calm, seemingly unfazed by the possibility of being called on at his whim.

Although his quiet voice could easily be drowned out by coughing, his students remained attentive and prepared to be called on. The conversations ranged from Plato, to the etymology of names of the months, to Shakespeare.

Schall teaches exclusively from the Western canon, classic texts that have been a cornerstone of Jesuit education from its beginnings. Some see these texts as providing a critical perspective on the legacy of human thought.

Professor Patrick Deneen, a government professor who also teaches Elements of Political

Theory, speculated that Schall’s traditional perspective attracts students to his popular class.

“A paramount reason why students flock to Father Schall is because he reveals to them the profound depth of their ignorance,” he said. “But more than that, he allows them to experience that magnificent feeling that is the beginning of philosophy—the hunger for knowledge.”

Having come to Georgetown as a Ph. D student in 1956, Schall refers to himself as “ancient history.” But as he explained—paraphrasing Aristotle, a main character in his classes—“history is cyclical.”

Its lessons should be heeded.

Schall is the last of the old guard: one of the few remaining Jesuits who still shape Georgetown students’ intellectual, spiritual and personal education in the mold of classic Catholic tradition. As the University becomes more secular, global, and pre-professional, some students yearn for the traditional education that seemingly only Schall can still provide.

S

TRADITION IN THE CLASSROOM

imilar to the texts he teaches, Schall conducts class in a classical manner.

“He does it the old-fashioned way: by making them read serious books, take the books seriously, and take themselves seriously as people who have a responsibility to read those books as well and thoughtfully as they can,” Provost James O’Donnell wrote in

an email.

As a professor in the government department, Schall is most well-known for his Elements of Political Theory course, though he said his course on Plato is his favorite to teach. His teaching methods are decidedly traditional.

In lieu of a Powerpoint display, Schall organizes his thoughts with a pencil on a small pad. He does not allow students to use laptops in his class, citing an unofficial study he conducted in which a few of his students admitted he would not want to know what students actually used their computers for in class.

Schall’s syllabus is one page and provides no schedule for readings. His students are expected to attend class— one of the two main factors for evaluation in the course—and to keep up with the reading assignments he announces.

Though this might frustrate a schedule-oriented student, those in his classes seem to understand—and more importantly, appreciate—why he does what he does.

“He’s opposed to the modern curricula,” said Geoff Lyons (COL ’12), an Elements of Political Theory student. “He follows a more Christian theological tradition. He doesn’t like to ‘scientize’ philosophy, which is the direction he believes it’s going.”

S

AN INTELLECTUAL CAMPUS LIFE chall is wary of the loaded schedules most Georgetown students take on, weighted with

IRIS KIM

Let’s hope that you’re ready for when Schall inevitably calls on you. extracurricular activities and internships, in addition to their academics.

“All universities should build walls, not to keep people in, but to keep the world out,” he said. A confined campus is conducive to traditional learning, based on discussion and contemplation. His ideal education is a comprehensive experience that includes conversation, studying, and socializing.

“The point of a liberal education is not preparing you for business,” he said. “It’s giving you the freedom to learn about the ultimate questions.”

Schall tells a story about a conversation he had with a friend in an Irish pub. His friend asked if he heard anything in the pub. Schall said he didn’t, and the friend responded, “Exactly.”

Irish pubs, he explained, are great places to learn since they are usually so quiet.

“People are there to talk,” he said. “No one is there just to get drunk. It’s more quiet; no one is yelling like they do at bars in New York.”

Schall’s view of the role of a professor is simple, but profound.

“A professor is a person to whom people come because he has studied his way and can say, ‘Okay you will do this,’ or ‘We can read this

together.’ Students are being guided to read things, but in a sense, they are being prodded to believe that this thing is more important than this thing,” he explained.

There is a certain level of trust students must have in their professors, he said but he quoted a friend who warned, “The worst thing that can happen to a student is to give his soul to an unworthy professor.”

Without these physical and metaphorical walls, students will be “educated by some other system, always somewhere else,” Schall said, referring to everything students do that is not directly related to their studies. Schall fears that Georgetown has failed to maintain its sense of purpose, becoming what he calls a “resumé university.”

“Resumé universities have students who focus on their internships, their extracurricular activities, their sports.

What’s behind them is the notion that education is more than just knowing, but that detracts from the purpose of a university,” he said. “You can’t be a student if you’re doing 30 hours a week of something else.”

Schall maintains that students should remain actively involved in their educations whenever not in class.

“Of course you can do nothing if you want, but you have the time to be free to be thinking about things,” he said.

This type of contemplation makes education worthwhile and gives a university a purpose. Schall teaches students to know themselves, recommends not getting internships, and suggests that students drink in a pub instead of studying excessively. It is easy to see why students continue to take his classes.

He will continue to teach —and teach in the manner he see most purposeful—in spite of the trends most other Georgetown professors are following, because to him it is always about the students.

“I do not think students ever change that much, thank God,” he said. “All 20-yearolds are 20-year-olds. I do not believe in progress in this sense. We cannot bypass free will and basic good sense. Basically education is not about Georgetown, it’s about truth and honor.”

Schall relates this to his life as a Jesuit. “As a priest, you have to do the same thing, get them to see the kind of life they should live and why. But they have to see it. You cannot force them,” he said.

the georgetown voice 9 A FORWARD-LOOKING UNIVERSITY

T

hough he agrees that his opinions about education are rare at Georgetown, he chalks it up to location—not some overarching trend. “You don’t think of Washington as a place to study philosophy,” he said, claiming that all Georgetown students want to be lawyers. “Because it is in Washington, Georgetown has departments that leech off the government department.”

Georgetown studies are heavy on science and statistics.

Although he is himself a professor in the government department, it is clear that Schall relates more closely to philosophy.

Deneen agrees that Schall’s method of teaching is unique at Georgetown. “Much of the activity of the Georgetown University is increasingly focused on ‘current events,’ so part of what Fr. Schall is advising is avoid the presentist tendencies of our own institution,” he wrote. “Such a stance requires independence and courage, some of the virtues that Fr. Schall aims to foster among his students.”

To Deneen, too strong a focus on the present can be detrimental to education.

“In learning ever more

about ‘current events,’ we become ever-more ignorant about who we truly are,” he wrote.

His classes, his presence, and his ideas about scholarship are important elements of Georgetown tradition and identity, and will continue to keep Hoyas grounded, especially as Georgetown starts to follow the trend of becoming more globalized.

As a professor, Schall looks simply to give his students a “wake up experience,” which he explains is a moment when “the student is looking down, probably confused, and then looks up and says ‘Yeah, I want to know more about that,’” he said.

Those who have worked with Schall for years have witnessed first-hand the impact of his teaching philosophy and dedication to his students.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been talking to a student for a while and been impressed with something they were saying and just gotten this little whiff of suspicion, and I say: ‘Did you ever have a class with Fr. Schall?’

And they light up and say, ‘Yes, wow, the greatest,’” O’Donnell wrote. “He’s one of the few stellar people that any institution hopes it can boast of that have that kind of consistent, far-reaching, deep impact on students.”

IRIS KIM

Father Schall loves to relax and read his morning paper on the back patio of the Jes Res.

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

october 6, 2011

Ides of March treads on beaten path

by John Sapunor

Politics is a dirty world. Just ask George Clooney, who cowrote, directed, and starred in the new political drama The Ides of March. With a title referencing the betrayal of Julius Caesar and one of the most impressive casts you’ll see this fall, The Ides of March is a time bomb waiting to erupt into a meaningful, edge-of-your-seat political thriller. The problem is, before this film has time to give its plot a life of its own, the credits have already started rolling.

In the end, the film only makes a point that could have been illustrated just as well by watching an hour of CNN—politicians are bad, bad people.

The film follows Governor Mike Morris (Clooney) as he enters into the highly-contested Democrat primary in Ohio.

Morris’s campaign is managed

by Paul Zara, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in his usual scruffed-up manner, but the real brain behind the campaign is Stephen Meyers, a young, brighteyed smoothtalker played by the

“Who’s paying for this shit, because I just lost my job at Friendly’s.”

iMDB

ubiquitous Ryan Gosling (seriously, the only actor in more movies than Gosling nowadays is Hoffman).

Meyers’s faith in the governor’s ability to change the country is a play on the widespread Obama fandom during the 2008 election season, but as Meyers is soon to find out, politics in its rawest state is far from the idealistic pedestal upon which he holds Morris. And as this country, with our Clintons, Edwardses, and Weiners knows—never put a politician on a pedestal.

As Meyers gets close to college-aged intern Molly Steams (Evan Rachel Wood), he learns a few unpleasant details about Morris’s personal life. But just before he gets the full scoop on his idol, he gets into a quarrel of his own. Morris’s competitor’s campaign manager (Paul Giamatti), a self-described “jaded” product of the political system, wants Meyers on his team, a fact that the press soon digs up. Soon, the backstabbing begins, and as everyone waits for the “betrayal” upon which the movie is titled,

the dark human nature that politics thrives on surfaces in just about every character involved.

If you’ve ever thought about becoming a politician, this movie’s plausible circumstance may have you second-guessing your career path.

While The Ides of March is a timely movie, its cynical plot and contemptuous characters drill the audience with politically relevant propaganda. But today’s voters and moviegoers already know that candidates are just sleazy hedonists hiding behind charismatic speeches and hollow promises.

The problem is that there are no memorable characters here.

Gosling is miscast as a witty, self-important campaign coach, and while he may currently be a hot commodity in Hollywood, his ripped body and his stuffynosed Jersey accent would never cut it in a more believable political show like The West Wing.

Clooney makes for a good politician, but his small amount of screen time does not give the audience a chance to contemplate if his game-playing politico has any

real value under his handsome demeanor. Hoffman and Giamatti are film veterans, but their talents here are wasted and forced.

While the film is unmemorable, there are not too many flaws, with the exception of the unsatisfying plot arc. The cinematography is decidedly cold to match the climate of the situation, and the film’s progression is logical and engrossing. Whether the film aims at fanning down the excitement towards god-like political figures or if it wants to solely serve as a captivating revenge story is unclear, but the former is much more plausible.

And if fanning down is its aim, it succeeds. Still, if Clooney had put more focus on his character Morris, at least the viewer could leave the theater with a realization as to why politicians are in fact so hypocritical. But all we are given is the mere fact that Morris is a paradox of himself, a job that should be left for Gawker, not cinema. Despite the title, there are no Shakespearean character arcs here, just hollow, modern, political cynicism.

sional context. The two on display are distinct in that they depict relaxed, unaffected posture in contrast with the rigid, conditioned bearing of other subjects. Another medium, pastel, became a particular favorite of Degas during his later years for its vibrant colors and impressionist style. Such is apparent in “Dancers in Rose,” in which the blurred pink color becomes the dominant feature of the painting.

Arguably some of the most stunning works in the collection are his group studies. In “The Dance Class,” a remarkably complex work in which Degas incorporated 24 different dancers, there is a magnificent flurry of activity as the dancers are shown presumably preparing for class. The silhouette of the legs on the spiral staircase is particularly visually striking.

In another group study, “Dance Rehearsal,” daylight filters through the studio in a way that casts shadow on the dancers. In both “The Dance Class”

and “Dance Rehearsal,” there is a sense of organic movement and activity that gives the viewer the sensation of being caught in a moment.

In the same way that Degas experimented with various media and multiple studies of the same subject, the designers of the exhibition explore the principles of his work from every possible angle. In addition to the paintings, drawings and sculpture on display, there are also contemporary photo-

graphs of ballet performances and a video of a performance of Swan Lake.

The most open attempt to echo the atmosphere of Degas’s paintings, however, is the addition of a room awash with natural light and filled with mirrors and a ballet barre. A glimpse of “Dancers at the Barre” can be seen through the mirror, inviting the viewer to fall into Degas’s impressionistic world that the gallery so effectively brings to life.

Phillips Collection displays Degas’s dancers

by Julia Lloyd-George

As a celebrated impressionist painter during the rise of the movement in the late 19th century, Edgar Degas gained a reputation for his ability to portray fleeting scenes with remarkable artistry. “They call me the painter of dancers.

They don’t understand that the dancer has been for me a pretext for painting pretty fabrics and for rendering movement,” he once said.

In Degas’s Dancers at the Barre: Point and Counterpoint, the new gallery at the Phillips Collection, viewers can examine Degas’s paintings of ballerinas, an appropriate theme considering Degas dedicated more than 1500 works over four decades to the subject.

Contemplating the exhibition centerpiece, “Dancers at the Barre,” the viewer cannot help being struck by the painting’s simplicity; the dancers lack defining facial features and are set against a flat orange backdrop while they do the ba-

sic warm-up stretches required of every dancer. In many ways, it is one of the more simply impressionistic pieces of the collection, yet it is this simplicity that makes it unique.

Degas’s intense attention to detail and dedication to revision echo the discipline of rote and repetition in ballet, illustrating the close relationship between the artist and his subject.

Many of the motifs apparent in “Dancers at the Barre” recur in the collection’s other works. The play of light, color, shadow, and blurred contours can be found in the majority of his works, but the focus shifts in different paintings. In “Dancers” and “Dancers in Green and Yellow,” the viewer is drawn to the dancers’ perspective. They all look in one direction, inviting the notion that they are watching a performance themselves.

Degas further explores different themes in his use of various media, such as in his sculptures, with which he examines natural form in a three dimen-

“I had the craziest dream last night. I was dancing the White Swan.”

flickr

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“i must say, damned good stuff, sir.”—inglourious Basterds

What’s with this waffle?

by Kirill Makarenko Anyone hoping for a classic American waffle floating in sweet syrup and topped with a glistening pat of butter will leave Wicked Waffle disappointed. “No Butter, No Syrup” reads the tag line for the new restaurant near Farragut Square. Instead, Wicked Waffle claims to represent centuries of European culinary tradition with its waffle sandwiches, soups, salads, and desserts—an ironic assertion, considering the shop is designed for the busy American on the go.

The restaurant’s interior is cramped, making stays longer than the five minutes it takes to prepare a menu item uncomfortable. Adding to the urgency to escape is a lack of chairs or tables, forcing the consumer looking for a more leisurely lunch to stoop to the level of eating his meal on a nearby bus stop bench.

Aside from its utilitarian system for crowd management, the shop has an aesthetically pleasing modern décor. Two rows of small, low-hanging cubic lamps illuminate the red and white waffle-textured ceiling. A row of flatscreens above the “Order Here” sign cycle through an assortment of the exquisite-looking meals on the Wicked Waffle menu.

Despite the delicacies flashing by on the monitors, that age-old lesson quickly sinks in: food never looks as good as it does in the advertisements. The Wicked Club recommended by the employees behind the glass counter turned out to be a rather standard club sandwich with rectangular waffles replacing the bread. The assembled sandwich was unceremoniously dumped into a nondescript (albeit compostable) cardboard take-out box.

The speed of service, however, was quite favorable. The attitude of the employees in general did not disappoint: both the manager and staff responded quickly and earnestly to customers’ wishes, even when asked to modify a menu item to personal tastes and preferences.

That service comes at a questionably high price. Paying $9 for sandwiches (and $8 for salads) is absurd, especially considering the relatively small portion size. Wicked Waffle attempts to explain the price with a promise of fresh, local ingredients updated daily.

The high quality of the thin, flavorful slices of turkey, crispy bacon, crunchy lettuce, and glowing red tomatoes on the Wicked Club was truly noticeable. Yet

The truth about the Bluths

This past weekend, Christmas came early for television fans. No, I don’t mean that networks suddenly decided to air March of the Wooden Soldiers and re-run the 2004 classic Nick and Jessica’s Family Christmas. This was, quite possibly, even better.

At the New Yorker Festival, the cast and creators of Fox’s muchrevered but ill-fated Arrested Development reunited for a panel discussion and announced plans for a short series to precede the show’s upcoming feature film. If you listened closely, you could hear hundreds of victorious fist pumps and shouts of “Steve Holt!”

Ever since its final episode aired in 2006, fans have been bemoaning Arrested Development’s cancellation as one of the truest signs of the tastelessness of American popular culture. Meanwhile, television critics still complain that while AD was cancelled, somehow

the other crap that’s out there—like AD’s former Sunday night neighbor Desperate Housewives—is still on the air.

The sad reality is that these reviewers aren’t looking at television’s past with a rose-colored transmission—AD really was that good, even up to its untimely end.

Its ensemble of riotously eccentric and unabashedly unrealistic characters and rotating series of megastar guests, like Liza Minelli and Charlize Theron, drew a seriously devoted group of followers. But, sadly, that group wasn’t very large.

Despite critical acclaim, including a spot on Time’s “100 Greatest Television Shows” list and a whopping 22 Emmy nominations in its three-season life, the show proved just a little too out-there for the network TV audience. It had too many silly puns, too many hilariously convoluted plotlines, and too many hints at incest that were sup-

replacing the bread with waffles added little in the way of taste.

What I ended up with was an above-average club sandwich, far from the scrumptious waffle-feast one would hope for.

Indeed, the novelty of waffle sandwiches, waffle-flavored soups, and waffle-topped Caesar salads quickly wears off. The airy waffles and freshly purchased ingredients may be healthy, and the customer service may be above par, but Wicked Waffle cannot disguise what it truly is: an overpriced take-out sandwich shop trying to get by on a breakfast-forlunch gimmick.

the georgetown voice 11

CONCERT CALENDAR Friday 10/7 Trans Am with Les Savy Fav 9:30 Club, 8 p.m., $20 The Lemonheads with The Shining Twins Black Cat, 9 p.m., $15 Sunday 10/9 James Blake 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $25 Couch Night Black Cat, 8 p.m., Free Tuesday 10/11 Ladytron with VHS or Beta, Sonoio 9:30 club, 7 p.m., $30 Har Mar Superstar with Marijuana Deathsquads Black Cat, 8 p.m., $10 Wednesday 10/12 RJD2 with Icebird 9:30 Club, 10 p.m., $20

kirill MAkArENkO

Hey, where’s the cream filling?

posed to come off as funny. And each episode ended with Executive Producer Ron Howard narrating an “On the next Arrested Development” segment, none of which actually happened in the next episode. Too weird.

Immediately after the show was cancelled, rumors of an upcoming movie began to circulate.

And with the immense help of

idiot Box

by Leigh Finnegan a bi-weekly column about television DVDs, the Internet, and the rest of the de-televising of the television industry, AD has maintained its fervent cult following, and perhaps even augmented it, to the point where just about everyone believes that the 10- or 11-episode miniseries and ensuing feature film will not only prove successful enough to make money, but be good enough to warrant watching.

Like I said, this isn’t Scrubs—the

Saturday 10/15 Loretta Lynn with Southern Culture on the Skids 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $55 Arctic Monkeys with Smith Westerns Rams Head Live, 7 p.m., $37 Sunday 10/16 Deer Tick with Virginia Forest 9:30 Club, 10 p.m., $15 Duran Duran DAR, 7:30 p.m., $48 Tuesday 10/18 Dr. John with Cyndi Lauper 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $45 Circa Survive with Maps & Atlases, Sleeper Agent Rams Head Live, 6:30 p.m., $20

Yuck Black Cat, 8 p.m., $15

Givers with Lord Huron Black Cat, 8 p.m., $15

Friday 10/14 G-Love with Special Sauce 9:30 Club, 8 p.m., $30

Wednesday10/19 Double Danger with Imperial China Black Cat, 8 p.m., $10

Bluth family was funny up until the final credits.

The miniseries will also benefit from the fact that the show’s actors, many of whom were lesser-known when AD began, have trampolined into immense success. Before Juno and Superbad, Michael Cera cemented his typecast as the perpetually embarrassed high-schooler with his role as George Michael Bluth, the deadpan, cousin-loving baby of the show’s central family.

Almost all of his characters, even his most recent role in Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, still just seem like slightly grown up versions of George Michael.

Although Cera seems to be the one who reaped the most benefits from the show’s springboard, the others have fared pretty well too. Will Arnett, despite an ill-fated sitcom attempt in 2010, has been doing all right for himself, as has Jessica Walker, whose day job is impeccably voicing Mallory, basically an an-

imated version of Lucille Bluth, on FX’s Archer. Jason Bateman is everywhere and, just like Cera, playing virtually the same role every time—the sometimes well-meaning but usually entirely clueless yuppie straight man.

And as the short season is going to consist of an episode for each major character, the stunning career trajectories of these actors leave no doubt that any member of the cast will be able to carry his or her own episode.

But as excited as we all are for this recent, for lack of a better word, development, fans need to be careful in their excitement— there’s a chance that the show might flop again, leaving creators pinched financially and unable to make a film. Unfortunately, it turns out there isn’t always money in the banana stand.

Show Leigh your chicken impression at lfinnegan@georgetownvoice.com

leisure

12 the georgetown voice

october 6, 2011

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

Rodney Atkins, Take a Back Road, Curb Records Since his debut album Honesty in 2003, Rodney Atkins has been steadily gaining popularity, with several of his singles topping the Billboard Country charts. Like many country singers coming out of Nashville in the early 2000s, Atkins fell victim to the transition of country music into a more mainstream genre manufactured for a wider range of audiences.

His new album Take a Back Road, as its title implies, veers away from this trend and recklessly hurtles into the backwoods of home-grown traditional country laced with a hint of rock ‘n’ roll.

The title track begins the album with twanging guitar riffs followed by lyrics that pair nostalgia with contemporary day-to-day activities.

Atkins’s heavily accented voice soon transforms the song into an upbeat summer tune filled with wide, open fields, romance in a rusty pickup, and self-discovery in nature. These topics act as a springboard to launch the album onto an inexorable country path that lasts for the duration of Take a Back Road.

From “Farmer’s Daughter” to the comedic, harmonica-driven “Family,” the album speaks of southern life as only true country can.

Aside from the occasional southern rock interlude, driving guitar lines and complex drum set beats give way to surprising simplicity and a heavy emphasis on the meaning piled into the lyrics of each track.

Ostensibly unedited rhymes also add to this picture of a simple man concerned with weaving the moral fibers associated with father-son interaction appearing in “He’s Mine,” supporting the rebellious romantic escapades of “Cabin in the Woods,” and issuing well-meaning advice on life in “The Corner.”

Fans of If You’re Going Through Hell and It’s America will find these issues to be familiar, but the newfound simplicity and emphasized southern drawl may be a turn-off for mainstream listeners. Take a Back Road, though, was not designed with

A history of Hoya hazing

For Hoyas today, the first week of October is marked by increasingly frigid weather and the imminent onset of midterms. But back in the 1950s and early 1960s, it was marked by an important tradition, the Rat Race. The event, which usually fell on the first Sunday in October, was essentially a school dance that served as the culmination of a week-long hazing process for the freshmen.

It was a well-deserved reward for the newcomers since, according to yearbooks, the hazing process included performing menial tasks such as car-washing and shoe-shining for their upperclassman tormentors. A 1951 yearbook also mentioned that “all freshman were required to have their hair cut to a scant half-inch” (the school had not yet gone co-ed) and had to wear “the traditional ‘Beanie’ at all times.”

According to that yearbook, the sophomores had quite a bit of

fun yanking freshmen “out of bed at odd hours during the night in order to hurl them into the swimming pool.” Even though the sophomores had the most fun at the expense of the incoming class, organizing the Rat Race fell on the shoulders of the senior class.

The seniors took great pride in decorating McDonough Gymnasium, where the event was traditionally held. According to an article in The Hoya, the 1960 Rat Race’s decorations consisted of “balloons filled with gift certificates donated by the local merchants.” This was a slightly less elaborate rendition of the décor from 1959, which featured “a huge fish-shaped balloon suspended aloft from the gym’s ceiling.”

While the fish may have looked like nothing more than a bizarre ornament, the real surprise came at the end of evening, when the fish exploded and many smaller balloons showered the new couples.

these average country consumers in mind. Instead, Rodney Atkins aims to return the roots of the southern tradition of making comments on life that can resonate with every American, but are only truly understood by those who value the art of country music.

Voice’s Choices: “The Corner,” “Cabin in the Woods” —Kirill Makarenko

Future Islands, On the Water, Thrill Jockey It is not often that a title perfectly captures the sound and feeling of an album. However, On the Water, the newest release from Future Islands, does just that.

A brilliant collection of 11 tracks that ebb and flow between

Tied to some balloons were gift cards to restaurants, the movies, and even the gas station to assist the young men in financing their future dates. The organizers appear to have been significantly less interested in keeping everyone wellfed. According to a 1960 article in The Hoya, “the only refreshments [were] the usual punch. There [were] water fountains and coke machines in the halls.” On several occasions, entertainment included performances by the Chimes.

Throwback Jack

by Sadaf Qureshi

a bi-weekly column about Hoya History In these early years, the gentlemen of Georgetown had not yet been blessed with their own Jane Hoyas on campus. A highlight of the Rat Race, then, was the opportunity for female companionship, provided by neighboring women’s schools. Girls from Holy Trinity and the Visitation School were staples.

the band’s characteristic electronic sound and its more recently developed minimalist rhythms, On the Water showcases this Baltimore trio’s best collaboration yet.

For the new album, the band lived and recorded in a historic North Carolina waterfront property, the Andrew S. Sanders House—listeners can clearly hear the sound of the sea off the Carolina coast. The sounds of the ocean, which echo throughout nearly every track of the album, create a comfortable coherence. Likewise, they give On the Water a meditative quality that draws listeners in.

With their liquid-minded, flowing tracks, Future Islands masters the art of minimalism and understatement. Clearly an album about heartbreak and loss, frontman Sam Herring’s lyrics are always genuine and never sappy, building towards his self-proclaimed desire: “I want you to feel the way I feel.”

The track “Where I Found You,” for instance, brings a new twist to the heartbroken love ballad—filled with sounds of hope rather than bitter loss.

Building on this less-is-more mantra, the song highlights the strength of Herring’s vocals as he drives the slowly building keyboard progression and mesmerizing drum beat.

Each school’s girls seemed to have carved out reputations for themselves, at least in the eyes of a 1963 Hoya writer who, in describing the event, said “there were Trinity girls trying to look intellectual, Immaculata girls trying to look innocent, and Visi girls trying everything.”

According to a 1963 article in The Hoya, girls from Georgetown Nursing School also attended, and could be “easily identified by the brown mud of their shoes, gained while crossing the Lower Field.”

Meanwhile, girls from Trinity “[came] by cab and [could] be recognized by money…”

Though the Rat Race was a school-wide affair, freshmen and seniors had the privilege of being the first ones to arrive, with the event kicking off at 2 p.m. each year. According to a 1960 article in the Hoya, it was arranged this way so that “the freshman may have an hour to watch the masters at work … those whose hair has grown out sufficiently will be educated in the intricacies of the two-man pick up,

The album’s title track highlights the range and depth Future Islands was aiming for in this release. With live percussion and a dissonant keyboard progression that complements Herring’s throaty voice, it sets the tone for the tracks to come—a combination of the electronic with the minimalist, best captured by the field recordings of the sea and wind chimes on both this track and “Grease.”

“On the Bridge” stands out with softer-hitting electronic tones, shifting the focus to its mix of melodic hooks and overtones that resemble steel drums. “Close to None” further shows Future Islands’ range and musicality with its diverse use of instrumentals, including quick guitar riffs and organ-like piano chords overlaid with ringing tambourines.

Bottling up the Atlantic in 11 diverse and captivating tracks, Future Islands reaches new heights with On the Water. In extending their musical range, the band has succeeded in creating an album that will draw in alternative and electronic loyalists alike.

Voice’s Choices: “On the Water,” “Where I Found You” —Mary Borowiec

the two-man drop, the lost wallet trick, and the planning of the meeting-an-old-friend-by-chance technique … and, eventually, how to discern freshman girls from senior girls.”

This last one appears to have been a delicate art, as freshman boys had to learn how to politely bow out upon learning that the girl they had been courting was older than they were. Sophomores and juniors were finally allowed to join in on the fun after 3 p.m., and the Rat Race tended to die out by around 5 p.m.

It is not entirely clear when or why the tradition itself died out, but now freshman hazing has evolved into the infinitely kinder and more welcoming New Student Orientation week.

As for the Rat Race, it has seemingly devolved into the infamous Club Lau. Tell Sadaf your opinion about the 2001 comedy Rat Race at squreshi@ georgetownvoice.com

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page thirteen New and Improved

the georgetown voice 13

Holiday calendAr

Georgetown students get Monday off for Columbus Day. But Christopher Columbus wasn’t actually the first European to find North America, he massacred thousands of Native Americans, and probably was an asshole. So we’ve come up with a list of people who deserve their own national holidays more than him.

William Henry Harrison Day St. Brendan and Leif Ericson Day February 19 January 21

Ty Cobb Day March 15

Nic Cage Day April 1

He was such a man that, to disprove rumors that he was too weak to be president, he gave a two hour inauguration speech without wearing a coat in the dead of winter—and promptly caught pneumonia and died. His day will stand as a testament to the American tradition of prideful, stubborn, mortal idiocy.

These are just better discovery stories. We’re at a Catholic school, so we should embrace the idea that an Irish monk made his way over here long before old Chris Columbus (who was, incidentally, also Catholic) And who the hell doesn’t love Vikings?

America’s first great assholeathlete. He cut up opponents legs with his cleats on slides and even stabbed someone.

He paved the way for John Rocker, Barry Bonds, and Marge Schott. Without him American sports wouldn’t be the same.

He might have stolen the Declaration of Independence in National Treasure, but Nic is American through-andthrough. Please celebrate by watching any of the 68 movies he has appeared in (but preferably The Wicker Man.) And you have to declare for bankruptcy also.

Georgetown Day April 29

Roy Halladay Holiday October 1

MC Hammer Day October 13

Dan Snyder Day Thanksgiving

This is already a holiday here on campus, but it should be observed nationally. Americans need a day when they can shirk responsibility and just get drunk on their lawns. You know, besides the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Memorial Day.

Just because it would be fun to say. Celebrated every October and, depending on the weather patterns, a few days in November.

Also a day of mourning in Canada.

He might not be dead yet, but nobody can tell the difference. Seriously, he did his last concert at an empty arena at Six Flags America for $2,000 and a replica of Flava Flav’s clock necklace.

But nowbody in America has come close to touching him or his parachute pants.

The universally beloved Washington Redskins owner has been known far and wide for his smart football decisions, generous giving in the community, and respect for small newspapers. This is a day for forgiveness of all one’s faults and misdoings.

Also, please don’t sue us.

Oprah Winfrey Day December 25

Boxing Day December 26

She already basically is God to half the population of America, so this is just a given. You can celebrate by losing 50 pounds and writing a book about it.

Also, Oprah is going to give everyone cars again.

Other countries celebrate it, so why not us? Who wouldn’t love a holiday where you sit around watching replays of old Muhammad Ali fights and Mike Tyson goes around to all the good children of the world and knocks them out?

voices

14 the georgetown voice

october 6, 2011

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

by Rachel Calvert Students making their first tour of Georgetown are first directed to Leo’s, then introduced into the cult of Hilltop mythology centuries-old buildings, a legendary basketball team, Bill Clinton. Somewhere over the years, “Hoya Saxa” became part of that arsenal. We chant it, we wear it, we tell the story. We love it.

If you’re unfamiliar, the tale goes something like this: once upon a time, Georgetown boasted a stellar football team, who kicked and pummeled their way to victory every week on Copley lawn. Fans would watch from the stone wall bordering the lawn.

During one game someone started a call and response of “hoya, saxa,” or “what rocks?” the obvious implication being that we, Georgetown, collectively rock. It’s kind of like when high school basketball teams blast Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” or when the Red

Sox sing along to “Sweet Caroline.” It was a bonding thing.

However, that tale always seemed a bit on the tall side to me. Yes, if true, our mascot would be a neat product of organic school spirit. Even someone who has yet to experience a Hoya basketball game in person can appreciate the enthusiasm. But I’ve generally assumed the story was invented by Blue and Gray tour guides to round out the Georgetown ethos, in the vein of the Healy seal superstition.

The message just struck me as anachronistic: did students of yore go around encouraging each other to “rock it out?”

Well, for the overly enthusiastic Hoya out there, here’s your answer, courtesy of several glasses of wine and an undue fascination with spirit-themed etymology.

By 1894, chanting “Hoya Saxa” at football games was indeed a well-established tradition, noted in Washington Post sports coverage

and incorporated into commencement ceremonies.

At that point, though, “to rock” hadn’t entered the English lexicon as a verb. It would be a while until Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup wailed “Rock Me Mama,” in 1944. Bill Haley vowed to “Rock around the Clock” in 1956, and Bob Dylan recorded his own “Rock me Mama,” (a.k.a. “Wagon Wheel”) in 1976.

Initially, “to rock” had a distinctly sexual connotation, and that meaning clearly got a lot of play. Unless the Hoya Saxa legend was censored to cover up a salacious locker room episode, the football team was probably not “rocking” anyone at all.

According to the New York Times “On Language” column

by Ben Zimmer, “to rock” wouldn’t imply adept finesse until hip-hop artists started to “rock the mic.” The first known recording of the phrase is from a December 1978 concert in Washington Heights,

starring Grandmaster Flash and the Four MCs (they hadn’t yet found their furious fifth).

On it, one of the MCs, Melle Mel, proclaims, “Like white on rice, I rock the mic.” This byword for coolness would reach the mainstream in the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper ’s Delight.”

Our college yell predates all these connotations. So, even though they apparently dominated their opponents, the soon-to-be-dubbed Hoyas also didn’t rock in the sense of, “Thanks for the cookie, you rock!”

The legend could very well be true, though. The ancient Greek “hoia” often translates to “such great,” or “what great.” Hoya saxa, then, could be remarking on Georgetown’s sturdy defensive line—as in, “Such great rocks!”

It’s also a pun on the stone wall the fans were probably leaning on while they enjoyed the weather and a view of Co-

pley lawn that didn’t include the specter of Lauinger. And now you know. “Hoya Saxa” wasn’t so much asking for an answer as commenting on a quality that has in recent years eluded our football team.

At this point, the chant has taken on a life of its own and emblazoned itself on the Georgetown identity. It reveals our penchant for dead languages (here we have ancient Greek and Latin!), a hallmark of the Jesuit education.

Yes, “Hoya Saxa,” and the attendant anecdote does come off a bit pretentious at times.

But, hey, we also got a great “who’s on first” bit with the deal, so who’s complaining?

So, what is a Hoya? With just a hint of smugness, say it with me now: Yes.

want to keep going back to the middle of some God-forsaken forest for 11 years? It’s called summer camp, and I go back because I love it.

I’ve been going to the same camp every summer since I was eight years old, the last four working as a counselor, and it’s been the most consistent presence in my life. Of course, more recently I wasn’t giddily running to different activities—I was initially far more absorbed with trying, in vain, to find cell service.

Sometime between when I

was a kid and today, I appear to have gotten attached to the idea that it was far more important to take life seriously than to let loose a little.

Thankfully, camp taught me otherwise.

No cell coverage, coupled with barely any electricity, absolutely no internet, and only cold running water may not seem like the best amenities ever, but it’s not that bad—I challenge you to consistently get hot water for a shower on the upper floors of the Southwest Quad. Still, I’ll be the first to admit that camp is a little on the rustic side.

The ten weeks I spent working at camp this summer were essentially spent without any resemblance to the real world, and I think it’s that aspect of camp that made me fall in love with it. Yes, the counselors are some of my closest friends, and I do actually enjoy hanging out with children on a daily basis, but the most enchanting thing is that being at camp means leaving behind any trappings of real life.

There’s something delightful about receiving a letter, especially since snail mail was my only contact with the outside world, and there’s something magical about sitting around a roaring bonfire

night after night watching the stars come out and listening to some of my best friends play guitar. The only mail I get here at Georgetown is from Capital One telling me my account balance is sadly dwindling, and I have yet to see more than four or five stars from Healy lawn.

Coming back to school and the real world, with its money worries and scholastic stress, was a blunt reminder of how camp is my escape.

There are times when I feel that if temporarily moving into the library and giving up on sleep altogether in order to pass a physics exam is what it means to grow up, I’d honestly rather not. I won’t pretend that I can be a kid forever, but sometimes life gets way too serious, way too quickly. Every once in awhile, we need to understand that we’re all just a bunch of twenty-somethings and real life isn’t yet quite as important as we make it out to be.

Here at Georgetown, we’re bombarded with reminders that there’s a real world out there. In fact, by all accounts it seems to be hurtling towards us. But somewhere between the career fairs and the internships, we all need to just take a deep breath and realize that it’s not going to kill us if we don’t get the interview, or an

A, or if we don’t get that introduction to the guy tabling for Deloitte.

If life is always about getting somewhere, we sometimes focus in too narrowly on the future and entirely miss the now.

When I step out of the car at camp the first day of summer, I realize all over again that it’s all right to be a kid sometimes.

This past summer was my last at the camp, with summer classes and internships having a stranglehold over my future summer holidays. While it breaks my heart to know that I won’t be going back, if I hadn’t spent so many happy years at the camp, coping with the stress of college would definitely not be as easy as it is. I certainly wouldn’t be able to take a step back and laugh at how silly the intense focus I sometimes have on schoolwork can be.

It’s impossible to say in how many ways my life has taken its current course because of the camp, but I do know that camp changes lives. It certainly changed mine.

Rachel Calvert is a sophomore in the College. Consider this her formal application to be a tour guide for Blue and Gray.

Back from summer camp, into the wild of Georgetown

by Claire McDaniel If you think walking on cobblestones is difficult, try running barefoot through the woods.

For every time you’ve sworn at the uneven sidewalks outside the front gates, I’ve cursed at protruding tree roots and thorny green briar bushes that seem to be purposefully mauling my legs. Believe me, I have more than a decade’s worth of scars, and one nervedamaged pinky toe, to prove it. Why on earth would anyone

The skinny-dippers are hiding after someone stole all their clothes.

FLICKR

Claire McDaniel is a sophomore in the College. She used to spend her summers fondling sweaters.

voices

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice

15

Poker bluffing its way into sports fans’ hearts and hands

by Nico Dodd This week has been an interesting one for online poker. Last spring, a number of online poker sites—including Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and AbsolutePoker— were sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for bank fraud and money laundering, among other allegations. On Monday, French investment company Groupe Bernard Tapie purchased online gambling website Full Tilt Poker.

Even though poker has gained a lot of mainstream ex-

posure in the past decade, and the game’s competitiveness has risen, it still does not get the attention given to other entertainment sports.

I had no idea that this lawsuit was going on; few people do.

High profile gaming is sort of on the cusp of being a mainstream sport, but a negative stigma lingers on. Personally, I don’t see gambling as a “sport”—in fact, I’ve never understood the appeal of it at all.

My earliest experience with gambling was, of course, with cards. It was the early 2000s, and

CASSIUS MARCELLUS COOLIDGE

That’s not footsy, Jack’s just helping his pal get a royal flush.

Locked up abroad

The decision to study abroad can be daunting. With singlesemester, summer, and yearlong programs in an endless number of exciting, exotic locations, the abundance of study abroad experiences gives students the ability to craft an ideal program that combines fun with enrichment.

Still, I doubt a nearly four-year stint in an Italian prison is on anybody’s shortlist.

The Amanda Knox trial recently captured the attention of media outlets worldwide once again when she was declared “not guilty” after spending four years in Italian jail for murdering British national Meredith Kercher. As she settles back into her tranquil suburban home west of Seattle, Wash., Knox continues be subjected to intense public scrutiny.

In agreement with her over-

zealous prosecutor Giuliani Mignini, some Italian tabloids continue to portray Knox as an orgy-obsessed she-devil. For the family of Kercher, Knox’s roommate who was brutally raped and stabbed to death in an Italian villa outside of Perugia, Knox is a cold-blooded killer. In America, Knox has earned the pitiable title of “innocent abroad.” But for Georgetown students looking to study abroad, it’s easy to look at Amanda Knox and see her as something else entirely: a warning.

The similarities are striking enough to warrant comparison to Jack and Jane Hoyas abroad. A young, attractive Italian language student from Washington (the state, not the District) decides to study abroad in a quaint central Italian city, less than a two hour drive from Georgetown’s own Villa Le Balze in Florence. But in

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Pokemon trading cards were the social currency de rigueur of the fourth grade. Much like the stock market, these were traded among classmates for value that was based on the perceived rarity or coolness of the card. A Charizard was obviously way more valuable than a Rattata. They were also used as a kind of currency we could make bets with. As soon as this was apparent, they were banned from school.

The notion of young people gambling has always made people feel uncomfortable. Like kids, grownups can be tricked into making stupid bets and losing all their most valued trinkets.

The grownups continued to try and curb our behavior. In high school wind ensemble, for example, upperclassmen would often play poker while we were supposed to be practicing in sectional rehearsals. I had no idea how to play, and was not going to risk a five buck buy-in to learn how.

One day these guys were caught by our teacher, Mr. Flannery, who made an example out of them and gave them detention.

It seemed like wherever there was boredom, people played poker. At the summer camp I worked at, it was strictly against

Perugia, she finds amazing food, a vibrant culture, a lover, and … a murder?

If prompted, most Georgetown students would be able to give a rough outline of basic American legal rights and could describe in some detail our criminal code.

But outside of local liquor laws, most students have no clue about laws in foreign countries, let alone how legal systems actually function. What’s taken for granted as

Carrying On

by Keaton Hoffman A rotating column by Voice senior staffers

a fundamental legal right or fair punishment in America is irrelevant abroad. In France, unless the punishment for a crime surpasses 10 years or a fine of 75,000 euros, the accused are not tried by a jury of their peers. Throughout Southeast Asia, including Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam, countries prescribe the death penalty for mere possession of certain narcotics, including marijuana (but only in large quantities).

If the Knox case has taught us anything, it’s that justice, at least in a pragmatic sense, is completely

the rules for campers to play poker. Twelve-year-old card sharks were severely admonished if they were caught playing anything other than crazy eights. After hours though, a few younger counselors would play poker for money. I played once or twice, but even when I won, I felt really awkward taking my friends’ money. I didn’t get it.

It seemed that the fun for people wasn’t necessarily in making money. In a cheap house game, people I knew would never make more than a couple dollars. People didn’t play poker because they thought it was economical; they played it because it was fun.

These days, some poker players are just as coached as professional athletes. So, if the competitive part is the part that’s most fun, or entertaining, what makes it different than other sports?

Most obviously, there’s nothing athletic about poker. Players aren’t honing a physical skill, and the game will constantly be under a kind of disdainful moral scrutiny. Heck, kids aren’t even allowed to play. If you’ve ever seen an episode of “Poker After Dark” or any other poker program, you’ll observe that physical fitness is not a prerequisite

relative. The libelous accusations of local media aimed at the jurors of Knox’s first trial would never have been accepted in American court, where shielding jurors from bias is standard. Conversely, the infamous “perp walk” of former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in May, a normal facet of the American criminal process, violated the fundamental assumption of innocence until proven guilty from the French point of view.

When abroad and dealing with what can seem like the impossible task of remembering your rights and responsibilities—made even more difficult by your presumed inebriation—there are some simple steps that students can take to protect themselves from this confusing patchwork.

Laura Monarch, Georgetown’s director of overseas studies in the Office of International Programs, advises students who find themselves in any sort of legal trouble while studying abroad to reach out to their on-site emergency contact person and to immediately contact Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety, which remains the primary safety contact for students whether they are on the Hilltop or not. Depending on the country, embassies and consulates can also

of high stakes play. “Poker After Dark” was relegated to a 2 a.m. timeslot during its six season run on NBC. Photos from the World Series of Poker have large signs in all caps saying “MUST BE 21 OR OLDER TO BE IN THIS AREA.” It’s pretty clearly they want to keep kids out.

Last spring, I saw on Facebook that a high school classmate had played in some poker tournaments after graduating college. I met his parents at a friend’s graduation and asked them how he was doing.

“We just say that he’s traveling,” they responded, and sheepishly walked away.

As different tournaments and leagues develop and attract new players online and off, less people may raise their eyebrows.

The purchase of Full Tilt by Bernard Tapie is a sign that the game has a viable audience that can be built upon. But even if poker becomes the next big thing, I still won’t enjoy it.

Nico Dodd is a senior in the College. He was showing his mom his poker face when Gaga was still in diapers.

be a great resource for students who need help navigating foreign justice systems (especially those whose first language isn’t English).

It also couldn’t hurt to study up on your destination country’s specific legal code before embarking and review what specific rights suspects of criminal activity can claim.

On a more practical level, though, if you don’t want to get in trouble with the law, don’t break it.

At Georgetown it may be cool to get blackout with your roommates and steal a parking meter out from under the nose of DPS, but those kinds of shenanigans aren’t worth the risk while you’re abroad. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a good time, but when it comes to breaking the law, the fine line between a negligible offense and a serious crime can be fuzzier than your memory on a typical Friday night.

So be good. If you’re smart, you’ll have the time of your life. If not, I hope you like your spaghetti on a tin plate slid under a hatch in the door.

Keaton Hoffman is a junior in the SFS. Keaton is still waiting for DPS to recover his stolen V-card.

Three Day Weekend?

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