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“YOUR BURGERS MAY BE SQUARE BUT YOUR FOOD AIN’T FAIR” PAGE 5

MEN’S BASKETBALL HEADED TO PUERTO RICO PAGE 6

HUNGER GAMES CATCHES FIRE PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w November 21, 2013 w Volume 49, Issue 15 w georgetownvoice.com

Will d.c. legalize

Marijuana in 2014?

by connor jones

2 the georgetown voice

november 21, 2013

Letter to the Editor: Dear Editor, I found the recent article in the Voice by Julia Lloyd-George about CAPS and mental illness at Georgetown insulting, misrepresentative, and detrimental to the cause of mental health, despite its good intentions. As a student who regularly visits CAPS, I am bothered by the chilling and alienating manner in which students struggling with mental health are presented. The article attempts to showcase varied personal experiences, but instead comes off as a condescending critique of abnormal, strange victims, effectively reinforcing the stereotypes it purports to condemn.

Furthermore, many criticisms from interviewed individuals are presented as authoritative views on the subject, often unfairly and inaccurately. To fault a group of counseling psychologists for not being equipped to serve students on the autism spectrum disorder betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of developmental disabilities, which are distinct from the mental illnesses CAPS seeks to treat. Highlighting dissatisfactions based upon misinformation only undermines the mental health dialogue.

I further take issue with the fraudulently authoritative and universal manner that opinions are presented in this article, claims that assert knowledge about the best interests of Georgetown students. Counselors cannot help individuals who refuse to work with them, seek help, talk about their concerns, or be receptive to various types of treatment. It is patently false to label them inflexible, and while Lydia Brown is welcome to her opinion, it is irresponsible to canvas only one side of an issue. In my experience, CAPS has been incredibly attentive, and the counselors actively seek treatment specific to me and my struggles. I am appalled by the unconscionably one-sided portrayal of Georgetown’s psychiatric services.

I appreciate the sentiment of breaking stigmas, but this article was demeaning, inaccurate, and discouraging. I hope no one eschews seeking help because of CAPS’s unfair portrayal in this article.

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Sincerely, Daniel Graff (SFS ‘16)

Voice Crossword “November Themeless Challenge” by Tyler Pierce

Across 1. Showing no signs of emotion 6. Along with hope, and love, it’s an important Christian virtue

11. Geometry father 13. Rooster sound 14. Mish-mash 16. Carefree 17. Shopper stopper 18. Some deer 19. Clairvoyance, e.g.

22. Hornier 24. XXI/III 27. You might talk to one for help finding a house 30. Alaskan chain 31. Cut the cheese 32. Fond du ___, Wis. 33. Lover of Aeneas 34. Indian vegetable oil 36. You’d find them at Goodwill 37. Fatter, usually 41. Recognition 49. Ear part 50. And so forth 51. Doctor 52. Overturn 53. Bake sale org.

54. Hogwash 55. Tiny amount 56. The “p” in m.p.g.

57. Killer whales 58. Kind of down 59. Eccentric 60. “I love you for ___”

Down 1. Last word of “America, the Beautiful” 2. Antacid tablet 3. Mozart’s “L’___ del Cairo” 4. Misfortunes 5. 20’s smoking accessory 6. Head of a house or the dead 7. “Hamlet” has five 8. White House nickname 9. Elephant’s weight, maybe 10. Sexy 12. Gambian currency 13. Australian calls 15. Kind of block 16. Judge 19. Victorian, for one 20. “To thine own ___ be true”

21. Song of praise 23. Comedian Carvey 24. Sells 25. ___-European 26. “___ alive!”

28. Artificial bait 29. Acquire 35. Mewtwo rival 36. Beseech 38. Largest city in Syria 39. Checked for accuracy 40. Every GU student has one 41. Critical 42. Bay of Naples isle 43. Work, as dough 44. “Eraserhead” star Jack 45. Guillemot 46. “All My Children” vixen 47. Katmandu’s land 48. Amount of hair

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

Email crossword@georgetownvoice.com

editorial

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VOICE the georgetown

Volume 49.15 November 21, 2013 Editor-in-Chief: Gavin Bade Managing Editor: Connor Jones Blog Editor: Julia Tanaka News Editor: Lucia He Sports Editor: Chris Almeida Feature Editor: Patricia Cipollitti Cover Editor: Kathleen Soriano-Taylor Leisure Editor: Heather Regen Voices Editor: Ana Smith Photo Editor: Andres Rengifo Design Editor: Lauren Ashley Panawa Projects Editors: Alec Graham, John Sapunor, Cannon Warren Puzzles Editor: Tyler Pierce Creative Directors: Madhuri Vairapandi, Amanda Dominguez Back Page Editor: Tiffany Lachonna Social Media Editor: Rio Djiwandana

Assistant Blog Editors: Minali Aggarwal, Isabel Echarte, Ryan Greene, Laura Kurek Assistant News Editors: Jeffrey Lin, Claire Zeng Assistant Sports Editors: Chris Castano, Brendan Crowley, Joe Pollicino Assistant Cover Editor: Neha Ghanshamdas Assistant Leisure Editors: Dayana Morales Gomez, Joshua Ward, Rianna Folds Assistant Photo Editor: Joshua Raftis Assistant Design Editor: John Delgado-McCollum

Staff Writers:

Tim Barnicle, Sourabh Bhat,Max Borowitz, Emilia Brahm, Grace Brennan, Emmy Buck, Shalina Chatlani, Steven Criss, Lara Fishbane, Mary-Bailey Frank, Abby Greene, John Guzzetta, Kevin Huggard, Kenneth Lee, Julia Lloyd George, Claire McDaniel, Dan Paradis, Max Roberts, Abby Sherburne, Jackson Sinnenberg, Deborah Sparks, Manuela Tobias, Chris Wadibia, Joshua Ward, Annamarie White

Staff Photographers:

Alan Liu, Marla Abdilla, Ambika Ahuja, Gavin Meyers, Annie Wang, Muriel van de Bilt, Katherine Landau

Staff Designers:

Noah Buyon, Katarina Chen, Dylan Cutler, Corrina Di Pirro Mike Pacheco, Christina Libre, Pam Shu, Sophia Super, Leila Lebreton

Copy Chief: Sonia Okolie Copy Editors:

Eleanor Fanto, Grace Funsten, Caitlin Healey-Nash, Morgan Johansen, Sabrina Kayser, Samantha Mladen, Dana Suekoff, Isobel Taylor, Suzanne Trivette

Editorial Board Chair: Caitriona Pagni Editorial Board:

Gavin Bade, Emilia Brahm, Patricia Cipollitti, Lara Fishbane, Juan Daniel Gonçalves, Ryan Greene, Lucia He, Quaila Hugh, Connor Jones, Jeffery Lin, Ian Philbrick, Ryan Shymansky, Ana Smith, Julia Tanaka

General Manager: Nick Albanese Managing Directors: Mary-Bailey Frank, Mollie Rodgers, Nick Mendolia, Allison Manning The Georgetown Voice

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday.

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

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

Email: editor@georgetownvoice.com Advertising: business@georgetownvoice.com Web Site: georgetownvoice.com The opinions expressed in the Georgetown Voice do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University, unless specifically stated. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the Editorial Board. Columns, advertisements, cartoons and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the General Board of the Georgetown Voice. The University subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression of its student editors. The Georgetown Voice is produced in the Georgetown Voice office and composed on Macintosh computers using the Adobe InDesign publishing system and is printed by Gannett Publishing. All materials copyright the Georgetown Voice. All rights reserved.

On this week’s cover: Marijuana in the District CoverDesign: Kathleen Soriano-Taylor

the georgetown voice 3

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Master planning needs more student interest

The University administration held several master planning events this week intended to engage the student body on housing issues such as sustainability. While the Voice applauds the University for ramping up engagement efforts since the beginning of the semester, there still remains much room for improvement on the part of both administrators and students.

It is futile to merely increase the volume of the same type of ineffective engagement.

We encourage the University to think of creative and organic ways for administrators and students to have conversations about both immediate goals such as the Northeast Triangle dorm as well as long-term campus goals. The current format of forums is helpful to a limited group of knowledgeable students who were insistent on engagement before the satellite campus referendum.

Sessions are often attended by the same ro-

tating group of interested students—GUSA leaders and student media especially—and rarely inspire constructive dialogue between students and administrators. These students, however, are likely to tire of the circular and repetitive nature of these discussions.

Part of the problem is that, although students are given ample opportunities to view preliminary designs, there is no metric for how much students’ input is actually taken into account. As has been made clear through the Campus Plan negotiations and continued discussions with the neighbors, the administration is beholden to various constituencies, and it is essential for students to know that the University acknowledges their concerns as a priority.

This semester of futile forums has shown that the problem of engagement is not one-sided. Most students are not informed enough to challenge administrators

on important issues. Students who come to engagement sessions often need to be caught up on the basics of housing issues at Georgetown, and this needless repetition is an inefficient expenditure of administrators’ time. If students limit themselves to only wanting superficial conversations about the interior decorating of the Northeast Triangle, that’s all they will to get. If we want true engagement, we have to come to the table armed with knowledge of the Campus Plan and local politics.

There needs to be a holistic cultural change on the part of both the administration and students. With the construction of the New South Center and the new housing projects, there is a lot of change happening on campus. It’s up to students to capitalize on this opportunity to shape Georgetown’s legacy, and it’s up to administrators to truly listen.

DON’T LEAVE ME HANGING

D.C. jail suicides show lack of inmate care

D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 7) opened a hearing on Nov. 7 to investigate a report released by the Department of Corrections on in-custody deaths in the District’s Centeral Detentions Facility. Four inmates committed suicide over the past year and, in the past two years, 165 inmates have attempted suicide. This rate is three times the national average and, according to the report, results from the failure of health providers and officers in D.C. jails to properly assess and monitor inmates who present a high risk of suicidal behavior.

The report found the D.C. jail protocol to deal with suicidal inmates to be “good and comprehensive.” However, implementation of protocol is lacking: Correctional officers do not receive specialized training beyond an hour-long annual training and pay little attention to the mental health of inmates. Correc-

tions officers have even falsified records regarding how often inmates who committed suicide were monitored in their cells, as The Washington Post reported.

Guards commonly remark that suicide attempts amount to nothing more than attention-seeking and, rather than placing high-risk prisoners under suicide watch, they place them under “behavioral observation,” in which inmates are stripped of their clothes, denied blankets and mattresses, and banned from contacting family members.

Additionally, the D.C. jail lacks proper facilities to accommodate the mental health needs of its inmate population.

Even though 40 percent of the jail’s 1,400 inmates is at risk for suicide, the jail only has nine “suicide resistant” cells.

Wells’s hearing resulted in preventative measures such as the removal of items such as razor blades and pills

from prison cells. Additionally, Mayor Vincent Gray has committed $600,000 to renovate the D.C. jail to make all of its cells “suicide resistant.” While these measures make suicide more difficult, they do not solve the problems caused by the complete lack of integration between the jail and mental health system.

Jails and prisons don’t only serve to punish offenders, but also to rehabilitate and reform them. The District Central Detention Facility needs to start caring for the mental health of its inmates, especially considering the high prevalence of mental disorders among inmate populations. “By default, we are the city’s largest mental health institution,” D.C. Corrections Director Thomas Faust told the Post. Only by educating corrections officers and forming partnerships with mental health professionals can the jail system step into the 21st century.

PROBONER

Community learning adds to class experience Interest in community-based learning courses, classes that incorporate community service as part of the curriculum, has increased at Georgetown in recent years. Professors from a wide range of departments have begun to offer an extra academic credit to students interested in applying issues learned in the classroom to service projects in the city. This expansion of education into more practical learning is a positive shift toward a teaching system that not only focuses on book learning steeped in abstract theory, but also on incorporating concrete experience into the syllabus in order to enhance student learning.

This semester, a sociology course titled “Law and Society” paired up undergraduate students and Law students with law firms in D.C. that are doing pro-bono work in community-based organizations. In addition, two Spanish courses are waiting for approval for CBL cred-

its by engaging students with the Spanish-speaking communities in D.C. These communities are mainly comprised of immigrants who bear the brunt of issues like school closures. Other ways for students to gain CBL credits include tutoring, working with other marginalized communities in the District, and getting involved in public health issues.

Georgetown’s array of extracurricular service opportunities such as Community Service Day, D.C. Reads, D.C. Schools, and Prison Outreach are proof of our community’s commitment to social justice. However, in the past, opportunities to use service as a hands-on teaching tool in the classroom were rare. Even today, classes such as International Relations and Economics still distance themselves from people’s day-to-day lives and focus on theories that might or might not apply to helping students understand the struggles of marginalized communities.

While it is essential for students to learn academic theories outlined in textbooks and lectures, going out to the city and working one-on-one with marginalized communities enriches classroom learning by exposing students to the complexity of the real world that cannot be taught in a classroom. CBL courses are but one way to bring students down from this ivory tower, and allow them to interact with people who experience the impact of the policies and issues they learn about in class.

At a university where commitment to service forms the backbone of community life, it is crucial that Georgetown forms well-rounded students who have both theoretical knowledge and practical experience. CBL courses play an important role in this, and students should continue to promote them as part of the Georgetown academic experience.

4 the georgetown voice

news

november 21, 2013

Interest in CBL courses increases

by Manuela Tobias

andres rengifo

DeGioia & Groves talk GU future

by Daniel Paradis President John J. DeGioia and Provost Robert Groves formally launched “Designing the Future(s) of the University,” Georgetown’s new initiative to plan and discuss the future of higher education, Wednesday evening.

DeGioia and Groves are the first in a series of speakers who will talk about the future of Georgetown. Their discussion focused primarily on the purpose of the modern university in society. “We [universities] impart a way of being, a way of engaging in the world, a way of life,” DeGioia said.

Groves expressed optimism and the need

to be proactive with changes in higher education. “We live in the most exciting time to be at university,” he said.

DeGioia stressed the importance of student-faculty relationships at universities in general and the necessity to not succumb to current external pressures that push universities to teach for the workforce and prioritize efficiency at the cost of trivializing scholarship.

After the conclusion of speeches, when asked about how to preserve the spirit of Georgetown in the future, DeGioia said, “We don’t want to lose the spirit of this place, and that’s why we’re being so deliberate, and so careful.”

An increasing number of professors across several Georgetown undergraduate departments are working in conjunction with the Center for Social Justice to incorporate a community-based learning aspect into their courses. The CBL program allows professors to offer an optional extra credit for students who apply the content learned in class to service opportunities in D.C. “Since I got here to Georgetown in the fall of 2007... I’ve been very active with the folks in the CSJ and active in promoting CBL. I know that those of us who do it are trying to encourage other professors to try this out because it is such a high-impact learning experience for the students,” said sociology professor Sarah Stiles, whose course has offered a CBL option for two semesters now.

This semester, Stiles worked in conjunction with Georgetown Law professor Anthony Cook to pair students of her Law and Society course with law students working with non-profit organizations based in D.C. “The whole point of community-based learning is that it complements the traditional academic work that students do with the reading, writing, analyzing, and then they actually get to go out into D.C., to work with people in the community and understand how this plays out,” Stiles said.

Another department that is seeking to expand its involvement with the community is the Spanish department. Amanda Munroe, So-

cial Justice Curriculum and Pedagogy Coordinator for the CSJ, and Andria Wisler, director of the CSJ, are working with faculty to incorporate a CBL component into two Spanish courses.

“The collaboration is a great experience for my students, as they have the opportunity to put into practice the lesson plans and language activities they create as part of their homework for my course,” Spanish professor Cristina Sanz wrote in an email to the Voice. Her Spanish Teaching course, which collaborates with a magnet D.C. public school, will become an official CBL course next semester.

“Since a lot of community work that students do is with the Spanish-speaking population here in D.C., specifically the newcomer or immigrant population, it’s a natural fit to have Spanish courses have community-based learning components,” Wisler said.

Other courses officially adding the CBL component include MSB professor Robert Bies’s Courage and Moral Leadership and Denise Brennan’s Migration, Labor, and Rights anthropology seminar. The CSJ’s recognition of CBL courses allows them to facilitate transportation and ease the financial burden of routine procedures that some organizations require of students.

Georgetown student service will not be limited to Washington, D.C. In June 2014, students will have the opportunity to travel to Italy to immerse in intensive Italian and to work with the community of L’Alquila, a city ravaged by an earthquake in 2009 that left a majority of its population homeless.

My Campus survey results released GU students help the homeless

by Mary-Bailey Frank The University administration announced during the Planning 202 forum on Nov. 19 that the Northeast Triangle construction is set to begin in early summer 2014, increasing the number of beds on campus by 225, pending further approval.

The construction of the new dorm comes in response to the 2012 Campus Plan agreement, in which the University committed to add a total of 385 beds by fall 2015. An additional 160 beds are planned to come from the Ryan and Mulledy halls.

While administrators have not said whether they will need an extension on the agreement in order to fulfill these requirements, Vice President of Planning & Facilities Management Robin Morey said during the forum that “it’s a challenge, but we are going to get there. We have to look at and weigh the choices of speeding up construction just to meet the deadline.”

In addition, after almost seven months of campus planning, administrators released the results of the “My Campus” survey that was conducted in early 2013 at the forum. The purpose of the

survey was to gauge how students and faculty use campus space. Researchers then used the data to influence progress in the master planning process.

The survey generated 2,766 responses, approximately 40 percent of which came from undergraduate students. The remaining 60 percent came from the responses of graduate students, faculty, and frequent visitors. The main issues highlighted by the survey were pedestrian and biker safety around campus.

According to administrators, the following campus plan will focus on improving sidewalks and pedestrian crossings. In addition, future architectural designs will focus on maintaining the openness of the campus. Morey said the data implied that students prefer to maintain open, grassy quad centers of social activity.

The University plans to meet with the zoning commission on Nov. 25 and hold an OGB concept hearing on Dec. 5 to finalize several aspects of the campus plan, specifically designs for the Northeast Triangle. “We fully expect our first concept hearing to be rejected. That’s just how these go, but it won’t set us back on progress,” Morey said.

by Lara Fishbane With winter fast approaching and temperatures falling, Georgetown student groups have been raising support for the homeless people living in the area.

As part of Hoya Outreach Programs & Education’s Hunger and Homelessness week, the Georgetown Student Secular Alliance participated in a Hunger March in D.C. on Nov. 16. Students made a total of 200 sandwiches to distribute to the homeless around the city.

Other events organized by the Hoya Outreach Programs & Education throughout the week included a Faces of Homelessness Panel featuring speakers from the National Coalition for the Homeless, an issue of the month dinner with Georgetown Ministry Center’s Stephanie Chan, a knitting session to make scarves for the needy, and a poetry performance.

HOPE also held a Solidarity Sleep Out as the final event of the week to make students more aware of what goes on outside the campus gates. The event raised $725, which was more than the past two years, for Covenant House, a youth homeless center in NoMa.

Eighteen students attended the event, and ten slept out on the mid-level terrace by Leavey Center due to rain.

“It’s important to understand that sleeping out like that and being uncomfortable for one night is not the same thing [as actually being homeless],” Gianna Maita (COL ’15), co-coordinator of the Solidarity Sleep Out, said. “Just imagine that experience times about one hundred. [The homeless] don’t have the safety of Georgetown’s campus.”

One such homeless person is Robert, a veteran who had been homeless for two months before recently acquiring an apartment. He still roams up and down M Street to raise money for transportation to access possible job opportunities.

“I ask for assistance, but most people, when they come by, they look away,” Robert said. He demonstrated by holding out a cup and asking a passing couple for spare change. The woman quietly apologized, while the man glanced in the opposite direction.

“Veterans were asked for help first and we answered the call, but when I make a request, people just come up with excuses,” Robert said.

When asked what he does to prepare for the winter, Robert said, “Just get a bunch of blankets and pray to the grace of God.”

news

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the georgetown voice 5

Students call on Wendy’s to join Fair Food Program

by Shalina Chatlani Over 150 student activists marched from the White House to a NoMa Wendy’s restaurant on Nov. 16, where D.C. Fair Food, the regional chapter of the Student Farmworker Alliance, presented a petition to the manager. Members of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee and MEChA joined other student labor groups in calling Wendy’s to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’s Fair Food Program.

CIW, a worker-based human rights organization from Immokalee, Florida, has been coordinating with the SFA since 2000 to mitigate worker abuse and slavery in Florida’s tomato industry. “Before farmworkers began to organize, cases of wage theft, verbal abuse, physical violence, and sexual harassment were commonplace,” said Joe Parker (SFS ‘10), co-coordinator on SFA. The Fair Food Program requires that participating corporations purchase their tomatoes exclusively from suppliers that meet humane labor standards and pay fair wages.

So far, eleven major corporations, including McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway, have chosen to partici-

pate in the initiative. Wendy’s is the only large food chain that has not enrolled in the program.

The event was the campaign’s largest effort in D.C. to date.

“The protest was very successful.

After picketing in front of the store for 20 minutes, a delegation of four students delivered our letter to the assistant manager, who received it appreciatively and promised to pass it along to company management,” wrote Alexandros Taliadoros (SFS ‘14), senior member of GSC, in an email to the Voice.

Wendy’s says they do not feel that it’s appropriate to compensate the employees of other companies.

“We already pay premium to our tomato suppliers in Florida, and we expect them to compensate their employees. The harvesters work directly for them, not us,” wrote Bob Bertini, Wendy’s news media representative in an email to the Voice.

In the past, GSC has been involved in a number of FFP marches targeting Taco Bell, Chipotle, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Publix.

“Solidarity has always worked closely with the CIW and SFA to improve the livelihood of Southern-Florida farmworkers. Our re-

No vouching for this program

The government shutdown brought national attention to the budget battles between D.C. and the Capitol, but it’s not just appropriations fights where Congress hamstrings the District.

There are more subtle, insidious ways the boys on the Hill stick their noses in Washington’s local business. Take the so-called D.C. Opportunity Scholarship.

The scholarship is really a federal education voucher created in 2004

by Bush 43 and the GOP-controlled Congress and then pushed on then-Mayor Anthony Williams (D).

The program is simple on the surface—select high performing, low income kids and give them federal dollars to pay for private school in D.C. Since 2004, it’s doled out more than $152 million in federal funds, but now critics are raising serious concerns that much of that money may have been spent in vain.

To understand the controversy, first understand that the District doesn’t really have a choice when it comes to accepting the voucher program. Senate Democrats actual-

ly voted to suspend the program in 2009, pointing to charter schools as a more acceptable alternative to DCPS than the private schools the scholarships fund. But after the Tea Party wave in the 2010 elections, the message changed. All the sudden, the Republicans were calling the shots on education policy, and they stuck to their guns on vouchers. Sens.

Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) warned D.C. officials they would cut funding for all District schools if the scholarship program wasn’t reinstated (yes, school spending must be Congressionally approved as well).

The Hill exerting such coercive power over a local issue is troubling enough. What’s worse is that the scholarship program is a flop by even the federal government’s standards.

As the Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss recently outlined, problems surfaced even before the GOP pushed D.C. to reinstate the program. In 2007, the Government Accountability Office reviewed the voucher scheme at the request of

lationship this past year has only become stronger,” Taliadoros wrote.

Members have also worked closely with Immokalee workers.

Members of the Student Farmworker Alliance believe that since its conception, the Fair Food Program has had a positive effect on the Immokalee community. “Their quality of life has increased. There are stories of women that are so excited that they can actually give their children breakfast in the morning. It’s a great, comprehensive program,” said Sarah Vázquez (COL ’13), SFA Steering Committee member and D.C. Fair

Food Community Organizer. So far, over 30,000 farmworkers have been given higher wages.

GSC plans to cooperate with other solidarity groups and continue supporting the campaign until Wendy’s agrees to join the Fair Food Program and invites the larger Georgetown community to participate. “Georgetown’s Jesuit values talk about caring for the whole community … and farmworkers are a part of our larger national community, so this campaign works beautifully with Georgetown,” Vázquez said.

NEWS HIT SLC endorses GU Fossil Free The nine members of GUSA’s Student Life Committee voted unanimously to endorse GU Fossil Free’s divestment proposal on Nov. 19, which opened the door to a full GUSA senate vote. ”I think that it will pass pretty easily [in the full committee], but I do think that there will be some group debate that goes along with it,” said Caroline James (COL ‘16), member of the GU Fossil Free core team.

“The main things that will come up are what the financial repercussions are going to be,” she added. “A lot of people are very understandably interested in how it will affect our endowment, how it will affect our financial aid, what is our timeline, what are we proposing to reinvest in, where do we have some flexibility. … We answered all of those questions with the committee [on Tuesday] and expect to answer pretty much all of them again.”

The resolution will go to full senate vote next Sunday, Nov. 24, at 6 p.m.

—Claire Zeng

SHALINA CHATLANI

“Down, down with the explotation! Up, up with the fair food nation!”

Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). Their report revealed a severe lack of oversight in the program. Some children, for instance, received funds to attend unaccredited schools and were taught by teachers without bachelor’s degrees.

Then, in 2010, a Department of Education report found “there is no conclusive evidence that the [program] affected student achieve-

City on a Hill

by Gavin Bade

A bi-weekly column about D.C. news and politics. ment” measured by student test scores. Standardized tests are certainly a problematic way to measure student achievement, but they remain the accepted approach for the educational establishment— proof the program is failing on its own terms.

Last year, the Post ran its own review of the voucher program and the results were even more startling.

As reporters Lindsay Layton and Emma Brown wrote, hundreds of

students used the money to attend unaccredited schools, “such as a family-run K-12 school operating out of a storefront, a Nation of Islam school based in a converted Deanwood residence, and a school built around the philosophy of a Bulgarian psychotherapist.”

If that weren’t enough, the GAO recently released another scathing review, this time targeting the nonprofit that runs the voucher program, the Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation. The organization, the GAO says, “does not effectively oversee participating schools, has not implemented effective policies and procedures, and is unable to efficiently manage day-today program operations.”

Giving public funds to private schools is a complicated issue. Liberals who oppose vouchers often have little issue with federal Pell Grants that give money to students to attend private universities. But no one can deny that the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship is broken, and that its issues point to inherent difficulties with any voucher program.

Whenever federal dollars are funneled into the private sector,

there must be some form of oversight to ensure they are spent properly. This is important with every spending project, but even more crucial when we’re talking about students’ lives and not simply road or bridge constructions. But conservative education activists constantly push for as few limitations and regulations as possible—that’s the whole rationale behind school “choice,” they say. Well, this is what happens following their model.

Despite the multiple failings of the D.C. voucher program, Congressional Republicans have been ardent in their support of it since day one.

It’s difficult not to view their position as cynical and political—an attempt to stick it to Democratically-dominated teachers unions rather than a genuine concern for students.

No one can say for sure whether that’s actually on GOP minds, but two things are certain: vouchers in the nation’s capital have failed miserably, and that should make us skeptical as to whether they can ever work anywhere.

Ride the Magic School Bus with Gavin at gbade@georgetownvoice.com

sports

6 the georgetown voice

november 21, 2013

Men’s basketball looks to big matchups in Puerto Rico

by Chris Almeida & Brendan Crowley This week, the men’s basketball team (1-1, 0-0 Big East) leaves the continental United States once again to face the next of their non-conference challenges. With more than a week’s rest after their win over Wright State in the season’s home opener, the Hoyas look to make their first mark on the national scene against a strong field at the Puerto Rico Tip-off.

In the tournament Georgetown will have to play three games in four days. However, even newcomer Joshua Smith is confident that the team will not be shaken by such a challenge.

“I would say, for a lot of us, we did this in AAU. You’ve got tournaments when you’ve got three, four games in a day and stuff. I think with us, it’s just gonna be being focused,” the junior center said,“So it’s not one of those where we can make the excuse for ourselves, when we’re playing four games and all other teams are playing four games, so we just gotta be focused, focused on our tendencies, and let the other teams just play the game.”

Head Coach John Thompson III looks to approach the tournament one game at a time. “Well, that, in and of itself. And the quality of the opponent. You know who your firstround matchup is, but, after that, not knowing who the opponent is, and with the short turnaround, is part of the challenge. But everyone’s in the same boat,” Thompson said.

In their first game, the Blue and Gray will face off against a struggling Northeastern squad (1-2, 0-0 CAA) which started off their season with two losses before rebounding with a win over Central Connecticut.

Though the Hoyas are 14 point favorites in the tournament opener, it is important to note that Georgetown’s slow style of play and tendency to play down

to opponents makes all teams on tournament. “You know, if we play pedigrees. Charlotte has appeared have faced all season, as No. 10 good, if we play well in our defense in the tournament eleven times in Virginia Commonwealth and No. the schedule a threat.

“Even with this loss, they when we play any team down there, program history, including a Fi- 14 Michigan both loom on the othhave a veteran team. They have you know, the offense is gonna nal Four appearance in 1976-1977. er side of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off a post presence that will create a come, we don’t know how we’re Kansas State has participated in 27 bracket. However, VCU and Michunique dilemma for us... I think gonna play, but if we can control NCAA tournaments, and are com- igan will first have to navigate past they’re one of these teams where how we do on the defense side, it ing off a successful 29-9 campaign two strong contenders in Long last season under now second-year Beach State and Florida State, who you look at every position, every- should make things a lot easier.”

More intriguing for the Hoyas, Head Coach Bruce Weber. Both complete the eight-team field. where - backcourt, frontcourt, on Action tips off this Thursday, the wings they’ve got guys who however, are their potential oppo- teams have struggled early, but can make plays. And so, we’ve nents looming in later rounds. If look for a significantly tougher test Nov. 21, and runs through the championship game on Sunday. just got to come ready to play,” Georgetown can fulfill expectations in Round 2 if the Hoyas advance.

If the Hoyas are fortunate The Hoyas opener versus Northsaid Thompson. “They also play and take down Northeastern, they something you don’t see too often will face the winner of Charlotte enough to make it to the tourna- eastern will be this Thursday at — they play a 3-2 defense, so they and Kansas State, two programs ment’s final round, they are like- 12:30 p.m. The game can be throw that at you, they keep you with notable NCAA tournament ly to meet the best opponent they viewed on ESPNU. off balance, along with the regular 2-3, along with the regular man-toman. But they’re not afraid to use the 3-2, which is something people “I don’t know, you gotta ask him, cause he didn’t finish the game. Ice up, son, ice up.” - Carolina Panthers WR Steve Smith on his fight with Patriots CB Aquib Talib don’t see too often – it’s something itor and a player who can’t ac- But when these rare specimens we, at least, don’t see too often. So, by Chris Almeida cept his own failures. There is reach the highest stage, they we’ve got to be ready for that.” a reason that Michael Jordan is can’t always be the star. They In a society where sports That being said, Georgetown universally revered and Dwight can’t always have the best numplayers are placed upon boasts a significant advantage over Howard is universally resent- bers. They can’t always be the the highest of pedestals, I Northeastern in the 350 pound ed. Both hated to lose, but one topic of conversation, and unshouldn’t be surprised when Smith. The largest player Northeastchewed out his straggling team- fortunately a good number of said athletes enjoy their lofty ern boasts is 6-foot-8, 219 pound Scott mates behind the scenes while individuals don’t handle this status, and are loathe to come Eatherton, who averages 14 points the other complained publicly reality with grace. down.

I strongly believe that per games and ten rebounds. Smith’s These problems have recentto the media. the constantly self-centered are significant height and weight advanly hit close to home. Last year, The “Bad Boy” Pistons the scourge of society, a group tage at his position offers the Hoyas a RGIII was the talk of the town were hated, but they served a that has no emotional range or strong scoring outlet down low. in the Nation’s Capital for his purpose.

They were the eneempathy and wildly fluctuates “It’s just effort. I mean, like I said, play.

This year, the reigning Ofmy.

They were a team of misbetween basking in their own watching the film, a lot of times the fensive Rookie of the Year has fits who played dirty, but they glory and wallowing in self ball goes up and I’m watching, I’m been in the news each week, played dirty together.

They pity.

And what better place to not making contact, boxing them out, but for his mouth.

The defendstrayed from the ideal of a refind these individuals than in and the few times I had a rebound, it the realm of the rich, talented, spectful team, but not in an in- ing division champion Redskins was getting hit out of my hands and have flopped in dramatic fashdividualistic manner. and famous? it’s just being strong and making the ion, getting off to a 3-7 start. But The Miami Heat are the same Recently, the presence of effort to do it,” Smith said. there has been little assumption way.

They flop, they whine, but egos in the professional sports The keys to offensive success in of responsibility for overthrown they all do it, and they win.

The world has been particularly the tournament will be the play of passes or ill advised throws. sporting world can’t stand Miapparent and particularly ugly.

Smith in the post as well as the shootInstead, Griffin has chosen to ami or their fans, but no memWe have seen more than our ing of senior guard Markel Starks criticize play calling and others ber of the team puts himself fair share of ego explosions and sophomore guard D’Vauntes on the team. And often when before everybody else.

The ego in the past few months.

A few Smith-Rivera. However, as always, this begins, it leads to a disasproblems in sports arise from weeks ago, we saw Dez Brythe Hoyas will look to stout defense trous divorce. I would love to the individuals that think they ant throw a temper tantrum and a slow tempo to dominate their believe that the Redskins will are the center of the universe. on the sideline as he was outopponents. prosper because of Griffin’s athDwight Howard is the best shined by Calvin Johnson.

On “It’s defense. I mean, that’s the letic skill, but once a rift comes contemporary example of said Sunday, we saw Andre Johnson only thing we can control,” said between a star and his team, it issue.

Howard is absurdly giftwalk off the field with a minSmith of the keys to winning the ute remaining in the Houston ed, but has now seen three dif- becomes unlikely that success is Texans game. Hours later, we ferent cities in three years due in the future.

It might just be our fault for saw Robert Griffin III assign to his inability to accept his own blame for a bad performance to failures. The center, much like producing the egomaniacs at his coaching staff. Where is the Terrell Owens, has such severe the top of the sports pyramid, assumption of responsibility? character issues that they out- but I like to think that people Why can’t athletes seem to un- weigh the ability that makes are always responsible for their derstand that they may some- him the best center in the NBA. own actions, regardless of the It’s no surprise that athletes way they are nurtured. So, times be at fault?

Of course, self-importance end up this way. The most gift- Dwight, Robert, Dez, Metta, is going to come into play in ed are put in the spotlight from A-Rod, and all of you out there an industry that is based on an early age. They make all the in the college and high school competition and statistics, but cuts, win all the awards, get all games: get over yourselves. No there should always be a line the attention, and are constant- matter how good you are, you between being a fierce compet- ly told that they are the best. will never be worth the drama.

the sports sermon

ANDRES RENGIFO

Men’s basketball could move onto the national scene with wins in Puerto Rico.

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Women’s soccer to face No. 1 UVA Football continues downhill

by Kevin Huggard The Georgetown Women’s Soccer team (16-2-2, 7-1-1 Big East) used Shaw Field to their advantage on Saturday, beating LaSalle (15-5-3, 5-2-1 Atlantic-10) by a score of 2-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game was a milestone for the program, as it marks the first NCAA Tournament game the Hoyas have played at home.

“Well, you know, it’s one of those games when you lose and your season’s over. And for seniors, you lose and your career is over,” said Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan. “So there’s far more to it and there’s far more nerves for both teams because there is far more at stake. So that’s why it’s really important to try and have home field advantage where you’re familiar with things and there is less distractions.

Now it’s just do or die.”

The Hoyas started off the game with the more dangerous part of the possession, which eventually resulted in a goal by junior forward Vanessa Skrumbis with 18’ remaining in the first half. Senior forward Colleen Dinn made a run to the end line before hitting a low cross in Skrumbis’ direction. LaSalle goalie Jessica Wiggins got a piece of the cross, but Skrumbis took the rebound and managed to just get the ball across the goal line to give the Hoyas the 1-0 lead.

LaSalle’s desperation grew after the Hoyas doubled their lead early in the second half on a beautiful half-volley from sophomore midfielder Marina Paul.

The goal came as Paul headed down the ball off of a cross. It then bounced around the penalty area before falling for her to strike from 10 yards out.

“I do think ultimately it probably took the wind out of their sails. I mean, Paul’s (Paul Royal,

ANDRES RENGIFO

Women’s soccer looks to upset Virginia in their second tournament game.

Devotion is a lost art

There is an epidemic plaguing the sports world that no one appears to have noticed. It has nothing to do with concussions, steroids, illegal hits, or J.R. Smith’s Twitter account. It involves the only people not actually involved in the games themselves: the fans.

Yes you, the sports fan, the connoisseur of athletic knowledge, responsible for spreading the good news to sinful viewers of shows about vampires and werewolves.

You are not doing your job properly and you probably know it.

Now, this is not meant to be a diatribe against the casual sports viewer.

Most people are simply not inclined to invest emotionally in a team. This is okay. What is not okay is the growing number of sports fans who think they are emotionally invested in a team, but are sadly not.

If you’ve answered the ques-

tion, “Did you see the game last night?” with, “No, but I watched the highlights,” consider yourself in sports purgatory. Yes, it is easy to watch SportsCenter, and most of us utilize a convenient sports information app on our phones in this day and age, but these are not excuses to eliminate from our sports diet the beauty that is all the random plays that happen during a game. That’s what makes being a sports fan fun all the time.

Last year, for example, I knew each Miami Heat highlight would probably include an impressive block, dunk, or assist from LeBron James, but this told me nothing about where the team would be in June’s NBA playoffs. But if I had watched Heat games and noticed their struggles in defending against the three-point shot, maybe I, like many NBA fans, wouldn’t have

LaSalle Head Coach) a great coach and he’s a master motivator so I’m sure his halftime speech was about, ‘These first 10 or 15 minutes, let’s just go for it.’ And then after we got that goal I think the players are like, ‘Well how much do we have to go for it now?’ So it was key,” said Coach Nolan, discussing the second goal.

From there the focus turned to defending, and the Hoyas managed to preserve sophomore goalie Emma Newins’ shutout by controlling their half of the field for the remainder of the game.

“For them it’s more helter-skelter, it’s more taking chances, it’s more about being a little bit reckless. And that always puts us on the back foot. But I felt for all the kinds of balls that they had I didn’t really ever feel like they ever really looked like they were going to score,” Nolan said.

The Hoyas face a difficult battle ahead of them, as they travel on Friday to face Virginia (21-1, 13-0 ACC).

“Obviously they’re the No. 1 seed. They’re having a great season. But the good thing is that they play good soccer. And we always do well against teams that play soccer because we play soccer too.

It’s not going to be easy, but we’ve played them down there enough times where we’re comfortable and we’re familiar with the field,” Nolan said.

been so surprised when Danny Green of the San Antonio Spurs burned them for an NBA Finals record 27 three-pointers. For a sports fan in tune with all the variables surrounding a game, unusual events become less a shock than

All The Way

by Brendan Crowley A bi-weekly column about sports

they are a confirmation of knowledge collected over time.

If watching highlights exclusively lands you in sports purgatory, then faking understanding or “hopping on the bandwagon” will introduce you to Lucifer. If you are not familiar with a sport to the level that the rules of said sport confuse you, adopt the role of the silent observer. Lofting out comments

by Joe Pollicino For the Georgetown football team (1-9, 0-4 Patriot League) and its Head Coach Kevin Kelly, the end of this season couldn’t come any sooner. The Hoyas lost their eighth consecutive game this past Saturday at Bucknell (5-5, 2-2 Patriot League) 17-7.

The Hoyas failed to establish themselves throughout the game, mustering only 171 of total offense, including an anaemic 22 rushing yards.

“The credit goes to Bucknell,” said Kelly. “They have been one of the best teams in the nation in terms of stopping the run.”

Although the Hoyas find themselves mired in their second longest losing streak in the school’s 139-year football history, second only to the school’s winless campaign in 2009, Kelly felt his team competed well, especially since it marked the first time in the last eight games in which the Hoyas lost by less than two touchdowns.

“Everyone is disappointed with a loss, but I told the guys that football doesn’t build character, it reveals character and we have a lot of character on this team,” said Kelly.

The Hoya defense played exceptionally well, holding a potent such as, “That was so crazy,” or, “He’s just too good,” midgame are not helpful or encouraged. Enjoy the game and join the conversation when you’re ready. For example, I admittedly do not fully understand hockey. The puck moves too damn fast and Canada is far too involved. When I watch games with my friends, many of whom are avid fans, I willingly take a backseat in the viewing process; but, be sure, the day I figure out what the hell “icing” is, I will join the conversation.

I must clarify the difference between being a fan and being a fan. Take the aforementioned Miami Heat. During their most recent championship run (and eventual victory), media pundits criticized Heat fans for leaving Game 6 of the NBA Finals early. They were called “fake” and “an embarrassment,” among other things. But how quick-

Bison offense to only 17 points and 249 yards of total offense.

The game marked the first time since their sole victory against Davidson earlier this year that the Hoyas allowed less than 20 points.

“On defense I think we played as hard as we have played all year,” Kelly said. “Alec May has really come on. Nick Alfieri did a nice job and Dustin Wharton was disruptive.”

Due to his strong play, junior defensive lineman Alec May earned Patriot League Weekly Honorable Mention honors after another dominating performance in which he recorded seven tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for a loss, and a forced fumble. A non-starter entering this year, May has stepped up big for a Hoya defense that has been decimated by injuries throughout this season.

In his last two games, May has had 19 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and 5.5 tackles for a loss.

“Alec is really coming into his own. He plays and practices very hard and it has paid off when we moved him to the buck with Sean Campbell being out,” said Kelly.

The Hoyas finish their season this Saturday, when they travel to Worcester, Mass. to take on Jesuit rival Holy Cross (3-8, 1-3 Patriot League). ly we overlook the “new” Miami Heat fans that had popped up all over the country over the course of the playoffs. Maybe they started watching the Heat because “they’ve always liked LeBron” or “their brother-in-law used to live in Miami, so it’s cool.” This is not being a fan. The real fans were praying for something, anything, to change.

To reach the level of fandom where close games bring you to your feet and crushing losses have you shouting irrationally at players that cannot hear you, is to experience something that will become a part of your life. Go out and find a team and commit to them for a season. You’ll be amazed how quickly you shed the role of silent observer and experience the rewards of being in the conversation.

Hang your heads in shame with Brendan at bcrowley@georgetownvoice.com

8 the georgetown voice

feature

Capital Cannabis

november 21, 2013

THE CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA IN Washington, D.C. by connor jones “Do not make references to anything illegal or you will be asked to leave.”

For four years, that sign hung at Capitol Hemp, formerly the city’s largest vendor of hemp products and artisan glassware.

The Adams Morgan headshop stocked everything a stoner would need—pipes, rolling papers, vaporizer equipment—but, of course, these products could only legally be used for consuming tobacco. Selling tobacco accessories becomes peddling drug paraphernalia when “direct or circumstantial evidence” suggests that the clerk would “reasonably know” the merchandise will be used to consume a controlled substance.

Yet, given these parameters, the store was in compliance with District law and generated over $1 million in annual sales.

The underground shop served as the unofficial headquarters of the District’s pro-cannabis activists. D.C. flags emblazoned with the pro-statehood slogan “No taxation without representation” joined paintings of hemp leaves lining the walls.

A history of D.C.’s medical marijuana program was printed on the counter. Along with smoking instruments, Capitol Hemp also sold books on medical cannabis and marijuana legalization.

All the while, the owners of the store leveraged their success as small-business owners to advocate for reform of hemp laws. In 2010, Capitol Hemp donated $25,000 to help pass California Proposition 19, a voter initiative that sought to legalize all forms of cannabis, including industrial hemp farming. While hemp is genetically related to marijuana, it is not psychoactive. In the United States, selling hemp products is legal, but growing the plant is not.

Even so, on Oct. 26, 2011, D.C. police

POSSESSION ARRESTS IN DC IN 2011

Eidinger and Amsterdam were anomalies among headshop owners, who usually refrain from any smack of issue advocacy.

Until police raided his store, Eidinger had no reason to believe he was breaking any laws. “Historically, headshop owners have been afraid to be political in any way,” Eidinger said. “We worked it out with law-

IN D.C., 2001-2011:

yers ahead of time to make sure our store wasn’t getting us into trouble. They still used it against us.”

A veteran anti-war and anti-GMO activist, Eidinger decided that the closure of his store meant that it was time for him to head a campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in the District of Columbia. “They still said that if you sell hemp, it’s like code that you’re pro-marijuana. Well, yeah, it is.

It is. But they were right. We were a store that believed in the legalization of marijuana, and now we all think that’s what I am.

They think that’s what I am, so I might as well do it,” he said. “If they had not raided my store, I wouldn’t have taken a leadership role in the campaign.”

Last month, DCMJ, the campaign Eidinger founded, released a draft of a referendum that would legalize recreational use of marijuana for adults over 21. Possession of up to two ounces would be permitted, as would growing up to six cannabis plants for personal use.

A poll conducted by Public Policy Polling released last April found that 63 percent of D.C. residents would support legalizing marijuana and regulating its sale for adults.

Moreover, 75 percent of D.C. residents would approve of decriminalization.

Even though support for legalization has ballooned in recent years, anti-drug taboo remains strong. This obstacle, in addition to the tall legal hurdles the measure faces, poses a challenge for advocates of legalization. Offered as a way to help remedy the racial discrepancies in enforcement of drug laws, the proposed law is so far struggling to gain traction among young, predominantly white residents of the city, whom the drug war seldom reaches.

Despite the obstacles and potential pitfalls, marijuana activists remain confident that they can change the law. With other states eyeing legalization in 2014, D.C. could both provide a symbolic victory to pro-marijuana activists and serve as a model for how the rest of the country should proceed. “It’s a serious change, and it’s such a serious change that it could actually be a flipping point switch for the whole country,” Eidinger said.

Drug laws have been the subject of differential enforcement for decades. A June 2013 report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that, nationwide, a black person was 3.73 times more likely than a white person to be arrested for marijuana possession between 2001 and 2010, despite similar rates of usage between the two groups.

In fact, the gap in arrest rates between whites and blacks in the District of Columbia is much greater than the national average. While the arrest rate for possession was about 0.185 percent for white Washingtonians, the arrest rate for black Washingtonians was found to be 1.49 percent.

While many observers would blame the inconsistency in enforcement on racial profiling, there are likely several factors at work.

“There are many reasons for the disparity. It may include some amount of racial profiling by police but it may include other stuff, and probably does,” said Art Spitzer, legal director of the ACLU office in Washington, D.C. “There’s lots more police riding around and walking around in

in d.c. as of OCTOBER 21, 2013: medical marijuana

185 WHITE ARRESTS

of nationwide marijuana-related arrests are for posession

“it’s such a serious change that it could actually be a flipping point switch for the whole country.”

1,489 BLACK ARRESTS

46%

raided Capitol Hemp, arresting six people.

The officers executed a search warrant for selling drug paraphernalia and suspected drug possession. Tests taken at the scene for THC, the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana, were positive.

In exchange for dropping the charges and returning $350,000 in seized glassware, the owners, Adam Eidinger and Alan Amsterdam, agreed to shut down the store, forcing them to lay off their ten employees.

Two days after police raided Capitol Hemp, officers stormed two other Adams Morgan headshops, again seizing property and alleging the sale of paraphernalia. A few months earlier, Mayor Vincent Gray (D) had publicly come out against selling drug paraphernalia.

dispensaries

59

3

medical marijuana

enrollees

INCARCERATION RATES

BY RACE

DYLAN CUTLER, NAFISA HUSSEIN, ANDIE PINE & KATHLEEN SORIANO-TAYLOR

georgetownvoice.com Anacostia than there are in the Georgetown University campus.”

Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the D.C. Police Union, explained the discrepancy by saying that all crime is centered in communities predominantly consisting of minorities. “We’ve had large concentrations of criminal activity that’s been going on for two decades, and that’s where unfortunately, the crimes are located,” he said.

Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance agreed that police presence factors into the disparity but says there are other factors at work.

“I would say, unquestionably, the reason racial disparities are so stark is that the police are focused in communities of color,” Piper said. “That begs the question, ‘Why are the police not just patrolling certain areas but searching people?’ I’m pretty sure if the D.C. Police Department went into Georgetown and searched people randomly, they’d find a lot of pot. But those searches would probably stop pretty quickly because they’d get a lot of phone calls from affluent people.

So, instead, they patrol the areas of people who have less political clout.”

Nonetheless, concerns about racial disparities in arrest rates prompted D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 7) to introduce legislation to the Council decriminalizing possession. Under his proposal, people who are caught with weed would be slapped with a civil fine of $25 instead of facing jail time.

“It’s an issue of social justice,” Wells said in an interview with the Voice last week. “Once you have a criminal charge, you can’t even work on a construction site or get a commercial driver’s license. You may even get kicked out of your housing.

The charge dissociates you from society and limits economic opportunities. The ACLU reported that right now, there’s a disproportionate impact on African Americans, and it’s unfair.”

“It’s an issue of social justice.”

Groups ranging from the ACLU, NAACP, and the Drug Policy Alliance have all expressed support for Wells’s legislation.

“Wells’s bill is a really good start because it ends the mass-arrests of young people of color,” Piper said. “I think once we get rid of mass incarceration, we can have a citywide conversation about treating marijuana more like alcohol.”

Conversely, while Eidinger thinks that decriminalization would be a positive step, he thinks it wouldn’t go far enough to address the racial disparities associated with marijuana prohibition.

“If you’re going to fine marijuana users $100 or $25 or you’re going to search them and harass and stop them while they’re just trying to go about their business, police are used to doing that,” he said.

feature “I don’t think that much has changed. I mean, the only thing that’s changed is that they’ll put the cuffs on you and they won’t take you to the jail.”

Eidinger also thinks that the Council is only taking up decriminalization now to draw away support for his legalization initiative.

“I think there are nine city councilmembers that are pretty much pro-legalization, but they don’t say it out loud,” he said. “In fact, they’ll only support decriminalization…They want to get decriminalization through the Council and that’s probably going to pass at the end of January.”

Wells’s bill is expected to pass the Council before the end of January. With nine co-sponsors and the support of the Mayor, the measure is assured success.

A few weeks ago, Eidinger said that he would withdraw his proposal if Wells’s decriminalization bill drew support away from legalization. Now, he says, he’ll go forward with his proposal “no matter what.”

DCMJ’s draft proposal only legalizes up to two ounces of marijuana, double the amount that was legalized in Colorado last year. The referendum proposal hasn’t been formally submitted to the D.C. Board of Elections yet because Eidinger is waiting to incorporate comments from the public into the draft proposal.

District law prohibits referendum measures from authorizing new taxation or spending. If the initiative is passed next November, it will only legalize cannabis, not regulate its cultivation or sale. In effect, Eidinger is betting that the measure will force D.C.’s hand to set up such a regulatory scheme, even if it is unwilling to do so right now.

In fact, the Council could vote to modify or even repeal the law if it passes. In addition, since Congress retains the power to overturn D.C. laws with impunity, the federal legislature could also interfere with the law taking effect.

But, first, the referendum needs to make it on the ballot. To do that, DCMJ needs to collect the signatures of at least five percent of the voters in the District, which amounts to about 20,000 names.

To do that, DCMJ needs to organize a campaign and raise money. “DCMJ is going to have to raise $350,000 to run a competitive campaign here, to run a professional campaign,” Eidinger said.

Activism on the issue is further complicated by the continued criminality and the history of cannabis use in minority communities.

“We really are handicapped by the heavy

police presence in the city, the long history of abuse on the issue. …The African American community, which has been doing a lot of organizing, has hesitated to do anything public. People are very nervous,” Eidinger said. “I think a lot of cannabis users are afraid to speak out. …You’re trying to change something that’s a criminal activity right now.”

So far, Eidinger says that the pro-legalization activism has noticeably been missing another cohort: young people.

“I feel that most of the activism is coming from people who are in their 40s and 50s and they’re people who have been working on this issue for a long time,” he said. “Where are the really young people, who are probably the most affected? I don’t know, maybe it’s not the college kids who are getting busted, and it’s just poor black kids in Southeast who are getting busted. I don’t know.”

“I think a lot of cannabis users are afraid to speak out. You’re trying to change something that’s a criminal activity right now.”

Eidinger points to a common theme in drug policy activism. Whites are much less affected, so they tend to prioritize the issue less. Piper said he noticed the same general trend. “I’ve always found, generally, that there’s a disconnect on this issue in that it is sometimes hard to get younger, white people really motivated, because to some extent, marijuana is already legal for them.

Because they’re less likely to be searched, and caught, and arrested, and, if they are arrested, they’re less likely to do jail time,” he said.

No college campus in the District has organized affiliated campaign committees to legalize marijuana in 2014, even though Eidinger’s proposal has been widely circulated. “Someone needs to step up. I mean, where are the leaders?” Eidinger asked. “I want to see the millennial leaders step it up, and I’m calling it out.”

Out of several progressive campus groups, only a representative from Georgetown Solidarity Committee said they may support the proposal in due time. “This [issue] presumably falls under that umbrella, mostly because of the catastrophic impact drug laws have had on urban communities and low-income individuals,” Alexandros Taliadoros (SFS ‘14), an active member of GSC wrote in an email to the Voice. “While

the georgetown voice 9 it’s possible that Solidarity might support the ballot initiative, we have not discussed it as a group.”

Closer to home, it remains to be seen whether the University will lessen the punishment for students caught in possession of marijuana once it is either decriminalized or legalized. The student code of conduct was changed earlier this year to get rid of the tiered system against which the severity of violations was judged. Now, each violation is taken on a case-by-case basis, though marijuana infractions historically carried a heavier penalty than being caught drinking alcohol underage.

“Federal law prohibits possession, manufacturing, use of marijuana. We continue to comply with federal laws,” Rachel Pugh, director of media relations, wrote in an email to the Voice.

Additionally, there are no formal changes in the works for the student code of conduct. “The Office of Student Conduct is not planning at this time to make any changes to its policies regarding the decriminalization of marijuana,” Whitney Maddox, judicial coordinator at the Office of Student Conduct wrote in an email to the Voice.

“Any changes that occur in the policies or the Code of Student Conduct must be discussed and vetted through the Disciplinary Review Committee.”

Georgetown University Police Chief Jay Gruber did not respond to a request for comment regarding how GUPD would change its policies if marijuana is legalized.

For DCMJ, much work remains to be done. Over 5,000 have signed up to help the organization collect signatures, but Eidinger knows only a portion of them will show up.

Still, activists sense a shift in the national conversation on drug policy over the past few years. Asked if he had any reservations for legalization in D.C., Bill Piper wasn’t too worried. “I’m not that concerned because I think thef tide is turning very quickly,” he said. “I think 5 years ago, if D.C. legalized or even decriminalized marijuana, it would have been major news.

Now, it’s more of the same.”

Given the altered climate, activists no longer have to rely on protests or civil disobedience to get their message across. Now, it’s more about the ground game, like it is for mainstream movements. “Our tactics have changed,” Eidinger said. “We don’t have to get arrested on this issue, we do have to get it on the ballot.”

Additional reporting by Shalina Chatlani

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

november 21, 2013

Gritty and dark, Hunger Games whets audience’s appetite

by Rianna Folds The odds are no longer in Katniss Everdeen’s favor. Darker and more raw than The Hunger Games (2012), Catching Fire captures the emotional aftermath of Katniss’ Hunger Games win and the dangerous ripples of rebellion coursing through Panem.

In the months after returning to District 12, the Games fail to fade into memory for Katniss and Peeta. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), hero to suppressed Panem and winner of the 74th Hunger Games, cannot forget that her victory came at the cost of the lives of the other competitors.

Rather than sugarcoat Katniss’ emotional distress, Director Francis Lawrence brings her struggle to the film’s forefront. As Katniss’ curdling screams echo across the forest in District 12, the gravity of the young girl’s PTSD sinks in.

She can no longer take refuge in hunting game, as hallucinations of the dead appear every time she picks up her bow and arrow.

On the obligatory victory tour to all of the districts, an image of Rue and the forlorn faces of Rue’s family in District 11 move Katniss—and the audience—to tears. Prompted by Katniss’ pain, Peeta (Josh Hutchinson) rashly dedicates a portion of their winnings to her family.

Such meaningful actions provoke harsh responses from President Snow (Donald Sutherland), who is struggling to keep his grip on a once-crippled nation.

Announcement of the special Quarter Quell, the 75th Hunger Games, by the hauntingly cheerful

Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) does not abate the restlessness. As usual, glib media coverage of the Quarter Quell grossly resembles American reality television, with fans thirsting for blood. Here, Catching Fire proves brilliant in its cinematography, switching styles between the grittiness of district life and the gaudiness of the capitol.

Academy Award winning screenwriters Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt bring Suzanne Collins’ sometimes clumsy prose to life and create a script full of powerful moments. Not content to be merely an action-packed blockbuster, Catching Fire grapples with emotional repercussions that most action sequels neglect.

The film deftly combines political commentary and fight sequences, but it is decidedly adult despite being derived from a YA novel.

Where Collins hinted at brutality in her book, the cinematic translation shows unadulterated violence with little filter. As the first protesters resist the capitol in District 11, soldiers yank Katniss behind doors so that she cannot see the fallout. But the audience does.

Lawrence brings a new, much more grave tone to Catching Fire, which even manifests itself in the monochromatic grey that pervades everything but the tropical Quarter Quell arena.

The director cultivates the already superior talent of the cast, down to even the minor characters.

Katniss’ sister Prim (Willow Shields) appears for only a few scenes, but her expressive eyes and grave voice convey her self-awareness and growth. Even Effie Trinket (Eliza-

IMDB

“I don’t think I’ll give them Blue Steel look, can’t give away the shot.”

beth Banks) breaks her outlandish façade to acknowledge the depth of the Capitol’s oppression.

The addition of fan favorite Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his cat-andmouse interactions with President Snow build intrigue and set up the storyline for the next two films.

Hoffman, who dryly plays the sly Heavensbee, expertly warms audiences up to Panem’s coming war.

Although Catching Fire plants seeds for later fruition, it should not be viewed simply as a set up for the conclusion of the series. The pervasive pain, the urgency for change, and the continued devas-

Leo’s is where the heart is

If you knew how many times since coming to Georgetown I’ve made it home for Thanksgiving, you might say I’m a bad kid. As a senior, I’ve managed to make the trek back to Minnesota only once.

Freshman year, I made what I thought was a noble decision to stay in D.C. That year, I enjoyed the company of hundreds of strangers in Leo’s for Thanksgiving dinner before returning to VCE to cry from homesickness for hours. As a junior, I celebrated Thanksgiving at Georgetown’s villa in Alanya— insert pun here about eating turkey in Turkey—but there, too, my heart ached for American stuffing and pumpkin pie.

This year, I’ve made the choice to stay in D.C. once again. But this time around, my family is coming to me. We’ll sit down for Thanksgiving dinner with a small gaggle of West-coasters and those unwilling to fork out the cash to fly home twice in the span of three weeks.

I anticipate that it will be a wonderful mix of dietary restrictions and cooking abilities. I absolutely cannot wait to make a mess in the kitchen, laugh at stories, and collapse in a food-coma with friends and family.

My excitement for this Thanksgiving in particular, I think, is based in my appreciation of the power of shared meals in building relationships between near strangers.

I’m not at all worried that my purple-haired microbiologist mother will get along with a linguistics-obsessed roommate, or that my college-bound sister will find something to talk about with a sassy fellow Minnesotan.

Since coming to Georgetown, I’ve learned that food can both forge relationships quickly and lay the foundation for long-lasting, meaningful friendships.

Take, for example, my experience this summer on a Blue Cruise, a four-day boat tour of the Turkish Mediterranean coast-

line. I had no idea what to expect before boarding the boat, a small skipper called Mad Life. My friends and I climbed on board in the late afternoon with 13 total strangers from all around the world, and it was initially a bit difficult to find a common topic of conversation. In the half-hour leading up to our first meal, we sat in near silence staring across the empty table at the bizarre collection of people that found themselves on the same boat.

Thanks to the silence, we could hear Hakan, the trusty second-in-command, hard at work chopping tomatoes and cucumbers and cooking delicious köfte

Plate of the Union

by Rebecca Barr & Colleen Wood a bi-weekly column about food meatballs below deck. Once dinner was served, there was a split second of awkwardness in piling food onto plates, and then—poof!—the nervousness lifted, and we began talking and sharing incredibly intimate stories of our lives, our families, and our failures.

Over the course of four days, we spent many hours around the massive table situated in the back of the boat. There, we lingered for hours over bread and honey, eating and sharing.

It was amazing how quickly we dropped any feelings of shyness after the first serving plates came out on the table.

I’ll always think back on that experience fondly, but when the trees on Copley Lawn look more and more naked every day, it can be painful to think about such stories from summer. But we don’t have to embark on a sunny boating adventure to find another instance of community built in food. We just have to walk down Library Road.

tation of glorified murder set this film above its predecessor and establish it as an impressive movie in its own right.

The odds may no longer be in Katniss’ favor, but they are in the audience’s as we await the next installment of this thought-provoking series.

You got it—let’s talk about Leo’s. At this point in the semester, hating on Leo’s has become a favorite pastime of freshmen, and sophomores are dreaming of junior year housing and the opportunity to throw off the shackles of a mandatory meal plan. Despite the commonly held view that Leo’s is where appetites go to die, in actuality, Leo’s is probably the greatest gift to Georgetown students for its capacity to foster bonds and create fond college memories.

I’m not exaggerating here.

Some of the Georgetown memories I hold nearest and dearest to my heart happened in Leo’s. Only there could I talk for hours upon hours about my hometown, just how dirty Darnall is, and last week’s Problem of God class while chowing down on meat substitute ribs.

There was nowhere better to spend Sunday morning to go over the previous night’s escapades and nurse a Burnett’s-induced hangover.

Now, I walk past Leo’s and see herds of freshmen exiting the building with their heads thrown back with laughter and joy. Sure, their jackets and hair reek of that classic Leo’s smell, but by God, they look like they’ve had an amazing time. It’s days like this that I wish I were a S.E.A.L. So wherever you are next week, remember that Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be the only day of the year to experience that warm fuzzy feeling of food-coma and camaraderie. Appreciate the power of sharing a meal in your everyday life.

Next time you’re in Leo’s and it’s too crowded to occupy your own table upstairs, don’t be shy if a stranger asks to sit with you.

After all, you never know what sort of bond can be forged over a bowl of Leo’s chili on a Chicken Finger Thursday.

Celebrate Turkey Day with Rebecca and Colleen at rbarr@georgetownvoice.com and cwood@georgetownvoice.com

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 11

“What is your damage, Heather?” — Heathers

At National Gallery, all that glitters is gold DCity BBQ smokes up

by Elizabeth Baker “Do you see those eyes in the angel’s wings? I’ve looked around the rest of the pattern, and it’s only here. Do you know what it means?” a stranger asked me.

I craned over the 11th century Epitaphios, intertwined with gold.

As a Greek Orthodox Christian, I was in awe to see such a traditional part of my faith—a representation of the shroud of Christ—in almost perfect shape, dating back hundreds of years. I replied, “It could be the Cherubim or Seraphim.”

Heaven and Earth: A Collection of Byzantine Art at the National Gallery presents about 170 works and artifacts from mosaics to books and jewelry never before seen in the United States.

Collaborating with the Benaki Museum of Athens, the exhibition highlights the prosperity and glory of the Byzantine Em-

pire until its devastating fall in the 14th century.

Upon entering the exhibit, reverence silenced not only me, but everyone else who stepped into the museum wing. Even small children holding their parents’ hands sensed it was turned into a sacred place. Perhaps it was the familiar sounds of Gregorian chant that turned us all to respectful silence.

Transitioning seamlessly from religious items to secular pieces used in everyday life, I can see Heaven and Earth appealing to all art-lovers, be it for the artifacts’ historical context or merely the mysticism behind every angel and warrior’s heavy-lidded, almost sad eyes.

Yet for me, it was not the icons—so similar to those that I see in Greek Orthodox Churches today—but the mosaics that adorned the tops of churches and bathed ev-

SMITHSONIAN

The notorious AMDG: Ad maiorem Dei gloriam inque hominum salutem.

erything in a celestial, golden light that amazed me. The gallery also featured a video, showing monasteries and churches scattered across the Greek countryside. Of course, the bottom halves of these churches would be barren, stripped by wars, aged by time. But the tops of the churches, where the enemy couldn’t reach, allowed the art’s beauty to survive. Ceiling mosaics of religious figures, birds, and the cross stood high and mighty above the destruction below. Intricate patterns covered high arches, all glittering in hues of gold and blue.

The vivid color that still remains on seccos done hundreds of years before is awe inspiring.

Color and light dance across the walls, but most impressive is the shocking glow that envelops visitors in the gallery. It comes not from the lights themselves, but from the gold shining underneath glass cases.

Gold, gold, gold—I had forgotten how the Byzantines used gold leaf on everything from booklets to bracelets to icons themselves. Despite many of the pieces’ tattered condition after surviving attacks from the Ottomans, each piece still glowed, reminding us of the glory that Byzantium once wielded.

The National Gallery Monday-Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm Sunday, 11 am - 6 pm nga.gov

by Nicole Kuhn Cozily situated and reminiscent of Frank Underwood’s favorite refuge, DCity Smokehouse is D.C.’s newest barbecue joint helmed by Hill Country’s former pitmaster Rob Sonderman.

This tiny hole-in-the-wall is definitely geared toward takeouts. And though there’s a small bench to the right of the counter that can situate up to five people, it almost feels like it was an afterthought.

Anybody who decides to stay in and sit to enjoy their meal may feel like an imposition on the cashier and cooks who, in this small barbecue dig, may as well be standing right behind your back. That being said, the staff is very quick and helpful, which are definitely pluses in any restaurant’s books.

With the ambiance essentially nonexistent, the only thing this smokehouse can rely on is its food and its barbecue chops.

The actual barbecue sauce is quality—it’s hard to deny that.

But it’s also hard to ignore the simplicity of the menu and the preparation of the sandwiches.

For instance, the torta, with its Mexican twist, takes the form of a classic ciabat-

ta roll stuffed with chicken, avocado, and feta cheese.

The chicken is succulent and well-cooked and the avocado is certainly an interesting touch you don’t always see in a barbecue house. But overall, this bird doesn’t fly.

The strong taste of cilantro overpowers the entire sandwich and the oil from the chicken soaks through the bread, causing it to fall apart at the touch.

But then came the fries. Oh, the fries. Let me just say that I am a lover of fries, and a French fry connoisseur if there ever was one. The fries were neither crispy nor soft, neither thick nor thin.

They were like cut up potatoes with an identity crisis.

Thankfully, the hush puppies just might save the entire sides menu. Fried to perfection, with a crisp coating and a soft corn-bread-like center, these puppies sing their own praises.

But, truthfully, I’d say if you were in the area and felt like barbecue, yeah, definitely go. But don’t trek across the city for this with the goal of trying the best barbecue of your lifetime, because that, DCity Smokehouse is not.

8 Florida Ave., NW Tuesday - Saturday, 12 pm - 8 pm

Forget Lululemon, Smithsonian’s yoga exhibit makes you stretch

by Sabrina Kayser Sounds become muffled and a silence descends as you walk down the stairs at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery and enter Yoga: The Art of Transformation.

Glowing chakras on the floor form a winding path that beckons you in to wander through the art.

The exhibit begins with the birth of yoga in the Indus valley and showcases a beautiful folio from the Nath tradition. This three-part artwork shows an empty field of gold on the left, representing the origin of existence. The center part displays the emergence of consciousness in the form of a seated person, and on the right we see the final emergence of form as the earth.

When we think of yoga today, we imagine a calm practice, but yoga was not always a peaceful philosophy.

Early on, it was often represented by yoginis, frightening statues of women with supernatural powers whose very names meant “horrific.” Three of these goddesses from a 10th century Chola temple are being reunited for the first time in this exhibit.

Later in the history of yoga, meditation became a common practice used to attain enlightenment. Great yogic lineages were created, in which a master passed on his knowledge to his disciples, forming a line of spiritual thought and practice.

Much later in the history of India, around the 16th century, yogis and yoginis became part of the popular culture and folklore. They were portrayed as good and evil, as magicians, spies, heroes, and heroines.

With the arrival of the British Empire, yogis lost prestige as westerners questioned their practices. During this time the advent of early photog-

raphy created a market of faked “fakir-yogi” photographs, sold as curios from the “exotic Orient.” The Smithsonian’s exhibit highlights how this fed the image of the yogi as a charlatan in the transnational imagination.

Along with photography, early film propagated this concept as well.

The first movie about India, Thomas Edison’s Hindoo Fakir, promoted the existing stereotypes about yogis.

Following the chakra signs through the gallery, you come to realize that yoga as we know it today has only been seen as its own practice for a little over a century. Since the early 20th century, there has been much more of an emphasis on the physical body. With the publication of Swami Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga in 1896, the modern practice gained recognition as a tool in the yoga path.

Lululemon-wearing and coconut water-toting modern yoga prac-

titioners in the West are primarily focused on the asanas, the physical yoga postures that aim to harmonize mind and body. However, it would be a shame to forget about the rich and varied history of yoga while focusing only on one of its many parts.

Instead, Yoga: The Art of Transformation explores the changing nature of yoga, starting with its deep reli-

gious and historical roots and working toward its modern incarnation.

In effect, the Smithsonian reveals the very transformation of the “art of transformation” itself.

The Sackler Gallery 1050 Independence Ave., SW Monday - Sunday, 10 am - 5:30 pm asia.si.edu

SMITHSONIAN

Beware! Don’t buy your yoga pants too tight or you’ll start to look like this guy.

leisure

12 the georgetown voice

november 21, 2013

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

The Ripples, The First Few, Independent On Saturday Nov. 23, The Ripples, a Georgetown student band, will drop a pebble in the vast lake of the music world, hoping to create waves that disrupt our collective conscience.

The Ripples’ music contains clear influences from the activist folk music of the 1960s, when times were hard and simple instrumentation brought people together. The voices of music’s greatest storytellers, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, are readily available in the smooth and straightforward crooning vocals and the intelligible harmonic patterns that the band maintains through the entire LP. This is accompanied by a setup of guitar, piano, and drums, which are supplanted by organ and bass

to round out and finish the sound.

The result is a refreshingly relatable groove that holds during the whole album and defies popular music’s tendency toward over-production and labyrinthine melodies.

One song where this simplicity shines through is “Afternoon Alone,” which falls toward the end of the album’s short 40-minute run.

The song begins as many archetypal folk songs do, with a simple guitar introduction. The strumming is soon joined by the rough vocals of Tyler Pierce. He speaks of “homeless city busker” who “lets his weathered words fall where they land” as the piano and a sparse bass line join the song. The poetic imagery surrounding such a small afternoon encounter harkens back to the use of parable that defines the traditional folk style that The Ripples inhabit.

The problem with this style, however, is that it proves difficult to maintain over the course of an album while still creating distinct pieces of music. The First Few falls into this trap. After listening to ten songs with similar instrumentations, harmonic patters, rhythms, and even harmonica solos, I found it difficult to distinguish and appreciate each song individually. The style

Tofurkey and mommy issues I’m not going home for Thanksgiving. This really wasn’t a hard decision. Usually I have a near panic attack with the logistics, given it’s the only time of the year when I have to do math. My thinking goes something like this: If my flight is Wednesday afternoon, and I have to be at Reagan National Airport an hour in advance, and it takes 20-40 minutes to get to the airport

by Metro and 15-20 minutes to get to the Rosslyn Metro by GUTS bus, then that means… yep, I have to skip all my Tuesday classes. Also, on a somewhat related note, how awesome is that airport? If I have a child I’m thinking of naming it Reagan National. I’m not a Republican, but I am a fan of efficient transportation hubs.

Now despite the travel, I still love Thanksgiving. The only other holiday that comes close, for me, is this Jewish one that commemorates the destruction of our second temple. The date always fell when

I was at camp and we had the option of fasting, which I always refused. I would always tell counselors, “Let me get this straight: Today I don’t have to go to swimming and I get to make my own cheese sandwich? Why am I supposed to be sad, again?” But unlike on Tish’a’b’av (also a Star Trek villain), where I casually ignore a human atrocity, on Thanksgiving everybody casually ignores a human atrocity. And this wasn’t just some podunk ethnic cleansing. This was one group of people graciously inviting another group of people to dinner, and then they’re rewarded for their kindness when the latter says, “So … how are you at dealing with smallpox? … Oh, you don’t know what that is? … Whoops.”

And so to honor the first half of that story we consume massive quantities of food, which is fine by me. Meat is an issue for some but there’s also starch and sugar, so who could possibly have a prob-

that is initially refreshing becomes a little bland after it’s been re-hashed for the tenth time. This is not necessarily the fault of The Ripples. It’s more a problem of the genre as a whole that was initially masked by important cultural messages and hallucinogenic drugs.

Overall, though, the album is good and certainly displays a lot of potential for musical growth: I have high hopes for the next few.

Voice’s Choices: “Fiona Gotcha Goin,” “Afternoon Alone” —Daniel Varghese

Wooden Shjips, Back To Land, Thrill Jockey Records Although they call their latest album Back to Land, Wooden Shjips seems to be lost at sea. lem with all three? The answer, quite conveniently, is my parents.

My dad eats like he’s in a gulag, with a diet consisting of bread, cheese, and possibly some tomatoes if it’s New Year’s.

My mom has transitioned over the years from vegetarian to vegan to raw vegan. That means she has progressed, in the most progres-

Lez’hur Ledger

by Henry Thaler a Voice satire special sive sense of the word, toward eating as God intended, if God wanted us to be deer. Scratch that, I wish a deer’s diet were pure enough for her. When I left high school, she bought a Vitamix, which meant she could fulfill her goal of stripping everything out of food except for its most elemental compounds.

She basically had the eating habits of a detritus bottom-feeder. She has scaled back, though. Recently she told me she began eating bagels,

On their fourth LP, the band uses a mix of Doors-inspired organ and fuzz-out guitar riffs to create a collection of trance-like, five-minute trips.

“Ghouls” features a repeating organ riff that sounds so classic, you might wonder if you’ve heard it somewhere else before. The riff draws you in with its mellow tones, inducing a pleasant, trippy listening experience.

However, these feats are also the main problems with Back To Land.

The album is so repetitive, so mellow, and so trance inducing that you get lost in it fairly quickly.

It is undeniable that Wooden Shjips know their psychedelic rock history—the album cover is a wonderful collage of images that demonstrates that. But the band seems to take these older elements out of context. They mirror, in some ways, the repetition and jamming-base of bands like Canned Heat and The Dead, but they forget that the key to making this kind of music interesting is variation. The instruments and vocals do not stray from their neighborhoods, leading to extreme homogeneity among the tracks. The organ and drums, in particular, suffer this fate the worst. On all of the songs these instruments rarely vary from their primary melody, and this gets old quickly. employing a tone of rebelliousness I would have reserved for if I said I was motorcycling through the Jesuit cemetery.

Thankfully my dad prepares a turkey. I can’t have Tofurkey because I’m allergic to soy and, even if I wasn’t, I find it disgusting on an inherently patriotic level. My mom’s addition to the dinner, given her proclivity for all things natural, is her homemade cranberry sauce. I don’t know if you’ve ever eaten a straight cranberry, but it’s tart and bitter, like life in the cosmic sense. I once asked her why she didn’t add even a little sugar and she looked at me as if I asked why does the sun rise every morning or why is hot veggie concentrate an adequate lunch?

I’m not used to contributing to the actual meal. I’ve never had much experience with food preparation since my dad likes to cook in his own specific way and my mom believes the microwave gives you Crohn’s Disease. But I have become really good at slicing cu-

A prime offender, “Ruin,” repeats the same organ, guitar, and drum riffs for its five-minute span. Frontman Ripley Johnson’s vocals are so spacey and soft that it sounds as if he might slip into the aether at a moment’s notice, let alone allow the lyrics to be decipherable.

The trance-like atmosphere causes an unfortunate bleeding effect across the tracks. You can never be really sure when one song begins, or if it even ends, due to their uncanny similarities.

Wooden Shjips are able to salvage a few tracks, though. The band brings in different aesthetics to a select few songs, and these liven up the album.

The acoustic guitars on “These Shadows” bring a huge shift in timbre and mood from other tracks, while the flute-like synthesizers on “Everybody Knows” are a relief from the standard organ sound across the LP. Johnson even rips a flurry of notes on “Ghouls,” demonstrating apt precision on “Servants.”

Back To Land is fine for spacing out or creating background buzz, but not for much else.

Voice’s Choices: “Back To Land,” “Everybody Knows” —Jackson Sinnenberg cumbers for dressing-less salads.

Once I did ask her what I could do to help, and she gave me a miniature ceramic mortar and pestle.

In other families, assisting ensues from statements like, “Here, mash these potatoes,” or “Help fill in the pie crust,” but in mine it’s, “Henry, use this dollhouse accessory to grind salt that you can’t use anyway, unless you want an elevated sodium count.”

So this year I’m going to see my extended family in New York.

I’m excited because it fulfills my lifelong dream of having a giant inflatable Dora the Explorer impede my freedom of movement. But at the dinner, when I look across what is sure to be a spread of delectable Americana, I know I’ll feel a special pang of guilt because I’m missing out on my real family tradition. I’ll still pine for that bitter cranberry sauce, the specially stuffed turkey, and that stupid mortar and pestle.

Stuff your face with Henry Thaler at hthaler@georgetownvoice.com

georgetownvoice.com

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the georgetown voice 13

— Christina Libre

voices

14 the georgetown voice

november 21, 2013

Two voice solution: Campus press obscures dialogue

by Jake Sorrells In a historic address to the American Jewish Committee this past July, Secretary of State John Kerry called on U.S. citizens to build a “great constituency for peace” in support of his nine-month goal to facilitate a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our screening of The Other Son on Nov. 6th, the product of an unprecedented two-month collaboration between leaders from Georgetown Israel Alliance and Students for Justice in Palestine, facilitated by J Street U Georgetown, opened the door for dialogue and marked a strong first step in building this constituency here on campus. Attended by nearly 100 students and accompanied by joint statements from leaders of all three organizations as well as Georgetown’s Rabbi and Imam, the evening was a powerful rallying cry for peace.

Unfortunately though, the news coverage that followed, including editorials in the Voice and The Hoya, has largely neglected the event’s success

in favor of fixating on Georgetown SJP leaders’ decision to withdraw their official co-sponsorship just 24 hours before the event, under pressure from other SJPs across the country. Although unable to represent their organization in name, the SJP leaders’ hard work and continued participation in the event as individuals was a testament to their deep investment in our shared cause.

If any criticism should be dealt, it should not be directed at the leaders of SJP on our campus.

Rather we should direct it at the unintentionally counterproductive “anti-normalization” trope championed by many in the broader SJP community across the country—the trope that motivated the SJP’s withdraw from official co-sponsorship and unless debunked, may continue to undermine a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In his op-ed in The Hoya last week, Albert Doumar, the President of SJP at Georgetown, wrote that the practice of “anti-normalization” dictates that for any di-

alogue to occur among Israelis, Palestinians, and their supporters abroad, both parties must “first agree on two basic principles: that Israel should end all forms of discrimination against Palestinians… and that Israelis and Palestinians are not equally powerful parties.”

Our collaboration with GIA and SJP was premised almost exclusively on inspiring action to correct these fundamental injustices. SJP is right that there exists an egregious power imbalance between Israelis and Palestinians. They’re right that Palestinians live under a dehumanizing occupation that bars them their basic freedoms. And they’re right that this atrocious reality must end—both for the sake of Palestinian national sovereignty and for preserving a Jewish and democratic Israel. But their tactic of studiously avoiding “unequal” dialogue is misguided and downright destructive to the vital goal of bringing about a just solution. Why engage in discourse if the ideological outcome is predetermined? How can you have

controversial dialogue with people with whom you already agree?

For his negotiations with the Israelis, many on the far-left view Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as complicit in normalization and thus a puppet of the occupation. But absent his efforts towards a successful agreement, what hope exists for the realization of Palestinian national aspirations? Without negotiations, we could kiss our shared dream of a sovereign Palestinian state goodbye, forced to accept that very power imbalance as an eternal reality.

While it’s true that Abbas must make painful concessions on behalf of the Palestinians, many of whom will be justifiably upset, there is no other viable avenue to end the occupation.

Without communication, oppression can only persist and exacerbate, as the ignorance and hatred generated by non-interaction continue to fester.

We find ourselves at a pivotal moment in the history of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Secretary of State John Kerry has demonstrated a remarkable personal commit-

ment—unparalleled by any secretary before him—to bring about a two state solution to the conflict, the only solution that honors the aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians.

With each passing day, our window for opportunity continues to shrink and the people continue to suffer.

As part of J Street U’s “2 Campaign,”—dedicated to demonstrating real support for two states— thousands of people are organizing across the country to demonstrate to the rest of our leaders that supporting a two-state solution is not a political risk, but the only conceivable outcome.

To leaders of SJP, GIA, and all those on campus who believe in justice—in name and in practice—we must continue growing this open dialogue to build the constituency our Secretary needs.

Jake Sorrells is a sophomore in the SFS. As the President of J Street U Georgetown, he greatly identifies with Crying Girl from Mean Girls.

Everyone can use the F-word, as long as you’re for women’s rights

by Caitríona Pagni Feminism is a dirty word. It accuses and it undermines. It passes judgment. It makes me squirm when I hear it. Frankly, it’s a bitch.

I do not feel comfortable identifying myself as a feminist because my generation has a tendency to call practically anything feminism.

A “feminist” initiative could mean anything from raising awareness about domestic violence to The Vagina Monologues to a networking group such as Georgetown University Women in Leadership posting a picture of Tina Fey

in a suit on their Facebook page.

These organizations span virtually the entire spectrum of the female experience, but I hesitate to describe most of them as feminism.

Being a woman on this campus is a strange phenomenon. As a female student at Georgetown, I have access to virtually unlimited academic and professional resources, yet I continue to deal with stereotyping and discrimination on almost a daily basis. My very presence here empowers me to pursue virtually any goal I choose, but I will still fall victim to male privilege at some point in my life, if not here

Ladies, ladies, please. No need to get hysterical, here.

CHRISTINA LIBRE

then wherever life takes me outside the front gates. Feminism still plays a much-needed role in our society, even among a demographic as privileged as female Georgetown students. However, what passes as feminism often fails to support women in the ways they need it to when facing the challenges of womanhood in the 21st century.

When I declare myself a feminist it is as though I have backed myself into a corner. In mainstream society identifying yourself as a feminist has become a social obligation. But as soon as the words “I am a feminist” escape my lips, I brace myself for eye rolls and silent judgment because to the average listener the idea of feminism lumps together memories of power suits with shoulder pads and listicles with titles like “10 Things invented for Single Women.”

When thought of in this way, feminism at its best is a useless jumble of incoherent rhetoric. At its worst, it is a laughingstock that undermines the very cause it advocates for.

That is not to say feminism should be a homogenous entity. It is impossible to define feminism simply because no two women are the same. The word feminism has as many definitions as there

are women in the world. The only word that ought to describe the ideal female experience is choice.

The right of a woman to choose her career, to choose her sexuality, to choose her partner, and to define for herself what beauty means all play a hand in shaping the female form that has befuddled both men and women for centuries.

The essential role individual choice plays in the definition of feminism highly complicates discerning between feminism and rhetoric. It is easy to say what feminism isn’t. But because each individual woman has the responsibility to decide what feminism means to her, merging these unique perspectives into an all-encompassing social movement will inevitably end with the same frayed patchwork quilt we have now.

Discernment should be the golden standard of feminism in the modern age. Organizations such as Georgetown University Women in Leadership, although they would gladly describe themselves as feminist organizations, actually do very little to empower women. Planning events for privileged women to network with other privileged women does not qual-

ify as feminism because it brings nothing new to the conversation.

On the other hand, attempts to discuss new aspects of the female identity such as “Fisting”, a post featured on Feminists-At-Large last month that deflowers myths about the female sexual experience, have a valuable role in the feminist movement because they brave new territory. Even organizations like D.C. Reads that do not specifically target women can still qualify as feminist because they empower girls to overcome educational obstacles and social stigmas without differentiating them from their male peers.

The label “feminist” needs to be earned, not assumed. Feminism should define itself with conversations that put us on edge and make both men and women uncomfortable. The conversations that make us uncomfortable are the conversations that will ultimately create progress because they will keep pushing feminism outside of itself and and bring a fresh perspective to the table.

Caitríona Pagni is a sophomore in the SFS. Actually, she doesn’t like identifying herself as much of anything besides “cat lady.”

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the georgetown voice 15

Georgetown gets diversity, but not in the ways that matter most

by Diandre Sheridan Georgetown is great at recruiting an internationally and religiously diverse class, but I can’t comfortably say that this is true of race and socioeconomic status.

I’m a product of broken racial barriers. My mixed ethnicity never was a challenge for me until I went to a school that lacked diversity—namely, Georgetown. Given that I’m already from an area where minorities predominate, the subconscious reflection about the exclusivity here only intensified. I’m not afraid to admit that Georgetown’s lackluster demo-

graphics somewhat deterred me from applying, and I still struggle with fitting into the student body.

No student should feel like they don’t fit the mold of a typical Hoya just because their culture doesn’t align with that of the average student. As students, we shouldn’t encourage an environment where individuals feel like they have to be Jane or Joe Hoya.

Once a student feels lost in the university body, they become vulnerable and question their identity, sometimes compromising it.

There is no reason why it should be such a powerful moment when a minority student meets some-

LEILA LEBRETON

“ ... I heard the darnedest thing yesterday—they offer financial aid at this university.”

Hoyas, you gotta question faith

When I was 14 my maternal grandmother, a devout Catholic, forbade me from reading The Da Vinci Code. She told me that the novel’s plot suggested an alternative history of Catholicism that would lead me to question my faith and leave the Church.

Against her wishes, I read the book and later left the Church, though for reasons unrelated to Dan Brown’s work of inaccurate fiction.

My grandmother’s view that faith should not be questioned struck me. Particularly for Evangelicals, questioning faith and the verity of the Bible are considered heretical. There is no room for those who have doubts about Jesus and the Christian doctrine.

The blindness of this faith is proliferated through their sermons.

Conversely, there are people like my paternal grandfather, a Presbyterian minister who believes that questioning your faith is the most important thing that you can do. He points to verses such as James 1:3 that states, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” They point to others who have had their faiths tested, like Moses, and how they overcame the doubt associated with these tests and grew stronger in their beliefs.

For most, a test of faith can be watching a loved one die too young or injustice befall the help-

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one like them—and “like them” meaning that they have felt similarly ostracized. Those otherwise organic moments shouldn’t be rare gems in the four years of an undergraduate career. Once you find a peer that can resonate with you on levels that others can’t, you tend to treasure those encounters, and that’s why being a part of such a tier is magnetic. You helplessly cling to people that you know can and will inherently understand you.

The more and more I learn, the more I start to think about how silence breeds complacency and the implications of being content with bad ideology. How can such a great school that prides itself in being so understanding and progressive be so conservative?

Harvard established their African-American studies program in the late 1960s and Georgetown only did so in 2003. Why was this delayed so much? I know for a fact that around that time there were black students right here in Washington, D.C.—like my father. There has only been a small increase in acceptance over a 40-

year time period at Georgetown.

How is it possible that my father, a student who graduated in 1977, is still shocked at the lack of diversity within the student body when he comes to pick me up for the weekend? Something doesn’t add up. For a fifth of our student body to be black and the University to not put that same fraction of effort into recruiting these bright young people is worrisome. Georgetown should be encouraging minorities and people of all classes, not shying away from them.

The Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity & Affirmative Action had a discussion in 2010 about the integration of diversity into the curriculum by the Academic Diversity Working Group, but l don’t see it. What and where is it?

More than anything, I see a stronger tendency towards religious diversity, which understandably coincides with the Jesuit tradition of Georgetown. However, a theology requirement doesn’t increase students’ understandings much because Catholic and religious students are already attracted to this university. Why aren’t we instead

less, but more often than not a test of faith is as simple as a discussion.

It’s as simple as having someone make a comment that intellectually challenges the basis of all of your beliefs. It’s a discussion in a dorm room at four in the morning that makes you wonder if maybe you don’t understand your faith as well as you thought that you did.

Georgetown, as a Catholic university, does invite discussions of

Columbus, because their stances adhere to the Catholic doctrine of the University. This automatically puts the two groups on different playing fields, and doesn’t help facilitate discussions between them.

These discussions are key not only as an intellectual exercise but also as a matter of faith. Both the more liberal and more conservative members of the Georgetown community would be served by having discussions about these issues. It is unlikely that either would truly have a moment of epiphany and change their views, but it is important nonetheless that both sides test their own conceptions of faith by thinking critically about their positions. Now, I’m not suggesting that any of these students have not thought critically about their beliefs, but a more public dialogue would not only benefit the two disparate sides but also the community at large. As the University’s Catholicism is being challenged in Vatican courts, it’s important that Catholic students also reflect on their own faiths.

Beyond the University’s issues, Pope Francis has opened the door for more intellectual contempla-

Carrying On

by Sara Ainsworth A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

faith but they’re all too often dichotomous: liberal Catholics versus conservative Catholics. These two groups rarely have a constructive dialogue, whether it concerns access to birth control or gay marriage. Instead, they throw punches through social media and, sometimes, campus media.

Divisions are heightened by the fact that the University tends to automatically side with more conservative groups, such as Catholic Daughters and Knights of

addressing the deep roots of racial and socioeconomic segregation? A classroom environment can help facilitate much needed recognition and discussion. There’s clearly a cultural disconnect here if I’m still encountering people who are dumbfounded my that family has been victimized by racism.

And, what about the basic factors dealing with skin color and financial status? People at Georgetown are afraid to use the words “race” and “class.” Some people simply don’t understand it because they’ve never had the opportunity to experience it, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t foster those relationships. Georgetown is such a fabulous resource for learning about every other subject, but honestly, they can’t see what’s right in front of them.

If we can take the first step as an institution to stop, realize, and reflect, it can only help us grow.

Diandre Sheridan is a junior in the MSB. She can at least find solace in the fact that she didn’t go to Brigham Young University.

tion on faith. In an interview last month he said, “The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt.

You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties.” His leadership guides Catholics by pushing them to think about not only their beliefs, but also the dogma of the Church as a whole.

We are taught every day at Georgetown to challenge our preconceptions and assumptions as they pertain to academics. But we should also be encouraged to challenge our beliefs, to push against what has been ingrained in us from birth. We should cultivate a culture that brings together groups of disparate thoughts and understandings on religion and foster a conversation. These conversations exist for other issues, but are strangely absent when it comes to faith. As Presbyterian theologian Frederick Buechner said, “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.

They keep it awake and moving.”

It’s time that Georgetown Catholics, of both liberal and conservative persuasions, keep their faith moving by sitting down and listening to each other.

Artist Spotlight 5 1 ’ e g e l l Co Math : . Y. r o j Ma ster, N e h c t Eas

So what is your art and how did you get started?

I’ve danced ballet nearly my whole life. I got started like most young girls my mother put me in ballet classes when I was three, when I was eight I decided to stick with ballet and went on to a pre-professional ballet school.

Wow, so did you ever see yourself going professional?

At the time, yes. I was on the trajectory to go professional. I started auditioning and spending my summer with various companies. But when it finally came time to see if I was going to pursue a professional career or go to college, I chose college.

How have you liked your decision?

It’s interesting because I’m in the Georgetown University Dance Company and I remember during auditions how there was a ballet part and I loved that but then the second part was more contemporary work and I remember how nervous I felt at first doing that sort of dancing. Now I look back and I see that my body can move in so many different ways through all the new contemporary and modern choreography I have learned. Being at Georgetown has meant less ballet but has given me opportunities to learn a lot of new things. It’s been a gift being here.

C

ae Maitner So how has the meaning of ballet changed for you?

It’s actually changed a lot. I remember I first stuck with it because it was fun and then it got very competitive in high school. When I got to Georgetown, I was able to still do ballet but at a much calmer pace. It’s funny because I think I love Ballet a lot more now. The high pressure from high school fell away and I realized how much I appreciate the art.

How do you relate ballet and art?

I was thinking about how ballet has become more of a sport in our generation. Ballet for me was always a creative outlet, a space to perform and express myself. But it’s hard to see those things when they are being graded on a rubric. I think Ballet is a very expressive and athletic art but it is not a sport, it’s so much more than that. I think the athleticism Cont can never fully explain the artistry of ballet. a Do you think dance will be in your future?

I think my dance definitely influenced who I am. In my perfect, ideal world, I would love to be able to keep dance and choreography in my life. I definitely see the arts in my career no matter what.

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