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VOICE the georgetown

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w December 4, 2014 w Volume 47, Issue 15 w georgetownvoice.com

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Voice

Dec. 4, 2014 Letter to the Editor I am writing in response to the anonymous reports of sexual assault [reported by the Voice on Nov. 13]. As Georgetown’s Title IX Coordinator, I am responsible for making sure that reported cases of sexual assault and misconduct are investigated and responded to promptly. We take this work extremely seriously and are committed to evaluating each case sensitively and fairly. We have designed systems and processes to support survivors, impartially investigate cases, and punish those found in violation of our policies.

Best of 2014

The Voice ranks the top 10 movies and albums of 2014.

Editorial ... Jes Res LLC lacks concrete vision, pg. 3 News ... RAs deliver petition to administrators , pg. 4 Sports ... Men’s Soccer Advances to Elite Eight, pg. 6 Feature ... The Voice’s top 10 movies and albums of 2014, pg. 8 Leisure ... Explore Chinese art at new Freer exhibit, pg. 10 Page 13 ... Georgetown celebrates Saturnalia, pg. 13 Voices ... Reflections on Ferguson, pg. 14

We have an extensive system to respond to reports of sexual assault. We focus first on supporting the survivors and getting them the assistance they need. We also thoroughly investigate reports when a case is reported to us, directly from an individual who has survived a sexual assault, or through another person reporting a case of assault, so that the university can take appropriate action.

Incidents reported anonymously are often challenging because the university may have limited information to follow up on and investigate. When I read the reports in the Voice, I reached out directly to all 88 university-employed RAs to ensure they understood that they could talk to me without fear of retaliation, under any circumstances, for reporting or sharing what may have happened to them or others.

Submit responses, questions, and opinions to editor@ georgetownvoice.com. Please include your name, year, and school. Bear in mind that letters may be edited for length and clarity and may be published and used in any medium.

Last week’s key:

No RA’s job is or will ever be in jeopardy as a result of reporting a case of sexual assault. Our process asks RAs to report cases of sexual assault to the Director of Residential Living. This reporting was designed to remove pressure on RAs about the best way to handle a report of sexual assault and to ensure that reports are responded to expeditiously. RAs may themselves be victims of sexual assault; no one is immune. Anyone, including RAs, can always report directly to me or to the Deputy Title IX Coordinators assigned on each campus. That is what we are here for.

Finally, I want to make one point as clearly as possible: we want students to report sexual assaults to us if they feel comfortable so that the university can take action to respond. We also want survivors to know that we have resources in place to support them, whether or not they choose to report.

However, we can’t investigate what we don’t know. If there is a threat to our community, we want to know so we can take appropriate action.

- Rosemary E. Kilkenny, Esq. Georgetown University Title IX Coordinator and Vice President, Institutional Diversity & Equity

Dayana Morales Gomez BLOG Editor: Marisa Hawley Assistant Editors: Grace Brennan, Morgan Hines

HALFTIME Leisure Editors: Erika Bullock, Graham Piro Assistant Leisure Editor: Michael Bergin

Sports Editors: Alex Boyd, Rob Ponce

VOICES Editor: Noah Buyon Assistant Editor: Leila Lebreton

Editor-in-Chief

COVER

Caitriona Pagni

Editor: Christina Libre

Managing Editor

NEWS Editor: Lara Fishbane Assistant Editors: Courtnie Baek, Ryan Miller

PHOTO Editor: Joshua Raftis Assistant Editors: Vicki Lam, Carolyn Zaccaro

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Maya McCoy Webmaster

James Constant, Julia Lloyd-George, Ian Philbrick

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editors-at-Large

Chair: Kenneth Lee

Chris Castano

Board: Chris Almeida, Shalina Chatlani, James Constant, Steven Criss, Lara Fishbane, Ryan Greene, Caitriona Pagni, Ian Philbrick, Daniel Varghese

Contributing Editor

Tim Annick

Managing Director of Accounting and Sales

Allison Manning Managing Director of Finance

SPORTS Editor: Joe Pollicino Assistant Editors: Isabel Echarte, Kevin Huggard, Max Roberts

LEISURE Editor: Daniel Varghese Assistant Editors: Elizabeth Baker, Dinah Farrell, Sabrina Kayser

COPY Chief: Dana Suekoff Editors: Lauren Chung, Bianca Clark, Jupiter El-Asmar, Andrew Frank, Alex Garvey Rachel Greene, Madison Kaigh, Michael Mischke, Taylor Soergel

Assistant Editor: Megan Howell

SPREAD Editors: Pam Shu, Sophie Super

FEATURE Editor: Ryan Greene

DESIGN Editor: Eleanor Sugrue Assistant Editor: Ellie Yaeger Staff: Caitlin Garrabrant, Johnny Jung, Erin McClellan

PAGE 13 Editor: Dylan Cutler

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The georgetown voice | 3

passing on st. ignatius’ fire?

Plans for former Jesuit Residence LLC lack concrete, unique vision

Next Monday, the Office of Residential Living will release application materials for upperclassmen interested in living in the refurbished Ryan and Mulledy Halls during the 2015-2016 academic year. The entirety of the newly-transformed Jesuit residences, which are expected to be one of the most coveted upperclassmen housing locations, will become the “Spirit of Georgetown Residential Academy,” the university’s newest Living Learning Community.

Living Learning Communities offer valuable support for certain students who may not find for themselves a home to which they belong in ordinary residence halls. Although upperclassmen generally rely less on their residence space to provide a sense of community than do freshmen, Living Learning Communities have seen success in the past.

Students who apply for the Living Well LLC, for example, seek a community that avoids alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Without Living Well, those who choose not to smoke or drink at parties could find themselves socially marginalized and would be left without a communal safe space for their lifestyle.

However, one of the reasons for Living Well’s success is its location in Kennedy Hall, which, as a traditional dorm with shared kitchen and lounge facilities, easily offers members a sense of closeness and community. In contrast, the entirety of Ryan and Mulledy Halls will have a combination of Nevils-style apartments and Copley-style suites. In apartments and suites, however, students are much isolated from each other and from their RAs, as they each have their own private spaces and have less incentive to establish connections with each other in community rooms. The layout of the renovated Ryan and Mulledy Halls may damage prospects for a thriving, tight-knit “Residential Academy.”

Furthermore, the “Residential Academy” lacks concrete and unique goals that fulfill a niche existing LLCs like Living Well are so successful at doing. According to a webpage on student living on campus, the university promises that future occupants “will have the unique opportunity to reflect on their time at Georgetown.” These incredibly vague statements echo the confused language about “Jesuit values” that the university now likes to insert in its every new initiative. The nine tenets of Georgetown’s spirit that its members, in fact, appear to have been lifted verbatim

from the blue and gray banners that hang all campus. Plenty of other campus organizations and activities, too, would claim a searing passion for “Community in Diversity” or “Women and Men For Others.”

It is therefore difficult to imagine that this new LLC will truly help students “articulate a deep awareness of their formation as students while at Georgetown,” when students are already interacting with such values daily with their professors, friends, and chaplains. Many students may be drawn to Ryan and Mulledy not to explore Jesuit values, but simply because these halls will likely become one of this campus’ most desirable pieces of real estate.

Instead of creating a LLC for the sake of establishing what is at best a tenuous connection between Ryan and Mulledy Hall’s Jesuit history and its future residents, the university should reconsider why it chose to move ahead to convert those buildings into residence halls in the first place, and whether the university needs another LLC with abstract goals and a loosely-defined mission statement.

Otherwise, the application will have little meaning, and students will get to receive rejection letters not just for jobs and clubs, but now for the place they sleep at night.

cue the work requests

#neverforget

Harbin power outage exhibits Facilities Management’s persistent inefficiencies

Rapid-fire news cycle threatens to dampen impetus for social change

On the afternoon of Nov. 23, a transformer failure left Harbin Hall, among other nearby academic buildings, without power. The Office of Facilities Management did not successfully restore power until 14 hours later, at 2 a.m., to Harbin, the last of the affected buildings. The Office of Residential Living did not notify residents about when power would be restored three hours into the incident, and only conveyed the reasons behind the outage two days after.

The power outage incident is, unfortunately, not an isolated case. In the last year, the Office of Facilities Management has inadequately addressed many major facilities issues.

For example, in Jan. 2014, some LXR residents went multiple days without hot water. Additionally, over a twoweek period from Sept. to Oct. 2013, at least nine false fire alarms plagued the Southwest Quad, which often dragged students from their beds at all hours of the night, significantly disrupting their sleep and study schedules. The cause of the false alarms remained a mystery for weeks to Facilities Management, and the repairs took even longer.

The underlying cause of these inefficient repairs remains unclear. Perhaps the Office of Facilities Management is understaffed, overwhelmed, ill-equipped, or simply suffers from a dysfunctional organizational culture.

Whatever the reasons might be, considering that students pay room and board costs well above the national average, the office’s failure to address residential concerns in a timely manner is completely unacceptable.

To better serve the student population, the office must undergo major changes in the way it handles student

concerns. In particular, the Office of Facilities Management needs to create a better process for addressing emergency and after-hours calls. After all, facilities incidents such as transformer failures and blocked apartment toilets can happen at any hour of the day. According to the Facilities Management website, however, if a student encounters a facilities problem after hours, they should report it to the Department of Public Safety. This is problematic because DPS handles many other matters throughout the night, including crime reports, room lockouts, and SafeRides. As a result, they may classify facilities concerns as a lower priority than campus safety and might not address them immediately. The university needs to dedicate personnel specifically tasked with addressing emergencies regarding facilities instead of delegating such functions to DPS. Few juniors, if given a choice, would elect to remain in university housing and suffer another year’s worth of unreliable living facilities.

If the university insists on using the third year housing requirement to force students to live in campus housing to fulfill the 2010 Campus Plan Terms, at the very least, it should keep campus housing a well-maintained and comfortable living arrangement.

Up to this point, the Office of Facilities Management has failed to consistently uphold this standard. Streamlining its reporting system, better allocating its personnel, and investing in the campus’ existing infrastructure rather than planning and constructing new facilities will surely stop making students’ housing experiences into a semester-long headache.

“A potent symbol of a D.C. that no longer exists,” writes a Washington Post article on Marion Barry’s visionary leadership for what was then a racially and socioeconomically integrated city. On Nov. 23, when the former mayor passed away, national news outlets appeared to have forgotten his troubled history.

While Barry was arrested in 1990 for his use of crack cocaine and was sued in 2000 for exposing himself to a female employee at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Barry’s obituaries have spun his deeds into a tale of redemption and resurrection.

The way news outlets are remembering Barry underscores how people’s enthusiasm for and scrutiny of authority figures and institutions seem to increasingly depend primarily on which hashtags and topics are trending. As the news cycle rapidly moves onto the next crisis, so does its critical attention of these authority figures and institutions, which get to shirk responsibility for their actions as they move out of the public limelight.

Students on this campus, too, suffer from the conveniently short memory of the news cycle. Most recently, on Nov. 13, allegations of workplace and institutional abuse towards Resident Assistants brought forth against the university by current and former RAs published in the Voice online exclusive #YesAllRAs generated public outrage and national media attention. The feature generated enough attention to warrant a response from Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson the following day, during which he promised to review the anonymous accounts provided to the Voice and to solicit outreach to RAs about their concerns.

Three weeks later, following a GUSA resolution, numerous conciliatory emails

sent to RAs, and a petition of demands sent to the university on Dec. 2 from the RAs themselves, the administration has yet to publicly announce new policies to redefine the role of RAs and the mechanisms in place to support them when they experience work-related trauma. The university still seems to be on permanent reflection mode, concentrated on discussions and investigations instead of enacting immediate, substantive changes.

As the fall semester winds down, students descend into the grind of final examinations. In the spring, campus media will inevitably move onto basketball season, snow days, or whatever exciting developments this Hilltop has in store. #YesAllRAs will no longer be trending in the news cycle, which—if the university maintains its radio silence—will, without students applying persistent pressure, give administrators leeway to procrastinate on moving beyond dialogue and enacting sorely needed reforms.

If Olson is genuinely serious about enacting change and students are genuinely outraged by the injustices suffered by Resident Assistants, the university must continue to commit to its promises even after the media spotlight moves away. Students, on the other hand, cannot only express their anger while they are trending hashtags, but must continue to push the university administration until they satisfactorily address their concerns. As the Office of Residential Living begins to recruit RAs for the next academic year, students cannot let the university get away with its unbelievable treatment towards its most important and underappreciated employees. Continued, vigilant actions from concerned students are irreplaceable impetuses that will create concrete change on campus.

news

4 | the georgetown voice

DECEMBER 4, 2014

RA petition seeks clarification and revision of student employment policies RYAN MILLER A group of Resident Assistants submitted a petition signed by over 30 RAs to both Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson and Chief Operating Officer Christopher Augostini on Tuesday, Dec. 2 that seeks clarification and revision of current university student employment policies from the Office of Residential Living.

The list of demands, written by a group of RAs who worked with GUSA’s Student Worker Advocate and received feedback from other RAs, was a response to claims that the Office of Residential Living has been mistreating students employees. Allegations of mishandled sexual assault cases and unclear training regarding the rights of RAs as university employees have been raised anonymously from within the RA community in recent weeks.

“We, the signed 2014-2015 academic year RAs, hereby place these demands on the [Office of Residential Living] for the reformation of the department and the improved safety and protection of its student employees,” the petition reads.

The demands address eight topics covering a wide range of issues, including clarity and transparency in the process-

es for reporting sexual assaults and misconduct, legal protection for RAs when acting “within the scope of the duties of an RA” while on or off duty and on or off campus, and access to an external ombudsman—a staff member outside of the existing supervisory structure who can hear RAs’ complaints and questions.

Jess Rempe (SFS ‘15), an RA in Copley, wrote in an email to the Voice that the petition also demands that Residential Living clarify what rights RAs have as university employees during their training.

“One of the ways through which [clarity in RAs’ rights and roles] can be accomplished is through more effective trainings and giving us copies of our signed Conditions of Appointment and Confidentiality Agreement,” Rempe wrote. The petition requests training on the university’s employee press policy.

According to Rempe, RAs have asked that, along with the external ombudsman, they be allowed to communicate with the Department of Human Resources and the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Affirmative Action concerning any issues that might arise.

Rempe stated that Augostini assured a response by Dec. 16.

Olson wrote in an email to the

Voice that he received the petition today and will review it carefully. Augostini did not respond to the Voice’s request for comment.

GUSA and university administration have plans to create a new Student Employment Experience Committee in part to address some of the demands raised in the list.

“There are some points raised in [the petition] that we believe will flow into the work of this committee. And there are some points raised in [the petition] that will be addressed directly in the context of that specific department,” Olson said. The committee will be launched in January and plans to finish its work by Sep. 2015, according to Olson.

Although the petition makes demands of the Office of Residential Living, the group did not meet with a representative from the office. Olson, however, noted that he sent the document to Stephanie Lynch, assistant dean of Residential Living.

“Some of demands asked for things outside the domain of [Residential Living]...so we thought it would be best to present the demands to people who could more easily coordinate a response,” Rempe wrote.

Even though Lynch did not receive the petition directly

JESS REMPE

why so serious? Res assistants raise their voices for student rights. from the RAs, she acknowledged Residential Living’s engagement with RAs while it was still being drafted.

“We are invested in their experience as a student resident assistant and remain committed to addressing these concerns in a thoughtful and reflective way,” Lynch wrote in an email to the Voice prior to receiving the official list of demands. “We’ve been engaging with RAs regarding these concerns through open office hours, 1:1 conversations and through the development of the RA Advisory team.”

Olson also commented on Residential Living’s involvement in meeting these demands.

“We’re having conversations right now in the administration including folks from Res-

idential Living about steps we plan to take, including forming an RA Council that functions as a collaborative body to work with RAs,” Olson said.

“There are some steps being taken around January training that RAs take part in to address some of these issues.”

According to Rempe, the petition may not receive unanimous support from RAs because of the difficulty of incorporating the entire RA community’s opinions, but she is still confident that the university will take these demands into serious consideration.

“I cannot speak for the entire RA community,” Rempe wrote.

“But I feel that these demands are important in creating a safer environment for all RAs.”

College Academic Council and Dean Gillis discuss possible four course curriculum THOMAS STUBNA Over the course of the past semester, the College Academic Council and College Dean Chester Gillis have been discussing the possibility of a university-wide change to a curriculum consisting of four four-credit classes per semester instead of five three-credit courses.

The idea is still in its preliminary stages according to CAC President Parnia Zahedi (COL ’15). “The idea developed from conversations at our CAC meetings and with Dean Gillis about ‘depth vs. breadth’ in courses,” she wrote in an email to the Voice.

According to CAC member Connor Maytnier (COL ‘17), many of Georgetown’s peer institutions, including Boston University, follow a four four-credit class system. “I think it is logical for us to examine [their] model and have constructive conversation around it,” he wrote in an email to the Voice.

COLLEGE council CONSIDERS CUTTING COURSE CURRICULUM. A town hall meeting was held on Nov. 12 to introduce the idea to students. According to Zahedi, the purpose of the meeting was “for students to discuss the positives and negatives about this system and how it would affect things like flexibility, double-majoring, stress, and beyond.”

One of the benefits of changing the curriculum’s structure is to allow students to get more

JOSHUA RAFTIS

out of their classes, according to Maytnier. “The 4-4 model would certainly allow for more in-depth instruction, mastery of material, and class conversation,” he wrote in an email to the Voice.

According to Gillis, an additional benefit is that it could potentially make an overall easier course load for students. “Even conscientious students sometimes find it difficult to do all of the work in all their

courses and have time to reflect on and absorb the material,” wrote Gillis in an email to the Voice. “This is true particularly when students have lengthy weekly reading and writing assignments.”

One concern Maytnier raised with the 4-4 system is that students would be limited in the number of courses they could take while on the Hilltop. “The 5-3 model ... allows students to take more courses and thus pursue more diverse interests,” he wrote.

Another concern is that students would have less room in their schedules for electives, minors, or second majors. “It may make it more difficult to double-major, though I am not certain that is the case. It would make the minor more important,” Gillis wrote.

As a result, Gillis fears that there might be enrollment reductions, especially in smaller departments or majors.

In order to make this curriculum change possible, Gillis acknowledges that core and major requirements might have to change. “Readjusting [requirements] would require consultation with the faculty, administrators, and the Board of Directors of the University,” he wrote.

Moving forward, CAC and the administration will continue to solicit student engagement on the topic. The CAC will host another meeting in January, possibly with deans present. “CAC, along with the support of Dean Gillis and the College deans, would like to gather greater student input on this topic before any movement is made towards making a change,” Zahedi wrote.

Gillis recognizes the magnitude of the proposal and the impact it would have on the community if enacted. He wrote, “Rethinking it in any way requires care and consultation with many voices and stakeholders in the conversation.”

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the georgetown voice | 5

CITY on a HILL: MARION IN FERGUSON: A LEGACY OF ACTION

BY IAN PHILBRICK

a tri-weekly column about D.C. NEWS AND POLITICS

STUDENTS CHARGE administrators with free speech violations.

JOSHUA RAFTIS

Students push for further changes to university’s Free Speech Policy ELIZABETH TEITZ Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson released updates to the university’s Speech and Expression Policy in an email to the student body on Nov. 17, clarifying the uses of public spaces on campus by students.

The policy revisions expand locations approved for tabling to include the Healey Family Student Center, Regents Lawn, and Lauinger walkway. They also explain rights and responsibilities of protesters and student organizations. Additionally, the updated policy clarifies both the role of the Speech and Expression Committee in responding to violations against students and the resources available for speech and expression to individual students. The changes are the result of a policy review prompted by student requests for greater transparency in spring 2014, according to Olson’s email.

The policy’s distinction between tabling and protesting highlights the discrepancies in speech protection that has fueled the ongoing debate over free speech on campus. Tabling, according to the policy, is marked by “setting up a table or other physical structure such as a sign or pop-up tent in a public space to distribute or display materials,” and can only occur in designated locations.

Protesting of events, policies or concepts, however, is permitted in all unreserved campus spaces, as long as the protesters do not assemble temporary or permanent structures and do not curtail the free speech of others. Student organizations and university departments are required to prepare when protests are anticipated by reserving adjacent areas for protesters, but protesters are not restricted to these areas or to designated “public squares.”

This distinction impacts groups such as H*yas for Choice, who consider tabling to be vital to their ability to protest, according to H*yas for Choice President Abby Grace (SFS ‘16).

The current policy precludes them from protesting in areas not approved for assembling a structure such as a table.

“Personally, I will not be pleased with the Speech and Expression Policy until it allows groups to table on the sidewalk surrounding Healy Circle,” Grace wrote in an email to the Voice. “Being allowed to protest the University’s highest profile events, the vast majority of which occur in Healy, in the manner outlined above [tabling] is essential for our group to continue to peacefully and respectfully express our viewpoint on campus,” she wrote.

GUSA Senators Eric Henshall (COL ‘16) and Sam Kleinman (COL ‘16) also addressed these issues in a resolution passed by the Senate on Nov. 23. [Full Disclosure: Sam Kleinman is a former Voice staffer.]

“I introduced the resolution because I wanted to highlight the work that the Speech and Expression Committee has done in updating the Speech and Expression Policy and in responding to student complaints, including the incident involving H*yas for Choice earlier this semester,” Henshall wrote in an email to the Voice. “I also wanted to emphasize that more work needs to be done to increase transparency in the implementation of this policy and to expand the number of locations in which students can table.”

The resolution praises the Speech and Expression Committee’s updates to the policy and requests amendments to “the Speech and Expression Policy to include the sidewalks around Healy Circle in the list of public squares in which tabling is allowed.”

If death marks the beginning of legacy, Washington, D.C.’s so-called “Mayor for Life,” Marion Barry Jr., started strong.

Despite a controversial career marred by crack-smoking and womanizing, the four-term mayor and Ward 8 council member was memorialized by the Washington Post after his death on Sunday, Nov. 23 for helping alleviate District poverty. Barry’s handling of racial inequality was likewise eulogized by current mayor Vincent Gray in Time on Monday. A public memorial service is set for Saturday.

But while D.C. was always Barry’s home turf, nowhere in America today needs the lessons of his legacy more than Ferguson, Mo. Just three days after Barry’s death, the Aug. 9 shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson reignited public fervor after a grand jury decided against criminally charging Wilson.

In response, punditry, protests, and posts inundated screens, streets, and social networks nationwide. In D.C., thousands demonstrated from Mount Vernon Square to the National Mall.

The problem of Ferguson is partly one of narrative. Evidence hasn’t yet adequately explained the events of Aug. 9. Under Missouri law, Wilson built a case for acting in self-defense.

Brown’s autopsy seems to support Wilson’s story about an altercation through the window of his cruiser, albeit inconclusively. And although Wilson’s account of being verbally taunted and charged by Brown seems unbelievable, nothing directly contradicts it.

Absent truth, understanding Ferguson means abstracting away to the deeper narratives that underlie the long national history of violence between minorities and police. Activist anger incited by the verdict, biologically unsustainable and sociologically fleeting, won’t create change. Neither will social media, which radicalizes discourse by ignoring complications, counter narratives, and countervailing evidence. Pundits, protesters, and

outrage aren’t enough. Ferguson is a structural problem that demands actionable solutions. Marion Barry’s legacy suggests several potential courses of action.

One solution is restricting police behavior, increasing minority representation among officers, and curbing the disproportionate targeting of blacks. Before running for office, Barry advocated for improved relations between D.C. citizens and police. On Aug. 25 of this year, he tweeted about a continued need to reform police departments nationwide. Barry’s activism has, in part, yielded Ferguson demonstrations that have faced little opposition from District police, increased minority representation among police, and helped create a pilot program requiring District cops to wear body cameras. Post-Ferguson, support for such programs is growing. Lobbying local governments will only quicken the pace.

Barry’s legacy also illustrates that Ferguson’s problem isn’t just racial— rather, as David Brooks argued Monday in the New York Times, it’s socioeconomic. Brown was killed in August in a poor neighborhood overrun by gang violence. During his first mayoral term, Barry upped the number of businesses owned by black middle class citizens and created summer employment programs for youth. On Aug. 25, 2014, he tweeted a shared “responsibility to build hope among our young people—and develop jobs and programs that deter our youth from a life of crime.” Beyond addressing racial divides, solving Ferguson requires willfully revitalizing America’s squeezed middle and working classes.

Barry’s bureaucratic ties also prove the system isn’t broken—it just needs redirection. As a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee volunteer during the 1960s, Barry collaborated with local government to lobby, mobilize, and demonstrate. He later won election to the D.C. school board. With just five St. Louis public high schools educating a majority of

their students to Algebra and English proficiency, and with Normandy High—Brown’s alma mater—regularly graduating less than half its senior class, education reform must spearhead addressing the inequities that make Ferguson. But it’s also worth remembering that the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation and that collaboration between the federal government and civil rights activists birthed the 1965 Civil Rights Act. The system has been a reliable partner in the past, and can produce beneficial change when enlisted.

Finally, Barry’s electoral legacy demonstrates that Ferguson’s problems cannot remain balkanized to urban minority populations.

“Self-segregation,” according to a recent Atlantic article, breeds ignorance of the disadvantages suffered by minority communities. Barry’s first mayoral run relied on upper-middle-class whites, good-government advocates, and, later, LGBT constituents alongside black voters. Overcoming apathy will require embracing Ferguson as our common heartache.

But Ferguson is also no isolated case. The police shooting of black 12-year-old Tamir Rice on Nov. 22 in Cleveland incited national outrage.

A grand jury decision exonerating a New York City cop who killed black man Eric Garner via chokehold in July prompted a federal Justice Department inquest last night.

The problem—longstanding, complex, and deeply rooted—continues to demand systemic and far-reaching solutions. The city Barry helped create exemplifies some of these solutions in action—imperfect but engaged, much like its Mayor for Life himself. But progress also betrays tragedy. Nearly half a century after Barry arrived in Washington and despite solutions enacted piecemeal, the same racial and socioeconomic issues still bisect American society.

And if death marks the beginning of legacy, Brown’s challenges us to choose ours purposefully.

The resolution also calls for more transparent enforcement of the policy and for regular educational sessions on the Speech and Expression Policy to be held. “[The educational sessions] would serve to inform students about their rights and clear up misconceptions about the university policies governing free speech on campus, including where tabling is allowed, how the

policy is enforced off campus, and when the content of speech can be restricted,” Henshall wrote.

Henshall has not yet received a response to the resolution, which was passed just before the holiday break, but wrote that Kleinman intends to discuss

the requests with the rest of the Speech and Expression Committee at their next meeting. “Once we’ve heard back from the Committee, we can determine what steps to take and how to work with them to remove barriers to free speech at Georgetown.”

READ MORE ONLINE:

University Information Services resolves SaxaNet and Google Apps outages

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6 | the georgetown voice

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Men’s soccer advances to Elite Eight with overtime win KEVIN HUGGARD

Surrender an early goal. Tie the game late in the second half.

Win in extra time. The formula is not easy on the nerves, but so far it has worked for the Georgetown men’s soccer team (14-4-4) in this year’s NCAA tournament.

Last Tuesday, the Hoyas battled back from a one-goal deficit against Old Dominion (13-7-1), eventually scoring the game-winner with just seven seconds remaining in the second overtime period. This Sunday’s game saw the pattern repeat, as Georgetown needed extra time to defeat No. 9 Syracuse (16-4-1) and secure its place in the final eight of the NCAA tournament.

“This time of year your seniors tend to carry you, and I think that was the case today,” said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese. “They didn’t want it to end today. They were talking about it at halftime and they were talking about it going into overtime.”

The deciding goal came just under four minutes into extra time. Senior midfielder Tyler Rudy swung a corner kick into the near post, where senior midfielder Jared Rist reached the ball just before the Orange goalie could punch it away, heading it into the net for his first career goal.

“I love to make that near post run and get in right front of the goalie if he’s going to come out and get the ball. Once Rudy hit the ball, I knew I was in front of the keeper and it was about head-height or lower, so I knew I just needed to get a touch,” Rist said.

Momentum swung back and forth throughout the game. For a 15 minute stretch in the first half, the Orange looked dominant, controlling possession and rare-

ly allowing the ball to leave the Hoyas’ defensive half. But the visiting team failed to capitalize on this possession, and saw its best chance of the half cleared off the goal line by junior midfielder Josh Turnley, who reacted just in time to prevent a shot from ricocheting through the penalty area and into the net. “[Syracuse was the] best team we’ve played all year,” Rist said.

“They were tremendous in controlling the game. But in a good game both teams are going to have stretches where they have the ball, and we just have to defend on those stretches.”

Then it was Georgetown’s chance to put pressure on its opponents. With 17 minutes remaining in the first half, sophomore midfielder Bakie Goodman’s shot from the top of the 18-yard box forced a diving save out of the Orange goalkeeper. Despite the chances for both teams, the game remained scoreless heading into the half.

Syracuse managed to break the tie early in the second half on an impressive individual goal.

Sophomore forward Alex Halis received a short corner kick and stepped past two Hoya defenders before curling his shot just inside the far post to make the score 1-0.

As the game continued, the home side threw more players into the offense, leaning on their stout defense to hold up against any potential counter-attacks.

“When you have guys like [junior defender] Cole Seiler and [sophomore defender] Joshua Yaro in the back, it lets you take some chances going forward because they just clean up so much for you,” Coach Wiese said.

Eventually, the equalizer would arrive. In a sign of things to come, it was a Tyler Rudy

Strong Defense has been the difference in the Hoyas’ Tournament Run.

Jennifer Costa

corner kick which would tie the game with 10 minutes remaining.

Rudy hit the corner across the box, where it found junior defender Keegan Rosenberry, who headed the ball into the top right corner. It was an especially satisfying breakthrough for the team given its struggles on set pieces this season.

“I think it was a hundred-something corner kicks this year without a goal, but what a great one to break the ice with,” Coach Wiese said. “Rosenberry’s

goal was a first class header. I think the fact that we were able to equalize in that way in that setting, with 10 minutes to play off a corner, which have been our Achilles heel all year says a lot about this team.”

Regulation time drew to a close without either team threatening the other’s goal. Early in the overtime period, senior goalkeeper Tomas Gomez was called upon to make a crucial save on a deflected shot to preserve the Hoyas’ season. The senior in net

kept the Hoyas alive, setting the stage for the heroics of seniors Rudy and Rist, who would connect minutes later to send the team through to the next round.

“I think it all goes onto the shoulders of the older guys who don’t want their careers to end, and they play like it,” Coach Wiese said.

On Saturday, the Hoyas will host Virginia (12-6-2) at Shaw Field at 1 p.m. to determine which team will advance to the Final Four in Cary, N.C.

Joe cino’s SPORTS SERMON--olli P “ He’s worse than Dracula, because at least Dracula comes out of his coffin,”-Former Liverpool goalie Bruce Grobbelaar on Simon Mignolet.

Sports fans, for the most part, need to relax. Although our passions and dedication to our favorite teams should allow us to make our opinions regarding a player or team’s performance known at any given time, I ask that we—that is, all sports fans— take a step back to contemplate the substance of those sentiments before we make them public.

Just canvass Twitter, the online message board dedicated to discussion of your favorite team. The unabashedness of fans, in terms of doling out unfair criticisms and hurtful characterizations, is downright scary and repugnant. “Fire the general manager,” “fire the coach,” “get rid of this player,” “this guy sucks,” are just some of the tamer samplings of what can be written or shouted by sports fans at games or through social media. You can even find this sort of sentiment at a Georgetown basketball game.

Do I understand that we live in the world of reality, not a utopian society where everything works out well for everyone? Of course I do.

I understand that fans invest substantially—both with their dollars and their time— into their respective teams. I understand players, coaches, and executives, in exchange for their ability to pursue most fans’ dream jobs, should (and will be) under the public spotlight more than most, leaving them open to criticism. And I also understand that there are some people, with regards to coaching and executive positions, that are just not cut out for the job.

However, there still remains no excuse for some of the acrimonious comments directed by fans. No one should cheer for someone to lose their livelihood, unless that person committed an egregious moral blunder or crime. Fans have a right to criticize a player’s performance or a coach’s decision, but they should not blatantly root for someone’s failure.

As I alluded to before, this no more evident than in my hometown of New York, where our two NFL franchises, the Giants and the Jets, are in the midst of concluding their worst seasons in almost a decade. In their collective disappointment, a substantial number of both teams’ fan bases are calling for the removal of the teams’ head executives, Giants GM Jerry Reese and Jets GM John Idzik, as well as the firings of the longtime coaches Tom Coughlin and Rex Ryan.

While I may not agree with these sentiments, I understand the frustrations.

Some of the measures taken to exhibit these frustrations, however, I do not comprehend at all. Websites such as firejohnidzik.com have propped up on the Internet along with numerous Facebook groups titled “Fire Jerry Reese” or “Fire Rex Ryan.”

A few weeks ago, a Jets fan even flew a plane carrying a banner with the words “Fire John Idzik” over the Jets practice facility.

Just put yourself in their shoes. If you had a rough semester at school or a difficult period at work, would you want people going onto Twitter saying that you should be

dismissed or fired? Would you want people to create websites or forums on message boards all dedicated to your shortcomings? Would you want someone flying a jet carrying a banner that harshly proclaims your ineptitude? I think the answer is pretty clear.

I understand the frustrations of many sports fans. I used to yell at players and hope a coach or executive got fired. I know it would be naive to think everybody’s performances in their professions would not be subject to criticism. I get that.

But the next time before you do engage in the ritual of booing, hoping someone gets fired, or shouting “You suck” at a player, think.

Think about how you would feel if you trade places with that athlete. Think about that person’s family and the difficulties they must be going through, as they see the potential of one of their loved ones losing their job. And lastly, think about the person you’re directing the vitriol towards. If you’re feeling heated about your team’s struggles, don’t you think they feel the same way.

One of the many great aspects of sports is the passion of its fans, and the time and energy they devote to following their favorite teams.

Sometimes, however, we allow these passions to bring out the worst in ourselves a little too often. We need to think before we speak, because despite their exorbitant salaries and the public spotlight they enjoy, these players, coaches, and executives are people first.

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the georgetown voice | 7

Men’s bball moves on from Atlantis MAX ROBERTS

The Georgetown men’s basketball team (4-2, 0-0 Big East) returned home from the Bahamas after finishing a bittersweet 1-2 in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Junior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera led the team during the tournament, averaging just shy of 20 points per game.

The Blue and Gray began the tournament with an exhilarating 66-65 overtime victory over No. 18 Florida (3-3, 0-0 SEC). Down 65-64 with 3.3 seconds left in the game, Smith-Rivera saved the Hoyas by hitting an 18-foot jumper to secure the win.

“This felt like a middle-of-theseason, end-of-the-season game,” said Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III. “That was two teams going back and forth at each other. ... It was a good game for us to be in now.”

With just under 2 minutes left in regulation, Smith-Rivera hit a jump shot to tie the game at 53 and send it into overtime.

Due to foul trouble plaguing most of the team’s starters, freshman forward Paul White tallied 35 important minutes off

the bench, scoring 10 points and collecting 5 rebounds.

The victory against Florida earned the Hoyas a matchup against No. 2 Wisconsin (6-0, 0-0 Big Ten). After another extremely physical back and forth game, Georgetown eventually fell to Wisconsin by a score of 68-65.

Senior center Joshua Smith used his size and physicality to stifle Wisconsin senior center Frank Kaminski, arguably one of the best players in the nation, holding him to only 1-of-8 shooting from the floor. The physical play of the contest did not go unnoticed.

“I have bruises,” Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan said.

Georgetown began the game with torrid shooting, but Wisconsin stayed close and held a one-point lead at halftime. As the second half began, Georgetown continued its hot shooting, and began to build a lead that peaked at 9 points with just around 11 minutes remaining in the game. However, the Badgers clawed their way back and took a 3 point lead with 20 seconds left. The Hoyas had to turn to Smith-Rivera, who finished with a season-high 29 points and had made all five of his three-point attempts prior to the final possession.

“I knew they were going to trap me coming off the screen, so I kind of wanted to take them away and come back and get a better look at the basket” said Smith-Rivera.

Smith-Rivera, however, was unable to rescue the Hoyas for a second straight game, sending Georgetown to the tournament’s third place game.

In that contest, the Hoyas suffered a letdown against familiar Big East foe Butler (5-1, 0-0 Big East), falling 64-58.

After dominating the entirety of the Wisconsin game, Smith-Rivera struggled, needing 11 shots to accumulate just 12 points, and missing all four of his three-point attempts. The remaining Hoya starters also struggled, as they only scored 13 combined points. This forced freshman forwards Isaac Copeland and White to step up, as both scored double digit points in the loss.

Despite the loss to Butler, the victory over Florida and the tight contest against Wisconsin showed the potential of this Hoyas squad.

The Hoyas will return to action this Sunday at Verizon Center when they face Towson (6-1, 0-0 CAA).

Tip-off is slated for 12:00 p.m.

Women’s bball skid reaches five SOURABH BHAT

This past week the Georgetown women’s basketball team (2-6, 0-0 Big East) continued its slow start to the season, as their losing streak climbed to five games. This past Friday at McDonough Arena, the Hoyas lost to Florida (4-1, 0-0 SEC), 73-81. Two days later, during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge, they lost a close contest to Holy Cross (1-6, 0-0 Patriot League) 69-73.

The inexperience of the team, which has no seniors and five freshmen, was evident throughout the weekend.

In both games, the Hoyas kept the score close until the closing minutes, but were not able to close it out.

In the losing bout against Florida, which saw the Hoyas surrender a 38-34 halftime lead, the team was led by freshman forward Dorothy Adomako, who tallied a double-double with a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Against Holy Cross, the Hoyas cut an 11-point deficit to one with 2:30 left in the game but could not regain the lead.

jen costas

Women’s Basketball fell short in their last two games against Holy Cross and Florida.

“We played extremely hard, it came down to the end, and just some inexperience didn’t go our way,” first-year Head Coach Natasha Adair said regarding the two games.

Despite the early season struggles, Adair feels that her team has formed an identity, and that the Hoyas have made a statement through their play. “[These games show] that this is who we can be,” said Adair about her team. “This is how hard we can play… We’re fighting this hard and competing this hard against tough opponents is making us a better team.”

Although not satisfied with their start, Hoyas have grown closer together as a team, feeling

their chemistry will be the difference maker in future games. “[The team has] grown more as a family, and I’ve come to realize I know a lot of things about the team that I haven’t before,” said junior forward Dominique Vitalis, who has emerged as a team leader early on in the season. “I’ve learned a lot about them personally off the court which has helped us on the court.”

Looking to break their five-game losing streak, Vitalis Hoyas will return to action this Saturday when they travel to face the undefeated Princeton University Tigers (7-0, 0-0 Ivy League). Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m.

– Backdoorcut – Chris Almeida’s TRI-weekly column about sports

Test of Time: Do the Hoyas have the Pieces to contend?

The sidelines of a Georgetown men’s basketball team are not meant for the faint of heart.

This past week at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, fans saw everything that the Hoyas had to offer. Not just the good. Not just the bad. Everything.

The Hoya lineup this year is not remiss of talent. Throughout the season’s first three contests, it was clear that there were ten players that had earned the trust of Coach Thompson. Four of the team’s five freshmen saw first half minutes in the season opener. They continued to see significant playing time in the following games. Guard L. J. Peak scored double digits in his first three games, the most impressive being a 23-point performance in his first game as a Hoya. During this game he shot a perfect percentage from the field. Joshua Smith, after a poor performance in his first game, averaged 21.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in the season’s second and third games. Spectacular stats were not had by every player, but there was little cause for worry. It seemed as if there were almost too many players ready to contribute to the cause.

Enter Thanksgiving weekend. The Hoyas were slated to face No. 18 Florida, their first real challenge of the season. It was difficult to make a prediction.

For those who were just tuning in, the Hoyas, after a weak prior season, were little more than an unranked team with a big name.

But Georgetown fans knew that this team could beat Florida.

The Blue and Gray did just that, with a one-point overtime win clinched by a late shot from D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera. The next day, against No. 2 Wisconsin, the Hoyas led for much of the game, before faltering down the stretch and losing by three.

Despite the loss, Georgetown still showed that they could hang with the country’s top teams.

Then, in Friday’s third place game, the Hoyas faced Big East foe Butler. Despite their shocking successes in recent years, the Bulldogs struggled last season without former Head Coach Brad Stevens. But, after knocking off No. 5 North Carolina in the Battle 4 Atlantis’ first round, Butler was suddenly on the map again. The Hoyas struggled on both ends of the floor, and came away with a six-point loss, their worst of the season.

What can we take away from this oscillating weekend? First, it should be obvious that though this year’s team is significantly deeper than any other in recent memory, there are still a number of players who have been part of the college game for less than a month. As game-ready as Peak and company may have looked at times, they will need more exposure until they will be able to produce every game.

Next, the Big East is much better than fans or pundits expected. Georgetown, Butler, Creighton, and Villanova have all knocked off ranked opponents only three weeks into their seasons. Providence and St. John’s have also earned statement wins against well-known opponents from major conferences. The Wildcats, as expected, will be a threat on the national scene this season, but Creighton, despite the loss of Doug McDermott seems strong. Butler, without adding any spectacular players, has suddenly cracked the top 25.

On Friday, the Bulldogs proved that their UNC win was no fluke.

While they may have temporarily strayed from their championship-contending years under Stevens, it seems that Butler is back in a big way. Yes, the Hoyas are strong this season, but after the new year, they won’t have many cupcake opponents.

This season has few known commodities. Between all of the Hoyas’ returning contributors and its pool of newcomers, there are, debatably, nine players with the capability to take over a game. While over the last two years, the Hoya community has looked to a combination of Smith-Rivera, Markel Starks, or Otto Porter to control each game, this year brings a revitalized senior class, a mature and confident Smith-Rivera, and four scorers of all shapes and sizes, all of whom have impressed thus far. As the team becomes more comfortable with each other and Thompson’s system, it is hard to believe that there will be games where all scoring options will falter.

In a more complete league, nothing will come easy this year, but despite a losing weekend there are ample reasons for optimism. Don’t pencil in a conference championship, quite yet, but understand that the Blue and Gray have already come a long way from last year.

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December 4, 2014

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the georgetown voice | 9

1. Boyhood

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

3. Gone girl

1. Hozier by Hozier

2. Salad Days by Mac DeMarco

3. Turn Blue by The Black Keys

Richard Linklater’s 11-year epic Boyhood is nothing short of a landmark film. Boyhood follows the life of Mason Evans, Jr. (Ellar Coltrane), from his early elementary school days to his college move-in day.

Cast at the age of 8, Coltrane plays the role with tremendous honesty, exhibiting growth both as Mason and as an actor. The actor’s efforts are aided by Linklater’s powerful script. Moving quickly through the years that make up youth and adolescence, Linklater incorporates music and realistic dialogue to move the story along. Though other films this year proved ambitious in their ideas and techniques, Boyhood makes the biggest impact with the simplest of plots.

– Dayana Morales-Gomez

A story within a story within a story, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel weaves a complex tale of how Mr. Moustafa, once a lobby boy at the famed Grand Budapest Hotel, gains ownership of the legendary establishment as Europe hurtles between the continent’s two bloodiest wars. The quick description just skims the surface of the masterful and complex plot sequence that unfolds. Almost every shot is a symmetrical work of art, putting Anderson’s exquisite attention to visual beauty on full display. Action, drama, love, subtle humor, and Voldemort with a nose, The Grand Budapest Hotel has it all.

In his brilliant adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s mystery novel, Gone Girl, David Fincher delves into a brutal exploration of what everyone knows and says: marriage is hard work. Though slow at first, Gone Girl progressively picks up the pace as more and more juicy secrets emerge following Amy Dunne’s (Rosamund Pike) mysterious disappearance. In the interwoven backstory, viewers watch as the Dunnes’ sugar-coated marriage implodes into unending lies, distrust, fear, and ultimately, violence, all overshadowed by the tyranny of a news media hungry for blood. It shocks and intrigues on multiple levels and never lets up, easily making it the year’s best thriller.

–Kenneth Lee

Born Andrew Hozier-Byrne, the 24 year old singerguitarist Hozier manifests the unlikely convergence of Irish storytelling roots and a blues-soaked upbringing in his debut, eponymous full-length. Sonic cues taken from a childhood spent listening to John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters back the artist’s soulful, utterly haunting vocals. Hozier’s 13 tracks draw heavily upon themes of religion, sex, doubt, and passion. They fix a high resolution lens on what it means to be human in an age where those themes are often at odds. Taken in one dose, the album is a gorgeous, if sometimes somber, experience and demands an attentive listen.

Canadian indie rocker Mac DeMarco reflects on the bygone days of his youth and innocence in his latest and appropriately entitled album Salad Days.

With a penchant for evading convention, DeMarco has developed unique, synth-heavy melodies that draw influences from electronic Japanese music and incorporate themes about the suffocating music industry, integrity, and loyalty. Many criticize DeMarco for moving away from his twangy, bayou sound in his successful earlier album 2, however, in this piece DeMarco manages to adapt elements of his former aesthetic in a way that better highlight his outrageously quirky personality.

Gone are the days of recording in Patrick Carney’s basement with a gritty feel and heavy blues riffs.

Under the direction of Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse, in the studio for a fourth time, The Black Keys create the same polished, clean sound of their past album, El Camino, while still venturing in new directions through the exploration of prog synth effects and extended guitar solos in songs like “Fever” and “Weight of Love.” Turn Blue stands as a strong display of The Blacks Keys’ encouraging transformation as a band and willingness to take risks with new sounds.

–Christina Libre

–Shalina Chatlani

–Ryan Miller

4. Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy strikes a stellar balance between edge-of-your-seat action, emotional complexity, and a healthy dose of satire that appeals to a wide variety of cinematic tastes. Though it is disconcerting to see Chris Pratt from “Parks and Recreation” step out of his role as the beloved Andy Dwyer and become the cynical space hunk Peter Quill, a.k.a. Starlord, Pratt owns the role, crafting Starlord into an equally badass and lovably inept hero. Quill’s team of Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and the taciturn Groot turns Guardians into a fun team effort. Previously unexposed to a big audience, this franchise will be a household favorite long after its summer success.

–Caitríona Pagni

–Carolyn Zaccaro

Best of 2014

5. Interstellar

6. Birdman

In Interstellar, director Christopher Nolan pulls out all the stops, crafting a surprisingly emotional story with enough scientific accuracy to satisfy the savviest of astronomers. The ensemble cast, led by Matthew McConaughey and Jessica Chastain, shine in a script that, while heavy-handed at times, manages to make the bond between father and daughter downright tear-jerking. With Hans Zimmer’s wondrous score blaring in the background, Nolan takes the audience on a visual journey through the stars in some of the most realistic space sequences ever put to film. The hopeful ending and intense visuals produce a film that must be admired for its ambition alone.

In what is certainly one of the year’s strangest films, Michael Keaton plays a washed-up actor who made a name for himself by playing the titular hero in Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu’s daringly brilliant Birdman. Birdman feels refreshingly meta. Iñarritu edited the film to appear as if it was shot entirely in one take, producing a technical marvel. The cast, led by Keaton, the wonderful Emma Stone, and the spiteful Edward Norton, all come together to create an experience that’s as confusing as it is insightful.

Birdman’s layered script and unique filming set it apart, but its ambiguous ending leaves the viewer wanting more.

–Graham Piro

–Graham Piro

8. The Fault in Our Stars

, TheVoice s top 10 movies and albums

4. Ultraviolence by Lana Del REy In her third full-length album, Lana Del Rey tones down the pop in favor of rock themes and layers of lower vocals. While she sings in the same dark, seductive, and glorified manner about Hollywood problems, Del Rey delivers a matured perspective through her altered sound and bolder choice in lyrics.

The personas in Del Rey’s songs have grown from ditsy, crazy girls to classy, crazy women. Although Ultraviolence has been a chart-topper around the world, its individual songs have yet to earn their deserved recognition as Del Rey’s best.

–Ambika Ahuja

7. The Theory of Everything

5. Morning Phase by Beck

6. This Is All Yours by alt-J

7. My Krazy Life by YG

Despite the enduring illusiveness of the unifying theory to which its title refers, The Theory of Everything delivers on its ambitions. Depicting the turbulent but ultimately loving relationship between theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his first ex-wife, Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones), the film is a testament both to Hawking’s ongoing perseverance over his debilitating ALS and a sobering meditation on a disability’s impact on caregiving loved ones’ daily lives. Though it shamelessly deploys tired clichés about the relationship between science and religion, the film gracefully casts family and romance as, if not everything, at least that which is most important.

Beck’s latest release, Morning Phase, plays more like a symphony than a rock album. Beck’s first record since 2008 begins with “Cycle,” a 40-second orchestral composition that ebbs and flows through gorgeous chords into the rest of the album. After this opener, these compositions move into the background, underscoring Beck’s gruff, yet gentle, voice and virtuosic instrumental lines. Much like the legendary compositions of the impressionist and romantic periods, Beck’s Morning Phase manages to combine these potentially discordant elements with great precision. The result is incredibly moving and stunningly beautiful.

My Krazy Life is as fully-realized a concept album as Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city and as impressive a piece of production as Kanye West’s Yeezus. From YG’s gleefully clever rhymes about the Glock-and-palm-tree SoCal gangster life to DJ Mustard’s spare, infectious beats, this album is to ratchet rap what Chief Keef’s Finally Rich was to Chicago drill back in 2012: a blueprint for the genre.

My Krazy Life, however, is a much more sensitive work. For every expected bar about bottles, bitches, and bands, YG spits an introspective line. He’s the intellectual’s strip club emcee.

–Ian Philbrick

–Daniel Varghese

Although alt-J’s This Is All Yours was not praised by the Pitchfork pundits, the indie rock outfit’s sophomore release is just as worthy of the chart-topping acclaim garnered by crowd favorites “Tessellate” and “Breezblocks.” Alt-J successfully blends the analog synth of their 80s forebears, alt-rock chords of their peers, and the computer-generated beats of cuttingedge electronica. “Every Other Freckle” paints a soundscape incorporating crescendoing cymbals, dripping reverb, and hair-raising vocals all in the first 20 seconds. The album is rich with aural color, a panoply of chimes, chirps, and chants. Powerful and musically kaleidoscopic, there’s no real reason not to love This Is All Yours.

–Sam Kleinman

8. Ghost Stories by Coldplay

9. 1989 by Taylor Swift

10. You’re Gonna Miss It All

by Modern Baseball

In their sixth studio album, superstar British group Coldplay offers a surprisingly mellow, strippeddown sound that is a refreshing contrast to the more upbeat and electronic Mylo Xyloto. Frontman Chris Martin’s hauntingly beautiful voice emphasizes his heartfelt—often poignant—lyrics, especially in songs like “Oceans” and “Another’s Arms.” Thank you, Gwyneth Paltrow. The album offers a diverse range of songs. “Midnight” has a hypnotic, Bon Iver-esque sound to it, while “A Sky Full of Stars” is the token feel-good dance anthem. Ghost Stories is yet another example of why, after nearly 15 years of music making, Coldplay remains one of the most successful bands in the industry.

–Marisa Hawley

Calling Taylor Swift a polarizing figure is a bit of an understatement. Indifference to her music and pop culture dominance is not an option, and 1989 is no exception to the rule. It’s all too easy to dismiss her newest musical shift as a sell-out to pop homogeneity, but that would only skim the surface of her savvy. Her new pop sound has an airy purity to it, but there’s an edgy punch behind Swift’s trademark earnestness.

She’s keenly aware of her image and isn’t afraid to gleefully satirize it, her best moments are those when she looks romance in the face and just laughs

The four college guys who make up Philly’s Modern Baseball put most Hoyas to shame with their résumés: in addition to (more or less) staying in school, they’ve risen to the fore of the emo pop-punk scene, touring the nation no less than four times this calendar year. With You’re Gonna Miss It All, the band delivers another round of rousing choruses and energetic, punk instrumentation. You’re Gonna Miss It All fails only to meet the very high bar set by the band’s now-canonical debut Sports—a sure sign of the sophomore slump. Buoyed by anthemic hits like “Your Graduation,” the album is fun, frenetic, and frighteningly relatable.

–Julia Lloyd-George

–Noah Buyon

9. Dear White People 10. The LEGO Movie

Anticipated across the country, The Fault in Our Stars loyally adapts John Green’s bestselling novel, retelling the story of young, star-crossed lovers. Shailene Woodley expertly plays Hazel, a cynical, relatable teenager plagued by cancer. A tragic story on its own, the tragedy only grows when she falls in love with Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), a charming, heroic boy and fellow “cancer kid.” Their desperate attempts to lead meaningful lives interchange between wholly unrealistic romanticism and convincingly beautiful realism. Through the tears, The Fault in Our Stars reinvigorates the trope of doomed yet extraordinary teenage love.

Dear White People slaps the myth of post-racial America right across the face. An elegantly irreverent comedy, Justin Simien’s first film follows the stories of several black students at an elite university—one not too different from the Hilltop—as they navigate the increasingly hostile racial landscape of institutional privilege. The jokes are incisive, the plot explosively well-timed, and the characters complex and unique.

Though plagued by excessive melodrama during a few segments, Simien’s satire will make you laugh in the moment, and think long after.

Don’t let the childish animation fool you. The LEGO Movie packs an adult punch. The film follows Emmett (voiced by Chris Pratt) on his quest to save the Lego Universe. He is joined by an elite group of “master builders” who come from every known Lego world, including Abraham Lincoln and the 2002 NBA AllStar Team. While primarily intended for an adolescent audience, the movie refrains from overly slapstick or infantile humor, opting instead for witty dialogue and absurd scenarios. Coupled with stunning visuals and an easily digestible message, the humor truly makes for a remarkable 100 minutes.

–Maya McCoy

–Ida Dhanuka

–Daniel Varghese

–James Constant

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10 | the georgetown voice

December 4, 2014

Freer Sackler’s Chinese landscapes breathe songs of serenity SABRINA KAYSER Imagine a landscape dominated by jagged, looming mountains, and cascading streams. Scraggly pines balance precariously on the precipices and rivulets plummet towards the streams far below. A few lone figures, so small that they are almost invisible, are almost lost in the vast landscape.

These majestic landscapes are part of the Freer Gallery’s exhibition, “Style in Chinese Landscape Painting: The Yuan Legacy,” which explores in detail the evolution of the stylistic representation of those mountains and streams. Since it has such a narrow focus, this exhibition probably requires more context to be interesting to students, who have been primarily exposed to a Eurocentric curriculum. Perhaps, then, this is an opportunity to recognize our own ignorance about the complexity of other traditions, notwithstanding our “global perspective.” Such a close analysis of style in Chinese landscape painting makes it evident that complexity, which becomes apparent when you know where to look.

In order to see the complexity in the art, we must start with historical context. Landscape painting

has a long and important history in Chinese art. Early in China’s history, during the Tang dynasty (618-907), the government officially established the traditional class of Chinese scholar-officials. These scholars, known among historians as the literati class, valued both the Confucian ideal of state service as well

artist Wang Jian painted in the style of Zhao Mengfu, copying his use of ink dots.

Another such painting in tribute to a master is “Stone Cliff at Heaven’s Pond,” in manner of Huang Gongwang. The artist copies the long, dragged brushstrokes, for which Huang Gongwang was famous, to

FREER SACKLER GALLERY

Let’s see outdoor ed send a trip to these mountains! as the Daoist ethos of solitude and reflection. All of this changed with the Mongol invasion of China that established the Yuan dynasty (12801368). The literati refused to serve the invaders as government officials and instead began to create paintings for themselves and their friends in traditional Chinese styles. This ex-

OUTOFControl:

A bi-weekly column about gaming by Christopher Castano I haven’t played Assassin’s Creed V yet… and I’m incredibly nervous for when I finally do.

My relationship with the series has evolved over the five years I’ve spent with the franchise to the point where, as of right now, I don’t have much faith in Ubisoft’s ability to give the fans the game they deserve.

The first AC game I ever played was a less than satisfying experience. I was drawn to the game because of its historicity and sprawling, detailed urban environments. I quickly became immersed in the vast freedom the game affords.

The monotony of the mission types, however, soon gnawed at the edges of my belief. You can only eavesdrop, intimidate, and then assassinate your opponents—exactly in that order—so many times before you start to want for something more.

hibition at the Freer Gallery primarily explores the evolution of style during this time. The techniques developed by these independent literati artists range from dots to dry brush to sharp brushstrokes and light ink that looks like fading mist.

The exhibition’s focus exclusively on style is pertinent to Chinese

Variety was key to Assassin’s Creed II’s triumph. That and the introduction of a loveable playboy protagonist named Ezio Auditore (what can I say, Italians do it best). Missions were diverse and entertaining. Ezio was everything everyone ever wanted to be: sophisticated, rich, handsome, and a stone-cold hit with the ladyfolk.

Combine those two factors with the allure of exploring popular Italian cities such as Florence and Venice, and Ubisoft had themselves the defining installment of their ill-fated trilogy. The company must have recognized this success, releasing a number of spinoff games chronicling the later years of Ezio’s life.

Things were good for AC fans.

That is, until the release of what was supposed to be the final installment in the AC trilogy. The game-that-will-not-benamed is a disgusting mess. The

art because of a traditional practice among artists from this country. In order to pay homage to the great masters, artists would try to emulate some master’s distinct style of painting in their own work. This practice is evident in the titles of many works, like “White Clouds on Xiao-Xiang River,” after Zhao Mengfu, in which

create a rough mountainside texture and scraggly clumps of trees. Ni Zan, in his “View Across Open Water,” creates a variety of grey shades by using dry ink, giving his painting a feeling of naturalness that often disappeared in the highly stylized paintings of other artists. In Spring Mists Over Riverside Pavilion, he

So much Assassin’s Creed, So little cohesive gameplay developers overstepped their bounds as far as variety went.

They tried to incorporate far too many gameplay mechanics that didn’t gel with the formula they created. The result is a jumbled mess that didn’t feel like a fitting end to a series that had captivated the hearts of many. I honestly do consider it one of the greatest betrayals in gaming history.

Assassin’s Creed IV was just as bad, but in its own special way. Ubisoft had obviously been clued in on the discontent concerning its last game, and had taken the one well-received aspect (naval combat), and exploited it to the max. They created a game with excellent sailing mechanics based around pirates in the caribbean. The result felt like an excellent pirate game. But not a great AC game.

Where were the sprawling cityscapes? Where was the clandestine involvement in some of the most recognizable historical

events, with some of the most recognizable historical figures?

It just didn’t stack up.

In their latest release, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, it seems that Ubisoft has returned to its tried and true formula: an incredibly famous city, a charming male protagonist, and one of the most recognizable revolutions in early modern history. Initial reviews claim the game plays and looks as beautiful as any fan of the series would expect, and if that’s true, I have to take my hat off to the the developer… with a few reservations of course.

Innovation is something Ubisoft has struggled to control.

They did a great job innovating with AC II, but went too far with AC III. With AC: Unity however, the developers have introduced a cooperative multiplayer mode, which is really exciting.

The idea of sneaking your way through Versailles with three close compadres, dodg-

again used dry ink to create a grainy texture. The composition itself has lots of blank space that serves to show the meandering river.

In contrast to this style, Wang Meng was famous for his sharply defined pine trees and precise use of dotting. In The “Wang River Estate,” artist Song Xu employed this style to paint the trees and plants that lined the mountains in his landscape. In this painting, the pine trees stand out in sharp relief, drawing the eye in a sweeping line from right to left. The treeless ridges in the mountains instead display the famous ink dots that create a layered, dynamic composition.

Whether employing spotty or spiky, misty or majestic, each of these landscapes stands as a testament to China’s rich cultural history. With a full understanding of the context of these artworks, the meaning behind the mountains comes into focus. In their refusal to serve foreign invaders, as well as in their explorations of nature’s incomparable beauty, these Chinese masters left us an invaluable cultural heritage that shall be preserved through the ages.

Freer Gallery of Art Jefferson Drive at 12th Street, SW Mon. – Sun., 10 a.m.– 5:30 p.m.

ing and disposing of guards as you go is pretty darn badass.

In a market flooded with cookie-cutter games focused on competitive multiplayer, cooperation is a fresh prospect.

Initial reviews, however, are claiming that the game is far too buggy for a player to truly enjoy, which is equally disappointing.

Instead of taking another big gamble, Ubisoft played it safe but lost their way on the fundamentals.

They essentially killed the game before it even hit shelves earlier last month. The developers better come up with a hit in the series soon, or their inability to create a smooth game, not a lack of interest or oversaturation, may be what ends up killing undoubtedly their largest franchise.

But, if Ubisoft ever did go under, I’m sure someone would pick up the rights to the series.

I hear Abstergo Industries is always looking for new capital…

Play with Chris’s joystick at cdc67@georgetown.edu

georgetownvoice.com

“I only work in black. And someimes very, very dark grey.” — The lego movie

Rasika continues to heat Penn Quarter ZOE SUN At Rasika Penn Quarter, the oldest of Ashok Bajaj’s Indian restaurants collection in D.C., their modern takes on Indian classics are totally bangain.

Rasika, Sanskrit for “flavors”, speaks for the restaurant itself, where bold new flavors are integrated with comfortably traditional ones. On the list of the top 20 restaurants across America by Zagat in 2014, it is a must try for all the masala-craving crowds in D.C..

Despite being the only restaurant open in the neighborhood on Thanksgiving night, Rasika is still not easy to spot. The dining room hides behind the meticulously polished glass doors and a dark red curtain. Dimly lit by jars of candles on the tables, the restaurant has a more sophisticated and intimate environment than a traditional Indian restaurant. Soft jazz music plays in the background; the typical dancing Shiva

pictures are absent from the wall, replaced by a modernist décor.

Rasika’s menu includes both traditional Indian dishes from both northern and southern regions in addition to new, modern takes on classic dishes.

The wine menu is exhaustive, though non-alcoholic beverage options are limited. Among these options, the mango mocktail strikes a great balance between an acidic undertone and the sweetness of the mango with its smooth and creamy texture. Different from the traditional mango lassi, it is pleasantly refreshing and satisfying.

Palak Chaat, an Indian version of spinach salad, packs a multitude of flavors and textures with crunchy spinach leaves and a yogurt dressing.

The spices are strong enough to offer a typical Indian flare without compromising the delicate sweetness of tomatoes and delightful sourness of the yogurt sauce.

bRINGING A CAT TO THIS RESTAURANT Could PROVE DISASTROUS.

rasika restaurant

The entrees, in comparison, are not as outstanding. The chicken Tikka Masala, despite its sophisticated presentation, is overwhelmingly salty and lacks other spices. Though its chicken is tender and the sauce creamy, the dish is disappointing. In another entrée, Paneer Bhurjee, four giant cubes of paneer—a special type of cheese— are packed between slices of bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes, with a green chili dipping sauce on the side.

As is the case with the Tikka Masala, the dish is bland on the palette.

The Madras Coffee Cremeux served as a fabulous dessert. The dish is an Indian take on a traditional chocolate mousse with caramel and strawberry sauce underneath, adding coffee to the treat. Unlike traditional Indian desserts that are often cloyingly sweet, the mousse strikes a balance between the sweetness of chocolate and the bitterness of coffee. The presentation is elegant and offers yet another hint of the modern twist that the restaurant adds to its Indian tradition.

Overall, Rasika certainly deserves its Zagat awards. By complementing, instead of compromising, tradition with innovation, Rasika lives up to its name, serving up more flavors than Dr. Pepper could ever imagine.

Rasika Penn Quarter 633 D St NW Closed Sunday rasikarestaurant.com

the georgetown voice | 11

THe 5 THINGS

christmas Leisure wants f0r

5. Community on Netflix

So that we can get ready for season six!

4. Spotify Premium

No, this is not product placement. But it could be...;)

3. More Cowbell

It’s the only prescription!

2. Pulp Fiction ... the Musical!

Because who doesn’t want more singing John Travolta?

1. The New Kanye Album to Drop I mean, seriously, what’s taking so long?

Happy Holidays!

Love, Leisure

The call of Vallée’sWild explores the journey of self-recovery NICOLE KUHN Wild: The story of one woman’s journey towards self realization… and her accompanying backpack “Monster.”

Based on Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, the film chronicles Strayed’s journey to find herself after declining into a life of drugs and meaningless sex following the passing of her mother. With no more than a hundred bucks, the clothes on her back (quite literally—at one point she is misidentified as a hobo), and nothing else left to lose, she sets off for the adventure of a lifetime, hiking the PCT. Reese Witherspoon, who plays the haggard and resilient Strayed, embodies her character well. The film starts out with Witherspoon yelling out in pure unbridled rage and frustration after accidentally kicking her boot off a cliff into an unreachable ravine. The next scene has Witherspoon’s Strayed examining

her battered feet, and emitting noises that may only be linked to a dying cat while removing an entire toenail. Or, at least this is what I could make out through the crack between my fingers held firmly before my face in horror.

These powerful images set the stage for a film where Witherspoon could be found in almost every single frame, and with equally convincing acting from start to end. It won’t be a surprise if Witherspoon, for her portrayal of Strayed, receives her first Oscar nod since her stunning performance in Walk the Line in 2005.

Despite flying rather under the radar, supporting actress Laura Dern, who plays Strayed’s whimsical mother “Bobbi,” gives one of the most compelling performances of the film.

Dern’s Bobbi poignantly portrays the heartaches of a sick mother, at times in more pain due to the ungratefulness of her children than the illness that is killing her.

Wild is directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, who recently directed Dallas

Buyer’s Club for which he received an Academy Award for Best Film Editing. And once again, Vallée delivers a film that is aesthetically beautiful. The visuals and camera angles are cleverly employed to enhance and help deliver the story to convey the sheer vastness of the PCT. As for the skilled cinematography, one scene in particular stands out.

Witherspoon’s Strayed is lying in her tent in the middle of an empty field at night but is frightened of sounds coming from the wild. The camera then pans out, leaving the tent in the distance, and zooms in on a rabbit— perfectly bringing the text of Strayed’s book to life on the silver screen.

Unfortunately, other significant moments that build on the thematic imagery presented in the novel become muddled and unclear through the film’s narrative.

Besides a smattering of flashbacks, Strayed’s book is essentially the story of a single person climbing a mountain, and the chronicle of her thoughts along the way.

The movie’s solution to the issue of portraying Strayed’s internal journey is to have Witherspoon constantly speak to herself—more than one can assume Strayed actually did.

Sometimes this tactic succeeded in portraying Strayed’s journey of self discovery, but Witherspoon’s delivery didn’t always live up to the emotional profundity of the novel.

The movie, to put it simply, loses some of its power due to the medium. It fails to make as forceful an impact as the book. The power of

the original story came from Cheryl’s narration and inner thoughts—a mix of insight, wit, and unadulterated human emotion, which just did not come across in the movie format.

That being said, Wild, for all 115 minutes, is extremely entertaining, and had me at the edge of my seat in anticipation, fear, or excitement at several different points along the way. While it may not join the ranks of other more powerful film adaptations, it had a specific story to tell, and it told it beautifully and poignantly.

“This is not what i EXPECTED WHEN YOU SAID ‘WEEKEND RETREAT’...”

IMDB

leisure

12 | the georgetown voice

CRITICAL VOICES

Walk the Moon, Talking is Hard, RCA Records Talking may be hard, but Walk the Moon’s latest release shows that for them, turning ordinary words into catchy music is anything but.

Each song on Talking is Hard remains true to the band’s roots in sunny indie pop. Even so, no track stands out thematically or pushes the boundaries of the genre.

In general, Walk the Moon’s style has not changed much since their eponymous debut. The major-

She & Him, Classics, Columbia She & Him’s latest album Classics transports listeners back to a simpler time, attempting to infuse covers of the pop standards of old with the duo’s retro-inspired style. In the album, Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward reflect on the beauty of the works of artists like Dusty Springfield and Frank Sinatra, but fail to produce anything that can truly stand alone.

Zooey Deschanel’s airy vocals, together with the easy background instrumentals of a twenty-piece or-

ity of the tracks on Talking is Hard are driven by strong, upbeat drum lines, ornamented with soaring synths and pulsing guitars. On this canvas, lead singer Nicholas Petricca serenades us with his gorgeous tenor, while the other three members complement his voice with choral harmonies.

The great strength of Walk the Moon’s music is its overwhelming catchiness. These tunes might not necessarily inspire you to seek deeper meaning in your life, but will most certainly embolden you to get up and move.

The album’s lead single, “Shut Up and Dance,” embodies this idea.

As Petricca sings “Don’t you dare look back / Just keep your eyes on me,” you might think to over-analyze these lines and interpret them as a metaphor for perseverance.

But it seems more prudent to simply allow the song to move you and to get lost in the story Walk the Moon tells.

The band refrains from writing deep lyrics, sticking to lighthearted tunes about typical topics like girls, dancing, and youth. This serves the group well, allowing them to create an album that is 43 minutes of pure, unadulterated fun.

This works only because each member of Walk the Moon is a fantastic individual musician and because their songs are tightly written.

Every composition leans on each band member to maintain its constant forward motion, and without fail, each musician delivers.

Sure, Talking is Hard is not the next great American album. But what it lacks in symbolic substance it more than makes up for in sheer likability. With their sophomore LP, Walk the Moon has served the perfect soundtrack to brighten the upcoming winter season.

chestra, shine on the record. She & Him preserve the original tempos and instrumentals throughout, which gives the covers an authentic sound. The album successfully exposes today’s listeners to the understated and pure music of the 1950s.

She & Him’s soft, transparent notes, however, merely mimic the sound of the past and are not that interesting in themselves. While each song is well put-together, She & Him’s interpretations of the hits display no unique artistic innovation.

For example, She & Him’s rendition of “Stars Fell on Alabama” does not hold up when compared to immortal performances from artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, or Dean Martin. The song reflects the entire album’s simplicity. The LP lacks the artistic liberty that is necessary to generate attention.

This is the danger that accompanies any attempt to produce a successful cover album, especially one of

these prominent and genre-defining hits. It is incredibly difficult—impossible, even—to innovate upon an already existing classic while also maintaining enough of the artistic substance that made it a hit in the first place.

Ultimately, it is this double-edged sword that prevents Classics from being a great album. While She & Him capitalize on their desire to travel to a simpler time, their talent simply cannot live up to the quality of the classics it itmitates.

Nevertheless, the album gives new listeners a lesson in the innocent romance of a past generation and an opportunity to broaden their range of musical taste, a notable accomplishment.

She & Him bring a festive blast from the past and provide an authentic, smooth simplicity of sounds from the legends.

Voice’s Choices: “Shut Up and Dance,” “Portugal” —DANIEL VARGHESE

Voice’s Choices: “Oh No, Not My Baby,” “Stay Awhile” —DINAH FARRELL

CONCERT CALENDAR FRIDAY 12/5 GU Jazz Ensemble McNeir Auditorium, 1 p.m., Free

SUNDAY 12/7 Common The Fillmore Silver Spring, 10 p.m., $46

MONDAY 12/15 Hot 99.5 Jingle Ball Verizon Center, 7 p.m., $55

FRIDAY 12/5 BadBadNotGood U Street Music Hall, 7 p.m., $15

TUESDAY 12/9 The Head and the Heart DAR Constitution Hall, 7 p.m., $50

THURSDAY 12/18 Alex Clare 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $25

REElTALK:

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Are the odds in J-Law’s favor?

A bi-weekly column about film by Brian McMahon

Jennifer Lawrence is a bona fide superstar. At a tender 24 years old, the actress has won an Oscar and starred in multiple blockbuster films. In the two years since the release of The Hunger Games, Lawrence has gone from living in relative obscurity to being designated as one of the most versatile performers in the industry.

The most recent release of the franchise, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I, however, has left many wondering whether the precocious Lawrence has outgrown the role that launched her into stardom.

Besides her onscreen success in films, Lawrence’s casual, fun-loving personality has earned her the adoration of fans of all ages. From playing games with Jimmy Fallon to fangirling over Damien Lewis, she is capable of entertaining self-effacement in all arenas. Unfortunately, it seems like this otherwise wonderful disposition worked against her, at least for The Hunger Games series.

Katniss is fierce and relentlessly stern. During Part I, I found myself struggling to believe Lawrence in the role. She’s excelled in a wide variety of roles, but at times her new Katniss feels bored and stagnant.

Perhaps this is at least partially due to Mockingjay’s overall stasis, hovering between the dramatic reveal of Catching Fire and the explosive conclusion yet to come.

Nevertheless, the case remains that the Lawrence of a few years ago was better-suited to fill Katniss’ badass persona.

There are strong moments for Lawrence interspersed in Mockingjay, namely when Katniss takes down Capitol fighter jets and when she sings “The Hanging Tree.” But, for the most part, she lacks the stubborn gusto displayed in the preceding films. When she screams, “If we burn, you burn with us” at President Snow, her tone lacks the firepower characteristic of her zingers in the series’ first two installments.

Some early Lawrence fans feared her being stuck in the masses’ minds as Katniss, but now it appears the opposite has occurred. She has proven capable of being and doing so much that falling back into the guise of Katniss feels awkward—maybe even

beneath her.

The reason the Harry Potter franchise thrived as the movies progressed was the maturation taking place before our eyes: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint were never anything except Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Lawrence, on the other hand, has been so many things and so many characters.

In Winter’s Bone, Lawrence showed us that she could play the rugged, outdoorsy type. So maybe, at the start, Katniss’ gruff persona was a perfect fit for the rising star. Indeed, her performance elevated an already popular series to the realm of worldwide obsession. Little did we know, she was also primed to do the same for her career as an actress and as an individual in the spotlight.

Looking ahead, next year will most likely only serve to exacerbate the gap between the upstart talent originally cast as Katniss and the Lawrence we know today.

Mockingjay - Part 2 comes next fall, but both before and after its release Lawrence will be seeking critical acclaim alongside Bradley Cooper, first with Serena early in the year and Joy much later during the holidays.

Part 2 will easily rake in hundreds of millions at the box office and will probably do nothing to besmirch Lawrence’s image.

But it is unclear if Lawrence will recapture the energy of the first two films.

She’s already been the second-youngest Best Actress winner and the youngest three-time nominee in the Academy’s history—suddenly being Katniss Everdeen is not quite as impressive.

Sure, Part 1 served up plenty of entertainment, but it seems Lawrence’s rapid growth has expanded beyond the walls of the Capitol and its rebellious districts.

Those who follow and admire Katniss Everdeen know they need a strong heroine to take down the Capitol. Lawrence is more than strong enough, but her heart doesn’t seem to be in the role anymore.

After three Hunger Games films, it feels like the mockingjay has shot past her guise, done in by her own ability to set the screen on fire.

Become Brian’s girl on fire at bem64@georgetown.edu

georgetownvoice.com

PAGE THIRTEEN

the georgetown voice |13

– Dylan Cutler

voices

14 | the georgetown voice

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Ink and introspection: learning to wear—--and bear---tattoos AUDREY IMBS “Let’s just aim to come back without tattoos, okay?” That was my mother’s last “suggestion” before sending me on my wayward abroad. After all, this is the same woman who is quick to remind me that, in the 80s, ecstasy was still very much legal.

Needless to say, my mother is a bohemian with a mantra of peace, love, and self-expression. At the same time, she’s also a predictive force, one who senses my indecisions, long before I myself confront them. And she is right. I am not one who should take on prints of permanency; I could barely select the quote to headline this piece without feeling as if I was mapping my destiny.

She is right, but she is also wrong.

Our bodies are made for tattoos. We are all just naked souls wrapped in canvas, made of open pores that soak up our

stories into our souls. So, sorry Mom, but it’s too late; the markings have been drawn, the dye inserted. My tattoos have been there for quite some time. Yours too, even if you’ve never actually been needled.

We all have them, one for every moment or being that’s imprinted upon us.

Some are inked by life’s secondary circumstance, and some we are born with—but all are layered upon. As for mine, I felt its first prick about three years ago.

My tattoo is a simple, yet complicated sentence that has etched its way right above my heart: I love women.

But even as the words pierced my flesh, I covered them.

I covered them because I was confused: confused how I could date and love a boy for a year, and long after, still feel their sting underneath my skin.

I was confused because it wasn’t a phase. I was confused because when I tried to “grow out of it,” I numbed the beat of my own

heart to a strangers’. And I was confused because, just when I thought I’d lost ownership of my own pulse, a girl bursted into my life, and with one glance, recharged my heart.

I kept the words covered because I was scared, scared to answer other’s questions that were already running through my own head, and scared that by responding, I’d make some unchangeable mark. But, mostly, I was scared that if I showed them, if I showed that I loved her, I’d lose her.

Yet, when we consume ourselves with concealing how we feel, we fail to recognize others who are doing the same.

We cloak what we see as curse, bandage what we seems like a wound, and hide what helps connect us to one another.

The thing is: I am still confused and I am still scared. But I’ve learned that exposing my mark is the only way to ever truly change my life and other’s.

The first time I wore my tattoo freely was to a theater re-

hearsal. By opening their inked souls, my fellow actors, so accustomed to opening themselves up on the world’s stage, ended my silence. They taught me love never analyzes, nor assumes, nor compares.

When I showed it to my close friends and family, and I was reminded I had other markings. Every day they etch something new on my skin.

But only when I wore it around complete strangers, I realized its power—to makes us all belong. Whether I showed it to my host mother or to a boy on a bus ride, we all held the same pain underneath. We fall in love with people—people who mark us distinctly.

If you cannot see where you traced upon them, or if you can and they choose to keep it hidden—wear yours anyways. No matter the size or shape, never let anyone tell you it’s too small to matter or too blurred to be real.

If it hurts, like a tattoo, then it matters.

And no matter how ambiguous pattern, trust in this—that even after you have let go or even if it still hurts, you left intricate layers of moments and love on their skin, just as they did to you.

My tattoo hasn’t always been a source of pride nor honesty. Often, it’s felt like a stain that stings too much to even touch. But, even when it still stings, I’ve accepted its power because it is constant reminder of each life that has ever touched mine.

I will love my blue skin and you should too—be it metaphorical or real. I will wear my blue skin, in hopes that someday, somewhere, I open my eyes and will find her too: the girl with her own beautiful blue tattoo.

AUDREY IS A JUNIOR in THE COLLEGE

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: demystifying net neutrality JAMES CONSTANT The Washington Post recently published an interview with billionaire technology entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. In the interview, Cuban rails against President Obama’s endorsement of “net neutrality,” saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… there is no better platform in the world to start a new business than the Internet in the United States.”

Unfortunately, Cuban seems to have gotten his ideas about the Internet’s status quo confused.

The Internet isn’t broken—and it’s precisely because of net neutrality that it is that way. Net neutrality simply means keeping the Internet the way it is right now— open and fair, with every piece of content delivered to users at the same speed as everything else.

There are very few open playing fields left in American life. We are a country plagued by inequalities. The Internet, and the scrap-

leila lebreton

life in the fast lane a non-neutral net means speed won’t come cheap

py dorm-room success stories that emerged from it, have exemplified meritocracy at its best.

Sure, it never hurts to have gobs of money and powerful friends, but the most important element for startup success is a good idea and a doggone willingness to execute it—and a neutral net rightfully keeps the latter from being overshadowed by the former.

Without net neutrality, it seems likely like the best services will be buried by the power of corporate interest. Take, for example, Netflix’s streaming service— something considered by many Georgetown students to be an essential component of a college experience. Without net neutrality laws, if Comcast had a problem with Netflix—say, they invested in a rival video-on-demand website, or are unhappy that customers’ binge-watching habits eat up a lot of bandwidth—they can say, “screw you, Netflix; pay us more money or we’ll cut the speed at which we stream your videos.”

This isn’t a fantasy. It happened last winter. Netflix made it clear in public statements that it opposed Comcast’s $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable, with CEO Reed Hastings saying that the merged companies “would have control over highspeed residential Internet in a majority of American homes…

that is clearly not ‘great’ for consumers.” Comcast’s response was to slow Netflix streaming speeds on its network to a crawl, causing customers to abandon the service in droves—until Netflix acquiesced to Comcast’s demand for an extortionate payment.

Tiered systems of content delivery, as we’ve seen them executed thus far are good for one thing—the pocketbooks of telecommunications companies. They do no good for anyone else, be it big companies like Facebook or Netflix that will face steep fees to provide high-speed “fast lanes” for their services, or small startups that risk being ignored by consumers if they are relegated to permanently sluggish connections.

Opposition to net neutrality seems to stem, largely, from critiques of government intervention in the Internet, a private system.

I love the Internet the way it is now. It’s a wellspring of knowledge, one of the most important things in my life, and one of the few entities that gives me hope for the future of the planet. When I hear anti-net neutrality statements from people like Cuban – or from potential presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who tweeted the pure falsity that net neutrality is “Obamacare for the Internet”—it makes me well up inside with sadness. If we didn’t have net neutrality over the past 15 years,

it’s likely that the Internet would have become a very different, pretty miserable place.

My favorite website, Wikipedia, is a non-profit that barely manages to cover its operating expenses through NPR-style pledge drives. It started out modestly, and it continues to exist in much the same way. Would Wikipedia have gained any traction in a market that demands payments to various Internet service providers just to ensure a satisfactory connection speed? I see no reason to believe that the same level of innovation that built the wonderful network of grass-root sites that don’t have a clear means to build profit—like Wikipedia or Reddit—could exist in a world that hands out the fastest connection speeds to the highest bidder. I don’t agree with President Obama on very much, but this October when he called on the FCC to implement strict net neutrality rules because “the Internet has become an essential part of everyday communication and everyday life,” I was proud to see him take a stand on an issue that threatens to rip apart one of the most precious resources humanity has cultivated.

JAMES IS A JUNIOR in THE COLLEGE

voices

georgetownvoice.com

THE GEORGETOWN VOICe | 15

As a white ally, reflecting on Mike Brown and Ferguson CLAIRE DERRIENNIC I am a white person, and I am confused.

When the Saint Louis County grand jury announced its decision not to indict Darren Wilson last Monday, I watched as friends marched down to the White House in protest. I shared much of their anger; I couldn’t believe that our “justice” system could so blatantly ignore the racist killing of a black teenager. Though I will never face the oppression experienced by people of color, I want to stand in solidarity with those seeking to alleviate it. Unfortunately, as a

privileged white woman, I have no idea what to do.

That Monday night, as I sat, chewing my lip, trying to decide whether to head to the Mall, I remembered a metaphor from Beverly D. Tatum’s book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Tatum describes racism as a moving walkway—as a white person, you don’t have to be striding along the walkway to keep moving forward; even if you do nothing, your white privilege pushes you ahead of others. Extending Tatum’s argument to its logical conclusion, my choice to sit in bed doing nothing in the face of injustice made me a passive racist.

christina libre

Hands up, don’t shoot the refrain from Ferguson cuts along racial lines

CARRYING ON

Still, I hesitated. I sheepishly typed “Ferguson: what should white people do?” into my search bar.

First result: “12 Things White People Can Actually Do After the Ferguson Decision,” by Joseph Osmundson and David J. Leonard.

“Inaction means the death of black people.” I definitely don’t want that.

“Black lives matter.” I agree.

“Be proactive.” OK- but should I go down to the White House and protest?

“Seek support from fellow white allies.” Good idea.

I asked my friends if they planned to protest. One replied that he didn’t know enough about the issue, another that she was too confused, and a third that it was safer not to say anything. Back to square one.

My research continued in the following days, and I grew more frantic as my white guilt escalated.

Finally, I found the answer I was looking for.

“Ten Things White People Can Do About Ferguson Besides Tweet,” by Kate Harding.

“1. Join a peaceful protest.”

Thank you, Kate Harding. Of course, by blubbering in confusion, I had missed the most important protests in DC. Excerpts from another article I had read flashed in my mind: “So You Call Yourself an Ally: 10

TAKING A LONG, HARD LOOK AT GREEK LIFE

BY CHRIS ALMEIDA

A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

Though Greek life has been intertwined with the American college system for well over a century, it’s only recently been put under the proverbial microscope.

This is the case at the University of Virginia, where an article in Rolling Stone by Sabrina Rubin Erdely drew attention to rampant instances of sexual assault committed by fraternities on campus.

Many of the incidents described in the article, including its most vivid—a gang rape of a freshman girl by members of UVA’s chapter of Phi Kappa Psi‚ involved fraternity members—oh, excuse me, “brothers”—as perpetrators.

It is easy to branch out in misguided directions after learning of what has been happening at UVA. Some of my very own family members have gone so far as to say, “I think it really says something about the young men in this country today.”

Meanwhile, others are saying, “It’s a problem with the way that UVA does things.” As a native

Virginian, I have to agree with the latter. Dozens of students from my high school are shipped off to UVA every year, and everybody from my hometown will agree, the attitude most undergrads return with is, at the very least, offputting.

Students at UVA insist on being referred to as “first years” or “third years” rather than “freshmen” or “juniors,” and call their campus “grounds.” If you make the mistake of using the more usual terminology, count on being corrected. The school has a fanatical obsession with Thomas Jefferson, going so far as not calling anybody without an M.D. “doctor” because “Mr. Jefferson” never received a doctorate. The school is rooted in tradition, and these tendencies, while pompous and even pretentious, are harmless. Less harmless, though, are the school’s fraternities and sororities.

Though the 29 percent of the student body (by the university’s own admission) that is involved with societies is significantly

Things All ‘Allies’ Need to Know,”

by Jamie Utt. “Stop Thinking of ‘Ally’ as a Noun.” Utt confirmed that my inaction meant that I had forfeited any claim to solidarity.

“Allies don’t take breaks.” I had messed up. Utt explained that though my whiteness prevented me from participating in the struggle, being an ally meant showing up anyway, which I had failed to do.

“When Criticized or Called Out, Allies Listen, Apologize, Act Accountably, and Act Differently Going Forward.” The silver lining! I could still be a good ally if I changed my ways. Next time, I would protest. I would redeem myself.

But just when I felt I had some clarity, I ran across an untitled blog post by an activist named Mikael: “white ‘allies’ at tonight’s Mike Brown rally were constantly trying me, and it’s so incredibly triggering watching them co-opt and dilute this movement.” So, maybe, I won’t protest...?

“Their inability to understand their own privilege was readily apparent when they threw up their hands during chants of ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,’ as if anybody is trying to shoot their pasty asses.” Perhaps I could attend a rally, but refrain from gesturing and chanting?

“So all of you so-called white (and non-black POC [people of color]) ‘allies’ can take a million seats with all of your fucking bull-

smaller than the Greek population at schools like Dartmouth, the social power on campus still lies with fraternities.

For an age group that has a problem with insecurity, Greek life offers a simple solution.

For guys: you endure a period of torture, pay your dues, and then wear letters across your chest that signify your social worth and who your friends are. For girls: instead of inflicting torture on new members, you turn on your entire social network, assaulting them with constant #LoveMyBig posts on their newsfeeds. Greek life takes away the questions that come with other relationships. Members are bound together by their societies, their friend circles are quantified and tiered, and the weird power dynamics that emerge go unquestioned. The members become “brothers” or “sisters,” and their decisions and character become overshadowed by institutional loyalty.

For somebody who places value in perceived “social standing,” what is better than a Greek society? For somebody who struggled to find consistent social gratification in high school, what is better than eschewing familiar labels like “jock” or “nerd” for “frat star” or “sorostitute?” The society’s existence often serves no purpose (let’s not bluff ourselves with the philanthropy schtick) except to hold social events and create networks.

And while this is great for those involved, the core problem lies with the ways in which these institutions are able to distort the lines of acceptable behavior.

This premium placed on institutional loyalty and the fear of rejection leads Greek members to stay silent when the society’s practices come under fire. This is the way that these organizations have grown power structures far beyond college campuses. Greek societies have many friends in high places, and they network other “brothers”

shit and get the fuck out of our BLACK spaces.”

Here’s what I had learned: as a white person, I shouldn’t remain inactive, because I don’t want to ride the moving walkway of racism, and I should thus protest, but I should not raise my hands above my head, or chant, or actually attend protests at all, and I absolutely should not ask people of color what to do, because it is not their responsibility to explain racism to me, and I should certainly not write an op-ed about my confusion on the issue, because that would take up emotional space that is not mine to take up.

To summarize, I am a white person, and I am confused.

Thankfully, Tatum had more to say, stressing the importance of white allies banding together to oppose racism. People of color, activists, bloggers: I do not want to distract from your work. I do not want to take up your space, or take ownership of your movement. Most of all, you have no obligation to tell me what to do.

But white allies: I really need your help, because I am a white person, and I am confused.

CLAIRE IS A SOPHOMORE in THE COLLEGE

and “sisters” into similar top positions. In this way, if one thinks about speaking out about things like hazing rituals or the culture of rape, there is a fear of backlash from not only your immediate social networks, but the larger Greek network. This fear is so great that when incidents like the gang rape at UVA occur, members will refuse to defend their non-Greek friends or speak to administrators out of loyalty to their Greek societies.

No, you can’t blame all fraternities for all negative happenings on college campuses. But it is clear that fraternities and sororities, and the regular students that rely on them, create a culture that is not only dangerous, but immune from actual change. Yes, even without these organizations, hazing and sexual assault will occur, but certainly not with the same frequency. At Georgetown, a school technically free of Greek life, we aren’t without flaws, but the problems perpetuated by the Greek system are largely absent from campus.

This isn’t a “young man” problem.

This isn’t a UVA problem. This is a culture problem, and maybe we need to think about upsetting some “loyal” people in order to make concrete change.

The 12 Days of Voice-mas On the 12th day of Voice-mas, the Voice gods gave to me...

12 angry administrators, 11 tired editors, 10 bottles of Burnett’s, 9 burnouts smoking, 8 unďŹ nished papers, 7 broken clocks, 6 shots of whiskey, 5 bottles of champagne, 4 velvet Elvises, 3 French exchange students, 2 random trophies, and a broken, dirty, green chair.