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D.C. COUNCIL PASSES $11.50 MINIMUM WAGE PAGE 5

11 SPARTANS END MENS SOCCER SEASON PAGE 6

DIFFICULT QUESTIONS IN GODRY’S CHOMSKY FILM PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969  December 5, 2013  Volume 46, Issue 16  georgetownvoice.com

2 the georgetown voice

december 5, 2013

Editor’s Note: The Voice has been incorrectly listing volume numbers for three years.

While this semester’s issues have been listed as Volume 49, the correct listing is Volume 46.

Voice Crossword “December Timeless Challenge” by Tyler Pierce

Across 1. Mac 6. Kind of support 10. Musical interval 14. They make them double stuff now

15. How you should take a shot 17. Branch, to a botanist 18. Leo’s breakfast options 19. Put on a pedestal

21. Experiment ingredient 22. Babakoto 23. Faults 24. 8^n 25. 8 26. 3.26 light-years 27. Banned insecticide 30. Nomad 31. Small root 34. Victorian, for one 35. Linda ___, Supergirl’s alias 36. Feminist 38. It might be cerebral 42. Take in 43. 360 degrees 46. Parenting challenges 47. Language of Zoroaster 48. Jubilant 50. Punishment of foot whipping 53. Chopin study 54. One who metes 55. Bush 56. Boris Godunov, for one 57. Herb at Good Stuff Eatery 58. Oozes

Down 1. Ancient marketplaces 2. Get rid of 3. Early Peter, Paul and Mary song 4. French pilgrimage site 5. Aggressive one 6. Chinese “way” 7. Professor in Gold and Silver version 8. Father 9. Most free from disease 10. Crappy alcohol 11. Board 12. Brouhaha 13. Lab work 16. Coquette 20. Saturday Night Fever music 23. Ballerina Margot 24. Girasol, e.g.

27. Debt-related document 28. Ready for a prom 29. Bakery buy 32. Carry away, in a way 33. Indefatigable 37. Have an inspiration?

38. Father 39. Heirloom location 40. Viney trees

41. Series of movements 43. Capital near Casablanca 44. Tracks 45. 10 kilogauss 49. Ball girls?

51. Canine 52. Bonanza find

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

Email crossword@ georgetownvoice.com

editorial

georgetownvoice.com

VOICE the georgetown

Volume 46.16 December 5, 2013 Editor-in-Chief: Connor Jones Managing Editor: Julia Tanaka Blog Editor: Isabel Echarte News Editor: Claire Zeng Sports Editor: Chris Almeida Feature Editor: Lucia He Cover Editors: Noah Buyon, Christina Libre Leisure Editor: Dayana Morales-Gomez Voices Editor: Ana Smith Photo Editor: Ambika Ahuja Design Editors: Pam Shu, Sophia Super Page 13 Editor: Dylan Cutler Puzzles Editor: Tyler Pierce Creative Directors: Amanda Dominguez, Kathleen Soriano-Taylor, Madhuri Vairapandi Back Page Editors: Minali Aggarwal Social Media Editors: Rio Djiwandana

Assistant Blog Editors: Ryan Greene, Marisa Hawley, Kenneth Lee Assistant News Editors: Shalina Chatlani, Lara Fishbane, Manuela Tobias Assistant Sports Editors: Chris Castano, Brendan Crowley, Jeffrey Lin, Joe Pollicino Assistant Cover Editor: Neha Ghanshamdas Assistant Leisure Editors: Emilia Brahm, Daniel Varghese, Joshua Ward Assistant Photo Editor: Gavin Myers, Joshua Raftis Assistant Design Editor: Leila Lebreton, Andie Pine

Staff Writers:

Sourabh Bhat,Max Borowitz, Grace Brennan, Emmy Buck, Steven Criss, Mary-Bailey Frank, Abby Greene, John Guzzetta, Kevin Huggard, Julia Lloyd George, Claire McDaniel, Dan Paradis, Max Roberts, Abby Sherburne, Jackson Sinnenberg, Deborah Sparks, Chris Wadibia, Annamarie White

Staff Photographers:

Alan Liu, Marla Abdilla, Annie Wang, Muriel van de Bilt, Katherine Landau

Staff Designers:

Katarina Chen, Dylan Cutler, Corrina Di Pirro Mike Pacheco

Copy Chief: Grace Funsten Copy Editors:

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

Editorial Board Chair: Juia Jester Editorial Board:

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

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

The Georgetown Voice is published every Thursday.

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

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

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

On this week’s cover: Best of 2013 CoverDesign: Christina Libre

the georgetown voice 3 NAILED IT

‘Smoke of Satan’ video breaches student privacy

During GU Pride’s Coming Out Day celebration this year, two unidentified high school boys affiliated with the conservative Catholic organization the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property filmed GU Pride’s OUTober event.

The boys interviewed Georgetown students on film, telling them that they were working on a class project. Despite the students’ requests not to be filmed, the interviewers berated their subjects with leading questions in an attempt to confuse them. In the version of the video published online, the boys manipulated quotes and did not adequately protect the students’ identities.

Ultimately, a member of the Office of Communications staff asked the boys to leave campus, since they had not been authorized to film on campus.

Although Georgetown’s Speech and Ex-

pression policy should be extended, this expansion cannot come at the cost of student privacy. In this case, the administration’s removal of the two boys from campus was a necessary course of action.

The film crew of “The Smoke of Satan,” regardless of the opinion they expressed in their video, showed no regard for the wishes of the students they interviewed and abandoned all intellectual integrity during the editing of their video. Even if the two boys had been authorized to film on campus, their persistence in interviewing and filming students who had asked not to be on camera, as well as their skewed presentation of these student’s testimonies, constitutes a hostile violation of their privacy.

Red Square is a free speech zone. The purpose of this space is to foster dialogue and the exchange of ideas. However, intentional dis-

tortion of students’ quotes and the aggressive manner in which the film crew approached the members of GU Pride abuses the school’s policy.

While the University needs to consider expanding its speech and expression policy, this incident has shown the potential abuses that can happen under the pretext of free speech.

Georgetown has the duty as an academic institution to advance lively intellectual conversations, and part of this duty is keeping this free discourse professional and courteous to all sides of the argument. The behavior of the makers of “Smoke of Satan” did not uphold these standards.

The University’s move to ensure a positive environment for discourse was not only appropriate, but commendable, because it ultimately upheld the spirit of appropriate intellectual discourse on campus.

RAISE ME UP

Minimum wage hike will benefit D.C. workers

The D.C. Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to raise the minimum wage in the District to $11.50 an hour. The bill, if signed by Mayor Vincent Gray, would make D.C’s minimum wage one of the nation’s highest. Although the bill could certainly go further in ensuring that all D.C. residents earn a living wage, it is clearly a step toward a healthier and more just economy in the nation’s capital, and Gray should sign it.

Big businesses such as Wal-Mart and its allies in government say such a wage increase will hurt employment and drive companies out of business, but their claims are undermined by prevailing economic research. Labor economists have documented since the early 90s that raising the minimum wage generates more jobs—not fewer. Additionally, past increases in minimum wage under President Harry Truman and in

1967 showed no negative impact on employment rates.

Conservatives often worry about heightened inflation due to an increase in the minimum wage, but inflation since the financial crisis has been historically low, despite the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programs. If the Fed pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial sector over the past five years hasn’t raised the price level to unacceptable heights, it’s unreasonable to say a modest wage increase like this one would.

This wage bill still isn’t perfect, and even its supporters recognize this fact. A conservative estimate for a living wage in the District is $12.50 an hour, and this bill will clearly need to be amended in coming years to keep pace with rising rents and other costs of living. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a family of four needed over $88,000 to

live in D.C. during 2013. Given such a high cost of living, raising the minimum wage is an absolute necessity.

Even so, Gray has shown a propensity to bow to big business with his veto of the Large Retailer Accountability Act earlier this year. If the mayor wishes to seek reelection in the coming year, he should sign this new legislation immediately. Four of his challengers in his reelection campaign next year voted for the bill in the Council. It’s unlikely Gray will be able to win a second term without repairing his relationship with organized labor and low wage workers— many of whom are still angry over his veto of the LRAA. Overall, this bill offers D.C. a chance to make a positive contribution to both economic justice and growth.

That’s a win-win the Mayor can’t afford to pass up.

WELL-ENDOWED

Measured divestment proposal shows promise On Sunday, Nov. 24, the GUSA Senate voted 17 to six to pass a resolution endorsing GU Fossil Free’s divestment proposal, “Divesting Georgetown’s Endowment from Fossil Fuels.”

The proposal is the latest product of an almost year-long dialogue between administrators and the students of GU Fossil Free, and its successful marriage of the realities of the endowment with the moral imperative Georgetown has to divest deserves nothing less than GUSA’s support.

The proposal takes into consideration the difficulty of divesting the endowment from an entire industry, calling upon Georgetown to immediately freeze all new investments in the 200 companies with the largest fossil fuel reserves and to divest from direct holdings in these companies over the next two years. Considering that the bulk of GU’s endowment is invested in pooled funds run by third-party managers, it also proposes that the University ask its managers to filter these companies from their investments or leave the pooled investment funds as

these mature. Moreover, it asks for transparency and accountability throughout the process in the form of biannual, public progress reports.

Divestment is the natural next step to Georgetown’s continued commitment to sustainability, as manifested in its efforts to reduce its emissions from 2006 levels by 50 percent by 2020. While it is certain that as an institution and as individuals we remain dependent on fossil fuel energy, it isn’t morally sound for us to profit from practices that we actively strive to overcome. Given the undeniable harms to which fossil fuels are tied, namely climate change and its adverse consequences for humankind, present and future, divestment is wholly consistent with Georgetown’s core values of justice, pursuit of the common good, and the cultivation of women and men for others.

Certainly, Georgetown’s mission is academically-oriented, and the endowment is a tool the University employs to grow institutionally and further scholarship. However, as GU Fossil Free points out in its references to multiple studies

in the proposal, divestment poses little risk to the endowment. Divestment is a daunting task, but as the active discussions of the University’s Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility with GU Fossil Free shows, it is feasible so long as it is done in full consideration of the realities of investing an endowment and of University hierarchy. The tiered, long-term timeline is an example of the realism embraced by GU Fossil Free.

We applaud GUSA for backing this important initiative, and encourage every member of the University community to read through GU Fossil Free’s thoughtful, measured proposal. Unfortunately, the urgency of the threat posed by our addiction to fossil fuels is too great to forsake divestment for slow engagement of companies whose bottom-line is built on extracting an unsustainable amount of carbon. The time to act is now, and, as GU Fossil Free puts it, all Hoyas have a stake in putting Georgetown “on the right side of history.”

4 the georgetown voice

news

december 5, 2013

Alum returns to host sexual assault workshop for men

by Shalina Chatlani In mid-January, D.C. non-profit group Men Can Stop Rape will offer an educational program exclusively for men about sexual assault prevention in Village C West’s Alumni Lounge. The event has heavy support from on-campus fraternities.

According to Sean Foley (MSB ‘15), organizer of the event, the program will be funded by grants from MCSR and will receive no University resources. While Foley reached out to several nonprofits, MCSR was one of the first groups to respond, and he felt that the organization most closely aligned with his vision for the program.

Jared Watkins (COL ’11), development coordinator of MCSR, will keynote the event. Watkins was one of the founders of Men of Strength in 2008, an on-campus sexual assault prevention group that is no longer active. “[I will] focus on the role men can play in preventing sexual violence and advocating for healthy, nonviolent masculinity,” wrote Watkins in an email to the Voice.

The program will be open to male students only. “This is the first [male-only sexual misconduct program] that I know of,” said Foley. “It was not my decision, and I do not know the exact lo-

gistics behind it, but I do know that Mr. Watkins is trying to get a little specific with the audience to have the most impact possible.”

He said that there was no intention of discrimination and said that future events may be open to both men and women.

Foley originally thought of the idea for the program in a class entitled “Leadership” taught by Professor Brooks Holtom. After talking to some of his closest friends on what they considered necessary at Georgetown, Foley decided to focus his attention on sexual assault education.

“The project was to make a difference in your community … and I really wanted to do something on campus that I felt would have a really big impact,” Foley said. “This was something that really struck me as an emotional issue, where there is definitely progress to be made.”

Foley has reached out to several fraternities to increase participation. Thus far, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Phi Omega, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and Sigma Phi Epsilon have signed on to co-sponsor the event.

“We’re bringing this opportunity to our fraternity … not because we’ve noticed any deficit of education amongst our group, but because we think that this is an excellent program for any-

one,“ wrote Samuel Greco (SFS ’15), president of SAE, in an email to the Voice.

These fraternities hope to promote a violence-free culture and dispel the image of sexual misconduct that often surrounds fraternities.

“I think that there is a very real stigma that fraternities carry of being organizations that permit or encourage sexual violence,” Freeman Condon (NHS ‘14), outgoing President of SigEp, wrote in an email to the Voice. “Everything I have seen of my brothers in [SigEp] has shown me that this could not be further from the truth. We want to show the community that we’re willing to do whatever we can to make it a thing of the past.”

Foley believes that although there are a lot of campus resources for sexual assault recovery, there is room for improvement on spreading awareness. Georgetown University’s statistics on the number of sexual assault cases are consistent with the national average, and accordingly, Carol Day, director of health education services, said that more education on sexual assault is still important.

“There is always work to be done … it takes special training and education to become better at understanding the complexities inherent in the issue,” Day wrote an email to the Voice.

News Hit

#BBGU protests Thursday

Black House residents will host an online Twitter and Facebook protest, denoted through the tag #BBGU, which stands for “Being Black at Georgetown University,” today.

The protest is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and last until 11 p.m. Organizers of the event hope to address on-campus issues such as racial bias and profiling, the lack of funding for black student groups, and the lack of faculty and administrators of color. The protest was inspired by the University of Michigan’s viral campaign, which gained over 10,000 tweets with #BBUM and publicized concerns over insufficient racial diversity in the wake of Michigan’s statewide ban on affirmative action.

“Black students here and black students at the University of Michigan are attending a predominantly white institution with similar issues and concerns. We want to ... join the University of Michigan in solidarity,” said Aya Waller-Bey (COL ‘14), organizer of the campaign and president of Black House.

—Manuela Tobias

TFP films unauthorized interviews Minimum wage to affect GU jobs

by Manuela Tobias Two high school student representatives from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property posted a video on Nov. 8 that included unauthorized interviews of Georgetown students celebrating OUTober’s Coming Out day.

The students represented TFP Student Action, the division of the group that works to promote traditional Catholic values in college campuses. Along with the video, the students also posted an article that criticized Georgetown’s failure to uphold traditional Catholic doctrine and falling victim to “rampant relativism”.

According to Tyler Pierce (COL ‘15), one of the students who was filmed, the TFP representatives would not identify themselves. They claimed to be working on a class project when they interviewed students at the GU Pride, while citing Church doctrine and calling homosexuality an “intrinsic disorder”.

Thomas Lloyd (SFS ‘15), president of GU Pride, said that the TFP representatives continuously harassed students as they came out of the Coming Out door. “They [questioned and] got footage of everyone whether or not they wanted to be filmed,” Lloyd said. “That was really awful.”

Though the interviewed students are blurred in the video, they are identifiable to many members of the Georgetown community.

“They did not do a good job of protecting anonymity of students at a time when their anonymity might be essential to their family well-being, their mental well-being, their emotional well-being,” Lloyd said.

Director of Media Relations Rachel Pugh escorted the TFP students to the front gates despite the students’ claims to free speech. Afterwards, they continued to linger on the steps of Lauinger Library and interview faculty and students.

Assistant Vice President for Communications Stacy Kerr clarified that media outlets filming on campus must obtain permission from the University to film on campus, which the TFP representatives did not do.

“We expect camera crews to be respectful of any individual’s wish not to be filmed by asking permission to interview individuals on camera and explaining the purpose of the interview,” she wrote in an email to the Voice.

The University does not intend to take further action on TFP’s violation of University policy. TFP refused to comment when asked about the video.

“The video is offensive to our LGBT friends and should not be considered representative of those student groups that defend and promote the Church’s teachings on marriage and the family. Students have a right to hear the Church’s teaching presented with charity and prudence,” Andrew Schilling (COL ’14), outside guard of the Knights of Columbus, wrote in an email to the Voice. “This video does neither.”

by Deborah Sparks The D.C. Council unanimously passed the Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2013 on Tuesday, which will increase the minimum wage by 40 percent from its current rate of $8.25 to $11.50 by July 1, 2016. The Council also unanimously passed the Earned Sick and Safe Leave Act of 2013, which will ensure that workers in the District are entitled to at least five paid sick days per year.

D.C. will now have one of the highest minimum wages of any major U.S. city by 2016.

The wage will also be indexed to the Consumer Price Index after July 1, 2016, which will mean the wage will automatically rise with inflation in CPI and not require annual reevaluation.

Several Councilmembers consider the bill’s passage a major victory for the city’s working class. “By increasing our minimum wage, we are raising the standards for all of our workers and sending the message that their labor is worth a fair wage,” wrote Councilmember David Grosso (D-At Large) in an email to the Voice.

Rachel Pugh, director of media relations at Georgetown, confirmed in an email to the Voice that Georgetown will pay the District’s official minimum wage but would have to face challenges with reorganizing pay and hiring.

“As you know, the University is currently confronting real financial constraints. We are thoughtfully working on how to implement any changes related to increased minimum in the coming years,” she wrote. “In addition, many hourly employees (those working more than 30 hours/week) at

Khithij Shrinath

Rally for minimum wage at D.C. Council building.

Georgetown are already paid above the proposed minimum wage.”

Jonalyn Greene, associate vice president and business officer of the Planning and Facilities Management Department, said that the University will pay all students the minimum, if not more. “If there is a change in the minimum wage, our office would be directed by Human Resources and Student Employment about raising our wage minimums,” she wrote in an email to the Voice.

The bill will not affect on-campus businesses covered under the Just Employment Policy, which are already required to pay $15.87 per hour for full-time personnel, according to Joelle Wiese, associate vice president for auxiliary business services. Other part-time contracts will require changes to ensure pay reaches the minimum wage.

The D.C. Council will have a final vote on the minimum wage bill in a special legislative session on Dec. 17.

news

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the georgetown voice 5

Epicurean owner responds to solidarity committee petition

by Kenneth Lee In a Nov. 18 letter addressed to the “Students of Georgetown,” Chang Wook Chon, owner of Epicurean restaurant, responded to the Nov.11 petition presented to him by Georgetown Solidarity Committee, GUSA, and the Georgetown chapter of the NAACP. In the letter Chon claims to have addressed the concerns of the petition, such as alleged wage theft and employee abuse, prior to its presentation.

“I have complied with every request by the Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Services,” Chon wrote.

The petition, which over 500 students signed, expressed “great concern regarding allegations of wage theft, intimidation, and the mistreatment of immigrant workers at Epicurean” and called Chon to reaffirm his commitment to the Just Employment Policy. In an interview with the Voice on Nov. 12, GSC member Chris Wager (SFS ‘17) added, “We want the University to require random wage audits from Epicurean, … go in and interview the workers, … and be required to provide Just Employment training.”

Joelle Wiese, associate vice president for auxiliary business services, explained in an interview with the Voice that the University was already enforcing and monitoring JEP at Epicurean. “There hasn’t been anything in particular that we changed [in our plans] relative to the petition,” she said.

For instance, according to Wiese, Georgetown has been conducting wage audits since last summer.

“That’s something we can do on any of the contractors anytime we want to because [JEP is] included in the contract language,” she said.

GSC, however, disputed the effectiveness of the audits.

“The Advisory Committee on Business Practices sent a letter to Mr. Chon asking for the wages that he was paying the workers,” said GSC member Devika Ranjan (SFS ‘17). “In response, the ACBP got a letter stating the rates per hour that was very vague. [Chon] was asked to provide documentation again. With his response, he didn’t send back an hour sheet, which would have included [information] about overtime, which is the big issue here.”

In an interview with the Voice, Chon expressed confusion about

This is “student engagement”

My experience being the closest thing to a talking head of Georgetown media has taught me one thing: when you’ve exhausted your list of people to criticize, there’s always an easy target—blame administrators for not having enough “student engagement.”

Here’s the formula. Administrators announce mildly unpopular policy. Various groups of students disagree. Campus media asks questions. Student leaders decry lack of “student engagement.”

Administrators tout student input gathered from closed-door meetings. Talking heads retort, “That’s not student engagement!”

Just last week, the Voice’s editorial board trotted out the same old argument: “It is futile to merely increase the volume of the same type of ineffective engagement. We encourage the University to think of creative and organic ways for administrators and students to have conversations about both immediate goals such as the Northeast Triangle dorm as well as long-term campus goals.”

But what are administrators supposed to do? Is Todd Olson supposed to show up at my apartment with a bottle of wine on a Friday night to talk long-term planning? Do we expect Lauralyn Lee to send each student a personal invitation to an intimate roundtable to discuss the Northeast Triangle? Should we offer housing points to students who attend planning forums?

Administrators send out mass emails for public forums. Those interested attend, and administrators answer questions. The model makes sense. After dozens of these sessions, students outside of GUSA and campus media have lost interest, which also makes sense. This trend isn’t the administrators’ fault. If student leaders have real problems with what’s going on, it should be their jobs to get average students to care. GUSA, after all, is an advocacy body.

The school has already thought of a few “creative and organic” ways to increase engagement. Earlier this summer, administrators along with architects from Sasaki Associates let

GSC’s concerns over Georgetown Epicurean and said the Georgetown restaurant had no issues. He said the mistreatment the lawsuit addressed occurred in another restaurant he once owned, also named Epicurean and Co., on Connecticut Ave. “At the Georgetown location by itself, from day one, I’ve complied with the Just Employment Policy,” he said. “I was surprised when [the student leaders] had come in [on Nov. 11 to the Georgetown location].”

However, according to court transcripts, Marvin Hercules, a plaintiff in the court case who was previously employed at Epicurean on Connecticut Ave., claimed that he was mistreated after he was rehired at Georgetown’s Epicurean and told his job was at stake if he continued to pursue his case.

Wiese said that the University has maintained close contact with contractors’ employees. “We’re out there all the time,” she said. “I’ve never had any contractor say, ‘You can’t be here, get out.’ We wouldn’t partner with people like that.”

GSC, on the other hand, believes that the University was hesitant towards taking action with Epicurean.

“This summer, there was a minor

students draw on several brown paper panels with possible designs for the building, which is significantly more involved than merely hosting a question and answer session.

It’s also worth noting that Georgetown is not a democracy.

While it should serve the needs of students, it’s unreasonable to expect that they get 100 percent or even a sizeable majority of students to agree

Saxa Politica

by Connor Jones

A bi-weekly column about campus news and politics to a plan before it’s implemented.

We’ve seen so far that, if there is a proposal that is unpalatable to a hefty portion of students, administrators will offer an alternate plan.

The only two Georgetown plans that gained a significant amount of pushback in the past six months were resolved. The vague complaints about the ugliness of the proposed Northeast Triangle dorm were met with an updated, older looking design. The proposed satellite campus was eventually

Chon has been sued for wage theft in the past. audit, but after that audit, there was very little attention given to Epicurean,” Ranjan said. “We’d like to see them in action.”

In spite of the University’s stance, GSC believes that the petition put pressure on Chon and the University to be more accountable to Just Employment Policy. “[Chon] said that the administration and students can speak to workers whenever they want, which was a really big step for us,” Ranjan said. “[Before], Mr. Chon really discouraged anybody speaking to workers personally one-on-one.”

Epicurean workers that the Voice interviewed spoke positively of their

abandoned, even though it took a campaign mounted by GUSA leaders to kill it. As I’ve written previously, the satellite campus option was problematic because administrators had emphatically promised in the past that they wouldn’t consider it. Nevertheless, GUSA did its job, the feedback mechanism worked, and something of a compromise was reached.

Still, you could fault administrators for only holding in-person forums to seek student input. Oh, wait. There’s already an entire section of the University’s website devoted to master planning, where you can read up on the topics related to master planning and offer feedback.

At this point, administrators can say with confidence that they’ve given every student a chance to give feedback on master planning topics.

If, instead, you think that it is the school’s responsibility to get students to care, I have a suggestion: hold online polls to determine what certain aspects of master planning will look like.

Instead of assuring students

AMBIKA AHUJA

work environment. Daysi Trolina, an overnight employee from El Salvador, said that her supervisors are responsive to her concerns during Epicurean’s late-night service.

“Sometimes we have big lines,” she said. “I’m busy, I call him, and [the manager’s] coming to support me.” She noted that she does not talk to her co-workers outside her shift and does not know any grievances other workers might have had.

Ranjan questioned whether the Voice’s interviews with Epicurean staff would even be effective. “People aren’t going to speak out about mistreatment or harassment about the place that they work,” she said.

that they’ll take their comments into consideration at forums, administrators could set aside a few minor decisions and let students, faculty, and staff vote on them.

Nothing major, like, “Where should the next dorm go?” Instead, questions like, “How big should the study rooms be?” or, “Should there be TV screens or a mural in the lobby?” or, “What type of trees should be planted?”

Many students would log in and vote if they knew that their vote would affect an aspect of the new dorm’s design. In turn, such a measure would generate student interest in other aspects of master planning and might even increase attendance at upcoming forums.

Engagement is a two-way street. Administrators need to give students enough opportunities to give feedback (which, recently, they have) and students need to care enough to turn up. It’s not enough to criticize administrators for a low level of student engagement.

Talk campus politics with Connor over wine at cjones@georgetownvoice.

sports

6 the georgetown voice

december 5, 2013

Only 11 Spartans needed to end men’s soccer season

by Chris Castano After an impressive post-season performance against Old Dominion University (11-6-1 overall), expectations were high for the Georgetown University men’s soccer team. The Hoyas had lost to the ODU Monarchs in an exhibition game at the beginning of the season and looked to change their luck after a surprise defeat in penalty kicks in the semi-finals of the Big East tournament at the hands of the Providence College Friars.

Despite a well played 3-0 win over ODU, Georgetown’s post-season came to a screeching halt this past Sunday as they lost to the Michigan State Spartans (14-5-3 overall) 1-0 in the round of 16. Even though his team may be out of the tournament, Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese is taking it all in stride.

“I don’t have any regrets about the game at all. It was some of the best soccer we’ve played all year in terms of getting the ball forward. We had them pretty much suffocated.

They played an entire 30 minutes in their own half. We were undone by a dangerous free kick that came off of a sort of random handball. That’s where the frustration is. It was a bad result, but we played well.”

The Hoyas started Sunday’s game off strong with two excellent chances aided by sophomore forward Brandon Allen that only slightly missed the mark. As Allen warmed up, so did his offensive teammates. Georgetown dictated the run of play, resulting in two excellent chances from junior midfielder Tom Skelly and sophomore defender Keegan Rosenberry, both of whom were palmed away from the MSU goal for corner kicks.

The Hoyas were undone in mann, along with teammate and ing to go on to have a very suc- sive lynchpins Cole Seiler and the 28th minute when a shot in senior co-captain Joey Dillon, is cessful career, as is Joey Dillon Keegan Rosenberry continue the box following a free kick was expected to declare for the MLS who will have an excellent MLS to impress while Tomas Gomez promises to continue patrolling career,” Wiese said. deflected onto the foot of MSU SuperDraft.

Luckily, the Hoyas have the six-yard box with prudence Even though he might be the midfielder Adam Montague, who subsequently fired the ball most recognizable name finish- strength in every class, boast- and skill.

Despite uncertainties hoverback into the box, past sopho- ing his career on the Hilltop, ing a number of starters in each more goalkeeper Tomas Gomez Wiese is adamant that Neu- grade level, thanks in large part ing over his lineup for next year, and into the back of the net. The mann is not the only senior who to Wiese’s policy of implement- Wiese maintains it’s simply a necHoyas couldn’t respond as the will be missed. “Well, it’s not ing younger players into his essary evil. “I don’t know who’s half closed out and the teams just [Joey Dillon and Steve Neu- system early. Freshmen start- going to replace them,” Wiese went into the break with MSU mann]. We’re losing six seniors ers Bakie Goodman, Alex Muyl, said. “I think that’s the curse of and in losing them, we lose a and Joshua Yaro proved their working in a good program. Evleading 1-0.

The Blue and Gray came out lot of character [and] work eth- mettle in collegiate soccer by ery year you lose great players swinging in the second half with ic there. Joey Dillon and Stevie consistently performing beyond and you always wonder what Rosenberry firing a number of Neumann are great. Steve is go- their years. Sophomore defen- you’re going to do next year.” crosses into the Spartan box, narrowly missing Georgetown heads every time. The Hoyas continued to probe for a chance “Is it too late to join the Eastern Conference? Asking for a friend.” - @trailblazers, the Portland Trail Blazers’ official Twitter account on net, but the Michigan State name was offensive, it seems that merchandise. However, I fail to hear defense was resolute, packing it by Chris Almeida we are taking the “If one person is any outcry over this injustice from in and allowing few scoring opoffended, it’s not okay” approach. the large group that is supposedly I’ll spare you the extra commenportunities. Despite the Hoyas’ Also part of the FSU team chants dedicated to equality. tary on the Redskins name.

Yes, I best efforts, their season would The list of violations goes on. are the “tomahawk chop” and the have been a fan of Washington footend at the final whistle.

Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs chant “war chant.”

These practices have ball for as long as I can remember MSU will continue to the quarin the stands while wearing headnot been addressed or cleared by the and changing the name of a franchise terfinals for the first time in 45 dresses, which are usually reserved Seminole Nation, and make a mockthat has become as much a part of my years. The Spartans will play the for members of Native American ery of traditional Native American identity as my musical or political winner of Sunday’s match between communities who have earned practices, even if well-intentioned. tastes is not something that sits well Notre Dame and Wake Forest. each feather with an extraordinary The Atlanta Braves use the same with me.

But I’m not going to try and The Hoyas bowed out of the achievement.

The Chicago Blackchop and chant as Florida State, but determine what is and isn’t offensive.

NCAA Tournament boasting a hawks have uniforms that sport again, are not brought under fire Where I will make my argument is on record of 14-5-2 in all competia logo eerily similar to that of the for their lack of sensitivity.

A Sports the grounds of consistency. tions and won the Big East RegRedskins, but have caught no flack.

Illustrated article from 1991, makes The Redskins name has been ular Season Championship for There is no shortage of sins when around for decades, but until recent- the hypocrisy of some fans evident the third time in four years. it comes to sports and representation by looking at the case of Jane Fonly, people who opposed the name One who might wish the seaof the Native American community, da, who participated in multiple gained little traction.

Now, controson had ended a little further but the only focus when it comes demonstrations for the support of versy over the name is one of the into December is senior forward to this topic seems to be on the NaNative American rights, but at the major off-the-field stories in football.

Steve Neumann, a semifinalist tion’s capital.

Why? I may be wrong, same time, spent her time “chopAgain, I am not going to argue about for the MAC-Hermann trophy but I have a theory.

To be against the ping” in the stands of Atlanta-Fulton this ethically, but let’s just assume awarded to the best male and Redskins name is hip.

Being a part of County Stadium during the World that the name is offensive, wrong, female collegiate soccer playthe majority that hates the Redskins Series.

Surely anybody so concerned and has no place in the world of ers in the nation. Neumann is professional sports. Taking this into about the representation of Native is a way to ease one’s majority guilt, perhaps the most recognizable consideration, discriminatory names Americans would not make such a or to seem socially aware while and well-known player on the and practices should universally mistake, unless their social statement avoiding truly investing oneself in Georgetown squad, boasting was more of a fad, as much of a state- an issue. People who love using the bring about outrage. Right? such titles as Big East Offensive ment as that made by environmental “racist” or “sexist” card, or whatever Apparently not.

First, let’s look Player of the Year, 2013 Big East egomaniacs that find the need to slap it may be, are as much of a problem into college athletics.

At the very top Preseason Offensive Player of “My other car is a Prius” bumper as bigots themselves. Stances taken of the BCS standings are the Florida the Year, and was included in stickers on their second vehicles, just within the Native American comState Seminoles.

Now, given, “Semthe First Team All-Big East. Neumunity should always be respectinole,” despite referring to a people so you know they “care.”

Perhaps the most egregious rep- ed, though as a whole rather than which the American government exiled, is not a slur. I would argue, resentation of Native Americans in simply dissenting views. However, though, that if we are looking to sports is in Cleveland baseball. I’m outsiders should, at the very least, be offended, there is no shortage of sure I don’t need to tell you why the understand the entirety of an issue noteworthy points. The practice of “Indians” name would be incorrect before reacting strongly. So, the next sending out a student dressed in or offensive, because it is based on time that somebody tells you that Native American clothing on a horse a history of misconceptions, and the Redskins represent racism and before games to hype up the crowd lack of respect for an entire people. that Dan Snyder is evil (which he is, could certainly be interpreted as of- But the name is not the most strik- but for different reasons) tell them fensive. This practice has been ap- ing mark of disregard in Cleveland. about everything else in the issue proved by the Seminole Nation, but Rather, the team logo, literally a red- that they don’t “strongly oppose” not unanimously, and, considering faced caricature, almost as misrep- and remind them that they should that in 2004, under 9 percent of Na- resentative as a minstrel costume, do their research before deciding to tive Americans said that the Redskin jumps out when looking at Indians take on the White Man’s Burden.

the sports sermon

ANDRES RENGIFO

Men’s soccer struggled to find the back of the net against Michigan State.

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice 7

Men’s basketball stampedes Bisons Women’s hoops dominate

by Brendan Crowley

After a tepid fifth place finish in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, the Georgetown men’s basketball team (4-2, 0-0 Big East) returned to Stateside ready to tackle a slate of non-conference matchups, with the first one last Saturday against the Lipscomb Bisons (3-4, 0-0 A-Sun), a relative unknown in the college basketball world with no NCAA tournament appearances to their name. By comparison, the Hoyas boast seven NCAA tournament appearances under current Head Coach John Thompson III alone, a talent gap that should have indicated an easy win for the Hoyas entering the matchup.

Early on, however, the Blue and Gray struggled to build any lead against the Bisons, who ended the first half on a 7-0 run, cutting Georgetown’s lead to just one point entering the break. Slow starts, which have been apparent in numerous games this season, are

something Thompson is striving to correct sooner rather than later.

“I think we know what we need to do to win games. We have to continue to get better,” said Thompson.

“We have to get to the point where the other team can’t score. It is just as simple as that. Every shot that the other team gets is a tough, contested shot and then we get the rebound. If we do that, then everything else will fall into place.”

In a remarkably faster-paced second half, Georgetown jumped out on a 14-0 run, holding Lipscomb scoreless for the half’s first six minutes, en route to a 70-49 victory. Saturday’s win marked the Hoyas’ third straight win as well as their 45th consecutive non-conference win at Verizon Center.

The Hoyas were aided by another dominant performance by sophomore guard D’Vauntes Smith Rivera, who poured in 17 points along with eight rebounds and seven assists. Rivera, who is averaging 21.4 points per game

since scoring only five in the season opener against Oregon, has emerged as the Hoyas’ most reliable scorer.

“It was good to see him finally throw some passes and get some rebounds. He has a knack for that,” said Thompson after the win. “He is a very good rebounder. ... The seven assists and eight rebounds is something we need more of.”

Next up for the Hoyas is a game with the Panthers of High Point (33, 0-0 Big South) this Thursday at the Verizon Center at 9 p.m. High Point is led by 6-foot-8, 215-pound sophomore forward John Brown, who averages an impressive 21.7 points per game along with 9.8 rebounds a game. Brown will be a true test for junior big men Josh Smith and Mikael Hopkins, who have been able to dominate smaller opponents thus far.

“They can play with anybody in the country,” Thompson said. “They do a good job with their spacing, I think. It’s another team that we could have a challenge with. They spread you out and so we are going to have to chase. Our bigs, especially Josh, are going to have to be out on the perimeter guarding.”

After their matchup with High Point, the Hoyas will welcome Colgate (4-2, 0-0) to the Verizon Center on Saturday, followed by a ten-day respite due to final exams.

by Sourabh Bhat The Georgetown women’s basketball team (5-2, 0-0 Big East) continued its strong performance this season, placing first in the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout this past weekend. In the final game, the Hoyas defeated the University of Alaska-Anchorage (4-1, 0-0 GNAC) 92-78, after defeating Nicholls State (4-3, 0-0 Southland) in the semifinals.

Senior forward Andrea White was named Outstanding Player of the tournament, and freshman center Natalie Butler won Player of the Game for the finals.

While the tournament had only one Division I school, Coach Jim Lewis said, “This tournament helped prepare us because we’re still a work in progress, and now we’ve experienced a wide variety of diverse teams and situations in games.” Outside of the tournament, the team has had a strong 5-2 start to the season, even though it faces a challenging schedule and early season injuries. There is a sense that they will do well in Big East play.

A big story in this tournament was Andrea White’s performance after recovering from injury. “I was finally able to see some of the dimensions of her game … and see every facet of the game that I

had come to love and respect in any outstanding player,” Lewis.

Her strong play for the Hoyas is a good sign as she will join a formidable frontcourt that includes freshman forward Faith Wooder and freshman center Natalie Butler. Butler broke a tournament record for rebounds and was a strong offensive weapon as well.

She scored 18 points in the final, which shows her potential to be a freshman star.

The Hoyas supplemented their tournament victory with a win against crosstown rival George Washington (4-3, 0-0 A10) on Tuesday, 78-57. Butler led the way for the Hoyas, who had five players score in double figures, with 17 points and White recorded another double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

“GW’s a good team and you’re not going to go out there a shut them out or run up the score,” said Lewis. “We had a game plan that we executed well and I thought it was a good team effort.”

While the team’s conference games come after the New Year, the start of the season bodes well for this young group over the rest of the year. The team plays its next home game against Penn State (5-1, 0-0 Big Ten) at Saturday at 2p.m.

ANDRES RENGIFO

D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera has led the Hoyas so far with his hot shooting.

Daley in the deep end

When Tom Daley revealed that he is in a relationship with a man in a YouTube video this past Monday, his supporters acknowledged his courage. For a 19-year old Olympic bronze medalist as popular as Daley to come out as being in a relationship with a man is a major step forward for the LGBTQ movement.

It’s also a boon for the confidence of gay men and women who have yet to find an opportunity to share their true selves with others. After becoming the International Swimming Federation World Champion in the ten meter platform event in 2009 at the age of 15, his fame skyrocketed as he became the object of Great Britain’s affection, peaking when he entered the 10 meter platform final at the 2012 London Olympics.

Sifting through what the Chinese government will let me read on the internet, I came across a com-

ment that perturbed me in the way that it revealed several types of what I can only describe as ugliness that exists in our world.

“This will make no difference with tolerant and progressive companies in this country. But if those countries have an international presence, there is pressure from eastern Europe to not sponsor gay people. I can’t prove I lost sponsors, but deals that were agreed suddenly disappeared,” said Graeme Obree, former double world pursuit champion cyclist and an openly gay professional athlete.

The fact that Daley’s sexual orientation could cost him sponsors before the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is a pretty detestable possibility.

Considering the intolerance that still exists in many countries that participate in the games, though, it’s definitely a risk that he will have to face.

Earlier this year Russia, host of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, passed legislation that outlawed the promotion of “homosexual propaganda” to people under the age of 18, a blatantly discriminatory measure. In response to this ban, which

All The Way

by Steven Criss A bi-weekly column about sports

effectively outlaws homosexuality, many athletes are planning to boycott the Winter Olympics. If the boycott continues to gain support and publicity, it could cause an even larger rift between the LGBTQ community and those governments that oppose homosexuality.

Although this example reveals the lengths we still have to go before LGBTQ people can be globally accepted, it also shows that profession-

al sports is becoming an essential platform for achieving acceptance.

With the support and attention that athletes receive worldwide, more and more athletes coming out could be the push that this movement needs. Daley’s announcement exemplifies just what kind of push this can be: All you need to do is think about the media coverage his video has already gotten and the spread of his message through his 2.5 million Twitter followers.

One last drawback that I couldn’t help but dwell on when reading this statement, though, is the effect that mass commercialization of professional sports will have on athletes’ decisions to come out.

What first drew my attention to this problem was Obree’s mention of losing contracts with international companies. If athletes are going to become a compelling force in fostering acceptance of the LGBTQ community, money cannot be a factor in

their decision. Obree makes it sound like the loss of extra income should be a major worry for Daley now that he is open about his relationship. If it’s a matter of expressing his true self for a cause versus keeping the money flowing into his bank account, I would hope that the former garners more importance.

Daley says in his video that in an ideal world he would not have to make this kind of announcement because it really shouldn’t matter who he falls in love with, but that he recognizes it is important to countless people around the world is at the very least high-minded of him.

His actions transcended the desire for a simpler, wealthier life and with that, his example will hopefully encourage more active athletes to join him in this drive for acceptance. more considerable scale.

Discuss with Steven at scriss@ georgetownvoice.com

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8 the georgetown voice

december 5, 2013

georgetownvoice.com

THE VOICE'S BEST

feature

the georgetown voice 9

OF 2013

1. Yeezus - Kanye West A challenging album that stands in sharp contrast to some of West’s past releases thanks to its raw minimalism, Yeezus is generally devoid of any radio-friendly tracks and instead opts for more brooding, almost industrial songs. From the opening grind of “On Sight” to the tortured screams on “I Am a God,” there are plenty of abrasive sounds that work well with the often autotuned vocals to create an intensely grating but captivating work. It’s refreshing to hear a major artist boldly pursue a vision that won’t necessarily appeal to a broad swath of listeners—what’s even better is when the vision works as well as it does in Yeezus.

– Sam Wolter

2. Modern Vampires of the City Vampire Weekend In its third studio album, Vampire Weekend explores a new musical style while beginning to grapple with heavier themes, such as faith and mortality. The combination of lyrics describing moody, freezing beaches in “Hannah Hunt” or a torching a Saab in “Diane Young” along with the album’s ebbs and flows unveil the band’s darkest realization: growing up also means growing old. In spite of these fears, Vampire Weekend delivers a beautiful album, intertwining musical intricacies with enigmatic lyrics in a way that is at once honest, confusing, and captivating – Andrea Keklak

3. Pure Heroine - Lorde I know. We’ve all heard “Royals” about 50 million times now and are ready to declare a fatwa on precocious pop stars that come from distant lands whose people are nicknamed after fruit. Pure Heroine, though, really shouldn’t be treated as a passing pop sensation. The album may be dominated by minimalist, synth-filled soundscapes with little variation, but it’s worth a deeper look. In an age when columns about anxious millennials are a journalistic genre in themselves, it’s a refreshing change to hear from an actual youth growing up in the Internet era. Calling Lorde the voice of her generation might be a bit extreme, but she fastens a poetic lens to an age of feeling alone in a crowd, building a world around a quiet nighttime street.

– Julia Lloyd-George

4. Acid Rap - Chance The Rapper Following the steps of Biggie, Kanye, and Kendrick, Chance The Rapper is the latest wunderkind to emerge from Rap’s procession of young talent and spit new energy into the seemingly stagnating genre. The 20-year-old’s first mixtape, 10 Day, gave a glimpse of his impressive lyricism, but it wasn’t until his chart-topping 2013 release, Acid Rap, that Chance secured a spot among his genre-defining predecessors.

He wraps an LP about injustice and death in intricate, playful lyrics, which rightfully pay homage to rap’s greats, from Twista to Tupac. A story of the pain and solemnity of the emcee’s past delivered in tabs of Chance’s youthful lyrical flare, Acid Rap is a real trip.

– Josh Ward

6. Long.Live.A$AP - A$AP Rocky In his breakout album, Long.Live.

A$AP, A$AP Rocky has marked his territory very broadly. The Harlem, N.Y. native shows no reservation in his influences and collaboration. This album pairs trap-heavy hip-hop beats with melodic vocal hooks, bouncing lyrics with deep distorted choruses, and even ventures to team-up with Skrillex on the successful hybrid track “Wild For The Night.” The one common denominator on this album is A$AP’s demonstrated mastery of the rhythm and flow of his rapping, an element that ties all his other diverse influences into a cohesive-sounding album. A$AP Rocky’s album, like his hometown, is an energetic fusion of a multitude of stories and sounds.

– Josh Ward

7. The 20/20 Experience Justin Timberlake On his first LP since some of us were in middle school, Timberlake continues to shed his pop-y, *NSYNC musical identity. In The 20/20 Experience, Timberlake evokes Marvin Gaye and Motown and blends them with Timbaland’s production to make his electronic-soul epics. With no song on the album under five minutes, JT puts a lot into the disc.

Sometimes he overextends, but his artistic vision is something to be admired. From the old-school class of “Suit & Tie” to the stellar, neo-soul epic “Spaceship Coupe,” JT proves that he still knows how to make some great songs.

– Jackson Sinnenberg

8. Reflektor - Arcade Fire Arcade Fire has produced an LP worthy of its Grammy-winning title. With its fusion of Saturday Night Fever rhythms and gut-deflating guitar riffs, Reflektor is a creative departure from the band’s traditional and iconic alternative sound. Influenced by the ‘80s pop themes of LCD Soundsystem, this seventy-five minute double album will pleasantly surprise listeners with songs like “We Exist” and “Here Comes the Night,” two of the many tracks that incorporate elements of Caribbean and disco music. Reflektor is an LP that is truly reflective of Arcade Fire’s more developed and nuanced sound, and it’s definitely worth a listen.

– Shalina Chatlani

9. Talon of the Hawk - The Front Bottoms It’s hard to sound hopelessly sad and infectiously fun at the same time, but The Front Bottoms balance the two perfectly in their sophomore album Talon of the Hawk. Combining up-tempo, crashing-dance rhythms with youthful, selfaware lyrics, The Front Bottoms have crossed over genres in their blend between folk and punk. Whether it’s telling a dumb story about getting too high and falling asleep in a car in “Skeleton” or breaking listeners’ hearts with the tragic outro on “Twin Size Mattress,” Talon of the Hawk never fails to impress with its wide range of emotions and awesome jams.

– Ryan Greene

5. Random Access Memories Daft Punk Few artists have changed the world. Daft Punk, the iconic French electronic duo, is among the pantheon of musicians who are real claimants to that status. They put electronica on the map, and now you’ll be hard-pressed to find a corner of the globe that hasn’t caught the EDM bug. Random Access Memories, Daft Punk’s first studio production in eight years, doesn’t quite live up to the impossibly high bar they themselves have set, but it is infectiously good. It’s an update of the sounds of the ‘70s and ‘80s for our time. But perhaps the best testament to its refined power is the fact that you’ve played “Get Lucky” at least 20 times despite it being one of the stupidest songs you’ve ever heard.

– Noah Buyon

10. Save Rock and Roll Fall Out Boy After five years on hiatus, Fall Out Boy has made its declarative return. If fans were looking for a punkier “Thnks fr the Mmrs” sound in Save Rock and Roll though, they will be confused. The album instead experiments with new electro-pop swings, such as the disco “Miss Missing You” and dance-rock of the aptly-named “Where Did the Party Go,” and brings on some unexpected guests like rapper Big Sean on “The Mighty Fall” and the crooning Elton John on the closing rock-ballad “Save Rock and Roll.”

It’s odd, but it’s a good odd. Fall Out Boy doesn’t really save rock and roll (with their least rock album yet), but it has definitely saved their place at the angsty pop table.

– Claire Zeng

1. The Way, Way Back The Way, Way Back is more than a pleasant surprise: It’s a clever and poignant film about growing up, for people in all stages of life. It strays from the syrupy “coming-of-age” movies that are often so trite the audience leaves vomiting with boredom. There’s something in this movie for everyone: awkward family gatherings, class warfare, budding adolescent longing. This film, directed and written by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (best known for their work on Community and as the Oscar-winning writers of The Descendants) explores both happiness and pain, capturing awkward adolescence with a wry compassion that’s rare in film, especially today.

– Julia Tanaka

2. The Spectacular Now Try to get past the cheesy title if you can. The story of a high school senior struggling with the idea of having to grow up as he deals with alcoholism and an estranged father, The Spectacular Now is at once recognizably universal and deeply personal. The teenage years are a notoriously difficult period, both to go through and portray on screen, and TSN handles them with a deftness that recalls the John Hughes golden era of teen flicks. The romance at its heart is refreshingly believable, defined by a charming awkwardness and sensitivity that kept me captive even through a somewhat lazily structured last quarter. Filled with all the startling intensity of youth, it’s not so much a spectacle as a quiet revelation, parceled out in moments of incredible potency.

– Julia Lloyd-George

3. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Possibly the year’s most anticipated sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire garnered a raucous ovation as the screen faded to black after its midnight premiere at our local AMC Cinema. And boy, was that applause deserved. Our heroes, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) struggle to survive their second time in the arena. But this time, the devious President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is joined by a new game maker, Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymor Hoffman), and the duo will stop at nothing to see Katniss dead. Dazzling cinematography, refined acting, and a beautiful score take what could have been another mediocre action movie and instead create a terrifyingly intense exploration of the dystopian world of Panem.

– Daniel Varghese

4. 12 Years a Slave In 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen manages to distinguish his movie from all the other overdone slavery films by focusing on the brutality of the owners rather than the resilience of the slaves. Although the film is centered on Solomon Northup’s real-life narrative, the cruelty he experiences is just an example of the myriad of slaves that went through similar experiences in the United States. The uniquely visceral images of beating, verbal abuse, and suffocation are held on the screen long beyond what is comfortable—but isn’t that the point?

The film confronts the audience with the most unsettling realities of Southern plantations. McQueen captivates viewers to cling to the words of a story everyone ought to understand.

– Lara Fishbane

5. Django Unchained Just when we thought we’d had enough of Quentin Tarantino’s blood-soaked genre-movie escapades, Django came along and artfully splattered the spaghetti Western with anger, fear and extravagance. Set in Texas in 1858, Django Unchained is the story of a freed slave (Jamie Foxx), who travels across the country with a German bounty hunter in search of his wife. Like Inglorious Basterds before it, this film is an exploration of atrocity through the director’s time-tested tools of intricate character development, dark humor, and cathartic violence. As always, Tarantino’s meticulous attention to detail elevates this dark film to a visually stunning chef-oeuvre, leaving no boutonnière unbloodied.

– Josh Ward

6. Zero Dark Thirty Regardless of whether or not the CIA influenced writer Mark Boal and director Katherine Bigelow in the making of Zero Dark Thirty, the movie was good, and damningly so. Of the many strengths of the movie, most notable was Bigelow’s treatment of torture. Though extremely controversial, Bigelow’s torture scenes were factually and historically accurate, as the CIA did use techniques like waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and confining the detainees in extremely small boxes in order to get them to talk. Even more, the scenes of the movie were intensely moving, urging audiences to rethink their idealized vision of America, especially regarding its values.

– Minali Aggarwal

7. The World’s End What appears to be a film about confronting the realities of adulthood and putting the glory days of youth in the past takes on a new life with an apocalyptic plot twist no one saw coming. The World’s End features director Edgar Wright’s trademark parody of a humdrum English town and mixes American humor with classic British snark. The film begins with five childhood friends reuniting to bury the past and complete The Golden Mile, a pub crawl they had attempted 20 years prior. As these men make their way toward The World’s End, the final pub on the list, they find that the past comes back to haunt them in the most unexpected way possible.

– Caitriona Pagni

8. This is the End This Is the End brings authenticity to the stoner bro comedy genre. Marketed as a spoof on the tired apocalyptic-horror flick, the movie also portrays the frustrations between friends Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel, who play themselves. Seth drags Jay to a party at James Franco’s house when the apocalypse strikes. There, a cohort of survivors fight over both resources and each other’s favor.

As the situation grows dire, the comedy becomes less scripted and more self-aware, with each character parodying himself. Amid all the backstabbing and death, Seth and Jay reconcile before they’re both raptured up to Heaven, where—in the most convincing display of God’s grace—the Backstreet Boys have reunited.

– Connor Jones

9. Gravity Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity is a simple, neverending, terrifying rollercoaster ride. “Life in space is impossible.” A Marvin the Martian figure that floats within the space shuttle in the film captures our ideal to defy this cold, hard fact by placing as many International Space Stations and Tiangongs as we can place into orbit. Then everything that can go wrong goes wrong. As all the machines explode into a billion lethal pieces, Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Mike Kowalsky (George Clooney) find out what being human really means: We are but merely tiny, fragile lives on a pale, blue dot in the vast cosmos of silence.

– Kenneth Lee

10. Star Trek: Into Darkness J.J. Abrams delivers a satisfying sequel to 2009’s fun but flawed Star Trek reboot. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) must learn to develop as a leader and as captain to the Enterprise when faced against both an unpredictable galactic terrorist (Benedict Cumberbatch) and numerous conspiracies. Filled with fun action, great performances, and amazing effects, Into Darkness is a delight for the eyes of the viewer and a fantastic summer blockbuster, although it is marred somewhat by numerous plotholes, inconsistencies, and far too many references to the old Star Trek films, making it feel at times more like an overblown remake than a reimagining of the classic series.

– John Connor Buckley

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

december 5, 2013

Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? Chomsky doesn’t know

by Andrew Gutman Noam Chomsky, linguist at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology and notable political activist, is often considered one of the finest thinkers alive.

Michel Gondry, director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, is generally considered to be a bit odd. Together, they make an unusual conversational pair, but that’s exactly what Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? gives us— their conversation.

Gondry starts this documentary off in a strange way: over an animated loop of himself animating. He explains his reasons not only for making the documentary but also his choice in presenting the film as drawings: since film is inherently manipulative, and he wants his audience to be able to draw their own conclusions, he presents his conversation with Noam Chomsky not with raw footage of the event, but instead as his own artistic interpretation. This way, viewers know the images on the screen are created and don’t form snap judgments.

This explanation is heady, and perhaps excessively meta for a mere two minutes in, but it sets the tone.

Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? proceeds to the conversation with Chomsky, with a few afterthe-fact interjections by Gondry.

Almost the entire film is set to Gondry’s distinctive animation—simple images, sometimes cartoony and fun, other times resembling a M.C. Escher drawing in motion. Even though some images are repetitive, they added a lot of color to what could easily be a drab subject.

Again, Chomsky and Gondry are not the most intuitive duo, nor the most compelling.

Gondry admits more than once in the film that he doesn’t entirely understand the concepts Chomsky brings up, and he sometimes stumbles over words through his thick French accent.

This leaves a lot of the talking up to Chomsky, with mostly just questions and brief interjections from his partner.

The whole film rests on Chomsky’s strength of personality and great intellect and understanding. He tackles a great variety of subjects—his life, his views on knowledge and education, linguistics—and does so with the expertise and fascination you’d expect from someone who has published over one hundred books. He’s a compelling enough character to base a film around, even if it is just a few sessions of musings, and it’s not hard to see why Gondry would want to film him. After all, Chomsky explains, he’s not getting any younger.

Though the subtitle of the film is An Animated Conversa-

“Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto, for putting me inside this kaleidoscope.”

IMDB

tion with Noam Chomsky, the whole thing plays less like a conversation and more like a lecture, albeit one with prominent visual aids. Though this may sound dreadfully boring, somehow, it works. Chomsky’s words and Gondry’s images form something of their own conversation, with Gondry responding to and interpreting Chomsky after the fact and, in one instance, vice versa.

The two men’s styles are very different. Chomsky’s speaking gives off the air of a particularly knowledgeable but weary college professor, and Gondry’s drawings resemble elaborate doodles you would find in a wayward high school notebook. It’s a complementary pairing, with Gondry illustrating Chomsky in a charming way, and Chomsky giving Gondry’s shattered creativity focus and something to build off of.

De la Pava in the buff

Just like all evocative art, really amazing books are impossible to describe. One of those novels is A Naked Singularity, the story of Casi, a 20year old public defender who has never lost a case.

The mind behind this 678page mammoth? Sergio de la Pava, “a writer that does not live in Brooklyn” according to the about-the-author blurb.

De la Pava is fascinating in his own right. A public defender in NYC by day, New Jersey family man-cum-writer by night, de la Pava self-published A Naked Singularity in 2012. It was picked up by the University of Chicago Press to become one of the best-sellers of 2012 and the winner of a Poets, Essayists, and Novelists award.

The novel is well-deserving of its success. A Naked Singularity is undoubtedly in the canon of works that succeed in every minute detail. It is a pulsating whole more powerful even than the sum of its exquisite parts.

To best describe a book that defies description, I’ll rely on the usual adjectives for a basic idea. First, regarding its girth: A Naked Singularity is a maximalist endeavor, an epic tale, a behemoth. But it is not overwhelming or over-ambitious, nor is it boring and drawn out. De la Pava ensnared me and kept me enthralled in Casi’s life. From daily routines to transcripts from court to dream sequences to dramatic descriptions of a heist, de la Pava had me hooked.

Which brings me to style, where calling A Naked Singularity creative is an understatement. De la Pava’s words fall into place so comfortably

you forget that they were written—rather, you feel as though you are privy to a parallel universe, a little off from our own but more compelling.

His wordplay is sophisticated, witty, and at times bizarre.

Weird, strange, and, when put together with everything else, immaculate.

Beyond the basics of range, style, and creativity, what makes A Naked Singularity so unique and so stunning is that it transcends plot. The story is about a public defender who gets into criminal activity while dealing with family affairs and being a broke law grad 20-something trying to make it in New

Under the Covers

by Emilia Brahm A bi-weekly literary column York (something for us to look forward to!). It is semi-realistic, or reality viewed through the tipsy, sleep-deprived eyes of a genius.

De la Pava himself said, “We don’t go to novels to see a perfect mimicry of life. After all, if you find quotidian life so compellingly instructive you can simply stand still and have it rush at you in blissful unrelenting waves.” His book is great mimicry, but edited to allow for extra satire and contemplation, reformatted to become a transcendent experience.

As clichéd as it may be, A Naked Singularity really hits you with the important stuff.

It isn’t exactly life, but it is definitely, seriously attacking life in all of its unpredictability and digressions.

De la Pava focuses on the failure of the criminal justice

This film is really an odd one and it won’t please everyone.

People looking for their Noam Chomsky fix might find the animations distracting or ill-fitting, and people looking for quirky drawings might not be compelled by the subject matter. Regardless, Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? is, like its title, strange, a little clumsy, perhaps off-putting, but interesting, if nothing else. system and the role of the individual in a larger cultural system. Much of this contemplation relies on de la Pava’s background in philosophy, which he studied before attending law school. He said, “I think I’ve always been prone to pretty radical skepticism with respect to the physical world; it feels odd to say it explicitly but to me it always felt like a far lower level of reality than say mental operations. What confounded me was that everyone else seemed to hold up this thing whose nature I was doubting as the paragon of unproblematic reality.”

This resonates with me. If you like to read for plot, style, and the physical world alone, I get it. We all need to read for the pure fun of it sometimes.

Even reading A Naked Singularity at face value will fit this niche. But I know you’re after more, especially from as heavy an undertaking as this book is (seriously, it’s heavier than my stats textbook).

This semester, I’ve left inspired and transformed from a lot of my classes, mostly my philosophy and language classes, and once, I admit, I was even enticed by an econ lecture, but reading A Naked Singularity throughout the fall has been more exciting, animating, thought-provoking, moving (I could go on until I ran out of action verbs) than all of that put together.

In all seriousness, if you read one book from my year’s worth of reviews, let it be this one. Under the Covers is ready to commit—A Naked Singularity may just be my new one and only.

Take off your clothes and cuddle with Emilia at ebrahm@ georgetownvoice.com

georgetownvoice.com

“It’s just nice to meet another human that shares my affinity for elf culture.” — Elf

In/Finite Earth exhibits artistic expression C O N C E R T

by Dayana Morales Gomez When I think of artists with disabilities, I tend to imagine Chuck Close, photorealist artist paralyzed from the waist down, or any other artist with the kind of disability I can visibly see.

In/Finite Earth: A National Juried Exhibition for Emerging Artists with Disabilities, gives a stage to young artists with disabilities across the spectrum of mental and physical health: autism, ADHD, blindness, depression, epilepsy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, to name a few.

The exhibit is made up of one or two pieces of each of the 15 selected artists. The pieces are intended to highlight the intersection of viewpoints in “environmentalism, creativity, and disability.” What the pieces together create is something much bigger than themselves.

Arguably the most powerful contribution is by Madalyne Marie

Hymes, with The Dyslexic Advantage. The 23-year old from Indiana created a large, multi-dimensional installation made up of placards describing some literal advantages of dyslexia, along with an island where Hymes shares direct quotes from others in her life who react to her dyslexia in different ways. The quotes are stacked and all crammed together, creating a daunting abundance of letters and quotation marks that look as fearful as they sound. Hymes, in being very personal and immersing, effectively gets her viewers thinking. The final touch of block letters on the table spelling “dumb” and “dyslexia” give yet another dimension to the installation while exhibiting the triviality of words.

Mary Datta, an 18-year old from North Carolina, presented Gossamer Boulders. Made from clay and covered in glaze, the piece comes together in a way that creates a feeling

smithsonian institution

This artist was sent to the Academic Council for plagiarism.

of discomfort, something probably intentional from an artist seeking to create “gossamer boulders.” What made the piece even more powerful was Datta’s description of her creative process. Datta, who is autistic, eloquently articulated, “Hands that cannot properly type can pull and build with clay. A mind that cannot put thoughts into words can mold words into shapes.”

The artists of In/Finite Earth are innovative in how use their disabilities to create something new. The exhibit promises to showcase intersectionality of the environment, creativity, and disability in every piece, but what the artists do under those constraints is all very different. The grand-prize winner incorporated plywood and paint strokes inspired by time and gravity, while a different artist, deaf from a young age and blind after a biking accident, sculpted a plain white bird, which became lost in the plain white background of the exhibit. The bird, weighted by its ceramic and plaster composition, exemplifies a natural internal response of those who face debilitating biological conditions: shrinking into themselves and hiding from the world. Luckily for us, the artists featured in In/Finite Earth show no such inhibitions.

S. Dillon Ripley Center 1100 Jefferson Drive, S.W. 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. daily Now until Jan. 5, 2014

thursday 12/05 The Ripples The Wonderland Ballroom, 9 p.m., Friday 12/06 Kring Krule with Tops Rock & Roll Hotel, 7 p.m., $30 Monday 12/09 Matisyahu with Kosha Dillz 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $35

the georgetown voice 11

CALENDAR Monday 12/16 Hot 99.5 Jingle Ball Concert Miley Cyrus, Enrique Igelesias, Jason Derulo, Paramore Verizon Center, 7 p.m., $280 Wednesday 12/18 Beyonce Verizon Center, 8 p.m., $104 Wednesday 12/22 Phosphorescent 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $18

Wednesday 12/11 Lupe Fiasco with Stalley, The Boy Illinois 9:30 Club, 7 p.m., $40

SUnday 12/29 The Flece Brothers with Justin Jones Rock & Roll Hotel 8 p.m., $20

Machinedrum with R4NSOM, Encryption U Street Music Hall, 10 p.m., $10

THURSDAY 1/16 JAY Z Verizon Center, 8 p.m., $20

Thursday 12/12 Andrea Bocelli Verizon Center, 7:30 p.m., $92

SUNDAY 1/26 Pixies with FIDLAR The Music Center at Strathmore, 7 p.m., $65

Matthew Dear (DJ Set) U Street Music Hall, 10 p.m., $10 Friday 12/13 Flosstradamus with Been Trill, DJ Spinz 9:30 Club, 10 p.m., $25 Sunday 12/15 Ms. Lauryn Hill 9:30 Club, 6 p.m., $75

friday 12/27 Common with Thundercat Filmore Silver Spring, 8 p.m., $48 THURSDAY 1/30 J. Cole with Bas DAR Constitution Hall, 8 p.m., $70

New restaurant Rialto brings Venetian flare to M Street

by Luigi Ambrosi Named after a famous Venetian bridge, Rialto is a welcoming new Georgetown restaurant, fittingly situated a short walk away from C&O Canal. The decor is eclectic, mixing simple wooden tables with ornate chairs resembling medieval thrones. Subtle pink and purple lights dapple the restaurant’s rocky black floor and dark walls.

The restaurant is split into two levels. The main floor welcomes the guests with a bar and a warm, sky-lit dining room. Across from the bar sits a beautiful brick pizza oven, filling the restaurant with the smell of baking dough and bubbling cheese, and a deli-style table, enticing customers with a bountiful selection of fine Italian cheeses. The restaurant also boasts an elaborate chimney, with

flames arranged to spell “Rialto.” Diners are seated around the chimney and the walls of the main eating area are covered with Venetian carnival masks.

Descending to the basement offers an equally inviting dining experience with a leather upholstered dining space and an extension of the upper level’s eclectic decor. If you’re interested in enjoying a drink, this level boasts another bar even more elegant than the one upstairs to enjoy the restaurants extensive wine list.

The decor is almost as good as the food. Chef Ryan Fichter, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, creates a fusion Italian cuisine: The recipes are all Italian, but they’re served with a tapasstyle Spanish twist. This leaves patrons able to choose more than one dish among the various ol-

ives, cheeses, appetizers in the antipasti section of the menu.

For those craving hearty and satisfying comfort food, there are the classic options of pasta, risotto, secondi, and steak on the menu. However, the lamb shank stands out from this list. It is slow cooked in a deep,

earthy sauce, and is paired with vegetables and a creamy, hearty polenta. The pastas are true to their roots, offering accurate representations of Italian classics. The brick oven is more than shiny eye-candy: pizza from here would put Tuscany’s to shame, even on your drunkest night.

If you’re looking for a little atmosphere to go with authentic Italian food, ditch Domino’s and try out Rialto.

Rialto 2915 M Street, N.W. rialtodc.com

rialto

Clint Eastwood walked into this room and hired all of the Obamas as extras in his next spaghtti western.

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12 the georgetown voice

december 5, 2013

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

Boston, Life, Love & Hope, Frontiers Records In the 11 years since Boston last released an album, the band has undergone many changes, with the death of their lead singer, Brad Delp, and the addition of new vocalists to fill his place. In the band’s new album, Life, Love & Hope, guitarist and producer Tom Scholz attempts to pull these pieces together to make something great. Unfortunately, he and the band fall just short.

The album, as a whole, serves as a pretty standard reminder of the music of the 70s, featuring loud guitars, screaming synths, and righteous harmonies in every track. For the most part, Boston sticks to their established sound and it works through the LP’s short 40-minute run. The opening track, “Heaven and Earth,”

is emblematic of the traditional classic rock anthem, which Boston and other bands like Kansas, Blue Öyster Cult, and Styx perfected in their heyday.

The song is backed by a very simple, rhythmic guitar beat that is accompanied by various ornamental riffs by another lead guitar. “Once I thought life was easy,” David Victor, one of Delp’s replacements, croons. These themes of uncertainty and unfulfillment, which were present in Boston’s initial discography, are still relevant today, allowing this song to resonate with its new audience.

The problem that Boston and other older bands now face, however, is that this type of music, which once brought down stadiums and rocked the brains of thousands of fans, has been developed, perfected, and curated so much over the last few decades that simply following the formula of heavy guitars and simple chord progressions is no longer enough to create great music. Life, Love & Hope is not particularly imaginative or innovative. The album gets boring very quickly.

It’s clear that Boston realized this as they were recording, though, as there are moments throughout the LP where there are overt and heavy-handed attempts to add something new to Boston’s sound.

I won’t be home for Christmas

Spending the holidays with family is a blessing, but there is something magical about experiencing celebrations immersed in another culture. Chances are that while traveling, you’ll find yourself celebrating one day or another, whether it’s a holiday you’re familiar with or one you’ve never heard of before.

You’ll probably celebrate holidays that look very much like your own. I traveled to Russia in late 2011. There, on New Year’s Eve, in the minutes leading up to midnight, instead of watching the ball drop in New York, millions of Russians and I tuned in to watch the president lead the countdown to the New Year against a backdrop of fireworks exploding above the Kremlin.

A cozy group of friends, a mix of Russians and Americans visiting the city, sat down for an hours-long feast. No feast in Russia is complete without an endless series of toasts.

The six of us spent nearly an hour toasting to everything—the new

year, our health, friendship, that we may deliver good toasts, world peace, more snow.

Each of us bundled up in parkas and multiple hats, our small group set out for the streets of St. Petersburg. After admiring the lights lining the city’s bridges and canals, we stopped to watch a laser show in a large square. Bright green and blue lights danced against the façade of a looming building, and people laughed as the lasers moved into shapes of snowflakes and ice skates.

As we came back to the apartment around four in the morning, I couldn’t help but smile at the wonder of the night. In the U.S., I had my fair share of New Year’s escapades, but there was something incredible about having this different spin on the classic holiday.

Traveling might also lead to your encountering holidays you never celebrated before. Two summers ago, while in Sevastpol, Ukraine, I was spending a peaceful afternoon

An example of this is the song “Didn’t Mean to Fall In Love,” which begins with a very disquieting phone ring scored by an ambient synth chord. It feels as if Boston is attempting to remain fresh by adopting techniques often used in concept albums to create stories, but unfortunately this just ends up being awkward, actively harming what could have been a decent album. The band leaves little to love and even less to hope for.

Voice’s Choices: “Heaven and Earth,” “You Gave Up On Love” —Daniel Varghese

Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones, Foreverly, Reprise Records It’s not every day you have Green Day’s frontman and Ravi curled up in a chair reading. I heard a strange, faint noise coming from down the road, so I asked Galia, the hostel owner, if she knew what was going on. She rushed to throw open the windows. The sound of bagpipes and drums filled the room.

We ran out of the apartment to the street below where I found myself in a crowd of a few hundred people watching military marching bands from Germany, Turkey, Po-

Day Tripper

by Colleen Wood A bi-weekly travel column land, and Romania parade through the city. Finally, Galia explained that the parade was for Den’ Goroda, or The Day of the City, which commemorates the city’s founding.

The crowd’s enthusiasm exploded when the Ukrainian band came on the scene. People were cheering and screaming. When the band passed the crowd, the crowd joined in the parade.

Shankar ’s daughter getting together to a record an album, but that’s exactly what happened with Foreverly.

The LP is a tribute to early rock and roll group The Everly Brothers and a mixture of classic folk country songs as covered by punk rocker Billie Joe Armstrong and jazz-pop singer Norah Jones.

The pair might seem perfectly at odds with each other in both genre and musicianship, but their chemistry is paralleled by only some of the best life-long partnerships in music. Armstrong and Jones nail the Everlys’ tight-knit harmonies and weave their voices together in an evocative blend of sound. Armstrong’s gruff and nasal voice intersects with Jones’ smooth, mid-range vocals to create that authentic, high lonesome sound that these songs originally embodied. This sound is nowhere more apparent than on the ballad “Long Time Gone,” in which Armstrong and Jones’s voices embody the sound as well, if not better, than most country singers today.

The album is ambitious in that Armstrong and Jones try After ten minutes, Galia and I were among only a few people who did not follow the Ukrainian musicians. She wished me a “Happy Den’ Goroda” before walking back to the hostel. I stayed on the street a while, amazed at what I had just seen and been a part of.

Some of the most difficult holidays spent abroad, though, are those that aren’t celebrated where you’re traveling.

I love my country—but I’m not one for booming, in-your-face patriotism. It was a strange feeling, then, when I came down with a serious case of homesickness while abroad on the Fourth of July one year.

I was in Tbilisi, Georgia—where, incidentally, there is a road called George W. Bush Avenue—and really missing home. The fact that it was the Fourth of July and my friends and family were sporting red, white, and blue while grilling burgers and watching fireworks without me left a knot in my stomach.

After a few hours of moping around the city, I realized that the

to create an LP that is not just a tribute album. Rather, it is a reimagining of the entire Everly Brothers’ album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. Armstrong and Jones not only breathe new life into these songs, they do it well.

Through musical touches like pedal-steel guitar lines and the use of a stand-up bass, many of the tracks on Foreverly are fresh yet reminiscent of a past era. They throw fiery fiddle on “Barbara Allen,” bluegrass-style twangy harmonica on “Roving Gambler,” and California surf inspired electric guitar work on “Oh So Many Years.” Songs like “Lightning Express” and “Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet” sound like they were recorded alongside the Everlys.

The title is cheesy, but Foreverly is not to be judged by its cover. Armstrong and Jones give not only a fabulous tribute to the Everly Brothers, but introduce new classics to a new generation of listeners.

Voice’s Choices: “Lightning Express,” “Barbara Allen” —Jackson Sinnenberg pouty attitude wouldn’t help me much. I decided to inject some America into my day, which involved a short trek to the giant domed McDonalds in the main square.

I ended up spending the rest of the day with an Iranian at a local Mexican bar. We talked politics, literature, and life stories for hours.

Just as we were heading back to the hostel, I heard it: An American accent.

I’m not embarrassed at all that I ran up to a total stranger and asked him if he was American—the screeches and dancing that followed totally made up for it.

So, this holiday season, no matter where you are—whether it be with family, with friends, or with strangers in a foreign place—remember there’s joy to be found in any celebration. And even when no one else is celebrating, don’t hesitate to cheer about it.

Share a kiss underneath the Ukranian mistletoe with Colleen at cwood@ georgetownvoice.com

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the georgetown voice 13

— Dylan Cutler

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14 the georgetown voice

december 5, 2013

DCPS administrators doom students to failure

by Claire McDaniel Picture a typical day in the District of Columbia Public School system.

The corridors are flooded with loud teenagers, teachers losing the battle to shepherd students to class and security officers patrolling their assigned areas. In the classrooms themselves, which are far too often overcrowded and under-supplied, the educators fight the real battle.

Blithely caught up in the elite academia of the Hilltop, I was woefully unaware of this crisis until recently, even when I was preparing to do my DCPS teaching thesis through the Biology Department. This Rise and Teach thesis calls for intensive research coupled with first-hand experience teaching science in a D.C. school. I relished the opportunity to teach high schoolers a subject I loved.

When I stepped into my teaching position in DCPS, my blissful unawareness was met by the failing DCPS administration.

I expected public education’s usual blights: underfunding, under-supplying, over-enrolling. I even expected real academic struggles.

The school where I would be teaching had almost shut down barely five years ago for failing rates under No Child Left Behind standards.

My ninth grade classroom, full of students who are bright and enthusiastic, has an average reading level of between first and fifth grade.

These smart young men and women are floundering in a system that has never seen fit to push them to attain a level of education on par with their age and abilities.

But, that’s not to say their teachers have lapsed in their duties.

Yes, there are undoubtedly inferior teachers that hinder rather than help their students’ learning. But far more often, in the DCPS, the issue is systemic.

Teachers face an interminable and unwinnable struggle in their efforts to educate. The deplorable sta-

tus quo of public school administrations has allowed students to simply pass classes in which they are hopelessly unprepared, poorly informed, or even downright absent.

Administrations often force teachers to pass students who are failing. While this practice has likely been an attempt to both reduce the failing rate at a given school, at best, it’s underhanded and self-serving on the part of the school’s administration. At worst, it tells these bright, young students that their work is worthless, that their drive for success unnecessary, and their teacher is another member of a system that has failed them.

Yet, when a teacher, often a young and idealistic one, puts their foot down and refuses to cooperate in administrator’s push to allow students to pass, their job, their livelihood, their security is on the line.

That pressure from above is excruciating, and so easy towards which to capitulate.

And what comes of that artificial passing rate, beyond the blow to the quality, efficacy, and benefits of the students’ educations? When those same students take standardized tests at the end of the year—and in D.C. those now extend into biology as well as the traditional reading, writing, and math—those students are going to fail. They will. That’s a fact. They are not ready. Teachers have not instilled the motivation needed to truly learn the material, and the integrity of the classroom environment has been sapped by the meddling of the administrators.

And so, students fail at exorbitant rates, which damages their self-confidence, sets back their desire to continue in a given subject, and diminishes their beliefs in the value of education in itself.

The same teachers who face the dilemma whether to pass students who should not have and opted for it are now facing the same crisis of job security. Fired if you pass the stu-

dents, fired if you don’t. And people wonder why no one wants to be a teacher.

Artificially increasing the passing rate in schools is no long-term solution to the educational crisis that creates the need for pushes such as No Child Left Behind, nor is it beneficial to the students, the teachers, or the ethos of the school system itself.

Solving this quagmire of a crisis cannot come from the teachers, or the students. It must come from these schools’ administrators. It seems that the maelstrom of D.C. educational politics has led many school administrators to leave their path, and that is deplorable. Schools are meant for the good of the children, and that should always be the only guiding principle.

Claire McDaniel is a senior in the College. She likens her first day teaching in DCPS to Elle’s first day at Harvard Law in Legally Blonde.

Smoke them out! A modest proposal to rid Georgetown of gays

by Caitríona Pagni During the last few weeks, I have found myself wrought in an internal battle of introspective contemplation. You see, it appears that Georgetown’s campus has fallen into a state of debauchery, and the dissolution of our community’s moral fiber forced me into a prolonged state of intellectual withdrawal in order to consider solutions to the problem without the distracting noise of the secular world.

Often, when one engages in such mental exercises, their lessons lose their importance in the rush of everyday life. However,

I have found the moral destruction of this campus so pressing that I can not remove my worries from my mind and feel compelled to speak to you as a peer and a witness to the last pitiful traces of religion on our campus as it plunges into the abyss of sin.

The problem that inspired fear in my heart and tortured my conscience to the point of insanity is the abundance of homosexuals walking freely through campus.

Many people in this secular cesspool feel that the presence of “LGBTQ” people on this so-called Catholic campus is not only permissible, but a good thing! They dare to claim that

LEILA LEBRETON

God forbid the Church budgets its time to combat things like poverty and war.

God loves all his creations, even if those creations present a constant risk of passing their disorder on to other God-fearing people.

These advocates of Satan have completely ignored the word of holyman Newt Gingrich who defends the Lord’s will by fighting the evils of gay “marriage.” “I believe that marriage is between a man and woman,” he said. “It has been for all of recorded history and I think this is a temporary aberration that will dissipate. I think that it just fundamentally goes against everything we know.”

Instead of heeding these words, the pro-homosexual forces on campus cling to the corrupted words of the heretic Pope Francis, who supports the debauchery that is gay “marriage.” Clearly, Satan has corrupted Francis’s words, and they should have no bearing on Catholic doctrine. God bless the warnings of men like Newt Gingrich! God-fearing people must heed his words and protect themselves against wolves such as Pope Francis.

After all, because truth is objective, it never changes. Only people of good faith have the ability to understand God’s word as they have without error for centuries.

These uncorrupted beacons of the Lord’s light and wisdom must

take steps to smoke out the sinners in our wretched community.

As a result of my consideration on the issue of the homosexuals, I have formulated a modest proposal. If this plan is enacted, there will remain no doubt of Georgetown’s Catholic identity and Georgetown will undoubtedly earn its place in history as a brave-thinking, Catholic institution. I propose we revive the Catholic tradition of crucifixion.

Sinners, line up, let your repentance be known! For the Bible says “Let God arise / Let his enemies be scattered / Let all who hate him flee before His Holy Face” (Psalm 68:1 ASV). While the practice of sacrificing living beings hasn’t been utilized since the days of the Old Testament, no one would dare say Georgetown observes “soft Catholicism” with the worldly bodies of sinners lining the front gates and their souls awaiting heavenly judgement.

The homosexuals and their pro-homosexual “allies” have shown time and time again that they will not see reason. People of good faith have tried relentlessly to reform their evil ways, but they insist on calling God’s people bigots. If hating another because of the inherently disordered nature of their existence is bigotry, I don’t know what compassion is.

However, we mustn’t digress to a state of vigilante justice. In keeping with the patriotic traditions of this God-fearing nation, students suspected of sin and professors suspected of indoctrination must be put on trial. These reviews would be conducted by the true Catholics of Georgetown because as the Lord himself once said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Resistance is useless. Sinners cannot resist the might of God’s love raining down on them. But take heart! Your death will be truly right and just.

Yes, it is truly right and just to die for the sake of propriety. But I am no hypocrite, I will lead by example and be the first to take my life by my own hand. I have seen the errors of my ways. I know that my disordered attraction to my own gender only contributes to deterioration of Georgetown and I am more than willing to be the first to offer my life to the proverbial fire of God’s justice. As for my hedonistic peers, forgive them, oh Lord, they know not what they do.

Caitríona Pagni is a sophomore in the SFS. You can find her peacefully listening to Rush Limbaugh and hating on local orphans in her free time.

voices

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the georgetown voice 15

Though unconventional, Bitcoin still a viable currency

by Juan Gonçalves There’s a lot of hype revolving around Bitcoin, the de-centralized virtual currency that has fueled illegal drug websites, gained over 300 dollars in value over a span of 15 days, and avoids regulation by any institution. Given its track record, Bitcoin is bound to instill a sense of mistrust in individuals who are not familiar with its workings.

Fear not. While Bitcoin might not have a Ben Bernanke, it already has set monetary rules of its own.

While the price of the virtual currency is indeed set by the market, its supply is capped at 21 million Bitcoins. There are currently around 12 million in circulation. Estimates predict that Bitcoins will reach their

maximum supply around 2033, which means that no more will be produced after that point. Ever.

Bitcoins are produced by people known as miners, who run complex computer programs in order to create block chains, which are lines of code that register every Bitcoin transaction. Using each Bitcoin’s unique cryptographic signatures, block chains ensure that a coin is not spent twice, nor reversed after a transaction. Because creating a successful block is hard work, miners are rewarded with Bitcoins after each successful creation of a chain and may also charge small fees for every transaction “logged” into their creation.

Given the appealing financial incentive, more miners are taking

LEILA LEBRETON

To the dismay of our chaplains, this isn’t all that’s popping out of students’ computers.

D.C. not doing enough to slow HIV It’s 9 a.m. and your EMS shift is almost over. You get a routine call to a residence—father and son were doing yardwork outside when the saw slipped. They already wrapped a shirt around the father’s arm, but it’s still bleeding excessively. No need to panic yet, throw some 4x4s on it and apply a tourniquet, monitor vitals. But it only takes a split second after removing the shirt to realize it’s an arterial bleed. Blood splatters on you. Guess what? You’re going to be blood-tested for HIV, and in the District, this test isn’t something to take lightly.

The District has the highest rate of HIV in the nation and even

a higher rate than many sub-Saharan African countries such as Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a PBS report in 2012. Though D.C.’s recent annual report on HIV/AIDS shows that the number of newly reported HIV cases has decreased by 46 percent from 2007 to 2011, D.C. is still facing an epidemic that disproportionately affects African Americans, Latinos, and members of the LGBTQ community. Though the District has improved in areas such as clean-syringe distribution, it still lags behind in education and patient monitoring.

Stigmatized and commonly perceived to be spread by the gay

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part in producing chain blocks.

Simple laws of increasing competition ensure that the monetary supply is “released” or “mined” at a lower rate as time goes by, since extracting is more difficult now, signaling to the market that Bitcoins will display diminishing availability all the way until the currency reaches its full capacity. Bitcoin encourages the market to maintain and protect its own system without the need to bring in a regulating authority, which is revolutionary.

The ultimate goal of Bitcoin is to link currency with the modernization of the digital age. It’s every free-market libertarian’s ultimate fantasy: the ability to conduct unregulated, untaxed monetary transactions on a worldwide scale for small transaction costs. It has revolutionized peer-to-peer monetary transactions. Even Congress, having recently held its first-ever Senate hearing on the currency, can’t deny its influence.

Still, critics abound. Economists like Paul Krugman dismiss Bitcoin because it maintains a virtual gimmick that has no intrinsic value and is only valuable because people are willing to accept it as valuable—a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. But, Krugman is forgetting that the dol-

lar, too, lacks an intrinsic value.

Why, then, does it have to be so different from Bitcoin? In fact, no one can guarantee that the dollar’s value won’t change. God forbid, can you imagine the implications of the U.S. government shutting down if Republicans and Democrats fail to agree on basic budgeting? On these points, the dollar and Bitcoin are hardly different.

The real disadvantages of Bitcoin include its propensity to be used in illicit online activities (since transactions are carried out instantaneously and can be very hard to trace) as well as being constantly subjected to hacking. A website known as the Silk Road was recently shut down by the FBI after they found that it hosted a network of international drug trade, with a history of over $1 billion in transactions and accounting for around 8 percent of the total worldwide Bitcoin trade.

Bitcoin has experienced its share of security breaches throughout its existence, but protective measures are being constantly improved.

In the initial days of credit cards and Paypal, crashes and security scares were also present. Looking at how widespread these payment methods have become proves that

community, the HIV rate is, in fact, growing substantially among African American women. The problem is better defined as a symptom of poverty resulting from a lack of access to proper information, testing, and resources needed to prevent infection. And, besides a continued lack of adequate follow-through and implementation, the infection

phasizing how contraception can protect against STD transmission.

Education also needs to reach beyond schools and into communities, informing adults about protection and resources available for combating the virus.

Even though the Centers for Disease Control removed HIV from this list, the virus is little different from a communicable disease. Seen this way, it is honest and right to stop stigmatizing it. Would you judge someone with any other communicable disease? When patients can be honest about their illness and the public stops viewing it as a taboo, real reforms will be enacted to fight the high rate in D.C. But, regardless of whether a patient contracted HIV through unprotected sex, from their mother in the womb, or from something as incidental as exposure through a bodily wound, we should fight for them, even if you aren’t bound by Hippocratic oaths or patient abandonment laws like doctors and EMS personnel.

In my case, when a father asked his son to help him remove a rot-

Carrying On

by Ana Smith A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

rate is exacerbated further by a poorly structured educational system in the District. HIV patients suffer not only from the disease, but society’s view of their illness as a result of reckless behavior: promiscuity, homosexuality, and drug abuse.

D.C.’s high infection rate is attributable to poverty worsened by food deserts, poor housing, and failed education. D.C. public schools need to teach the facts about HIV and other STDs in their health classes, while especially em-

rocky beginnings do not mean certain failure.

I will buy Bitcoins as soon as I find a way to do it. Price volatility doesn’t matter. The beauty of the system is that it will reduce transaction and remittance costs for any activity, thus eliminating the need for any financial intermediaries. This innovation will free us from reliance on greedy banks and credit card companies all over the world.

Bitcoin is not just a currency, it is an investment. As it gains more widespread use and legitimacy, its limited monetary supply will eventually mean prices will keep going up for it, if we all agree on its value.

Bottom line, the more you and your neighbor believe in it, the richer you can become as an owner. Sure, you could say Bitcoin is an unstable bubble reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis, but then again, aren’t all other investments valuable because we consider them so?

Juan Gonçalves is junior in the SFS. He was also into Enron until 2001 and thought that Paul Ryan’s budget was a good idea.

ting tree threatening to fall on the house, I decided to treat him. Nothing “shameful,” nothing “unordinary” about it. He didn’t have HIV, but he could have. I didn’t have an exposed cut, but I could have. And if I did contract an illness, would I have been labeled as a whore, or a drug addict?

Having a higher rate of HIV than any other city in the nation, and than many war-stricken areas of Africa, is nothing to be proud of. It’s time to start caring and stop stigmatizing HIV as a gay man’s illness, a black man’s illness, or a poor man’s illness, especially because these aren’t things to be ashamed of in the first place. We’ve come a long way from the derisive indifference first shown in the epidemic in the 1980s, but our health system and government still sees HIV victims by how they got the disease rather than as human beings with the right to be treated and protected. Instead of righteously fighting to eradicate HIV abroad, we need to see that the worst of it actually starts right here, with good people who are afraid to be public.

Matthew Howard shows that you don’t have to give up passion for art in order to pursue a science-oriented career.

Growing up in an artistic household, Howard has learned to challenge his perspective of the world from a young age.

While he always enjoyed being behind the camera and taking pictures, upon coming to Georgetown he found his love for photography as a form of personal expression. In Howard’s words, taking photos is especially important to him because he can document “characteristics of everyday life that go unnoticed.”

Matthew Howard Biology Major Studio Art Minor College ’14