2 10 2011

VOICE the georgetown

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WELL-ENDOWED STUDENTS TO SPEND GUSA’S $3.4 MIL PAGE 4

JTIII CONQUERS DOME, STREAK HITS SEVEN PAGE 7

DEMON BARBER OF O STREET PAGE 10

Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w February 10, 2011 w Volume 44, Issue 5 w georgetownvoice.com

When housing hurts Living Off campus

2 the georgetown voice

february 10, 2011

hot off the blog !

X VO

Free Food-for-All: More tortellini than you know what to do with

GUSA passes resolution against amended noise law Escape the Hilltop: Find a date before Valentine’s Day

Concert Calendar: Fleet Foxes, Lady Gaga, Gang of Four Catholic group upset over GU production of Monologues Hoyas v. Providence: The Friars get fried

Vox Populi

blog.georgetownvoice.com

Voice Crossword “Mi Scusi” by Scott Fligor

Across 1. Immeadiately 5. Italian footballer Giuseppe 10. Old French Coins

14. Tiber tributary 15. Try to whack 16. Calculus or algebra 17. ___ Spunkmeyer cookies 18. Fragrant resin

answers at georgetownvoice.com 19. Golfer ___ Aoki 20. Sleeping sickness carriers 22. Green fairy beverage 24. Holds a canvas 25. French city official 26. Fencing jacket 29. Tennis player Agassi 33. Magic on television?

36. Mieke’s location 40. Horse color 42. School finder 43. Fencing weapon 44. Protagonist of 59-across 47. Draft org.

48. Buckwheat groats 49. Gunpowder ___ of 1605 51. Full court defense 55. This year’s NSO theme 59. The theme of this puzzle 62. Skateboarding trick 63. Cold precipitation 64. Former Israeli minister Moshe 66. Actor Jannings 67. Seine tributary 68. French assembly 69. Elisabeth of Bavaria nickname 70. Red Dwarf, for example 71. Go into 72. “Zip-___-Doo-Dah”

Down 1. Write ___ (jot down) 2. ___ good example (as a role model) 3. First sign of the zodiac 4. Soft colors 5. South Korea’s first president 6. OPEC good 7. Healthy cooking method 8. Brazilian Carnival dance 9. “Who’s there” response (formally) 10. Cardinal’s title in address 11. Throw (dice) 12. Mormon refuge 13. Sole protector 21. Czech or Pole 23. Tehran’s country 27. Sail holder 28. Alcohol, in short 30. Triceps strengtheners

31. Hwys.

32. Snake ___ (dice roll) 33. Ural River city 34. Jay-Z’s ___-Fella Records 35. Cambodian neighbor 37. Odysseus’s savior 38. Kid’s summer locale 39. Asia’s ___ Sea 41. To the ultimate degree 45. Fruity pastry 46. Like some losers 50. Mother ___ 52. Wipe out 53. Captivating woman 54. Used up 56. Shy 57. Worker’s reward 58. Stan’s comedic partner 59. Those, in Mexico 60. Ampere, e.g.

61. Civil Rights activist Parks 62. NASA field 65. Scottish refusal

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

E-mail crossword@georgetownvoice.com

editorial

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VOICE the georgetown

Volume 44.5 February 10, 2011 Editor-in-Chief: Molly Redden Managing Editor: Tim Shine Editor-at-Large: Juliana Brint Director of Technology: Ishita Kohli News Blog Editor: Geoffrey Bible Leisure Blog Editor: Nico Dodd News Editor: Chris Heller Sports Editor: Nick Berti Feature Editor: Sean Quigley Cover Editor: Iris Kim Leisure Editor: Leigh Finnegan Voices Editor: Aodhan Beirne Photo Editor: Max Blodgett Design Editors: Nitya Ramlogan, Catherine Johnson Projects Editor: Brendan Baumgardner Crossword Editor: Scott Fligor Assistant Blog Editors: Diana McCue, Vincent Tennant Assistant News Editors: Rachel Calvert, Ryan Bellmore, Jeffrey Neidermaier Assistant Sports Editors: Adam Rosenfeld, Rob Sapunor Assistant Cover Editor: Holly Ormseth, Kelsey McCullough Assistant Leisure Editor: Mary Borowiec, Heather Regen, John Sapunor Assistant Photo Editors: Julianne Deno, Matthew Funk

Assistant Design Editor: Michelle Pliskin

Associate Editors: Julie Patterson, Jackson Perry Contributing Editors: Keenan Timko, Matthew Collins Staff Writers:

Gavin Bade, Thaddeus Bell, Akshay Bhatia, Tom Bosco, Kara Brandeisky, Matthew Decker, John Flanagan Kate Imel, Satinder Kaur, Daniel Kellner, Matt Kerwin, Eric Pilch, Sadaf Qureshi, Abby Sherburne, Melissa Sullivan, Mark Waterman

Staff Photographers:

Helen Burton, Lexie Herman, Hilary Nakasone, Jackson Perry, Audrey Wilson, Sam Brothers

Staff Designers:

Megan Berard, Richa Goyal, Lauren MacGuidwin, Ishita Kohli, Michelle Pliskin, Amber Ren

Copy Chief: Keaton Hoffman Copy Editors:

Emma Forster, Emily Hessler, Kate Imel, Tori Jovanovski, Claire McDaniel, Kim Tay

Editorial Board Chair: J. Galen Weber Editorial Board:

Gavin Bade, Juliana Brint, Ethan Chess, John Flanagan, Hunter Kaplan, Ishita Kohli, Tim Shine, Cole Stangler

Head of Business: Kara Brandeisky 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 413 Georgetown University Washington, D.C. 20057

Newsroom: (202) 687-6780 Email: editor@georgetownvoice.com Advertising: business@georgetownvoice.com Web Site: georgetownvoice.com The opinions expressed in the Georgetown Voice do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University, unless specifically stated. Unsigned editorials represent the views of the Editorial Board. Columns, advertisements, cartoons and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the General Board of the Georgetown Voice. The University subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression of its student editors.

The Georgetown Voice is produced in the Georgetown Voice office and composed on Macintosh computers using the Adobe InDesign publishing system and is printed by Silver Communications. All materials copyright the Georgetown Voice. All rights reserved.

On this week’s cover ... Off Campus Housing Cover Illustration: Holly Ormseth

the georgetown voice 3 BRING THE NOISE

Repeal and replace arbitrary noise ordinance When the D.C. City Council passed the now infamous amendments to the District’s disorderly conduct law, the changes were meant to clarify what one subcommittee had called a “vague and ambiguous” statute. But the new measure only creates more confusion and questions by greatly increasing penalties and police discretion in noise violations. College students can be especially vulnerable to the vagaries of law enforcement, and it is essential that student leaders and University officials press the D.C. Council to revise the amendment.

The wording of the new statute, which says that it is illegal for a person to make noise “likely to annoy or disturb one or more other persons in their residences” between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., is incredibly vague and subjective.

Lt. John Hedgecock of the Metropolitan Police Department has said that his officers will be allowed to determine what constitutes excessive noise and have the power to make ar-

rests even when no complaint has been made.

Worryingly, he also said that officers would be particularly alert around N, O, and Prospect Streets. With penalties that include imprisonment for up to 90 days and fines ranging up to $500, it is unscrupulous and unfair to define an offense so ambiguously.

So far, student leaders have taken many of the right steps to oppose this statute. D.C. Students Speak, a D.C.-wide student advocacy group, is testifying against the amendments before the D.C. Council later this week during one of the Council’s monthly youth meetings. The Georgetown University Student Association will hold a student town hall on Thursday to discuss the measure and is contacting other student governments in D.C. to coordinate a response.

But moving forward, student leaders and the University will have to act more deliberately if they want to reform the law. Students should emphasize that the current amend-

ments are not only unfair, but potentially unclear enough to be unconstitutional. The noise violation amendment’s potential for arbitrary enforcement means it is unlikely to survive a court challenge.

Ideally, a coalition of student organizations and universities will work together to draw up a revision to the current amendment—one that clears up the ambiguity of the old law while leaving no room for unfair prosecution of students. It is important that advocates bring their proposal for reform to the D.C. Council. The approval of the noise law was unanimous, but council members should be given a chance to revisit the issue, considering the serious drawbacks to these amendments.

Convincing the D.C. Council to write student-friendly legislation will be no easy task, but if students want to defend their rights, and prevent being unfairly targeted and punished, they need to make some noise in opposition to these unjust amendments.

Where are our zipcars?

GUSA presidential candidates should think big The two-year administration of Georgetown University Student Association President Calen Angert (MSB‘11) and Jason Kluger (MSB’11) is coming to a close, and soon a new slate of candidates will vie to replace them. In the past, GUSA presidential candidates have drawn up long lists of promises, ranging from Zipcars for students to more silverware in Leo’s. Such initiatives may sound nice, but it is time to recognize that the GUSA president needs to take the lead on some of the major issues on campus, like the lack of student space and the contentious student-neighbor relations.

Contrary to what our neighbors may say, there is not a whole lot of free space on the Georgetown campus. But there are a handful of unused rooms and areas—like the first floor of New South—that could go a long way towards meeting the space needs of students and student groups. These spaces could be opened up by someone willing to put in the necessary time with club leaders and administrators to figure out what space

groups need and what steps need to be taken to open those areas. What is needed is a candidate willing to eschew the small initiatives in favor of working for a major change.

GUSA presidents also tend to focus on the crowd pleasers (more flex dollars is a perennial favorite) often at the expense of underrepresented segments of the student body. One issue that is often mentioned by GUSA candidates, but sees little change, is accessibility. The relatively meager snowstorms of last month have revealed how poorly Georgetown buildings are designed for injured or handicapped students. In many parts of campus, students who cannot use stairs are forced to find long, circuitous routes to their classes. A GUSA president must represent every student, and this should be an issue candidates give thought to as they form their agendas.

The recent controversies surrounding the campus plan and new noise ordinances remind us that today’s GUSA executive must be closely attuned and involved with local poli-

tics—especially on issues that affect students directly. In Advisory Neighborhood Commission meetings, discussions with the neighbors, or University meetings, Georgetown students need advocates to represent their interests.

Presidential candidates should be willing to go to bat for students at these meetings.

Every candidate should also give thought to the type of campaign they plan on running. The whole campus would benefit from a more civil, issues-oriented campaign in contrast to last year’s campaign, which at times involved personal attacks. A clean campaign would be an important step in earning student confidence.

In the past, GUSA has not had much weight in student affairs, but this is changing. Accordingly, GUSA candidates should give more thought to the deeper issues that Georgetown students face. Promises of Zipcars and silverware may win votes, but they won’t bring lasting change to the Hilltop, if they ever happen at all.

THIN ‘SKINS

Dan Snyder v. City Paper : One jerk’s crusade The National Football League is the most popular professional sport in America, drawing the interest (and money) of millions of fans who live and die with the success of their favorite teams. This passion causes players, coaches, general managers, and even owners to become some of the most scrutinized public figures in America, a role for which they are compensated greatly. By suing the Washington City Paper over a series of critical articles, Daniel Snyder has shown that he is incapable of handling the criticism he is rightly subject to as owner of the Washington Redskins. More troublingly, Snyder refuses to play by the rules—namely, the First Amendment.

Snyder’s lawsuit mainly refers to a November cover story by Dave McKenna which catalogued Snyder’s numerous transgressions since taking over as owner of the Redskins, including both his misman-

agement of the team and other business ventures. David Donovan, the Redskins’ general counsel, sent the owners of the City Paper a letter tenuously accusing McKenna and the paper of libel and anti-Semitism. In a coup de grace, Donovan closed the letter with the threat that “the cost of litigation would presumably quickly outstrip the asset value of the Washington City Paper.” This overt bullying tactic makes it clear that Snyder is using his wealth and power to try to silence his critics and infringe on the freedom of the press.

The City Paper and its owners deserve praise for their response to Snyder. They have stood behind McKenna and their story and intend to fight the lawsuit despite Snyder’s intimidation. Considering the basis of Snyder’s claims, they stand a good chance of mounting a successful defense. The majority of the libel allegations are based on

the premise that as a chief executive Snyder was far removed from the kind of minor decisions McKenna criticized, but that is like arguing a general is not accountable for the actions of his army. Meanwhile, Snyder’s claim that a picture of him defaced with childlike doodles of a mustache and horns constitutes an anti-Semitic caricature is especially specious, considering a number of editors responsible for the image were in fact Jewish.

Baseless, ulteriorly motivated lawsuits like Snyder’s are a direct assault on the ability of the media to function freely and effectively report on and critique those in power.

D.C. residents should support the City Paper as it fights this lawsuit through a legal defense fund it has set up online. With any luck, the outcome of Snyder’s frivolous suit will be one that he is already familiar with from years of owning the Redskins—losing.

news

4 the georgetown voice

february 10, 2011

Students to debate GUSA’s $3.4 million fund

by Chris Heller On Sunday, the Georgetown University Student Association announced plans to create an Endowment Commission that will propose how to spend the $3.4 million left over from the Student Activities Fund Endowment.

The Commission, which will be staffed by 15 undergraduate students, must submit no more than five super-majority-approved proposals to GUSA’s Finance and Appropriations Committee no later than Apr. 25. If approved by that committee and the GUSA Senate, the proposals will be presented in a campuswide referendum.

The students on the Commission will include GUSA’s FinApp Chair, as well as 14 other undergraduates from the GUSA Executive, the GUSA Senate, the Corp, the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union, the Georgetown Program Board, the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, and the advisory boards of Club Sports, the Center for Social Justice, the Student Ac-

tivities Commission, the Media Board, and Performing Arts Advisory Council.

“I believe the members of this Commission, while they do represent different campus organiza-

from across Georgetown, but collectively they can represent the general student body effectively.”

The Endowment Commission is the latest step in GUSA’s yea-long Student Activities

Activities Fee. However, poor economic conditions and a lack of pledged University support doomed the plan.

As of Thursday, only the Media Board has selected its rep-

Jackson Perry

GUSA Senators created an Endowment Commission, which will propose how to spend $3.4 million in funds. tions, will be sitting on the Commission as students first,” FinApp Chair Greg Laverriere (COL ’12) wrote in an email. “All these groups were included on the commission because they have different backgrounds and experiences

Fee Endowment reform, which passed a student referendum last December. The $3.4 million endowment, which is held in multiple accounts, was created in 2000 with hopes that it would eventually replace the Student

resentative, Rich Rinaldi (MSB ’12). Rinaldi declined to comment because he just recently learned of the commission. Other groups, such as the PAAC and SAC, plan to select their representatives soon.

“We did not approach all the groups beforehand, but are now extending invitations now that the plans for the commission have been finalized,” Colton Malkerson (COL ’13), FinApp committee vice chair, wrote in an email. “Any group can decline to appoint a representative and we will fill the slot with another student.”

Malkerson added that he hopes to have all the commission positions filled “within a week or two at the latest.” If a group declines to appoint a representative, the FinApp Committee will appoint someone from the general student body to fill the position.

After the commission is filled, members will select a chair, who cannot be currently associated with GUSA. The commission meetings will remain open to the public.

“Students will absolutely have the ability to come before the commission to present their ideas,” Malkerson wrote. “In fact, we hope students, administrators, and alumni present ideas. If you have a good idea on how to spend the money, it should be heard.”

Still a ways to go for GU’s Diversity Initiative plans

by Matt Kerwin Despite outlining a plan of action to promote “community in diversity” in September, only some of the suggestions made by last year’s Diversity and Inclusiveness Initiative Workng Group have been adopted by University officials, with others seeing little recent progress.

A suggestion made by the Academic Working Group to add a two-course diversity requirement to the University’s undergraduate general education, which recieved a mixed reception from the student body, has yet to be implemented.

“We recognize this is an ambitious goal and we have confidence that faculty and administrators working together with student leaders can be effective in addressing the key questions and issues,” President John DeGioia and Provost James O’Donnell wrote in a September email addressed to the University community.

Earlier this week, O’Donnell

wrote in an email to the Voice that the diversity requirement will not be in place next year, but the “discussion continues.” According to Marjory Blumenthal, associate provost for academic affairs, the establishment of a diversity requirement will most likely not occur until after the University is reaccredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in late 2012.

The Academic Working Group also recommended hiring more faculty members in the AfricanAmerican studies program, and according to Professor Maurice Jackson, who is involved in the process, the search is close to being fulfilled.

“We’re interviewing people who are in the final pool,” Jackson said. “They’ll start coming to campus very soon.”

Some recommendations made by the Admissions and Recruitment Working Group may have also led to changes. DeGioia and O’Donnell claimed that the changes, which included an advisory

group on diversity for the Dean of Admissions, a college prep program for students from Cristo Rey high schools, and help offered to student-run groups, such as GAAP and Blue & Gray, have potentially promoted the diversity of the student body.

“Since last winter, much progress has been made, perhaps contributing to the significant increase in African American students who accepted our offer of admission into the Class of 2014,” DeGioia and O’Donnell wrote.

However, Ryan Wilson (COL

’12), who co-chaired the Admissions and Recruitment Working Group, thinks that more still needs to be done.

“I know the numbers look better for this year,” Wilson said. “[But] having them in the pool isn’t enough … The recommendations were geared toward winning those students and a lot of those recommendations haven’t been implemented.”

The third working group, on student life, suggested the renewal of A Different Dialogue, a program that brings students together for

The Diversity Initiative began with panel discussions in 2009.

max blodgett

discussions on diversity. This semester, A Different Dialogue plans to host casual discussions about gender, social class, and religion.

“The facilitators have a syllabus that we use as kind of a guide,” Aeriel Anderson, a facilitator for A Different Dialogue on gender and the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access’s program coordinator, said. “We want the process to be organic.”

According to Anderson, student interest in the program has existed since it began in Spring 2010. Last semester, each dialogue drew approximately 10 to 14 students; participation is about the same this semester.

Despite some of the changes, Wilson remains cautious about the progress made so far with respect to admissions and recruitment.

“We have to get re-energized about making this happen,” he said. “These recommendations were approved by the President and the Provost … We’re in the next phase now, which is about implementation.”

news

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the georgetown voice 5

Job prospects on the rise compared to ‘09

by Jeffrey Niedermaier Even though the job market is recovering slowly, the Georgetown University Career Education Center will be busy this month.

Director Mike Schaub is confident that this year will be successful for job and internship applicants, pointing out positive trends in data culled from the class of 2010. He says 62 percent of the class of 2010 reports having secured a job so far, up from 57 percent for the class of 2009. This fall’s career fair saw a 14 percent increase in employer attendance, and on-campus interviews saw a 23 percent rise from 2009 lows.

While the job market has expanded, Schaub’s reaction to the recession may have contributed to the Career Center’s effectiveness.

Schaub, who has been with the Career Center since 2000 and has been its director since 2006, said that a main part of his strategy has been to strengthen ties with the alumni network.

“When the recession hit, our strategy was to enhance our collaborations with alumni,” he said. “As you try to develop opportunities in different industries, the first step is really to work closely with alumni.”

He has also created a new position, the Director for External Relations, currently held by Tara Duprey.

Duprey’s job is to manages alumni relations and focus on networking between alumni and former Georgetown students. Her efforts include organizing a networking event, which will take place on Feb. 15. February is historically the month when many Georgetown students procure jobs and summer internships.

“If you look at the stats, this fall was better than the previous fall,” Schaub said. “We have a very robust interview environment.”

Kristen Focella (MSB ’12) can attest to this robustness. Looking for

23% more on-campus interviews

14% more Career Fair employees

21% more student interviews cHrIs Heller

Is the noise law anti-student?

“Unfair and unconstitutional.” “We live in America, not the mid-20th century U.S.S.R.” “I believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and this law infringes on all of my inalienable rights.”

Although they sound like rally cries from a Tea Party march to restore liberty, these remarks are actually all comments from Georgetown students on the online petition against D.C.’s new nighttime noise statute. The ordinance, enacted Jan. 19, is part of a larger overhaul of the city’s disorderly conduct law and has prompted many Georgetown students to get their Glenn Beck on.

The statute—which outlaws “unreasonably loud noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. that is likely to annoy or disturb one or more other persons in their residences” and comes with a punishment of up to 90 days in prison, a $500 fine, or both—has come under attack for being overly vague and inviting selective enforcement.

“I would call this noise ordi-

a summer internship in the banking industry, she has participated in upwards of 10 interviews in the past two weeks.

“The Center’s been very helpful,” Focella, who hopes to forgo graduate school and find a job after graduation, said.

According to Schaub, students in certain industries have already begun to see recessionary contractions dissipate.

“Certainly students who are interested in [public relations], student relations, and marketing are seeing an increase,” he said. “Science as well.”

Lately, the Center has focused on federal employment opportunities.

nance the picture of a vague and standardless law,” Mark Stern, who wrote an article on the constitutionality of the statute for the Georgetown Progressive and D.C. Students Speak, said. “It appears that this statute is targeting the student population of the District as specifically and as harshly as a law possibly could.”

This type of criticism is ironic given that the revision of D.C.’s disorderly conduct law, the previous version of which dates back to 1953, was undertaken to minimize abuses of police discretion and eliminate unclear language.

“I don’t think there is a Constitutional issue—rather, I think we solved one,” Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D - At-Large), who sponsored the Disorderly Conduct Amendment Act, wrote in an email.

The revision certainly addressed civil rights issues, most importantly limiting the potential for unwarranted “contempt of cop” arrests. But while other parts of the law were scutinized in an

effort to clarify what constitutes disorderly conduct, the nighttime noise provision seems to have slipped through the cracks.

There’s no better evidence for this than the D.C. Council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary’s report on the DCA Act. The report’s introduction argues that the old disorderly conduct laws should be changed “to eliminate vagueness in the language of the statute … [which] uses terms that are vague and difficult to de-

city on a Hill

by Juliana Brint

A bi-weekly column on D.C. news and politics fine, such as ‘annoy’ and ‘congregate’”—yet the updated nighttime noise ordinance hinges on the highly ambiguous phrase “likely to annoy or disturb.”

The ironically opaque language of the nighttime noise statue is largely a product of the process through which it was included in the DCA Act. While the old disorderly conduct law had a nighttime noise statute, the initial draft of the new law

“There are some pay increases in the [federal] government that are widespread,” Staub said, adding that there are always political-based uncertainties in the public sector.

“But we’re still using our government contacts.”

Another strategy has been to approach small firms, but this tactic came with a catch—small firms may not be able to make up for big employers’ hiring practices.

“We saw [the recession] as an opportunity to work with smaller employers or employers who’ve not come to Georgetown, and feel like they can’t compete with more well known companies,” he said. “With this recession, we need every posting we can get.”

Focella, who applied for several internships, has received more responses from larger companies.

“I’ve applied to a few smaller corporations, but it’s mostly the bigger ones who call back,” she said.

Nonetheless, Katie Hogan (MSB ’12), who is using the Career Center for the first time this year, has been satisfied with the University’s help.

“They’re super helpful,” she said, “They give great advice. Anything you need help with—they help you with it.” made no mention of it. Rather, it was the Council on Court Excellence’s Disorderly Conduct Arrest Project Subcommittee that suggested its inclusion in the revised disorderly conduct law. The D.C. Council faithfully incorporated their suggestion into the final bill.

The CCE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group focused on improving the District’s court system. The CCE’s DCAPS report primarily focused on protecting free speech and assembly, but also touched on nighttime noise issues.

In revising the old nighttime noise statute, DCAPS worked to better define what “nighttime” means, laying out the specific hours of “10 p.m. to 7 a.m.” According to DCAPS’s co-Chair Leslie McAdoo, DCAPS also recommended setting the standard of “unreasonable” noise because that was the standard used in the most recent relevant D.C. Court of Appeals case, 2010’s In re T.L. Although the DCAPS considered a specific decibel standard, which many students have advocated, McAdoo said, their discussions with the attorney gen-

NEWS HIT

DMT suspects to plead guilty Fri. John Perrone and Charles Smith are expected to plead guilty in D.C. District Court this Friday to charges related to the DMT lab found in Smith’s Harbin doorm room last semester, according to filed court documents.

Perrone and Smith, who have spent the last three months at home in Andover, were charged with violating both federal and D.C. law by “unlawfully, knowingly, and intentionally manufacturing a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT.” According to University spokesperson Julie Green Bataille, Smith is no longer enrolled as a student at Georgetown. Prior to his arrest, he was a freshman in the School of Foreign Service.

Both defendants’ lawyers declined to comment on the details of the pre-indictment plea.

—Rachel Calvert

eral convinced them that setting a decibel limit would be highly complicated for technical reasons.

“If we were going to go down that road, it would take time and resources,” McAdoo said. “We decided not to do that because obviously we had deadlines and because this was not the only issue in the statute … Everything is imperfect, it’s not possible to write statutes that are so precise that everyone’s happy with them.”

There are certainly people who are unhappy with the new ordinance. But although some students, such as the leaders of D.C. Students Speak, have claimed the law deliberately targets students, that doesn’t seem to have been the case. Instead, it seems to be a classic example of legislators and advocates working on a broad issue with limited resources, and unfortunately letting a careless sentence slide through. But don’t worry—it only took the Council 58 years to update the last version of the disorderly conduct laws.

Show Juliana how to make loud noises after hours at jbrint@georgetownvoice.com

sports

6 the georgetown voice

february 10, 2011

Red hot Hoyas crush USF in Pink Zone game

by Kevin Joseph Before Tuesday night’s game against South Florida, Georgetown women’s basketball head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy pledged $50 toward breast cancer research for each threepointer made by her team.

The Hoyas (20-5, 8-3 Big East) made their coach pay a hefty price with their hot shooting from behind the arc leading to a 67-38 blowout. Coming into the game, Georgetown was shooting a mediocre 32.4 percent from three-point range, but in the first half, they couldn’t miss. They ended up shattering their season average, shooting 52.2 percent while draining 12 three-pointers to bring Williams-Flournoy’s donation to $600.

Aside from their offensive exploits, Tuesday night marked the Hoyas’ annual Pink Zone game. The team wore special edition pink Nike sneakers and socks to accompany the Bulls’ pink uniforms in support of the Kay Yow Breast Cancer Foundation. All donations from the game, Williams-Flournoy’s $600 included, went to the foundation named for the late legendary North Carolina State basketball coach, who died of breast cancer.

Sophomore guard Sugar Rodgers, the Big East’s second leading scorer, came through with a standout performance of 25 points. She was Georgetown’s primary threat from downtown, with seven treys, one short of the single-game school record.

“I just went out there and played off my teammates,” Rodgers said. “The energy level of our team was up.”

The Virginia native is known for her scoring, averaging 18.2 points per game, but against USF it was her six-steal defensive effort that truly awed her coach.

“I’m more impressed with her defensive effort than her offensive effort,” Williams-Flournoy said. “The offensive end— that’s what she does, that comes extremely easily for her.”

Aside from Rodgers’ high scoring total, senior guard Monica McNutt and junior guard Alexa Roche anchored Georgetown by contributing nine points apiece. Lost in the shuffle was junior point guard Rubylee Wright, who only contributed three points, but directed the offense with eight assists and only one turnover.

She jumpstarted the Hoyas with her unselfish play in the first half, leading them to a torrid 43 points on 51.6 percent shooting.

Williams-Flournoy was highly encouraged by her point guard’s play, especially heading down the stretch of Big East play and into the postseason.

“Ruby is really developing into a good point guard. There were a lot of times where she could’ve taken the shot, but she found other people,” she said. “I thought in the first half she made some great passes down low.”

Though Williams-Flournoy was disappointed by USF’s large advantage on the boards, outrebounding Georgetown 5131, she was otherwise impressed with her team’s defensive effort.

They played to one of the Bulls’ weaknesses and allowed them

JULIANNE DENO

Sugar Rodgers made her coach pay with a barrage of three-pointers.

to shoot it from behind the arc a great deal, which paid off.

“They’re a penetrating team.

Give them the three and they may hit it,” she said.

In the end, they did not hit any, and the Hoyas’ tenacious efforts led to USF missing all eighteen of their attempts from behind the arc, part of a humbling 23.7 percent shooting performance. Led

by Rodgers, the Hoyas produced 14 steals and turned them into 18 points off turnovers.

The Hoyas get to enjoy their six-game winning streak until Feb. 13, when they will look to build on it in New York City against St. John’s. A win here would inch them closer to the top of the Big East standings heading into the final stretch of the season, when they will play Connecticut and DePaul, who are currently first and third respectively.

Georgetown is currently tied for fourth in the Big East with Marquette and Rutgers, but late-

ly, with their red-hot play, they could continue to move up in February, the final month of the regular season.

Asked about their postseason hopes, the dynamic duo of Wright and Rodgers pledged to do more of what they have been doing a lot of lately—win. According to Wright, this six-game winning streak is just the start and the team is prepared to make a big impact.

“Everybody’s ready,” she said.

the Sports Sermon “He would send me a text at 2 a.m., but I’d be like, I have school tomorrow.”

—Mark Sanchez’s 17 year-old girlfriend

didn’t possess the raw power of Roger Clemens (which maybe wasn’t so raw after all), the timely home runs of Tino Martinez, or the warriorlike temper of Paul O’Neill.

Maybe it’s because his two best qualities, reliability and competitiveness, are things that fans value, but don’t praise. Every time he stepped on the field, you knew he would pitch as well as he could. Even if he wasn’t feeling good, he’d grind it out and just try to keep his team in the game. Although he only had 240 wins—which still puts him in an elite class,

Vasquez—twice. Pettitte also posted some of his best seaOn Feb. 3, the end of an sons while with the Astros, a era began to dawn on the New team he led to its only World York Yankees, when 38-yearSeries appearance. old pitcher Andy Pettitte reThe debate about whethtired. Pettitte was the first er Pettitte will be a hall-ofof the so-called “core four,” famer began even before the which includes pinstripe vetnews of his retirement broke. erans Mariano Rivera, Jorge Based on his regular season Posada, and Derek Jeter, to stats, his body of work may hang up his cleats. fall short of a Cooperstown Although I understand his calling. But when you take decision, the news left me and into account his postseason many other Yankee fans worperformances, the decision ried about the upcoming seabecomes more difficult. He son. The rotation was already has the most postseason wins shallow, and now the team is in history, showing that he supposed to fill the void left had always been able to raise by one of the greathis game when it est pitchers in franmattered most.

Pete Rose Central chise history (PetIn the 2010 postDa bettin’ line titte is third on the season, Pettitte Dookies Margin Yankees’ all-time won the clinchHoyas wins list.) I haven’t (favorites) ing game of each (underdogs) (duh!) always thought of series for the Pettitte this way, Georgetown Yankees, winning Marquette Buzzzz however. In fact I his final champiWizards Biggest Loser Cavs took the southpaw onship ring after Pac-12 Tupac Lives pitching a gem Fan for granted for most of his career. on three days’ But such was Pettitte’s na- but far below the hallowed rest in Game 6 of the World ture. He played for the Yan- 300-win threshold—his win- Series. That performance was kees every year since I became ning percentage (63 percent) the epitome of Andy Peta baseball fan in 1996, save for is exceptional. His career titte. At the time, I doubted a three-year stint with the As- ERA of 3.88 doesn’t do him that the veteran would have tros. But he was never my fa- justice, because he excelled at enough left to pitch the Yanvorite player on the team—he his one primary objective— kees to their 27th title. Ever was probably never in my top putting his team in a position since then, I never took him three for that matter. There to win. That is why Pettitte for granted. I cherished every was nothing spectacular that has five rings. start he made until the last he did to draw me to him. He Many critics point to the time he walked off the mound did win 21 games in only his fact that Pettitte had it easy this past season in Texas. second season in 1996 and with the Yankees’ potent ofEven if he is not selected was a big reason the Yankees fense supporting him, but that for the hall of fame, those won the World Series later on couldn’t be more wrong. Many who watched him pitch evthat year, but he didn’t have pitchers have wilted under the ery fifth day know the impact the aura of Derek Jeter or the pressure and bright lights of he made and the void he has presence of Mariano Rivera, Yankee Stadium, including fu- now left. I am convinced the who overshadow him as life- ture hall-of-famer Randy John- Yankees will never have anlong Yankees. Still, Pettitte son, Kevin Brown and Javier other one like him.

by Nick Berti

sports

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Swimming set for Big East

by Rob Sapunor Georgetown’s swimming and diving team is preparing for the Big East Championships, which are set to begin Friday for divers and President’s Day weekend for swimmers.

Both competitions will be held at the University of Louisville. The Hoyas finished the regular season with both the men’s and the women’s squads losing to Maryland in their final dual meet. Despite the loss, the Hoyas are hoping to make all their hard work this season come to fruition when it matters most.

The Hoyas head into the conference championships after posting their strongest finish ever in last year’s meet, where the men finished eighth and the women finished ninth on their way to setting 12 Georgetown records. But this year the Hoyas hope to improve even more after having a successful season that included wins against cross-town rivals American and George Washington.

One thing the Hoyas hope to do is win an event, which they weren’t able to do in last year’s meet. Victor Lopez-Cantera had the team’s best single race finish, when he came in 11th in the 200 m butterfly.

The team prepares all season for the Big East championships with the goal for each swimmer to peak for the meet. 36 of the 43 swimmers and divers on the team were successful in qualifying for the championships. Their progress says a lot about the team who has dealt with a coaching change in the last year.

First year head coach Jamie Holder came over to Georgetown from Princeton, where he was an assistant coach. Holder said he went into the season with the goal of qualifying every swimmer for the Big East Championships, a goal which he’s come very close to achieving.

Heading into the postseason, he is feeling confident.

“We’ve had a lot of success over the season,” he said.

SHIRA SAPERSTEIN

The Hoyas are poised to set records at this year’s Big East Championships.

Breaking: Anthony wants trade The constant flow of trade rumors surrounding Denver Nuggets small forward Carmelo Anthony has been the most intensely covered story of the NBA season.

It’s also the most anticlimactic.

The repetitiveness and speculation characterizing each potential trade report is enough to drive any sports fan mad.

The four-time all-star has looked uninspired and disengaged for much of the past year and has been adamant about his desire to join the reinvigorated New York Knicks, his hometown team. In an attempt to capitalize on their imminent move to Brooklyn, the lowly New Jersey Nets have also made a determined bid for Anthony, but Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov pulled

the team out of the discussions.

Reports leaked early this week that the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers entered into discussions with the Nuggets regarding a potential Anthony trade. The Lakers’ involvement is such a surprise that it forces you to wonder if this is just another back-page story designed to play mind games with NBA fans.

Now that the Lakers have entered the talks for Melo and further added to the whirlwind, we really must ask: does he actually make any of these teams better?

In the NBA, Melo has only once put his team in contention for a title, reaching the 2009 Western Conference Finals after losing five consecutive playoff series. His defense has also come under heavy

Although the Hoyas finished the season on a loss, they won their final home meet against George Washington 161-110 (Men) and 168104 (Women). The loss at Maryland wasn’t all bad, with three more Hoyas qualifying for the Big East championships. Sophomores Tom Cooke and Brad Murray and senior Keenan Timko each qualified for the tournament while the women’s side had a sweep of the 50 yard butterfly with Megan Harvey winning, followed by Kristen Pratt in second and Alexandra Van Nispen in third.

The qualifications were aided by the state-of-the-art facility at Maryland, which usually leads to faster times.

However, Maryland swept the first through third spots in 15 different events at the dual meet.

Perhaps the meet against the Terrapins will serve as a test for the Hoyas. Louisville heads into the Big East Championships at their home pool as the tournament favorites with 14 Big East leading times for both the men’s and women’s sides.

For the diving Championships, the leading man in the conference is Eric Lex of Notre Dame and the leading woman is Brittany Teneyck of Cincinnati.

Though the Hoyas are underdogs to win at the Big East Championships, even from the middle of the pack they still have the goal of finishing better than ever before.

Each swimmer will also be looking to set school and personal records.

The dual meets have prepped Georgetown for the postseason as they have often gone into the meets after a busy week of practice, but the Hoyas should be well rested when they dive into the lanes next week. And the Georgetown records should be falling quickly next week as the team has prepared all season for this moment. criticism, as has his ability to raise the play of his teammates, since he is a shoot-first player.

These traits hardly sound like an appropriate fit for a team like the Lakers that prides themselves on stalwart defense and already possesses Kobe Bryant, a player that also demands an endless supply of shots. A

Backdoor Cuts

by Daniel Kellner

a rotating column on sports Melo-Kobe marriage would be a risky experiment for the Lakers.

There’s really no sense in trading away the team’s young talent to acquire a player that really does not fill the Lakers’ needs.

Of the teams said to have had serious talks regarding a trade for Anthony, the Nets would likely

the georgetown voice 7

FAST BREAK Hoyas outlast ‘Cuse for seventh straight win In his career at Georgetown, head coach John Thompson III has reached a Final Four, won multiple Big East championships, won a national coach of the year award, and sent multiple players into the NBA. However, since his hiring in 2002, Thompson has never won a game at Syracuse. That is, until Wednesday night.

The No. 11 Hoyas (19-5, 8-4 Big East) came to the Carrier Dome on a blistering six-game winning streak, which they extended to seven with a 64-56 victory over No. 13 Syracuse (20-5, 7-5 Big East).

It was clear from the start of the game that the trio of Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, and Jason Clark were in top form, with the three of them accounting for 14 of the team’s first 16 points.

Despite Georgetown’s strong start, the Hoyas went cold and didn’t score a single point for five minutes, allowing the Orange to get back into the game and take a two-point lead.

Georgetown’s bench was responsible for keeping the Hoyas level with Syracuse. Freshman Markel Starks and sophomore Hollis Thompson provided some clutch points in the late moments of the first half right as Syracuse seemed to be pulling away. Starks dropped six points in the half while Thompson added five, including a timely three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining.

Perhaps the most important development in the game came in the second half, thanks to the smart and physical play of Julian Vaughn. The big man kept

immediately gain the most from a basketball standpoint. Yet Melo, whose contract expires at the end of this season, has insisted that he would not sign an extension with the Nets, potentially leaving the team with a gutted roster and no superstar. This has led the Nets and Nuggets to essentially end their talks, despite the Nets’ offer of what appears by far to be the best trade package for the Nuggets.

Anthony’s other rumored destination, New York, is perhaps the most likely, since he has made public his burning desire to play for the Orange and Blue. While the addition of Melo would bring unparalleled buzz and hype to the Knicks, trading for him could prove to be too costly to benefit them on the court. Though Melo would likely flourish in New York’s up-tempo offense, the price tag would likely force the Knicks

Syracuse standout center Rick Jackson at bay, sending him to the bench early in the half with his fourth foul.

Surprisingly, many Syracuse freshmen stepped in to fill the void left by Jackson, helping the Orange to a four-point lead with five minutes left in the game.

Once again, however, Hollis Thompson knocked down huge shots for the Hoyas, eventually leveling the game, 55-55.

The game was ultimately decided on a stunning 6-0 Georgetown run. From just over three minutes remaining down to the two-minute mark, the Hoyas easily scored three unanswered layups in quick succession to take control of the game and silence the crowd.

When the dust settled, the Hoyas came out on top, giving their coach his first win at Syracuse. Freeman, Clark, Vaughn, and Thompson all scored in double figures for the Hoyas, while Chris Wright added nine assists in what may have been his best game as a pure point guard. Wright set the pace for the Hoyas, who had 20 assists total that contributed to 44 points.

The seventh straight win brings Georgetown’s conference record to 8-4, which is incredible after the dismal 1-4 start. They are now in sole possession of third place in the Big East.

Georgetown will look to extend the streak to eight games this weekend against Marquette.

Game time is scheduled for Sunday, 1 p.m. at the Verizon Center.

—Adam Rosenfeld

to part with several of their talented young role players, among them Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, and Landry Fields, who have been vital to the team’s success this season. The Knicks are worse off if they dispose of multiple up-and-coming, team-oriented players to acquire one more star.

They should take their chances and sign Anthony as free agent this summer.

So, even after hearing about these trade rumors all season, it is in every teams’ best interest (besides the Nuggets) if Carmelo Anthony just stays put, giving us all the more reason to be annoyed every time another Melo trade story pops up. Quit wasting my time and just let me know if he reaches a deal.

Help Daniel create ESPN: MELO at dkellner@georgetownvoice.com

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8 the georgetown voice

februrary 10, 2011

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Off-Campus Blues LIfe outside the gates

by Diana McCue About a year ago, the front steps of Anna Dimon’s (COL ’11) house on Prospect Street collapsed and became completely unusable. After a year of things falling apart in the house, including breaking floors, an exploding water heater, and the doorknob falling off the basement door, the stairs were the last straw.

Dimon called her landlord, Joel Mack, who manages a company called Student Housing Association, and asked him to have her stairs fixed. About a week later, she came home to find the steps propped up with a piece of plywood tied with a piece of twine.

Dumbfounded, she called her landlord’s office again.

“I hope you’re kidding,” she said.

Nearly 1,000 juniors and seniors are living off-campus this academic year, the vast majority of them in Burleith and West Georgetown. Some of them may have experienced troubles with mice or break-ins during their time living on campus, but many have discovered that living off-campus comes with its own headaches—angry neighbors, gas leaks, broken appliances, disintegrating walls, rats, and predatory landlords.

This often subpar housing doesn’t come cheap, either:

Georgetown’s Office of OffCampus Housing claims that shared rooms in off campus houses in Burlieth and West Georgetown cost upwards of $1,200 per month, per student.

“You don’t get what you’re paying for,” Dimon said. “For the amount of money we’re paying these landlords, I would say our houses are not quite up to par.”

Undergraduates are required to live on campus for their first two years. After that, the University does not guarantee that it will provide students with housing. As a result, many upperclassmen rent properties off campus for a year or more from

Find my housing: The houses they find aren’t actually made of Legos. They’re real houses.

MATTHEW FUNK

The mustard house is owned and managed by SHA. The company is currently attempting to buy the mayonnaise house.

KELSEY MCCULLOUGH

courtesy Peter swiek

companies like SHA, which manages around 40 properties in Georgetown.

Students living in SHA properties complained of collapsing ceilings, broken appliances, and contractors who let themselves in and out while girls were sleeping, but the biggest grievance they shared was a lack of communication with their landlord. “[Mack’s] policy is that you can’t communicate by writing with him—you have to call,” Dimon said. “He doesn’t want it in writing, because he doesn’t want a legal trail. But after you’re done living in his properties, you can’t communicate by phone, you have to write.”

To non-renters, SHA seems rather opaque. The company shares an office building—and a secretary—with another rental company, Metropolitan Properties Ltd., owned by Edward Hull. Neither Mack nor Hull responded to requests for comments.

According to a Voice article from Nov. 2, 2006, when the 2004 death of Georgetown senior Daniel Rigby in a townhouse fire spurred the D.C. government to inspect houses in the area, SHA placed flyers in many of its properties advising residents “not to allow [inspectors] in the house.”

Many students listened and their houses were not inspected, meaning potentially dangerous violations might have gone unnoticed.

Another student who lives in an SHA property, Samhir Vasdev (COL ’11), said maintenance and repair issues have been a big problem.

“The worst part … is the maintenance … they do a lot of

big transition things that I feel like I should know about and they don’t talk to me about it,” he said.

Vasdev recalled that one Friday afternoon, he and his roommates returned to their West Georgetown townhouse to find that the back wall behind the house had been demolished and that the inside walls had been shaved down, leaving a fine layer of dust over their belongings.

None of the renters had been contacted about the changes.

To help students deal with the challenges of living outside the gates, Georgetown has set up two separate offices: the Office of Off-Campus Housing and the Office of Off-Campus Student Life.

The Office of Off-Campus Housing’s main function is to aid students with finding a place to live. Its website offers housing forms, recycling and trash information, tips for moving in and out, housing listings, and a roommate finder service.

But most students are not aware of the services Off-Campus Housing offers. None of the students contacted for this article had ever heard of “OCH 101,” the department’s housing database.

OCSL offers numerous resources to help students avoid the pitfalls of renting, including information on renter’s rights and fire safety. Most students know the office only in a punitive capacity, however. OCSL runs the Student Neighborhood Assistance Program, a University neighborhood patrol initiative, which can cite students for things like noise and trash violations.

OCSL also makes an effort

to maintain friendly relations with neighborhood residents not affiliated with the University. On a page entitled “Being Good Neighbors,” the website claims that Georgetown leads D.C. universities in on-campus housing, with 78 percent of students living within the gates.

The fact that so many undergraduates are living outside the gates is a point of contention for many Georgetown residents not affiliated with the University. Claiming that a lack of on-campus housing options is forcing students to move into Burleith and West Georgetown, many neighbors feel that enrollment is already at an unacceptably high level and that the University should be forced to accept fewer students in order to accommodate a higher percentage of students on campus.

This view was most famously espoused by Stephen Brown, a Burlieth resident who outraged students last year by publishing photographs and addresses of student parties on his website, drunkengeorgetownstudents.com.

But Brown claims that his real complaint is not with student partygoers, but with the University’s failure to provide enough on-campus housing.

“We’re more on the student side than you can imagine,” he said. “I think the University likes to pit the neighbors versus the students. It’s really not neighbors versus students, it’s neighbors versus the university … I mean, they’re inviting you to Washington, but they’re not giving you a place to live.”

It seems unlikely that Georgetown will expand its on-

campus housing options in the near future. The 2010 Campus Plan submitted by the University to the D.C. Zoning Commission in December originally contained a proposal to house graduate students and faculty in a “1789 Block” between 37th and 36th Streets, but the plan was nixed in the face of opposition from neighborhood groups like the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. Without additional housing, the only way to keep students on campus would be to drop enrollment—an unattractive proposition when operating budgets are stretched thin, and one the University has not proposed.

But even if the University

provided adequate housing for all of its students, some upperclassmen might still choose to live off-campus. To many, not living on campus means less University supervision and regulation.

According to Campus Housing’s website, living in a University townhouse costs $8,194 per year—$910 per month. While that’s cheaper than typical off-campus rents, some students are willing to pay more to be free from Georgetown’s alcohol policies and rules.

“It’s just nice not having to deal with RAs and stuff like that,” Dimon said. “[It’s] a good sense of independence.”

CHRIS HELLER

Sorry Burlieth: We’ve been here since since 1789. How long have you been here?

the georgetown voice 9 Living off campus is not cheap, but findmyhousing. com, a website founded by Mike Stone (MSB ’10) and Peter Swiek (MSB ’10) during their time at Georgetown, offers a solution to help students get the best value for their money. The site, now managed by Swiek, Michael Crouch (MSB ’13), Joe Friedrich (MSB’13) and Harrison Beecher (COL’10), offers a map-based search tool for houses in the Georgetown area. It is free for landlords and students, and it gives previous renters the chance to rate houses based on value, condition, location, neighbors and landlord and to review the houses in a section of the site that landlords can’t see.

According to Swiek, Find My Housing is working with the Georgetown University Student Associaton and Georgetown officials with the goal of bringing the site to Georgetown “in an official capacity.”

“The ‘Directory’ is a combination of Amazon reviews and Wikipedia,” he wrote in an email. “The whole website is a place [where] students and landlords can connect and benefit from a centralized and standardized off-campus housing resource.”

The D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs also offers tools to help renters, providing free inspections to ensure that houses are safe and inhabitable. OCSL and OCH recommend that students request inspections for their houses, but the examinations can have negative repercussions for the landlord-stu-

dent tenant relationship.

“My landlord felt attacked,” Grace Kane (COL ’11) said, explaining that her landlord reacted with anger at her request for a DCRA inspection.

“Our relationship turned from not great to pretty bad after this happened—even after I explained profusely that our administrators advocate relentlessly [for inspections].”

She and her roommates ended up having to pay for the damages noted in the report themselves, since their landlord claimed they had caused them, and they were subjected to “random weekly inspections” from that point on.

In order to avoid issues with their landlord, Dimon and her roommates took detailed pictures of their house before they moved in this year in order to protect their security deposit.

There are resources for renters who search them out.

In particular, many students do not know that is illegal for a landlord to insist upon being paid more than one month’s rent at a time. The Housing Code is available online in a searchable format, but for those who find it too daunting, the OCSL, OCH and the DCRA are all available to help explain what renter’s rights are and how they can be enforced.

Dimon recommended that potential renters choose a landlord who has only one property, since these landlords have a vested interest in their properties.

“My advice is to try to know your rights and be persistent,” Dimon said.

COURTESY GEorgetown university

Campus Plan 2010: Commonly used as toilet paper by neighbors.

leisure

10 the georgetown voice

february 10, 2011

Improv alumni celebrate 15th anniversary

by Leigh Finnegan If you’re an acquaintance of anybody in the Georgetown University Improv Association, you may have noticed a slight change in your Facebook events during the past few days. Suddenly, your invitation to the 15th anniversary of Improvfest this weekend was conspicuously missing the second half of its title. Originally, it boldly advertised an extra-special guest headliner: the all-capsworthy “MIKE BIRBIGLIA.” Sadly, the title change was no mistake. On Monday, Georgetown Improv’s most famous alum bailed out. But if you think that means that Improvfest 2011 has lost everything that made it outstanding, different, or worthy of attendance, you’re sorely mistaken.

Improvfest, one of the oldest ongoing festivals of its kind in the country, has been the cornerstone of Georgetown’s improv season since its inaugural performance in 1997. This followed the 1995 founding of the Georgetown Players, a combination children’s the-

ater and improv troupe designed to fill the sizable gaps in Georgetown’s comedy scene. The improv branch of the troupe soon decided that they needed a show that was bigger and better than the normal events they put on during the year, and invited troupes from other schools to join them in the very first Improvfest.

Since that first show, Georgetown Improv has come a long way in remedying Georgetown’s comedic deficit. After over a decade as a single entity made up of two distinct groups, the Georgetown Players split last spring.

The Georgetown University Improv Association sprung up as a result, under executive producer Jed Feiman (COL ’12).

“We’re finally big enough to be independent,” Feiman said.

As their breakaway might imply, Georgetown improv has witnessed exponential growth in popularity over the past 15 years, particularly in the time leading up to its independence. Current, newer members of the troupe take for granted the widespread campus interest in the group, es-

pecially after the success of January’s show, which was standing room only.

“There were about 50 people standing in the back,” said Michael Holper (COL ’14) (Disclosure: Holper has written for the Voice.) “A lot of my friends couldn’t get in.”

Although Feiman, a member since his freshman year, has never seen a show that didn’t nearly fill Bulldog Alley, he recognizes that, like so many have said about the arts at Georgetown, this was not always the case.

“Since I’ve been here I’ve known that to be the typical show,” he said. “But the year before I was here, I’ve heard stories that [just] handfuls of people showed up.”

But Birbiglia or not, far more than handfuls of people are going to show up for this weekend’s Improvfest, which is expected to sell out both nights of its run. For its anniversary celebration, the festival, which normally features two or three troupes from other colleges, is hosting Ohio State’s 8th Floor Improv. In lieu of more

Courtesy Georgetown University Improv association

“I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?” college groups, this year features a guest troupe of old and new alumni. Guests will range from those who performed in Improvfest’s flagship year through the class of 2010, including comedian and former VH1 hostess Alison Becker (COL ’99).

With a group of such talented alumni, many of whom are responsible for Georgetown Improv becoming the success that it is today, one might think that the newer members would be shaking in their unscripted boots. But the confident troupe

does not seem too fazed by their older, probably less practiced competition.

“The coherence of the alumni’s team might not be as good as ours,” Holper said. “[But] it’ll be nice to see what their talents are.”

These talents, from current Hilltop residents to alumni to a gifted bunch from Ohio, are sure to make this year’s special-edition Improvfest an exciting celebration of how far comedy has come at Georgetown. And admit it—you don’t really know much about Mike Birbiglia anyway.

Mask and Bauble’s Todd: Laugh, rinse, repeat

by Nico Dodd If too often you find yourself holed up in Lau, twisting your brain trying to survive your second semester of organic chemistry, you don’t want to see a play that’s going to tie your mind in knots. Mask and Bauble must have realized this and decided on a spring play that is about as far from meta-theater as one can get—Sweeney Todd, the Steven Sondheim classic on which Mask and Bauble gives an innovative take. Though at points disjointed, the cast takes full advantage of their roles to create a fun-filled atmosphere that will make any audience forget that they’re watching a play about killing people.

The play follows barbergone-wrong Sweeney Todd, who has just returned to his hometown of London after a lengthy, undeserved prison sentence. Todd is quickly informed that his wife and daughter are dead, so he vows to take vengeance on the judge who sent

them to their fates, and makes good on this through a bloody, cannibalistic, barbershop killing spree. But anyone interested in seeing the Mask and Bauble production should probably brush

quick dialogue make scene transitions confusing. With the stage looking almost the same throughout the show, it becomes difficult to transport the audience to the various settings,

in black held the rope in different ways to illustrate particular items: a set of stairs, shackles, even the bonds of love.

After learning what’s what and who’s who, the focus shifts

“Don’t be so scared, Natalie Portman looked totally hot bald in V for Vendetta.” up on these key plot points before seeing it—the quick first few sequences make it tough to grab onto the storyline.

Some aspects of the production add to this disorientation— a stark set with few props and

especially between rooms in the same house. But in a creative production move, director Alice Cash (COL ’13) had her cast use rope to suggest different aspects of set and atmosphere. In different scenes, an ensemble clad

JULIANNE DENO

from the main characters to the supporting ones, who really stole the show. Brendan Quinn (COL ’14) as lackey Tobias Ragg and Andrew Street (COL ’12) as henchman Beadle Bamford ham it up very well as the pro-

duction’s comedic highlights.

Despite occasional failures in comedic timing, all actors hit at least a few of their critical jokes, earning laughs from the audience. The show’s funniest moments occur when characters allude to the nonsensical nature of their situation—in this way, the cast makes it apparent that they enjoy the show, and that enjoyment rubs off on the crowd.

But in contrast with its stellar cast, musically, Sweeney Todd is average. The cast is vocally talented, but not emotive enough to make musical numbers engaging. The pit orchestra is flatout disappointing—bumps and wrong notes throughout the performance distract from the story and contribute to an oftendisjointed show.

But despite its considerable lowlights and shoddy execution, Sweeney Todd does not entirely disappoint. It’s a fun show with a talented, enthusiastic cast, and it’ll leave you humming its tunes—albeit with a few wrong notes.

georgetownvoice.com

“Is that a ten-gallon hat, or are you just enjoying the show? ” — Blazing saddles

the georgetown voice 11

Rapids needs more raucousness Herbivores take over D.C.

by Samuel Buckley

by Mary Borowiec

Ever since the massive success of 2009 smash-hit The Hangover, a series of R-rated comedies have attempted to imitate and capitalize on the blend of wellcrafted, raunchy dialogue and situational absurdity that made the movie such a success. With Cedar Rapids, director Michael Artera takes imitation one step further, borrowing Hangover star Ed Helms. And although Helms brings some of the same wideeyed naiveté and general beatendown demeanor to the lead role in Cedar Rapids, the script unfortunately does not give him nearly as much to work with. The film, though intermittently funny, doesn’t have the dialogue or the absurdity that this kind of comedy needs to really take off.

Helms plays Ted Lippe, a decidedly average insurance agent who has never left his smalltown slice of Wisconsin. But when death strikes a superstar co-worker by way of some good ol’ autoerotic asphyxiation, Lippe is forced to represent the company at an insurance convention in faraway Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Although the movie ostensibly follows Lippe’s attempt to impress the convention president enough to secure a prestigious award for his company, the plot is only sometimes important. Instead,

Last week, Washington was overwhelmed by what many claim to be the greatest culinary innovation ever to come out of American kitchens: barbeque.

This celebration of the grill—and all other things carnivorous— was part of the annual D.C. Meat Week. But after a week’s worth of fatty protein, D.C.’s vegetarian and vegan community is striking back, combatting some of that high cholesterol with the second annual D.C. Meat-Free Week.

Running until Feb. 13, this year’s schedule is packed with a variety of events designed to showcase the best of D.C. meatfree living. There are numerous opportunities to sample dishes and learn more about vegetarian cooking, from a meet-and-greet on Friday with Kim O’Donnell, author of The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook, to a special vegetarian food truck bonanza on Thursday, to lunch with Lindsay Nixon, author of The Happy Herbivore, at Café Green on Saturday afternoon. After filling up on more tofu than many will see in their lifetimes, participants can continue the experience by submitting their photos to the D.C. Vegan blog for the chance to win the vegetarian version of a prized ham—a large box of organic fruits and vegetables from Washington’s Green Grocer.

ImDB

Nine months from now, she’s got one in three odds of guessing the father. most of the film centers on the unfamiliar situations and wacky antics Lippe encounters as he adjusts to the city and interacts with his convention companions—the foul-mouthed Ziegler (John C. Reilly), the straight-laced Ron (Isaiah Whitlock Jr.), and the flirtatious Joan (Anne Heche).

Since the film’s plotline is mainly an excuse to set up the fish-out-of-water scenario, Cedar Rapids is left to be carried by Lippe’s various comedic situations—drinking with his co-stars at the convention bar, drunken pool swimming, a company scavenger hunt, and a raucous, drug-fueled house party (with a cameo from Hot Tub Time Machine’s Rob Corddry). Unfortunately, none of these are unique fare for comedy, and the movie lacks the guts to push situations to a level where humor might come from audacity alone.

The joy of popping

There are some foods that America’s giant, faceless, agribeast processed food industry can make just as well as the average person. The Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layer Butter Tastin’ biscuit, for example, is a thing of beauty. Frozen pizza and Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese are both mostly high-fructose corn syrup, and not coincidentally both delicious.

However, there is one processed food that is an affront to all that is good, right, and beautiful about eating: microwavable popcorn.

Microwavable popcorn tastes like brined packing peanuts— greasy, tart, and stale. If the taste doesn’t turn you off, squeeze a package of unpopped Pop Secret before you microwave it. Feel the kernels slowly spread out in the

congealed imitation butter sludge in which they are suspended.

Now ask yourself, doesn’t that belong in a landfill?

Pardon my disdain. I didn’t feel this way until I began to make popcorn myself, on the stove. It’s magnificent. Where microwave popcorn is like Styrofoam, a kernel of popcorn popped on the stove is moist, complex, and slightly sweet (as if it were—gasp!—made from corn), but still effortlessly light and crunchy. Think about it: if it has to be smothered in greasy cheez dust to be palatable, it’s crap. A good piece of popcorn should be a joy to eat with or without its toppings. But oh, what toppings. Melted butter and a careful sprinkling of salt will wake up your taste buds, if not give you a foodgasm.

The film manages several genuine laugh-out-loud lines, but these aren’t delivered with enough frequency to keep it from periodically sagging. Most of the dialogue rests at chuckle-level humor, although the always talented Reilly manages to score more hits than misses when he is on screen.

Adding to the film’s unfunny nature are a few surprisingly cynical subplots, like Lippe’s budding affair with the married Joan, that don’t jibe with the overall tone of the movie.

While it boasts some comedic star-power and a reasonable showcase for Ed Helms’ talents, Cedar Rapids is generally lame. The plot is not engaging enough, and the situations not ridiculous or entertaining enough for it to rival the movie it tries to emulate. Maybe Helms should stick to scripts that let him rip his teeth out.

My family boastfully refers to this as “making real popcorn.”

We are so aggressively proud of our ability to do so that my sister invites her friends to best her in popcorn-making contests.

(Her most recent challenger backed out due to nerves.) And if we sound like a bunch of jerks,

Amuse-bouche

by Molly Redden

a bi-weekly column about food and drink keep in mind that my sister and I are regularly implored by our friends to make popcorn.

Besides, we never showboat without offering to teach.

I taught my sister to make popcorn when she was 11 years old while we were home alone watching The Bourne Identity. We paused the movie, and I took her upstairs along with my family’s

designated popcorn pot. There is no art to choosing a popcorn pot—just a sensibility. It should be able to hold at least half as much popcorn as you intend to eat (you can dump the finished corn out as you pop it), and you shouldn’t attempt to make a single serving batch in a stockpot, but anything in between can do the job.

I told her to pour oil into the pot until it just filled the bottom, and drop two kernels into the oil. We covered the pot and heated the oil over medium-high heat until they both popped, then sent an avalanche of kernels into the heated oil and covered the pot again. Some recipes will suggest a kernel-to-oil ratio for this step, but I’m a fan of eyeballing it. The oil should just cover the kernels, and the kernels shouldn’t be swimming. That’s about all the direction you need.

If you’re unsure about whether or not you can give up Five Guys and chicken finger Thursdays, Amber McDonald, the founder of Meat-Free Week, suggests that you “challenge yourself.”

“You’ll be surprised,” she said. “You can win friends with salad.”

McDonald gave some further moral incentive to all Washingtonians—whether carnivores, omnivores, pescatarians, vegetarians, or vegans—to participate in the celebration.

“At the same time that you improve your own health, you’ll benefit the planet, lessen animal suffering, and enjoy some of D.C.’s very best restaurants,” she said.

In addition to providing the chance to expand your restaurant repertoire beyond Wisey’s and Tuscany, special Meat-Free Week events also benefit the D.C.-based nonprofit, “Compassion Over Killing,” which works to end animal abuse, particularly in agriculture.

From supporting animal rights to trying a new variation on vegetarian cuisine, D.C.’s Meat-Free Week offers a fresh take on the non-carnivorous life. It’s a challenge, for sure, but D.C. residents are proving that vegetarianism is not only possible, but enjoyable. Meat, meet your match.

Have a bowl ready. That’s key. Popcorn will surprise you.

The single serving you thought you made will suddenly turn into a three-person batch, forcing the lid off the pot as the kernels turn into projectiles, so be ready to dump the top layer into the bowl while the kernels on the bottom continue to pop. Butter it and salt it, again, eyeballing it.

And it will be perfect the first time you try it, I told her.

You can cook a batch of popcorn in the time it takes to microwave a bag of “popcorn.” So if you have access to a stove— hell, if you have access to a hotplate with frayed wiring— throw your Orville Crapenbacher in the garbage. It’s time to make real popcorn.

Show Molly that once you pop, the fun don’t stop at mredden@ georgetownvoice.com

leisure

12 the georgetown voice

february 10, 2011

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

Mother of Mercy, IV: Symptoms of Existence, Bridge Nine Records Philadelphia metallic-punk outfit Mother of Mercy is not for the faint of heart. MoM, as the band has affectionately been nicknamed, delivers a distinct blend of straightforward hardcore punk and darker, brooding rock sounds influenced by the likes of Danzig and Samhain.

After years of creating impressive music and touring with punk forefathers such as Agnostic Front and Sick of It All, last year Mother of Mercy signed with premier hardcore and punk label Bridge 9 Records.

The fruit of this signing is MoM’s second full-length record, IV: Symptoms of Existence.

Recorded at the famous Studio 4 just outside of Philadelphia,

IV features some of MoM’s best material to date. Enormous, chugging guitars drive the tracks forward, while intermittent lead lines lend a dose of unexpected melody. The music is also undeniably groovy, with the wrecking ball drums—think Keith Moon meets Dave Grohl in 1988—often giving way to interesting, syncopated riffs and rhythms, like on its standout track “Control.”

But MoM is at its best on tracks like “World of Pain” and “Swinging the Chain,” where they build the tension to an almost unbearable crescendo, only to unleash a thunderous break or chorus. But even amidst such potentially overpowering instrumentation, vocalist Bob Wilson delivers a stellar performance. His impeccably raspy howls elevate the tracks from heavy to truly gut-wrenching, and his personal lyrics tell the familiar story of human frustration and lack of control.

Clocking in at only 24 minutes, Symptoms of Existence hits like a punch to the stomach from start to finish, and is a great testament to the growth and health of alternative music in 2011. Those brave enough to dive in will be rewarded with

We don’t need no education

Just over a week ago, three Georgetown graduates made their mark on the Sundance Film Festival. Hoyas contributed to two entries, with one of their films—Another Earth— earning two prizes and sending shockwaves through the indie film world. While Georgetown can take pride in these ambitious filmmakers’ success, their graduation from a school that lacks a film program has made their presence in the industry even more notable, proving yet again that when it comes to getting ahead in the movie business, a degree from New York University’s Tisch School of Arts is often not as important as raw talent.

Many aspiring filmmakers face the daunting decision of majoring in film and media studies versus something more practical—not to mention that

walking down Hollywood Boulevard amid herds of failed filmmakers would make any parent balk at paying for an education in film. But what happened this year at Sundance is a prime example of why the road to film industry success does not end when a student turns down a prestigious film school for a more traditional education.

While there are countless film school graduates among the successful filmmakers of the past and present, a staggering number of directors and writers did not study film formally—and many times did not graduate from college or even high school.

Quentin Tarantino, one of the most prolific directors of this generation, dropped out of high school at 16 and got his education in film while working at a video rental store. Paul Thomas Anderson dropped out of NYU

a record that delivers some of the most powerful, well-written and unabashedly honest music in recent memory.

Voice’s Choices: “Forever Night, Forever Mourning,” “Swinging the Chain,” “Control” —Matthew Decker

Cut Copy, Zonoscope, Modular Records With Zonoscope, Cut Copy is going on a trip. The Melbournebased electro-pop group’s sophomore release is brimming with journey images and metaphors, from song titles like “Where I’m Going” to lyrics like “take it from me/we’re on a path to eternity.” And while Zonoscope is still filled with the ecstatic, feel-good, summer-y beats that after two days, opting for experience in the field over theoretical film courses. Hell, three of this year’s five Academy Awardnominated directors never graduated from film school.

While advocates of film programs may argue that these people are like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates, unique Harvard-

Fade to Black

by John Sapunor a bi-weekly column about film drop-out types who had “it” in them since birth, there are too many exceptions for these to be isolated events. Looking at just a few of the notable directors and writers on this massive list, it’s easy to wonder if graduates of film programs have become the exception in Hollywood.

Education in the arts is in itself a disputed subject, with some arguing that a craft requir-

fans have come to expect, this release is Cut Copy’s attempt to be taken more seriously.

Cut Copy was the darling of the festival scene this past summer, and Zonoscope is clearly an endeavor to mature from the electronic dance tunes that made these Aussies famous in 2004. Gone are the days of the simple but catchy arrangements of their debut, having been replaced with a much more layered, textured sound—likely the result of their collaboration with Animal Collective’s Ben H. Allen.

But beyond Allen, Zonoscope reveals a much broader range of influences, from the Beatles and the Beach Boys on the hit-worthy track “Where I’m Going,” to electronic gods LCD Soundsystem. Even up-and-comers Yeasayer can be heard on the pulsating “Corner of the Sky” and euphoric closer “Sun God.” They show a wider range in tempos too, ranging between the chilledout “This Is All We Got” and the rocked-up “Alisa.”

But Cut Copy die-hards need not worry. The band has pushed their characteristic ‘80s newwave vibe even further, showcasing frontman Dan Whitford’s voice to create something like ing creativity and imagination cannot be taught. In defense of film school, there is a certain level of technical competence required in the filmmaking process. But while film school may accelerate this learning process, the learning curve is not steep enough to deter the motivated amateurs who start off with $400 camcorders and manage to work their way up to professional production equipment.

The digital age, after all, has allowed amateurs to film lowbudget productions just like these Georgetown grads. Access to studio-quality equipment is no longer required to make studio-quality movies. Movies like Brick and Monsters have championed this point, bringing stunning images to the screen on budgets equivalent to the salary of an extra in G.I. Joe. If finding a job in the industry comes down to innate talent and creativity, film school

Depeche Mode meets Men Without Hats. And the band’s steady synth beats permeate every track, none more so than the toetapping “Hanging on to Every Heartbeat.” Experimental new sounds add depth to these beats, and create a better backdrop for the stunning vocals.

The result is certainly more complex, luscious music. On the other hand, the band’s former target audience (festival kids jumping around to catchy tunes like “Saturdays” and “Hearts on Fire”) might be disappointed with the more intelligent but also slightly less accessible songs.

Cut Copy is taking us with them on a journey through deeper layers of electronic work and the roots of their musical inspiration. But if you think that means the boys have found the “music” and lost the fun, think again—if you put in the work to appreciate it, you’ll reap the reward of a dynamic new sound that still delivers that sunny, Aussie bliss that made them famous.

Voice’s Choices: “Pharaohs and Pyramids,” “Hang on to Every Heartbeat” —Claire Ferguson is still a great place to network.

Not only do film students take classes with potential creative partners and children of people in the industry, there are already many NYU and USC grads in the industry who will look favorably on hiring graduates of their alma maters. If an outsider like Tarantino wants to get into the movie business, it requires far more effort, with a far higher chance of failure than that of someone with an M.F.A. But while Hollywood is still all about who you know, the three Georgetown students at Sundance have demonstrated that a career in the business is open to anyone with a little bit of talent and a willingness to risk failure. And that’s something that doesn’t come with a quartermillion-dollar Tisch diploma.

Show John your studio-quality equipment at jsapunor@georgetownvoice.com

page thirteen

georgetownvoice.com

H

enrì stared at her across the room, his heart soaring and falling in time with the sound of her voice seductively rasping into the microphone. She was his siren sweetly singing and her voice was the only thing occupying his consciousness. Though her lyrics were impersonally crafted by some stranger, Henrì was fully convinced that she chose them just for him. There just had to be a message hidden in all those dulcet tones. So his heart was at the point of breaking as she crooned: “Why couldn’t you be a little more like someone else?”

Brooding, he ordered another scotch, his fifth, staring down the waitress after she’d suggested he lay off.

Turning back to face the stage, his interest was piqued as Carlotta leaned over the piano, the bodice of her red gown pulling tight across her chest. It was as if she looked straight into his soul through the curling smoke filling the air of the packed room as she cooed: “I like when you burn me for the bad things that I do to you” before taking a long drag from her cigarette and winking, surely just for him. In that brief moment, Henrì forgave her, but then the slut had the audacity to kiss that tool playing the piano before slinking offstage. His obsession with Carlotta was intense and dangerous, characterized by moments of relentless desire followed by these flares of jealousy. Henrì knew he loved her with all his heart and soul, if only he could get her to stop toying and just be his. Forever.

Carlotta was a star and she knew it; people knew her name here and she lived like royalty.

She’d been the headlining act at Blue Velvet for the past two years and there were still new people coming every week to hear her sing them something torturously seductive as she slinked back and forth across the stage, swaying her hips the way women used to know how. Carlotta could bring a man to the brink just with that walk and she took full advantage of the effects her raw sensuality had on men.

Sucking one more lungful from her cig, she started wriggling her way toward Henrì through the crowd of salivating men. His heart picked up, banging restlessly against his ribcage at the sound of her husky voice addressing him.

“Babe, when you gonna get tired of hearing me sing the same couple ’a songs week after week?”

“You keep singing ‘em like that and I’ll never stop coming. Sit down here, how ‘bout I get you a martini— dirty, that’s how you drink ‘em, right?”

“Henrì, you know that’s how I like it,” here she giggled and winked at Henrì before continuing, “Anyway babe, you know I’ll drink anything as long as I drink it with you.”

stared at her and smiled, though trying not to make it too wide, fully believing that his brooding, dark demeanor was his only attractive quality. Standing, he drew her against him, savoring for just a moment that special way Carlotta melted against him before he kissed her. Henrì needed her like an addict needs their next fix. To see Henrì and Carlotta kiss was like watching two predators at hunt, both believing the other to be prey. It was as if he was trying to devour the woman’s very essence and Carlotta, for her part, seemed to be teasing the man with her lips and tongue, challenging him to rise to the occasion.

Finally, they broke apart after what seemed an eternity, both breathless and yearning for more.

“Why don’t you meet me out front with your car in five minutes babe? I’ve gotta quick make the rounds, you know. But I’ll be there, I need you,” she whispered in his ear, her voice all hot and breathy, adding, “Tonight,” before drawing away.

Nodding, Henrì downed the rest of his scotch before grabbing his coat and damn near sprinting out to his car. Ten minutes of pure elation ticked away while Henrì looked hopefully at the door, waiting for Carlotta, his Carlotta, to saunter out and into his waiting arms. Ten more minutes passed and Henrì’s euphoria began to fade. After opening the glove box to take out his revolver, he spent five minutes trying to cool his temper so he wouldn’t throttle the bitch for making him look like a fool, and then walked back into Blue Velvet. The place had emptied a bit, no one ever stuck around long after Carlotta was finished slinking across the stage. She was nowhere to be seen, but Henrì didn’t plan on leaving without an explanation. He asked the bartender where she’d gone, but he couldn’t remember seeing her at all after she got off stage.

Walking into the men’s room, he splashed a little cold water on his face, trying to focus. That’s when he heard the moans. There was a door in the men’s room that went straight backstage; it was normally locked, but on this particular day it was open just a crack. Henrì, shaking with rage, peeked through, expecting to see her with someone else. The piano player was standing over her, and there was blood in a pool around Carlotta, a butcher’s knife protruding from her milky white chest. The pianoman, Louie, was saying something, chanting it actually, over and over. Why couldn’t you be a little more like someone faithful, Carlotta? As Louie stepped on the knife the sultry siren’s scream was muffled by a gag.

Opening the door wide, Henrì put a slug in the bastard’s head before running to Carlotta’s side. Her eyes were barely open, but she wasn’t gone just yet.

Yanking the gag out, he put his lips to hers. When he drew away, her lips parted, carrying out one agonizing note until she was gone. For the first time in his life, Henrì wept, unable to believe that he’d known such glorious highs and such terrifying lows in one night. Entwining his hand with Carlotta’s, Henrì followed his siren into oblivion and the vast blackness, imagining the ringing in his ears from the bullet in his heart to be her aria continuing into eternity.

Siren

Carlotta put her hand on his leg, sending a jolt through his skin, and grinned, noticing the hitch in his breathing. Henrì

NITYA RAMLOGAN

the georgetown voice 13

by Anastasia Baran

voices

14 the georgetown voice

february 10, 2011

An Iris by any other name would smell as sweet

by Iris Kim Syllabus week is a wonderful time of reunions, reclaimed freedom from parental oppression, and a disregard for that thing that seems to pester us each morning (or early afternoon, for the less ambitious) — class.

In the haze of first lectures and discussions, I always experience a syllabus week tradition of my own—my professors’ inevitable confusion as they stumble through my first name during roll call.

Chaeyoung. It is hard to pronounce if you’re not Korean, thanks to the butchered anglicized spelling. That is why I have always gone by my more manageable middle name, Iris.

With the exception of my family, the majority of my life was spent ignoring that other name, my Korean name—my real name.

To be honest, I was ignorant of my true identity for a while.

When my family joined the 21st century with AOL back in the

days of dial-up, my first screen name was ICK123, based on what I thought were my initials.

No one bothered to correct me.

I became more aware of my dual moniker as I grew older and saw more documents that read “Chaeyoung Iris Kim”— and this confusion has plagued me for years. Even my parents don’t quite grasp what they themselves did. My mother unwittingly enrolled me in school as Iris Kim. This didn’t seem significant until February of my senior year of high school, when half of the schools I applied to sent me multiple notifications of incomplete applications. Yes, even though I had a private meeting with my guidance counselor about the possibility of a mix up, which ended with me asking her to send all materials under my legal name, the office still sent my transcript and letters of recommendation to be filed with the application of some other Iris Kim. Needless to say, I did not receive admission to any of those universities.

At this point, my dual identity was no longer something that differentiated my home life and my social life. It was an annoyance. As I became old enough to get a license, register to vote, and apply to colleges, I had to severely alter my habits. To this day, I can never sign Chaeyoung properly. You will always see three hanging loops when there should be two. I can, however revert back to the signature I know better, because my mother opened my emergency credit card under the false name Iris C. Kim. I am aware that I can change my name. My brother did it easily when he became old enough, easily switching around Korean and American names. I could go to court and formalize the more convenient Iris, but I don’t really want to. Something about my two names, and the fact that I can become two different people is attractive. I am the very first person with the initials CIK to receive a Georgetown email address, with no numbers cluttering up my NetID. If employ-

ers want to find me, it will be a struggle, as most of my online life is under the other alias. It is kind of nice, in a way, to not be pegged down as one particular thing.

I respond to and really enjoy both names. In some sense, I am an amalgamation of both names and would be incomplete without each. Especially knowing the thought that went into choosing my two names makes me appreciate them more. My father spent a month deliberating a proper name for the daughter he always wanted. I was nameless for the first month of my life. Eventually he chose Chaeyoung, as the corresponding Chinese characters mean “bright” and “glistening.” Even the selection of “Iris” as my second name was truly kudosworthy on my parents’ part, as most other Korean girls with immigrant parents simply have Biblical and/or generic names. I have sibling cousins named Michelle and Michael.

When I was 16, my parents became naturalized citizens,

and as a minor, I inherited their new American identity as well. This meant that I had to shrug off my South Korean citizenship, as they deny dual passports. I know that this denouncement made logical sense, since I don’t foresee myself returning to the homeland for good. However, just because the South Korean government denied my dual identity, doesn’t mean that I have to succumb to the narrow characterization as well.

As professors awkwardly attempt my name and look around apologetically, I always just raise my hand and help them out. “You can call me Iris.”

They always look relieved, and I always know that despite their confusion, and my own, I’ll keep the tradition that ironically asserts my identity.

Iris Kim is a junior in the College. How could she not even mention that her last name is also a first name?

Rite of passage ruined by continued decline of print media

by Aodhan Beirne It is said that smell is the sense most closely associated with one’s memory. It should be no surprise to me then, that whenever I read a newspaper, I am almost instantly brought back to my childhood, sitting in the kitchen, watching my dad read the newspaper.

Along with the dusty smell of the paper, I can recall the smell of coffee brewing. It is a child-

hood memory I hold as close as Christmas morning. Unfortunately, the scene is one that is now more rarely conjured up because newspapers have, especially on Georgetown’s campus, been largely replaced by their online counterparts.

As a child, I always looked on with awe as my dad sat at our kitchen table reading the paper intently, keeping the fold perfect as he turned the page, and looking more in-

FLICKR

Unlike newspapers, coffee will survive technological progress.

terested in what he was reading than most children my age were in Pokémon. While I could not take the time in the morning to brush my hair or match my socks, my dad was able to sit for an hour every day, reading what seemed to me at the time was the most uninteresting thing in the world.

And yet, I wanted nothing more than to do exactly what he was doing. Though, as a 9-year-old, I certainly didn’t want to read the paper, I wanted, so desperately, to want to read the paper. To me, the newspaper was the ultimate symbol of maturity, and reading it was all it took to be a grown-up. I wanted to read the newspaper like my dad did more than I wanted to drive, wear a suit, or any of the other things I associated with adulthood.

It now appears, however, that my pursuit of maturity and adulthood may be in vain, and not only because I still do not brush my hair or wear matching socks. By the time I am my father ’s age, print newspapers will likely no longer be around, and the art of the perfect quarter newspaper fold will have gone the way of roof thatching.

Newspaper circulation has been declining steadily for years now, papers are starting to charge for online content, and Rupert Murdoch just introduced The Daily, the first online-only daily news publication, released exclusively for the iPad. The future of physical newspapers is looking increasingly dire.

I have never been an opponent of progress or technology, and in fact I think the proliferation of online news and semi-news (like Twitter and Digg) have profoundly benefitted society, and have made ignorance a hard quality to come by. I have always appreciated how online news could revolutionize how I thought about the world, but I much less expected it to change my perceptions about adulthood.

I can’t help feeling, however, a sense of disappointment that a rite of passage I had held with such esteem, and had waited patiently for, will soon be outdated.

Though I will have the opportunity to read the newspaper at the kitchen table every morning, I think I will be the last generation to do so.

I admit that although I prefer reading the actual paper when I’m home, it’s more

convenient and more accessible to read it online while I’m at school. I have and will continue to adapt to the changing media, with only very slight qualms about it. What is most disappointing to me, however, is that I won’t be able to instill the excitement and wonder about adulthood to my son, in the same way my father did to me.

I’m big on tradition and small on creativity. I know I have plenty of time, but I’m now faced with the challenge of coming up with my own way of inspiring wonder in my children that’s as meaningful as was my dad’s.

In the meantime, I hope to achieve all the other benchmarks of maturity and adulthood, and hopefully, along the way I might accrue an interest that will make maturity attractive to my future children. Otherwise, my son might one day be writing a similar article lamenting the anachronism of mismatched socks.

Aodhan Beirne is a junior in the College. He says newspapers bored him as a child, but really, he couldn’t read.

voices

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice

15

Georgetown must facilitate use of its resources for students

by Charlie Joyce Since the first day I stepped on campus as an eager freshman, I wanted to take advantage of everything that Georgetown had to offer and explore the opportunities presented by my new city. Like most students, I went through a phase where I eagerly and enthusiastically pursued every available opportunity. I am proud to say that I’ve accomplished every item on the Center for Student Programs “Top 25 Things Every

Hoya Should Do.” But, despite my success with opportunities on and off campus, I continue to struggle with the things at Georgetown which should really be the easiest.

As a junior I have grown too aware that classes are not the hardest part of my Georgetown life. Once we all settle in at the start of the semester, classes become second nature, with our goals for the semester clearly outlined in our syllabi. While our classes are still, of course, difficult, we all manage the best we can and have a

FLICKR

Georgetown is one of the toughest universities, both academically and otherwise.

Theory is not flawless policy We often hear the phrase “Georgetown bubble” used to describe the experience of students who seldom venture beyond M Street and Wisconsin Avenue except to watch the Hoyas play basketball at Verizon Center. To some ,it suggests a heavy workload, to others, elitism. The term conjures an image of undergraduates safely ensconced behind the walls of Georgetown, reading the likes of Hobbes and Jefferson. In our ivory tower, both students and professors enjoy the privilege of watching and commenting on events without being directly involved in them. Philosophy and political theory, two pillars of a School of Foreign Service or College education, are the products of the scholarship that takes place within our bubble.

Sometimes, however, the world reminds us that while the theories we take copious notes about in International Relations or Introduction to Philosophy can

help us understand the past, they frequently fail to make sense of the present. The world usually does not conform to how the academy understands it. The recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa serve as yet another reminder of how political theories can roughly explain events 10 years ago, but struggle mightily to explain what happened days ago.

Scholars have built up layer upon layer of theories, from realism to constructivism, from an individual level of analysis to a global one, in an attempt to explain why certain historical events have happened. Thousands of pages have been written about the French Revolution, and thousands more about the Russian and Chinese revolutions, but in 1978 and 1979, revolutionary theory failed to predict or explain the Iranian revolution. The academics that wondered if Iran could collapse thought it would be the late 1980s before such

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general idea of how to plan ahead for the semester. This makes our hectic lives manageable and allows them to run smoothly.

The hardest part of my week is not my 400-level government lecture, or even my three-hour economics seminar. These constants are manageable. No, the hardest part of my week consistently comes whenever I face uncertain situations. Trying to get off the waitlist for a class, scheduling a meeting with a dean, reserving rooms for club activities, or making sure that Saferides shows up should not be difficult. These basic university functions are sometimes more problematic for my schedule than writing papers. The problem is that there is no transparency in these processes to let me know that I am following the correct protocol. Without changes, students will continue to be left in the dark about how to properly utilize many important services on campus.

Wouldn’t it be great if we were able to apply the same level of order we expect from our syllabi to the processes on campus? If Georgetown would publish some form of policy outline, or create some accessible system that allows students to know that they are using University resources correctly, I might finally be an event might occur. They missed what hindsight rendered obvious: a hated regime that lacked legitimacy, a viable alternative in Ayatollah Khomeini, and an economy that couldn’t handle the weight of massive government building programs. Over the last 30 years, scholars have scrambled to adapt their theories to the unforeseen Iranian revolution. Now it appears, they will have to adapt again.

When Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent Egyptian opposition figure, returned to Egypt during

Carrying On

by Jackson Perry A rotating column by Voice senior staffers

the first days of anti-government protests in January, Western media swarmed the airport. Perhaps they envisioned a scene similar to the Tehran airport where two million Iranians flocked to witness Khomeini’s messianic arrival in January 1979. The Independent, a prominent British newspaper, branded ElBaradei “Egypt’s saviour-in-waiting.” When ElBaradei addressed the massive crowd of protestors in Cairo’s Liberation Square on Jan. 30, however, the overwhelming reaction was not support, but indifference. Most of

more worried about my homework than I am about filing add/drop paperwork. I would love to know that my GUTS bus or Saferides van is on schedule via a webpage or Twitter.

If I knew that my chance of getting off the waitlist was only 20 percent, I would be able to look for another available option, and not have to make a gamble on my schedule.

Though these problems may seem trivial, there is never action taken to correct them. Students suffering from these problems often accept them as an immutable part of Georgetown, though they really should not be.

I maintain the position that I established on my first day at Georgetown. I still want to take part in everything and enjoy all that Georgetown has to offer. This may be a tall order, as I only have one more full year at Georgetown, but I remain hopeful that future Hoyas will learn to streamline the University processes that have often impeded eager undergrads from taking full advantage of Georgetown.

I like to think that most Georgetown students recognize the opportunities presented to us by this University. However, I know that most students do not have sufficient access to University resources. We are the protestors could not even hear him.

Many have criticized the White House for a confused strategy toward the Egyptian protests. It is clear that the national security team does not know what to expect from a new democracy in Egypt. No one else knows either. Some scholars have argued that the Middle East has posed unique difficulties for political scientists, and that the field’s ability to explain events outside the region have largely been successful. However, one of the most powerful examples of the failures of theory happened not in the Middle East, but in Europe. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the fearsome Soviet military peacefully retreated from Eastern Europe, Western governments and academics alike were stunned, unable to understand the events in terms of the Cold War balance of power that had defined their careers.

Shortly before the Wall fell, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher begged Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to prevent it.

“Such a development,” Thatcher argued, “would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security.” A few months later, French President Francois Mitterrand told Thatcher that if Germany reunified, Europe would revert to the international climate that im-

educated in every discipline known to man, yet are unable to coordinate a room reservation system that provides sufficient access to space for studying and club meetings.

The University has long term plans to address many major student concerns, such as through the 2010 Campus Plan. Still I wonder, how difficult would it be to coordinate small but tangible improvements? We could all benefit from eliminating the “black-box” processes that cause us undeserved stress, by codifying policies and making them more available for undergrads.

I hope more than anything that by the time I have graduated, students will have started to raise their concerns about some of the smaller issues, Georgetown will have started to listen, and most importantly, that as I hold my diploma, I will have done everything possible to have made that eager freshman four years ago proud.

Charlie Joyce is a junior in the College.

If he knew Georgetown was going to be this tough, he would have gone to GW. mediately preceded World War I. The positions of both leaders likely reflected the advice they received from scholars who only knew Cold War politics. A return to the complex pre-1914 world of war scares is indeed a frightening notion.

However, the reunification of Germany has instead contributed to the unification of much of Europe within the European Union. Less than 100 years after the Great War, the total integration of Western Europe seems more likely than another catastrophic conflict between rival European states.

There is no question that when the dust settles in the Middle East the intellectual bastions of political theory across the country, including those at Georgetown, will again attempt to understand the flaws in their theories, just as they did after 1989. The same cringeinducing academic jargon will remain: systemic level of analysis, bureaucratic culture model and two-level games. The same theoretical arguments will continue unimpeded, until the next moment of crisis reminds us that the emperor is still wearing no clothes.

Jackson Perry is a junior in the College. The only “theory” he fully trusts for all matters is on CBS.

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