the guide FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
Traditions Evolve as Campus Grows The origins of students’ favorite Georgetown rituals PENNY HUNG Hoya Staff Writer
T
he Georgetown student experience is one defined by tradition, from those with Jesuit foundations to Homecoming to sitting on John Carroll’s lap. “I think when you first step foot on campus, you think about the 50 things you have to do, like Rangila, eat a Five Guys burger, run to the monuments, pull an all-nighter or whatever,” Blue & Gray Tour Guides President Parnia Zahedi (COL ’15) said. “I think for a medium-sized campus, it makes it smaller, and it gives it a more close-knit feel. It gives you common themes to talk about.” But what is tradition? In common usage, tradition is implied to be rooted in history, with ancient origins in the days of ivy-clad walls. It connects generations, binding them with a common culture, common practices and common goals. Yet today, many of the traditions we seemingly take for granted as being long established are, in fact, relatively new.
THE HOYA ARCHIVES
See TRADITIONS, B2
THIS WEEK EXHIBIT REVIEW
LIFESTYLE
The Art of Arabic Script
Exhibit celebrates the skill and beauty of Persian calligraphy NICK BIGGS-CHIROPOLOS Special to The Hoya
Telling Our Stories
New university online project plans to follow 11 students through their daily lives on the Hilltop for nine months. B3
Exploring Skills of Arabic Script
A new exhibit at the Freer Sackler Gallery examines the artistry behind the Persian Nasta’liq calligraphy. B4
FOOD & DRINK
Vietnamese Spot Discovered
Local underground restaurant Simply Banh Mi delivers surprisingly high-quality Vietnamese dishes. B5
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Tracks of Pure Joy
The debut album by Vance Joy combines addictive lyrics with soothing vocals. B6
THEHOYA.COM/ GUIDE @thehoyaguide
There are many who see the foreign symbols of the Arabic alphabet as art themselves, in contrast to the bland letters of our own modern English alphabet. The sequences of curves and dots that make up the Arabic figures give it a creative nature. Historically, Persian calligraphers used flat-tipped pens, expertly constructing both thick and thin lines in Persian script to produce this artistic sense. The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW, is currently holding an art exhibit called “Nasta’liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy,” which showcases the innate beauty of this alphabet. Nasta’liq is a calligraphic script that developed in 14thcentury Persia. Originally a style of writing, nasta’liq has developed into an artistic expression of Persian culture. The exhibit focuses on four of the most influential nasta’liq calligraphists who lived between the 14th and 16th centuries. The first is Mir Ali Tabrizi, the inventor of this script form. Next is Sultan Ali Mashhadi, referred to as the “sultan of calligraphers” in gallery descriptions, who worked as a writer and a teacher and developed new, more technical rules of calligraphy. His student Mir Ali Haravi became notable — surpassing the sultan himself, according to some historians — and produced large-scale qit’as (fragments of poetry). However, the authenticity of these manuscripts is unverified, as the Sultan allowed his pupils to sign his name on their own pieces, which already closely imitated his work. Last, but certainly not least, the apparent master of nasta’liq is the last of the four to be presented. Mir Imad al-Hasani, a 16thcentury man who is still regarded in Iran today as the greatest calligrapher, was interestingly murdered in 1615. Some experts claim that it’s possible he was assassinated
FREER SACKLER GALLERY
The “Nasta’liq” exhibit features gorgeous examples of ancient Persian calligraphy, including this folio, attributed in part to Sultan Ali Mashhadi. under orders of a rival calligrapher named Ali Riza. The nasta’liq exhibit is not large, featuring about 20 works and filling only two small rooms in the Sackler Gallery. However, with most of the gallery in transition between exhibits, this is one of only a few displays currently available to audiences. Its stated purpose is to describe the story of nasta’liq’s shift from a written form of communication to an artistic form of expres-
sion. The exhibit includes a brief description of nasta’liq’s transformation as well as a short video of calligrapher Manzar Moghbeli writing characters with a traditional calligraphy pen and dipped ink. The video in particular helps the audience understand the difference between calligraphy and our own style of writing. Making this distinction can See CALLIGRAPHY, B4
B2
the guide
THE HOYA
FRIDAY, september 26, 2014
FEATURE
Traditions Old and New Unite Hilltop TRADITIONS, from B1 Georgetown’s Jesuit tradition and strong core curriculum are two traditions with longer-established roots. Like generations of Georgetown students past, today’s students discuss their “Problem of God” or “Intro to Biblical Literature” reading and ponder how to incorporate the tenets of cura personalis and being men and women for others into their daily lives and studies. “I have wonderful, fond memories of my undergraduate days, and I think of my fellow students, the classes and the professors I worked with. I think of the vibrant community on campus and the people I was able to spend hours with and talking at night with,” said government professor and director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program Anthony Arend (SFS ’80). “The traditions I think of are that we all took theology and philosophy, so we could all talk about theological and philosophical issues. It created a common language that you didn’t necessarily see at other institutions.” Outside the classroom, however, traditions tend to manifest in smaller activities. The Hoya’s bucket list, published each year in the New Student Guide, lists 25 of the activities most often cited as essential to the student experience. While some are shared with other D.C.-area schools, such as going to the White House on election night, making it to the Capitol for the Inauguration or running to the monuments, others are unique to Georgetown, like getting your head stamped at The Tombs on your 21st birthday. On the many tours Blue & Gray leads each semester, pointing out the traditions that make up campus life form an important part of the experience tour guides try to show prospective students. “It’s the smaller traditions that make the community,” Zahedi said. “I know for me, it was that bigger campus with that small, tight-knit feel and community.” And many of these traditions have withstood the test of time. But many of the traditions that current students take for granted, like not stepping on the seal outside Healy Hall, at the risk of not graduating, are foreign to older
alumni. Likewise, many activities that older alumni reminisce about no longer exist for today’s students. “I wouldn’t say that there were a lot of traditions in the way we think of traditions today. If I went back to members of my class and said, ‘Describe some Georgetown traditions,’ I’m not sure if they would’ve been able to come up with any,” Arend said. “I think the Georgetown traditions, in the sense that students currently understand them, are traditions that have evolved over the past 20 years or so.” __________________ Many older traditions grew from circumstances at the time, particularly campus renovations and construction. For example, Tim Sears (SFS ’81) spoke of sledding down the hill by the Reiss Science Center. After a snowstorm, students would take trays from the dining hall and go “traying,” but the hill disappeared when the Intercultural Center was built into it. In addition, many alumni spoke about the Healy Pub, which was located in the basement of Healy Hall, but the pub closed in 1988, and a failed attempt at a pub revival in the Leavey Center, in the space currently occupied by Bulldog Alley, closed in 1995. “We were legally able to drink back then because the drinking age was 18 when I started. We spent a lot of time in the pub, just hanging out. To me, that was as much of a center of activity and bonding as if it were a local pub in the U.K. or something,” Kevin Meehan (COL ’84) said. “It really was an epicenter. You had Vital Vittles at the other end [of Healey], with people constantly in and out of there to get essential snack items. For me, it was Healy Basement that bound campus together.” The Five Guys restaurant on Wisconsin Avenue used to be a French restaurant named Au Pied de Cochon, a 24-hour joint. Infamously, Russian spy Vitaly Yurchenko, who had previously defected to the United States, slipped away from his CIA handler and reneged on his defection at this restaurant. “If you had any interest in foreign service or you were in the School of Foreign Service, you had to eat there all the time because that was where a
VALERIA BALZA FOR THE HOYA
The tendency for students to not step on the seal for fear of not graduating on time is a tradition that seems to have developed more recently.
VALERIA BALZA FOR THE HOYA
Getting drenched in the fountain in Dahlgren Quad, left, and sitting on John Caroll’s lap are two traditions most students try to experience during their time on campus. Cold War event had happened,” Meehan said. __________________ Meehan reminisced about the bigname concerts that highlighted the Georgetown experience in the 1970s. The concerts, which would take place in McDonough throughout the year and were organized by various student organizations, included names such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, The Who and the Talking Heads. The concerts were banned by the university following numerous illegal incidents at a Grateful Dead and Traffic concert, which was attended by 6,000 people — 2,000 more than fire regulations permitted. However, the ban was then lifted for a Beach Boys concert in November 1971. “I actually did security for a lot of concerts. … I got to meet a lot of rock ’n’ roll people,” Meehan said. “It was great, it was very affordable and we were able to be right under the band. I think live concerts were a big thing for campus culture.” But as larger concert venues were built in the area, such as the Capital Centre in Maryland and Verizon Center in Chinatown, D.C. concerts began to migrate away from campus into the District. In addition, Georgetown’s Student Entertainment Commission faced limited financial support from the university which limited the ability to book big-name performers. Although students currently enjoy a yearly Spring Kick-Off concert organized by the Georgetown Program Board, the scale and frequency of such live on-campus performance pales in comparison to that of the past. For the most part, however, most of the traditions that Georgetown students hold dear today simply did not exist prior to 20 years ago. According to President of the Alumni Association George Peacock (CAS ’84), this has a lot to do with the difference in drinking age, which was raised from 18 to 21 in 1984. “With homecoming, there were so many kegs, and in fact [they were] even on Yates football field,” Peacock said. “I sang in the Chimes, so for me, it was about standing around a keg or two and singing with alumni all weekend. It was fun. The campus would just be full of people with kegs just from Dixie
Liquor. We even had a keg on ice on our dorm floor.” Events that still exist today and are still considered traditional have also undergone some drastic changes over the decades. “With Senior Week, it was a pub crawl and you would go to various stations and drink beer, and it ended down either in the athletic field now or maybe the Kennedy dorms,” Peacock said. “There was just a giant mud chute and people just got completely covered in mud.” Descriptions of Chimes Night, held in The Tombs in the 80s, may also seem unfamiliar. “McCooey [then owner of The Tombs] stopped serving during Chimes Night. It was like Cherry Tree but down in The Tombs,” Peacock said. “The bartenders even kept shushing people to make a real show environment. Chimes Night was a real event and the performance venue much like Gaston Hall. In fact, I think the 1964 and 1975 albums were recorded live at those Chimes Nights.” __________________ What will perhaps surprise most students is that the tradition of not stepping on the seal at the top of the Healy steps at the risk of not graduating on time is a relatively new one. “It was like not stepping on a flag,” Meehan said. “But it didn’t have that story attached to it — that you wouldn’t graduate.” Peacock, who graduated the same year as Meehan, had also never heard of the theory during his time as an undergraduate. “It was not something I heard about, and if it was true I probably stepped on it because I did not graduate on time,” he joked. Other traditions, such as running through Dahlgren fountain, simply couldn’t have existed because the fountain did not exist. The constantly evolving nature of Georgetown’s campus — being so small and compact — also impacts the presence of various structure-related traditions. “It’s such a small campus, and over 30 years, if you do any serious building, it seems like everything is different,” Meehan said. Other more official traditions, such as Georgetown Day and the Christmas Tree lighting, were also created by the
administration in recent years, primarily to promote a more residential and community-based environment. Nevertheless, today’s Georgetown culture is significantly defined by smaller traditions such as getting a Chicken Madness from Wisey’s or lining up for a speaker at 5 a.m. To Sears, however, he said he thought that his undergraduate experience was much less concerned with such collective activities. “We were of the age cohort that was just kind of off the anti-war activity and the civil rights activity that was big in the late ’60s. I arrived in the fall of ’77, and there was quite a shift in the way young people were thinking, between those who were eligible for the draft in Vietnam, and those who didn’t have that experience and were younger,” Sears said. “We were much less activists — not in the sense of doing what we wanted for ourselves and our careers, but in terms of the collective.” Dorreen Metzner (SLl ‘76) praised the community spirit that students had found on campus. “Some of the things they are doing on campus are fantastic,” Metzner said. “I wish we had that when we were here. If they had something like D.C. Reads or any of these other initiatives, I would have for sure partaken.” At the same time, however, Metzner emphasized that the campus culture was still extremely rich. “It didn’t matter because the community back in those days was also very strong and built on our common goals, our love of the place, the amazing experience we had there and the unique experience of being in a very multicultural environment,” Metzner said. “I can’t say that our experience was the lesser for not having such traditions or practices.” Ultimately, although traditions exist to bind and connect communities, the creation and disappearance of various traditions throughout an institution’s history is natural, Arend said. “Any tradition is constructed — they don’t just come out of nowhere. Someone has to say, ‘This is good, let’s keep doing this,’ and at some point, someone had to start it,” Arend said. “In the past 20 years, the Georgetown community has been constructing traditions, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s a way of affirming a sense of belonging and forming a sense of community, and that’s good.”
center stage
Nigerian Student-Athlete Works to Inspire Girls at Home Hannah kaufman Hoya Staff Writer
At Georgetown, it’s easy to take basic necessities for granted and never think twice about throwing out our old things. Ki-Ke Rafiu (COL ’16), a Georgetown women’s basketball player, is here to change that. Born in Kudana, Nigeria, in a place where even a pair of sneakers was an almost unattainable luxury, Rafiu hasn’t forgotten the work it took for her to make it to America. In light of her own struggles, she has started an effort to bring donated clothing and books back to her homeland. Her goal is to help her community, spreading safe athletic practices and a better education wherever she goes.
NATE MOULTON FOR THE HOYA
Ki-Ke Rafiu (COL ’16) has worked tirelessly to bring proper sports clothing to young girls in Nigeria.
How did you end up playing basketball at Georgetown? It’s a really long story. It started from Nigeria. I followed [a friend]; I didn’t know where he was going, I just knew he was going to play some type of sport. I followed him, and it happened to be basketball. That was how I started playing, and I attended a basketball camp and that was when I met Mike Flynn. He was a scout then in Nigeria. He helped me find a scholarship in Philadelphia, in Neumann and Goretti High School. I did two years of high school there. I got a scholarship to Georgetown, among a couple of schools that recruited me. The Washington Post recently published an article about the work you’ve been doing in Nigeria. Could you tell me about the work you’ve been doing with the children there? What really inspired me was looking back to my journey and looking back through at the life experiences of female athletes coming not just from Nigeria. It’s like these are our boundaries, and they try to put you in a box. I see the same thing happening to female athletes coming up in Nigeria, and I feel like it’s high time somebody needs to stand up and say something, and just help them. You don’t have to give a million dollars to help someone. I don’t see it that way. If it’s just shoes or anything — I started through giving out shoes. That was my first way of reaching the girls. I started giving out shoes. It became a problem because not every girl wears my size 11. But then I came up with the idea of reaching out to other people here in America. I’ll take your old shoes when I’m going back home. I try to let them know
what I’m doing with the shoes, and I have pictures when I go back. I always, always make sure that when I give out the shoes I take pictures with the girls, just to show the people that they are really thankful. Next year, we’re hoping to be involved with books too, to get more books, because for me, coming to Georgetown, the struggle of writing [was something] I really found difficult. Writing a five-page paper was something I’d never done. How easy have you found it to get support from people back here to donate that kind of clothing and be part of your project? It’s a lot of up and downs. Some people say they’ll do this, [and] then you have to constantly keep in touch with them so they don’t forget. Sometimes you feel like maybe you’re a pain and sometimes you’re asking too much. But my high school coach has been a great help with the T-shirts, and my teammates have been a great help, and all of my friends and the people that I know. Sometimes, I don’t get responsive people. I just work with whatever I get, but I wish I could get more. With specifically giving these kinds of sports clothing and shoes, how do you want that to help especially the girls in Nigeria? Imagine … playing on a basketball court with potholes. You have to know where every hole is, so you know where to run to so you don’t twist your ankle. A really bad basketball court, and then playing there without shoes. Just think about it. I played there with really terrible shoes, and this is the same thing with these girls — some of them play with their school sandals, some of them play with running shoes, which are not designed for basket-
ball. Getting transportation to practice is a problem, and buying shoes, which cost like $20 — they can’t afford it. I couldn’t afford it. I had to save for six months to buy one pair of shoes, which I always prayed to God would last for three years, which is a lot. They really need this stuff, because some of them skip practice or don’t come and play because maybe they don’t have shoes or they get injured not having the right gear for basketball. For me personally, I don’t want this situation to discourage them from playing basketball. Where did your idea for moving to giving books as well? It was more of a Georgetown transition for me when I realized that I was really finding it difficult writing a five-page paper. I looked around at my classmates, and they’d literally do the paper a day before it’s due. I started two weeks ago and I wouldn’t be done! It’s not good. It made me think about the education system in Nigeria and what I was missing. I never struggled with math or science [classes]. But just looking back, I just thought something is missing. We don’t read a lot. When you read more, it helps your writing, so that’s when I thought about bringing in the idea of books. You’re not just going home saying “‘happy I got shoes.” No, you have to remember that you have to read a book, too. If you want to be a student-athlete in the near future, having the American dream and being a basketball player in a college, you have to do this — this is how it works. I wish I had someone that told me all of this stuff before I [arrived], but I just somehow figured it out. So that’s what I’m trying to do — to educate them about what it means to be a student-athlete.
the guide
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
THE HOYA
B3
LIFESTYLE FEATURE
’BAMA ROGUE
Jasmine White
Valuing Personal Identity I
’ve never had much of a problem being the minority, having attended predominately white schools for most of my education. Therefore, I expected that my experience at Georgetown would be no different from previous ones. Sure Georgetown had the smallest demographic of AfricanAmericans of all the schools I had ever attended. But nonetheless, I expected that the atmosphere would be, to some extent, familiar. Once I arrived on campus, however, I came to realize exactly how small 6 percent really was. One of the biggest awakenings I had was during New Student Orientation. On the second or third day, our RA had scheduled a floor meeting. We were all huddled into a tiny lecture room and directed to introduce ourselves one by one. I thought there’d be at least one person who looked like me, but somehow out of 60 kids, I ended up being “the only spot of buttermilk” in the room, as my grandmother used to say. After two weeks of classes had passed, I asked myself exactly how many black friends (or acquaintances) I had made. The answer stunned me: none. I tried to think of a reason why. Had I just not clicked with any of them? Was I being closed off or unfriendly? Had I not made an effort? The answer was that there had yet to be an opportunity. As I mentioned before, there are no other black people on my floor (or the floor underneath me for that matter.) In my large classes of 70 or 80 people there may be one or two other black students and typically the environment is not particularly conducive to socializing. After having made this realization, I then asked myself why it bothered me. How many times had I claimed to be colorblind, claimed that a person’s race didn’t necessarily define anything else about them? Yet here I was, completely unsatisfied with the very friendly (and very white) group of friends I had been making. Honestly, I can’t say that I know for sure exactly why I was bothered. Part of me thinks it stems from how selfconscious I became. When the majority of the people around you look nothing like you, it can be hard. I found myself nitpicking not necessarily about my skin color but the features of my face, my weight and most importantly, my hair. Even before school had started, I was worried that my roommate (who most likely would not be black) would not understand or perhaps even judge me for the unique qualities that come with afro-textured hair. Right before my roommate and I decided to live together, I messaged her. “I’m AfricanAmerican so my hair is weird. I have to wear funny scarfs at night to protect it. Does that bother you?” I asked her such a ridiculous question. Of course it didn’t bother her. I doubt it would bother anyone. Really, the only person it bothered was me. Even now, having grown more comfortable with myself and with Georgetown’s environment, I still occasionally find myself desiring to be less different. There are times I really wish I could just be “the girl next door.” Perhaps then, I wouldn’t be re-evaluating who I am every moment of every day. Still, I don’t feel as if this experience has been a bad or traumatic one. Although diversity is a beautiful thing, being put in a situation like mine, I believe, can be just as productive. Right now, I’m in a period of discovery. Before, I never really thought a lot about my identity. I just was who I was, and there was never a reason for to me to reconsider that because there were always similar people around me. And similarity, for most people, is comfortable. Now, I am learning the benefits of being uncomfortable. I am learning to be OK with me, and part of that process is uncovering exactly who “me” is. Perhaps this is what people meant when they said that college was a time of tremendous growth. I am realizing that adulthood does not just mean responsibility; it also means developing a sense of awareness: awareness of others and their differences as well as awareness of self and self-worth. It is easy to be swayed by trends and the comfort of homogeneity. But we have to realize that embedding ourselves in such environments can make us naive and deluded. Honestly, there is no better feeling than being content with yourself. Once you’ve accomplished that, I believe you can take whatever else the worlds throws at you in stride. Jasmine White is a freshman in the College. ’BAMA ROGUE appears every other Friday in the guide.
ELISA AKI BERGER FOR THE HOYA
Clockwise from top left: Eric Scheetz (COL ’17), Frannie Murray (SFS ’17), Brett Treacy (MSB ’15), Demetrius Cooper (COL ’16), Taylor Soergel (COL ’17), Zoe Gadegbeku (COL ’15), Megan Schmidt (COL ’15), Julian De La Paz (SFS ’15), Latazia Carter (COL ’17) and Daniel Varghese (SFS ’17).
Hoya Stories Recorded
New project inspires discussion of student life JESS KELHAM-HOHLER Hoya Staff Writer
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nyone who follows Georgetown University on any form of social media could not have missed the intriguing new videos of students posted over the last 10 days. Born out of a call by alumni to see more examples of individual student experiences on the Hilltop, the University’s new project, Georgetown Stories, plans to follow 11 students over nine months through photos and videos that they post of their daily life. Joannah Pickett, assistant vice president of Annual Giving and coordinator of the project, explains that it was initially inspired by a desire to find a way to connect alumni to students currently on campus. “It felt like a natural idea that came from a number of ideas about how we ensure the alumni can get the best of what they know of Georgetown reinforced and refresh their view of what is new so that they fully understand,” Pickett said. “And it is also meant to create a new opportunity for the entire student community to, through photos and videos, reconnect with their lives here and how they feel about Georgetown.” While the project was initially meant to feature just three students, 11 were picked out of the 55 who applied over the summer. The result is a project that will unpack a multitude of elements that make up a variety of unique, yet relatable, individual student experiences. Assistant Student Producers Brett Treacy (MSB ’15) and Megan Schmidt (COL ’15) both credit their enthusiasm for this project to their love of storytelling.
“Stories are vital. So often in life we misunderstand one another because we don’t take the time to understand who we are or where we come from,” Treacy said. “If we don’t take the time to share, to learn and to understand, we can never grow as people, as students or as a university. In my mind, being men and women for others starts with telling and listening to stories.” Schmidt concurs, adding that her love of art and all things creative makes this project all the more important to her. “Storytelling is my life. As an artist, everything I do is about conveying something,” she said. “Stories are how we can all connect to each other and break down our differences. They’re very powerful tools.” The theme of conversation was one frequently used by the student participants to describe the project, whether it was with prospective students, alumni, current students or people from back home. This desire to create a dialogue meant that using a social media platform was clearly the best option. “It has to be a social media project because there’s no other way to engage everyone in the greater community,” participant Daniel Varghese (SFS ’17) said. This is partly done through a feature on the website that allows anyone to submit their thoughts on what they would like to see addressed in the student videos and photos. By asking these 11 students to tell their stories and get specific about what makes up their lives here at Georgetown, the project has also opened up a discussion about what it really means to be a student here and whether there is a mold students are expected to fit.
ELISA AKI BERGER FOR THE HOYA
Assistant Student Producers Brett Treacy (MSB ’15) and Megan Schmidt (COL ’15) wish to share the stories of their fellow Hoyas.
Latazia Carter (COL ’17) emphasizes the project’s ability to prove a number of student stereotypes false. “According to college rating sites, the typical Georgetown student is wealthy, white and addicted to pastels. I definitely do not fit those characteristics. However, I do see a group on campus that fits the description well,” Carter said. “What the sites don’t tell you is about everyone else. I appreciate the differences between us because we can all learn something from interacting with different people.” Zoe Gadegbeku (COL ’15) agrees, admitting that when she was an incoming freshman arriving from Nigeria she expected to be faced with the stereotype. “When I first got here I was actually really scared because I saw that stereotype and thought that’s what it was going to be and I was like, ‘OK, pink shorts, let’s go,’” Gadegbeku said. “It’s obvious to say that appearances don’t tell the whole story, but that really is the truth here at Georgetown. People have been through so many cool, crazy experiences, have lived in all these different places and bring so many things to the table that aren’t immediately apparent. That’s what’s so cool about the project, because you hear the whole story instead.” While the stories of these 11 passionate individuals clearly show that Georgetown is not replete with the presumed Vineyard Vines stereotype, it does pick up on one key similarity. “If there is one thing that is similar about us, it’s that we’re all passionate about our passions,” Varghese said. “We try to pursue everything that we think is interesting in the most complete and full way possible. That means all of us are really busy, but personally I think that’s a good thing.” Julian De La Paz (SFS ’15) agrees, comparing the expectations of a typical School of Foreign Service student to his own experience. “I’m a culture and politics major, but my primary interests do not lie in international relations. I’m actually really interested in pop culture,” De La Paz said. “So I wanted to let other students know that … Georgetown is not just a school for international relations. Everyone always tells me, ‘Why did you go to Georgetown when you should have gone to NYU or something?’ And I tell them that here anything is possible as long as you have the drive and are determined to make it [happen].” In order to achieve the project’s aim of showing all aspects of life, the students ensure that they do not just record the obvious highlights of life on the Hilltop. “I want [those watching] to feel like they’re here with us at Georgetown,” De La Paz said. “For instance I did a barbecue with friends two weeks ago, and it was just a really great time for friendship and bonding and being with my second family here at Georgetown. “ With this desire to capture student life in the most candid and honest way possible, Frannie Mur-
ray (SFS ’17) notes that it is hardly ever her planned videos or photos that end up being the most successful. “The best videos are the ones that have happened organically,” Murray said, “There are so many events or things that I’ve just stumbled upon through campus and those are the ones I want to share.” This also means that while the videos and photos currently tend to convey the students’ excitement about starting a new academic year, they will not shy away from showing their struggles too. “It’s part of the Georgetown story,” De La Paz said. “We all struggle, but we all know that we have it within ourselves to continue on. We are going to show every experience that makes up the Georgetown story, the good and the bad.” Eric Scheetz (COL ’17) also emphasized the importance of providing context to all the incidences, including the difficulties that they face. “Yes, I’m up to 4 a.m. writing a paper. But I’ll explain that that’s because I procrastinated on it, not because my professors are ridiculous and then explain how I turned in a paper and hopefully got a good grade on it,” he said. Still in its opening stages, with the first introduction video posted Sept. 17 and individual launch vlogs still being posted, the project has already had incredible success. The main videos, posted on the website, Facebook and Instagram, have already received over 27,000 combined views. On top of that, the students involved have received a great deal of positive response from alumni, students and people back home. “I’ve heard a lot of feedback from students especially,” Demetrius Cooper (COL ’16) said. “I’ve been in Leo’s and had students ask if I’d sit down and have lunch with them and talk about things, asking about my experiences coming to Georgetown originally as a government and econ major and switching to music, asking about the time when I considered transferring and why I decided to stay. It kind of shows that it’s accomplishing what it’s supposed to accomplish — getting students to think about all the different pathways and all the different things you can do at Georgetown.” The desire to have the Georgetown community engage in the dialogue of the Georgetown Stories project is ongoing, and the hope is that more and more people will join the conversation. Everyone is invited to contribute their stories throughout the year by using the hashtag #georgetownstories on their photos and social media posts. “I think the biggest questions that we ask, as student ambassadors for this project, is ‘What is your story?’” Murray said. “I’m just excited to see how, even though we’re all in the same book together, we all have different plotlines and they’re all interweaving. And it’s fun to be part of such a dynamic group of people.”
B4
the guide
THE HOYA
Friday, september 26, 2014
APPS
exhibit review
‘TOUCHfish’ Free Are you missing the company of your favorite pet back home? Do you need a low-cost, low-maintenance animal to fill your companion’s place at college? Fear not — “Touchfish” is a new app that offers you just that. Choose from over 50 exotic fresh and saltwater fish and then build their world with creative fish tank designs. An interactive-camera feature allows the fish to learn and react to your expressions. Teach your fish a variety of tricks that will leave your roommates speechless with awe and envy. The room behind you will also appear inside the app through camera technology. Similar to the famous Tamagotchis, these fish can visit any of your local friends’ tanks using Bluetooth.
SWYPE $0.99 COURTESY FREER GALLERY OF ART
The “Nasta’liq : The Genius of Calligraphy” exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art showcases dozens of beautiful pieces that show the intricacy of this special script, developed in 14th-century Iran.
Calligraphy Craft Impresses
CALLIGRAPHY, from B1 lead to a greater appreciation of the works themselves. Additionally, a must-see feature of the gallery is a display case with several calligraphy pens from 18th- and 19th-century Turkey as well as an
COURTESY FREER GALLERY OF ART
This piece is a folio from a “Divan” by Sultan Husayn Mirza, who ruled from 1469 to 1506.
original white inkstand from 13thcentury Persia inside the first room. The first room of the exhibit features some historically relevant information concerning the birth of nasta’liq, such as a map of its origins, but it’s mainly dedicated to Mir Tabrizi’s important works as the founder of the art form. The pieces include pages of writing, typically stacked on top of one another. All the pieces are written on ancient parchment paper, but the black ink of the bold letters stands out aesthetically. The next room features the other three master calligraphers in chronological order. The Sultan’s collection is first and primarily composed of folios that present his scriptures in the middle of green oriental-decorated pages. His style is notable for its balance between compressed and elongated strokes, with a variation between thinness and thickness. Next come Mir Haravi’s pieces, which favor more slanted and elongated strokes. Finally, a large section is dedicated to Mir Hasani, the ultimate master of nasta’liq. His folios are based on dark blue- or green-painted backgrounds. The writings are typically poems and include a few lines of script, surrounded by small illustrations and
elaborate borders. English translations of the poems are given as well. Hasani’s writing is notable for its consistency and features six different cursive scripts of the time. To bring the exhibit full circle, one last centerpiece features four original books, each of which is signed by one of the nasta’liq authors and again includes artistic backgrounds to the nasta’liq writings. With only two very small rooms and about 20 pieces, it is probably not worth the long trip to the Smithsonian for students unless they hold a particular interest in Persian culture. Nevertheless, the exhibit provides a fascinating glimpse into the artistry of Arabic script and usage of writing as an art form. Having experimented with calligraphy pens a few times in the past, I personally enjoyed seeing such authentic and original pieces. With free entry every day, anyone already in the area can easily stop by the Sackler Gallery for just 15 minutes to get a comprehensive look at all the works on display, leaving viewers with a sense of appreciation for the aesthetic appeal of calligraphy. The exhibit will run through March 22, 2015.
Damsel in Denmark
When Abroad, Make New Friends but Keep the Old
I
may not have found “the one,” but I on a tight budget (largely due to money have found my partner in all things spent at cafes), my usual is Brie, chorizo cafe-related, and that’s perfect for me and spinach. right now. Our requirements for a Cafe Tuesday I would like to start off with a dis- location are fairly simple: free Wi-Fi, claimer: We did not plan on studying good seating, equally good coffee and abroad together. In fact, we were both pastries and, most importantly, sometorn between two programs and, coinci- where new. Copenhagen’s streets are dentally, we both chose Copenhagen. literally lined with cafes, so it’s not difMegan and I met freshman year on the ficult to pick somewhere new. We both best floor ever — Darnall five. Although take Cafe Tuesdays seriously enough on the surface, there might not seem to that we do adequate research beforebe all that much in common between hand, which includes, but is not limited a Texan studying government and Chi- to, Google, Pinterest, TripAdvisor, blogs nese and a New Yorker studying finance and, of course, biking directions from and OPIM, we ended up bonding over the fountain. our love of food. Hands down, she makes In Cafe Tuesdays past, we’ve tried some of the most creative homemade croissants fresh meals in Leo’s and has taught out of the oven and drank me a thing or two about percoffee made in a Chemex fecting the breakfast burrito — a manual, pour-over style on many a weekend morning. glass coffee maker — which When Leo’s brunch just won’t was appropriately from Kent cut it, we’ll venture over Key Kaffe Laboratorium. At our Bridge to Rosslyn for some aumost recent Cafe Tuesday, we thentic dim sum that would somewhat stumbled upon put Ping Pong Dim Sum to Christina Wing the selected location. Because shame. of some outdated records, we Now that we’ve found ourselves study- scoured for Lyst, a spot which, we have ing at the same school and living a mere come to find out, no longer exists. With 15-minute bike ride away, it’s easy to help from some locals, we instead went fall into the old friend groups we had down the street and settled on Retro because of the familiarity, but we recog- Café. nize the importance of branching out The barista was arguably the nicest and making new friends. We’ve definite- Dane that I have encountered thus far ly balanced seeing each other, spending and she helped us with all our food and time with our new friends and incorpo- drink decision making. We decided on rating each other into our new social cir- spiced chai teas-and a slice of apple tart cles. However, we have one time-honored and chocolate cake to share. These were tradition in Copenhagen thus far: Cafe not life-changing desserts, but the atTuesdays. mosphere of the cafe and the chai teas Every Tuesday at 13:00 (military time made up for it. is used here) we meet at the fountain in Although we did not intend on studythe square near school to eat our smør- ing abroad together, I have lost count of rebrød and discuss our cafe plans for how many times I’ve told people how the afternoon. It’s not as close to “Gos- happy I am to have a friend like Megan sip Girl” on the Met steps as it sounds, with me abroad. It’s nice to have a part though there was a drunk homeless of home with you when you’re in a comman trying to kick pigeons in our spot pletely unknown world. I’m looking forlast time and I was highly disappointed. ward to the rest of our travels together But back to food. Smørrebrød is the epit- and, of course, to the next Cafe Tuesday. ome of a traditional Danish lunch. It is an open-faced sandwich topped with Christina Wing is a junior in the Mcwhatever your heart desires. Many are Donough School of Business. DAMSEL IN topped with herring, cheese and vegeta- DENMARK appears every other Friday in bles. Since I make my own smørrebrød the guide.
At last, the ultimate app has come to make your typing habits even more gloriously lazy. The app lets you glide your finger along the keyboard and stop over each letter in quick succession, without ever having to physically lift your finger up. This method is designed to promote faster, more efficient texting. It also features a program that learns how and what you type over time and then predicts the words you’re going to write. You also can add and delete words from a dictionary built directly from your own preferences, ensuring that you don’t always have to be dependent on the app’s technology. While there’s a fear that this part of the app will be as imprecise as the iPhone’s standard autocorrect, Swype developers promise that the more you use Swype, the more accurate it will truly become.
‘STARBASE ANNEX’ $1.99 This is a challenging card and board game that puts your strategic skills to the test. There are 18 computer opponents to play against that get progressively harder as you learn to beat them. The app is the newest venture from the creators of “Starbase Orion” and “Starbase Command.” It continues Chimera Software’s sci-fi series and lures users in with the promise of thought-provoking tactics rather than stunning graphics or a fast-paced plot. If you have the time and determination, join the battle and give this app a try.
Lifestyle tip
RECYCLED CLOTHING PILLOW
wikihow.com Going through your closest? Finally ready to let go of that old T-shirt? Instead of throwing them out, gather up some old clothes and turn them into something new with a pillow made and stuffed with this old fabric. First, choose what shape you want to make — square, circle, heart, etc. Then, choose your fabric; anything should work as long as you have enough of it. Cut two pieces of fabric into the same desired shape, allowing for a half-inch seam on all sides. Add any desired decorations (ribbons, sequins, etc.) to one or both sides of the pillow. Flip the decorated sides over so that they are facing each other and stitch three sides of the pillow together, allowing for a half-inch seam. Turn the pillow right-side out and iron it flat. Prepare the opening by tucking a halfinch of fabric inside the pillow and iron it flat. Cut and shred your old clothes and stuff the pillow with them. Stitch the opening closed.
CAMPING IN THE OUTBACK | ALICE SPRINGS, AUSTRALIA
VALERIA BALZA FOR THE HOYA
the guide
friday, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
THE HOYA
B5
RESTAURANt review
Despite Doubts, Asian Dishes Achieve Authenticity Sichuan West End 1814 K St. NW Cuisine: Chinese $$$$ Yiwen Hu Hoya Staff Writer
the menu with special care. While most of the dishes listed indeed appear to be authentic — as far as ingredients and appearances could attest — a handful of others seem to be whimsical, more interpretive combinations of classic elements. After much deliberation, my party of five, all of whom are native-born Chinese, ordered six dishes, which we hoped would be as authentic as their names and descriptions suggested. We started our dinner with a bowl of eight pork dumplings in Sichuan sauce ($4.95), a dip made with spicy oil. While the waiter claimed that the dish was a portion for one person, I still would not recommend ordering multiple servings if it is intended as a shared appetizer and not a personal entree. Most of the dumplings arrived to the table with their outer layers broken and consequently, their fillings exposed. However, I did find them flavorful, although the spice had been considerably tuned down, probably to appeal to a wider segment of patrons. The five entree dishes overall proved rather authentic and tasty, but the consistent complaint was that they were all a little too greasy. The dry stirred green beans (gan bian si ji dou) ($10.95) surprised me the most. I had entertained low expectations for this vegetable dish. However, it was perfectly salty and savory; more than anything else we ordered, it truly resembled its counterpart back in China. Shredded pork with fresh chili pep-
Personally, I’ve been extremely reluctant to step into a Chinese restaurant in Washington, D.C., fearing I would find inauthentic dishes and decor. In my defense, I wasn’t in charge of picking the location for my latest friend reunion, which turned out to be K Street’s Sichuan Pavilion. As I walked into this Chinese diner, I was already prepared to silently blame the person who had chosen this locale. However, I left the casual Asian restaurant pleasantly surprised, having actually enjoyed the meal. As suggested by its name, the restaurant specializes in the Sichuan branch of Chinese cuisine, which is particularly known for its spice. In reality, the establishment offers dishes from a variety of Chinese cuisine subcategories, although it does not feature any of the better known signature plates of Shanghai and Cantonese food. The ambience, decoration, furniture and food all suggest a rather familial and casual dining experience. Although there are tables for small parties of one or two, the majority of the customers come in groups of five to eight – making the restaurant a great spot for a family meal or a big get-together. The more the merrier because the large plates served at Sichuan Pavilion really are meant to be shared. While we waited for the final member of our group to arrive, we studied
YIWEN HU/THE HOYA
If you’re looking for a solid Chinese restaurant for takeout or a night with friends, look no further than Sichuan Pavillion. The dry stirred green beans were a surprising standout, perfectly seasoned and very authentic. per (jian jiao rou si) ($14.95) was another star of the table. Normally indifferent to this dish, I found myself picking up one slice of pork after another with my chopsticks, unable to resist the flavorful temptation. The Kung Pao squid (gong bao you yu) ($16.95) was good, but not memorable. The Kung Pao sauce, more diluted in texture than what we were used to eating at home, also tasted rather different. Needless to say, I prefer more authentic Kung Pao sauce, which is usually a bit stickier, a little sweeter and a lot more flavorful. On the other hand, the squid itself, cut into small and curly rectangles, was delightfully fresh and crispy.
The spicy chicken with peppers (la zi ji) ($14.95), possibly the most well-known Sichuan dish, was authentic, but again unimpressive. The chicken in this dish was first deep fried and then stir-fried with red peppers, which deprived the meat of a tender and juicy texture while rendering it way too oily and heavy for my taste. I couldn’t help but compare it to the spicy chicken my mom used to make me, even though I was well aware that this comparison was probably unfair. Our final dish, braised tofu (hong shao dou fu) ($12.95), had a mediocre taste. In fact, this dish was an awkward
“in-between” — the texture of the tofu was neither soft nor firm; the taste of the sauce was neither familiar nor foreign. To be fair, the dish wasn’t bad. I simply lacked the interest required to pick up a second piece from the plate. Of course, when evaluating the quality of this Chinese restaurant, I lowered my standards. Therefore, I do consider the Sichuan Pavilion worthy of a visit for those who are curious about real Chinese food. At the very least, as a Chinese restaurant in a foreign country, Sichuan Pavilion does offer, on average, fairly authentic and very delicious food.
RECIPES
RESTAURANT review
SIMPLE chili
SIMPLY BANH MI FACEBOOK
Hidden down a staircase on Wisconsin Avenue is Simply Banh Mi, a Vietnamese restaurant that offers fresh, tasty dishes and gorgeous patio seating. The shrimp bahn mi is a solid classic sandwich.
Underground Vietnamese Restaurant Keeps it Simple SIMPLY BANH MI
1624 Wisconsin Ave. NW | Cuisine: Vietnamese | $$$$
food.com It’s officially fall, and although summer still hangs in the air, the leaves are definitely turning and the temperature is dropping, heralding this special time of year. As you pull out your sweaters and boots, you should also be pulling out your beloved fall recipes. Steamy, comforting one-pot meals seem to be the trademark of this season, so give this simple chili a try! Serves four to six.
INGREDIENTS
1 lb extra-lean ground beef 1/2 cup chopped onions 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 tbsp. chili powder 3/4 tsp. ground cumin 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 can (15 -16 oz) kidney or pinto beans, rinsed and drained (optional)
Cook beef, onion and garlic in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat until beef is brown. Stir in remaining ingredients, except for the beans. Heat mixture until it boils, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in beans if desired. Heat until boiling again, then reduce heat to
JaCQuELINE KIMMEL Hoya Staff Writer
When people speak of restaurants that are hidden gems, they usually just mean that the restaurant is not well-known. However, when someone speaks of the new Vietnamese restaurant, Simply Banh Mi, the word “hidden” would actually be a pretty accurate description. Just a couple of blocks past CVS on Wisconsin Avenue, Simply Banh Mi is tucked away in a basement space down a twisting spiral staircase. Although the owners have tried to plaster the sidewalk with signs to advertise the restaurant, which opened last spring, it would still be quite easy to walk right past it. However, to miss Simply Banh Mi would, quite simply, be a mistake. The restaurant is cheerfully painted with bright, floral colors and an array of Vietnamese candies adorns every counter. The menu is simple, with the choice of six different protein options: lemon chicken, meatballs, pate and Vietnamese cold cuts, vegetarian tofu, barbecue pork, grilled lemongrass pork, lemongrass beef and shrimp. These proteins can be served in four ways, as a Banh Mi sandwich, a salad, with rice or with vermicelli rice noodles.
All of the options come with vegetables like pickled carrots, bean sprouts and fresh mint. Everything is made fresh to order but the prices are reasonable. They range from $6 to $9.50 for the main dishes and the sides, like fried banana and egg rolls, average around $4. It’s hard to distinguish exactly what is most impressive about Simply Banh Mi. It might be the ownership. The brother and sister who own and run the eatery are incredibly friendly and excited about getting to know Georgetown students. They speak nostalgically about the seniors they met last spring and express their desire for more students to stop by. They hope students will want to study in their backyard patio, the second-most impressive element of the shop. The patio has several tables surrounding a running fountain and is enclosed by a lattice of greenery. It is the perfect place to have a deep conversation with a friend and to appreciate the third quality element of the restaurant: the food. The food is fresh and healthy but also incredibly flavorful. The lemongrass chicken is so good it could stand on its own, but is made even tastier by the addition of Simply Banh Mi’s special peanut sauce. The barbecue pork is also very highly
praised and I will definitely try it if I go back. The Banh Mi sandwiches come on perfectly toasted bread that brings out the flavors of the lime and mint inside. Simply Bahn Mi’s tagline is “The hole in a wall that fills the hole in your stomach ... with a whole lot of goodness.” Now that’s a value proposition that seems hard to resist. The establishment is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day except Monday and offers takeout and delivery as well as dining in. Vietnamese coffee, cafesuada, a strong drink mixed with sweetened condensed milk, is served either iced or hot. The food is filling, the drinks are unique and the service is fantastic. When sitting on the patio hidden in the shrubbery, it is easy to feel hidden away in another world. That is what makes Simply Banh Mi a hidden gem. However, given the food and five-minute walk from campus, it won’t be long before Simply Banh Mi will be discovered. Burleith residents seem to be the most likely frequenters of this establishment at present. However, when authentic dishes, a beautiful locale and friendly owners are so close to campus, there is absolutely no reason not to go find Simply Banh Mi.
Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve warm.
CARAMEL APPLE SANGRIA
thewholesomedish.com Fall means apple picking, apple pies and apple-flavored everything. Incorporate it into your cocktail hour with this sweet sangria. Make a big batch to share with your friends as you cook your chili or as a sweet treat to end the meal. Serves 10.
INGREDIENTS
1 750 ml bottle of pinot grigio (or another mild white wine) 1 cup caramel flavored vodka 6 cups apple cider 2 medium apples, cored and chopped into thin rounds Stir the wine, vodka and apple cider together in a large pitcher. Add the chopped apples to the pitcher. Serve the sangria over ice in individual glasses.
BODEGA EL POrTILLO MALBEC 2007
snooth.com The Argentinians know how to pair wine with beef, and a full-bodied Malbec is robust enough in flavor to stand up to this spicy dish. This specific label and year has a warm, black fruit bouquet. These grapes are grown at high altitudes, which ensure an intensity of flavor that is sure to impress without overwhelming the drinker.
B6
the guide
THE HOYA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
TELEVISION REVIEW
MUSIC REVIEW
On the Run
Beyoncé and Jay-Z | HBO
NICOLE JARVIS Hoya Staff Writer
When you think of Beyoncé and JayZ, what images pop into your head? Is it Brooklyn and Houston and mind-boggling personal and professional success? Or is it a gang king and a princess taking names at any cost, careening out of control until they reach their bitter end? Chances are it’s not the second one, but that’s not what their latest concert tour “On the Run,” recorded exclusively for HBO, tries to convince us. What this show sets out to do is establish Bey and Jay as a modern day Bonnie and Clyde through an immersive audio and visual experience. It seems like they took the storytelling standard set by Beyoncé last December and expanded it to full concert-scale, which in Paris means a bombastic two-and-a-half hour performance in front of thousands of people. Despite being billed as both a Jay-Z and a Beyoncé concert, Bey is the absolute star of the show. Jay mostly feels like a tacked-on hype man. He’s mostly there to fill the awkward pauses when his wife disappears to change into her next outrageous yet stunning costume.
HBO
New artistic visual footage helped bring together the Bonnie and Clyde story of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s tour.
One aspect of Jay-Z’s performances that struck me as odd was the overwhelming but unspoken presence of Jay’s other life partner, Kanye West, whether it was the use of the beats from “Hell of a Life” off 2010’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” in the backdrop of their expansive video installations or Jay’s continual choice to perform tracks on which they collaborated. Jay Z has released numerous hit albums — that’s a lot of material to choose from for a concert. So, why did he fall back on five different songs where he doesn’t even have solo billing? Granted, these songs are some of his biggest hits, and playing a concert in Paris without performing “N----- in Paris” would be doing the city a disservice, but it nonetheless felt like a constant tease for a Kanye West guest appearance that never materialized. Beyoncé is, throughout the show, in her prime. She’s not the girl we met in Destiny’s Child — she is a mature woman and has channeled the confidence and power that goes along with that into a refined and almost perfect performance. The whole show drips with her power and charisma and, as Jay declares in his sign-off, does a pretty good job of confirming her as one of “the greatest entertainers of our time.” Despite the inevitable accusations that her vocals are lip-synced, as someone who has “witnessed” a Beyoncé lip-sync at the Presidential Inauguration, I’m confident she was singing live for most of the show. From the slow ballads to the powerful chart-toppers like “Drunk in Love,” her vocals throughout the concert are always on point. On top of that, her outfits are all fabulous, her choreography is technically and visually perfect and she puts on a damn good show of shaking her butt and her hair — sometimes in slow motion. HBOGo does an impressive, if sometimes unnecessarily excessive, job of incorporating slow motion shots into the filming so that you get a real sense of Beyoncé’s authority on stage. The entire concert does a pretty incredible job at proving Bey’s and Jay’s status as music world royalty. It’s hard to not be impressed by the huge number
ROLLING STONE
of elements that make up this show and manage to weave together a story that includes performances of songs from across the span of their careers along with entrancing visuals. These visuals definitely draw concrete inspiration from a few tangible sources — specifically “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967 and Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” films. In some instances the references are more overt — a black and white wedding shootout in a church paired with Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang” is too on-point to be an accident. This is indicative of the entire approach to this concert experience. Nothing is a coincidence — everything is there for a reason. Which brings me to what felt like the real message of the show. After the recent spate of allegations stemming from the elevator incident at the Met Gala and the apparent difference between their two performances, it’s hard not to project preconceived notions about Beyoncé and Jay Z’s relationship and its alleged struggles onto their onstage interactions. They have answers to those who question them that are built into the concert set list itself. Toward the end of the show and the end of the Bonnie and Clyde narrative, Beyoncé announces that forgiveness is a vital part of a successful and happy marriage and a happy life, segueing into a performance of “Halo” and a slideshow of candid photos of the happy couple and the life they have built together. The strength of their relationship is made almost impossible to doubt, but more important than that is the fact they obviously don’t really care what you think or what you say about them. If this concert makes one thing clear, it’s that they are in control, they are together and they are happy. They’re a rideor-die duo, and unlike Bonnie and Clyde they don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
THE BEAT
Fun. Frontman Rocks With New Band
F
or a Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., the 9:30 Club was jumping. I could practically hear the wailing of Jack Antonoff’s guitar from two blocks away on U Street. For the second time in a few weeks, it felt great to be back at the reputable venue and even better to finally hear the band Bleachers. I quickly shuffled through the oversized Tuesday night crowd, as the concert had already begun. The lights dropped ,and the first sight I caught was of Jack Antonoff and his 1968 Gibson ES-330 guitar as he began the riff for what would turn out to be the song “Rollercoaster”. The upbeat tune is great for the last days of summer, with qualities reminiscent of the ’80s and its synthpop sound. As I looked around at the crowd and the fans that adore this newly created indie-pop band, I soon realized the age range would depict those who grew up listening to the origin of synthpop in the 1980s with bands like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode. The band consists of two electric pianos that contribute to the grand, daydreamy sound that Bleachers have brought to each live performance during their first tour — 23 shows all over the country. However those 23 shows and the idea of Bleachers itself were non-existent this time two years ago, at least not to the general population. The project now known as Bleachers began about two years ago with an independent flicker of an idea from Jack Antonoff, lead guitarist of the extremely popular indie-pop band Fun. Antonoff had enjoyed particular success with Fun.’s hit single “We Are Young” which was blasted
from many students’ speakers for months. The band also managed to blow up the scene of popular music in America with their hits “Some Nights,” “Carry On.” However it
Bryson Greene wasn’t until 2012 that Antonoff began to think about creating something that he could label as his own - a project that would begin and end with his name. The band Bleachers was officially announced in 2013 and despite the creation of this new project, Jack Antonoff still remains part of Fun. I’ve been to many shows at the 9:30 Club, but never one quite like this. There were no drunken idiots stumbling, screaming and creating the unwanted drama of getting kicked out. The concert was enjoyable; maybe because this crowd just happened to be particularly compliant or maybe it could be attributed to Antonoff’s ability to interact with the fans and engage them throughout. Between songs, he interacted with the mass amount of people jammed tightly into the venue to see him and his bandmates. After one song, he recalled going for a run just the day before around the monuments and feeling like Kevin Spacey in “House of Cards” and claimed that D.C. was one of his favorite cities not just to play in but to visit as well. As you can
imagine this revved up the crowd for yet another tune as they played one of my favorites, “Shadow.” The way the band played, along with the levity of the fans that night, caused the concert to be one of the most entertaining that I’ve been to in a while. Just a few minutes later Antonoff called out to a couple from the rafters, who happened to be on a first date, and dedicated the song “Like a River Runs” to them — only after teasing that their relationship may be doomed because he had jinxed it. The outcomes of live performances aren’t only based on the showing of the artist, but on all factors that go into the making of a show. A combination of the band, the fans, the lighting and the final encore playing of “I Wanna Get Better” made the evening great. I knew it was coming, the hundreds of other fans knew it was coming and it was only a matter of time until the knockout single was to be played. I thought I loved the song through its album-recorded version, then I saw it live and it changed the way that I listen to it all together. With the mass amount of people singing along with Antonoff, the night could not have ended in a better way. Bleachers will be at Soundstage in Baltimore on Nov. 22. If you’re around and up for the drive, it’s totally worth the trip. Event Rating: A Songs to listen to: “Shadow,” “Like a River Runs,” “I Wanna Get Better” Bryson Greene is a senior in the College. THE BEAT appears every other Friday in the guide.
BEST BETS
92ZEW
Vance Joy’s debut studio album, “Dream Your Life Away,” is an impressing collection of mellow indie-rock sounds.
Dream Your Life Away Vance Joy
GIANNA PISANO Special to The Hoya
Catchy lyrics and soothing acoustics are no stranger to the up-and-coming singersongwriter James Kough, known to most as Vance Joy. Hailing from Australia, he first began a career as a semiprofessional football player before leaving the sports world to dabble in the music scene. Last year, he took the charts by storm with his cheerful, laid-back hit “Riptide” that debuted at No. 1 on the 2013 Triple J Hottest 100. In the wake of this success, his debut album “Dream Your Life Away,” released Sept. 9, had expectations to meet. Joy meets these expectations, producing an album that showcases his talent within the indie-rock genre, bringing a novel, lighthearted sound to the pop-dominated music world. The album begins with the song “Winds of Change.” Although Joy solemnly sings of missing his significant other, wondering, “When are you coming home, my love,” the song has an overall upbeat and hopeful tone. Joy’s eloquent, emotionally charged lyrics are paired with fastpaced, joyful guitar and drum beats, setting a jovial mood for the next 12 songs. “Mess is Mine” is the second single from this album. It showcases an acoustic riff that pairs wonderfully with Joy’s soothing voice. He blissfully sings this tale of love and heartbreak with poetic words, and his low rasp is further accentuated by impassioned falsetto notes. The song incorporates a clapping percussion rhythm that uplifts and adds an element of nostalgia, creating a feelgood environment for the listener. The ballad “Wasted Time” expands upon the thematic romance of the album. Joy proclaims his love for a girl, saying she is “so beautiful now … flashing those eyes at me.” He is “eager to please” her, but worries he is wasting his time trying to go after her. This song contains his signature acoustic guitar sound paired with subtle percussion instruments in the background. Joy’s simple yet sweet lyrics paint a vivid picture in the listener’s mind, which is only intensified by the simplicity of the instrumentals. Following the rhythmic flow of the album’s earlier tracks, the single starts out slow and progress-
ATLANTIC RECORDS
es into stronger vocals and more prominent drum and guitar melodies. Throughout the album, Joy focuses on getting in touch with the young generation’s joys, dreams and uncertainties. The smash hit “Riptide” has a dreamy, carefree tone that instantly transports wistful listeners to beaches of memories past. With such a classically laidback indie vibe, it’s no wonder the track was considered by many to be the top song of the summer. “Who Am I” is a classic song of discovery for young people. Joy sings, “And there’s no need for us/ Knowin’ all the answers yet,” a message that is certainly relatable for high-strung college students. As the album progresses, it picks up the pace a bit with “All I Ever Wanted,” in which Joy reminisces on his past and how he wishes he could have more time. The different themes present in this album revolve around the universal emotions and experiences of life. In “Best That I Can,” he is “Sick of leaving things half done/ Leaving things half said.” The ending track, “My Kind of Man,” yet again portrays Joy as a source of comfort and advice, as he tells listeners to “take whatever [we] are given” and to “Find a thing that you love/Find a thing you understand.” The listener takes away a lesson from these final few songs: There is more to life than what we see and do impulsively. Joy wants listeners to see their worth and encourages them to do the best they can while pursuing what they love. His varied acoustic notes and beautiful Mumford & Sons-worthy voice have a relaxing effect on listeners. Vance Joy’s new album is the perfect companion to a trip to the beach or a mellow study session. While this is only his first studio album, its cohesive, mood-boosting tracks signal the start of a long and successful career.
ON CAMPUS
CAREER FAIR
AFRICAN FALL MARKET
‘THE SYSTEM WORKED,’ A BOOK TALK
GEORGETOWN-INDIA DIALOGUE
WHERE: Hotel and Conference Center WHEN: Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. INFO: careercenter.georgetown.edu PRICE: Free
WHERE: Leavey Program Room WHEN: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu PRICE: Free
WHERE: Mortara Building, Conference Room WHEN: Tuesday, Free INFO: guevents.georgetown.com PRICE: Free
WHERE: ICC McGhee Library WHEN: Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu PRICE: Free
It’s never too early to evaluate your options or to start strategizing for the future. Head over to the Georgetown University Fall 2014 Career Fair and learn more about what kind of jobs are out there and what you have to do to get them. This is your chance to chat up representatives, and get your questions answered. Check out the website for an up-to-date list of all the employers registered.
If you love shopping and culture and want a fun activity for this Saturday afternoon, make your way over to the Leavey Center for the African Fall Market. This event, hosted by the African Society of Georgetown, is a great chance to interact with the club’s members. Highlights of the market include cuisine from east and west Africa, Henna artists, clothing, jewelry and arts and crafts.
Author Dan Drezner of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University will be discussing his book, “The System Worked: How the World Stopped Another Great Depression.” In his written work and in his inperson talk, Drezner explores the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the failure of global economic governance.
The Georgetown-India Dialogue club is hosting a talk Wednesday on “U.S.-India Relations in the Context of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Visit.” It will also be hosting another event next Friday at 3 p.m. in the ICC Auditorium, with Indian MP Jairam Ramesh, a senior leader of the Indian National Congress Party speaking.
the guide
friday, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
THE HOYA
MOVIE REVIEW
MUSIC
Two Night Stand Directed by: Max Nichols Jessica Batey
Special to The Hoya
“Two Night Stand” is a great modern “like” story. It doesn’t end with a passionate declaration of love, but rather shows the refreshingly realistic development of a modern relationship. It incorporates comedy, romance and fervent passion in an entertaining and charming way. The story takes place in New York City, shortly after Christmas. Megan (Analeigh Tipton) is recovering from a breakup and follows the advice of a friend (Jessica Szohr) by joining an Internet dating site to find a onenight stand. There, she finds Alec (Miles Teller) and agrees to meet at his place. The next morning, the two awake to find that a freak snow-
storm has paralyzed New York City and that they are (literally) stuck inside his apartment. They get off to a rocky start but soon embrace their circumstances and use their time together to give each other advice on how to improve their relationship skills. Through conversation and “experimentation,” the two soon realize that they are not as different as they originally thought, and that they can learn a lot from each other. The film is directed by Max Nichols, a former music video director who worked with artists including Willie Nelson before moving on to “Two Night Stand,” his first featurelength film. The film also features Scott Mescudi — aka Kid Cudi — as Jessica Sozhr’s humorous boyfriend Teller is the perfect modern rom-
com lead. He is hilariously awkward and realistically portrays the unambitious, yet jovial, Alec. He is strikingly believable in both his humorous and heartfelt moments. Teller’s past performance in “The Spectacular Now” solidified his status as a rising star in the romantic comedy world, and his role in “Divergent” and its upcoming sequel will soon make him a well-known face, and rightly so. His final moments in the film are undoubtedly his best and I know that Teller’s “big speech” will melt the hearts of girls everywhere. Audiences will recognize Tipton from her roles in “Crazy, Stupid Love,” “Warm Bodies” and “Lucy.” Tipton is a decent female lead; she is likeable, but her character is not necessarily relatable. The plotline surrounding her character falls
DEMAREST FILMS
“Two Night Stand” follows the organic, awkward relationship between Megan (Analeigh Tipton) and Alec (Miles Teller) as they get snowed in, post one-night stand.
short of expectations at times and seems to try too hard. Namely, when Tipton’s character reveals — in a plot point aimed to evoke sympathy — that she followed a boy to college and a pre-med major, only to be left broken-hearted, the moment falls short. Audiences will, frankly, be unmoved by her backstory and by her do-nothing lifestyle. This is not to say that Tipton did not embrace her character. She is believable and captivating, and perfectly complements Teller’s laid-back character. She is strong, quirky and free-spirited as Megan and will do great things when given a starring role. The chemistry between these two up-and-coming actors is one of the clear strong suits of this film. It does not start out that way, though; the chemistry slowly develops over the course of the movie, as it would in real life. Teller and Tipton are sufficiently awkward in their opening scenes, but the audience soon grows accustomed to their unique personalities and quirky conversations. There are many brilliant scenes of charming humor and quick jokes that evoke at least a smile. The plotline of this movie is not revolutionary, but the lines and the ending of the movie are innovative. There are moments of creativity and unique twists in the plot that elicit emotional responses from the audience. There is room for improvement, but overall, this movie succeeds in entertaining the young adult audience it targets. “Two Night Stand” is a cute, modern romantic comedy that leaves you believing in realistic “like” stories. It is worth seeing for a fun night and a few laughs; bring your friends or a date, and enjoy this modern take on the classic onenight stand scenario.
MOVIE Review
Hector and the Search for Happiness Directed by: Peter Chelsom
Sara Lee
Special to The Hoya
Based on the New York Times best-selling novel by French psychiatrist François Lelord, “Hector and the Search of Happiness” is the humane and charming tale of one man and his desperate quest to discover the secret to unlocking happiness. Hector (Simon Pegg) is a psychiatrist who has all the ingredients in his life to be happy: plenty of patients, a beautiful girlfriend who attends to his every need and a routine system for going about his day. However, he begins to tire of his humdrum life, realizing that he has not yet fully experienced life and that he is not making his patients any happier. So begins his journey to distant and faraway lands in the pursuit of happiness. In the manner of “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “Hector and the Search of Happiness” is light and simple, almost childish. But it is these simple, childish truths that most often escape us. And in the most humbling way, this movie reminds us of the very simple truths of happiness that are so easily unnoticed in our lives. Some may view Hector’s learned truths as obvious, and critics have labeled the movie as “vanilla” and “unfulfilled.” However, I disagree — it may be simple to grasp the concepts of happiness, but practicing and incorporating these principles into our lives is a much harder task. Following Hector on his mission is a meditative journey in and of itself; we see people, much like ourselves, who are perfectly capable of understanding these simple truths,
B7
New Releases ‘i’ kendrick lamar Kendrick Lamar shot to fame following his widely acclaimed debut studio album “good kid, m.A.A.d. city.” Now he’s back with his latest single “i,” which is prepping fans up for the release of his second studio album. The song shows a new side of Lamar, focusing less on his difficult experiences growing up in Compton and more on self-confidence and learning to appreciate life. While the upbeat tunes and jovial vibes may disappoint those who prefer more rebellious hits like “B---- Don’t Kill My Vibe,” this single sets a lighter tone that could open Lamar’s fan base up to a new, wider audience.
‘adios’ ricky martin It seems that Ricky Martin can never last long out of the spotlight. With Spanish, French and English versions, his new single “Adios” brings Martin’s signature sensual vibes across multiple language barriers. The song itself delivers predictable dance beats mixed with a Spanish flare and painfully overused Spanish words like loco to get listeners to sing along. It’s a predicatable, sometimes lacklustre track that will probably still make its way on to numerous party playlists While the single doesn’t offer any interesting musical experimentation, Martin’s loyal fans will certainly be satisfied that he sticks to his bad boy Puerto Rican self.
‘burnin’ up’ jessie j feat. 2 chainz Riding on the heat of her hit song “Bang Bang,” Jessie J keeps up with the collaborations in her latest single “Burnin’ Up.” While the chorus has a fun, basic rhythm and excitingly varied vocals, the song’s overly simple instrumentals lend nothing to it and leave it devoid of any significant buildup. The prominent beat and monotonous clapping make 2 Chainz’s solo verse seem like something taken out of a bizarre country rodeo and inevitably loses the little momentum the song carried. The single concludes with a transition back to Jessie J, eventually fading into the wasteland of forgotten pop songs.
‘sweet victory’ trip lee KOCH FILM
“Hector and the Search for Happiness” portrays the journey of a psychiatrist (Simon Pegg) who travels around the world in an effort to discover the secrets of living a happy life. yet happiness eludes them. It is a movie that necessitates self-reflection and leaves the viewer pondering long after he or she leaves the theater. Hector’s journey includes poignant moments of hilarity, such as a French woman continuously mispronouncing happiness as “a penis.” However, moments of intense thought-provoking emotion are also seamlessly woven in, such as when a woman dying from a brain tumor shares what makes her happy. Although the supporting characters’ appearances are brief
and numerous, they are passionate, and the lessons they teach are very impressionable. My only complaint about the film is that there is a slight incoherence to Hector’s adventures. In one adventure, he is in the bustling cities of China, then a far distant monastery, then in some African nation. And although the underlying current in the movie is Hector’s search for happiness, there is a lull in middle of the movie because of the fact that the parts of his adventure are quite disparate. “Hector and the Search for Hap-
piness” is definitely worth the viewing, particularly for us college students. As Georgetown students, we are constantly prone to worry and duress. Whether it’s stressing out over an impending exam or the uncertain outcome of our GPA, our preoccupation with the future precludes us from stopping to be happy. “Hector and the Search of Happiness” is a funny, yet intense reminder to enjoy the happy things in life, even though it can be a task easier said than done. And spoiler alert: It does have a happy ending.
An up-andcoming American rapper, Trip Lee brings poetic, simple lyrics to a rap scene dominated by crude motifs about living in the fast lane. The single starts with the line, “I feel thorns where my crown was,” alluding to his Christian faith, which has played a major role in his life. Lee preaches about a triumphant life through perseverance, faith and determination. Laced with inspirational string instruments and the delicate voice of Leah Smith, the single is a welcome change from Lee’s contemporaries and promises success for the young rapper.
AROUND TOWN CRAFTY BASTARDS
JAZZ FESTIVAL
FIRST LADIES’ FASHION PROGRAM
BENTZEN BALL COMEDY FESTIVAL
WHERE: Union Market, 1309 Fifth St. NW WHEN: Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. INFO: facebook.com/CraftyBastards PRICE: $5 day pass, $8 weekend pass
WHERE: WAU Campus, Morrison Hall Chapel WHEN: Sunday, noon to 5:30 p.m. INFO: signupgenius.com PRICE: Free
WHERE: William G. McGowan Theater WHEN: Tuesday, 7 p.m. INFO: archives.gov PRICE: Free
WHERE: 9:30 Club, 815 V St NW WHEN: Thursday, 6 p.m. INFO: 930.com PRICE: $20
Presented by the Washington City Paper, this annual fall festival brings together the hidden artistic gems in the D.C. area. Items range from jewelry and paintings to lipstick and foot cream, making the event a treasure-hunt adventure. Sift through these eclectic modern and antique works, and you’re bound to find something you like.
The Washington Adventist University Honors Program is putting together this festival in honor of jazz music. The event will feature five different jazz groups as well as performance by Andrew White, the world’s leading expert on music by John Coltrane, the saxophonist. The event is entirely free and open to the public.
This panel will be moderated by “Project Runway” star Tim Gunn. It will study and discuss the fashion of first ladies, exploring how these famous figures have used their style to shape their own images outside of the White House. It will compare historic and modern fashion trends, finding what has worked and failed for these powerful women. Reservations are encouraged as seating is limited.
This comedy festival features rising comedians who will render you speechless with laughter. Performers include Eugene Mirman, Ron Funches, Myq Kaplan, Kate Berlant, Jenn Tisdale and Sean Joyce. The event is a great way to see these comedians at a convenient location with a great ticket price before they take over the Comedy Central spotlight for good.
B8
SPORTS
THE HOYA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
LACROSSE
MEN’S SOCCER
Fall Season Opens Versus Navy Reputation Draws ELIZABETH CAVACOS Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team saw its fair share of ups and downs last season. A disappointing finish to the 2014 season, which included a sixgame losing streak, saw the Blue and Gray drop below their lofty No. 10 preseason rank. But the team bounced back and finished 6-1 in the Big East, good enough to earn a spot in the postseason conference tournament. An appearance in the Big East Championship game — and eventually an at-large berth in the NCAA national tournament — followed. Through all the inconsistencies and challenges of the 2014 season, Georgetown remained a close-knit team. Head Coach Ricky Fried credits much of the team’s perseverance to strong upperclassman leadership. “I think the biggest takeaway from the season was our seniors and how they kept the team together,” Fried said. “We had a sixgame losing streak … and that can go in a lot of different ways, and our seniors kept everyone engaged, focused on the team and on themselves. I think at the end of the day that’s what led us to have the opportunity we had at the end of the year … because of their ability to keep the team together.” Finishing a competitive season schedule with a second-place finish in the Big East, as well as a second consecutive NCAA tournament berth, was certainly no small feat. However, the program still has plenty of room to grow. With the loss of nine graduating seniors from the last season and the 2015 season looming, Fried already sees his returning players stepping into leadership positions to create a new team dynamic. “You can tell our current seniors
learned a lot from last year’s seniors, as far as how to deal with the team, how to motivate the team [and] how to keep them engaged,” Fried said. “So I think that’s the biggest piece.” Key leaders on the team will include senior attack Caroline Tarzian, who led the team with 47 points during the 2014 season, finishing with 29 goals and 18 assists. Senior defender Adrianne Devine also returns after tying for first on the team in ground balls with 33 and leading the team in caused turnovers with 39. Additionally, Fried says that the freshmen have already begun to make an impact on the team’s performance and dynamic during practice. “The seniors are going to lead the team at the end of the day, but they’re coming in with a good work ethic, a great mindset and [the freshmen are] really working hard to understand how we want to play the game,” Fried said. Georgetown’s fall schedule, which includes games against Navy and Virginia this weekend, presents several opportunities for the team to adjust to its new leadership and new additions. “Each team is different every year, so we don’t want to predetermine that, because we don’t know each other well enough yet,” Fried said. “We have a whole new leadership group. There [are] nine seniors, and there’s nine new freshmen, so there’s a lot of new personalities and skill sets. So that’s our challenge going into this fall … to have an idea of what our identity is going to be on the field, how we’re going to deal with each other, and who we’re going to be.” This weekend presents the first opportunity for the team to play together in an actual game setting, which can reveal team chemistry in ways that a daily practice envi-
Top-Notch Recruits
ANDREW MAY Hoya Staff Writer
FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
Junior defender Adrianne Devine started all 19 games last season. ronment cannot. Fried looks forward to this early chance to gauge the talent he has to work with. The fall games will not affect the team’s spring season or its eligibility for the postseason, so the coaching staff will be able to experiment with both personnel and tactics. “As coaches, our goal is to make sure that everyone gets an opportunity to participate, because in the spring everybody doesn’t get [that] opportunity … so we’ve got to figure out what our strengths and weaknesses are, and how we can utilize the skill sets of all the players on our team,” Fried said. Georgetown will host Navy on Friday and Virginia on Saturday. The following Sunday, Oct. 5, Georgetown will participate in Play for Parkinson’s, when it will face off against three NCAA tournament teams: Duke, Penn State and defending national champion Maryland.
OUT OF OUR LEAGUE
Football Atmosphere Needs Boost G eorgetown football came into the 2014-2015 season bearing the dubious distinction of having dropped eight of their last nine games a season prior, with hardly any of those losses being close. But after a total overhaul of the coaching staff and the recruitment of 32 freshmen to the team, the Hoyas appear to be turning over a new leaf. Following an 0-2 start that was to be expected from the implementation of a new system with so many fresh faces, they stunned many with their 27-7 win at Marist, and followed it with at 17-3 home win over Brown. Although Brown itself was only ranked sixth in the Ivy League preseason coaches’ poll, it served as a crucial win. Not only was it Georgetown’s first win against an Ivy since its win against Cornell in October 2003, but it also has given the team a rare two-game winning streak. And yet, the victory was markedly hollow. Was it because the cheerleaders had to improvise and ad-lib for their “Touchdown!” routines? Or, was it because the stands of creatively named MultiSport Facility came nowhere near the already modest 2013 Patriot League average of 5,665 attendees? Georgetown students have been notoriously callous toward their football-playing peers, as a glance at Twitter or Yik Yak on any given Saturday during the season will show you. (Seriously guys, “We have a football team?” is getting old). A performer is nothing without an audience. As our Hoyas achieve new heights on the gridiron, it is imperative that the Hoyas in the stands step up their own game. How do we go about getting more enthusiastic bodies in the stands? Why, with the only thing more American than the game of football: the football tailgate. For those who don’t know, tail-
gating is the tradition of showing up hours in advance of kick-off, regardless of the weather, ready to binge on comfort food and beverages of your choice, all in the name of school spirit. In the Southeastern Conference, it has been perfected to a science and revered as religion. You didn’t think those schools pulled an average attendance rate of 75,000 people per game just because they sport NFL-level talent, did you? While every school features the
Max Fiege
Tailgating will improve football experience for fans and players alike. classic hallmarks of ribs and burgers, each one has its own traditions that make them a little unique. Ole Miss features the Walk of Champions before every game, parading the team through the crowds and into the stadium. Vanderbilt encourages its fans to dress with southern class in their Sunday finest. LSU makes a point to highlight their Creole spirit by making cajun food as far as the eye can see. While we will not be playing SEC-caliber opponents, we can still learn a thing from their pregame spirit. First and foremost, school spirit cannot just be the product of student groups such as Hoya Blue and Hoya Hooligans: It has to be embraced by the administration. The
university should demarcate specific areas where pregame events can be set up. Areas such as Harbin Plaza, Red Square and Copley and Healy lawns can play host to students and vendors alike. Obtaining the services of food trucks and tents, like the farmers market, alongside students and their individual grills would create a lively atmosphere and compensate for the campus’s lack of aboveground parking. Furthermore, more can be done to stir up publicity for home games. Email blasts, residence hall posters and proGeorgetown decorations being put up all in the week building up to the game would better hype the games. I would suggest we make a strength out of an apparent weakness — because of our smaller size, we have the ability to make the audience experience more interactive. By having themed events run alongside the game and having a student commentator with a good sense of humor getting the crowd involved, we could make Georgetown football an experience people look forward to. Georgetown football is undergoing a change we ought to embrace, not ignore. As our Hoyas continue through their season, it is important that we elevate our level of support as well. Apathy is not what got us to Georgetown, and it is not the key to success here either. Our school spirit groups should use this an opportunity to demand more support from the administration, while we as students should do our best to support those who represent our school so vividly. Mark your calendars for when Harvard comes to the Hilltop on Oct. 4 at 12 p.m. Max Fiege is a freshman in the School of Foreign Service. OUT OF OUR LEAGUE appears every other Friday.
When the Georgetown men’s soccer (4-1-3) team takes the field in Indianapolis, Ind., against Butler University this Saturday, it will be ranked 11th in the nation. The team has spent much of the last three seasons in the top 15 spots in the NCAA rankings, and Head Coach Brian Wiese has created a competitive program almost from scratch. Wiese, who is in the midst of his eighth year at Georgetown, and his staff have recruited every one of the players on the squad. “[The coaching staff] looks at a lot of components [in recruits]. On the soccer side of it, are they the right kind of player? … Are they going to be good ambassadors? We drop kids that may be great players because we think there might be something there that will be a problem off the field,” Wiese said. Georgetown has undeniably had great success at selecting talent, but that talent must also select Georgetown. An elite high school soccer player might choose to become a Hoya because of the program’s recent track record of putting players into Major League Soccer. For some of the most highly touted recruits, however, the reasoning behind their choice in school was the same as that of the average student on campus. “The fact that the school is very good at soccer and that the education aspect of it is high end, [that] is what led me to come to Georgetown,” freshman midfielder Christopher Lema said. Forward Steve Neumann, who graduated in 2014 and now plays for the New England Revolution, embodies this balance between academic and athletic achievement. Neumann graduated from the McDonough School of Business in three and a half years — in time to join the Revolution for the beginning of the season. Both Lema and freshman midfielder Arun Basuljevic intend to follow the same seven-semester path. “My family is big on education,” Basuljevic said. “They are huge on it, especially my mom. My brother goes to Columbia, so we wanted to continue that tradition of going to
JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
Freshman midfielder Arun Basuljevic has two goals this season.
FOOTBALL
Richardson Improves Players Around Him FOOTBALL, from B10
SAXA SYNERGY
World Cup Would Build US Soccer SANTAMARIA, from B10 Hosting a World Cup in 2022 would undoubtedly cause a shift toward more substantial funding of the MLS and soccer developmental programs for all ages across the United States. Just as important would be the spike in tourism revenue for the overall economy. To me, the choice is clear. In recent years, FIFA has been mocked for its corruption and for valuing money over the love of the game. Russia’s 2018 bid acceptance is just as controversial as Qatar’s, with rumors of bribery of FIFA of-
ficials and evidence of widespread mistreatment of immigrant workers souring the preparations for the tournament. With the next iteration of the tournament just four short years away, it is likely too late to take the month-long competition away from Moscow. It is not too late, on the other hand, to take the World Cup hosting duties from Qatar, if the decision is made soon. FIFA taking away Qatar’s bid and giving it to the U.S. would speak to the organization’s willingness to acknowledge its mistakes for the betterment of the game. It would
also continue the expansion of the world’s most popular sport in one of the world’s largest markets. On a very selfish level, a World Cup in America would undoubtedly have a long-lasting positive impact on the quality of the United States Men’s National Soccer Team. But who knows, if soccer continues to grow in popularity at the rate it is now, the USMNT could very well hoist the coveted golden trophy on its home turf in 2022. Paolo Santamaria is a freshman in the College. SAXA SYNERGY appears every other Friday.
a pretty good school.” The freshmen this season have already begun to positively contribute. Basuljevic has scored twice this season as a substitute, including recording the game-winning goal in the Hoyas’ 1-0 win over the College of William and Mary. Lema has played his way into the starting lineup after five games as a substitute and an assist in a 1-1 tie against No. 4 University of California, Irvine. Freshman midfielder Declane McCabe has also seen playing time in two games. Georgetown has a unique place in the college-soccer landscape as an elite East Coast school with a top-tier soccer program that offers scholarship support. Both Wiese and Basuljevic mentioned the University of Notre Dame and Stanford University as having similar programs, but Georgetown stands alone in the Mid-Atlantic region. This has allowed Georgetown to attract top talent from states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia and especially New York. The players on the roster from the Class of 2014 include Lema, ranked 13th in the IMG Academy top 150, Basuljevic, ranked 23rd, and McCabe, ranked 43rd. Lema and Basuljevic hail from New York but McCabe calls Chicago, Ill. home. Other top talent from across the country includes sophomore defender Joshua Yaro and sophomore midfielder Bakie Goodman. The ability to recruit in large states like California and Florida is where Georgetown’s recent achievements become an advantage. “The more recent successes have made our name more prevalent when you talk to people. People are aware of us,” Wiese said. “I think one of the bigger advantages is that people have seen us play more. The fact that players in California and Oregon and the Midwest or Florida can see you play goes a long way, too.” Despite a nationwide recruiting presence, the Hoyas’ connection to New York and the New York Red Bulls Academy is a special case. Four players — Lema, Basuljevic, sophomore forward Alex Muyl and junior forward Brandon Allen — played in the Red Bulls’ system. If current prospect Kyle Zajec maintains his current commitment to attend Georgetown in 2015, as reported by topdrawersoccer.com, then the Hoyas will have at least one player from the Red Bulls at every level — from senior to freshman. “Knowing that two top players like [Allen and Muyl] came to Georgetown shows you what kind of program this is. So I believe that if they can do it, I can do it, too, and maybe just keep a little bit of the Red Bull family here in D.C.,” Lema said. These combined sterling academic and soccer reputations have led to a team that is likely to contend for a conference championship for the third straight year and have attracted even more talented players for next season. In addition to Zajec, topdrawersoccer.com reports that defender Peter Schropp — ranked 19th in his class — and goalkeeper James Marcinkowski — ranked seventh — have verbally committed to become Hoyas next season. These players likely based their decisions on the same benefits that attending Georgetown has offered past players as well as the general student body. “The balance between [academics and on-field success] — there really are not many programs like that around,” Basuljevic said.
the scheme we run, playing him at either one of the inside defensive tackle positions it’s great when he can eat up a double team,” said May, the current FCS National Defensive Lineman of the Week. “On the run [Richardson] allows the other defensive lineman or the linebackers to flow through and make plays. As far as the passing game goes, him being a threat inside makes them kind of slide that way and it gives me more one-on-one rushes on the outside which is always great.” This is not to say that Richardson has not put up impressive numbers of his own. He has blocked three kicks in his career, and recorded 4.5 sacks and 22 tackles for loss. In last Saturday’s 17-3 win against Brown, Richardson also recovered a fumble on the one-yard line. But Head Coach Rob Sgarlata, who was Georgetown’s defensive coordina-
tor when Richardson first arrived, sees the bigger picture of what Richardson provides. “Ever since Jordan’s been here as a freshman we’ve had All-Americans behind him,” Sgarlata said. “He does a lot of things that don’t show up in the stat sheet … the entire defense benefits from having him. He does a lot of things for us inside that are critical to our success on defense, especially versus the run. And in the last two games, the statistics are a direct result of what we’ve done with Jordan and as he goes we go on defense as far as stopping the run.” Like Sgarlata, Richardson also sees the bigger picture of his role on the team, and as long as they keep winning he does not care who is making the tackles. “My goal as a team is just to win a league championship, and individually, [to] just keeping helping the team and doing what it takes to win,” Richardson said.
sports
FRIDAY, september 26, 2014
Cross-Country
THE HOYA
B9
Women’s Soccer
After Strong Opener, Hoyas Rally Late for 3-3 Draw Boston Meet Looms Chris Balthazard Hoya Staff Writer
Kara Avanceña Special to The Hoya
Two weeks after their seasonopening events, Georgetown’s crosscountry teams will travel to Boston on Friday to compete against some of the top teams in the country at the Coastto-Coast Battle in Beantown. The No. 5 women’s team will look to build on its dominant first-place finish at the James Madison University Invitational, while the men’s team will aim to improve its third-place result from its first meet in State College, Pa. The Georgetown women’s team will face its toughest competition of the season thus far in Boston. Four other nationally ranked schools will compete, including No. 1 University of Michigan and No. 15 Syracuse University. Senior All-American Katrina Coogan will lead the Hoyas following her record-breaking time at the JMU Invitational. Coogan finished the 5,200-meter race in 17:46, beating the course record that had previously set in 2009. She finished in first place — more than 30 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. “Katrina and [senior] Andrea [Keklak] lead the team by the example they set when they race,” Head Coach Michael Smith said. In addition to the seniors’ leadership on the team, some of the newest recruits are also expected to compete and excel at the Coast-to-Coast Battle. Freshman Autumn Eastman finished eighth during the JMU Invitational and will be among the 12 athletes to compete for the women’s team. Unlike the women’s team, the men’s team is going to Boston following a third-place finish at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational. After racing without two of their veteran runners and losing to No. 8 Syracuse by one point, the Hoyas are looking forward to competing in Boston and improving from their first meet of the season. “I think in Boston, we want to, a little earlier on, be right with the
guys we want to be competing with,” Assistant Coach Brandon Bonsey said. “The big thing is going to be being in better position when the real racing starts.” Rainy weather and muddy running conditions hindered the main group of runners on the men’s team during its first meet. Nevertheless, two Georgetown runners — sophomore Scott Carpenter and junior Darren Fahy — finished among the top 10. Carpenter led the Hoyas in fifth place, while Fahy finished seventh. “I think our front two guys, Darren and Scott, followed the race plan well and ran aggressively,” Bonsey said. “I think a few of those other guys, our four through seven guys, are maybe a little too tentative — they were a little too far back from the real racing. I saw some good things, but I also think they just need to run with a little bit more confidence and aggression.” Graduate student Brian King, who did not perform at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational, will race with the men’s team on Friday. However, other top runners — including senior Collin Leibold and sophomore Amos Bartelsmeyer — will be absent from the meet. “They both worked out [on Tuesday], but it’s so early in the season it’s not worth running the guys when they’re not at 100 percent,” Bonsey said. The Coast-to-Coast Battle will also give the Hoyas the opportunity to compete against nationally ranked teams, including No. 3 University of Oregon and No. 16 Providence College, who they hope to see again later in the season. “We want our guys to be mixing it up with the very best people in the country because those eight guys that we’re bringing to Boston are all very high-level athletes and are capable of running with the best guys that Oregon and [No. 8] Syracuse have to offer,” Bonsey said. The women’s 5000m race is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., followed by the men’s 8000m race at 3:30 p.m.
The Georgetown women’s soccer team (5-2-3, 0-0-1), which was ranked 37th by the initial NCAA RPI standings, drew 3-3 after two overtimes at DePaul (8-0-2, 0-0-1) in an exciting game Thursday night which saw the Hoyas come back from a 3-1 secondhalf deficit with the help of two goals by Sarah Adams. The match opened Big East conference play for the Blue and Gray, who will next travel to Cincinnati, Ohio , to take on Xavier on Sunday. Head Coach Dave Nolan believed this game would be a stern early test for the team. “I think DePaul is the best team in the conference right now,” Nolan said. “I feel they’ve improved upon last year, and ourselves and Marquette and St. John’s haven’t managed to perform at the level we all performed at last year yet. We’re probably the closest … so we’re essentially starting conference play with the toughest game as the first game, and it’s on the road.” Freshman attacking midfielder Rachel Corboz had two assists in the match, including one to her sister, senior attacking midfielder Daphne Corboz, who buried the chance in just the fifth minute, before the Blue De-
mons soon pulled one back. Nolan was disappointed with the Hoyas’ first-half performance. “They got one back relatively quickly, and they got a little bit of heart from that. When we were 3-1 down, I really couldn’t see us getting back into the game,” Nolan said. “And then real quickly after they scored, I think within a minute, we had a real good combination play between Rachel [Corboz] and Sarah Adams. And Sarah got in and finished to make it 3-2.” Versatile junior midfielder Sarah Adams began to terrorize DePaul down the left-hand side, scoring another goal 10 minutes later to draw the Hoyas level and open up the field. “As it went into the last 10 minutes of the game and the overtime, it was just up and back, up and back,” Nolan said. “Considering it was the first soccer game on the new Big East Network, I don’t think they could’ve asked for anything more. It’ll be a classic that is probably already in the archives.” Freshman defender Drew Topor, who has impressed so far this season, knows that difficult games against strong teams have already improved the Hoyas’ ability to approach Big East play. “I think we had a very tough sea-
Crew
Head of the Potomac Marks Season’s Start Thomas Kits van Heyningen Special to The Hoya
With a strong base of young talent, standout upperclassmen and a new head coach, the Georgetown heavyweight men’s rowing team has high hopes for the 2014-2015 campaign. During the offseason, first-year Head Coach Luke Agnini replaced retired Tony Johnson, who served the Georgetown crew program for 28 years. Before coming to the Hilltop, Agnini served as the associate men’s rowing coach at the University of California for six years, in addition to numerous stints coaching U.S. national teams. Agnini has thus far been impressed with the quality of the program as well as the dedication of the student-athletes. “There’s a lot of good, young raw talent and some really motivated guys with the right tools needed to compete,” Agnini said. Although the men’s team is considered to be fairly young, Agnini does not view the upcoming campaign as a developmental year. This year’s squad will feature a prominent sophomore presence, which Agnini describes as the bulk of the team’s talent. “We do have a younger team, but I think it’s a year where we’ll have a good result, which will keep getting better for the next couple of years,” Agnini said. One surefire reason for this optimism is standout junior Graham Miller. Miller had a busy summer competing for a spot on the Under-23 Men’s National Team, where he came just short of being selected for the last roster spot. Miller hopes to be one of the leaders and performers in the Hoyas’ upcoming season. “Graham is the strongest kid on the team by far and probably the most talented,” Agnini said. “He’s national-team caliber right now, and he would easily be the top guy on any team in the country.” Both Agnini and Miller mentioned the renewed sense of intensity and purpose immediately apparent on this year’s squad. According to Miller, competing at the national level has brought a new focus and perspective to his teammates. “I’ve definitely noticed a different attitude. The approach last year was a little more lax, and this year since day one it’s been intense and very serious,” Miller said. “The commitment is off the charts compared to previous years, where I’ve noticed the commitment being something that would increase as the season progressed toward the spring. But this year, it’s been much more immediate.” The Head of the Charles Regatta on Oct. 18 is a schedule highlight for the
Hoyas because it will be one of the first litmus tests for the team as they compete with several of the top programs in the country. Agnini summed up the goals for this year’s team: to make the finals of the Eastern Sprints Regatta and to get back into the top-10 national rankings. “We want to establish those goals as the baseline for our success every year,” Agnini said. The Georgetown women’s openweight rowing team hopes the momentum from their steady improvement over the last three years will carry into this season. This will be Head Coach Miranda Paris’ first year working with an entire roster that she recruited and developed. “Every year, the team has been better than the last, so it’s been really fun to see the team grow and develop,” Paris said. “They’ve come back fitter and more ready to go than we’ve seen in the past four years. It’s very early, but we’re all really excited.” The Hoyas have come a long way from their one-race win in 2010, finishing fith in the Patriot League. The building blocks for another successful campaign are still in place for the 20142015 squad. This year’s squad needs to improve on preparedness for championship meets, according to Paris. “We didn’t have as good of a championship race [last season], but I think those are different skills. Learning how to win a regular-season race is very different from learning how to win at the championship, so that’s one of our big focuses for this year,” Paris said. Paris noted that it is extremely tricky to pick out standout individuals from a unit as a whole. “If you have one or two really amazing people, it doesn’t really matter since you need nine to be really great together. For our NCAAs, we need 23 people to be operating at a very high level if we want a chance,” Paris said. “I’m expecting the juniors and the seniors to really step up in terms of leadership, but the overall success will come from everyone.” Although the season begins Sunday, the focus is on long-term preparation for the major meets in the spring. “The fall is basically just to prepare for the spring, and I think our girls are just really focused on qualifying for NCAAs and [Intercollegiate Rowing Association] performance,” Paris said. Both the men’s and women’s teams will begin their seasons in the District at the Head of the Potomac meet over the weekend, with the men racing Friday and the women racing Sunday.
FILE PHOTO: Claire Soisson/The Hoya
Senior forward Sarah Adams scored two second-half goals in Georgetown’s 3-3 draw against the DePaul Demon Deacons on Thursday.
son so far,” Topor said. “We played Virginia Tech, Wake [Forest] and West Virginia, which were all really tough games. And we played them all on the road, which will definitely help this weekend when we’re away, just because we’ll probably be more used to the environment.” Because of injuries, Topor has enjoyed more playing time than anticipated, and has looked strong both in her natural position as an outsideback and slotted in next to Marina Paul in the center of defense. “I’ve always liked center-back,” Topor said. “It’s definitely different both because you don’t have to run as much as you do as an outsideback, which is nice, but you have to be aware of what’s going on all over the field … Playing next to [junior centerback] Marina [Paul], she is always there, always recovering for me.” One aspect of their game the team is looking to improve on is their quality on Sundays after playing a game the previous Thursday or Friday: So far this season, they sport a respectable 2-1-0 record in that situation, but have performed well under expectations in two of those games, a loss against Wake Forest and a narrow overtime win against George Washington. Though Xavier is ranked a lowly 217 in NCAA RPI, a small, narrow, artificial turf home field gives the Musketeers a solid home-field advantage. “There’re no easy games in the conference. And certainly when you go on the road, you’re going into different environments,” Nolan said. “When you play teams like this early in the year where they still have optimism and belief, you’re getting more from them.” And the Hoyas know the importance of starting the Big East season strong; last season, an early draw against DePaul forced the team to play catch-up to Marquette the rest of the year, and they never caught the Golden Eagles. Additionally, only the top two teams from 10 total participants get a bye to the semifinals in the conference tournament. “Essentially, once you get into conference play, everything you’ve done to this point doesn’t really matter,” Nolan said. “So that teams that haven’t had the starts they wanted, it’s a whole new season for them … Everything is geared towards this point on.” Georgetown will look to score an important road victory when they kick off against Xavier Sunday at 1 p.m.
Tae Kwon Do
Kim Lands 1st Competitive Win KIM, from B10 The event, held by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and sponsored by USA Tae Kwon Do, showcased the unique story of the sport in the United States, its growing influence and its growing accessibility. “I think this [tournament] will make us a more well-rounded club and definitely attract more interest too,” Kim said. “I think it’s a way for Georgetown students to be even more well-rounded [as well].” Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, under whose tutelage system Lee and all
Georgetown instructors trained, presided over the competition. Rhee is widely thought of as father of martial arts in America, bringing the discipline to the United States in the 1950s from its roots in South Korea. “[Rhee] suggested [that we go] and Daniel was very eager to compete,” Lee said. The D.C. Convention Center venue allowed for large crowds of spectators — for whom admission was free — to observe the sporting and cultural aspects of the event, which both Kim and Lee hope others will find
engaging, and will open more eyes to the beauty of the discipline. “I think it’s very exciting, usually there aren’t that many tournaments around the area,” Lee said. Both Kim and Lee expressed hope and a certain amount of expectation that the event would continue, providing continued opportunities for the sport and, specifically, the tae kwon do organization at Georgetown. “It was intimidating, but it was a great experience,” Kim said. “I really hope to be more involved in the future.”
Volleyball
Bluejays Soar to Victory Over GU Volleyball, from B10 went on to dominate the set 25-7, with Georgetown only serving in eight points in the entire set. “We did not play inspired volleyball to start, and then we just picked it up. There were only a few adjustments we could make,” Williams said of the team’s mentality after the first set. “We couldn’t pass in system, and so we started to focus on the ball coming off the server’s hands ... so we could get back in the system.” Even with the adjustments made, Georgetown still dropped the second set with a final score of 25-15. Though it showed greater offensive prowess with eight kills in comparison to its two kills in the first set, the Bluejays were still largely unchallenged. “We just needed everybody, all cylinders running, and it was no one person who was out there making mistakes — it’s just all of us playing together,” Williams said. Georgetown continued its gradual improvement in play in the third set, when they notched twelve kills, committed only three errors and forced three lead changes. “Our players came out of the locker room a little hungrier than we had in the first two sets, and it was the mentality that ‘We’re going to go out and get this,’” Williams
said. Creighton gave us a few points in the beginning with some missed serves and a hitting error, and that allowed us to get our legs underneath us. Then we tried to move from there.” With a tie game at 15-15, Williams called timeout. “I told them we know how to grind, we’ve done it plenty of times — we know how to take big swings, we know how to stay aggressive, we know how to stay competitive and we just need to dig deep right now and try to do that,” Williams said. Georgetown dug deep and stayed neck-and-neck with Creighton in the end of the third set with two lead changes and three tie scores. Unfortunately for Georgetown, it was too little too late. The Bluejays defeated the Hoyas 25-22 in the third set to win the match. “We need to come out fast and strong, we cannot wait to do that in the third set,” Williams said. “That’s something that we’ll talk about. We just have to be aggressive from the beginning — we can’t kind of get a feel of what’s going on, we have to come out and take charge.” Despite the loss, Williams praised two athletes in particular for their energy and perseverance on the court. “I think [senior libero] MacKenzie [Simpson] does a great job in the back row for us, she brings some
energy. I think that [redshirt senior outside hitter] Liz Riggins played a good game. She came out, she’s hitting hard, she’s taking some good swings, she’s keeping balls in play when the rest of us were struggling in that area,” Williams said. Now Georgetown looks to continue its improvement against another Big East foe, the Xavier Musketeers (7-5). The match will tip off tonight at 7 p.m. in McDonough Arena.
FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
Georgetown coach Arlisa Williams lead the Hoyas against Creighton.
SPORTS
Women’s Lacrosse Navy (0-0) vs. Georgetown (0-0) Friday, 7 p.m. MultiSport Facility
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
After an encouraging win at Holy Cross, the Hoyas stumbled against Brown. See B9
TALKING POINTS
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WOMEN’S SOCCER
It’s not worth running the guys when they’re not at 100 percent.
Cross-Country Head Coach Michael Smith
NUMBERS GAME
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FOOTBALL
VOLLEYBALL
Lineman Continues to Play Big Jordan Richardson weighs in on career as four-year starter.
FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
ing as a freshman. In a sport that is so physically demanding, it is rare to see a true freshman come in and make such an impact from day one. But the Georgetown coaching staff saw what Richardson was capable of doing on the field at the Athens Academy in Watkinsville, Ga. “Jordan was one of those guys who came out of high school a pretty physically developed kid,” Defensive Coordinator Luke Thompson said. “Some guys need to develop in college physically and Jordan came in pretty physically developed. He came in right around 285 pounds so that’s a good-sized freshman. What I saw on tape from him out of high school was just an explosive player, ran well for his size, strong, the kind of guy we wanted inside and then he’s definitely lived up to that since he’s been here.” Richardson has never stuffed the stat sheet. His career high in tackles for a season is 52, although he did finish fifth in the Patriot League with 12 tackles for loss last season. This season, however, it appears he is on his way to breaking that tackles mark, as he has 22 so far through four games — good for fourth on the team. But Richardson knows his true value is in what he allows others to do. “I think more than anything the linebackers really are a representation of what I’m able to do,” Richardson said. “Taking up a lot of double teams and then making plays. So it’s been awesome with McCabe [and] Alfieri.” The other defensive players on this Georgetown squad recognize how valuable Richardson is to their success. Perhaps more than anyone else, May has benefitted from playing four years next to him. Not only does May already have 8.5 sacks this year — 21.5 for his career — but he has seen firsthand what Richardson brings to the Hoya defense. “I think just from freshman year
Junior defensive lineman Jordan Richardson has 22 tackles this season. Richardson wore number eight in his junior year before swtiching to 99.
See FOOTBALL, B8
NADAV SENENSIEB Hoya Staff Writer
The 2014 Georgetown University football team runs on its defense. Having not given up a touchdown in either of the past two games — both wins — the Hoya defense has shown its readiness to lead the team for the remainder of the year. Most people who follow the team will tell you the stars of the defense are either the two team captains — senior linebacker Nick Alfieri and senior defensive end Alec May — or
emerging junior cornerback Ettian Scott. But to those who watch closely it is clear that there is a fourth player who also makes the unit flow as a group: senior defensive tackle Jordan Richardson. The unsung hero of the defense, Richardson has started at defensive tackle from his first game as a true freshman in 2011. In what is surely not a coincidence, that year linebacker Rob McCabe (MSB ’12) set Georgetown’s single-season tackle record with 134 tackles and linebacker Dustin Wharton (COL ’14) also broke the 100-tackle mark, accumulating 101 of his own. “It was challenging but it meant a lot that the coaches had enough trust in me to put me on the field with such a great team that we had that year,” Richardson said of start-
TAE KWON DO
Hoya Wins Sparring Tournament MATT RAAB
Hoya Staff Writer
Georgetown sophomore Daniel Kim took the gold medal in intermediate lightweight elite sparring at the First Korean Ambassador’s Cup KORUS Tae Kwon Do Championship, held at the D.C. Convention Center on Saturday, Sept. 20. The national competition included a variety of sparring forms and competitions for multiple age groups, along with traditional Korean dance and musical performances. “First of its kind,” Georgetown Tae Kwon Do Club instructor Mickey Lee (COL ’05) said of the competition. “They have what you see in the Olympics, which is sparring, but they also have what they don’t in the Olympics, which is forms, which is noncontact, individual. ”Kim, president of the Georgetown Tae Kwon Do Club, participated in the first major competition of his career at the adult level. Kim competed in the intermediate men’s 18-32 lightweight elite sparring division. Competitors are divided by age, rank and then weight. The national competition drew over 700 competitors from around the country, according to Lee, but Kim only faced one other competitor within his division, the elite level. The two sparred in a closely competitive match late in the day, after the large numbers of lower-level competitors had completed their sparring and other festivities had run their course. “What is amazing is that we got there around 11 [a.m.] and the sparring was so popular [that] it took hours and hours, by the time we started competing it was like 6 [p.m.],” Lee said. Elite sparring matches take the form of two 90-second rounds with
COURTESY OF GU TAE KNOW DO CLUB
Sophomore Daniel Kim dons the gold medal alongside his coach and GU Tae Kwon Do Club instructor Mickey Lee (COL ’05). a 10-second break in between. Points are awarded for contact made on the body with punches and kicks. The elite level is distinguished from the open level by the allowance of head contact for additional points. Kim was immediately tested in the first 90-second session, and in fact went into the 10-second break trailing 5-3. His 26-year-old opponent increased the lead in the second round, as Kim dropped further behind by the score of 7-4. “Both of them were very wellmatched because they were about the same height, of course they’re in the same weight class,” Lee said. “[With] 43 seconds left I distinctly re-
member he was down 4-7 and all of a sudden he just switched it on.” Kim scored six points in a row to earn a 10-7 win, taking the gold medal in the event. The win was a first not only for Kim but for the club, which had never before sent students to Olympic-style tae kwon do tournaments. “I just tried to keep calm, I really went for the experience,” Kim said. “It wasn’t do or die necessarily so I definitely just kept plugging away … just kept working it, didn’t give up, and I think it was a great experience to build on in the future.” See KIM, B9
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The number of second-half goals junior forward Sarah Adams scored to eliminate a two-goal deficit Thursday.
ERIN NAPIER/THE HOYA
Senior libero MacKenzie Simpson had 10 digs in three sets played. Georgetown lost in straight sets to Creighton in its Big East opener.
Creighton Wins In Straight Sets MADDIE AUERBACH Hoya Staff Writer
Kicking off Big East play in its 2014 campaign, Georgetown volleyball (6-8, Big East 0-1) fell to the Creighton Blue Jays (8-6, Big East 1-0) in straight sets Tuesday, Sept. 23 in McDonough Arena. The Hoyas headed into Tuesday’s match coming off a trio of losses at the Fullerton Classic at California State University, Fullerton the previous weekend. After falling to the Yale Bulldogs in the last game of the tournament, the Hoyas were ready to embark on the brunt of
regular-season play against their Big East counterparts. “Our players were amped, I mean, they were hungry, they were ready for Big East play,” Head Coach Arlisa Williams said. “They’ve been talking about it — we’re ready for [the] Big East, we’re ready to start this next chapter.” Creighton came out extremely strong in the first set. Although the Hoyas got on the board first after an attack error by Creighton’s Marysa Wilkinson, the Blue Jays proceeded on an eight-point run. Creighton See VOLLEYBALL, B9
SAXA SYNERGY
USA Is Ready to Host Another World Cup
A
mid controversy regard- of the stadiums or at viewing paring corruption in the vot- ties. If the United States produced a ing process and inhumane treatment of migrant workers, record turnout in 1994, even beQatar was awarded the 2022 FIFA fore Major League Soccer officially World Cup bid. However, high- began play 1995, the rise in soccer’s ranking FIFA committee member popularity since then would be Theo Zwanziger told German pub- evident if the U.S. hosted in 2022, lication Sports Bild on Monday: “I considering the tremendous TV personally think that in the end ratings the 2014 World Cup had in the 2022 World Cup will not take American homes, with U.S. group place in Qatar.” stage matches garnering higher Despite all the negative public- ratings than the NBA Finals. As it is, ity surrounding Qatar winning the popularity of soccer in America the bid, it is not the controversy is already booming, with easily acthat Zwanziger cites as the rea- cessible English Premier League son Qatar would lose the bid, but games via NBC and ESPN, leading rather the extreme heat of the Qa- to a 13.3 million increase in total tari summer. With temperatures viewership from 2012-2013, up to ranging from 100 to 117 degrees, 31.5 million for the 2013-2014 seasupporters travson. elling across the An even more world to see their impressive statisteams play would tic is that those have to deal sharp increases with the scorchwere before the ing heat, which Stars and Stripes’ might lower atexhilarating tendance. World Cup run, Paolo Santamaria There are a litaa run that has ny of reasons why already brought Qatar should not more viewership FIFA should consider to the MLS and host the World Cup, including will undoubtedly revoking the 2022 the disparity beincrease viewertween the qual- tournament from Qatar. ship of the major ity of the Qatari European leagues national team and the teams it during the young current season. would be eliminating by receiving If FIFA learned anything from an automatic bid. As long as its the 1994 World Cup, it will see the bid is rescinded, many will see it United States as a way to not just as an act of justice. And regardless give the world a record-breaking of how Qatar loses it bid, there are and less controversial World Cup, several countries more fit to host, but to end the idea that Americans including the United States. are inferior in skill and indifferent When the United States hosted in support of soccer. As one of the in 1994, many had their doubts premier powers in the world in alabout the turnout, as soccer had most every other sport, the United just begun to draw fans in Amer- States’ shortcomings in player deica. However, the United States velopment are laughable. would prove more than fit to host Over the past two World Cups, because of top-quality stadiums in Americans have certainly had a very tourist-friendly areas, such lot to cheer for, but the national as the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Ca- team has never dominated outlif. and RFK Memorial in D.C. It side of North American compealso produced a record turnout, titions, unlike USA Basketball, with a total of 3,587,538 specta- which just won another worldtors. That figure does not even wide tournament this summer. include the thousands who came to support their countries outside See SANTAMARIA, B8