The Georgetown Voice 01/17/2020

JANUARY 17, 2020

UNIVERSITY WARNING

THIS CAMPUS AND YOUR WELL-BEING ARE PROTECTED BY SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS

STUDENTS MUST HAND OVER LOCATION DATA EDITORIAL: GEORGETOWN SHOULD COMMIT TO ETHICAL DATA USE

“NOT A LUXURY, A RIGHT”: MENSTRUAL EQUITY ON GEORGETOWN’S CAMPUS

By Sienna Brancato

“UNLIKE ANY OTHER CLASS”: AMST 272 CONFRONTS GU’S HISTORY WITH SLAVERY

By Annemarie Cuccia and Annabella Hoge

BALLING ON A BUDGET: DISPARITIES PERSIST IN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

By Nathan Chen and Katherine Randolph

Contents

January 17, 2020 Volume 52 | Issue 9

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Celebrating 50 Years

editorials

Georgetown Should Commit to Ethical Data Use Support the New and Improved Women’s March

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carrying on

After Learning I’m Not the Only One SIENNA BRANCATO

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voices

Editor-In-Chief Noah Telerski Managing Editor Katherine Randolph

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news

Executive Editor Features Editor News Editor Assistant News Editors

feature

Balling on a Budget: Disparities Persist in Women’s Basketball NATHAN CHEN & KATHERINE RANDOLPH

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voices

opinion

Executive Editor Voices Editor Assistant Voices Editor Editorial Board Chair Editorial Board

feature

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“Look At Her Now”: Selena Gomez Finds Her SelfWorth and Artistic Identity on Rare

SIENNA BRANCATO

Making Art Out of Sweets and Sentiments in Anna Katalkina’s Candy and Mementos

Upon the New Decade

↑

leisure

leisure

JOHN LIZANO

feature

“Unlike any other class”: AMST 272 Confronts Georgetown’s History with Slavery ANNEMARIE CUCCIA & ANNABELLA HOGE

Executive Editor Juliana Vaccaro De Souza Leisure Editor Skyler Coffey Assistant Editors Emma Chuck, Anna Pogrebivsky, Abby Webster Halftime Editor John Woolley Assistant Halftime Editors Lucy Cook, Chetan Dokku, Samantha Tritt

sports

Executive Editor Sports Editor Assistant Editors Halftime Editor Assistant Halftime Editors

Will Shanahan Tristan Lee Nathan Chen, Jake Gilstrap Ethan Cantrell Arshan Goudarzi

design

Josh Klein Insha Momin, Cade Shore Sean Ye Allison DeRose, Alex Giorno, Neha Malik Staff Designers Marie Luca, Ally West, Amy Zhou

Executive Editor Spread Editors Cover Editor Assistant Design Editors

SAMANTHA TRITT

DAJOUR EVANS

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Leina Hsu Amanda Chu Paul James, Max Zhang Inès de Miranda Sienna Brancato, Delaney Corcoran, Annemarie Cuccia, Inès de Miranda, Lizz Pankova, Julia Pinney, Noah Telerski, Jack Townsend

leisure

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“This Is Punk Rock “Not A Luxury, A Time” Right”: Menstrual CHEYENNE MARTIN Equity On Georgetown’s Campus

Caroline Hamilton Annemarie Cuccia Roman Peregrino Darren Jian, Ryan Remmel, Sarah Watson

copy

“As students and as people, no one deserves to have to worry about whether their period is going to affect their ability to go to class or participate in the activities that make them happy” PG. 13

Copy Chief Sophie Stewart Assistant Copy Editors Maya Knepp, Julia Rahimzadeh Editors Mya Allen, Christopher Boose, Jennifer Kret, Stephanie Leow, Moira Phan, Madison Scully, Cindy Strizak, Maya Tenzer, Kristin Turner, Rachel Weinman

multimedia

Executive Editor Podcast Editor Assistant Podcast Editor Photo Editor

online

Executive Editor Cam Smith Social Media Editor Eli Lefcowitz

on the cover

business

JANUARY 17, 2020

UNIVERSITY WARNING

General Manager Maggie Grubert Assistant Manager of Alice Gao Alumni Outreach

support

THIS CAMPUS AND YOUR WELL-BEING ARE PROTECTED BY SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS

The opinions expressed in The Georgetown Voice do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty, or students of Georgetown University, unless specifically stated. Columns, advertisements, cartoons, and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the General Board of The Georgetown Voice. The university subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression of its student editors. All materials copyright The Georgetown Voice, unless otherwise indicated.

contact us

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photo by john picker

editor@georgetownvoice.com Leavey 424 Box 571066 Georgetown University 3700 O St. NW Washington, DC 20057

STUDENTS MUST HAND OVER LOCATION DATA EDITORIAL: GEORGETOWN SHOULD COMMIT TO ETHICAL DATA USE

“NOT A LUXURY, A RIGHT”: MENSTRUAL EQUITY ON GEORGETOWN’S CAMPUS

By Sienna Brancato

“UNLIKE ANY OTHER CLASS”: AMST 272 CONFRONTS GU’S HISTORY WITH SLAVERY

By Annemarie Cuccia and Annabella Hoge

BALLING ON A BUDGET: DISPARITIES PERSIST IN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

By Nathan Chen and Katherine Randolph

“Big Brother is Watching” SEAN YE

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Sarema Shorr Panna Gattyan Anna Sofia Neil John Picker

Associate Editors Tim Adami, Delaney Corcoran, Olivia Stevens Contributing Editors Sienna Brancato, Rachel Cohen, Dajour Evans, Brynn Furey, Emily Jaster, Julia Pinney, Lizz Pankova, Jack Townsend Staff Writers Nathan Barber, Maya Cassady, Jason Cuomo, Steven Frost, Steven Kingkiner, Lily Kissinger, Jaden Kielty, Bella McGlore, Orly Salik, Anna Savo-Matthews, Timmy Sutton, Katie Woodhouse

Page 3

An eclectic collection of jokes, puns, doodles, playlists, and news clips from the collective mind of the Voice staff.

→ HALFTIME SPORTS

→ GOSSIP RAT

Tokyo Olympics–Women’s Soccer

Happy 100th Birthday to The Hoya. xoxo, Your friend down the hall Gossip Rat

With the 2020 Summer Olympics just seven months away, Steven Kingkiner explores the state of Olympic women’s soccer as six confederations continue to hold tournaments and compete for the 12 Olympic bid spots.

“Not edibles you dummy, those are easy to get.”

→ SPORTS

Photo of the Week

→ TIM AND LIV’S QUIZ

Would Delaney Hate Your Design?

For those who do not know, Delaney (aka D-Mamma) is our former boss. She is a stellar designer and wants everyone to be at the same level as her. If your design sucks, she WILL burn it AND you!

1. What color are you making that background square? a. Tropical pink b. Blue c. Yellow d. Burnt orange 2. Choose a title font a. Sofia b. Garamond c. Times New Roman d. Comic Sans 3. Choose a graphic a. “Sorry what? I was too busy drawing my own design” b. Insert image trace illustration c. “Are there any pictures in the DropBox I can use?” d. “Can I use this clipart I found?”

4. Be honest, your design is trash right? a. No, I’ve scrutinized every inch of it. Feng shui on fleek. b. Delaney said it’s good…. c. Delaney said she’ll look at it later, so you can leave d. I don’t even know the difference between white and egg shell

→ HALFTIME PLAYLIST

New Decade, Same Bops 1. Animal Neon Trees 2. Hello Adele 3. Uptown Funk Mark Ronson (ft. Bruno Mars) 4. Closer The Chainsmokers 5. Formation Beyoncé 6. Gangnam Style PSY 7. Royals Lorde 8. Old Town Road Lil Nas X 9. good kid, m.A.A.d city Kendrick Lamar 10. Despacito Luis Fonsi (ft. Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber)

Check your results at the bottom of this page!

Jagan Mosely finishes over Damien Jefferson in the second half of men’s basketball’s 83-80 victory over #25 Creighton.

Mostly a’s: D-Mamma who? You’re so good, her job is yours now. Mostly b’s: You’re on the level of Tim and Liv. Your designs are solid, but you aren’t quite design exec material yet. Mostly c’s: You open up the newest edition of The Voice, but your design is not there… yikes Mostly d’s: You’re fired. Go lay out colorless newspaper spreads for The Hoya.

lacroix rat by timmy adami; basketball photo by john picker, soccer photo from getty images

→ OVERHEARD AT GEORGETOWN

JANUARY 17, 2020

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EDITORIALS

Georgetown Should Commit to Ethical Data Use

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any colleges and universities have opted to begin using technologies that track the behavior of prospective and enrolled students online and on campus, respectively. This editorial board believes Georgetown should preemptively commit to the ethical use of data collection technology, both with respect to admissions and student life.

As The Washington Post reported in 2019, software is now available to college admissions offices that gives them the ability to see extensive information about prospective students visiting their website. By analyzing internet “cookies” from students’ web browsers, the software is capable of identifying a prospective student’s name, hometown, contact information, ethnicity, and much more. This type of admissions software, which admittedly could save time in inviting students to apply, is ripe for misuse.

According to a 2017 New York Times study, 21 percent of Georgetown students come from the top 1 percent of Americans in terms of annual income, while less than 3 percent of students come from the bottom 20 percent. In fact, more students at Georgetown come from the top 1 percent than the bottom 60 percent. Systems that inform the admissions office of prospective students visiting their website will further advantage high schools and geographic regions that have produced past generations of Georgetown students, exacerbating the narrow range of income and race demographics the school currently admits. It is imperative for promoting a diverse student body that Georgetown takes action to reach out to students who may not have the luxury of guidance counselors or family members promoting the university.

Because Georgetown has expressed its desire for diverse applicants, it is the university’s obligation to reach out to communities who have previously been underrepresented on campus. A 2013 Harvard study showed that students who are sent information about schools are more likely to apply.

Georgetown should adopt this strategy to invite a diverse candidate pool to apply rather than focusing on students who are already aware of and interested in the school. Recklessly adopting software to assist admissions without understanding its possible repercussions could prove harmful to Georgetown’s stated efforts to enroll a diverse student body.

Questionable data use goes beyond the admissions processes at some universities. Some schools have installed programs that allow administrators to monitor students’ on-campus locations using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connections.

Proponents of these technologies claim they will help professors enforce attendance policies, identify symptoms of depression by monitoring when students are eating and sleeping, and allow universities to create a “model” for successful student behavior—but software designed to track students’ locations on campus is an unacceptable invasion of privacy.

The concerns—such as student attendance—can undoubtedly be mitigated via less intrusive methods. In-class clicker systems and good-old-fashioned clipboard attendance are not so ineffective as to necessitate a 24/7 monitoring system.

And it’s important to mention that these systems fail. Degree Analytics, one company being used for attendance tracking software, describes their program to be “on average between 90 and 95” percent accurate. The reality that attendance is at 4

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

times being improperly counted entirely negates this system’s purported benefits, as students’ grades could be impacted by software glitches, not to mention some students may not own smartphones compatible with the program itself.

Further, the claim that tracking students could in turn help the administration diagnose mental health problems in individual students is dubious at best. The aggregate psychological effect of surveilling the student population will not advance positive mental health and perhaps even contribute to a decline. Big Brother is a poor replacement for accessible, medically necessary mental health services.

One monitoring program requires students to download an app to their phone in order for the tracking to take effect. Its proponents have argued that this constitutes knowing consent that their information will be available to school administrators.

However, tying required university activities such as class attendance to the monitoring program will inevitably result in the software being mandatory for students in certain classes, undercutting the notion that students could consent to such a program.

Tech companies have been under fire of late for deceptive and potentially illegal behavior with regard to tracking user data, specifically location. The European Consumer Organisation filed complaints against Google alleging the company intentionally obfuscated whether devices were being tracked and what user data they stored. Facebook is notorious for overreaching in the collection and distribution of users’ information. As the international debate around data ethics unfolds, Georgetown ought to err on the side of caution.

Student data tracking programs like those mentioned will continue to proliferate. Evaluating potential Georgetown applicants based on material not explicitly submitted in their application is antithetical to the school’s commitment to holistic review. In the interests of Georgetown students, both current and prospective, as well as the stated policy goals of the university, we urge the university to proceed thoughtfully before automating admissions processes or analysis of student behavior. G

Support the New and Improved Women’s March

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ast January, our editorial board wrote that there were several fundamental problems with the Women’s March. Even though we stood by the movement’s founding principles, we advocated sitting out the march. Last year’s Women’s March was regarded by many as evidence the grassroots uprising grew out of anger at President Trump’s election and was unsustainable. This year, however, the Women’s March will be oriented toward inclusivity, grassroots organizing, and a more issues-focused mission.

This year there have been major structural changes in the organization that puts together the event, also referred to as Women’s March. They reflect the tremendous evolution the organization has undergone over the past year. We commend these changes and advocate for attending the march on Jan. 18.

In our previous editorial, we focused our criticism of the movement on the anti-Semitism many women within the organization felt. We were not the only ones to do so.

Women in the organization felt as if they were being “cast aside” because they were Jewish, and Latina and black

women have complained about the movement not taking their input. Women’s March drew a lot of criticism in the media for this hostile atmosphere, as well as the organizers’ link to Louis Farrakhan, long-time leader of the Nation of Islam, who has made public anti-Semitic statements. The concerns with the leadership, along with a failure to include LGTBQ+ communities and the hierarchical structure of the organization, hurt the organization and muddled its message.

However, the three original co-chairs of the board, who were embroiled in stories of anti-Semitism, financial mismanagement, and infighting, were replaced by a board of 16 women last July. This new board brings several new aspects of diversity to the organization, including Jewish women, a transgender woman, and a Palestinian American woman. This change in leadership reflects a desire to focus more on grassroots-level organizing, as all of these women are local activists or leaders. The board is focusing the message of this year’s march on three topics, which they chose based on a poll conducted last year: reproductive rights, climate change, and immigration.

The organization has also changed the format of the march itself, which will no longer feature a stage with famous keynote speakers. Instead, the board will march alongside protesters with banners, and the march will culminate at the White House with a group of Chilean activists leading participants in the song “El Violador Eres Tú,” which has been taken up by feminist gatherings around the globe.

The Women’s March organized a series of events during the week leading up to the march, including a panel discussing why women lead on climate justice on Jan. 13 and a session on immigration justice on Jan. 15. On the day after the march there will be a “Fourth Wave Drag Brunch.” These more inclusive events show the board wanted to foster deeper conversations about the issues central to the march’s purpose, something they were criticized for not doing well enough in previous years. The Women’s March’s efforts to reform should be commended, especially as they represent what we want from our community activists—a focus on what members of the grassroots movement want to address rather than the management’s particular agenda.

When the march drew thousands of attendees last year, rather than the several hundred thousands who participated in the original march, critics of the direction the organization had taken said it showed the movement was not sustainable.

They touted the 2018 election and its record number of women elected to office to show the Women’s March is no longer necessary. This is not true.

Just this month, 205 Republicans and two Democrats in Congress signed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court asking they revisit the landmark abortion case Roe v.

Wade (1973). This ties into one of the three policy goals the Women’s March is focusing on this year: reproductive rights. The brief is just the latest in a series of attacks the ideological right has made in recent years on reproductive rights. It is important that critics of the organization not let up on the mission because of victories some women have won, like the record number of women elected to office or the attention given to the #MeToo movement.

Tomorrow is the day of the march, and we should all go. Not only should we appreciate the efforts the Women’s March has made to be more inclusive and focus on what women want, but the issues they are focusing on are important, relevant, and worth protesting over. Take advantage of the proximity we have by being in D.C. and attend the Women’s March to fight for women’s rights and their causes. G

VOICES CARRYING ON: VOICE STAFFERS SPEAK

After Learning I’m Not the Only One SIENNA BRANCATO

Content Warning: sexual assault, violence

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don’t think you remember who I am. I don’t think you could pick me out in a crowd.

You, whose hands left me sweating and shaking in a bathroom stall. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t hear, I couldn’t see. All I could do was feel your fingers crawl over me, the rough press of your cheek, the sharp slice of awakening pain.

I wanted someone to come and find me. No one came, of course, because no one knew. It’s unfair to blame anyone but myself for that. But it’s also unfair to blame myself for what happened, so who am I supposed to blame? And why is my first instinct to point the finger at everyone but you?

I told the girl in the bathroom I was okay. I told my friend I needed to leave. I told my roommate I was just tired. I didn’t tell anyone.

When I found out you’d done it again and again, my breath caught in my throat. My face warmed and my hands shook and my brain stopped moving, then started moving very quickly all at once, so quickly that I couldn’t process the thoughts as they came, stumbling over each other in a rush to escape.

I’m back there. Three years ago, at the party.

The heat of pressing bodies, and the dripping, claustrophobic air. I’m back there and you’re touching me and I want you to stop.

When I saw you in a local coffee shop a week after I found out, typing away on your computer like nothing was wrong, all I could do was sit down and try not to look. It seemed so normal. Of course you belong here. You’re a student. You’re still a student. If I made a scene or told a friend, I feared disbelief—incredulousness that you still have such an effect on me. My response to the sight of you made me feel sad, vulnerable, weak. *** Rape culture looks like me altering my actions to prioritize your comfort. Rape culture looks like greater sympathy with the perpetrator than the survivor. Rape culture looks like breaking decades of silence, only to be met with dismissal or condemnation. Rape culture looks like jokes dismissed as harmless. This isn’t news

Sienna Brancato is a senior in the College who enjoys mint chocolate chip ice cream.

to me, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hit just as hard every time.

Confronted with the stories of new survivors, I’m afraid my face has dissolved in a sea of others.

I don’t want you to remember me in any lasting way, but the idea that your behavior is so common, so unremarkable, is deeply unsettling. The same moment can impact two people’s lives so differently.

Even now, I just say I had a “bad experience” with you, even after all the stories became public knowledge. The reminder, the new context, hits like a wave of guilt—the idea that my three-year-old silence enabled everything in between.

What if I had said something? What if I hadn’t told the girl in the bathroom I was okay? What if I hadn’t just left and curled up in my bed and told my roommate I felt a little bit weird about it but I don’t really know I don’t really— Sophomore year, the night before move-in, a friend and I are walking to campus when we see a silhouette illuminated in a passing doorway. A man is grunting and sweating and roughly pulling and we realize a second too late.

We make eye contact and in an instant decide not to run. We do speed up our pace slightly, terrified that he will notice that we saw him, although that is likely his goal. He wants to see our fear. We wonder what he could do in retaliation.

When we reach campus, we are sweating and unsettled. We keep quiet.

A few weeks later, we receive a public safety email warning students about an incident of public masturbation. My first thought is guilt.

Then, self-blame.

What if I had told someone? What if I had called GUPD? What if I hadn’t just escaped like a fucking coward and actually taken any action seriously any action to prevent someone else from experiencing this deep unsettling fear I don’t really know I don’t really— Stop, I tell myself. Only I can’t. *** Trauma is everywhere. It infiltrates our pop culture. It’s in our classrooms, on our campus, in our clubs, in the people we hold closest—it’s inescapable.

I watch Boys Don’t Cry for English homework, and two men rape and murder transgender man Brandon Teena. I read Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina, and the main character is repeatedly abused by her stepfather. I watch the Netflix series Unbelievable, where the police coerce a rape survivor into saying she gave a false report. Later, they discover that she had been telling the truth. These examples are just the first ones that come to mind.

The majority of my female friends have stories like mine.

I was followed. I was drugged. I don’t remember what happened. He kept insisting. I didn’t want to disappoint him. I feel a little weird about it, but it’s fine, right? I don’t really know— The ones who don’t likely will in time. One in three U.S. women and one in six U.S. men will experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

Maria Root’s theory of insidious trauma states that constant exposure to the threat of trauma itself produces its symptoms, even in those who have not experienced a traumatic incident. She

illustration by alex giorno

writes, “Most women in North America today are aware that they may be raped at any time and by anyone. All of us know someone like ourselves who was raped, more often than not in her own home by a man she knew.”

By this, I don’t mean to minimize or generalize the trauma of rape survivors, but rather to emphasize the absurd prevalence of trauma in our society. It seems so normal, so mundane, so expected. Of course she belongs here, in this perpetual state of almost. Of waiting. Of what if.

When the man grabs my leg and leaves a bruise, I think about the last time someone broke me between their hands. When the fingers wrap around my throat, I think of crushed windpipes.

I say be careful and he says I can’t help myself. I refuse and he says are you sure we can’t just...

I think about intergenerational trauma, about the fact that my future child will carry this terror, this inescapable shortness of breath, this danger, this sense of inevitability.

I want to protect the people I love, but how can I claim to be an advocate when fear has silenced me too many times? When survival instincts and adrenaline have outweighed collective responsibility?

I don’t have some neat conclusion. I carry guilt like a white-hot weight. Writing doesn’t calm the wrenching, beating, grasping feeling. I know it’s supposed to be my responsibility to speak up—as a feminist, as a person—but fear has caught and crushed my tongue too many times. I know we’re supposed to encourage people to report. And of course reporting is important, but I would feel like a hypocrite for encouraging others to do what I couldn’t. Mainly, I’m just angry. I’m angry at the fact that this trauma is so prevalent. I’m angry that when survivors start to speak about their trauma, the conversation shifts to how will these prominent perpetrators ever recover? Their careers will be ruined! It’s a tough time to be a man out there.

You’ve gotta be extra careful not to get #MeTooed.

But I’m also angry at myself. I’m trying not to think of the instances in which I didn’t speak up as failures, but I can’t escape the thought that my silence enabled future violence. But even though it feels like too little too late, I’m speaking up now. Finally. I won’t beg you to listen. I don’t even need you to hear.

Because this isn’t for you. This is for me. G Confidential Resources Health Education Services (HES): sarp@georgetown.edu Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS): 202-687-6985 D.C. Rape Crisis Center Hotline: 202-333-RAPE (7273) Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN): 1-800656-4673 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Non-confidential Resources Georgetown University Resource Center: https:// sexualassault.georgetown.edu/get-help/resourcecenter/ Title IX Online Reporting Form: georgetown.protocall.info/ incident-report

JANUARY 17, 2020

5

VOICES

“This is Punk Rock Time” CHEYENNE MARTIN

“Kick over the wall ’cause government’s to fall.

How can you refuse it?

Let fury have the hour, anger can be power.

Do you know that you can use it?”

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ould you believe me if I told you one of the biggest bands in the world purposefully trashed venues on tour and snuck fans in for free so their record company couldn’t profit from concerts? That they made albums extra long, double or triple a normal album’s length so fans could get multiple albums for the price of one, though their record company pushed them to jack up the prices?

This same band was also a thorn in the side of the Thatcher administration, and its music helped inspire a new generation of politically conscious and active people, and some of them would even become political scientists, politicians, and diplomats.

This band existed, and its name was The Clash.

In 1977, The Clash exploded onto a punk scene dominated by a culture that was about rejecting everything that came before, taking no influence from the old, and creating the new from scratch. It became about rejecting old heroes, old ways of life, and everything in between.

The band would become a catalyst of change in the worlds of music and politics with the release of their 1979 masterpiece, London Calling.

In the face of its 40th anniversary and the new decade, especially with the wild worldwide political climates, the album deserves a look back on its past and future influence. It was their incorporation of musical influences and their courage to address problems like poverty, political corruption, racism, and police brutality on the popular platform that differentiated The Clash from many other bands.

London Calling directly challenged the foundations of punk through its incorporation of the wider musical world. “Brand New Cadillac” screams of sweet hard rock guitar solos and surfer rockabilly elements, while “Wrong ‘Em Boyo” is filled with bluesy brass, and “Guns of Brixton” is heavy reggae mixed with punk. The album is a mosaic of influences coming together into one conglomerate album. The band’s rejection of rejection culture set them apart from the rest of the punk scene, now saturated with angry, fast power chords and raw vocals. It began to give others the courage to step out of the scene’s jaws and do their own thing—an impact in line with what original punk culture was all about.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Punk culture began by encapsulating the generational anxieties of young adults in the late 1970s. They worried about their slim future prospects as England grappled with economic and political tension under then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the shadow of the Cold War. Growing up in this era, The Clash were not blind to the struggles of those around them, especially those of minority communities. In a 1977 interview, frontman Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon discussed their participation in the Notting Hill Carnival riots against British police fighting members of the immigrant community. It was their early penchant for political activism that formed the beating heart of London Calling and made them so influential to people across classes, genders, races, and continents.

Their activism is also evident in the politically charged songs of London Calling.

“Guns of Brixton” deals with police brutality against minority groups. “Clampdown” speaks to the indoctrination of young people towards racism in an oppressive system.

This indoctrination mixed with a lack of opportunities for work and expression often left them with no options except to serve that same system. “Spanish Bombs” discusses the devastation left behind by the Spanish Civil War of the ’30s and the lasting effects of colonialism. Songs such as “Lost in the Supermarket” and “I’m Not Down” speak more to personal issues of depression, anxiety, growing up, and finding your identity.

Using their platform, The Clash allowed their listeners to realize they were not alone and discover issues they may not have known about before. This incredible self-awareness within their lyrics put the band ahead of their time. The band was not afraid to muddy the waters in the name of what they believed was a service to human dignity.

The Clash spoke of issues prevalent in both their era and ours. In an age of political and economic uncertainty and, for many, despair, The Clash differentiated themselves from other punk bands by encouraging solutions as well as rebellion. Instead of screaming “destroy the system,” they offered: destroy the system to make something better. As four poor punks from the slums of London, they knew they couldn’t do everything, but they could do something. They wanted to inspire others to actually change things, even when the

Cheyenne Martin is a College junior who wears band t-shirts every day.

She recommends listening to “Stay Free: The Story of the Clash” podcast and supporting local music.

dominant political party of Britain, the Tories, stood against them.

In today’s world, this album is more relevant than ever as protests and unrest rise in response to political and economic grievances.

With technology, we are becoming ever more aware of the conditions we, and others, face.

We feel crippled by our situations.

“When my nerves were pumping and I fought my fear in, I didn’t run, I was not done.”

This album reminds us of our agency and the importance of taking a stand. This gives us hope. By being able to do what we can with what we have, we can make a lasting difference, even if our ability is only to bring awareness.

The Clash inspired a generation of politically active citizens by picking up their pens and instruments to speak about subjects others wouldn’t dare approach. This band and its work exemplified what it truly meant to be a global citizen.

I implore you to listen to this album all the way through, at least once in your life, and read the lyrics. Even if you don’t like it, you will hear the words that inspired the early rise of liberal punk culture that fought against Neo-Nazis and injustice across the world.

It may also inspire you to fight injustice in our current world. My personal favorites are “Clampdown,” “Train in Vain,” “Lost in the Supermarket,” and “I’m Not Down.”

I believe the words of Henry Rollins, former vocalist of Black Flag, sum up the lasting influence of The Clash when talking about today’s political climate: “Now is not the time to be dismayed. This is punk rock time.

This is what Joe Strummer trained you for.” G

illustration by josh klein; text from wikimedia commons

VOICES

Upon the New Decade DAJOUR EVANS

the financial collapse and money was incredibly tight. One of my brothers was possibly in a gang and another was skipping school. I was worried for everyone.

That’s when the nightmares began.

I began to have recurring nightmares that my entire family was being killed off, one by one, by an assailant with a face I could never quite make out. They would end with the assailant pointing their gun at me, smiling wickedly, and then they’d shoot. I’d wake up sweating, heart racing, on the verge of tears—but I told no one.

Looking back, these were the first clear signs of my anxiety disorder. I was always a kid who worried too much, and all of it was a manifestation of my anxiety. I never spoke up because I was scared of being a burden. I could tell my mom was hurting, my brothers acting out from the pressures at home, my aunt depressed. I didn’t want to be the cause of anyone’s worries. I also didn’t have the proper words to describe what was wrong with me. Mental health was never something discussed in our house.

So I kept these nightmares to myself. I put all of my energy into school.

I refused to take breaks to take care of myself, to sit and reflect on why I had such negative thoughts. The weight on my chest pressed further and I continued to push everything to the back of my mind. In my head, I just had to get into a great college, leave home, and things would fix themselves. It would be a reset—a new start.

Dajour is a senior in the College studying English and Film and Media Studies.

Act III: College

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he clock struck midnight on January 1, 2020. A brand new decade, a brand new act.

Maybe I watch too many movies, but with a new decade on the horizon I’ve been looking back on my life as different acts, and reflecting on each one has given me a new understanding of myself in the decade to come.

College was the new start I had been longing for. I adjusted well, I loved my classes, and made a bunch of friends. I had a roommate whom I loved and it seemed the hopelessness and anxieties of the past were behind me.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last. My problems didn’t just disappear with a new environment. There were days where everything was dark, the same familiar darkness I felt in high school. Sometimes I could get past it, but other days I couldn’t get out of bed.

Sophomore spring my roommate left Georgetown, and I was by myself.

It was easy to skip class and lie in bed all day. I didn’t want to exist. I didn’t want to be alive. I wasn’t suicidal, not at all. But I sometimes dreamed about death—about not having to be me anymore.

My friend encouraged me to go to CAPS and walked with me to their office. For the first time, I wasn’t dealing with my struggles on my own. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorder and, strangely, that felt good. It was like I finally had the words to describe all the things I’ve felt for years. I could no longer ignore or dismiss what was wrong with me.

I knew what the problem was and I could begin to take steps to get better.

I felt freed from the darkness.

The New Decade

Act I: Childhood My childhood was joyous. My grandmother was the kind of woman who took holidays very seriously, so Christmases were planned weeks in advance. We put decorations up all around the house, lights on the windows, a wreath on the front door. The house was filled with music and laughter. By Christmas morning, the whole family would arrive. I was always surrounded by cousins, uncles, aunts, and family friends, with my grandma at the center of it all.

Then she got sick.

The woman who used to walk me to school every day, who always listened lovingly to my passionate tales, who was strong, opinionated, who was now unable to speak. I also started a new school farther away than my old one. The workload was harder, the days longer. I was scared and nervous, and my grandmother was sick. I began to feel like a weight was pressed onto my chest, something I couldn’t quite shake.

On March 16, 2009, my grandmother passed away.

Act II: A New Decade My family entered the 2010s without our matriarch. The woman who held us together was gone and we fell apart. My mother lost her job due to

I can’t pretend everything is magically better now that I have my diagnosis. I still have really bad days, weeks, and even months. I spent the last few months of 2019 at home after taking a semester off, reflecting on my life so far. For the first time, I gave myself a break. In the past, I didn’t know how to talk about my mental health and thought I had to carry the burden of it on my own so as not to be a burden to anyone else. But now I have the words to talk through it all, and, perhaps most importantly, I’m actively choosing to talk. The weight on my chest I’ve been carrying my entire life isn’t gone—but it’s lighter.

It seems fitting that both 2009 and 2019 were turning point years for me. Except this time, I’m older and more equipped to understand the things I feel. Looking at my life as if it were different acts allows me to see that life is made up of many arcs, not just one straight path. Bad days, weeks, months aren’t all-consuming. They don’t fully make up my life. They’re just one act—and I will always be able to start a new, more positive one.

I’m excited for the 2020s. I don’t have any lofty resolutions that I’ll probably forget about a few months into the year. Instead, I have a sense of purpose, of understanding, and self-love. I’m excited for my family and our renewed closeness. I’m excited for everything that’s coming. It’s like the first movie in my life’s series is complete. A new act has begun.G

illustration by allison derose

JANUARY 17, 2020

7

BALLING NABUDGET O

Disparities Persist in Women’s Basketball

By Nathan Chen and Katherine Randolph T

hirty minutes before tipoff on Jan. 10, the Georgetown University Pep Band arrived at McDonough Arena, where exactly 14 Hoya fans were settled in to watch the women’s basketball game. The general feeling amongst the audience was one of excitement. The Hoyas had a rare opportunity to win in their 4-11 season, facing off against the Xavier Musketeers, who have only won once in 14 tries this year.

Despite the fact that women’s games are on campus and free for students, while the men’s team plays at Capital One Arena and season tickets cost $99, there is a stark disparity in attendance. According to the Georgetown Athletics website, the women’s team has averaged just under 419 attendees per home game, compared to the men’s 7,051. For women’s basketball at both the collegiate and professional level, inequalities persist off the court. A lack of visibility for the women’s game has made it difficult to grow audiences and profit margins alike.

Ultimately the women fell to Xavier 85-64, though it was one of their better-attended matchups as more fans arrived throughout the game. Still, barely a third of the arena’s seats were full. Guard Marvellous Osagie-Erese (COL ’20) said low attendance can affect players. “Sometimes our audience attendance is not what we would want it to be.”

Nikki Arwood (COL ’89) played as a guard for Georgetown from 1985 to 1989 and is a regular attendee of Georgetown basketball games. She believes more could be done to boost attendance and bring a more energetic atmosphere to McDonough. “When I go to the men’s games, it’s fun. They do a number of things that are sort of

rituals that I can’t wait for. I can’t wait for the T-shirt toss out of a cannon,” Arwood said.

The Georgetown women are not alone in this disparity.

In 2019, the Washington Mystics, the District’s Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) franchise, moved into the Entertainment and Sports Arena, a roughly 4,200 seat stadium in Capitol Heights. Before the new venue was built, the Mystics played games in Capital One Arena, which holds 20,356 spectators.

The move brought mixed results for the Mystics, who did not respond to requests for comment for this story. In previous years, concerts, construction, and conventions at Capital One forced the team to spend long stretches on the road during the season and play playoff games in college arenas. The new compound ensured a permanent home the team could count on.

But according to industry publication SportsBusiness Daily, the Mystics’s regular-season attendance dropped by more than 25 percent in 2019, averaging 4,546 people per game. Before the move in 2018, the team pulled in an average of 6,136 spectators per regular season game—more fans than Entertainment and Sports Arena can hold. Natalie Weiner, a staff writer for sports blogging network SB Nation, said while choosing between an underfilled stadium and a smaller one at capacity isn’t ideal, it might work in the players’ favor.

“I think sometimes if they can get a small arena that’s actually full, that creates a better atmosphere for the game than to be in a big arena that’s spottily attended,” Weiner said. “Obviously, it’s depressing to have those options, you

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photo by ned dishman; design by insha momin

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

know? But I think consistency and location is a little bit more important at this point.”

In the 2018–19 season, the Wizards averaged 17,487 spectators per game, according to ESPN. The team went 32-50. In 2019, the Mystics went 26-8, and on Oct. 10, they were crowned WNBA champions for the first time in franchise history after defeating the Connecticut Sun. Yet the team’s average attendance was still a quarter of their male counterparts’, perhaps a result of the lack of long-term investment in the WNBA. The WNBA debuted in 1997 and was founded through the NBA, which still owns the majority of the league.

Though she doesn’t think she could’ve made it to the WNBA, Arwood aspired to play professional basketball before a women’s league even existed.

“I had a brother that was a year older than me. We played basketball all the time, and he talked about being in a pro league. And I always kinda wished I could be in one as well,” Arwood said.

The lack of representation for women in sports Arwood experienced still affects girls today. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, female athletes quit sports at twice the rate of male ones by age 14. For Weiner, the WNBA’s low profile could contribute to this statistic, at least in basketball. “I do think that the relative lack of visibility and glamor and attention dissuades girls from pursuing sports seriously at a much younger age,” Weiner said. “A girl who’s 10 or 11 might not even know that the WNBA exists, you know? So she might not say ‘I want to grow up and be a professional basketball player.’”

n

Osagie-Erese pointed to the online success of Georgetown men’s guard Mac McClung (COL ’22), who amassed 600,000 Instagram followers before he even got to campus. She believes the internet could be an outlet to improve visibility for women’s basketball. “If we can foster that same platform and connection for young girls, that’ll give fans more of an opportunity to follow their journey as they go to college and play professional sports.”

At just over 20 years old, the WNBA is a fairly young league, according to David Berri, a sports economist at the University of Southern Utah. “It takes decades to build up a fanbase because typically fanbases are inherited from parents, so you need multiple generations before your fanbase really develops.”

During its first season, the WNBA looked promising.

The league had deals with NBC and ESPN and showed their games on primetime television. In 1997 and 1999, the average attendance per regular season game was over 10,000 fans, a mark the league hasn’t hit since. In 2019, the league averaged 6,527 spectators during regular season play. Weiner sees this as a fault of WNBA leadership. “The WNBA was super, super successful in its first few years, but that’s because they were shelling out money to promote it,” said Weiner. “So, I think if we see some willingness to do that again, then there’s a return.”

In October 2018, NBA commissioner Adam Silver told the Associated Press that the WNBA had lost an average of around $10 million every year it had operated, though the league rarely releases financial records.

On Jan. 14, the Players’ Association announced the terms of its new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which will go into effect beginning with the 2021 season.

Notably, the WNBA will finally pay their players 50 percent of the revenue the league generates, the model the NBA uses. Top players can make a salary of up to $215,000, and the average salary will grow to $130,000, a significant step forward. ESPN reported that during the 2018-2019 NBA season, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry made $37,457,154, the most in the league. The minimum salary for a male rookie was $838,464. No WNBA player has ever made seven figures playing for her franchise.

To supplement their income, many WNBA players play abroad in Europe during their offseason. While men can often use their free months to focus on overall health, some women don’t get a break from the game.

In April 2019, two months before the start of the WNBA season, 2018 Finals MVP and Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart ruptured her right Achilles tendon while playing for Russia’s Dynamo Kursk during the Euroleague championship game. She was out for the entire 2019 season.

For Berri, the league is hurt when stars like Stewart are sidelined by second jobs. “You can’t call yourself the premier league in the world when your premier players aren’t showing out,” he said.

Al Neal, a reporter for People’s World, predicts yearround basketball will eventually take a toll on players’ fitness. “On the WNBA’s side, it’s just bad business,” Neal said. “They are not doing enough to benefit their employees in order to improve the quality of their product.”

Risk of injury is not the only potential consequence the league faces when players go abroad. The day after the Mystics won the championship, the team hosted a rally at the Entertainment and Sports Arena and announced they would wait to host a victory parade until the spring because players had commitments to international

leagues. To Berri, losing players in the offseason hinders the WNBA’s ability to build a fanbase.

“You are promoting the league when the season happens, but when the season ends, the players vanish, and they’re not available anymore,” Berri said. “It’s an impediment to the growth to your league.” *** On June 24, 2019, Indiana Fever center Natalie Achonwa was tired. Her team had just fallen to the Seattle Storm 61-65. It was 12:50 a.m., and they were boarding a commercial airline flight to Atlanta, where they would make a connection to return to Indiana to face off against the Minnesota Lynx the following day. Their original flight had been delayed and then they had to deboard due to technical issues. By the time they arrived in Atlanta, they’d slept on the plane, missed their connecting flight, and couldn’t find a flight to Indiana with space for a party of 18. Faced with no other option, the Fever boarded a charter bus for the over 500 mile drive back home, arriving in Indianapolis 23 hours before their game the next night.

“

I had a brother that was a year older than me. We played basketball all the time, and he talked about being in a pro league. And I always kinda wished I could be in one as well.

“

“WHAT. A. DAY.” Achonwa tweeted. “22 hrs of post-game travel...but, by the grace of God, we made it. #AllForLove.”

The Fever’s odyssey likely would not have been faced by a men’s team, all of whom travel to games in private jets. In the WNBA, all teams are required to travel on commercial airlines per their CBA, a condition that has tangibly affected the league in the past. In 2018, the Las Vegas Aces forfeited a game against the Mystics, citing health concerns after delays turned their commute into a 25-hour trip with little opportunity for sleep. In a release, the Aces said they had conferred with medical professionals and determined that going forward with the scheduled game would put the athletes at higher risk of injury.

“Naturally, the issue of player safety is of paramount concern for all involved in the WNBA,” the statement

read. “This issue is bigger than our team, and this one unfortunate set of circumstances, and we look forward to being a part of future discourse in the hope of preventing such incidents in the future.” *** Walk into the DuPont Circle Metro station, and a screen is prominently displaying different advertisements for entertainment events in the area.

Georgetown’s own Omer Yurtseven and Mac McClung are occasionally featured in these ads, encouraging fans to attend men’s basketball games at Capital One. Their faces are recognizable to all those in the District, and this kind of brand recognition increases the visibility of the men’s program as a whole. No matter how many heartbreaking losses the men suffer, the ads continue.This level of stardom does not go unnoticed by Osagie-Erese. “One thing that I love about Georgetown is that they make it a point to make sure we are on an equal playing field, but there are some times where I can see how, with the men’s team, they do probably get a lot of the glory that comes with Georgetown basketball,” she said. “It’s a basketball dynasty, it’s a basketball school.”

Weiner argues that with the advent of Title IX, which requires schools to provide equal access to sports for men and women, the marketing shouldn’t be different. “It’s like the ivory tower, where ideals are prized, to strive for greater things and big ideas, and at a minimum that should be gender equality in the athletics department, right?”

The disparity between the men’s and women’s programs is evident in the way the athletes are marketed.

Even when the women’s team has legitimate stars who make it to the WNBA, such as Sugar Rodgers (COL ’13) or Rebekkah Brunson (COL ’04), they don’t gain the same fan following as the men.

“We talked about a Sugar Rodgers—how many people actually knew her even in the D.C. area?” asked Arwood.

“She was an exciting player to watch. People should get to know her, her playing style and everything else, because they enjoy coming to watch her.”

In addition to more aggressive marketing, the disparities in alumni outreach between the men’s and women’s program are obvious. Certainly, the men’s team successfully keeps prominent alumni involved in the program, as evidenced by Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning (COL ’92) coming to support his son Trey (SCS ’19) in a game last season, not to mention Patrick Ewing (COL ’85) coaching the team. Arwood hopes for similar opportunities to support the women’s team.

“I’m not sure we do a good enough job—the women’s program right now—engaging the alumni,” said Arwood.

Ultimately, Weiner believes these improvements are not possible without greater investment from organizations which govern women’s basketball. “Everything that you would need to get more attention essentially costs money,” said Weiner. “I think sometimes people turn to the media and say ‘Well, if the media covered it more, then it would be more popular’, which, sure, maybe. But I think it has to happen on both ends.”

At the Jan. 10 game, Osagie-Erese wasn’t thinking about wage gaps, marketing disparities, or stadium capacity. The Hoyas had yet to score almost a minute and a half into play, and she had the ball. She dribbled past her defender into the paint and took the shot.

“We are some badasses, okay?” said Osagie-Erese. “We work hard. We are just as tough as any man playing basketball.” G JANUARY 17, 2020

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“UNLIKE ANY OTHER CLASS.” AMST 272 Confronts Georgetown’s History with Slavery

By Annemarie Cuccia and Annabella Hoge

P

erched inside the window of GUSA’s Leavey Center office, there is a sign reading “This school exists because of slavery.” These words, written in a burst of red permanent marker, refer to the 272 enslaved people the university sold in 1838 to stay financially viable. The sign represents part of the university’s history that has created division and, for some, a profound sense of responsibility.

Much of the focus—including from national media— has been on a few marquee events, like the GU272 referendum last April and the initial splashy exposé in The New York Times in 2016. But in the classroom, “Facing Georgetown’s History,” a course in the American Studies program, has offered a look at the university’s past from an academic viewpoint.

In the wake of student activism around the GU272, this class offers a chance to gain in-depth knowledge from an academic perspective. The course focuses on the connection between Georgetown’s Jesuit community and slavery and introduces students to descendants of the 272.

Since its inaugural semester in 2016, Adam Rothman, an associate professor of history, has taught the class.

Faculty and students alike have been integral to Georgetown’s recent effort to reckon with its history with slavery. In January 2019, a group of students called the GU272 Advocacy Team began pushing for a student referendum that proposed establishing a $27.20 fee to be collected from students each semester to benefit the 9,000-plus descendants of the GU272. Georgetown undergraduates approved the referendum by a margin of 1,237 votes on April 12. The vote was meant to serve as a

recommendation that the university’s board of directors institute the fee.

Following the initial revelation that the school contributed to the atrocity of slavery, University President John DeGioia gave a speech in which he said the university would offer a formal apology, create an institute for the study of slavery, and build a public memorial. He also granted preferential admissions status to descendants who applied to the university. Though the university has followed through on some of these promises, neither an institute nor a memorial has been created.

“The University is launching advisory groups to move forward on projects and activities in three areas: Descendant and Community Engagement; Public History; and Academic and Research Initiatives,” a university spokesperson wrote in an email to the Voice. “Memorialization will be covered by the Public History group.”

While the university has been slow to act on the issue, students in Rothman’s class have been asked to confront it in every class meeting. “The course makes clear that the history of slavery is not something that took place somewhere else in America, but right here in our own backyard,” Rothman wrote in an email to the Voice.

Melisande Short-Colomb (COL ’21), who is one of three descendants who currently attends the university, took the class last semester. In her experience, most students in the class were already familiar with the 272 and the implications the history has for the university today before enrolling in the class, but the knowledge they gained from the class was much deeper. “I do think that

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DESIGN BY NEHA MALIK

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

students who take the class are better informed to engage with their peers and their families and bring them more information,” she added.

The class is only possible with the support of the American Studies Program, which is dedicated to asking questions about power and identity in American culture.

Rothman, a member of the Georgetown University Working Group for Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, collaborated with Erika Seamon, then director of the American Studies Program, to create the course and break down its mission into three primary goals: learn about the history of the Jesuits and slavery, engage with descendants, and produce student-created content on the subject.

Rothmans first mission with the course is to expose students to the topic and give them foundational knowledge. Students in the course dig into the Georgetown Slavery Archives and examine materials, followed by discussion, analysis, and writing about them. “We have now more students around Georgetown who are deeply versed in the particular details of this history,” Rothman said on a panel at the 50th anniversary event for the American Studies Program, entitled “American Studies 272: Facing Georgetown’s History.” “They know all the dimensions of the different stories that have come out of Georgetown, the Jesuits, and slavery, not just what happened in 1838.”

As a part of the second goal of the course—to engage with members of the descendant community—students travel to southern Maryland, where they visit a Jesuit plantation and meet, talk, and work with descendants of other people enslaved by the Jesuits. In past years, Rothman

and Bernie Cook, Georgetown College associate dean who advises American Studies students, have organized spring break trips to Louisiana for students in Rothman’s AMST 272 class and Cook’s “Social Justice Documentary” course.

On the trips, students visit with descendant communities concentrated in New Orleans and Maringouin. The group visits a cemetery where members of the GU272 are buried and a plantation where some of the slaves were sold. They also engage in conversation with descendants.

Omi Okunola (COL ’20) took AMST 272 in the spring semester of 2019 and went with Rothman on the trip to Louisiana. “I think one of the beauties of engaging with the descendant community is recognizing that just like any other group, they differ in the viewpoints, opinions, and expectations of what they expect from the university and from students,” she wrote in an email to the Voice. “I and others (particularly those stuck in the Georgetown bubble) need to do more listening instead of talking or ‘teaching.’”

This focus on engagement pushes Georgetown students to interact with descendants, whose lives bear the scars of their ancestors’ enslavement and sale by Georgetown. In Maringouin, a town with a population of little more than 1,000 people, 90 percent of the inhabitants are descendants from the GU272.

The third objective of the course encourages students to produce their own content, culminating in the class’ final project of creating a podcast about the relationships between Georgetown, Jesuits, and slavery. The podcasts, which are filed under “American Studies 272” on the Georgetown Slavery Archive website and SoundCloud, feature interviews with experts and descendants. Rothman noted that students have used these podcasts not just to find their own voices but to amplify the voices of the descendant community.

Charlotte Jackson (COL ’20) took the course last spring semester. She produced a podcast that explored a variety of perspectives on the use of reparations in reconciliation, which she says has proved useful in sharing the information she learned in class. “Because these are such intense topics and require a great deal of backstory and explanation, it has been immensely helpful to have a tangible podcast to send to friends, family, and anyone else who has been interested in the work that we did as a class,” Jackson said.

The emphasis on the dissemination of information seen in the class was also utilized by members of the GU272 Advocacy Team, who hosted town halls and meetings to educate fellow students in the run-up to the referendum.

Short-Colomb, who was herself part of the advocacy team, attributed most of the awareness of the 272 on campus to the creators of the advocacy team—mainly seniors who have now graduated—who were afraid the history would be forgotten with the graduation of the last class who was on campus when the sale of the enslaved people was first revealed by The New York Times.

“I think the general knowledge right now is fair because of the referendum last year, which fully engaged the student body and put national awareness on it for incoming students,” Short-Colomb said. “We are tasked with ensuring that ‘fair’ to ‘good’ grows into ‘excellent’.”

Short-Colomb believes that while the presence of descendants on campus may lead to more students learning about the 272, it does not mean it is the responsibility of those descendants to educate fellow students about Georgetown’s past or to recruit other descendants to the school. “It’s not my responsibility as a descendant, it’s the administrators’ responsibility as

the heads of the university in keeping with the promises they made,” she said.

Despite some success in persuading students, advocates for the reconciliation contribution were unable to sway the university. On Oct. 29, DeGioia released a statement announcing that while the administration would not implement the referendum’s proposed mandatory fee, they would begin to raise voluntary contributions. “The university will ensure that the initiative has resources commensurate with, or exceeding, the amount that would have been raised annually through the student fee proposed in the referendum, with opportunities for every member of our community to contribute,” the statement reads.

This program would accept, but not require, money from current students, and is intended to raise the same amount of money as the referendum through outside contributions. Funding is set to begin in the 2020-2021 academic year.

“The course makes clear that the history of slavery is not something that took place somewhere else in America, but right here in our own backyard.”

After the announcement, the Students for GU272 Facebook page posted a statement expressing disappointment with the decision of the administration.

“This transforms the fund that was intended to repay a debt that Georgetown has owed for over 400 years into a philanthropy effort,” the statement reads. “The GU272 referendum is the vehicle through which 2,541 students have committed to engage in reconciliation with descendant communities through, and Georgetown University is actively denying our voices.”

The voluntary contribution idea had previously been espoused by critics of the April referendum and misses the point of the referendum, Short-Colomb says.

“The administration did what they said they were going to do—not value or honor the vote of the students,” she said. “But they did an alternative thing which was the position of the opposition.” Following the vote, Todd Olson, vice-president of student affairs, released a statement stating that the university appreciated the insight of the students but never said it would uphold the referendum results.

Whether they are heard or not, student voices have always been involved in dealing with Georgetown’s history with slavery. Some of the first people to try to bring this history to light were American Studies students between 1995 and 1998, when they started transcribing and digitizing historical materials relating to six Jesuit-owned plantations in Maryland. Eventually, that work turned into the Jesuit Plantation Project

(JPP), a collection of archives with information about people enslaved on Jesuit plantations. Next came the Georgetown Slavery Archive, which allows students, researchers, and descendants alike to access records about the creation and impacts of the plantations. The archive was established in 2016 by the working group as a part of the group’s effort to learn about and reflect on Georgetown’s history with slavery.

The students dove into a variety of documents, including the Jesuits’s Maryland Province Index. They recovered information for the project from reading the writings of Br. Joseph Mobberly, S.J., a former overseer on one of the estates, who wrote detailed accounts of the Jesuits and the treatment of the slaves in his diary.

These students often spent their Fridays transcribing and archiving these records. Their work set in motion a decades-long commitment to this history within the American Studies Program, a mission now embodied in Rothman’s course.

At the American Studies 50th anniversary panel, Sharon Leon (COL ’97) spoke to how the students in the mid-90s started the massive endeavor of digitizing the records and building the JPP. “We came at this work from the perspective of Jesuits participating in the process of enslavement and the perpetuation of enslavement,” Leon said.

Students in the course have said they believe courses like AMST 272 are crucial to all Georgetown students, whom they believe reap the benefits of the enslavement and sale of the 272. “I think it is easy for current students to try to separate themselves from Georgetown’s history with slavery. While we obviously did not enslave, barter, and sell anyone ourselves, we are nevertheless reaping the benefits of the 1838 sale,” Okunola said.

Short-Colomb believes students should not be able to graduate from the university without ever hearing about the legacy of the 272. “Our hope is that over the course of four years every school and curriculum will incorporate this history into their curriculum,” she said. “It cuts across sectors of learning.”

The class, as well as activism on campus, reminds students that the repercussions of the sale over 180 years ago are ongoing. “What people fail to realize is that while the institution of African American slavery came to an end two centuries ago, the ramifications of this history are still observable to this very day,” Okunola said.

The advocacy team identified a few key areas in which the money that would have been collected as part of the mandatory reconciliation contribution could have been used. The charter for the proposed GU272 Reconciliation Board of Trustees directed funds to be allocated to medical care, improved infrastructure in descendant communities, and increasing educational opportunities.

“This course is not only about America and Georgetown’s history with slavery; it’s also about what we should be doing now to encourage broad-scale restorative and reparative justice,” Jackson said.

As students walk through the Leavey Center, the sign in GUSA’s window remains present as a reminder of the history that has been revealed over the past four years. With the educational efforts of both the class and the GU272 advocacy team, more and more people are beginning to grapple with the history behind the words “This school exists because of slavery.” G JANUARY 17, 2020

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"Not A Luxury, A Right" Menstrual Equity On Georgetown's Campus

By Sienna Brancato

H

aving a period comes with a hidden struggle rooted in shame. We discreetly slip a pad or a tampon in our pockets, moving tactfully not to draw attention to the crinkle of the packaging. We pray a friend has a product to spare since there is no guarantee the dispenser will be stocked—or even functional. And some know the keen distress of not being able to afford the essential products.

These problems transcend our teenage years: The stigma, and the issue of access, remains constant for decades.

At Georgetown, access to menstrual products has become a topic of conversation. According to a Planning & Facilities Management document obtained at the beginning of the fall semester, 44 bathrooms on campus have menstrual product dispensers. Twelve of them are located in the New Research Building, a part of the medical campus. Notably, there are no dispensers in Yates or any dorm buildings.

In light of this insufficient access, organizations like the Period Empowerment Project (PEP), H*yas For Choice (HFC), the Hoya Hub, and GUSA are attempting to fill in the gaps. Though menstrual product-related activism is not new at Georgetown, the last year has seen an increase in student organizations lobbying administrators with some success, as well as launching their own initiatives to make menstrual supplies more available on campus.

Keerat Singh (SFS ’23) and Jessica Shannon (SFS ’23) lead HFC’s Menstrual Equity Campaign this year. Shannon characterizes inadequate menstrual product resources as a two-pronged issue: lack of access and lack of awareness of where to find products. Activists like Shannon feel there’s a double standard for period products as compared to other hygiene products. “It’s kind of strange that anyone anywhere should have to bring their own period products with them,” she said. “If you think about it, we don’t require everyone to bring toilet paper with them, and it’s an equivalent product. You need it.”

When Autumn Eastman (NHS ’18), co-founder of PEP, the university chapter of the national organization

PERIOD, attended Georgetown, she said she never saw free products available in bathrooms. “You just assume that you have to buy products. There’s no other option,” Eastman said.

The absence of menstrual products has its consequences. Without them, students may miss class.

People may miss work or face discomfort and disruption of their normal day. Going without products or fashioning your own substitutes can be unsanitary. Importantly, not just women menstruate; some men and nonbinary people menstruate too, and men’s bathrooms rarely, if ever, include dispensers.

Pads and tampons at CVS go for anywhere between $3.59 and $21.49 depending on brand, amount, and size. A box of 36 tampons costs around $7, and menstruators use around 20 tampons per cycle. According to UNICEF, those who menstruate do so for an average of a combined seven years over the course of a lifetime. This means the average menstruator will spend a total of $1,773 on menstrual products in their life.

A 2013 study of over 1,000 women by the Free the Tampon Foundation found that 86 percent of American women between the ages of 18 and 54 lacked proper supplies after unexpectedly getting their periods in public. Additionally, 79 percent of the women surveyed improvised by creating a pad or tampon themselves. Fortyeight percent procured supplies from public dispensers, but only 8 percent said such dispensers always functioned.

HFC’s Menstrual Equity Campaign circulated a petition last spring, which received around 300 signatures, demanding that menstrual products be provided in all on-campus women’s and gender neutral bathrooms, in addition to at least one clearly marked men’s room per building. In the meantime, the petition also asked that the school identify the restrooms that do contain menstrual products so students can find them more easily.

Chloe Kekedjian (COL ’22) headed up HFC’s 2019 Menstrual Equity Campaign. In an email to the Voice,

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design by cade shore

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Kekedjian wrote that the campaign was designed with trans students in mind. “Our campaign is purposefully designed to be inclusive to trans students who are often left out of the conversation around menstrual hygiene,” Kekedjian wrote.

As the petition gained student support, Kekedjian met with the student health advisory board and Dr. Vince WinklerPrins, assistant vice president for student health.

“They were receptive to the idea of expanding menstrual product availability on campus, but the school disagreed that it was their obligation to provide for all of students’ menstrual product needs,” Kekedjian wrote. “They view the availability of menstrual products as an emergency system, but think students should bear the majority of cost and burden of purchasing menstrual products.”

“The University is on track to double the amount of products provided, compared to the last academic year, in an effort to increase access for our Georgetown community,” wrote a university spokesperson in an email to the Voice.

Raising awareness of where students can access products is not a one-person or a one-club job, Singh and Shannon believe.

“If you’re looking around and seeing what bathrooms have dispensers and making a building graph and stuff like that, that’s all super time-consuming work which, you know, as students we’re busy, too,” Shannon said.

But it’s not just university bureaucracy that hinders menstrual product access. This year’s GUSA executive, composed of President Norman Francis Jr. (COL ’20) and Vice President Aleida Olvera (COL ’20), requested $9,000 from GUSA’s Finance and Appropriations Committee (FinApp) for a Menstrual Product Initiative. This initiative would have stocked menstrual products weekly—five panty liners, five pads, five thin tampons, 10 regular tampons, and 10 super tampons—in 41 women’s, gender neutral, and men’s bathrooms for the academic year, according to GUSA’s FY20 budget proposal. The bathrooms, located in

Lauinger Library, the Healey Family Student Center, the Leavey Center, and the ICC, were identified as some of the most frequented on campus.

“This was a top priority for our administration, because... [sic] why not?” Olvera wrote in an email to the Voice. “We wanted to show that by putting tampons and pads in every bathroom on campus, that we are standing with our trans students on campus. Having a period is not just a women's issue.”

Hayley Grande (COL ’21), then FinApp chair, noted in her ideal budget draft that her preferred allocation for GUSA would be $5,800, mentioning specifically that she would not fund the Menstrual Products Initiative. GUSA requested an overall budget of $26,760 from FinApp, and were allocated $2,957, constituting an 88.95 percent cut.

The GUSA Senate approved a budget which cut $229,040 from all organizations, or a little over 17 percent of the total request.

Olvera explained that FinApp believed GUSA’s initiative to be redundant. “The FinApp committee believed that it was already being implemented and pursued by other clubs,” wrote Olvera. “Therefore, they made the decision that it was not necessary to allocate money towards our project.”

Grande defended FinApp’s decision to cut GUSA’s funding due to the presence of alternative programs like the Student Activities Committee (SAC) or the Center for Social Justice’s Advisory Board for Student Organizations (CSJ-ABSO). “The Committee deemed that the $9,000 requested for the Menstrual Products Initiative would best fulfill the mission of the Student Activities Fee if allocated to other entities, such as SAC or CSJ-ABSO, that contribute more directly to student activities and operate under highly constrained budgets,” Grande wrote in an email to the Voice.

In response to difficulties gaining financial and administrative support, students have taken matters into their own hands.

*** At PEP’s Nov. 23 packaging party in Poulton Hall, around 13 people methodically stamped paper bags with a design that read “period: the menstrual movement.”

There were snacks in the corner but they looked largely untouched; everyone was there for business. Lauren Russell (SFS ’22), one of PEP’s co-presidents, was assembling packages while talking to me. She caught a package as it fell off the table without missing a beat.

Russell said that at their monthly packaging parties, PEP assembles anywhere from 200 to 300 packages, designed to last the average length of a menstrual period, for Community of Hope, a local nonprofit serving lowincome and homeless families. “We hope to provide [menstrual products] by giving them pads, tampons, panty liners, the things that they really do need because access to menstrual products is not a luxury; it’s a right, of course.”

Eastman and her friend Piper Donaghu (COL ’18) founded PEP in 2017 after Donaghu attended a PERIOD event. When she told Eastman about the difficulty that people experiencing homelessness face during their periods, the two decided to take action.

Eastman had prior experience working with Homeless Outreach Programs & Education. “It just seemed obvious that we should be doing something, especially when it’s an issue so close to your own bodily experience,” Eastman said. Now, a few years after its

founding, PEP has expanded its efforts to include oncampus advocacy.

In addition to PEP’s packaging events, the club hosted a recent dialogue on the stigma surrounding periods.

Alongside the lack of product availability, both Shannon and Singh identified a culture of silence surrounding menstruation. “I would always get met with weird looks like, ‘Oh my gosh, why are you talking about this?’” Shannon said. “If the tampon’s not in the bathroom, it’s a little bit ridiculous for me to have to hide a tampon on my person when I go to the bathroom.

It’s not like a covert operation.”

PEP has also held reusable menstrual product workshops in which they both distribute products and educate people on the pros and cons of using them.

They have also partnered with HFC and the Hoya Hub to promote access to products on campus.

One of the tables at the event is focused on making packages for the Hoya Hub, Georgetown’s on-campus food pantry. “We donate about 30 or so packages a month to the Hoya Hub. We have the tampon pack, the

"As students and as people, no one deserves to have to worry about whether their period is going to affect their ability to go to class or participate in the activities that make them happy."

multi-pack, the pad pack, so kind of trying to cater to different preferences and needs as well,” Russell said.

Kate Rogers (NHS ’20), last year’s co-president of PEP and pantry inventory manager of the Hoya Hub, was instrumental in getting menstrual products regularly stocked in the pantry. Rogers requested ad-hoc funding from the CSJ and ABSO to supplement the limited number of menstrual products that had been donated to the Hoya Hub. Each individual package costs about $2.50 to make and the group started out by stocking 15 packages. However, after a week, they had all been taken.

“I was familiar with how quickly food gets taken off the shelf in the Hoya Hub because I took inventory every week, but I was a little surprised with how quickly the menstrual products went as well,” Rogers wrote in an email to the Voice. “After that, we aimed to stock about 30 packages per month.”

Rogers noted that supplying menstrual products in the Hoya Hub would help make up for the fact that no men’s or gender neutral bathrooms stocked menstrual products. “The Hoya Hub became a natural solution because of its anonymity and easy access for all members of the Georgetown community,” Rogers wrote.

“As students and as people, no one deserves to have to worry about whether their period is going to affect their ability to go to class or participate in the activities that make them happy,” Rogers wrote.

Olvera explained that her administration’s initiative was an attempt to demonstrate students’ priorities in order to prompt university action. “We thought that in order to get something done, we had to first do it ourselves and show the university what the students care most about,” Olvera wrote.

After their plan did not receive funding, Nile Blass (COL ’22), GUSA’s gender equity chair, persisted with her own plan. Blass developed a new plan to increase menstrual product access on campus, which she proposed this past August. This plan was aimed at offering access to free and regularly stocked products in all women’s, gender neutral, and eventually men’s bathrooms by installing free, new dispensers. She also asked that the university track data on how many products are used weekly by observing the number taken from the machine’s stock to determine what type of inventory is needed.

“The primary purpose of the plan was to have new machines re-installed in all academic building bathrooms,” Blass wrote in an email to the Voice.

In Blass’s proposal, she estimated that each new dispenser would cost around $350, accounting for installation costs. Bulk boxes of tampons and pads cost $80 and $50, respectively.

“The administration was positively receptive to the general request of reinstalling newer machines where they already existed,” Blass wrote. The installation process is ongoing, according to a statement from a university spokesperson.

“The University is working towards this through the installation of new machines providing free menstrual products, as well as a phased replacement of pay machines with free ones, across the campus community,” the spokesperson wrote. “We plan to have at least one free dispenser in each academic building by early 2021.”

Following HFC’s petition, the university has committed to refilling existing dispensers once a week rather than once a month, as well as placing baskets of pads and tampons in some bathrooms that did not previously have dispensers, according to Kekedjian.

However, Kekedjian does not believe the actions taken by the university are enough. “If Georgetown wants to be a truly inclusive place, the school needs to actively work to remove educational barriers for students who may have disadvantages in accessing education,” she wrote in an email to the Voice. “A lack of menstrual products on campus serves as an educational barrier for female, trans, and low income students on campus.”

But Eastman, who now volunteers at a nongovernmental organization in India managing its menstrual health projects, doesn’t believe that access to free menstrual products solves the problem. Instead, she wants to see more targeted programming designed to empower people who menstruate. “The menstrual movement, even in terms of our organization at Georgetown, needs to include more than just a discussion around product,” Eastman said. “The major solution lies in how can we allow women to feel more free and more connected with their bodies and not shameful of having periods.” G JANUARY 17, 2020

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LEISURE

Making Art Out of Sweets and Sentiments in Anna Katalkina’s Candy and Mementos SAMANTHA TRITT

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n a particularly warm January afternoon, dozens of patrons arrived at Touchstone Gallery to attend the opening of Contemporary Still Life: Candy and Mementos by Anna Katalkina.

Friends and strangers, closely examining the uniformly small paintings neatly lined along the white walls, slowly paced across Gallery B. These striking paintings offer no explanations other than a straightforward title, forcing viewers to look deeper in order to find a more complex meaning. The exhibit was small and intimate. Everyone lingered, either to speak with the artist or to cast one last look at the favorite painting they wish had not already been sold.

Katalkina depicts objects that carry enormous personal value and yet are often monetarily worthless.

The mementos range from a shell or a leaf to porcelain statues and pillboxes.

Katalkina is always on the lookout for objects like these, she mentions on her website. Some of the items she purchases herself; others she finds at a friend’s house or is commissioned to paint.

After pairing the objects with pieces of familiar candy to create a unique artistic pairing, she captures the image using a traditional Dutch painting technique known as “the indirect method.” The paintings are created over a long period of time by repeatedly layering tinted glazes. Though the items in Katalkina’s paintings may be viewed as mundane or worthless, her laborious and meticulous process adds a layer of material and sentimental value to them.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Katalkina grew up surrounded by art. In her biography on her website, she reflects 14

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

on her childhood, where she remembers being enthralled by the beauty of the palaces, museums, and theaters.

Currently based in Washington, D.C., Katalkina seeks to balance “seriousness and humor, detail and simplicity, tradition and modernity” through traditional Dutch painting methods.

The most striking element of this exhibit is the smallness of not only the subjects, but the paintings themselves.

Every painting in Contemporary Still Life: Candy and Mementos is created on a 6”x6” panel. The small scale of the painting preserves the quaint charm of a “memento”: a small object that holds a specific personal meaning due to its association with a memory or event. Katalkina adds candy to the memento in order to inject her own artistic flair, turning the paintings themselves into a memento or keepsake, both for the artist and for the collector.

The addition of the candy transforms the memento from something personal into a new work of art. While the candy initially has a humorous effect, Katalkina’s classic painting method thoughtfully contrasts with this lighthearted subject. When viewed as a collection, the beauty of the solo pieces becomes a striking exploration of sentiment and the definition of worth.

The concept of pairing playful candies with items that often carry strong emotional memories seems like an unusual combination of subjects; however, the end result is elegant. Katalkina tactfully adds candy to introduce a new element and perspective to the image.

One notable example of this is “Baby Bacchus Porcelain Perfume Bottle, Nerd Candy.” In this painting Katalkina pairs

the memento with small purple Nerds candies positioned to look like grapes that have fallen from the bunches on the perfume bottle. In a commissioned piece “Metal Elephant on Red JawBreaker,” the elephant figurine is positioned on top of the jawbreaker, alluding to popular circus imagery. “Gummy Smurf Surfing” depicts a small blue smurf gummy on top of a shell, with the candy and memento positioned so the smurf appears to be riding a wave. Katalkina does not impose a narrative on her paintings with long

Forced by the small size of the canvas to slow down and step closer, the viewer becomes immersed in her work.

The success of this exhibit is largely due to the choice in art style. Katalkina’s continuous layering of glazes over a monochromatic underpainting allows her to create luminosity and depth that cannot be achieved with traditional oil paints. The final product is soft, with diffused colors and lines. Katalkina specializes in this painting technique because it allows her to “slow down amidst the societal racing and to pay tribute to craftsmanship that is disappearing from our factory-ruled world,” as she explains on her website.

Her art collection creates this same effect for viewers. The paintings cannot be properly appreciated at a distance or in passing. The beauty of it is not immediate, but instead grows the longer you study the strange subjects. Forced by the small size of the canvas to slow down and step closer, the viewer becomes immersed in her work. Photographs of the subjects would not have the same impact as Katalkina’s paintings. This method of painting allows Katalkina to give equal attention to both the memento and the piece of candy. The subjects are united through their equally luminous and soft depiction, making it seem as if they are the same material. She represents the beauty of the mundane in a way that is not immediately obvious.

The juxtaposition of a complex, detailed painting process to capture a humorous subject makes the exhibit entertaining and thought-provoking.

Candy and Mementos captures the attachment people feel towards certain objects in elegantly small paintings. The labor required by “the indirect method” as well as the unusually small canvas adds explicit value to the art, allowing every person to experience the sentimental charm of a meaningful trinket. Candy and Mementos is a slightly quirky collection that explores the worth we give to seemingly meaningless objects by transforming them into these works of art.

Contemporary Still Life: Candy and Mementos is at Touchstone Gallery in D.C. It runs until Sunday, February 2, 2020. G

descriptions or fancy titles. She instead leaves room for the viewer to create their own story from the painting which parallels the memories the owners attach to the mementos they treasure.

photos courtesy of alliance française and touchstone gallery; design by alex giorno

LEISURE

“Look At Her Now”: Selena Gomez Finds Her Self-Worth and Artistic Identity on Rare JOHN LIZANO

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hat feels like light-years ago, Selena Gomez sang “Who says you’re not perfect? / Who says you’re not worth it? / Who says you’re the only one that’s hurting?” in her 2011 song “Who Says,” a juvenile self-confidence anthem that felt like the reassuring words of an older sister. At the time, Gomez was rarely involved in the creative process of her music and became a Disney blueprint for manufacturing pop stars.

Since her days as a Disney starlet, Gomez has dealt with mental health issues, a kidney transplant surgery, and an ongoing battle with lupus. She has also experienced highs and lows in very public relationships, and like many celebrities, she has struggled with seeing her personal life utilized as entertainment. This caused Gomez to put her music career on hiatus, only releasing a handful of non-album singles since her 2015 album, Revival. Now, almost five years later, Gomez makes a triumphant return with her latest project, Rare.

Previously criticized as a generic, manufactured pop star with little to say, Gomez expresses in Rare a sense of maturity and self-awareness largely absent from her previous discography. It is the first album in which she is credited as a co-writer on every single song, establishing it as her most personal work to date. Gomez’s direct involvement in writing the album makes her clearly heard for one of the first times in her career. There is a sense of vulnerability in her lyrics, allowing the listener to feel as if they are flipping through the pages of her diary.

The album’s lead single, “Lose You To Love Me,” exemplifies this journallike quality. In a three-and-a-half minute ballad, Gomez takes responsibility for ignoring the red flags in a toxic relationship and reveals that the loss of her lover resulted in the discovery of her true self. Unlike many of her past dancepop hits, this track is piano-driven and

uses powerful imagery to evoke Gomez’s partner. Ultimately, the track explains newfound self-love. The final 30 seconds that, although emotional vulnerability of the song feature choir-like vocals that can result in one’s feelings being taken allow the lyrics “And now, the chapter advantage of, it is worth the risk as it is closed and done” to feel like the could lead to the creation of a meaningful beginning of Gomez’s true revival. new bond. The crippling anxiety Gomez Much of Rare feels like Gomez chanting experiences throughout the introspective in front of a mirror, declaring that she “Vulnerable” is relatable for any person is worthy of love, from both herself and contemplating the risks of taking on a those around her. Unlike her past work, new relationship. the album marks the first point at which Expressing a sense of vulnerability Gomez’s confidence feels genuine and not and rawness is a creative risk for an artist contrived. The titular track, “Rare,” begins like Gomez, who has built her artistic the album with breathy, Taylor Swift-esque image on infectious electro-pop and vocals supported by bongo dance-pop chart-toppers. drum rolls and a smooth Rare, unlike many other guitar line. Thematically, albums by mainstream the song represents the pop stars such as Britney evolution and maturity of Spears’ Britney Jean (2013), Gomez’s psyche, as she manages to successfully now views love as a twochallenge Gomez’s way street. She refuses to artistic confinement as chase after a partner who a manufactured Top 40s won’t give her the respect hit-maker. As musical peer and attention she deserves.

Rare* Taylor Swift has shown, “Rare” is a clear Dance Again* pop music can contain juxtaposition to her 2014 Look At Her Now lyrical depth and specificity song, “The Heart Wants Lose You To Love Me while still possessing the What It Wants,” where Ring ability to become a major a much younger Gomez Vulnerable* commercial success. finds herself feeling People You Know Rare also explores incomplete without Let Me Get Me Gomez’s struggles with chaos in her love life.

Crowded Room anxiety and depression on Now Gomez soars and Kinda Crazy the infectious dance-pop declares, “And I’ll bet Fun bangers “Dance Again” there’s somebody out Cut You Off* and “Let Me Get Me.” In there / To tell me I’m A Sweeter Place the latter, she endures the rare.” A much older and psychological tug-of-war more experienced Gomez *VOICE’S CHOICE caused by mental health now recognizes she is issues. One part of her worthy of a partner who longs for freedom, while makes her feel one of a kind. The track the other feels imprisoned by her past. showcases a pivotal point of artistic Accompanied by a pulsating Latin-pop growth for Gomez, demonstrating a beat and wolf-like howls, Gomez declares sense of sincere confidence largely “No self-sabotage, no letting my thoughts absent from her past work. run / Me and this spiral are done.”

On the best track of the album, While there are many instances “Vulnerable,” Gomez uses fast-paced on Rare where Gomez successfully melodic verses to showcase her insecurity experiments with her sound and with opening up to a potential romantic lyricism, there are a few instances

photo courtesy of genius; design by allison derose

where she falls short. On “Ring,” Gomez delivers embarrassingly mediocre lyrics like, “Yeah, I received your message, all twenty-three / You know I’m Jordan with it, G-O-A-T” over a Camila Cabelloinspired beat. It sounds like a scrapped song off Cabello’s uninspired 2019 album Romance and, for Gomez, serves as a filler track.

Another weak point on Rare is the cliché and melodically dull “Fun,” which feels like an emulation of Gomez’s frequent collaborator Julia Michaels, causing it to come across as disingenuous. The track is also riddled with moan-like “uh-huhs” and “ooh ohs” reminiscent of Michaels’ forgettable 2017 track “Uh Huh.” Overall, the song has little to say and takes away from the sincerity Gomez worked so hard to establish on this album.

Gomez, however, uses the tracks “Kinda Crazy” and “Cut You Off ” to correct her mistakes. Thematically, these songs are a critical aspect of the album.

In the former, Gomez recognizes that her new romantic partner’s behavior is troublesome and signals a potentially volatile relationship. Instead of repeating the same mistakes that she did in “Lose You To Love Me” and ignoring the red flags, she takes action in “Cut You Off ” by severing ties with her toxic partner.

Long gone are the days of chasing after troubled lovers as Gomez now realizes her true value as a woman. It is quite inspiring to see this artistic evolution in the Disney starlet who once sang vapid— yet awfully catchy—songs informing listeners about her days as a sassy wizard on an iconic childhood show. The theme of Gomez’s uniqueness and self-worth throughout Rare is not only a testament to her identity as a lover but also as an artist. Gomez acknowledges that she may not “have it all” as an artist, but now, with creative control of her art, she uses her platform to spread messages of selfacceptance, mental health awareness, artistic growth, and resilience. G JANUARY 17, 2020

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NEW DECADE, SAME WINGS.

Farewell, Jack Evans!