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VOICE

the georgetown

ROY ROY KIM KIM

K-Pop king returns to the Hilltop

By Courtnie Baek Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969 w January 22, 2015 w Volume 47, Issue 17 w georgetownvoice.com

the

Voice

Jan. 22, 2015 This week:

Editorial ... On Duke’s reversal on Muslim call to prayer, pg. 3 News ... CISR stalls divestment, pg. 4 Sports ... Big weekend for men’s basketball, pg. 6 Feature ... Roy Kim, Georgetown’s own K-Pop star, pg. 8 Leisure ... Nature through watercolor abstractions, pg. 10 Page 13 ... Obama drops a bomb, pg. 13 Voices ... Rethinking the War on Terror, pg. 14

POPSTAR on campus

The Voice profiles Korean pop superstar and Georgetown student, Roy Kim.

Queen B(ee) Crossword

Last week’s key:

– Kathleen Couglin

Editor’s Note: Last week’s issue incorrectly identified the volume and issue of the paper. The correct numbers are Volume 47, Issue 16.

The article “D.C. Restaurant Week” mistakenly identified the lunch and dinner prices of restaurant week. The correct prices are $20.15 and $30.15, respectively.

Dayana Morales Gomez Editor-in-Chief

BLOG

NEWS

Editor: Marisa Hawley

Editor: Lara Fishbane

Assistant Editors: Grace Brennan, Morgan Hines, Carley Tucker

Assistant Editors: Courtnie Baek,

HALFTIME

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

Sports Editors: Alex Boyd, Rob Ponce

VOICES

Editor: Noah Buyon Assistant Editor: Leila Lebreton

Ryan Miller

PHOTO

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

EDITORIAL BOARD Chair: Kenneth Lee

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

Caitriona Pagni Managing Editor

Mary-Bailey Frank General Manager

Maya McCoy Webmaster

James Constant, Julia Lloyd-George, Ian Philbrick Editors-at-Large

Chris Castano

Contributing Editor

Tim Annick

Managing Director of Accounting and Sales

Allison Manning

Managing Director of Finance

COVER

Editor: Christina Libre

SPORTS

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

LEISURE

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

COPY

Chief: Dana Suekoff Editors: Lauren Chung, Bianca Clark, Jupiter El-Asmar, Alex Garvey Rachel Greene, Madison Kaigh, Michael Mischke, Suzanne Trivette

Assistant Editor: Megan Howell

SPREAD

Editors: Pam Shu, Sophie Super

FEATURE

Editor: Ryan Greene

DESIGN

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

PAGE 13

Editor: Dylan Cutler

editorial

georgetownvoice.com

The georgetown voice | 3

peace, love, and adhan

A stand against religious absolutism begins on campus

Last Thursday, Duke University regrettably reversed its decision to allow members of its Muslim Student Association to chant the adhan, Islam’s call-toprayer, from the university’s monolithic chapel bell tower every Friday.

Duke should have celebrated and took pride in its forward-thinking policy to allow Muslim prayers within their chapel, which has historical ties to its Methodist origins. But the decision attracted dismay and censure on social media. Franklin Graham, the outspoken president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, castigated Duke for “promoting” the Muslim faith while “followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law.” He also told donors to suspend their support

unless the university changed its mind.

Ultimately, Duke’s administration did change its mind, citing external threats of violence they had received in response to their initial decision.

Tragic incidents on American college campuses in the past have told us that the physical safety of students is, without a doubt, the primary concern of any academic institution. By that calculus, Duke’s reversal was the right call.

The problem, however, is that the university surrendered to supposed defenders of religious faith and their unscrupulous bullying tactics. Responses like Graham’s actually embody the very lack of tolerance, understanding, and interreligious dialogue they indiscriminately attribute to Islam. Graham is not wrong that Christians, particularly in the Middle East, are increasingly the targets of Islamist funda-

mentalist violence. Nonethless, Islam is a diverse faith that spans the four corners of the globe. Its 1.5 billion followers hail from Indonesia to Uzbekistan, speak dozens of languages, and are born with different ethnic backgrounds. They answer for these atrocities no more than the Catholics answer for the Crusades.

Some may not see the larger significance of Duke’s failure to take a stand against the fallout. After all, the Muslim students’ rights to free expression, including that of religion, remain intact: they will still be permitted to conduct the callto-prayer on the chapel quadrangle before entering the chapel itself for prayer. But the policy reversal symbolically marginalizes its Muslim students, which, according to The Chronicle, a newspaper at Duke, number just over 700 out of the university’s 15,000-strong undergraduate population.

“Interreligious understanding” is a term we often hear on the Hilltop. We rally around the virtues of dialogue and research on other faiths in our required theology classes, with our residence hall chaplains, and in valuable institutions like the Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. What happened last week reminds all of us—not just at Duke, but here at Georgetown as well— that even in the face of toxic adversity and backlash, we cannot waver in our cleareyed look at religious absolutism.

Born of ignorance, this absolutism exists both as a weapon of jihad and as a trending hashtag—damaging whether spread via social media, threat of violence, or the barrel of a gun. The reversal of Duke’s policy is yet another win for fundamentalism and absolutism over understanding. This is where the real sin lies.

power to the patients

A l’enfant plaza tragedy

Granting diginity in death

Not-so-good times ahead for Metro

Last Wednesday, D.C. councilmember Mary Cheh introduced a bill that may bring “death with dignity” laws to the District. The law will allow terminally ill patients who are mentally competent to end their own lives with the assistance of two doctors. Similar laws are already in effect in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and New Mexico.

Cheh is already bracing herself for the torrent of criticism from conservative and religious groups over the bill. In an address made to Italian Catholic doctors on Nov. 13, Pope Francis called efforts like Cheh’s a “false sense of compassion” and criticized the push to legalize euthanasia as a symptom of “throw-away culture”. He argues that proponents of euthanasia legislation view the sick and the old as disposable items, ignoring the fact that “human life is always sacred, valuable and inviolable.”

Given the Pope’s staunch opposition to the bill, Catholic leaders in the District are sure to rally against the bill as it moves through D.C. Council’s legislative processes.

As a Catholic institution, Georgetown takes a strong stance on protecting and defending Catholic values. For example, it refuses to recognize H*yas for Choice, a pro-choice group known for distributing condoms on campus. The university hospital also does not perform abortions, and medical school students will not find topics on abortion in their curricula. Given this track record, it is likely Georgetown will adhere to Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life and refuse to comply with the terms of Cheh’s “death with dignity” legislation.

Cheh’s bill may contradict the Catholic church’s teachings, but extending “death with dignity” laws to the District, and, perhaps, allowing it as a practice at Georgetown University Hospital, would be a step in the right direction. Cheh’s bill does not take the question of euthanasia lightly, and requires that patients who qualify for the procedure undergo a stringent approval process before they can receive lethal medication. Patients must make an initial oral request for the procedure, followed by a second oral request within fifteen days of the initial request. In addition, a third written request must be made to the attending physician.

The physician must also have offered a chance for the patient to rescind the request before prescribing or dispensing the lethal medication. These proposed mechanisms will show greater respect for the lives of terminally ill patients by granting them the free choice to die with dignity.

The choice to end one’s life, regardless of the physical and mental degradation and pain that life brings, is undeniably devastating for one and one’s family. But leaving patients to wait out their illnesses alone on a hospital bed, waiting for death to come at any moment, seems to be the more dehumanizing option.

Ultimately, individuals with sound minds should have agency over their own bodies—whether it be on the Hilltop, where students should have free, unrestricted access to birth control to protect themselves, or at Georgetown University Hospital, where patients should have a choice on how to live out their days.

“Look alive, good times are ahead.”

Such was the message of the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority— next to a cheery dance crew, no less—in a video advertisement celebrating the opening of the Silver Line in July last year. It seems those happy times are farther ahead than WMATA thought.

On Jan. 13, during what the National Transportation Safety Board referred to as “an electrical arcing event,” a train tunnel near L’Enfant Plaza station filled with smoke, resulting in the death of one passenger and the hospitalization of at least eighty others.

While the incident raises significant questions about the quality of Metrorail’s infrastructure, more disconcerting, perhaps, are WMATA’s inadequacies in responding to the emergency in a timely and effective manner.

Before firefighters could reach them, passengers suffocated for at least half an hour while instructions told them to stay on the smoke-filled train. 911 operators did not know that passengers were trapped and emergency radios had no signal coverage inside the station, forcing firefighters to communicate using their cellphones.

This accident came less than six years after another deadly accident in 2009, when two trains collided with one another and killed nine people. Despite a $5 billion capital improvement project that continues to repair and upgrade the metro, the tragic electrical fault on Jan. 13 follows a long slew of derailments, train-to-train collisions, and track worker accidents that date as far back as 1982. These accidents certainly foster a disturbing image of D.C.’s metro system, and call into question whether or not WMATA’s top leadership has been

committed to properly maintaining the railway infrastructure.

All of these deadly accidents show that, still, not enough is being done to protect the residents who rely heavily on Metrorail to provide a safe daily commute between downtown, Maryland, and Virginia. Subway ridership has been stagnant in recent years, and no ridership growth means no revenue growth.

If this stagnation continues, WMATA risks being unable to afford the critical upgrades the system needs after years of negligence and procrastination.

As reports about the incident continue to trickle in from the D.C. government, the NTSB, and WMATA, Metrorail’s disturbing safety record should strike a particular chord with the Georgetown University community, especially its students, who frequently use the Metro to commute to and from their internships. Carol Glover, the 61-year old woman who passed away in the Jan. 13 incident, could have just as easily been a Hoya on his or her way to the office.

The D.C. metro is a service that District residents should cherish and WMATA should continue to promote.

It keeps vehicles and buses off the roads while promoting employment and commerce. However, the hundreds of thousands of passengers that ride its trains everyday should be able to trust that its infrastructure is being properly maintained and WMATA staff operate on a work ethic that prioritizes safety and emergency management. A vague apology letter in the Washington Post just won’t do to restore Metrorail’s reputation of providing an efficient, reliable transit service for District residents and workers.

news

4 | the georgetown voice

JANUARY 22, 2015

Interfaith dialogue remains strong on campus despite international turmoil IAN PHILBRICK Despite violence perpetrated

by Islamic fundamentalists in Paris, controversy over the religious practices of Muslim students at Duke University, and a year of attacks launched by Islamic terrorists in the Middle East, awareness of the importance of interreligious dialogue remains high among Georgetown’s administration, academic centers of study, and student faith and interfaith groups.

On the morning of Jan. 7, two gunmen who identified themselves as affiliates of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based branch of the terrorist network, killed 11 staff members of the Paris-based satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and two French National Police officers.

Two days later, an associate of the assailants who aligned himself with the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant killed a Municipal Police officer and four Jewish hostages at the Hypercacher kosher supermarket in Paris’s Porte de Vincennes district in an alleged effort to defend Muslims.

On Tuesday, Georgetown’s Office of Campus Ministry posted a blog entry on its website addressed to university students of the Jewish and Muslim communities. Authored by Vice President for Mission and Ministry Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., the post expressed “support and esteem” for Jewish and Muslim students “in ardently rejecting anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and violence in all forms.”

In addition to offering the services of Campus Ministry staff members Imam Yahya Hendi and Rabbi Rachel Gartner, O’Brien also stressed Georgetown’s historical tradition of interreligious dialogue. O’Brien affirmed Georgetown’s “commitment to … remaining a safe place for all religious communities to embrace their particular identities” grounded in “understanding” among members of different faiths and standing “against bigotry and intolerance.”

Andrew Meshnick (COL ’17), who describes himself as an active participant in Jewish life at Georgetown, expressed his gratitude for O’Brien’s post. “As a Jewish student at a Jesuit university, it means a great deal to know that the non-Jewish community is there to support my com-

munity in this time of mourning,” he wrote in an email to the Voice.

Against the backdrop of international Islamic fundamentalism, however, criticisms of religious practice by Muslim college students in the U.S. have increased. Last Thursday, threats of violence that reportedly originated off campus were cited by Duke University officials as the reason for overturning a two-day-old policy that would have permitted members of the university’s Muslim Student Association to chant the adhan, Islam’s call-toprayer, from the bell tower of Duke’s historic chapel every Friday.

Before Duke repealed its original decision, Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., criticized the university from his Twitter account for “promoting” the Muslim religion while “followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law,” an apparent reference to the Charlie Hebdo and Porte de Vincennes killings as well as the on-camera beheadings of two American journalists last summer by ISIL militants.

Although Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which was founded in 1993 as a “dynamic community of resident faculty, scholars, staff and students” to “improve relations between the Muslim world and the West and enhance understanding of Muslims in the West,” did not issue a statement regarding Duke’s policy reversal, its Associate Director, Jonathan Brown, repudiated Graham’s logic. “The idea that innocent, law-abiding Muslims in one place should be held accountable for what some small group of Muslims elsewhere does is absurd,” Brown wrote in an email to the Voice.

Despite international turmoil, Campus Ministry and academic centers like ACMCU and the Berkley Center have helped to support student interreligious dialogue and collaboration both on-campus and beyond the gates of Georgetown. According to Georgetown’s Jewish Student Association Co-President Elizabeth Biener (SFS ’17), “interfaith prayer events and an interfaith meditation” typify recent interactions among on-campus reli-

gious groups. Last November, members of the JSA volunteered alongside representatives of Georgetown’s Muslim Student Association and Interfaith Student Association at So Others Might Eat, a D.C. interfaith organization that addresses District homelessness. Biener also highlighted the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, which receives funding to invite student members of Georgetown’s JSA, MSA, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Daughters, and Buddhist Meditation Sangha every week to make sandwiches that are later distributed through an intermediary to local homeless men and women.

Christopher Wadibia (COL ’16), who delivered a TEDx Georgetown talk last November on the subject of interreligious understanding, echoes O’Brien’s message, collaboration among student interfaith and faith groups, and Georgetown’s interreligious exceptionalism. “I wholly believe Georgetown positively stands above all other institutions of higher learning as a place to be a religious student… because of its desire to respect the religious or non-religious backgrounds of its students, and…meet them and serve them wherever they are.”

DC City Council introduces ‘Books from Birth’ proposal with unanimous support MATTHEW WEINMANN On Tuesday the D.C. City Council introduced Councilman Charles Allen’s “Books from Birth” proposal, which aims to send one book each month to District children under the age of 5.

The plan, which has gained unanimous support from the council, focuses on the D.C. Public Library system by building off of existing programming, such as the Sing, Talk, and Read program. STAR has been accessed by over 14,000 people online since its launch in 2013 and has hosted 64 workshops with 925 attendees since last October, according to George Williams, Media Relations Manager for the DCPL. According to Associate Professor Rachel Barr of the Department of Psychology, interacting with children is essential , whether it is reading a book, telling a story, or just talking to them at the bus stop.

“It doesn’t have to be book reading per se,” she said. “Conversational talk is the most important.”

Connecting the initiative to the library is also, according to Allen, intended to allow adults with low literacy to take full advantage of the program. “In the District, like

KIDS WILL BE ABLE TO START PROCRASTINATING ON READINGS EARLIER. in a lot of places, there are plenty of adults who have low literacy and if you have low literacy, going to the library is a fairly intimidating thing to do,” said Allen. “We can create connections for those adults to the programs around adult literacy and adult training that help them be able to carry that message and start reading to their child.”

This adult training has proven effective elsewhere. Barr pointed to the 30 Million Word Gap project in Providence, Rhode Island, in which adults were given feedback on their levels of child-directed talk. “When given this feedback, [parents] are very responsive and they do increase their amount of child-directed talk,” Barr said. “If parents have information about

JOSHUA RAFTIS

child-directed talk, they increase their child-directed talk.”

The plan will also send materials out with the books that can be tailored to specific neighborhoods and library branches, including information on upcoming events, group reading times, and meeting different language needs. “Our library can be the vehicle through which there is messaging,” said Allen. This messaging is critical, according to Barr.

“It’s not about giving children books to teach them to read, it’s about speaking and communicating with children so they know how to use language,” she said.

This is the first initiative launched by Allen who made education a priority in his campaign.

“When you look at where we are as a district, more than half of the kids in third grade are not reading at a proficient level,” said Allen. “If we only wait until third grade when we find this big achievement gap in the classroom ... we’re really chasing our tails.”

The negative effects of this word gap have been shown to compound over time, and children with less word exposure have significantly smaller vocabularies, according to Barr. “It’s harder for them to express their emotions and it’s harder for them to acclimate to the school at the time of entry,” said Barr. “If you start out with a gap at the age of 3, it’s much harder to make up that gap.”

Justin Fang (SFS ‘17) has volunteered in Ward 7 schools and noticed some of the problems Allen mentioned, but thinks there is more to the problem than a lack of books available. “Many of the children I had a chance to interact with have the requisite resources, but lack the support and reassurance that they are as capable as any other student,” wrote Fang in an email to the Voice. “It is a good first step, but we have to seriously reconsider the mentality behind education for children in D.C.”

Based on the results of a now decade-long program of the same goals in Tennessee, the program cost per child should be around $35 per year, bringing the total cost to around $1.2 million. “I think that’s a reasonable investment to make in early childhood literacy and I think you’ll see that pay its dividends in the classroom a few years later,” said Allen. He hopes that the DCPL can build off of its existing relationships with publishing houses to achieve economies of scale. The bill is also written so that the library can accept donations or sponsorships for the program.

At this time many specifics remain to be hammered out and, realistically, the proposal would not be launched until next year.

Allen suggested the program start with newborns to children age 3 and then expand. “I want [the program] to grow at a pace that makes sense,” said Allen.

The full support of the council gives the proposal a necessary push forward. “Getting everyone to co-introduce it is a real sign of strength,” said Allen.

“I would like to have some sense of urgency around moving it forward quickly.”

news

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice | 5

Applicant figures hold steady despite fewer high school grads BREDNAN SAUNDERS The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is currently processing the applications that have been submitted by high school students from around the globe seeking to claim a spot in Georgetown’s Class of 2019.

“Right now the applicant pool is just over 19,400 applications,” said Melissa Costanzi, Senior Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions. “It is pretty much identical to last year … almost exactly even.”

Last year Georgetown saw 19,436 applications, and, while this year’s numbers are still being processed, the current count is 19,427. According to the Admissions Office, this leveling of the number of applications is a favorable outcome at a time when high school graduation rates are slipping nationally. Since 2011, there has been a five percent decrease in the number of high school graduates. While falling graduation rates would seem to correlate to a parallel decline in applications, Georgetown has received two percent more applications in this time.

Still, the decrease in graduation rates is uneven nationwide. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the Northeast suffered an eight percent overall decrease in high school graduation rates. By contrast, the same report reveals that public high school graduation rates increased from 76 percent to 78 percent in California and from 86 percent to 88 percent in Texas during the same interval.

SAXA POLITICA:

EMILY TU

INCOMING FRESHMeN ARE ALREADY more ambitious than peers.

Applications to Georgetown reflect these regional fluctuations in graduation rates. While fewer applications were received this year from many states in the Northeast, there was an increase in applications from students in the West and South. In addition, the pool of international applicants grew marginally.

Matching regional trends is positive for Georgetown. “When you look at the trend of the numbers, we’re doing pretty well,” Costanzi said. “For us, stability is really good.”

To maintain this stability, the university has continued to follow its same procedures for attracting students. In addition to sending targeted letters to students interested in specific programs, Georgetown tours the country with Exploring College Options, a joint program with Harvard, Duke, Stanford, and the University of Pennsylvania. According to its website, the group seeks to bring clarity to the college admissions process.

Furthermore, Georgetown has maintained a presence internationally in Europe, Central and South America, and Asia. New this year

SAMAN ASDJODI

is an Undergraduate Admissions Twitter account.

Besides an increased social media presence, Georgetown does not intend to make any significant changes to the way it attracts applicants. It has no desire to artificially increase the size of the applicant pool. Costanzi said, “We don’t want to inflate the applicant pool if [applicants] are not there. We want to make sure we’re getting the right applicants.” As a result, the acceptance rate is expected to stay essentially the same as last year’s 16.6 percent.

Although selectivity rates play a significant role in determining a school’s ranking, Costanzi explains that this is not a factor in admissions decisions.

After Georgetown’s slight dip out of the top 20 national universities compiled

by U.S. News College Rankings for the 2015 year, falling from 20 to 21, the Admissions Office is not worried.

“We pay very little attention to the U.S. News rankings,” Costanzi said.

“They’re not going to change how we do our admissions process. We’re not going to try to bolster our place in the rankings by doing anything specific.”

IT’S TIME TO LET STUDENTS GET ON BOARD

JAMES CONSTANT

a tri-weekly column about CAMPUS NEWS AND POLITICS

GUSA did something great last week. No, seriously!

The student body’s esteemed representatives released a proposal on Jan. 11. In it, they call on D.C. college and university students to unite to eliminate the city residency requirement that is currently a prerequisite for serving on D.C. Boards and Commissions. As of now, students who aren’t permanent D.C. residents can’t serve on the over 100 boards and commissions that the city relies upon to deal with a myriad of governmental issues. Although the proposal doesn’t sound like much on the surface, it’s a step toward resolving the injustice that has been visited upon D.C.’s college students.

The current situation is a shame. Many college students— who, at 80,000 strong, constitute

CISR delays its decision on GU Fossil Free’s divestment proposal

about ten percent of D.C.’s population—are being disenfranchised just because many change their residency after four years. This isn’t always the case, however, as the Georgetown grads still hanging around Burleith can attest to. It’s ridiculous. If this is the way D.C. is going to treat college students, they might as well issue this questionnaire to other new arrivals: “How long are you planning on staying here? If it’s less than four years, then say goodbye to the ability to serve your local government.” Students are affected by the policies made by the boards and commissions and it’s only right that they should have as equal a say in determining them as any other District resident.

It’s fair to say that the average Georgetown student—or the average student at most D.C. colleges,

for that matter—has a greater interest in politics than most other young American scholars. Denizens of the Hilltop are well known for their affinity for Hillternships.

Their awkwardly besuited bodies cram the Law Center GUTS bus and fill its stagnant air with chatter about such-and-such politician they “actually saw, like, in real life.”

For the most part, congressional internships don’t provide very much in the way of practical political experience. They sound nice on a resume, but the day-to-day work of an intern is pretty far removed from anything of real significance.

There’s a lot of answering phone calls from deranged constituents, and at the end of the semester, lucky interns might get a photo and a handshake with the Senator they’ve been serving.

The Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility has yet to finalize a decision on whether or not it will recommend GU Fossil Free’s divestment proposal to the university’s Board of Directors after a meeting on Jan. 16.

Fossil Free’s proposal, which it has been revising for over two years, calls for the university to divest its endowment from the top 200 fossil fuel companies.

In order to earn the proposal a place on the agenda at the Board of Director’s meeting this February, the group first needs CISR to recommend that their proposal warrants further consideration.

Fossil Free first presented its proposal to CISR on Oct. 27 with the hope that the committee would vote on it by the end of the academic year. During the meeting on Friday, CISR had its final discussions on the proposal and was expected to give a final statement of review afterwards.

Deliberations on recommending the divestment proposal to the Board are still in progress, according to a statement from Committee Chair Dr. Jim Feinerman.

“The Committee on Investments and Social Responsibil-

If students had the opportunity to apply for positions on the city’s boards and commissions, a whole new option for gaining political experience would open up. They might actually accomplish something concrete because boards and commissions have judicial authority (read: they can do things). If Hoyas and others could join, they’d be representing the interests of college students, a demographic that is roundly ignored

by D.C. policymakers despite comprising a significant portion of the city’s population.

There are over 150 different boards and commissions, according to the Washington City Paper, and many of them have plenty of open seats. They cover a wide range of different issues. For a student interested in public policy, serving as a full member of a D.C. administrative body that addresses an issue of specific interest to them is a perfect way to gain valuable

ity today had a thoughtful and engaged discussion on the Fossil Free proposal and is making progress,” Feinerman wrote in the statement. “We continue to finalize our work and will make a public statement when our deliberations are complete.”

According to GU Fossil Free core group member Chloe Lazarus (COL ‘16), a conclusive result from CISR was not anticipated from the meeting.

“We did not really expect a finalized decision on Friday,” she wrote in an email to the Voice. “We assumed there would have to be a more thorough deliberation. We have been working with the committee for almost two years and none of the information was new to any of the members. That being said, we value their recommendation and are looking forward to hearing their decision soon.”

Fossil Free issued a statement on Wednesday night to preempt any non-endorsement decision CISR may have reached.

According to the statement, “Kicking a can down the road only works as long as there’s still road left; the end of the line, increasingly, is being reached, and passing the buck is no longer an acceptable ‘solution.’”

experience. Into urban planning?

There’s the Public Space Committee. Criminal policy? That’s what the Sentencing and Criminal Code Revision Commission is for. Not to mention that lots of these seats are paid part-time gigs.

GUSA is taking the right route in approaching the issue. Rather than doing it alone, it’s recruiting the student governments of our fellow universities, including American, George Washington, and Howard. If they all band together effectively and manage to get D.C. policy changed, students will have the opportunity to effect real change in the city that they’ll be calling home for at least a few years.

Sure, “Boards and Commissions” might not sound as slick as “Internship with Fancy Senator,” but students will get the opportunity, at least in one small aspect, to help govern the nation’s capital. That’ll look good on a resume, right?

sports

6 | the georgetown voice

January 22, 2015

Men’s basketball downs No. 4 Villanova and Butler KEVIN HUGGARD

It was a good weekend to be a Hoya.

Two talented Big East opponents left the Verizon Center in defeat, and after the dust had settled, the Georgetown men’s basketball team (13-5, 5-2 Big East) sat atop the conference standings.

The fun began with Butler (13-6, 3-3 Big East) on Saturday night. The Hoyas started slow, with the Bulldogs building a 2715 lead late in the first half before a Georgetown run towards the end of the half cut the deficit to four at the break.

“Early on we weren’t getting stops,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “You have to get stops to be able to get out in transition, and we want to get out in transition as early as possible.”

Guarding Butler’s Roosevelt Jones proved a difficult task throughout the game for the Hoyas, as he led all scorers with 28 points. It was no surprise, then, when the Bulldogs gave the ball to Jones on the game’s final possession as the Hoyas led by two.

This time, however, he failed to convert, as junior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera stayed with Jones the length of the court and blocked his lay-up attempt as time expired.

Smith-Rivera, with his team-leading 14 points and game-winning block, was a familiar hero for the Hoyas, but a fresher face provided the game-winning three-pointer with only five seconds left to play. Senior guard Jabril Trawick brought the ball up the floor and found an open Isaac Copeland waiting in the corner.

The freshman forward drilled the shot to give his team the victory.

“Isaac was wide open,” Trawick said. “As Coach Thompson always says, one of our mottos is ‘trust each other’ so I

snapped it to him and he made a big play for us.”

The game saw a breakout performance from the highly-touted freshman, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half.

“I know [Isaac] has been effective when he’s making hustle plays for us,” Coach Thompson said.

“When he’s flying in for rebounds, when he’s getting deflections, when that happens that’s when the ball starts falling for him.”

Trawick had six assists on the day, including the decisive pass to Copeland, while adding 10 points during one of his better games in a Georgetown uniform.

“We feed off of his energy and he provided a lot of energy at the defensive end and the offensive end,” Coach Thompson said.

The Hoyas would carry their momentum into Monday night’s game against the No. 4 ranked Villanova Wildcats (17-2, 4-2 Big East), as the home team opened the game with an effort that was far from sluggish.

After trading early baskets, the Hoyas went on a 17-0 run that saw them play their best basketball of the season. The stretch began with an Isaac Copeland putback dunk, continuing with a barrage of jump shots and transition layups that left the Wildcats reeling and the packed student section in hysterics.

“That was as good a defensive stretch as we’ve had in a very long time. I think our defense is what dictated the game throughout the game and got us to where we took that lead in the first half,” Coach Thompson said.

The Hoyas took a 42-20 lead into the half, and the lead would never fall below 12 points for the rest of the game, although the Wildcats kept it just close enough to keep nerves high within the Verizon Center.

carolyn zaccaro

Led by senior jabril trawick, the hoyas drove past villanova and butler.

“I kept thinking that we were going to [come back],” Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright said.

“That’s why I say you have got to give Georgetown credit. They never got tentative with the lead, they just kept attacking, and I think that is a sign of a really good team.”

The Hoyas were led by 17-point nights from both Smith-Rivera and Copeland, who continued his breakthrough weekend with the best game of his young career.

Once again, it was Trawick who provided a defensive spark while

Joe o’s Pollicin

also adding two three-pointers in the first half that helped to build the Hoyas’ insurmountable lead.

“It’s two outstanding games in a row [for Trawick],” Coach Thompson said. “It was a selfless game, making plays that might not show up on this [stat] sheet right here.”

The crowd kept the noise level high throughout the blowout. As the seconds ticked down, the student sections surged forward. Despite the efforts of Trawick and other players to stop the court-storming, the stu-

dents rushed the floor just after the final whistle.

“They’re excited so they storm the court,” Coach Thompson said to Bill Raferty. “I probably wish that they hadn’t done that, but they watch a lot of TV.” For now, the question of when to storm can wait. The Hoyas seem to have put it all together, and provided fans with a near-perfect weekend of basketball. Next, the team travels to Wisconsin to take on Marquette (10-7, 2-3 Big East) on Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. tipoff.

SPORTS SERMON---

“ We played like Queens Park [Rangers] ... and that is not good.”-Manchester United Manager Louis van Gaal Rather than debate the merits of court storming, like many in the national media have done in the wake of Georgetown students’ actions on Monday, and whether a program of Georgetown’s prestigious status should be engaging in this practice at all, I’m going to take a different angle on this development.

Simply put, the intensity and passion that inspired Georgetown students to storm the court needs to be present at Hoyas’ games for the rest of the season. The veracity of the student section was infectious not only in the win against Villanova, but also against Butler this past Saturday. The loyal student partisans of the Blue and Gray spawned a chain reaction that captivated the arena and created a true, tangible homecourt advantage for the Hoyas.

The energy that the Georgetown students brought to Verizon Center this past weekend for both games created a buzz that has not been felt around the downtown arena in nearly two seasons, which is a long time if you’re a program that prides itself as a marketable national brand.

This buzz carried over to the floor where the already motivated Hoyas, who were hungry for the national attention that would come with wins against the Bulldogs and Wildcats, fed off the energy and were better players for it. As someone who played high school basketball in front of a lively student section every home game, I can relate.

Knowing that my teammates and I would be rewarded with the most intense plaudits, including chanting our names or taunting our opponents made us want to go all out even more. It made us better players because

we wanted to hear that crowd erupt just one more time again and again, knowing that it would happen if we made the right play. The same could be said for the Hoyas, who played their best basketball of the season this past weekend, including possibly their best stretch of the last few seasons when they erupted for a 17-0 run in the first half against Villanova, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.

And with the Hoyas assuming sole possession of first place in the Big East and a national ranking upcoming in the next poll due to their impressive play as of late, there is now no better time to get behind the Blue and Gray. This year’s team has a lot to be excited about, with its combination of veterans and youth and the way it creates havoc for their opponents on both ends of the floor. They’re on a mission to redeem the postseason failures of years past and etch the Georgetown name back into the national college basketball conversation as one of the nation’s premier programs. The way the students can play their part in accomplishing this objective is showing up to the Verizon Center and being as loud as possible.

I understand the objections and concerns that students have about Georgetown basketball games. I understand that the Verizon Center isn’t the most convenient of places to get to, especially on a school night when you have that midterm or paper due the next day. I understand that you probably didn’t get season tickets this year because you didn’t want to shell out $125 for what may have amounted to another disappointing season. I understand that the new

opponents from the current constitution of the Big East are not as familiar and wellknown as those in the older conference. And I understand that the Big East, Fox Sports 1, and Georgetown have not done you any favors by scheduling games for adverse dates and start times.

But tough shit. The atmosphere that was prevalent this past weekend needs to be replicated for the remainder of this season and onward. No excuses. Schools that Georgetown likes to compare itself to with rich academic and basketball backgrounds such as Duke and North Carolina all sell out their building each and every night and create a terrifying atmosphere for visiting teams. Like us, students at those schools have been dealt unfavorable start times to their games due to the demands of television contracts.

Like us, they have to balance midterms, papers, and their other academic obligations.

And like us, they have to make an extraordinary commitment, in either time or money, to secure a seat at their team’s home games. They still, however, despite all of this, find a way to have some of the rowdiest student sections in the country, and in effect, create some of the loudest homecourts in college hoops.

So if Georgetown wants to be taken seriously as a national program, both on and off the court, it’s time that Georgetown students consistently do their part. Because when they have, there are very few places in college basketball that are better than a packed and lively Verizon Center for a Georgetown basketball game.

sports

georgetownvoice.com

the georgetown voice | 7

Women’s hoops falters on road trip ROBBIE PONCE As their road struggles continue, the Georgetown women’s basketball team (4-15, 2-5 in Big East) is sure glad to be coming home.

Last Friday, the Hoyas hoped to secure their first road win of the season as they traveled to Cincinnati to take on Xavier (12-7, 4-4 in Big East).

A quick start and aggressive defense helped the Hoyas take the lead from the opening tip, and the squad led by as many as nine points before taking a 35-29 lead into the half.

However, the Musketeers came out of halftime with a 7-0 run and used momentum on the defensive end to take advantage of the Hoyas’ sloppy possession. The Blue and Gray turned the ball over 17 times against Xavier, including on key possessions down the stretch when the team was in dire need of some timely hoops. Though the team tried to fight back and speed up the tempo of the game, they came up short by a final of 63-55.

Following Friday’s loss, the Hoyas set their sights on stealing a victory in Indianapolis against streaky Butler (10-9, 6-2 in Big East), who had won seven of their previous eight games.

Once again, the Hoyas were fast out of the gates as they jumped out to a 13-point lead early in the first half. However, as Butler began to beat Georgetown’s full-court press, they found offensive rhythm and used a 20-4 run to streak ahead 3432 at the end of the half.

Brendan Crowley’s TRI-weekly column about sports

éire jordan: Basketball in ireland

freddy rosas

Women’s basketball will look to rebound when they face st. john’s and seton hall.

In the second half, Butler kept the Hoyas from scoring transition baskets and were able to stifle Georgetown’s offensive tactics for minutes at a time. The Hoyas mounted a late run but ran out of time, falling by a final of 63-58. The loss to Butler made the Blue and Gray 0-10 on the road this season.

The Hoyas have been dangerous this season when they manage to establish a solid defensive rythm.

They often find ways to translate takeaways into easy transition baskets. However, when opposing defenses have slowed the game, the Blue and Gray have failed to establish a dependable and efficient halfcourt game.

Despite the Hoyas’ struggles this season, freshman guard Dorothy Adomako has had a consistent impact for the Hoyas as the team’s leader in points per game (12.9), and has become Georgetown’s most dependable offensive threat.

Adomako has received three consecutive Big East Rookie of the Week awards, and in Georgetown’s two losses last weekend, she aver-

aged 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, keeping the Hoyas in close games against some of the best talent the Big East has to offer. When Georgetown’s offense has seemed stagnant at times this season, the squad has looked to Adomako to help facilitate Georgetown’s offense.

“I know coach expects a lot from each one of us,” Adomako said. “She tells us everyday that we’re not freshmen and don’t need to play like we’re freshmen. I think we’re going to get better and things are going to be better from here on out.”

Adomako’s contributions are going to be needed now more than ever as the Hoyas face off against Seton Hall (17-2, 6-1 in Big East) and St. John’s (14-4, 5-2 in Big East) this week. These home contests are likely to be the Hoyas’ biggest tests so far in Big East play.

The Hoyas will face off with the Red Storm at 6 p.m. ET at McDonough Arena this Friday, and will hosting the Big East-leading Pirates at noon on Sunday.

Track runs away at Penn State ALEX BOYD The Georgetown track and field team dominated the mid-distance and distance events at last weekend’s Nittany Lion Challenge hosted by Penn State. Both the men and women’s teams boasted several firstplace finishes, starting with the 800 meters.

For the men, graduate student Billy Ledder took the 800 meters (1:48.46), junior Michael Lederhouse won the mile (4:09.83), and junior Ahmed Bile set a meet record in the 3,000 meters (8:00.25).

In women’s action, senior Hannah Neczypor finished first in the 800 meters (2:09.01) while teammate sophomore Sabrina Southerland took the 1,000 meters (2:44.77).

According to Georgetown Director of Track & Field

– Riseandfire –

Patrick Henner, the strength of the mid-distance and distance squads is a product of a cross-country season that saw both the men and women contending for the national championship. With the men’s team finishing in 17th place and the women taking 4th overall in the NCAA Championships, the Hoya track squad is loaded with proven mid-distance and distance talent. Versatile Hoya legs have converted nicely to different events, giving Henner plenty of options as the team’s director.

“Look at Ahmed and Amos—the two guys in the 3,000—they were 800 runners last year,” said Henner. “Now in their new event, they’re fighting for meet records.”

In the men’s mile, 3K, and 800, Hoya runners ran together and out-leaned each other

for the top spots, and that was just fine with Henner.

“It’s something you see in practice,” Henner said of his team’s competitiveness.

“It’s about making each other better.”

This fierce Hoya running style is translating to winning times on the track. Georgetown runners are pushing each other for faster times, and it’s working.

The Hoyas will return to Penn State in less than two weeks for the Penn State National Invitational, but this time with a different focus.

The priority for the Hoyas on January 30th and 31st will be qualifying a Distance Mixed Relay team for the NCAA championships.

If the Penn State track treats the Hoyas as well as it did last weekend, Henner and the rest of the coaching staff will be very, very pleased.

“Alright Brendan, you’re going to come off these two screens, get the ball, then just look to score or pass it off if you don’t have anything. Ok?” With seven seconds left, in my first game as a member of the Trinity College Dublin basketball team, my coach, who I had met just a week earlier, was entrusting me with the final shot with our team trailing by two points. As I sat on the bench, in a crusty gym in Longford, Ireland, surrounded by twelve teammates, a handful of whom I had met for the first time that day, I had a thought that would recur frequently for the next four months: how the hell did I get here?

My journey really started with an email. After weeks of nervously procrastinating the task, I sent a message to an email address listed on the Trinity Basketball Facebook page introducing myself as a hopeful future team member.

The page, which had a like count around 550, was outdated to say the least; honestly, I just hoped to get an answer telling me the team was still operable.

After a couple of weeks, I received a reply, albeit from an entirely different email address. Surprisingly, the message came from the team’s head coach, who was thrilled to hear I was coming over to study abroad in Dublin. I was invited to attend a pre-season meeting and practice with the team. Nothing was set in stone, of course, but I knew now that I would at least have the opportunity to prove myself.

Fast-forward to late August.

Fresh off the plane and searching for the first Guinness of my Irish experience, I receive word that my first foray into the Irish basketball scene would be at the team’s opening training session. In other words, I had about a week to get ready.

The ability to “get ready,” of course, requires access to a basketball court, which I had naively assumed would be a fairly straightforward task. But, as my teammates would repeatedly remind me throughout the season, basketball is a minority sport in Ireland, so finding an open court to shoot around was about as easy as finding a cricket pitch in the U.S. Thus, when the moment finally came for me to step on the court for practice, I was very much out of practice. Regardless, I proved myself quickly. Some of the skills that I had developed in America gave me an immediate advantage, namely as a scorer. Though the competition is solid, the Irish style of play is significantly different from that of

the U.S. Individual ability and athleticism are largely overshadowed by team development, a model my coach explained is religiously adhered to across Europe. Rapid ball movement, three-point shooting, and lots of cutting, are tenets more appreciated than taking a player off the dribble one-on-one. As a result, I was able to mold well with the team while also finding an increased number of opportunities to score.

After a few weeks of training, our first game was announced. We would be traveling to Longford, a town located northwest of Dublin, for a scrimmage against the local Longford Falcons. The prospect of this trip thrilled me because it would be my first major excursion since arriving in Ireland. My excitement, however, simultaneously cast me as a lunatic because, for my Irish teammates, this trip was about as exciting as going to grocery store.

Which brings us back to seven seconds left. Trinity basketball is down by two points, and my coach is telling me that I will be getting the final shot. I will never forget sitting in that huddle and realizing both how absurd and incredible the situation I had gotten myself into was.

I was 4,000 miles from home, in an Irish community center, playing the game I love in front of a collection of schoolchildren, parents, and just regular Irish folk with nothing to do on a Saturday evening.

When the whistle blew, my teammate fed me a perfect pass, and I had a few seconds to make a decision. I scanned the court and saw a hole near the foul line and accelerated towards it. I left the ground, got sideswiped across the head (foul calls are a little looser abroad) and put up a jumper as time expired. Swish!

As I turned towards the bench, I was relieved. The pressure was gone, and I knew I had earned my teammates’ respect. Their emotion, however, was a little more heightened. They ran towards me like I had just handed them each a million dollars. Hugs, pats on the back, (lovable) sideswipes across the head, and smiles surrounded me. We were going to overtime, and I was over the moon.

I ended up playing twenty or so more games with the lads of Trinity College Dublin. They elevated my study abroad experience from good to great and allowed me into a community that I will remain a part of for the rest of my life. They were friends and brothers, and I’ll be seeing them soon. Thanks for the good craic boys.

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8 | the georgetown voice

January 22, 2015

Roy Kim via Facebook

ROY

KIM

HOMECOMING: Korea’s pop idol retreats from fame to Georgetown By: Courtnie Baek

G

eorgetown is a political place and its most famous alums and affiliates are political figures.

Kings and queens, presidents and congressmen all have ties to Georgetown. Georgetown boasts a significant global student body and claims to have over 2,500 students and faculty members from over 130 countries. With no large or famous music program to speak of, Georgetown neither creates nor attracts any famous musical performers.

But one student in particular holds the distinction of being a massive pop star in his home country, so much so that Georgetown is his personal escape from the fame and busyness of his first home.

Looking like any other student, Kim Sang-woo, a sophomore in the McDonough School of Business, entered an MSB breakout room in a simple Georgetown sweatshirt. As his interview began, Kim’s powerful, resonant voice and confidence only hinted at the other side of his life.

A native of South Korea, Kim Sang-woo is more commonly known by his stage name, Roy Kim. For the last two years, Kim has managed to balance not only his studies at Georgetown but a musical career that’s produced two full-length albums and three number-one singles on the Korean charts.

Although he started his studies at Georgetown in 2013, Kim has returned to campus this spring for what is only his third semester. Any time spent away from D.C. is dedicated to touring, writing, or recording his music. During his gap semester last fall, Kim released Home, his second fulllength album, and traveled across Korea to promote it, making stops in Seoul, Daegu, and Busan.

Now that he’s back in D.C., Kim hopes to unwind and recharge, because, unlike the average student, he uses Georgetown as the place where he takes a break and focuses as much on rest and recovery as he does on his studies. On top of that, and perhaps more relevantly, he wasn’t allowed to take any more time off.

“[The administration] wouldn’t let me take any more gap semesters,” Kim said. “I just needed a break because so many things happened in such a short time. If you live as a singer or a celebrity—it may be different in other countries—but in Korea, you sing and you do performances just because it’s in the schedule.”

Kim finds that such a busy touring schedule leaves little time for reflection or even feeling normal. From the end of October to the end of November last fall, Kim performed six shows in five cities across South Korea.

“I was losing myself,” Kim said. “Singing and performing is [being] myself, but people only saw me as a celebrity and not as a person. I was more accustomed to the personal and student life, so I just wanted to go back to where I would have been before and think about what I’ve done and think about what I should do.”

Kim earned his professional start in music in 2012 through a South Korean annual television talent show series, Superstar K—akin to American Idol in the U.S. First in 2009 on Mnet, Superstar K has increasingly gained more attention and has become one of the biggest audition programs in South Korea. Each season of Superstar K hopes to find the next big sensation in K-pop. Each week candidates are eliminated, based on a combination of the scores given by judges and votes from viewers.

Kim made it to the final round and won a head-to-head battle against the band DickPunks in the show’s finale. Kim sang Leessang’s “Who Are You Living For?” and, as in his previous performances, arranged the song to another style, this time hip-hop. Kim donated 500 million won, the equivalent of US$460,596 at the time—the entirety of his prize money—to a Korean music scholarship foundation.

Kim’s success on Superstar K earned him a contract with CJ E&M and he went right into work on his first professional material. His debut single “Bom Bom Bom” stayed on the K-Pop Hot 100 chart for three weeks, making it the seventh biggest single of 2013.

georgetownvoice.com

feature

While Kim got his career started through Superstar K, he loved music for most of his life and saw it as an escape from the competitive and busy culture of his home country.

“I always liked singing and playing the guitar,” Kim said. “Before I got into Georgetown, I hadn’t done anything that I really wanted. I think it’s generic for any yoo-hak-sang [Korean term for international students] to spend time in Korea studying SATs or doing things just for college. That’s how I got into the show Superstar K, and it went on from there. At first it was just for the experience, and I didn’t know I would make it into [the] top ten. But when I was given the option of taking a gap year and continuing with the show, I thought it could be worthwhile.”

Kim has found live performance to be the most enjoyable part of his entire career because that is where he gets to connect to his fans.

“It’s not a place to show off, but it’s just me with my audience talking through the whole show, talking about how I wrote this song,” Kim said. “It’s a very intimate and fun experience for me. That’s one of the reasons I think that my fans like me.

I don’t just consider myself as a TV star but just a student and fellow guy who wants to sing in front of a big crowd and is nothing different than the audience themselves.”

Of course, as a young, male K-pop star, a large part of Kim’s audience is female, but he embraces that fact and also insists that he has all kinds of fans.

“I think it’s an inevitable thing being a male musician, there are more female fans,” Kim said. “But there are male fans too. Girls tend to be more fanatic, following wherever I go, rather than guys.”

Kim’s desire to relate to his fans and come across as a normal guy inspired many of the songs on Home.

With its comforting, ethereal sound, Home is characterized by light guitar strumming, soft piano, Kim’s strong-but-subtle vocals, and orchestral strings, all put together by three-time Grammy-winning producer Marc Uselli.

On the track “Hold On,” Kim softly croons to comfort a person in distress and tells them to just come to him and be. While it’s never quite clear if Kim is singing to a lover, a friend, or even a stranger, the ambiguity makes the song that much more universal and open to interpretation.

“I see people even crying during the show,” Kim said, “which shows that they’ve went through similar things that I went through.”

the georgetown voice | 9

K-pop news outlet All K-pop quoted Kim as saying that he quit the Chimes because of their “unfriendliness towards outsiders.” However, Kim denied that he ever said that and apologized to the Chimes.

“I auditioned for an a capella group and I got in,” Kim said. “I really wanted to do it, but I hadn’t held a pencil for a year, so the workload for me was very hard.

I saw this article of one of my interviews in Korea, and they said that I got out of the a capella group because I didn’t like their way of treating other people, but I didn’t say anything like that.”

“Probably that a capella group is very pissed at the moment. All I said was I couldn’t handle it because it was overwhelming. I probably said then [that] I didn’t want to be treated as a singer but as a fellow student who wants to be in an a capella group. So I want to say sorry to them. If you’re pissed at me, don’t be.”

Because Kim’s fame is confined mainly to Korea, he feels comfortable in Georgetown, and his music career rarely comes up during his everyday life as a student.

“When they do figure it out, they think it’s kind of cool but aren’t as fanatic as other people may think of it. Usually how they find out is that I’m in the same class with them and then they somehow hear the news that this guy’s name is Roy Kim and they think ‘oh there’s this guy named Roy Kim in my class.’ They don’t bug me or anything. Georgetown takes me as a part of its community.”

“This is one of the places that I feel most at home and happy,” Kim said. “I feel home at my literal home in Korea, and here in LXR. It changes; I don’t think home has to be a physical thing. It could be a cafe with tight friends, anywhere you can be true and honest to your thoughts.”

In Korea, Kim’s privacy is a totally different story.

“My second album acknowledged that even when you reach your dreams, it’s not all about happiness, there are other emotions that follow.”

“In Korea, drinking coffee at a cafe could be a very disturbing thing sometimes,” Kim said. “If I want to spend private time with a friend or two, I just want to talk and drink coffee. Every five minutes, people would come up and ask for photos. But here people don’t do that, so it’s a very comfortable place.”

“

I don’t think home has to be a physical thing.

It could be a cafe with tight friends, anywhere you can be true and honest to your thoughts.

Home also represents a musical shift for Kim from Love Love Love, his first album.

“My first album has a faster tempo and high pitched sounds. It’s more cheerful compared to the second one,” Kim said. “My career had been blossoming and I was more into happiness than other emotions. I just wanted to tell people ‘don’t worry, be happy, it’s all going to be all right.’ I realize that’s a really immature and idealistic way of wanting other people to be happy. Just because I say ‘be happy,’ it doesn’t really change anything.”

“My second album was kind of realizing that and taking it to another direction of soothing and writing songs that talk about people’s lives that don’t simply tell them to be happy but provide sympathy with stories that anyone could easily be a part of,” Kim said. “And my student life definitely had a part in it. I mean most of my second album was written here in Village B.”

Kim’s musical influences include Ben Howard, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and The Beatles. He explained that he follows those artists, because he sees them as just people who sing their own songs with guitars.

After all his touring and national attention in Korea, Kim thinks of Georgetown as his second home.

“At first, I didn’t know anything about Georgetown when I got here, but I realized I really like it here. Everyone’s really hardworking here, and that’s what I really like about it,” said Kim. “I usually spend my time writing songs when I don’t have anything to do. Everyone tells me to join a club, but I’m a very lazy guy so I like to stay at the dorm and do nothing. I have seven more semesters here, so I could do anything.”

Kim is not involved with any major extracurricular activities at Georgetown, but during his freshman year, Kim briefly participated in the Chimes, an all-male a cappella group. After appearing on a Korean radio show last October,

”

As an undeclared student in the MSB, Kim plans to transfer into the College to study psychology or sociology, but has not yet made up his mind or thought much about a post-college career beyond music. For now, he just hopes to enjoy the ride and see where life takes him next.

“I don’t think there has been a singer in Korea who went through being a singer and a student studying abroad at the same time, so I didn’t have any role models to look at,” Kim said. “But it all just flowed. I don’t like to go against the flow. If something’s going to happen, I just like to go with it.”

out k c Che w e his n , m albu . e Hom

leisure

10 | the georgetown voice

JANUARY 22, 2015

Touchstone Gallery makes waves with Watercolors exhibition MIKE BERGIN On the page of her personal website labeled “Artist’s Statement,” Patricia Williams cites a quote from French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir: “To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty!

There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.”

Joy, whimsical wit, and aesthetic beauty are exactly what Williams provides in Hidden Things Revealed, her latest exhibit. Located at the Touchstone Gallery through the end of January, the collection demonstrates an impressive variety of abstract natural scenes done in watercolor, shedding light on the beautiful nature of common things around us.

Upon entering the gallery, the boldness of Williams’ works stands out immediately, her daring color choices and rugged style juxtaposed with stark white walls and framings. The first work to strike me was titled “Grandma’s in the Kitchen.” In title and appearance, this painting intricately captures the

fondest aspects of memory. Williams’ postmodern twist on the familiar still life form generates a simplistically ornate piece that flaunts her mastery of color and texture through this difficult medium. Delicate layers of green slowly transition in hue from dark to light with yellow

JUST ADD WATER For wholesome, abstract family fun! blemishes that indicate the reality of imperfection in the past, for better or for worse.

Williams’ art reflects joy in other ways as well, most notably through the sense of humor she puts on display in many of her paintings. Although its mottled background and underutiliza-

OUTOFControl:

A bi-weekly column about gaming by Christopher Castano I’ve never pre-ordered a game.

I would like to say that is because I’m patient when it comes to snagging the newest releases, but it usually comes down to the fact that I have a habit of looking for the cheapest source of gaming possible—thank you, college budget.

I know plenty of people who do decide to invest their hard earned money in the reservation of a brand-spanking-new game they’ve been waiting on for months, if not years, to be released. It’s a gaming institution that’s been around since I became aware of the greater gaming community. But if the online portions of gamers have their way, the practice of pre-ordering games could disappear from gaming, or at least undergo drastic change.

Recently, companies like Ubisoft and EA have come under fire for releasing largely buggy and unfinished games like Assassin’s Creed Unity and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

They’re accused of neglecting to put

tion of the artist’s ability to blend colors make “Some Melted Butter and We’re Ready to Go” one of my least favorite works in the gallery, the humble comedy she applies to its title was irrefutable.

True abstracts make up the majority of Williams’ exhibit. Her most successful works manage to balance

out a finished product for the sake of speed. Gamers are concerned that publishers are half-assing titles that could be absolute masterpieces simply because they know they’ll get a huge amount of revenue from pre-ordering. To show their disdain for companies cutting corners to gain revenue, users of online forum sites like Reddit, Steam, Imgur, and Kotaku have banded together to boycott against this cost cutting.

But to be honest, those participating in the boycott are almost as much to blame as the publishers themselves. For some reason or another, gamers seem to think that the problems associated with pre-ordering are isolated to this particular act. Unfortunately, issues like rudimentary game mechanics and expensive downloadable content are symptoms of a bigger issue in the gaming industry today: accountability.

Pre-ordering in and of itself is actually a pretty sweet concept. The

interpretive color washes blended into patterns and intricate details.

But when the former dominates the latter, she risks losing the central qualities that make her art interesting. One of Williams’ finest specimens on display, titled “Flight Plan,” depicts butterflies and a flower with an intricacy that rivals those of the

Audubon society. Around these figures are seemingly random lines that fall, as if by happenstance, into a fascinating shape that interrupts the still image. Seemingly random splatters and drips of paint down the page demonstrate unorganized beauty, mimicking the flight path of a butterfly.

TARYN SHAW

What also struck me in many of Williams’ paintings were the original sketch lines and intentional paint drips she left in the works. This technique initially makes paintings such as “Things Are Not What They May Seem” appear unfinished. But these remaining pencil lines are not only intentional, but meaningful as

Patience is a virtue -- even in the digital world problem is when publishers take the easy way out when dealing with high demand and low levels of transparency. If we want to see a change in gaming occur, it can’t simply be in the form of a boycott of an otherwise fine service, but instead in how we hold companies responsible for the quality of their product.

That being said, if accountability is what gamers want, they’ll also have to turn a critical eye on themselves in order to understand why publishers and developers have resorted to such underhanded tactics. At the forefront of any self-criticism that should be levelled against gamers is the fact that we, as a group, are impatient.

Sure, Duke Nukem Forever spent 15 years in development, and the world is still waiting on any word of Half Life 3 from Lord Gaben, but we’re not usually made to wait that long for new installments of our favorite games.

For instance, Assassin’s Creed fans only had to wait 2 years be-

tween the releases of the original game and the series’ critically acclaimed second installment.

However, as the series picked up in popularity, and people wanted more and more historical goodness, Ubisoft began pumping AC games out on a yearly basis, leading innovations in the series feeling contrived and gimmicky.

Ubisoft probably would have loved to have given its developers more time to fine-tune the games released in ACII’s wake, especially with the advent of its multi-player. But demand was insanely high.

People loved Ezio, loved the vast open world gameplay, and wanted more. Sure, Ubisoft has pumped out some less than impressive titles in the past three years, but they wouldn’t be doing this if the demand from consumers didn’t push them to do so.

Not only are fans impatient, but a lot of the time, gaming connoisseurs forget just how difficult making a truly spectac-

well. Each stroke shows a work in progress, a reflection of the way nature truly is.

The abstract quality of Williams’ art often leaves the tone the she attempts to invoke in viewers highly ambiguous. Despite its title, “Sunshine Makes Me Happy” initially elicits confusion. This multitoned deconstruction of plants spiraling apart is subtlety laced with Williams’ pencil marks, which ultimately seems to trace the work’s journey from her mind to paper.

In Hidden Things Revealed, plants, insects, and sea-life become beautiful amalgamations of color. Even when painting the smallest of objects, like a plum, she weaves large stories that capture our imagination. In doing so, Williams appears to be gifting viewers the compelling realization that her works are theirs to finish. She wants thought put into these astounding depictions of the natural world. Because nature belongs to all people, Williams seems to say, it is ours to perceive.

Touchstone Gallery 901 New York Avenue N.W. Wed - Fri, 11 a.m.- 6 p.m.

Sat - Sun, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. touchstonegallery.com

ular next-generation title can be. Considering the staggering number of staffers working on a project at any given time, the multifaceted nature of such an undertaking, and just how much content is jam-packed into a single disk these days, it’s a wonder more games don’t come out looking more like Frankenstein’s monster.

Pulling off a well-made, innovative game is by no means simple.

That’s not to say that sloppy work is to be excused, but when the demand for a game has pushed the company into producing multiple titles in the span of three to five years, know what you’re getting yourself into when you decide to pre-order/purchase a title.

If gamers are willing to be patient and understand the complexity of the today’s gaming medium, and developers are more transparent about their intentions and practices, the hordes of the internet will have one less thing to complain about in the coming years.

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

georgetownvoice.com

“SOMETIMES IT IS THE PEOPLE WHO NO ONE IMAGINES ANYTHING OF WHO DO THE THINGS THAT NO ONE CAN IMAGINE.” — The IMITATION GAME

OKI Bowl redefines ramen’s reputation CONNOR ROHAN Fifty-cents-per-meal instant noodles have tarnished ramen’s good name. For too many Americans, ramen acts as the gastronomic equivalent of abject poverty; it is fuel of the guttersnipe, the last resort of last resorts—a final admission that life has won and you have lost. Friends, colleagues: it doesn’t have to be this way.

Just ask the management of OKI Bowl DC & Sake, a ramen restaurant located just outside of Dupont Circle. Offering four rice and four noodle-based ramen dishes alongside a host of authentic Japanese appetizers and beverages, OKI specializes in the kind of food that Americans have bastardized long enough.

Their most popular dish, Curry Ramen, is a delight. Large enough to keep your Tomagachi alive for de-

don’t forsake your sake tonight

cades on a single feed, OKI’s Curry Ramen predominantly features tender fried chicken and pickled cabbage in a savory curry broth. Spicy but not overwhelmingly so, sweet but not saccharine, the Curry Ramen balances a host of complex flavors with the skill of a trapeze artist made of really good ramen. Taste it, boys, flavor load comin’ atcha!

Unfortunately, this doesn’t hold true for the fried oyster tempura, another option on the menu. Eating this dish was a bit like biting into a pen, as the taste of ink was overwhelming; the accompanying dipping sauce did not mitigate this, as the sauce tasted remarkably similar to the oysters themselves. Though the mouthfeel of this dish’s crispy tempura shell and fleshy oyster center was unique, texture is difficult to enjoy when your mouth is drowning in Sharpie juice.

AMBIKA AHUJA

OKI’s service wasn’t exceptionally good or bad, but they did commit one egregious act: my meal was served approximately two minutes after the appetizer. Amateur move, OKI, amateur move.

The restaurant itself was lined with a chaotic amalgamation of faux-tarnished metallic décor. With the only consistent elements to OKI’s ornamentation being the color silver and wooden birdhouses, the restaurant’s interior resembled the love-child of a fishing cabin and a T.G.I Fridays. It’s a bit jarring, so stay away from this place if you’re a militant aesthetician.

A wide, albeit pricy, selection of microbrews, wines, and, sakes are available at the bar. Illuminated black lights and ostensibly vintage light up letters that spell OKI (just in case you forgot where you were), the bar is sleek, hip, and would make for a novel night on the town.

Ultimately, come here if you want ramen. The restaurant is clearly ramen-oriented, and nothing else was impressive enough to warrant my approval. Ramen is in their name (“bowl,” dummy), it’s by far the most predominant dish on the menu, and it’s delicious. They put all their eggs in one basket, and it was the right basket.

Great basket, OKI, love that basket!

OKI Bowl DC & Sake 1817 M Street N.W. Closed Sunday

the georgetown voice | 11

Amrika Chalo @ GU Despite strict censorship, Lahore’s Ajoka Theater, a group of avant-garde Pakistani artists, had their theatrical debut in their native country in 1894. Their mission? To promote a just society in Pakistan through socially meaningful theater.

This weekend, the group will be performing Amrika Chalo at the Davis Performing Arts Center, under the umbrella of Myriad Voices: A Cross-Cultural Performance Festival, a joint initiative between the Theater and Performance Studies Program and the School of Foreign Service that seeks to expand awareness and understanding of Muslim societies through art.

This workshop production will force viewers to confront problematic stereotypes of Pakistani people through a comedic satire addressing U.S-Pakistani relations at the American consulate. The show will also include guest artists and advanced acting students.

Amrika Chalo is the second big event of Myriad Voices after last fall’s “Syria: The Trojan Women” turned into a video conference due to the denial of the Syrian actresses’ visas by the Department of State.

—Sabrina Kayser

“why can’t we all just be friends?”

Georgetown university

Bad Boy El Greco finally finds vindication at National Gallery CAITLIN CAIN When asked what he thought of Michelangelo, El Greco remarked indignantly and controversially, “He was a good man, but he did not know how to paint.”

El Greco is the illegitimate child of the Renaissance. At the time, his work was considered scandalous among Italy’s elite.

He was a deviant—an outcast, even. But today, El Greco’s works are heralded as brilliant with a style both avant-garde and uncharacteristically modern for a Renaissance artist.

Last year marked the 400th Anniversary of El Greco’s death.

To celebrate his life and works, the National Gallery of Art has brought together seven paintings by El Greco (1541-1614) in their current West Gallery exhibition.

One of the largest collections of his works in the U.S.,

this exhibition brings together four paintings recently returned from Spain (Christ Cleansing the Temple, two altarpieces from a chapel in Toledo, and the Laocoön), and three additional works from Dumbarton Oaks, the Phillips Collection, and the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore, Md. The drama in El Greco’s work is evident upon first glance. The unconventionality of the El Greco style is striking; it is clear that his works were the Renaissance precursor to expressionism and cubism, though the art itself blends Byzantine, Renaissance, and mannerist styles into fierce visions.

The works are quite unsettling, but the discomfort they ensue is easily overcome by the underlying beauty of the paintings.

As I walked through the high ceilinged exhibit, I noticed a level of darkness in the religious figures present in El Greco’s work.

Unlike the works of other Renaissance greats, El Greco’s pieces do not always display an idyllic and serene interpretation of biblical occurrences.

Rather, his works are acknowledged as sublime and anomalous for a multitude of reasons: its striking colors, sophisticated simplicity, and serpentine figures.

His works are simply grotesque.

Take for instance the painting “Madonna and Child with Saint Martina and Saint Agnes.”

It is certainly one of the more nondescript works in the collection, containing the eponymous Madonna and Child in typical Renaissance fashion. But here, the visage of Madonna and Child is menacing and watchful, like nothing else from the era.

All seven works in the exhibit carry a unique emotional context, from providing artistic narration to less common bibli-

cal scenes as in “The Visitation,” a canvas that depicts the meeting between the Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, both pregnant at the time, to a depiction of the mythological legend from Virgil’s “Aneid.”

Of course, each of El Greco’s works in this exhibit are remarkable as magnificent, stand alone compositions. But having the works together makes them all the more powerful. Each one of the seven paintings is provid-

ed the unique oppurtunity to play off of the rest of the works in a way that does their creator proud.

And at the very least, the exhibit does what might be considered impossible—it proves Michelangelo wrong.

National Gallery of Art 6th 7 Constitution Avenue N.W. Mon. – Sat., 10 a.m.– 5 p.m., Sunday 11a.m.- 6 p.m. nga.gov

“still think The sistine chapel is impressive?”

National Gallery

leisure

12 | the georgetown voice

CRITICAL VOICES

Lupe Fiasco, Testuto & Youth, Atlantic Records I’ll just come out and say it. I’m in love with this album.

Lupe Fiasco’s Tetsuo & Youth has been a long time coming, and despite the controversies and delays—it was first announced way back in 2013—it has certainly lived up to the hype. Glancing through my notes on each song, it was hard to miss that I had written, “obsessed with this” next to nearly every song title—and deservedly so.

Bulldog Alley Alley Cats, Blind Phyllis, Independent What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “the 1920s?” Many think of the great excess of the prohibition era, of the parties, of the wealth, of basically everything contained in The Great Gatsby.

But what you might have forgotten was the soundtrack to this baccanale, the music that managed to wrangle even the modest out of their chairs and into step. You might have forgotten about Jazz.

Lupe Fiasco has long been a socially conscious rapper whose interests run the gamut, meaning there’s a lot to offer on this album—from lyrics, to musical genre, to collaborators—and thus, something for everyone.

There’s an R&B feel to the song “Deliver,” church music and religious references in “Madonna,” a jazzy intro to “Fall,” and country music underscoring in “Dots & Lines.”

Having first gotten into the rap world by rapping poetry he had written, it is no wonder that his music, in particular the track “Adoration of the Magi,” often sounds more like poetry being recited to music than traditional rap—and it’s awesome. It’swhat sets Lupe apart from the rest of the rap pack.

And while Lupe is a skilled lyricist and great on his own, he has also done some of his best and most memorable work with

collaborators. Guy Sebastian, who Lupe has worked with in the past (check out their incredible song “Battle Scars”), is featured on “Blur My Hands” with its easy, laid back beat. Long-time collaborator Nikki Jean is also featured on several tracks in this album, most notably on the aforementioned “Madonna.”

It’s not often that I like, let alone accept, even a quarter of an artist’s album into my sacred iTunes library.

And yet, I’ve currently got the entire Tetsuo & Youth album sitting in my Recently Added playlist, and I strongly encourage everyone else to follow suit.

This album simply represents Lupe Fiasco at his very best. Tetsuo & Youth is a true success.

Although that Jazz Age is long gone, its music still lives on through Georgetown’s own Bulldog Alley Alley Cats, a group that’s added their own flair to almost century old jazz traditions in their new EP, Blind Phyllis. The songs are well-organized, with all three tracks clocking in at about nine minutes long.

The best piece on the EP is the title-track, “Blind Phyllis.” An original composition by the group, the song immediately grabs the listener’s attention with powerful, energetic saxophones that create and sustain an enjoyable phrase throughout.

About halfway through the song, this catchy lick dies down, opening the doors for other instruments, particularly Dan Sheehan (COL ‘17) on the drums and Joe Epstein (MSFS ‘17) on the trumpet, to demonstrate their solo skills before the group loops back into its saxophonic groove.

The album comes out uneven, however, with the track “So What” leaving listeners wondering the same thing. Unlike “Blind Phyllis,” there is no build-up; instead, there is a slowed section in an already soft jazz piece.

That being said, the Alley Cats’ interpretation of this standard is not bad— it simply pales in comparison to both “Blind Phyllis” and “Khao Sok,” the remaining track on the EP. In Blind Phyllis, the Bulldog Alley Alley Cats display their talent for producing elegant and engaging compositions. From the upbeat and energetic title track to the triumphant, encore sound of “Khao Sok,” this EP is a great listen both for the token jazz enthusiasts and anyone interested in great instrumentals.

Needless to say, these cats have a lot to offer.

Voice’s Choices: “Prisoners 1&2,” “Adoration of the Magi” —Nicole Kuhn

Voice’s Choices: “Blind Phyllis” “Khao Sok” —Emmanuel Elone

CONCERT CALENDAR SATURDAY 1/24 Hot in Herre: 2000s Dance Party 9:30 Club, 9 p.m., $15

MONDAY 1/26 Motion City Soundtrack The Fillmore, 7:30 p.m., $30

WEDNESDAY 1/28 Less than Jake, Reel Big Fish The Fillmore, 7:30 p.m., $30

SUNDAY 1/25 Baby Bry Bry & The Apologists U Street Music Hall, 7:30 p.m, $15

WEDNESDAY 1/28 Giraffage U Street Music Hall 10 p.m., $15

THURSDAY 1/29 Zola Jesus Black Cat, 8 p.m., $15

REElTALK:

JANUARY 22, 2015

Going for (Oscar) Gold

A bi-weekly column about film by Brian McMahon

The Best Picture field for the Academy Awards boasts eight strong nominees without any true weak links. Oscar night promises intrigue and excitement with a true battle of titans, from Birdman’s quest to win for the sake of movies and performance to Selma’s spotlight on racial dynamics that remain relevant to this day. In my mind, though, another film jumps out ahead of the rest. We have seen great dramas, biographies, and war films before, but rarely do we get to see one film become all three.

Beyond that, The Imitation Game offers the greatest combination of acting, directing, and storytelling of any of this year’s nominees.

The Imitation Game offers the riveting amalgamation of a compelling character study and a tense wartime narrative, bouncing between the two constantly without diluting the viewing experience. It certainly helps that the film comes about from phenomenal source material—Alan Turing’s story is one of the richest in modern history. Breaking the Enigma machine is at the same time one of the most groundbreaking and underappreciated accomplishments of the past century. Beyond his World War II heroics, Turing laid the foundation for modern computing and information processing. It’s the kind of story that even the driest documentary could make captivating, let alone a tense and brilliantly acted motion picture.

As the Oscar’s judging season rolls on, standout performers often push their films to contention and victory—Colin Firth in The King’s Speech, for example. These exceptional actors provide a face for viewers and voters to associate with their films, which can bolster their campaigns. Biographical films especially require a versatile and talented lead to really shine— cue Benedict Cumberbatch. His portrayal of Turing is undoubtedly the most nuanced and demanding performance of his career, capturing not only the tormented hero’s brilliance but also his fragility.

Like the film itself, Cumberbatch might be overshadowed by the powerful performances of the other best actor nominees—especially Eddie Redmayne, in The Theory of Everything and Michael Keaton, in Birdman. It’s no question, however, that Cumberbatch does the most impressive work of

the bunch, embodying the numerous complexities of Turing’s character without allowing any to bog down the story. Director Morten Tyldum also deserves credit here for successfully weaving the personal, professional, and historical aspects of Turing’s story together into a single narrative that is both powerful and accessible to viewers. He reveals both the depth of Turing’s story and the scope of his legacy without disrupting the film’s rhythm.

Films like Selma and American Sniper offer poignant takes on turbulent times and individuals in American history, while Birdman and Boyhood are filled with lively innovation. Where The Imitation Game goes beyond, however, is in its illumination of an important historical figure while also tying his tortured existence to social issues that are still relevant to us today.

Alan Turing shortened the most brutal war in history by years, he fell victim to social persecution of the day against homosexuality.

Turing has become somewhat of an icon in the gay community, a supremely intelligent and influential man taken far too soon because of dehumanizing legislation that required him to undergo chemical castration. Again, Tyldum’s film manages to reveal this while also firmly reminding his audience that Turing’s legacy and works transcends the discrimination he faced in his lifetime. No one storyline or event made the man, and the film does well to convey that to its audience.

I do not intend to disparage the rest of the Best Picture field. Each of the eight films offers something different and entertaining, and regardless of whom takes home the statuette, I probably will not be complaining. No ill will surrounds any of the films—there is no Crash in this field, no polarizing or pretentious work. Directors like Richard Linklater, with Boyhood, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, with Birdman, have done amazing work, but Tyldum and his cast have crafted a stunning combination of history, biography, action, and commentary that will stand the test of time.

Let’s hope the academy will see it the same way.

Break the code with Brian at bem64@georgetown.edu

georgetownvoice.com

PAGE THIRTEEN

the georgetown voice |13

– Dylan Cutler —Dylan Cutler

voices

14 | the georgetown voice

January 22, 2015

A Life Worth Living: Finding the Time to find a Purpose EUGENE “SOOSH” KIM Leo’s grilled chicken has made many a day of mine. So has my International Finance professor.

He’s one of those professors who initially seems to straddle the line between trying too hard to be liked and being a genuinely likable character, but as the semester progresses, you realize he’s the latter. Last week, he sent my class an email, in which he included a quote from Socrates: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” It’s a pretty good saying, and one that is quite applicable in the busyness of student life as a Hoya.

Between classes, homework, and clubs, I find it difficult to remember the “why” of my life.

Honestly, I’m not even that involved in activities on campus— at least not by “Georgetown standards.” Even so, I often feel caught up in a whirlwind of an ever-growing to-do list, including readings I never got to.

At such an important juncture, it is of utmost importance

to take time to evaluate your life. This may go against the instinct of “go go go” that defines the Georgetown experience, but a lesson I have learned is that rest begets productivity.

One of the jewels of Georgetown’s Jesuit identity that I will take with me far beyond graduation is reflection and mindfulness. Reflecting using thoughtful observations, questions, and answers is what sorts through everything that is thrown at you during college and helps you make sense of, learn from, and take from this unique time of life. This applies to both our studies and our life in general.

While reflecting, a useful question to ask is, “why am I doing all of this?” A more common and scarier-sounding form of the same inquiry is, “what’s the purpose of life?” I’ll even go so far as to say that this is an essential question that we must all ask ourselves.

The answer to this question is one that you may or may not find during college. However, there are interim answers, such as money, success, stabil-

ity, happiness, and making the world a better place. I believe that Socrates was referring to this type of self-reflection when speaking of examining one’s life.

Now, I’m going to break with Socrates, and go a step further. We must deal with what we discover at the end of our examination if we are each to live a meaningful and purposeful existence. If, at the end of our examination, we realize that the purposes of our lives are not worth dedicating our lives to, we must embark on a journey to find purposes that are more worthy. For me, a purpose that is worth living for is one that is of the highest value, outlasts my own life in terms of time and impact, and narrates a story far greater than my own.

As a Christian, I have discovered this purpose to be bringing glory to God. To put it in the terms of Georgetown’s Jesuit identity: Ad maiorem Dei gloriam. God’s glory is the most valuable thing in the universe and beyond. He, the Creator, is eternal and is not bound by

time. He has a good and guaranteed plan in place to bring glory to himself, which will eventually manifest as a kingdom in which there will no longer be any selfishness, greed, injustice, etc. His story is one in which sinners like you and me, who have offended this morally perfect God, can be adopted as his children. The price paid for this adoption was the death of Jesus Christ. Why did Jesus have to die? Death is the required payment for sin, and Jesus paid it despite being perfect so that sinners could have relationships with God upon repentance.

Why would anyone want a personal relationship with this God? He is perfectly good, sovereignly just, intensely loving, and infinitely patient. I believe that Jesus rose from the dead after three days, so that those who turn from their sins and believe in him can also have life after death. That is, a relationship with God begins upon conversion in this life and continues in the next. His story is a beautiful one of his perfect love, justice, and mercy.

As such, the glory of God meets the criteria of a purpose worth living for. I even claim that God’s glory is the only purpose worth living for. This may be offensive to you, as it once was to me. However, I encourage you to at least strongly consider the glory of God as a purpose to which you can dedicate yourself upon examining your life. A good place to begin is by reading the book of John in the Bible, or even talking to a Christian acquaintance. I write to you as someone left entirely unsatisfied by pursuits of success, approval, and happiness.

While not “evil” in and of themselves, they do not suffice as the purpose of life.

May this semester be one of discovery and exploration. Remember, dear friend, your life is a precious one. Dedicate it to a valuable purpose.

SOOSH IS A SOPHOMORE IN THE SFS

Tired of Terror: Reexamining America’s Anti-Extremist Wars RYAN GREENE For almost my entire life, I have lived in a world that is nearly defined by terrorism and images of terrorism. My first week of second grade was interrupted by planes crashing into buildings 45 minutes south of my house. I distinctly remember a grandiose statue of a Middle Eastern dictator toppling over on the TV as I sat in my doctor’s waiting room not long after.

Last year, I ate an entire bag of popcorn during Lone Survivor, a

Hollywood action movie depicting the single largest loss of American soldiers in decades.

Ever since 9/11, I have not been able to put on the TV or read news online without navigating around stories about bombs being dropped on dusty, desert cities or American soldiers, some younger than I am now, getting incinerated in explosions.

It is horrifying, it is disturbing, and I see it every day. And yet, I am not that affected by it all. At least, it seems like the horror of my nation’s apparently endless, continent-spanning war against hateful

KATIE HYLAND

MORE BAD NEWS EXTREMISM IS ON THE RISE EVEN AFTER YEARS OF WARFARE

extremists should affect me more than it does. But it doesn’t, and I feel that I am not alone in that regard. In fact, I believe that the constant war and violence is turning the U.S. into a country full of complacent and ignorant voters who are content with the unscrupulous use of warfare.

The so-called “War on Terror” is a unique phenomenon in American history. For the first time, the U.S. has committed to wage war not on a nation defined by geographic borders to achieve clear military objectives but, instead, on al-Qaeda and its fellow travelers – organizations which are defined more by their radical ideologies and far less by concrete geographic centers. Since the “War on Terror” began, al-Qaeda alone has since diffused into countless groups in multiple countries: the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Boko Haram in Nigeria, alShabaab in Somalia. The list goes on and on.

The “War on Terror,” in terms of any definitive military victory, is a hopeless folly. JFK once said, “a man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” That’s what al-Qaeda and its affiliates are: an ideology, a set of beliefs, not a nation. That ideology won’t crumble like a shelled building or collapse like the target of an Amer-

ican sniper rifle. Militant Islam cannot be addressed with violence because it grows and strengthens its resolve in the face of violence.

For every Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the U.S. and its allies obliterate, another rises, ready to take their place. The spiral of conflict continues: the wounds and the hatred deepen.

In retrospect, declaring a “War on Terror” made about as much sense as declaring a “War on Hate” or a “War on Violence,” as if you could kill an idea with a bomb.

In the meantime, while the U.S. struggles to redefine and reassess this conflict, American soldiers and innocent civilians die, and the American public grows increasingly accustomed to being a nation at war. A ludicrous callousness has developed towards our nation’s use of violence. In the Iraq War alone (which, in many ways, has not ended), at least 100,000 Iraqis and about 4,500 American soldiers died. Some of those soldiers who didn’t lose life or limb on the battlefield took their own lives because they couldn’t live with the things they saw and did in the theater of war. And yet, there are those in this country who want more bloodshed, more bombs, and more bullets.

Following the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Fox News

host Jeanine Pirro called for the mass armament of Muslims to destroy radical Islamists. Not only does Pirro’s diatribe neglect the fact that the last time the U.S. did that, we helped create the Taliban, but it reflects how much our country has demonized the Middle East and sees violence as the only way to win.

Pirro is wrong. Violence is not the solution to the problems in the Middle East, and it will not serve to keep the U.S. safe in the long-term. I do not know how to achieve peace in the Middle East.

No one does, although any keyboard-wielding political commentator is sure to give you what they think is the definitive solution.

What I do know is that we cannot sit by while our country commits to the broad use of violence across the globe, promoting a bloated conflict through its second decade of existence. We must demand a more critical approach to how we decide to use violence.

Pirro may be right about one thing, however, and it was about what I fear most: “This is not going to stop.”

RYAN IS a JUNIOR in the COLLEGE

voices

georgetownvoice.com

THE GEORGETOWN VOICe | 15

Wrong on so many levels: The Sorry State of our Facilities JOE LAPOSATA When I was a freshman, I was a proud resident of New South 4, home to Jack the Bulldog. Jack was the floor pet and we all loved playing with him and JJ, then the mascot-in-training. The dogs, however, could not take the stairs, which is why I have a particularly acute memory of an irate Father Steck sitting in the New South Courtyard, justifiably mad that he could not bring the dogs back up

to his apartment because both of the New South elevators were broken, which they remained for over a day.

Two years later, as a junior trying to sell this university that I so love to my friends still in high school, and I’m frequently presented with the question: “What are the facilities like?”

The answer is always some version of: “It’s complicated.”

Before I really get into this, I should make it clear that this is a serious issue. We live on and around steep slopes, which pres-

ERIN ANNICK

NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP TOO BAD ELEVATORS DON’T RUN ON HOPES AND DREAMS

CARRYING ON

ent insurmountable obstacles for many of our disabled classmates.

There’s a reason we call campus “the Hilltop.” Elevators and the modern technology they accompany present a way for our fellow Hoyas for whom stairs are not navigable to enjoy the same access the rest of us do. Failing to provide such alternatives leaves us not only ethically suspect but also seriously non-compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. With this in mind, let’s take a look.

The state of elevators can be explained pretty equally by two theories: an old-building/ new-building dichotomy, and the heavy-duty wear and tear we inflict upon them. On the one hand, you have New South, where you can travel in style at a less-than-glamorous two miles per hour as 45 continuous seconds of urine-smell molests your nostrils; on the other, you have the beautiful ICC elevators, whose mirrored ceilings provide a great way for me to ‘get my hair did’ when rushing to class.

Don’t judge. This is pretty easily explicable in terms of the above theories: New South was built in the ‘60s and serves as a residence hall for 400-odd freshmen who use the elevator for sex when their roommate is asleep. In con-

A DIFFERENT MOLD FOR THE OSCARS

BY JULIA LLOYD-GEORGE

A rotating column by senior Voice staffers

Everything seems a little tidier in retrospect, the visceral immediacy of a moment a little muted in its distance from the present.

The moment I’m thinking about occurred last summer, when I was 2,600 meters in the air and clinging to a rock face, attempting to convince myself aloud that I wasn’t going to die. In hindsight, it doesn’t seem like my demise could have been that likely, but the combination of a strong fear of heights and being whipped around by cold Alpine winds wasn’t doing a whole lot for my anxiety at the time.

Seven days into my solo trek around the mountain range surrounding Mont Blanc, the second-highest peak in Europe, I was filled with a primal fear that I’d never before felt in my fairly sheltered existence. But I’d also never felt freer, or more alive. Everything hit harder, the intensity of my new daily existence making ecstasy an almost mundane notion. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it was the best experience of my life.

I’m recounting my story now, almost six months after the fact, because this year’s slate of Oscar nominations has excluded the adapted story of another lone female hiker, Cheryl Strayed, in Wild. While Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern scored nominations for their performances, the film was ignored in all other categories.

It seems that every year the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences fails to recognize at least one highly deserving candidate that falls outside of its narrow worldview, so the omission didn’t really surprise me. The snub of Selma’s director, Ava Duvernay, is yet another oversight that has received media attention, and deservedly so; the rejection of what would have been the first black woman nominated for Best Director seems especially unjust, particularly because her film received a Best Picture nomination.

I try not to get too angry about these omissions, since it’s pretty much a given that the Academy doesn’t always make the best or

trast, the ICC was constructed much more recently, and since nobody sleeps in the classrooms, students can have sex there instead of the elevators. The only fault I can find with the ICC is that the path to the freight elevator is frequently obstructed by gloriously inattentive patrons of More Uncommon Grounds.

A similar story can be found around campus. New buildings, which are predominantly non-residential, have nice elevators that remind me of a German train station: they’re models of punctuality, efficiency and cleanliness. In older buildings, I’m reminded more of a Sicilian bus stop. I love my ancestors but, much like a Darnall elevator, they were not known for their kindness to travelers.

Harbin elevators break down consistently, Village C elevators have a penchant for stopping on every floor until maintenance fixes them again, and the poor residents of VCE 10 have only one elevator that goes to their floor. This sounds fine, until you realize that there are two elevators for every other floor, and there is no way to call just the one that goes to the tenth floor.

So what’s the solution? Well, to a certain extent the problem is fixing itself, as newer, shini-

fairest choices (to point out just one glaring example, Alfred Hitchcock never won Best Director). Nevertheless, those choices are still important, because they validate certain stories over others and increase their visibility. Even in an age when an aggregate of easily accessible information determines our consumer choices, that traditional stamp of approval still has significant weight.

No matter how much people dismiss awards shows and the entertainment industry as frivolous— especially at Georgetown, where business and politics undeniably trump the arts as areas of focus— they determine the narratives that define our world. The ability to see ourselves in those narratives is an often underrated manifestation of authority. After all, visibility is power.

Just like the elite groups that govern the worlds of business and politics, the Academy is predominantly composed of old white men who dictate what stories matter and what voices should rise above the rest. It’s not surprising that the

storytellers they choose to validate mostly resemble them; all acting nominees this year are white, while all directors and screenwriter nominees are men. This is a trend visible not only in Hollywood but also in the workplace, where hiring practices are often determined on the basis of “cultural matching,” as a 2012 case study by the American Sociological Review found. The challenge, then, is getting the most powerful and visible people to resemble the rest of the world.

I’m hardly the first person to point this out. What’s more, I don’t have a solution to this problem.

I don’t know how we can fix this broken system of narrative authority that reflects a wider culture of entrenched racism and sexism, except perhaps establishing some kind of quota that promotes diversity within the Academy’s membership or, barring that, killing off all the old white men.

All I can do, realistically, is add my voice to the chorus. Even if we can’t immediately alter this kind of power structure, we can still train

er buildings are being built on campus. For all the pain that the residents of Henle have endured this semester and will endure in the semesters to come, I bet you the Northeast Triangle will have efficient elevators. We’ll sully them with some combination of alcohol and bodily fluids soon enough, but imagine how shiny they’ll be on move-in day! Addons and renovations to buildings count too: Healy Hall’s elevator is tiny—I’ve seen a woman in a large wheelchair try and fail to fit inside—but the Maguire’s much newer elevator is large and lets you out right by Riggs Library.

I don’t envy the task the university has in making this hill ADA-compliant, but in a way, their task is poetic. Perhaps my favorite thing about elevators is that they are their own metaphor. With a bit of attention and slightly less pee, they could shoot straight to the top floor of our otherwise totally perfect dorms. But as they stand, there’s nowhere to go but up, because the down button is broken, and maintenance is busy.

JOE IS A JUNIOR IN THE COLLEGE

ourselves to detect the bias that permeates this industry. Even if the stories we love don’t receive the attention we feel they deserve, we can still celebrate their existence. Most significantly, we can license ourselves to tell our own stories and fight to make them heard.

Wild is an important story to me because its focus is a woman on a quest, answering to no one but herself. When I read Strayed’s memoir, I was inspired to take a solitary trek of my own and felt more confident about that choice because of this story’s power. Like Tracks, a lesser-known memoir-turned-film about a woman who walked over 1,700 miles across the Australian desert, or the journalism of Vanessa Veselka, a former hitchhiker who wrote a spectacular essay about female road narratives, that story provided me with a role model that validated my own desires.

When I was on the trail, I frequently met people who were shocked at seeing a lone female hiker. In their eyes, I invited trouble. Though some called me brave, many simply raised their eyebrows and dismissed me as deluded. Lone male hikers were a frequent sight, validated by a strong legacy of male quest narratives. I, on the other hand, was an anomaly. It’s high time for that to change.

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Jack the Bulldog’s Facebook page

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Jack the Bulldog’s Facebook page