The Georgetown Voice, March 17th, 2017

VOICE The Georgetown

The Speed of White page 8

End of Life Care in the District page 10

March 17, 2017

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MARCH 17, 2017

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

staff editor-in-chief Graham Piro Managing editor Caitlyn Cobb

Volume 49 • Issue 13

news

executive editor Ryan miller Features editor Alex bOyd assistant features editor jonny amon news editor isaiah seibert assistant news editors Jake maher, margaret gach

culture

executive editor Brian Mcmahon Leisure editor caitlin mannering assistant leisure editors Gustav Honl-stuenkel, Devon O’Dwyer, ryan mazalatis Sports editor tyler pearre Assistant sports editor alex lewontin Photo courtesy of Georgetown Sports Information Edited by alli kaufman

opinion

Editorials

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Carrying On: An Open Letter to Latino Immigrants Ryan Mazalatis

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contents

Open Access: Excluding Identities in the Inclusivity Movement Rebecca Zaritsky Breaking the Pattern: Encouraging Women to Speak Up Sienna Brancato

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The Speed of White Alex Boyd

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Campus Reacts to Death With Dignity Act Alex Lewontin

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Benched: Men’s Basketball Woes Concern Fans Tyler Pearre

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Monkeying Around: Don’t Go Bananas for Kong: Skull Island Graham Piro

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Crticial Voices Anne Paglia and Gustav Honl-Stuenkel

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Endless Reflections: Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors Laura Isaza

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Executive editor kevin huggard voices editor emma Francois Assistant Voices editors kaei lI, rebecca zaritsky Editorial Board Chair chris dunn Editorial Board jon block, caitlyn cobb, kenneth lee, kevin Huggard, Alli Kaufman, GRAHAM PIRO, Isaiah seibert, PHillip Steuber, ryan miller

halftime

Leisure editor amy guay assistant leisure editors brynn furey, emily jaster, anne paglia Sports editor Jorge DeNeve Assistant sports editor parker houston

design

Executive editor alli kaufman Spread editor lindsay reilly Photo Editor Isabel lord assistant design editors jake glass, lizz pankova, jack townsend Staff Designers Rachel Corbally, Alexandra Falkner, Keeho Kang, Sam Lee, Aicha nzie, max tholgmas, rachel zeide

copy

copy chief Anna Gloor assistant Copy editors audrey bischoff, julia pinney editors Sienna Brancato, Jack Cashmere, Clara Cecil, Claire Goldberg, Isabel Lord, Isabel Paret, Greer Richey, Jack Townsend

online

online editor Anne Freeman assistant podcast editor nick gavio social media editor Claire Goldberg

support

associate editors Mike Bergin, Jon block, lilah burke, michael coyne, cassidy jensen

Staff writers

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

editor@georgetownvoice.com Leavey 424 Box 571066 Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057

MOnica Cho, Brynne Long, Santul nerkar, madelyn rice, Brice russo, Katya Schwenk, Dan Sheehan, Noah Telerski

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

READ More ON GEORGETOWNVOICE.COM news Faculty Senate Condemns Trump Immigration Ban Rebecca Zaritsky reports on the Faculty Senate’s condemnation of President Donald Trump’s immigration ban.

CISR Urges Board Of Directors Against Private Prisons Ryan Miller writes about Committee on Investment and Social Responsibility’s advisement to Georgetown’s Board of Directors to avoid direct investment in private prisons.

Halftime Trailer Takes: Salt And Fire, Rough Night, And The Void Catch up on recent movie trailers for Salt and Fire, Rough Night, and The Void, then read the Halftime Staff’s impressions in the latest Trailer Takes.

The Makings Of A Miracle Read Jorge Deneve’s analysis of Barcelona’s 6-1 dramatic win against Paris Saint-Germain, where he breaks down how the PSG’s collapse combined with a brilliant performance by Barcelona to make a miracle.

Sports Top Men’s Basketball Commit Requests Release From Georgetown Nick Gavio reports on top men’s basketball’s recruit Tremont Waters’ decision to decommit from Georgetown for the upcoming 2017-18 season.

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MARCH 17, 2017

EDITORIALS

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Change Needed in Basketball Leadership Georgetown invests in men’s basketball like its program is a national power. In recent years, however, performance has not met this level of investment. This editorial board believes that present conditions make improvement unlikely without intervention, and therefore urges the administration to address problems within the the basketball program.

Head Coach John Thompson III has brought Georgetown past successes on the court and always represented the school well off of it. He has run a scandalfree program at a time when this can seem rare. He is, by all accounts, a good man. It brings us no joy to say that we believe the program would be better served if another coach were to oversee its rebuilding.

There are many schools across the country with wellregarded academics which have chosen to let big-time athletics fade. Georgetown has not. The administration, through its construction of the Thompson Athletics Center (TAC), its role in helping to shepherd the creation of the current iteration of the Big East Conference, and its financial investment in coaching salaries and basketball scholarships, has made clear that it wants to field a high-level basketball team. In recent years, this has not happened.

Last week, the team completed its second consecutive losing season (15-18 last year, 14-18 this year). The Hoyas finished 7th in the Big East last year and 9th this year, missing out on postseason play in both seasons. For three of the last four seasons, the Georgetown men’s team has not played in the NCAA Tournament. The current senior class has witnessed the worst win-loss record of any four years since the 1970s.

The way forward appears bleak. In the days following the season’s end, a highly-regarded recruit withdrew his commitment and at least one other player signaled his intent

to transfer from Georgetown. Something has apparently gone wrong. We were encouraged last year by the apparent recognition on the part of the coaching staff that the Hoyas needed to make adjustments. It seemed there was reason for optimism going into this season. But now, with another year gone and an even worse record to show for it, we believe it is time for a new head coach to begin the process of restoring Georgetown’s place in the national basketball conversation, something the administration has made clear is one of its goals. Coach Thompson has now had multiple years and several different teams with which to work through these problems. That things have not improved says to us that the time has come to move on.

Everyone seems to have a favored theory for the Hoyas’ struggles. Without knowing what takes place behind closed doors it is difficult to say which of the criticisms, if any, reflect the truth. What is clear is that problems exist, whatever they may be. The record of recent years makes this unfortunate reality unmistakable. Through a spokesperson, the university declined to comment on the Voice’s question regarding the future of the basketball program and Coach Thompson’s status.

Against this backdrop, long-standing administrative policies have created the appearance of a lack of accountability within the basketball program. Statements regarding the program are sparse, and pre-game media availabilities are inconsistent. Post-game press conferences are frequently limited in some way. At different times, these press conferences have been ended prematurely, have not included players, or have seen the refusal of reasonable questions. Arena staff have reportedly confiscated critical signs from fans and drowned out negative chants with loud music. This has made the program appear as though it

feels no need to take accountability for the recent troubles, contributing to the toxic environment many now see as surrounding the program.

Coach Thompson does not deserve this toxicity. Almost every coach goes through rough stretches, and while we believe a change to be necessary, much of the aggression now directed toward him is out of order. But while some have gone too far in their criticisms, administration policies have, in their attempt to silence and ignore dissent, created an environment in which criticism has only become more extreme. The administration does not need to follow the wishes of students or blog commenters—or, for that matter, editorial boards—when making key decisions, but the cloud that now surrounds the program should prompt as much reflection as should the Hoyas’ in-game difficulties. There are clear problems to be resolved. Next year’s coach, whether Thompson or someone else, would be poorly served by the continuation of the same administrative policies which have fed the perception that the program lacks accountability.

Equally worrying is the apathy we have noticed among many of our fellow students. We have watched in recent years as support for the basketball program has become an increasingly less essential part of Georgetown student life.

Some would blame the students for this. We would say that levels of support are dictated by program performance. For many, $125 is too much to pay for student season tickets to watch a struggling team.

The last few years have not gone well, and with little reason to believe that next season will be much better, a worrying picture of the future of Hoya basketball emerges.

Georgetown has long been a basketball school. If it wishes to remain one, it needs to act.

Bowser Funds Draw Questions In recent weeks, a number of reports have surfaced concerning funds used in District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 2014 mayoral campaign. This editorial board believes that these reports, and the subsequent response by the mayor’s office, show at least carelessness on the part of the mayor and her staff, and are perhaps indicative of larger problems in their handling of the city’s housing.

On February 24, Washington City Paper reported that during her 2014 campaign for mayor, Bowser accepted illegal donations from Sanford Capital, a D.C. area property management company currently being sued by the city’s attorney general for slumlord practices. A subsequent complaint filed by government watchdog Public Citizen on March 7 found that the Bowser campaign accepted an additional 22 donations over the legal limit during her 2014 run, violating laws stating that a candidate can accept no more than $2,000 from each campaign contributor. Many of these funds were donated from other developers, such as Blue Skye Development LLC and Franklin Haney Company, and amounted to a total of $31,500.

Sanford is facing a lawsuit from D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine for mistreating many of the tenants in its low-income housing properties. The lawsuit charges Sanford with violations of consumer protections and infringements on the District’s housing code. The firm is accused of permitting chronic health code violations and general maintenance problems in these properties to persist

over time in an effort to displace low-income residents and make room for market-rate renters. Such practices are unfortunately common all across the country.

A report released by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute in December 2016 details the current crisis facing the city concerning affordable housing for low-income residents.

According to this report, 42 percent of extremely lowincome renters in the District spend over 80 percent of their income on rent.

We are concerned with the wider issue of gentrification and affordable housing in the District and are troubled by potential conflicts of interest between the Bowser administration and development corporations such as Sanford Capital, especially in light of these organizations’ inflated contributions to the mayor’s campaign. The District of Columbia must ensure that affordable housing is available to its residents and that landlords maintain these properties according to appropriate health and safety standards.

While there is no evidence of corruption now, these donations raise pressing questions. Receiving funds over the legal limit from real estate developers runs counter to what one would expect from a progressive mayor in charge of a city in the middle of a rent crisis. The mayor’s office should be focused on affordable housing solutions for the city’s residents. It is hard to imagine how it can do this while taking donations from real estate developers accused of acting as slumlords.

Ben Soto, the treasurer of Bowser’s 2014 campaign, said that the donations in question were due to simple clerical mistakes and require no additional investigation. According to City Paper, Soto did not indicate that the Bowser campaign will conduct a review of its records and return any identified unlawful contributions.

The donations in question could have occurred because of simple mistakes or they could have been intentionally carried out with nefarious intent. No matter the cause, we believe the Bowser administration must take these allegations more seriously. Instead of brushing the situation off as Soto has done, the campaign should review its financial records in collaboration with a full investigation by the Office of Campaign Finance. If that investigation were to determine that the donations listed in the Public Citizen report are in fact illegal, the Bowser campaign should return all improper contributions in full.

The Bowser administration should also be much more vigilant in keeping accurate financial records and prohibiting such donations during its 2018 campaign. Mayor Bowser and Soto should acknowledge the gravity of the situation and ensure that they will prevent the campaign from accepting similar contributions in the upcoming election cycle. The faults of the Bowser campaign should serve as a reminder to other mayoral contenders and motivate them to take campaign finance regulations more seriously.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Before his joint session speech to Congress on Feb. 28, Donald Trump called for a “compromise” on immigration. This move came in light of increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and deportations. But while Trump built much of his campaign around the promise to have ICE deport the “bad hombres,” these raids have produced stories of mothers, fathers, and community members being caught, held in federal buildings, and separated from their loved ones. The surging anti-immigrant sentiment both within the American government and within the American psyche which has fueled these actions is not new. These prejudices have plagued our society since its inception.

At the Women’s March on Washington in January, I was struck by a speech from a sixyear-old girl named Sophie Cruz. During the speech, Sophie expressed her fears for her family in the wake of the election. Like many children of Latino immigrants, Sophie was afraid that she would be separated from her mother and father, something that seems unfathomable in a developed country. I come from a family of immigrants: Irish, Polish, German, Czech, and a medley of other Eastern European countries. My grandmother makes hand-made Polish pierogi (a Polish take on the dumpling), and my family enjoys Irish stuffed cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day. Despite the assimilation of immigrants from my grandparents’ generation into American society, many conservatives are wary of immigration and view it as something that can destroy the fabric of our society. It has been found that immigrants bolster the economy, largely disproving the notion that immigrants steal jobs from “Americans.” Yet, in spite of the immorality and impracticality of their actions, ICE continues to round up immigrants who have been living in the U.S. and paying taxes for decades. American communities, including those at the forefront of the conservative movement, fall victim to their own prejudice when a member of their town is taken away, leaving those left behind to pick up the pieces.

My ancestors came to this country in large, packed boats with barely any personal possessions, dreaming of a life beyond the confines they knew in the Old World. These dreamers, like you, worked hard to create decent lives for their families so that they may realize the American dream.

My ancestors came to this country in large, packed boats with barely any personal possessions, dreaming of a life beyond the confines they knew in the Old World. These dreamers, like you, worked hard to create decent lives for their families so that they may realize the American dream. Many who came from Europe had no possessions and very little education, yet one of the largest obstacles to their citizenship was a mere test for illnesses conducted once they reached the U.S. Despite this, the path to realizing the American dream as an immigrant was still mired with prejudice. My ancestors were compelled to change their names to better fit in with the society they were entering. Irish Catholics, one of the prominent minority groups to emigrate to the U.S., were treated as second-class citizens on the basis of their nationality and their religion for centuries. Even when John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, his critics claimed he would act as a puppet to the Pope due to his Catholic faith. This discrimination was lessened in time, yet this brand of hatred has always found new forms and targets, and today is embodied in the new president’s immigration agenda.

The irony that this nation, full of anti-immigrant fervor, has a Statue of Liberty asking for “tired, huddled masses yearning to breathe” at its coast is not lost on myself and many other Americans. Whether it be on the cracked linoleum on Ellis Island or the hot

SAM LEE

pavement of Selma, Alabama, American history has been a battle between our highest ideals and the ugliness of the discrimination instilled in our society. I believe that through hard work and much introspection, these hurdles can be overcome. However, this may seem to be little comfort to you, when the man living in the White House leads on the latest wave of anti-immigration sentiment.

While things may not improve quickly, I am hopeful that through community organizing, social activism, and a free and independent press, things will begin to change sooner rather than later. Change, no matter how dire the situation, always begins from the bottom up.

Within each and every one of you I see the dreams of my ancestors: their hopes, their fears, and their talents. Our nation was built on the idea that anyone, regardless of their origin, should have the opportunity to contribute to our society and culture. You have a purpose in this country. No matter what the government or conservative figureheads say. Your home is here. Like Sophie Cruz concluded at the Women’s March: Yes, you can. “Sí, se puede.”

By Ryan Mazalatis He is a freshman in the College.

VOICES

An Open Letter to Latino Immigrants

Carrying On: Voice Staffers Speak

VOICES

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MARCH 17, 2017

Open Access Excluding Identities in the Inclusivity Movement Confession: Sometimes, I watch TED Talks about productivity instead of being productive. Sometimes, that leads me down a TED Talk rabbit hole in which I insist that I’m learning while putting off anything that will actually further my goals. A week ago, I was doing just this when I came across a TED Talk in which Cindy Liu describes how the world is set up in a way that disadvantages her disabled daughter.

I was sitting on my bed casually playing Sudoku and avoiding my chemistry lab when I heard Liu say, “Name me a famous disabled actor.”

Hold on.

From what I’ve gathered, Britney Spears shaved her head a while ago and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and anxiety. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jessica Alba, and Lena Dunham all have OCD. Kristen Bell has depression. Drew Barrymore has battled addiction and attempted suicide. Amanda Bynes went on two extremely public Twitter sprees in the throes of her Bipolar Disorder, and there was even a movie about Demi Lovato’s mental illnesses.

This stigma doesn’t only affect people with mental illnesses. It affects people with all kinds of diagnoses, ranging from migraines to fibromyalgia to dyslexia, and even people who don’t have a diagnosis for their symptoms.

You wanted me to name a famous disabled actor? I’ve just named eight.

Did you not know that these people were mentally ill? Maybe DiCaprio’s struggles haven’t been highly publicized, but I’d be hard-pressed to believe that anyone with an internet connection didn’t know about Amanda Bynes or Demi Lovato.

See, when people like Cindy Liu say things like “Name me a famous disabled actor,” what they mean is “Name me someone who looks like my child.” That’s valid! Wanting to see more people with Down syndrome in the public eye is understandable, especially when your own child has Down. Liu wants her daughter to see someone like her in the public eye—someone to whom she can look up. That’s worthy of respect.

I’m not trying to demonize Liu by pointing out the problems with her statement. She only wants the best for her child, as every mother does. That’s all her statement was meant to accomplish—she wanted more people with physical and intellectual disabilities in the spotlight.

Still, excluding everyone else with a disability wasn’t just a slip of the tongue. It’s another manifestation of the age-old phrase, “Well, I can’t see that you’re sick.” I’ve heard it. If you can’t point to a missing limb or thermometer or surgical scar, people question whether there’s anything really wrong with you at all.

This stigma doesn’t only affect people with mental illnesses. It affects people with all kinds of diagnoses, ranging from migraines to fibromyalgia to dyslexia, and even people who don’t have a diagnosis for their symptoms. For all of us, when we hear words like Liu’s, we know they aren’t directed at us. We know Liu is just talking about people her daughter

might be able to relate to. But in a world where our pain—physical, emotional, or both— is questioned every day, we can’t help but think of it as another brick in the wall which separates us from the disability community.

The invisible illness community is massive—10 percent of Americans have a condition which Partnership for Solutions said is considered an “invisible disability.” To be sure, not all of these individuals identify themselves as disabled, but many do, and those people deserve a safe space in the disability community. Invisible illnesses can affect people’s lives, often to the point of devastation, and people living with them often face the additional prejudice of not being believed.

Language is important. When Cindy Liu said those words in her TED Talk, she was thinking of her daughter and within a framework of disability that she has developed as a result of raising a child with Down syndrome. My own framework is different, so conversations I have about disability often exclude intellectual disabilities. We both need to be more careful with how we phrase things—everyone with a disability, no matter the category, belongs in the community, and those of us who advocate need to make sure they know they are welcome. In the conversations we have, both here at Georgetown and outside, we need to be vigilant. Otherwise, our community is just as disabling as the society we’re rallying against.

MAX THOMAS

By Rebecca Zaritsky She is a freshman in the College.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell silenced Senator Elizabeth Warren on the Senate floor, echoes reverberated to the ears of millions of women and girls across America who are already all too used to hearing the same thing from colleagues, coworkers, fellow students, and supposed friends.

McConnell’s words have been turned into a feminist rallying cry, used to protest the broader silencing of women across the world.

I am not a quiet person. I’m not incredibly outgoing or loud either, but I have no problem sharing my opinions. However, when I sit in class it’s as if my mouth seals itself shut. It takes a lot of effort to force myself to speak. It’s not as though I don’t have any ideas or questions about the material we are covering. It’s just that everyone seems to be able to think more quickly and formulate extensive, articulate responses at the drop of a hat. I need a few seconds to gather my thoughts, but by then all the points I’d wanted to make have been said. Or maybe they haven’t been said yet, and they just sit at the tip of my tongue waiting to roll off, my palms becoming sweaty and my heart rate increasing, until the proper moment has passed.

Now, I don’t know for sure whether my sudden silence has anything to do with my gender. It is noticeably more apparent when I’m in classes with more male students. Some may say I’m just shy, and I’d agree it sounds like a plausible explanation for my inability to participate as effectively as I’d like to in class decisions. The only problem is that I’m not shy.

I have no problem coming up with sassy comebacks and teasing my friends. I’m one of the first to jump into intense arguments about politics and current events. For whatever reason, it’s only when I enter a classroom setting, surrounded by authority figures and competing students, that I find it difficult to voice my opinions.

I’ve met many female students, several of them freshman, who defy that concept, participating actively and frequently in class. However, oftentimes, these students are disliked by classmates for being too “assertive,” “obnoxious,” or long-winded. One friend even mentioned disliking a female professor because she insists on being referred to as “Dr.” Now, there may be other reasons why he dislikes this professor, but I don’t see anything inherently wrong with a woman insisting on being referred to by a title that took years of hard work to achieve.

Some female students may embrace their ability to speak at length about topics they have a lot of background knowledge on or are passionate about, and others may have more difficulty obtaining a comparable level of confidence, despite equal knowledge and passion.

Many people might not think gender directly affects class participation, or they may blame it on other factors such as typical freshman shyness. Of course, it’s true that women in the classroom have different individual experiences. Some female students may embrace their ability to speak at length about topics they have a lot of background knowledge on or are passionate about, and others may have more difficulty obtaining a comparable level of confidence, despite equal knowledge and passion. However, neither of these groups of women is more or less deserving of respect, and neither group should be derided.

VOICES

Breaking the Pattern Encouraging Women to Speak Up

AICHA NZIE

It’s easy to make outspoken female students the targets of teasing or contempt, and it often stems from one’s own fear of being unable to compete. We, as women, have to realize that other female students are not naturally our competitors, nor are they threats. They are simply fellow classmates, and tearing down their confidence, contributing to the silencing of women, is destructive.

Women have been silenced since the beginning of the institution of strict gender roles.

Female artists have been forced into anonymity, female public figures have been ridiculed into reclusion, and women every day in the workplace and classrooms across America face externally and internally imposed silence.

It’s not usually as obvious as a male classmate or coworker telling a woman to “sit down and shut up.” It’s often more subtle than that. Vacant, glassy eyes, derisive laughs in response to shared opinions, aggressive arguments, and so on. Sometimes it’s as subtle as the misspelling of Audre Lorde, prominent feminist writer and activist, as “Andre Lourde” in Georgetown’s official Black History Month email, a mistake that may seem easy to make if it doesn’t personally affect you. Other times, it’s as apparent as someone entirely disregarding our opinions, immediately dismissing our points in political debates because, “of course, you would think that,” with their ears hearing words but eyes seeing woman and therefore able to disregard words spoken.

It may seem ridiculous to conceptualize this confidence-level disparity, particularly at a school like Georgetown which values outspokenness and places weight on a mandatory interview section of its application. However, this happens everywhere from elementary school classrooms to major corporations. We are uniquely able to combat this as college students, before it affects our professional lives any further. By recognizing this when it happens both in and outside of the classroom, we are increasingly able to prevent it.

When I do raise my hand and speak up in class, I am simultaneously recognizing that my words are valuable. Women deal with double standards on a daily basis, but we can’t let others silence us. It’s important to be conscious of when you do and don’t feel comfortable speaking, examine the factors at play, and make sure your contributions are heard and acknowledged with the respect they deserve. And remember, despite warnings or explanations, it’s always important to persist.

By Sienna Brancato She is a freshman in the College.

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MARCH 17, 2017

THE SPEED OF WHITE

By Alex Boyd Courtesy of georgetown sports information, edited by lindsay reilly and margaux fontaine

When Joe White toed the line for the 800-meter NCAA championship on Saturday, he brushed shoulders with future professionals and Olympians.

Texas A&M’s Gilliam Indoor Track stadium rocked as the gun exploded and the six-foot-one junior tucked into the pack for the near half-mile race. Elbows flew and spiked-feet stumbled as White battled for space on the tight 200-meter banked track, finally settling in at fifth place. Virginia Tech senior Drew Piazza broke the rhythm and bolted from the pack with 300 meters to go, and the rest of the field surged in pursuit, leaving White in sixth.

The bell rang for the last lap and White took off, swinging out into the second lane for the final turn and slingshotting down the last straight. After dusting two runners from the pack, he leaned through the line just inches from Piazza and the University of Texas at El Paso’s Emmanuel Korir’s backs, finishing third in the nation at 1:47.79.

For White’s fellow All-Americans, the race was the culmination of a near decade-long devotion to track, from youth races through high school and college competitions.

However, for White, the Georgetown indoor record-holder and a former Big East champion, it was just the latest unforeseen result of a high school injury.

“He went from someone who didn’t run to the number one 800-meter recruit in the country,” Bonsey said.

Before White was breaking track records or making the semifinals at the Olympic Trials, he was a baseball player at New Jersey’s DePaul Catholic High School.

White joined indoor track his sophomore year to satisfy DePaul’s requirement that all students join a sport. He wanted to get in shape for baseball, and had no interest in running.

That all changed one snowy day in 2012 when he broke his left wrist wiping out while snowboarding.

After sitting out his sophomore baseball season due to his injury, White rejoined indoor track his junior year, this time trying out longer distances.

“The first 800 he ever ran in high school he ran 2:07,” said Georgetown Middle Distance Coach Brandon Bonsey. “Within three months he had run a 1:50, which is an amazing time for a high school junior.”

DePaul didn’t have a track, so White ran in the parking lot. He barely trained, running between 10 and 15 miles per week, Bonsey said. Instead, White relied on his natural speed and his fiery will to win.

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“He’s certainly supremely physically talented, but I think his biggest asset is just his competitiveness at the end of races and how he deals with [fatigue],” Bonsey said. “He just fights really hard at the end of races. He’s always had really good finishing speed.”

That spring, White left baseball behind for outdoor track. Less than eight months after his first 800, he was the New Jersey state champion.

“I didn’t know how far running would actually take me.

My high school coach, I think, saw it before I did. She sat me down one day and she said, ‘I think you can go pretty far in this sport,’ and I didn’t even know what that meant then,” White explained. “A lot of people just thought I’d go to a DIII school and grind it out there, but I had different plans.”

“He was really raw when we got him, so he couldn’t train very hard right away,” Bonsey said. “Even if you told him to go do a five-mile run he’d get really tired because he had never done that before.”

“He went from someone who didn’t run to the number one 800-meter recruit in the country,” Bonsey said.

Though White had his pick of the top collegiate middle distance programs in the country, Georgetown, with its track history, academic reputation, and culture, emerged above the rest.

“Georgetown just has a history of great athleticism and great athletes, and a great history of winning,” explained Georgetown Director of Track and Field Julie Culley. “You come to a place like Georgetown to be successful because the teams have always been successful, and that’s the expectation. It’s not a program where we hope to make the NCAA championships. It’s a program where we expect to make the NCAA championships.”

Throughout his tour of college visits, the close friendships of the Georgetown team stood out, White said.

“I know everybody says this and it’s going to sound a little cliché, but we are like one big family.”

Bonsey and Culley could not train White like their typical incoming freshmen. While most Georgetown recruits had trained for the discipline of competitive running for years, White’s body was still new to the sport.

“He was really raw when we got him, so he couldn’t train very hard right away,” Bonsey said. “Even if you told him to go do a five-mile run he’d get really tired because he had never done that before.”

Bonsey focused White’s training on aerobic development, pairing him with both the 400-meter runners

and milers in order to work on both strength and speed, as well as versatility.

“He’s got great, great camaraderie with the team,” Culley said. “The men’s team has just a really good thing going. The guys want to be good. Joe sets the tone for that.”

The training worked, slowly during his freshman year, as White managed to train more and more with each season, Bonsey said. White was now training year-round for five to six months of competition.

“The workouts in September, those are probably the toughest for me because I know I’m not going to be able to manifest whatever that is until January,” White said. “That’s definitely the biggest challenge for me. Especially over the summer when I’m home my friends just want to hang out, but I still have to run every single day.”

Everything clicked towards the end of White’s sophomore indoor season, when he breezed his way to three Big East titles, blowing out the field in the 800 and sparking a historic calendar year of running. He had only been competitively running for three years.

“I just think this breakthrough season of his is really just more of his development; it’s a long time coming,” Culley said. “He’s just a phenomenal athlete and has really just had a chance to grow and get stronger and mature and that’s the athlete you’re kind of starting to see right now.”

Bonsey also attributes the jump to a consistency of work, as well as a newfound confidence.

“I think I just kind of matured,” White explained.

“Throughout workouts, being able to listen to my body and know what I can push and when to call it a day and when to cool off in workouts. I feel like I’m much better at racing with this competition now… Good guys can beat guys that are better than them every time if they know how to race.”

After defending his conference title in the outdoor season and running a then-personal record of 1:46.66, White qualified for the USA Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., a mecca of American track and field.

White placed second in his preliminary heat with a time of 1:48.68, earning a spot in the semifinals, all before his 21st birthday.

White’s junior indoor season picked up where his sophomore season left off. He broke the Georgetown indoor record for the 800 at the Iowa State Invitational, running 1:46.44. With a trip to the NCAA championships on the line, White broke his own record just one week later at the 800-meter leg of the Distance Mixed Relay (DMR) at the Alex Wilson Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind., in 1:45.80.

“The DMR at Alex Wilson was a really stressful race,” senior 1,500-meter leg Scott Carpenter wrote in an email to the Voice. “It was our last chance to qualify for nationals after we missed the first time at Penn State. Joe’s 800 leg was probably the most impressive performance by anyone who has been on the team since I was a freshman. He brought us back into contention in that race and actually gave me the baton essentially in the lead…Everyone else on that relay ran solid races, but Joe was excellent.”

“I was just trying to get the nationals time,” White added.

“I knew that I was more fit than I was in prior years. I’ve grown into my body a bit more this year. It’s something I definitely think about, but when you’re fighting for the team like that to get the DMR into nationals, I definitely wasn’t thinking about the record, I was just trying to make sure we got that time.”

Georgetown has featured several Olympians in middle distance events throughout the years. Rich Kenah, a previous indoor 800-meter record-holder, went on to earn a world medal. For Bonsey, this puts White in good company.

Courtesy of georgetown sports information

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Joe White smiles after finishing third in the NCAA 800-meter final.

White’s eye is now set on the outdoor season and a trip to the USA Track and Field Championships in Sacramento this spring. There’s also another school record to be considered.

“I know he’s really eyeing that outdoor [800] record,” Bonsey said.

“Joe, I expect him to break all the records at Georgetown,” Culley laughed. “I think all of us feel very excited to be along for the ride in his journey and to be a part of that. He’s one of those very, very special athletes that doesn’t come along very often…Beyond Georgetown, Joe has the potential to continue to compete at a high level. And I really feel like the sky’s the limit for someone like him.”

White plans to run professionally after graduation and continue to pursue USA Championship titles, as well as spots on world championship and Olympic teams.

“Joe, I expect him to break all the records at Georgetown,” Culley laughed.

“Joe is already a very confident athlete, so I don’t think I need to say anything too extreme to get him to believe in himself,” Carpenter wrote. “He sees himself staying in the sport as long as possible as a professional athlete, and I see no reason that won’t happen.”

Still merely four years into the sport, White’s future in track appears bright. Any future on the slopes, however, might be a very different story.

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MARCH 17, 2017

End of Life Care in the District Campus Reacts to Death With Dignity Act

Graphic Jake Glass

More than two years after it was introduced, Washington, D.C.’s B21-0038, titled the “Death with Dignity Act of 2015,” became law in the District last month.

With its passage, adult residents of the District who have been diagnosed with an illness, the prognosis of which gives them less than six months to live, may request from their physician a prescription for a lethal dose of medicine which allows them to end their own lives.

Given the additional choices the law presents to patients and their physicians for end-of-life care, the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, Georgetown University School of Medicine, and Georgetown student body face a new set of ethical considerations in deciding what medical procedures they practice, teach, and learn.

Those who oppose the legislation have remained vocal across the nation, the Hilltop being no exception. Georgetown Right to Life club, which describes itself on its website as “a student organization dedicated to protecting human life from conception to natural death,” has taken an active stance against the law since its introduction.

Georgetown Right to Life opposes abortion, the death penalty, and allowing terminally ill patients to end their own lives, according to the group’s mission statement. “We clump these together as our three main issues because we believe that, [in each case] death is being used as an answer to society’s problems, instead of finding more life-affirming ways,” Vice

President MyLan Metzger (COL ’19) said. “Better Medicaid options and better palliative end-of-life care are things that we would see as a better response.”

The group is a perpetual sponsor of the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, the largest student-organized pro-life conference in America, which includes speakers and breakout sessions that cover topics including terminally ill patients ending their own lives.

Additionally, in 2015 and 2016, Georgetown Right to Life organized Georgetown students to call Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, urging him to vote against the bill. Evans eventually voted in favor of the final version.

B21-0038 was introduced by Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh on Jan. 14, 2015. The bill passed after two amendments on Nov. 15, 2016 by a vote of 11-2, and Mayor Muriel Bowser signed it on Dec. 19, 2016. The act was then submitted to the U.S. Congress, which, under the federal Home Rule Act of 1973, can review any legislation passed by the D.C. Council.

Only three bills have been formally rejected over the last 45 years, but the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, tried to make Death with Dignity Act the fourth. However, the attempt to block the legislation ran short on time, as the motion would have needed to clear the House floor and the Senate, as well as have been signed by President Donald Trump within 30 legislative days of being submitted to Congress.

At a White House press conference, Press Secretary Sean Spicer declined to comment on what action Trump would have taken if presented with the disapproval legislation.

The law’s use of the phrase “death with dignity” roots in the wider national advocacy movement. Those who oppose the law, however, prefer the language “physician-assisted suicide.”

The association of the death penalty, abortion, and terminally ill patients ending their own lives often comes from the Catholic theological principle of the consistent life ethic.

Pope John Paul II wrote about this ethic and “the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end” in the Evangelium Vitae in 1995.

Given Georgetown’s Catholic identity, the university and its associated institutions have considered how to respond to the law with their founding ideals in mind.

Georgetown University sold the Georgetown University Hospital to MedStar in 2000. Despite the merger, the hospital retains its Catholic identity and still provides care in accordance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, a guide published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In accordance with these principles, the hospital does not provide services such as in vitro fertilization and abortion, the nonprofit organization Catholics for Choice wrote on their website. According to Kevin Donovan, M. D., director

11

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Confidential Mental Health Resources National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

1‑877‑726‑4727

Georgetown Counseling & Psychiatric Service (CAPS)

suicidepreventionlifeline.org

of the Edmund D. Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, the hospital will not provide means for terminally ill patients to end their own lives as part of their care. Services that indirectly shorten the life of the patient are still permitted, but only with the intent to ease suffering, keeping with the Ethical and Religious Directives.

“The medical profession has never been encouraged or allowed to actually kill patients who are suffering. We certainly will stop treatments that are no longer benefiting them, we allow people to die under those circumstances, but we don’t push them over the edge,” Donovan said. “Physicians have a long-standing principle, long-standing being 2500 years, that we should not harm our patients.”

Adult residents of the District who have been diagnosed with an illness, the prognosis of which gives them less than six months to live, may request from their physician a prescription for a lethal dose of medicine which allows them to end their own lives.

The American Medical Association, the leading association of physicians in the United States, does not support laws that allow terminally ill patients to end their own lives.

While MedStar permits the Georgetown University Hospital to set limits on care to meet the Ethical and Religious Directives, many of the medical professionals at the hospital are not employees of the hospital itself, but rather doctors who only practice there. Many also practice in other locations in the District that are not subject to the guidelines that the Church sets forth. As a result, a patient receiving care at the hospital still could be cared for by a physician willing to provide services permitted by the Death with Dignity Act at another facility.

202-687-6985

studenthealth.georgetown.edu/mental-health Outside MedStar, students grapple academically with the issue of terminally ill patients ending their own lives at the Georgetown University Medical Center, the umbrella organization that includes the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing and Health, the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Biomedical Graduate Research and Education programs.

Medical students and residents at Georgetown are subject to the Ethical and Religious Directives in their educations, however, those who study bioethics, from the undergraduate to the graduate level, continue to discuss the issue, Donovan said.

Donovan also noted that many arguments against the law are not rooted in Catholic theology.

“Physician assisted suicide is still suicide,” Donovan said.

“It’s a very scary proposition, to say that basically we are going to carve out people who we recognize no longer have lives worthy of living, and as a matter of law, we can help in their suicide even though we shouldn’t be doing that for the population at large.”

Donovan worries that the six-month cutoff is too arbitrary.

“Why should that be the restricting factor of the law?” he said.

“If we want to respect autonomy, then why shouldn’t it be nine months? Why shouldn’t it be 12 months? In fact, if you want to respect autonomy, then why do we tell these patients they have to be terminally ill?”

Despite resistance, this legislation comes as a relief to many in D.C. Mary Klein, a retired journalist who lives in the District, has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.

Since the introduction of the bill, she has become one of its most outspoken proponents.

“I will die either from the effects of additional treatments or from treatment side effects combined with the cancer,” Klein wrote in an essay published by the Death with Dignity

“It’s a very scary proposition, to say that basically we are going to carve out people who we recognize no longer have lives worthy of living,” said Donovan.

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“If I had the option of a peaceful death, a death with dignity, I might not use it, but it would bring me great comfort to know it is there,” said Klein.

National Center, a leading national nonprofit that advocates for legislation that allows terminally ill patients to end their own lives. “I will suffer, probably a lot, and I’m unlikely to have a peaceful death. … The treatment will be continuous for the rest of my life. Because of the drugs’ side effects, I will never feel completely well again. If I had the option of a peaceful death, a death with dignity, I might not use it, but it would bring me great comfort to know it is there.”

Advocates across the country share Klein’s sentiments: patients should have the freedom to make personal medical decisions and to alleviate suffering. Klein wrote that she and other patients should have the right to choose if they wish to die without suffering caused by illness.

“By adding a voluntary option to the continuum of endof-life care, these laws give patients dignity, control, and peace of mind during their final days with family and loved ones,” the Death with Dignity National Center published on their website.

Many outside the District agree with Klein. In 2015, a Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans believe that the terminally ill should be allowed to end their lives.

H*yas for Choice, a self-described “pro-choice” organization that has supported D.C. statehood and home rule in the past declined to comment on the law, as they have not specifically focused on the issue of terminally ill patients ending their own lives.

Despite mixed reactions, the Death with Dignity Act opens up new options within D.C. As it stands, residents of all corners of the District will have to engage with this topic and come to a conclusion that meets their own moral code.

By Alex Lewontin

MARCH 17, 2017

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By Tyler Pearre

Benched: Men’s Basketball Woes Concern Fans photo by Alex lewontin & edited by Aicha Nzie

The Georgetown men’s basketball team squared off against St. John’s in the Big East Tournament Final at Madison Square Garden on March 9, 1985. The Hoyas, led by Tournament MVP Patrick Ewing and then-Head Coach John Thompson, Jr., proved too powerful for All-American Chris Mullin and the Red Storm, as the Blue and Gray won by a final score of 92-80.

Twenty-one days later, the two teams met in the 1985 NCAA Tournament Final Four, with Georgetown again defeating the Johnnies, 77-59.

Thirty-one years and 364 days after their Big East Championship meeting in 1985, the teams met again. This iteration boasted the names of Mullin, Thompson, and Ewing, was hosted in the world’s most famous arena, and saw the physical play that defined the Big East of the 1980s.

This game, however, was played on a Wednesday night, in the first round of the conference tournament. The Garden wasn’t sold out, the game wasn’t on prime time, and there were no National Player of the Year contenders on the floor.

Georgetown was led by the sons of legends past, Head Coach John Thompson III and Director of Basketball Operations Patrick Ewing, Jr.. Meanwhile, St. John’s was coached by Hall-ofFamer Mullin. As the Hoyas traveled to the Big Apple to play in their 35th Big East Tournament, it was clear to many that the team was just a shell of its former self.

The season wasn’t destined to end here. One month ago, the Hoyas were in a fortuitous position just outside of many projected NCAA Tournament fields. The team had the signature wins (vs. No. 9 Oregon, at No. 21 Butler, vs. Creighton) necessary to make a push for an at-large bid, and did not have any losses to teams outside of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) top 100 at the time. With five games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Hoyas had the opportunity to prove that the disastrous 2015-16 campaign, the team’s first losing year under Thompson, was a fluke.

The final stretch began with a road loss to then-No. 20 Creighton in Omaha. The Hoyas surrendered 35 points to junior guard Marcus Foster and shot just 3-22 from three-point range on the day. But the loss wasn’t devastating in the greater context of clinching a spot in the NCAA Tournament. A road loss to a ranked team, which had lost just three games at home all year, wouldn’t make or break the Hoyas’ chances. So long as the team took care of business against perennial cellar-dwelling DePaul at home and long-time rival St. John’s in their next two games, they would maintain their status on the fringes of the Tournament field.

The following week, an all-too-familiar late-game collapse from the Hoyas at home against DePaul, a game in which the Blue and Gray blew a four-point lead in the final 1:22 of play, and a road loss to St. John’s crushed Georgetown’s hopes of dancing in the Tournament by way of an atlarge bid. Following this three-game losing streak, with the latest two losses coming against teams outside of the RPI top 100, the Hoyas were also in serious danger of finishing with a losing record in back-to-back years for the first time since the 1971-72 and 1972-73 seasons—the latter of which was Thompson, Jr.’s debut.

Defensive struggles plagued the Blue and Gray in their final two regular season games. Against Seton Hall on Feb. 28, the team gave up 27 points to junior forward Desi Rodriguez and 13 points and 12 rebounds to junior forward Angel Delgado en route to a 62-59 loss. Four days later, on Senior Day, the team was blown out by then-No. 2 Villanova, 81-55. Georgetown as a team was outscored by three Villanova starters, senior guard Josh Hart (21 points), senior forward Kris Jenkins (19 points), and sophomore guard Jalen Brunson (17 points). The 26-point loss was Georgetown’s worst home loss to the Wildcats since the 1949-50 season.

As the season spiraled and NCAA Tournament hopes faded, fans and students became much more vocal regarding their displeasure with the team’s performance, and, by their estimation, Thompson’s inability to lead a talented team to the NCAA Tournament. Since the loss to Villanova, a student petition calling for Thompson’s firing circulated throughout various social media outlets, online bloggers called for his removal, and students created t-shirt order forms with the text “Fire JT3” and the image of a flame.

As pressure has mounted and fans have demanded answers, the program has yet to take a definitive stance on the situation.

When a reporter asked Thompson about his thoughts regarding the future of the program after the Villanova loss, the Athletic Department limited questions to those directly related to the game. The university has not publicly acknowledged the dissatisfaction or made any comment regarding the future of the program. Thompson, however, has made an effort to acknowledge fans’ frustration.

“First and foremost, our fans are terrific and have been terrific. They’ve experienced some good times with us, and now, with the stretch we are having, I understand their frustration.

There is no one more frustrated than I am. We are accustomed to winning. I know that our players and staff are working hard

and playing hard. No one cares more about this program and its tradition than I do,” Thompson said after the team’s Feb. 28 loss at Seton Hall.

A run in the Big East Tournament could have clinched an automatic NCAA Tournament berth and silenced outside distractions for the foreseeable future. But the Hoyas were unable to convert on two layup opportunities in the final six seconds in the first round, ending the season with a sixth straight loss and no postseason basketball in sight.

When asked to assess the state of the program following the game, Thompson declined to answer.

“After a loss like that, tonight, I don’t think it’s the time to do that. I’m not sure [when is]. Not tonight.”

Recent developments have also limited future expectations for the Blue and Gray. On March 11, the team’s top 2017 recruit, Tremont Waters, announced his intention to decommit from Georgetown via an Instagram post. It is expected that Waters will be released from his National Letter of Intent, which was signed in November 2016. Just two days later, Brandy Simms of the Montgomery County Sentinel reported that junior forward Trey Mourning, son of Georgetown legend Alonzo Mourning, seeks to transfer from the school. Without Waters or Mourning on the roster, next year’s team would have just nine out of 13 possible scholarship positions filled. A team spokesperson declined to comment on the status of either player when emailed by the Voice.

As the Hoyas enter the offseason with a combined record of 29-36, including 12-24 in conference play, over the past two seasons, fans have demanded more transparency from the Athletics Department and the university administration. With outside pressures mounting and future prospects suffering, fans remain agitated.

Thompson has had success leading the Hoyas in the past, taking the team to the 2007 Final Four and the postseason in each of his first 11 seasons. Georgetown has won three regular season Big East championships under his tutelage. With two straight losing seasons fresh on every fan’s mind and a gloomy future lingering, however, many are ready to part ways with the coach. Whatever decisions are made by the university, the immediate prospects remain bleak.

The Hoya faithful may be torn on what the school should do with Thompson, but they remain united in their desire for Georgetown to return to the national spotlight. Fans of the program have made one thing clear entering this offseason: they want answers.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

LEISURE

Monkeying Around

Don’t Go Bananas for Kong: Skull Island

By Graham Piro

IMDb

“Is that a monkey?”

As several Vietnam War-era helicopters fly over the eponymous island, a 100-foot tall silhouette appears against the backdrop of a setting sun. One of the characters in the helicopters utters the insightful question written above. The towering behemoth in front of the choppers is none other than King Kong, no longer a diminutive 30-foot ape, but instead a giant whose size calls into question just how he can go unnoticed on the island. After spotting the building-sized animal, the humans decide to attack the creature. The sensible thing to do would be to fly away as quickly as humanly possible, but this is a movie that contains a scene in which Kong uses a fallen tree as a club to fight a giant lizard. Clearly we are not dealing in strict realism. Kong responds to the helicopter attack by destroying as many as he can, as 100-foot tall apes are wont to do. The characters seem shocked when their helicopters crash and they are suddenly trapped on the island with no clear escape.

This scene sets the stage for the enjoyable, if seriously flawed, Kong: Skull Island, which seems to exist solely to set up a Godzilla vs. Kong film in 2020. The film’s story, if it can be called that, involves an expedition to the undiscovered Skull Island, where, upon arrival, the characters find themselves marooned on a hellish island rife with various monstrous beasts determined to enjoy them for dinner. The premise alone makes for a fun ride, but the film gets derailed by one-dimensional characters and a breathless pace that never gives the audience a chance to breathe.

The cast, complete with Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Samuel L. Jackson, Toby Kebbell, and John C. Reilly, should have made for some memorable humans in

a film so focused on monsters. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Every character gets a half-hearted characterization at the beginning of the film: Hiddleston plays a badass tracker, Larson’s journalist likes taking photographs, John Goodman just plays himself, Jackson is an unhinged military man whose motivations are barely explained, and so on. The film spends the non-Skull Island portion trying to introduce all of these characters as quickly as possible, but there are so many that they all end up feeling like cannon fodder. Reilly makes an entrance in the middle of the film to provide some much-needed levity, but his hammy performance contrasts awkwardly with the earnestness of Hiddleston and Larson. With the human characters so lacking, and in limited screentime, Kong feels like the most developed character.

And Kong certainly is king in this film. Anytime he is on the screen, the proceedings are immediately elevated, both figuratively and literally. He towers over the human characters, and director Jordan Vogt-Roberts wastes no time in revealing him in all his glory to the audience. Any action scene involving Kong or the other creatures on Skull Island is exciting and inventive, thanks to Vogt-Roberts’ creative camera angles and fast-paced editing. Despite the frenetic pacing, the fights never become incomprehensible, and this makes the film entertaining, if nothing else.

The design of the creatures, ranging from ants with huge stalks for legs to strange lizards with rows of knife-like teeth, is also pleasantly surprising. But the issue with these creatures is that, with a few lone exceptions, they are only used in scenes to put the human characters in some sort of peril. The audience rarely gets a moment to relax and gaze in wonder at

the exotic creations on screen. Vogt-Roberts seems so intent on keeping the film moving at a breakneck pace to the next montage with a ’70s song playing in the background that he forgets to take a moment and bask in the wonder of Skull Island. This is the heart of Kong movies past: not the violence and danger on the island, but the mystery and wonder at what sort of life it has preserved. Some brief moments of peace with Kong are much appreciated, but the film wastes no time in immediately jumping back into whatever set piece it has planned next. The result is a rushed assortment of action scenes and pointless vignettes that see extraneous characters quickly killed off with no effect on the main story.

With a runtime of just under two hours, Kong: Skull Island is a relatively quick experience, and is worth seeing just for the giant creature action. But any fan looking for a similar experience to past Kong films will be disappointed. The characters are paper-thin and the dialogue is laughable, but the showdown between Kong and a monstrous lizard quickly sweep any concerns about internal consistency or character motivations aside. The film contains plenty of B-movie-level dialogue and over-the-top moments, and this makes it no more than a very entertaining but equally brainless monster movie.

A showdown with Godzilla on the horizon, Kong will have his work cut out for him. Next time, don’t bother with those pesky humans. Kong: Skull Island proves that Kong is capable of providing an entertaining film on his own. Long live the King.

MARCH 17, 2017

LEISURE

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Critical Voices The Shins, Heartworms The Shins have never been a band to take risks. After accomplishing the impossible by striking a remarkably original, balanced, and mature sound on their first record, growth seemed both unnecessary and improbable. Heartworms, the band’s first release in five years, gives weight to this sentiment.

Despite being a dutiful continuation of The Shins’ traditional style, the album spins an inevitable nostalgia—no doubt a result of frontman James Mercer’s age (he’s 46)—into a feat of ingenuity.

Besides a short stylistic detour with their second album, Chutes Too Narrow (2003), the Shins have strayed little from their debut sound. Some fans may be longing for a shakeup, but Heartworms is a convincing case for the band’s musical conservatism. While Mercer briefly attempts to innovate on the first tracks of the album, he takes the experimental a bit too far.

During those few regrettable minutes, the album feels regressive in its lack of restraint.

The song “Cherry Hearts,” for instance, is heavy-handed with synths, and these contrived beats distract from the other layers of the song. The same headache-inducing electronic muddlement appears in a few other early tracks, but instrumental clarity is restored towards the middle of the album.

It is impossible to remain frustrated with the album’s techno-saturation while indulging in Mercer’s retrospections. Heartworms takes an upward turn with “Mildenhall,” in which Mercer avoids the modern adornments found on the rest of the album. “Mildenhall” is a simple, acoustic recount of an adoles-

by anne paglia

cent Mercer’s move to England. On this track, he settles into the melancholic yet lighthearted mood that The Shins wear so well. It is dewy and heartwarming, telling the tale of his musical beginnings while showcasing his subtle humor: “I thought my flattop was so new wave/Until it melted away in the Suffolk rain.”

Mercer gets sentimental on other tracks as well. In “Name for You,” he bestows fatherly wisdom, singing, “It’s a bland kind of torture/You’ve played the mother and wife/But what do you really dream of at night?”Although the lyrics might seem trite, the sincerity with which Mercer prods his teenage daughters towards contemplation makes the song not just endurable but endearing.

The Shins succeed when their percussive melodies are allowed to hoist Mercer’s wispy vocals without excessive electronic interference or emotional calculation—in other words, when they don’t try so hard. This is counterintuitive for Mercer, who sings about the matter in the song “Half a Million”: “And if I try hard/I find something I can really drop into/And everything that was is just a thing that I can sing.”

The final track on Heartworms, “The Fear,” is the highlight of the album. The song shows the band’s charming ability to strike a balance between seriousness and breeziness. Mercer vulnerably broods over his experience with anxiety while simultaneously imbuing a sense of hopefulness through an upbeat tempo; this emotional yin and yang makes a calming insinuation of the transience of life.

Although Heartworms is not a post-hiatus reinvention of the band, it by no means feels stale—in fact, quite the contrary.

It moves along the well-established arch of The Shins’ discography, repurposing the familiar while preserving the band’s winning essence. Minor setbacks aside, listening to Heartworms is like coming home after a long, tiresome trip. After The Shins’ five-year absence, it is an immense comfort to stumble back into Mercer’s vocal embrace and hear him fuse past heartache with promise for the future.

Columbia records

Cameron Avery, Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams After rising to fame as the bassist for the psychedelic pop group Tame Impala, Cameron Avery takes a starkly different artistic direction in his latest album, Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams.

Tame Impala claimed niche in the industry with spacey, dreamlike instrumentals, distorted vocals, and forlorn lyrics, attracting acid-chasing teens and summer festival-goers alike.

Eschewing the electronic instruments Tame Impala relied on, Avery mixes slow, crooning ballads with more intense and rock-inspired tracks, crafting an unoffensive 52 minutes of background music on Dreams.

Traditional instrumentation dominates the first two tracks of the album, shifting the sonic focus onto Avery’s voice, which delivers melancholic lyrics exploring unimaginative themes of lost love and regretted romance. Avery can hold his own with simplistic, singer-songwriter style vocals, speaking as much as singing his lyrics. He sets himself apart from the likes of Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson when he launches into falsetto, bringing more emotional heft to his tracks.

“Do You Know Me By Heart” opens with romantic string accompaniment, building into a soulful, drum-based breakup track. “Dance With Me” is far more assertive, using traditional rock sounds and instrumentation to evoke a slow, passionate partner dance. The short guitar solo is underwhelming, lacking sufficient crescendo and supporting instrumentals to give it full effect. Avery elevates his usually unimpressive lyrics in “Wasted on Fidelity,” where he ponders how he uses his newfound wealth on superficial indulgences and vividly describes his groggy mornings “with what’s her

face.” Throughout the album, Avery recounts little moments in idealized romances such as these—the bleary mornings, lazy afternoons, and slow, post-nightcap dances.

Avery briefly goes electric on “The Cry of Captain Hollywood,” a short instrumental piece that serves as a refreshing interlude from his usual crooning and which melds electric guitar with soaring strings and heavy drums to great effect.

The following track, “Watch Me Take It Away,” attempts to replicate this sound, echoing Arctic Monkeys circa AM (2013), but drowns the guitar in favor of Avery’s more gruff vocals and other secondary instrumentation.

Throughout the album, Avery proves to be a vocal chameleon, jumping between slow falsettos, pained growls, and folksy narrative singing as he pleases, allowing himself and his band to show off their skill at creating solid alternative, rock, and pop tracks. “C’est Toi” most effectively melds these styles and is the most radio-ready song on the record. The song’s extended cut gets repetitive at times, but both versions allow Avery to show off vocally and leave ample room for the strings used liberally throughout the album. “Whoever Said Gambling’s For Suckers” is perhaps the most unorthodox track on the record; it is an eight-minute narration of an outlandish fantasy Avery concocted, replete with dog racing, heavy drinking, and a passion-fueled vendetta. The storytelling is cringeworthy at times, such as when he recounts that “Stacy told me to give her my car, my day’s take/Or she’d spray the back wall with my cerebellum.” The song is a fun story, however, if you suspend disbelief and let yourself get lost in Avery’s Australian growl.

BY Gustav Honl-Stuenkel

Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams is a solid effort from Cameron Avery, distinguishing him from Tame Impala, and allowing him to explore a new musical direction. However, none of the songs are especially compelling and prove to be more effective at establishing a mood or recreating a certain sound than being memorable or breaking ground in some way. Even the title of the album and the artwork are not particularly distinct but serve to create the atmosphere Avery wants. Each song is consistent and pleasant, making for a suitable indie-romance backdrop but failing to create a lasting impression.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

15

LEISURE

Endless Reflections: Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors

By Laura Isaza Yayoi Kusama with recent works in Tokyo

Tomoaki Makino

When people step inside one of the plain, fifteensquare-foot boxes at the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum, they discover an endless world of lights, colors, and patterns.

Born in Matsumoto, Japan in 1929, Kusama moved to New York in the late ’50s, where her popular abstract and experimental style brought her into contact with other artists such as Andy Warhol and Allan Kaprow. After years of creating avant-garde sculptures, painting polka dots on naked bodies, and experiencing some financial troubles, Kusama returned to Japan in the ’70s, spending some time at a mental institution. Since leaving the institution, Kusama has further developed her artistic style.

She uses art as both a therapeutic and expressive medium and has recently created several more pieces, adding most notably to her collection of infinity rooms. Last year, Kusama was named one of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People. Her art gives the viewer insights into the artist’s own exciting and tumultuous history while providing an immersive medium for personal reflection.

For Kusama, art is a way of recording or deciphering the events of her life, dealing with her anxieties, and healing. For instance, “All the Eternal Love I Have for Pumpkins,” provides an innocent, ethereal account of her childhood and the first time she saw a pumpkin at a farm with her grandfather. The piece pairs a childhood memory with Kusama’s polka-dot motif, creating a storybook sensation while the endlessness of the mirrors evokes a sense of freedom. On the other hand, “Phalli’s Field,” Kusama’s first Infinity Mirror Room features several soft, white, phallic sculptures. The mirrors give an endlessness to the piece, which is a new evolution after several years of sculptures with phallic themes intended to help her confront her fear of sex and phalluses.

Dots Obsession — Love Transformed Into Dots, Yayoi Kusama

Courtesty of Cathy Carver

The exhibit is laid out chronologically, beginning with the earlier works and depicting the evolution of certain themes such as polka dots and phallic shapes. Her earlier phallus-inspired sculptures from the ‘60s, belonging to the “Accumulations” series, are made out of soft, white cloth material. When Kusama revisited the theme in the ‘70s, she began to paint the sculptures silver, as can be seen in “Snake.” The reflective nature of the silver paint helped contribute to the idea of the Infinity Mirror Rooms.

Kusama’s most beloved theme is polka dots—the Hirshhorn has even decorated its windows with red polka-dots in her honor.

Several of her sculptures, paintings, and infinity rooms include the motif, such as “All the Eternal Love I Have for Pumpkins,” “Phalli’s Field,” and of course, “Love Transformed into Dots.”

This piece includes several inflated three-dimensional pink polka dots covered in two-dimensional black polka dots. Kusama plays with the size of the polka dots to create an interesting visual effect of layers of polka dots within polka dots. The infinity room in this piece is one of the pink spheres that is a part of the largest outer layer of polka-dot spheres and contains another layer of smaller polka-dot spheres. After the infinity room, viewers can continue searching through the layers of polka dots and look through a peephole containing tiny, neon-lit, pink polka dots. A recording of Kusama singing one of her poems plays in the background, adding a calming and personal touch.

In the infinity room, “Love Forever,” created in 1966, Kusama makes a political statement. The message, “Love Forever,” demonstrates solidarity with civil rights and sexual liberation movements as well as opposition to the Vietnam War. Two people can look into this infinity room at once and see each other reflected endlessly. The infinite projection of the image of another individual as well as the colorful neon lights, which

Infinity Mirrored Room The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away Yayoi Kusama

make the room physically warm, create a focus on the other person. This elicits empathy and respect for that individual.

Showing a more introspective side of Kusama, the Infinity Mirror, room “The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away,” creates the illusion of floating in a peaceful and beautiful galaxy in outer space. Kusama developed it in an effort to further explore the finite nature of life and the certainty of death. The immersive dimension of the infinity rooms effectively shares her stories, interests, and curiosities with viewers and invites them to question their own narratives and thoughts on these universal questions.

Similarly, “Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity” alludes to a Japanese tradition in which paper lanterns are sent along a river to float to the spirits of deceased ancestors. This is arguably Kusama’s most beautiful piece. With only white lights inside paper lanterns hung at different heights, this infinity room is simpler than some of the other more colorful or playful rooms because besides the lanterns, the rest of the space is completely dark. It is the one that elicits the most calmness and the most introspection and, like “The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away,” presents Kusama’s fascination with questions of death and afterlife.

Kusama’s immersive pieces are engaging and fascinating. They allow for a heightened level of connection with the artist and for personal reflection. This is art that is accessible, beautiful, and thought-provoking. So far, the exhibit has been incredibly popular in D.C., so much so that the time in the infinity rooms has been limited to 30 seconds to keep lines moving. The short viewing periods leave viewers wanting more. Nonetheless, for those 30 seconds, they’re transported to another world, suspended in Kusama’s beautiful, endless environments that provoke internal reflection.

Courtesy of Cathy Carver

Infinity Mirror Room — Phalli’s Field Yayoi Kusama

courtesy of Eikoh Hosoe

Keeho Kang