The Georgetown Voice, 9/13/24

U P DAT E P U B DAT E

S E P T E M B E R 13, 2 0 2 4

JESUS WAS A RADICAL AND GEORGETOWN SHOULD FOLLOW HIS LEAD

By Liam Emery Moynihan

“PURE SILLINESS AND JOY”: MR. GEORGETOWN CANDIDATES PREPARE TO TAKE CENTER STAGE

By Phoebe Nash and Aaron Pollock

Contents

September 13, 2024 Volume 57 | Issue 3

15

Editor-in-Chief ...... Ajani Jones Managing Editor ...... Connor Martin

design

4

9

sports

10 voices

11

Code of Conduct changes, explained

Men’s soccer: Young squad goes for glory

Jesus was a radical and Georgetown should follow his lead

Savor the dreamlike escape of Imaginal Disk

SAM LYNCH

LIAM EMERY MOYNIHAN

ZACHARY WARREN

news

EDDY BINFORD-ROSS AND FRANZISKA WILD

5

leisure

on the cover

news

Bagels and boiling points: The Call Your Mother drama, explained

U P DAT E P U B DAT E

12

features

Who gets admitted to college? At Georgetown, students help decide CLAIRE KOVAC

SYDNEY CARROLL

13

6

halftime leisure

features

Season 21 of The Bachelorette had just as many red flags as roses

“Pure silliness and joy”: Mr. Georgetown candidates prepare to take center stage

AMBER XIE, EILEEN CHEN, AND KRISTY LI

14

PHOEBE NASH AND AARON POLLOCK

8

sports

sports

After 12 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, women’s soccer looks for consistency

“It’s Finally Here” PIA CRUZ

Off the record: The secret history of Georgetown football BRADSHAW CATE

PAGE 15 DESIGNS BY OLIVIA LI, ELLIE TA, TINA SOLKI, KATIE REDDY, PAUL KANG, MICHELLE WANG, LEAH ABRAHAM, MAGGIE ZHANG, RYAN GOODWIN, CECILIA CASSIDY, ELLE MARINELLO, AND ELLENA RIVERO; LAYOUT BY TINA SOLKI.

ANDREW SWANK

...AND THERE'S MORE!

Thank you SIT and Wingo’s for sponsoring this issue!

PG. 11

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

news: Executive Editor ...... Franziska Wild Features Editor ...... Katie Doran News Editor ...... Eddy Binford-Ross Asst. News Editors ...... Sydney Carroll, Dolce Coury, Samantha Monteiro opinion: Executive Editor ...... Barrett Ahn Voices Editor ...... Ali Chaudhry Asst. Voices Editors ...... Alex Lalli, Kate Satterfield, Arthur Schnieders, Shana Struski Editorial Board Chair ...... Jupiter Huang Editorial Board ...... Barrett Ahn, Connor Martin, Olivia Pozen, Sabrina Shaffer leisure: Executive Editor ...... Hailey Wharram Leisure Editor ...... Sofia Kemeny Asst. Leisure Editors ...... Koharu Ando, Jack Kealey, Kristy Li Halftime Editor ...... Sagun Shrestha Asst. Halftime Editors ...... Eileen Chen, Nikki Farnham, Amber Xie sports: Executive Editor ...... Henry Skarecky Sports Editor ...... Bradshaw Cate Asst. Sports Editors ...... Thomas Fischbeck, Ben Jakabcsin, Nicholas Riccio Halftime Editor ...... Andrew Swank Asst. Halftime Editors ...... Anna Cordova, Sam Lynch design: Executive Editor ...... Olivia Li Design Editor ...... Tina Solki Spread Editors ...... Cecilia Cassidy, Jihoo Yang Cover Editor ...... Pia Cruz Asst. Design Editors ...... Elin Choe, Paul Kang, Maggie Zhang copy: Copy Chiefs ...... Cole Kindiger, Zachary Warren Asst. Copy Editors ...... Ninabella Arlis, Emma Cameron multimedia: Multimedia Executive ...... Bahar Hassantash Podcast Executive Producer ...... Romy Abu-Fadel Podcast Editor ...... Lucy Collins Photo Editor ...... Izzy Wagener Asst. Photo Editors ...... Yihan Deng, Sophia Frank, Yunji Yun online: Website Editor ...... Mj Morales Asst. Website Editor ...... Scottie Vandy Social Media Editor ...... Mark Manaois Asst. Social Media Editor ...... Rachel Zhang business: General Manager ...... Aashna Nadarajah

Check out more pieces on our website, including Associate Editor Olivia Pozen’s piece delving into fashion-based conformity, and the conscious effort to reclaim fashion as a means of individual selfexpression through trendy, but personalized style.

“Whether you’re looking for relaxation or experimentation, put aside your worries for a cool 53 minutes and allow Imaginal Disk to be the soundtrack to your temporary escape from this mortal coil.”

internal resources: Executive Manager for Staff ...... Sabrina Shaffer Executive Editor for Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion ...... Aminah Malik Asst. Editor for Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion ...... Imani Liburd Editor for Sexual Violence Advocacy, Prevention, and Coverage ...... Alison Karki Service Chair ...... Grace Nuri Social Chairs ...... Ninabella Arlis, Henry Skarecky Archivist ...... Bradshaw Cate

contact us

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

support: Associate Editors ...... Rhea Banerjee, Angelena Bougiamas, Eileen Miller, Olivia Pozen, Alexis Tamm Staff Contributors ...... Meriam Ahmad, Carolina Bomeny, Mia Boykin, Elspeth Campbell, Romita Chattaraj, Ryan Goodwin, Christina Pan, Nicholas Romero, Isabella Stratta, Kami Steffenauer, Nadine Zakheim The opinions expressed in The Georgetown Voice do not necessarily represent the views of the administration, faculty, or students of Georgetown University, unless specifically stated. Columns, advertisements, cartoons, and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the General Board of The Georgetown Voice. The university subscribes to the principle of responsible freedom of expression of its student editors. All materials copyright The Georgetown Voice, unless otherwise indicated.

Page 3

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

Nick’s Crossword ACROSS: 1. Occurrence contrary to expectation 6. Strike down, often biblically 11. Craze 12. Number of arachnid’s legs 13. Start of a Twitter handle 14. Andean pack animal 16. Sandra of Grey’s Anatomy 17. Precious stone, or a great thing 19. Manning of Giants fame 20. ___ diavolo sauce 21. Cheese that’s made backwards 23. Huckleberry surname 24. Member of the Russian ruling dynasty, until 1917 25. Foundation 27. Equipment 30. Sorta 31. More, to a Mexican 33. There’s a “Grande” one in Texas 34. Third elem. in the periodic table 35. Home of the 2014 Olympics 37. Mother 38. Cubes have twelve of these 40. Annoyed 42. Declining appliance store 43. Not wants, but these

DOWN: 1. Picture 2. ___ E for everyone 3. Alert 4. Zero 5. New Haven university 6. Half 7. One honored alongside POWs 8. Insta, another way 9. “Every rose has its ____” 10. Ariana Grande’s partner, to her 15. Old farmer’s book of information 18. Not quite a swamp 20. $5 22. Southwest Grill namesake 23. When you can’t focus, you might have “brain” this 25. Olympic legend Simone 26. Out of the way; indirectly 28. Pointed (at) 29. Country ones, take me home 31. Randy, or a plant on trees 32. Front of the lower leg 35. “To be,” or, not “to be,” in Santiago 36. Rage 39. Southeast U.S. state (not the country) 41. __ Huy Quan

Copy’s Late-Nite Superlatives:

crossword by nicholas romero; rat race by elyse van houten; layout by tina solki

The clock strikes 11:59 p.m. in the SAC Copy office. Between peals of laughter and appeals to the editor-in-chief’s better nature (no, Ajani, we’re not axeing the Oxford comma), a list starts to take shape. most likely to mansplain a beer to you: The Chimes most likely to secede from the union: Philonomosian Society most likely to spontaneously breakdance: Blue & Gray most likely to pay $50 for an eigth: Club Ski still cheugy in 2024: The Heckler most likely to be the next golden bachelor: Mark Fisher cuntiest class: Witches, Bitches, and Bimbos stockholm syndrome super-spreader: Lauinger Library biggest downgrade: Pasta bar at upstairs Leo’s*

*A close second: your ex’s new beau.

SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT AFRICA HAS TO OFFER Transform your worldview and gain decolonial perspectives with study abroad programs across 10 African countries.

Fig. 1: He finally won the rat race.

A P P LY AT S T U D YA B R O A D . S I T. E D U

NEWS

Code of Conduct changes, explained

BY FRANZISKA WILD AND EDDY BINFORD-ROSS

F

or over a year, Georgetown has been revising its rules governing student conduct.

Starting this academic year, the university is implementing the revised version of the Code of Student Conduct—the rules students must follow while they’re enrolled—and the Community Standards process—how the university responds to nonacademic misconduct. The changes come as new director of student conduct Dr. Kernysha Rowe transitions into her role.

Major changes include adding optional educational conferences as a decision mechanism and changing the standard of proof—how much evidence is needed to charge students—for oncampus violations. Restorative justice practices, such as “restorative circles or conferences,” will be introduced for sanctioning, although their use will be on a case-by-case basis. Harassment or discrimination involving a protected identity will no longer be handled by the Office of Student Conduct (OSC); instead, those cases will be referred to the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Affirmative Action.

Educational Conferences Before the revisions, when a student was written up for a potential violation, the case was handled through administrative action or by a hearing board.

Administrative action was used for lowerlevel offenses and would involve an individual conference between the student and a conduct officer who would determine if the student was responsible for a violation and, if so, assign sanctions. A hearing board, usually a panel consisting of a dean, two students, and two faculty members who decide the outcome, was typically reserved for cases where the sanction could include expulsion or disciplinary suspension, or when OSC thought a board might be more appropriate.

The revised code, however, eliminated the use of hearing boards and added educational conferences as an option. Educational conferences are meetings between the student facing conduct charges and a “Community Educator” who is a staff member in either Residential Education or OSC. In educational conferences, the student will be “informed of their rights and responsibilities, guided through the community standards process, and encouraged to critically reflect on how their actions have impacted themselves and others,” a university spokesperson wrote to the Voice.

Matthew Wong (SFS ’25), one of the directors in the Student Advocacy Office (SAO), which provides free and confidential advice to students on their conduct cases, explained that the conferences are intended for cases where it’s clear a student is responsible for the violation, and they would benefit from the learning experience.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

“The goal is for the student and the Community Educator to come together and create a consensus on what they believe the sanction should be,” Wong said.

If a sanction has been decided in the educational conference, students do not have the ability to appeal it, because the agreement was reached with input from the student and Community Educator.

If they cannot come to an agreement or if the student bypasses the education conference, an investigation will follow and an administrative conference—similar to the previous administrative action—will decide the sanction. Those conferences are led by a conduct staff member and can be appealed to an appeals panel.

Both Wong and Sydney Blackston (SON ’25), the other director of SAO, stressed that these educational conferences are not required, and students can choose to opt out of them if they wish to resolve their case through a traditional administrative conference instead.

Blackston and Wong say that SAO is still unclear on how these conferences will change student outcomes, and haven’t decided whether they will recommend them to students seeking advice.

“We just worry that if a student doesn’t know that they can come to SAO or doesn’t get the right information that they would go to this educational conference and agree to whatever they’re being charged with,” Blackston said. “Now, they have lost their chance to appeal.”

Standard of Proof Historically, for a student to receive an offcampus conduct charge, OSC required proof that the violation was “more likely than not,” while on-campus needed “clear and convincing” evidence. According to the 202324 Student Code of Conduct, these designations meant that on-campus violations required “more substantial information” than off-campus violations to result in sanctions.

The directors of SAO said that the standard of proof for individual cases varied depending on the incident. However, Blackston added that the two can be understood more easily using the case of a house party. According to Blackston, for an on-campus party infraction under the previous code, a student typically needed to be named in the incident report, created by an RA or GUPD, to be charged.

By contrast, with infractions involving an offcampus party, often, every resident of the home gets written up, even if they’re not explicitly named in the incident report, unless they have proof that they were not at the house during the party, according to Blackston. SAO typically tells students that they

need evidence like a restaurant receipt or movie ticket from that time frame to prove they were not at the residence.

“Because with off-campus incidents, it’s your residence, so they’re going to go in the side of, ‘Yeah, this party happened, we can see it in the incident report, we’re going to go in the direction that you were participating in it,’” Blackston said.

Under the revised code, both on- and offcampus incidents will require a “preponderance of evidence,” which aligns more closely with the “more likely than not” standard, according to Blackston. While having one standard is common among Georgetown’s peer institutions, Blackston said, this new policy does theoretically lower the proof required for students to be charged with on-campus violations.

The university made the change so the standard of proof applies equally to all students, according to a university spokesperson.

“This decision promotes equity in how we respond to addressing behaviors on- and off-campus for students, moving us toward a more educational community standards process and a less punitive approach when determining responsibility,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Voice.

SAO hasn’t worked on enough conduct violations this semester to know exactly how this revised policy will affect cases.

“It will take time to see how that actually plays out on campus and how that changes enforcement and write-ups,” Blackston said. G

design by elle marinello; layout by olivia li

VOICES NEWS

Bagels and boiling points: The Call Your Mother drama, explained

BY SYDNEY CARROLL

W

ith a bright pink facade, flowers draped along the doorway, and customers constantly posing outside for selfies, Georgetown’s location of Call Your Mother Deli (CYM) looks like a bagel shop from BarbieLand.

However, CYM finds itself in a battle to stay on the block—its opponent isn’t the Kens, but its own neighbors.

CYM describes itself as a “Jew-ish Deli,” serving bagels at 14 locations. CYM Georgetown, which opened in July 2020, was only their second location.

Since the location opened, some neighbors have argued to Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) and the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) that CYM shouldn’t be allowed to operate on the corner of 35th and O Streets.

According to decades-old laws, CYM’s building is zoned for residential use, although businesses have continued to inhabit the space since these laws were passed in 1920.

Despite its history of commercial use, neighbors argue CYM’s success has outgrown its 1,188-squarefoot property. They shared complaints with the Voice about lines stretching down the block, trash left outside their homes (attracting rats), and customers sitting on the steps of their houses to eat.

However, other residents, including students, say the shop and its atmosphere are a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

The result is a years-long saga that has torn a closeknit neighborhood with decades-long relationships apart and put neighbors—and CYM—unwillingly into the spotlight.

For Andrew Dana, CYM’s coowner and CEO, the Georgetown location is what he hoped his business would be.

“We’ve grown this business in the last four years since we’ve been here, but

design by katie shen; layout by maggie zhang

Georgetown is still, I would say, the most special shop to us,” Dana said in the July ANC meeting.

While Dana alleged in a June ANC meeting that CYM received “zero formal complaints in the last four years,” neighbors say they’ve made their complaints clear, including through a lawsuit in August 2022, part of which is still pending.

Neighbors told the Voice that they don’t believe Dana has addressed their concerns.

So, when CYM had to reapply for their special zoning conditions this past year, some neighbors organized to kick them off the block.

Since the location was zoned for residential use in 1920, commercial tenants of 35th and O Streets have been able to lease the space because they applied for a “nonconforming use” zoning designation. However, because CYM prepares and sells food, its zoning process is even more complicated. In order for CYM to exist, it needs two forms of zoning relief: a special exception to sell prepared food inside a residential space, and an area variance, because it operates as a “Corner Store” within 500 feet of several other “Corner Stores.”

CYM’s application for special exception zoning hinges on one word: objectionable. In order to get special exception zoning, a business can’t be objectionable, or harmful to the surrounding community. Some neighbors argue CYM has proven objectionable, specifically because its lack of indoor seating pushes its patrons onto their properties.

Coffee Republic, a new coffee shop that opened in June 2023, is directly across the street from CYM. Their CEO and owner, Sean Flynn, explained that CYM’s customers often use Coffee Republic’s tables, which can cause tensions with customers.

“It has a big impact on student relations,” Flynn said. “If we ask somebody to move if they’re not a customer of ours, and they get upset, they get a bad impression, but we’re actually just making room for our paying customers.”

Flynn added that he doesn’t hold CYM’s staff or ownership responsible for customers’ behavior, but that the lack of seating makes the issue unavoidable.

In response to complaints of CYM being objectionable, the ANC voted 5-3-0 in June that CYM should not receive a renewal on its special exception from the BZA, which would force them to close. The ANC doesn’t make any final decisions on zoning law, but makes recommendations to the BZA as stakeholders in the community.

“The applicant has made attempts and promised plans to address these crowds and the detrimental impact they have, but these attempts have not and will not succeed without a fundamental shift in shop operations,” Paul Maysak, ANC commissioner, said in the meeting.

Two of the three votes in support were from both of Georgetown’s ANC commissioners, Joe Massaua (SFS ’25) and John DiPierri (SFS ’25).

“Call Your Mother has been an institution for us,” DiPierri said at the meeting. “It would be more objectionable to uproot this establishment and deprive the thousands of students who use this as a place for food and gathering.”

Other Georgetown s t u d e n t s agree with DiPierri and want CYM to stay.

“I feel like taking away Call Your Mother would be losing a part of Georgetown’s culture,” Donhee Cui (MSB ’27) said.

Since the June ANC meeting, Dana said he has worked to make changes, including designating an employee to stand outside on weekends and holidays to ensure customers don’t sit on neighboring stoops.

As a result, the ANC voted on Sept. 3 in favor of CYM operating as a “Corner Store,” but said they could not come to a decision on their recommendation for the special exception, deferring that decision to the BZA. Despite CYM’s efforts, some neighbors don’t see it as enough, saying that the property simply wasn’t built to sustain such a bustling business.

“Obviously they’re going to sit outside on a sunny day, on somebody’s wall, on somebody’s steps,” neighbor Mal Caravatti (PHD ’92) said. “It’s basically a problem of a business being in the wrong place.”

For Massaua, the contention is also indicative of greater tensions about whose concerns should be given priority: residents like Caravatti who have lived in the area for decades, or students who for the most part are only temporary neighbors.

“It’s an ownership thing,” he said. “The neighborhood’s always changing, and there’s a crop of students that comes in every four years and rotates, and it’s so close to campus that, in some sense, it is a proxy to the student-neighbor conflict.”

CYM’s fate will officially be decided on Sept.

25, when they appear before the BZA. Massaua says the ruling will largely depend on whether the BZA believes CYM is doing enough to be a good neighbor.

For the neighbors opposing CYM, the ANC, and the business itself, this saga has been incredibly contentious.

“It’s a really nasty fight,” Massaua said. G SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

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FEATURES NEWS

“Pure silliness and joy”: Mr. Georgetown candidates prepare to take center stage

BY PHOEBE NASH AND AARON POLLOCK

A

fan favorite among Georgetown students, Mr. Georgetown is back for another year of Gaston Hall shenanigans with 17 exceptional candidates.

The yearly pageant, organized by the Georgetown Program Board, features group dances, a question and answer section, individual talent performances, and a showcase of spirit wear. The group of maleidentifying seniors represent their own student organizations, but they unite the whole audience in a night of mischief.

In the midst of an intense practice schedule, the Voice sat down to meet this year’s candidates and hear more about their organizations and special talents.

Aidan Ng – Mr. AASA Known for playwriting in the Asian American Student Association (AASA), Aidan Ng (SFS ’25) is no stranger to Gaston Hall. Building on his years of songwriting experience, Ng was the executive producer of (no) pressure, a musical centering Asian American student experiences.

Ng is proud to have supported AASA in creating “more and more ambitious programming.”

Ng prioritizes “making an impact on campus creatively” and is happy that this has helped to “pull a lot of people together from AASA.” His talent for the competition is an impromptu songwriting act.

Max Russo – Mr. GUGS If there’s a proverbial underdog competing in Mr. Georgetown, it’s Max Russo (SFS ’25). A member of the Georgetown University Grilling Society (GUGS), he joined the competition during the second practice to fill an empty spot.

Coming from a family of Chicago deli owners, Russo’s appreciation for hospitality has manifested in his involvement in GUGS and Mr. Georgetown. GUGS aims to unite students around having a good time, a reminder that not every experience is meant to “tack something on to get an internship at Deloitte,” Russo said.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Cole Kindiger – Mr. The Voice Cole Kindiger (CAS ’25) is willing to do whatever it takes to become Mr. Georgetown.

Kindiger joked that he plans to push “misinformation in the magazines”—hopefully not in the Voice—and to “cheat, lie, and steal” in order to win this title. For him, the ends justify the means, because ”this is the most important event of the year.” His tongue-in-cheek approach to the competition shows that Kindiger definitely sees humor as a pathway to victory.

Kindiger said he has “the disco in his soul” that is needed to take home the crown. For his talent, Kindiger shared that he will be giving the audience a “darn tootin’ time,” a call back to his hometown of Prosper, Texas.

Elliot Landolt – Mr. Hoya Blue Channeling the spirit of Georgetown is absolutely a priority for Elliot Landolt (MSB ’25), who is representing Hoya Blue, Georgetown’s official student section. Landolt plans to bring a similar “energy and noise” to the audience of Mr. Georgetown as he does in the bleachers.

Landolt’s special talent will “bleed into the entire academic year” and include props, a notable public figure, and an incredible feat of athletic prowess, he promised.

Koby Twist – Mr. ESCAPE Koby Twist (CAS ’25) helps students find time for reflection as the student coordinator for ESCAPE, Georgetown’s first-year retreat program.

Twist describes ESCAPE as “what you’d expect from a religious retreat if the religious component is stripped out of it.” According to him, the program not only offers first-year and transfer students a retreat from the hustle and bustle of daily campus life, but a blueprint for how to be a Georgetown student once they return.

His full talent will remain a secret, but it pays simultaneous homage to the Calcagnini Contemplative Center and to Minecraft that certainly will bring out the inner child in all of us.

Josh Ford – Mr. Blue & Gray Through the Blue & Gray Tour Guide Association, Josh Ford (SFS ’25), a student from London, seeks to be a friendly and reassuring presence for international students and parents who visit Georgetown. His perspective as an international student “brings something new to the table,” Ford said.

Blue & Gray is one of Georgetown’s most front-facing student organizations, so Ford is confident that he can manage the expectations of an excited crowd. His talent is a performance that mimics Old Hollywood glamor—word has it that a top hat and a cane will be featured.

Andreas Moeller – Mr. Ultimate Frisbee Coming to Georgetown, Andreas Moeller (MSB ’25) missed the competitive outlet that athletics provided him in high school. So, he decided to join the Club Ultimate Frisbee team, embracing “that feeling of going back to being bad at a sport.”

This spirit of exploration pushed Moeller to take the Mr. Georgetown stage, something he hasn’t done since playing standup bass in orchestra in middle school.

Moeller will be weaponizing his curly hair to perform a rendition of the famous dance scene from Napoleon Dynamite (2004).

Joe Vitali – Mr. D.C. Reads Joe Vitali (CAS ’25) has popped the infamous Georgetown bubble wide open through his community service with D.C. Reads.

As Mr. D.C. Reads, Vitali has spent hours “using campus resources to help underserved elementary schools in the District.” Vitali says special bonds form not only between tutor and tutee, but also amongst the tutors who spend long bus rides together during their commutes.

Vitali said he plans to steal the show by pulling from his extensive knowledge of one singer’s catalog.

design by lucy montalti; layout by tina solki

John DiPierri – Mr. Philonomosian Society John DiPierri (SFS ’25) believes that the ideal Mr. Georgetown should uplift all voices.

As a former president of the Philonomosian Society, he encouraged his peers to learn to “speak on their feet” by engaging in a multiparty debate society. While these discussions are sometimes difficult to have, DiPierri insists that plenty of “good-natured fun” comes from debating with peers.

At the time of our interview, DiPierri didn’t yet know what his special talent will be, so looks like it’ll be a surprise to all of us.

Noah Vinogradov – Mr. Mask and Bauble A talented pianist, vocalist, and comedian, Noah Vinogradov (SFS ’25) has brought all three of these skills to Mask and Bauble—and now plans to showcase them in Gaston Hall.

After transferring to Georgetown his sophomore year, the musical theater group quickly recruited Vinogradov to play piano.

Since then, Mask and Bauble has become a place where Vinogradov can explore his love of theater while finding community.

“Georgetown students take their clubs very seriously,” Vinogradov said. “Mr. Georgetown is this great chance to remind ourselves that we take our clubs seriously because we love them, because we are passionate, and to let go of that seriousness for a moment.”

Ajani Jones – Mr. Caribbean Culture Circle For Ajani Jones (CAS ’25), Mr. Georgetown is more than just something to watch before Homecoming. It is a way to show the community what “not only the club, but also the culture I’m representing, has to offer on a much more visible scale,” Jones said.

Moving from Jamaica directly to Georgetown for their freshman year, Jones shared that Caribbean Culture Circle quickly became a “little pocket of home” in D.C. To showcase the different facets of Caribbean dance and music, Jones will perform a dance for their talent.

Jordan Schuman – Mr. Rock Climbing Trading the climbing gym for Gaston Hall, Jordan Schuman (CAS ’25) is excited to share what Club Rock Climbing means to him. In his freshman year, Schuman bought a pair of climbing shoes without ever having climbed before. Three years later, rock climbing “has been like my thing at Georgetown,” Schuman said.

Schuman shared that the preparations have been intense, but he is excited to perform in the pageant. “If you’ve ever been to a circus, you’ve probably seen what I’m going to do,” Schuman said regarding his talent. “I hope that how the club has made me feel makes the audience feel something too.”

Ulises Olea Tapia – Mr. Innovo Consulting When Ulises Olea Tapia (SFS ’25) first applied to Innovo Consulting his freshman year, he did not know what consulting was.

Now, Olea Tapia says that Innovo Consulting has become “a home far away from home.”

“Finding a place where I felt like I was being embraced was something that was really important to me,” Olea Tapia said. “I feel humbled that I have been able to meet such incredible people along the way that are going to be cheering for me here at Mr. Georgetown.”

For his talent, Olea Tapia plans to capture a classic consulting moment, but “spice it up” with Lady Gaga and “a little bit of drag.”

Clayton Kincade – Mr. The Hoya When Clayton Kincade (SFS ’25) first arrived on campus, he did not know what he wanted to do. Ultimately, his love of movies and knack for writing movie reviews blossomed into a love of journalism, “and now it’s a whole thing,” he said. “I’ve really learned to love the journalistic practice and the art of telling stories.”

For his talent, Kincade plans to perform an original poem titled “Appleseeds.” “[The poem] is about letting go of precious periods of time in your life and learning to water the garden in the mind with what you have around you,” Kincade said. “Mr. Georgetown at the end of the day is being your most authentic self.”

At this year’s pageant, Kincade is excited to represent The Hoya, get outside of his comfort zone, and be authentic—and incredibly silly—on stage.

Liam McGraw – Mr. Lecture Fund Liam McGraw (CAS ’25) is hopeful that his performance will garner interest for the Lecture Fund, whether that be applying for the board or attending a lecture.

For his performance, McGraw plans to represent the essence of the Lecture Fund.

Donning his best pair of slacks and his favorite button-down, he hopes to entertain with an impromptu lecture, weaving audience suggestions into his performance.

Facing graduation in a matter of months, McGraw reflects that “as that reality is slowly crushing down, it is really exciting to be in a place where pure silliness and joy are showcased.” McGraw has loved celebrating college through this pageant, joking that “Mr. Georgetown is the friends we made along the way.”

Thomas Fogarty – Mr. Hilltop Consultants Hilltop Consultants has been an integral component of Thomas Fogarty’s (SFS ’25) college experience, providing him incredible opportunities for growth.

For Fogarty, Mr. Georgetown is a chance to celebrate the uniqueness of Georgetown’s club culture. Fogarty said he is excited to represent Hilltop Consultants “in events beyond networking or professional development.”

For his talent, Fogarty plans to perform a standup comedy routine, supported by ideas from fellow Hilltop board members. He plans to “bring something unpredictable to this year’s competition,” encouraging students to get excited, buy tickets, and show up.

Nicholas Vianna – Mr. Pep Band For Nicholas Vianna (CAS ’25), Mr. Georgetown is about representing Pep Band, his “first found family on campus.” Through Pep Band, Vianna rekindled his love for music and performing with other people, he said.

Vianna plans to bring in “familiar faces” from Pep Band for his talent, showcasing the musical skills he has picked up over the years.

To Vianna, Mr. Georgetown is a tradition that represents the passion that can be found on the Hilltop: “It’s a celebration of campus and the communities that we as students built.” G

Mr. Georgetown 2024 will be on Friday, Sept.

20 at 7 p.m. in Gaston Hall. Tickets go on sale on CampusGroups on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m.

Editor’s Note: Ajani Jones is the editor-in-chief and Cole Kindiger is the copy chief of the Voice. Nicholas Vianna has contributed to the Voice.

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

7

SPORTS

After 12 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, women's soccer looks for consistency

BY ANDREW SWANK

C

onsistency is the mark of a good team, and Georgetown women’s soccer (3-1-2, BIG EAST) has been the model of consistency for over a decade now.

The team has been on top of the BIG EAST for four years running. Still, the Hoyas have failed to make a deep NCAA Tournament run in that time, and this season’s team is looking for the goalscoring that can bring them to new heights.

Head Coach Dave Nolan tries to set realistic expectations for the team while still pushing for the Hoyas to realize their full potential.

“I think our history and our records suggests that we’re a team that wants to fight for the conference championship, which we’ve done successfully winning seven of the last eight [seasons] and winning four in a row.

We want to make the NCAA tournament, which we’ve now made 12 consecutive times,” Nolan said. “So we’re very proud of that, but it doesn’t mean also that if we don’t achieve that, that we haven’t reached our goals. I think our goal is to try and ultimately be the best version of ourselves.”

Last season, however, the team could not replicate that success in the NCAA Tournament.

The Hoyas lost 2-1 in the second round to a strong Saint Louis team. The Hoyas weren’t at their best on that day, and ultimately came up short in a difficult match. Nolan spoke about the difficulties of making a deep postseason run, where one mistake can end the team’s season, in an interview with the Voice.

“There’s a big difference between being seeded eight and being seeded nine. So normally I wouldn’t have expected us to play a team of Saint Louis’s caliber in the second round. That should have been a third round matchup. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to beat the teams who are in front of you,” 8

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Nolan said. “The last couple of years, we’ve had some tough games against some really good teams, and we’ve just come up a little bit short.

When you get down to those elite matchups against top teams, everything has to go right on the day.”

The NCAA Tournament loss was particularly painful for two of the team’s leaders, goalkeeper Allie Augur and defender Julia Leas. Augur and Leas were two cornerstones of last season’s Hoya defense, but their time with the team ended with the loss to Saint Louis. Nolan knows that this season’s team will miss their voices, but trusts that his returning and new players will step up to fill that void.

“For the last four years, five years, we’ve had pretty consistent voices in Julia [Leas] and Allie [Augur] basically pulling strings, organizing people, pushing people, and demanding of people. And that’s probably the one void we have right now is we’re waiting for somebody to pop up,” Nolan said. “So we need it from committee. We need it from all our seniors.”

One of the seniors who has stepped into a leadership role this season is forward Maja Lardner. Lardner has four goals in six games so far this season, leading the team. However, she doesn’t have to go it alone. Six different Hoyas have scored so far this season, showcasing Georgetown’s balanced attack.

Balance on offense is important for the Hoyas moving forward, especially in light of some of the team’s struggles last year. In 2023, Georgetown averaged just 1.5 goals per game—a low number for a team with such a talented roster. Last year’s defense was so strong that often, it didn’t matter if the team’s offense could only manage a goal or two—the Hoyas won seven games last year with a 1-0 scoreline. However, as Nolan explained, this year’s team is trying to exorcize Georgetown’s offensive demons with sharp passing and individual brilliance.

“We try and rely on speed of play and combination play to move the ball and penetrate into the middle of the field, which tends to be the most clogged area of the field,” Nolan said. “But then I feel when we get the ball wide, we have dangerous players in Maja [Lardner] and in Natalie [Means] that we rely on their ability to break down defenders in 1 v. 1 battles, and then to ultimately end up with some good deliveries in the box for teammates.”

It’s still early this season, but dominant 5-0 and 6-0 wins against Quinnipiac and Lafayette show that this team has huge goalscoring potential, albeit against two of the weaker teams on Georgetown’s schedule.

Tough matches against No. 18 Pepperdine (32-2, West Coast) and No. 12 Penn State (5-11, Big Ten) on Sep. 5 and 8 showed that the Hoyas need to bring their best against toptier opponents.

Georgetown lost 2-1 against Pepperdine at home on Shaw Field. The Hoyas had more shots than the Waves, but the visitors were more clinical. The Hoyas tied Penn State 0-0, but Georgetown needed a crucial penalty kick save from junior goalkeeper Cara Martin to preserve the tie. In two home games against ranked opponents, the Hoyas only managed a single goal. That’s something that has to improve for Georgetown to realize their potential.

The Hoyas have plenty of attacking firepower, and if they can consistently make the most of their talent and teamwork on offense, there are very few teams that have any hope of stopping them.

The Hoyas face a tough test in their final nonconference game on Sunday, Sept. 15, when they travel to New Jersey to play the Princeton Tigers (31, Ivy League). The game starts at 5 p.m. EST and it will be broadcast on ESPN+.

For continued coverage and updates on Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter. G

photos courtesy of georgetown athletics

SPORTS

Men's soccer: Young squad goes for glory

BY SAM LYNCH

A

fter a stellar regular season ended in another BIG EAST Tournament final loss and a College Cup second round exit, No. 25 Georgetown men’s soccer enters the 2024 season with a chip on its shoulder. As a testament to the talent of last year’s group, six starters were selected in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft—headlined by star forward Jacob Murrell at seventh overall to D.C. United—leaving a massive void in the dressing room.

Yet, in an interview with the Voice, Head Coach Brian Wiese suggested this might be the deepest squad he has ever coached in his 19 years at Georgetown.

“I’ve had a lot of teams here, and I don’t know if I’ve ever had a team where we have a lot of guys that might be good runs to start today,” Wiese said. “I don’t think I have a wrong decision, I’m just making choices.”

His squad has started this season on a mission, reflecting his optimism and dreams of a deep playoff run.

“The guys were really disappointed … and they’ve been very very motivated to try to get back to the College Cup,” Wiese said. “As long as we keep a really good mentality, this team’s got some potential.”

Although the Hoyas (2-2-2) lost their opening match on the road against a strong No. 8 Pittsburgh 2-0, they are unbeaten in four of their last five matchups against nonconference opponents, creating chances through persistent passing across the field. An impressive 2-0 away win against Maryland in College Park and a dominant 1-0 home performance against UNC Greensboro highlighted this team’s potential.

“Every game on our schedule is designed to set up an NCAA run if we’re good enough,” Wiese said. “Every game … the guys have gotten better at something.”

This rapid improvement derives from the youth in this squad: Wiese and his recruiting staff worked hard to bring in the top-ranked freshman class in the nation for the second time in the past three years.

“They look every bit of it so far,” Wiese asserted.

“The rankings got it right, is what we feel.”

Of the eight, five have made appearances in the first five games, with freshman forward Mitchell Baker and freshman defender Tate Lampman starting all of them. Baker has gotten off to a flying start—his aerial prowess

and poacher’s instincts giving him a teamleading three goals so far.

However, according to Wiese, the real secret to avoiding regression after losing so much talent this offseason has been that “our old guys are playing old … getting comfortable, growing up a little bit more.”

Indeed, the Hoyas have seen already talented players blossom further in 2024, with the prospect of more to come. Junior midfielder Zach Zengue and senior defender Maximus Jennings, both of whom returned for another season despite being drafted, have put in standout performances and are this season’s offensive and defensive focal points. The three senior captains— Jennings, midfielder Diego Letayf Escutia, and midfielder Blaine Mabie— are making the most of their experience to lead this squad to glory.

“To be a leader on this team is very special to me,” Mabie said. “It’s an honor, I love all these guys so much.”

Georgetown’s success this season will be dictated by the performance of their green defense. Jennings, at right center back, is the only returning starter, with Lampman playing opposite him at left center back. Sophomore Eric Howard has slotted in to replace 2023 All-BIG EAST left back of the season Kieran Sargeant, who elected to go pro a year early with his hometown Houston Dynamo. Right back has been the biggest uncertainty in the back line, with junior Miles Avery and sophomore Matthew Helfrich splitting minutes at the position. Although the transition has had some bumpy moments— bad marking on Cornell’s equalizing goal in a 2-2 draw at Shaw Field comes to mind— three shutouts in their first six games is an encouraging progression.

“We have seven players that train across our back line and we’ve used all seven so far,” said Wiese, who has been mixing and matching defensive combinations this season to best combat the strengths of the opposing attack.

“I’ve never had a team where we feel that comfortable to do that.”

design by katie reddy and katie snyder; layout by cecilia cassidy

“Everyone has executed their job and really stepped up to the plate,” Jennings echoed.

In goal, junior Tenzing Manske and senior Luca Ulrich have continued to battle it out for the starting job in a situation reminiscent of the 2022 team, with Manske starting four matches to Ulrich’s two so far. Both have looked solid, but the position is less of a strength for the Hoyas after the departure of reigning BIG EAST keeper of the season Ryan Schewe, who was drafted as the second keeper off the board in the first round to Sporting Kansas City.

Looking ahead, Georgetown was picked to win the BIG EAST in the 2024 men’s soccer coaches’ poll, but will face stiff competition from Akron, Providence, Creighton, and Xavier, who knocked them off in penalties in the BIG EAST Tournament final last season.

It will be difficult, but the experts have confidence that Wiese can coach his retooled side to glory.

But to do that, Georgetown will have to start winning more games, and fast. The Cornell game and a 1-0 loss away at James Madison dropped them 11 spots in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.

The Hoyas were incredibly unlucky vs. JMU, hitting the woodwork three times, but against the team that eliminated them from the College Cup by the same scoreline last season, it was a demoralizing result.

Once they start converting chances, the Hoyas could make a deep run in the College Cup. They might still be a year away from bona fide title contention, but with vocal backing from their home fans, anything is possible. The unique design of Shaw Field allows students to stand directly behind both goals and along one sideline, creating a blue and gray wall of noise at full capacity.

“We gotta keep pushing to get guys out, it makes such a difference here,” Wiese mentioned.

The men’s team will host Long Island at Shaw Field on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 1 p.m. (your next opportunity to show out and support). For continued coverage and updates on Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter. G SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

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LEISURE VOICES

Jesus was a radical and Georgetown should follow his lead

BY LIAM EMERY MOYNIHAN

A

lthough I am agnostic, I was raised in Catholicism n at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in the beautiful state of Maine. My parents consider themselves “cafeteria Catholics”—embracing Jesus’s charity while rejecting the church’s conservatism. The narrative of our parish, however, was anything but inclusive; one priest, for instance, shared transphobic influencer Michael Knowles’s videos on his personal Facebook page. Within this conflicted environment, authentic queer stories were invisible, and so it took me until my junior year of high school to realize I was queer and until college to come out as nonbinary.

The church’s suppression of my queerness did not end when I came to Georgetown. I felt my identity being erased by Georgetown’s binarily gendered housing system, facilities, and even mission statement—“men and women for others.” My experience was contextualized by the university’s long history of oppressing queer students. “There is an emerging view that gender identity is sort of something you play with. I think that is quite a different view than the Catholic view of identity and of human sexuality,” former vice president of student affairs Todd Olson said in a 2013 interview with the Voice. “The fact is, we are a Catholic and Jesuit university. […] We do not support gender-neutral living arrangements in university housing because of our mission.”

As my undergraduate life commenced, with Olson having only left the university several months prior, I feared that exploring my nonbinary identity and self-expression would not be celebrated or welcomed. And I continued to internalize the narrative that my queerness contradicts Catholicism—that my queerness contradicts Jesus’s message, the central pillar of the Catholic faith.

However, my eyes were opened to an alternate perspective on Jesus’s teachings—and the radical potential of Catholicism—through an unexpected source: music. I initially thought the song “Jesus Was A Drag Queen,” by Melody Walker and Mercy Bell, was satire. In a non-exhaustive list, the artists sing that Jesus was a “drag queen,” “trans kid,” “feminist,” and “radical.” These are far from the typical descriptions that come to mind when I think about Jesus’s life and story.

But these lyrics prompted me to reflect critically on their real basis in scripture, including one lyric in which Jesus was “hanging out with whores and queers.” In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman who admits to having had five husbands, and—rejecting the overwhelming stigmatization of her faith, gender, 10

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

and multiple marriages—Jesus passes no words of judgment. Instead, he welcomes and accepts her as a disciple. This story of Jesus “hanging out with whores,” as Walker and Bell put it, revealed to me the hypocrisy in Olson’s statement asserting my genderqueerness as antithetical to Catholic beliefs.

Jesus, in scripture, welcomed all into his community without making judgments of individual identities.

In his uncompromising rejection of the salient stigmas of his time, Jesus was a radical figure of compassionate and open-minded acceptance.

Jesus’s radicalism goes beyond universal inclusivity. It is also about social justice, activism, and progress. “walking in the snow” is a song by the activist rap duo Run the Jewels (RTJ). Released in 2020 during the George Floyd protests, the rap is a commentary on police brutality and the “enslavement” of all but those at the top of society, and, like “Jesus Was A Drag Queen,” its references to Christianity are supported by scripture.

Calling out the deep flaws embedded in the U.S. justice system, RTJ raps, “Pseudo-Christians, y’all indifferent / Kids in prisons ain’t a sin? / Shit, if even one scrap of what Jesus taught connected, you’d feel different.” Later in the rap, RTJ adds, “Never forgettin’ the story of Jesus, the hero was killed by the state.” Indeed, Jesus always identified with the oppressed. He was a refugee as a child

(Matthew 2:13-18), and he was put to death as a criminal in his adulthood (Luke 23:32-43). He told his followers to feed, clothe, house, and welcome the most marginalized in society, saying, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:31-46). In essence, Jesus’s message is one of social justice, a call to dismantle prejudice and guarantee the human dignity of all.

Over the past year, I have become hopeful that Georgetown’s leadership may come to recognize Jesus’s radical call to action. A university spokesperson recently told Fox News that Georgetown is “committed to creating an inclusive, safe, and welcoming campus for all members of [its] community across all gender and sexual identities.”

Partnered with the university’s student-inspired implementation of gender-inclusive housing, this statement of acceptance demonstrates meaningful progress toward actualizing Jesus’s message of universal inclusivity.

Truly radical progress, however, is not defined on an issue-by-issue basis—progress is only radical if it serves all marginalized experiences, individuals, and communities, leaving none behind. To this end, Georgetown has countless crucial action items.

Georgetown must conscientiously dedicate itself to a ceasefire in Gaza and the liberation of the Palestinian people, divesting from corporations funding genocide and protecting students from persecution and political suppression. It must end legacy admissions and welcome students from marginalized backgrounds with equality and respect. It must guarantee reproductive healthcare, as well as gender-affirming care, for all students. This list goes on, but its central tenet is the creation of an empowering campus for students from all backgrounds and a community that both preaches and practices peace and compassion for all.

Georgetown is not only Catholic—it is Jesuit, espousing its commitment to cura personalis, to genuinely caring for the whole person. I believe in Georgetown’s potential to actualize Jesus’s message of universal inclusivity and social justice. As numerous student advocacy movements have thrived over the past year at Georgetown, I have found communities of peers that make explicit the connection between our university’s Jesuit values and substantive progress. And, our administrators have demonstrated, at times, a willingness to listen to our calls for change. In scripture, Jesus was far ahead of his time. We, Georgetown, must stand for our values and strive to be ahead of our own time, becoming brave disciples, regardless of faith, of radically compassionate progress. G

design by ellie ta and apara chandavarka; layout by tina solki

LEISURE

Savor the dreamlike escape of Imaginal Disk

BY ZACHARY WARREN

A

t the onset of 2024, most pop music aficionados anticipated a summer scored by renowned artists, with new projects

by Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilish dominating the pop culture sphere this past spring. As the summer comes to a close, that vision seems to have quietly shattered. The skyrocketing success of artists like Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Charli xcx— artists with longstanding careers yet to burst the bubble of A-list cultural dominance—was a clear sign that audiences are hungry for fresh sounds and new voices.

Enter Imaginal Disk (2024)—the second studio album by American alternative pop duo Magdalena Bay. Like other success stories from this summer, the duo is not new to the pop industry; their debut album Mercurial World (2021) received high praise from critics, while singles like “Killshot” and “Secrets (Your Fire)” have seen varied success on streaming and social media. On their sophomore album, the pair has taken their signature hypnotic sound, refined it, and released an exquisite collection that exudes final evolution energy.

It may be a bit out there for everyday listeners tuning in to the radio, but for listeners seeking to escape the comfortable confines of the mainstream, Imaginal Disk is a sonic journey worth embarking on.

Many pop artists emphasize their lyricism over their music’s sound, making the production a mere vehicle for their words.

Magdalena Bay does the opposite, creating ethereal melodies that take center stage, with Imaginal Disk taking this approach and dialing it up to 11. Within the album’s first few minutes, one will immediately encounter the decadent harmonies and complex arrangements that comprise the heavily electronic production. Layers upon layers of synth beats and fuzzy riffs give each track an impressive amount of character.

Don’t assume the album embraces a purely computerized aesthetic, though; the deft incorporation of traditional instrumentals keeps many songs grounded in familiar tones. Often, a track will begin with classic instruments and allow the electro-pop influence to bleed in before transitioning fully to a techno paradise; “Death & Romance” starts and ends with classical piano keys and solid drumbeats but dives headfirst into ’80s synths around the song’s climax. On other tracks, a balance is struck; “That’s My Floor” is driven by both a ridiculously funky bassline riff and the unmistakable groove of an electric piano.

While Imaginal Disk’s production sucker punches the listener with its artistry, the album’s lyricism requires more active listening to appreciate. Simply put, Imaginal Disk isn’t a project with a clear-cut narrative or easily understood themes. Lyrics throughout the work are particularly abstract, and the titles of the tracks offer little interpretative help. The larger meaning behind “Vampire in the corner, am I scaring you off? / Oh, I wanna dance, I wanna learn how to love” is pretty much anyone’s guess.

But this style of highly conceptual lyricism feels purposeful. Like a modern art exhibit that leaves much of its pieces’ interpretation up to the museumgoers, Magdalena Bay’s writing style allows listeners to interpret the lyrics independently and impart their own meanings.

Doing so not only augments the listener’s wonder and curiosity but also keeps the emphasis on the production. Could “Vampire in the Corner” be about the experience of obsessively loving someone despite the harm it inflicts on yourself? Or perhaps this allconsuming relationship has already ended, and the overbearing narrator wants to win back their paramour. Regardless, the listener’s focus stays fixed on the striking chords of an electric guitar ringing out as the dissonant voices belt, “I, I wanna make you mine / I told you a thousand times.”

Good albums can succeed by simply collecting a mix of great singles and releasing them together. Fantastic albums go one step further: curating the list of tracks to feel tonally consistent from start to finish. Imaginal

photo courtesy of mag bay hq; design by elyse van houten and rina khoury

Disk falls into the latter category. Heavy experimentation with the backtrack makes each song feel unique, while the regular use of the same instruments—a bass guitar, classic drum kit, and piano—links the tracks together like multiple variations of a dish made with the same ingredients.

No track exemplifies this comprehensive structure better than the album closer, “The Ballad of Matt & Mica.” Like the closing credits to a film, the chorus of this song gives various nods to previous tracks on the album, both in lyric and in production. Some internal references are abundantly clear, like the line “Killing time every day,” an obvious callback to the second track, “Killing Time.”

Others require one to put their listening ears on to understand the intentionality with which Magdalena Bay has produced this work.

Again, the return of the recognizable instruments like a low bass guitar and classical piano could be a nod towards any number of previous tracks.

Here, these elements are skillfully blended, giving a sense of reverence for the album’s tone itself.

Moreover, the entire chorus of this song seems to interpolate or at least structurally reference the outro in the album’s opener, “She Looked Like Me!,” heard most clearly in the parallel lyrics of “That’s my curse, that’s my name / bang-bang and it’s customary” in the opener and “Is it my turn, small-town fame / bang-bang and a happy ending” in the closer.

Imaginal Disk is not just a one-of-a-kind altpop album—it is an escape in every sense of the word. Within the realm of the pop industry, the project is a relief from the typical sounds and simplified designs of albums that appeal to a general audience but fail to challenge the genre's norms. This deviation from the status quo might preclude it from topping the charts, but that seems to be a sacrifice Magdalena Bay is willing to make for their craft. For the exploratory individual, donning a set of noise-canceling headphones allows the album’s groovy vibes and earthy tones to shepherd you away from t h e real world. Whether you’re looking for relaxation or experimentation, put aside your worries for a cool 53 minutes and allow Imaginal Disk to be the soundtrack to your temporary escape from this mortal coil. G SEPTEMBER UPDATE PUB 13, DATE 2024

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HALFTIME FEATURES LEISURE

Who gets admitted to college? At Georgetown, students help decide

BY CLAIRE KOVAC

T

he college admissions process often seems shrouded in mystery. Every year, prospective students anxiously speculate on what exactly it is that admissions officers value the most.

But at Georgetown, it’s not just admissions officers that decide who is admitted—a select few students weigh in as well.

Every year since 1970, rising seniors from each school at Georgetown have been invited to apply to participate on the admissions committee—four students from the College, two from the MSB, two from the SFS, and one from Nursing and Health. The students are selected by each school’s Office of the Dean, with input from the student academic councils. The nine selected students are then assigned to four- to five-person subcommittees with admissions officers and faculty members, where they read and discuss applications.

These unpaid undergraduate volunteers have an inside look at the otherwise tight-lipped admissions process.

“Admissions isn’t as insulated from student opinion as I previously thought,” Kumail Zaidi (SFS ’24), one of two SFS students on the 20232024 admissions committee, said.

Students not only sit on the subcommittees, but play an active role in the admissions process, according to Zaidi. The students score and vote on each candidate alongside the admissions officers and faculty.

“The student role matches the impact that everyone else has in the process,” he said.

“Everyone has an equal voice in it.”

If it sounds surprising that undergraduate students participate in the admissions process, it’s because it is. According to Heather Kim, Georgetown’s senior assistant director of admissions, the practice of including students in the admissions process is unusual, if not unique to Georgetown.

"Anecdotally, we don't know of any other schools that have admissions committees with students on them," she said.

Representatives from peer institutions including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology confirmed to the

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

Voice that student opinion is not considered in their admissions processes.

Georgetown’s unusual practice began in response to student unrest during the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, according to a university official. Students wanted a larger voice in university policies, so Georgetown agreed to give students positions on the admissions committee, the official said. After a successful trial year, the practice was made permanent.

Zaidi joined the admissions committee in part to advocate for placing greater value on arts-based accomplishments in the admissions process. He felt that admissions tended to value creative accomplishments less than other types.

Zaidi also said that his time on the admissions committee led him to change his perspective on certain aspects of the admissions process.

“I think that sometimes a lot of colleges will throw around the phrase, ‘We evaluate the candidate as a whole,’” Zaidi said. But at Georgetown, he was pleasantly surprised that this statement rang true.

“Your grades and whatnot matter, but more broadly, the person that comes across on your application, the holistic person, the sort of aggregate of all the activities and things that you’ve done, matters, in some cases, significantly more,” he said.

Samuel Aronson, associate dean of the SFS, who served on a subcommittee with Zaidi, wrote in an email to the Voice that having undergraduate students on the university admissions committee is both “a great joy” and vital to the admissions process.

“It brings a fresh perspective to the decision-making process. These students are directly experiencing the university environment and can provide insights into what qualities and experiences make a successful student at that institution,” Aronson said. Having students from diverse backgrounds help with admissions decisions also promotes inclusivity, he wrote.

He added that the practice positively affects the current student body.

“When students have a voice in the admissions process, they feel more invested

in the university's culture and values,” he said.

“We espouse a strong commitment to cura personalis and having current students shape our future student body helps ensure the perpetuation of those values.”

Adrian Ali-Caccamo (SFS ’24), former president of the SFS Academic Council, which helps select the students on admissions, expanded on the unique value that students bring to the process.

“Students have insight that the adult admissions officers and faculty members just don’t have by nature of their position at this point in their lives in the world,” said Ali-Caccamo. “We’re closer in age to the applicants, understand what life on campus is like, understand in our peers what makes a successful student, and what makes it hard for students to succeed at Georgetown.”

For Zaidi, the biggest challenge while working on the committee was balancing his personal beliefs with the overall process.

While he personally valued standardized testing less than other measures when evaluating applicants, others in his subcommittee valued it more.

“Everyone has different evaluative mechanisms, and admissions is not a clearcut case most of the time—otherwise a robot could do it. It’s a human process that requires human inputs,” Zaidi said. “You have to figure out how to balance your own beliefs about any individual parts of the admissions process with the totality of it.”

The experience was fulfilling for Zaidi, especially in his final year at Georgetown.

“The application reading process itself is rewarding because it forces you to think in interesting ways about Georgetown, campus culture, campus life, and what sorts of things are valuable to you and not,” he said. “That reflection was an interesting thing for me to do as a senior.”

Zaidi recommends the experience for any students interested in making an impact in admissions. Rising seniors can look out for an application email from their Office of the Dean in the spring.

“I can attest to the fact that as a student, you can have a significant impact, and that impact is heard and valued,” he said. G

photos courtesy of olivia mirek damare baker; design by jenny su

HALFTIME LEISURE

Season 21 of The Bachelorette had just as many red flags as roses

BY AMBER XIE, EILEEN CHEN, AND KRISTY LI

Editor’s note: This review contains spoilers and brief mentions of sexual assault allegations.

A

BC did Jenn Tran so fucking dirty.

When it comes to The Bachelorette (2003-present), the cards should be in the lead’s hands—so why did it keep falling on Jenn to do the chasing? From one contestant saying to her face that they wanted a different bachelorette to the final pick following Jenn’s desired replacement on Instagram right after ending their engagement, this season of The Bachelorette has not felt like a triumph for Jenn or the historic AAPI representation she brings to the series.

With each season of The Bachelor (2002-present), fans can expect to meet the next bachelorette alongside the lead’s future partner.

Jenn made her debut as a contestant on Joey Graziadei’s season, landing a spot in the top six before being sent home. Although Jenn was wellloved, two other women undeniably stood out despite Joey ultimately choosing Kelsey Anderson.

Daisy Kent, a hearing loss activist and children’s book author from Minnesota, immediately won audiences over with her picture-perfect rom-com charm. And while viewers adored Daisy with Joey, Maria Georgas was the unequivocal “it girl” of the season. Refreshingly honest, bold, and well-dressed, she had the internet wrapped around her perfectlymanicured fingertips.

From the beginning, it wasn’t subtle that Jenn wasn’t ABC’s top choice. ABC went so far as to offer Daisy the role on live television, which she turned down mere moments before Jenn was announced as the bachelorette. And while Maria continuously expressed support for Jenn, she would later claim that “the role was hers until it wasn’t.” On the popular podcast Call Her Daddy, Maria revealed she had already done fittings before deciding to pull out.

There is a bitter irony about the firstever Asian bachelorette not even being the second, but third choice. No bachelorette should start her journey feeling like she must prove herself worthy of the title, and although she was well-received, there is no denying that the audience was not expecting Jenn—and neither were the men already cast for her season.

design by ayla feng and karina han

Episode 1 starts with the bachelorette meeting her 25 suitors. All arrive with the goal of catching Jenn’s attention, whether through creative or blatantly cringe tactics, like Jonathan Johnson’s salacious entrance showing off his assets.

Subsequent episodes follow Jenn through several group and one-on-one dates, where the men get to know her and each other. When Devin Strader pulls Jenn away from the group during the season’s first group date in Australia, several of the other contestants characterize him as selfish, inciting a season-long feud.

Tensions culminate in Aaron Erb pulling Devin away for a “personal chat” about his character and Thomas Nguyen berating Devin in front of Jenn, noticeably souring her mood. All season, the men seemed more interested in each other than Jenn, shifting focus away from her and onto Devin.

For a show meant to emphasize the lead’s autonomy, The Bachelorette stripped Jenn of any control over how to conclude her supposed story of empowerment in the live finale.

The significance of independence as the season’s theme comes from a scene teased since Episode 1, where Jenn tells her then-mystery fiance that she “can’t let [him] propose,” implying that she would emblematically reclaim her power by being the one to propose.

Jenn did indeed ask Devin to marry her in Hawaii, but the footage initially would not be shown at all. In the “After the Final Rose” finale episode, we shockingly learn that Devin ended their engagement over a 15-minute phone call just one month after taping. Jenn is given space to confront him on set, but for some inexplicable reason, the showrunners still rolled the proposal tapes to “celebrate” Jenn’s moment of independence, even after her painful revelation.

When Jenn asked, “Do I have a choice?” to sitting through a replay of her ill-fated proposal, the answer was a resounding no, airing live with a camera trained on her face to capture every tear and wince. Incredibly painful to watch, the finale solidified the already questionable production team as unnecessarily cruel and exploitative.

ABC championed Jenn as the franchise’s first Asian bachelorette, only to cast her with men who were clearly expecting a different lead. The network doubled down by filming perhaps the franchise’s harshest finale

in history—a cheap grab for ratings through Jenn’s devastating confrontation.

The lack of Asian contestants—moreover, contestants of color at large—was also not lost on viewers. Furthermore, a heartwarming scene of Jenn speaking Vietnamese with her mother in Episode 1 left audiences believing that this season would explore how she cherished her family and culture. However, this acknowledgement faded out as episodes went on and any nod to Jenn’s Asian American background was nonexistent by the end, making the initial feature feel shallow and insincere.

Doing Jenn justice required more than just casting her, and there was a harrowing lack of effort from the team to curate an environment that was genuinely safe, inclusive, and respectful.

The contestant screening for Jenn’s season, frequently compared to that of Matt James’s (ABC’s first-ever Black bachelor), was abhorrent, as both failed to remove contestants with problematic pasts. Matt’s final pick, Rachael Kirkconnell, had fans wondering how she slipped past the casting team when she was found to have worn culturally appropriative costumes and attended a plantation-themed party. Fans were similarly outraged at the conclusion of Jenn’s season, as Devin, along with finalist Marcus Shoberg, faced allegations of sexual assault on Reddit and Tiktok, pushing Bachelorette fans to begin a petition to fire the current ABC producers for their negligence in screening this season’s contestants.

Audiences may argue that reality television series, especially dating shows, are never really “that deep.”

However, watching from a screen can make us forget that we’re viewing real people with real emotions, who still deserve to be treated with respect.

After three appalling steps backward, the Bachelor franchise is looking to take at least one step forward, having just announced Grant Ellis, one of Jenn’s suitors, as the show’s soon-to-be second Black bachelor. We can’t say we have faith they won’t fumble, but we can hope that this season was a harsh lesson on how not to treat the next person making Bachelor history. G

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

13

SPORTS

Off the record: The secret history of Georgetown football

BY BRADSHAW CATE

E

very record book has a story to tell.

College athletes making the most of their short careers. Baseball players chasing lifelong achievements. Rivalries between two warring teams. Often, we forget the events of an individual game. But we remember the winners, the losers, and the great achievements. Much of Georgetown’s football history is wrapped up in rumors, disparate accounts, and the hard work of historians like John Reagan (MSB ’84), whom the Voice interviewed about the slump our program is in. However, most of the stories are lost to time.

So, let’s dig into the record books and see what stories can be uncovered in the school’s long history.

Georgetown’s book starts in 1887, although some students played football on the Hilltop for several years prior. Our first recorded game was a blowout, with the Hoyas winning 46-6 against Emerson Institute, especially impressive considering that touchdowns were worth only four points, extra points two, and field goals worth five. Georgetown would finish its first season with a 2-1 record, only losing to … Alexandria High School?

This is one of the events I wish I could time travel back to because it raises so many questions. First, how did a bunch of college students lose to teenagers? Were the children born in Alexandria especially strong? Did our team have the flu? To be fair, antibiotics had not yet been discovered, so maybe our players were just feeling extra sick that day …maybe.

In 1888, we would lose to Alexandria again, which was the last time Georgetown played them. While Georgetown has never beaten a high school, they do have a winning record against the SEC’s South Carolina, who we beat in 1915. By the transitive property, Alexandria High School is a better program than the Gamecocks and therefore should receive an invitation to join the SEC. The most confusing scoreline in Georgetown history might be New York University beating us two to nothing in 1930. So our quarterback was sacked in the endzone. Did it happen early and leave the Hoya fans on edge waiting for a comeback that would not appear? Or did it happen late in the game, with everyone losing their minds? Did the spectators know they would watch the lowest scoring loss Georgetown

14

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

has ever played? There’s a certain magic to imagining these scenarios, and with 100 years of history, it’s hard not to have the mind race after reading the numbers over and over.

Record books are not just a collection of random stats. Even when we don’t know who scored a touchdown or what day the game was played, wins and losses can still tell us the state of the world.

For example, we have been playing military schools since the inception of football at the Hilltop—and even call out the Navy in our fight song. As such, we played a lot of games against the military before Georgetown football’s disbandment in 1951.

During times of peace, Georgetown has a 15 wins, 16 losses, and three ties (15-16-3) record against the armed forces, for a winning rate under 50%. Yet, while the military was at war during the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II, Georgetown had a win rate of 57%.

Records also speak to long lost rivalries that most students in their relatively short time here will never hear about. We have a long history with Gallaudet, with Georgetown winning 22 times in 26 games.

This series lasted over 100 years, being played sporadically from 1889 to 1992. This is one game that should be brought into the 21st century, as we don’t often play other D.C. schools.

The Hoyas have played Fordham the most, going 23-38-3, and will face them for the 65th time this November.

This next one is not really a rivalry, but we did beat the Washington YMCA three times, including twice in 1893. I wonder if they would be willing to schedule us again in 2025?

What do the books have to say about the “rivalries” named in our fight song? We did often hear Yale boast about their BoolaBoola, as we have never beaten them (0-6).

Navy has also yelled a lot, as we have barely beaten them as many times as we have tied (4-13-2). We are tied all-time with Cornell at least (2-2)! Sadly, Harvard has also bested us in a similar manner as Yale (0-5). Holy Cross has crossed us a lot (10-20), which must be why we call them out. Finally, the proud old Princeton Tigers’ only loss to the Hoyas came in a spectacular showing on ESPNU in 2012, beating us in every other matchup (1-8).

Yikes. Not exactly the yell that wins the day, but hey! We are a basketball school anyway.

It makes sense to record how many times a team won and lost in a season, especially when everyone wants to prove they are the best. But for those numbers to last over 100 years? That is hard to imagine. Legacies have been defined by simple tallies on paper, recorded for bragging rights and the love of the game. These statistics build a tradition that makes football a core experience of Georgetown. Many Hoyas have seen the team play over the last century, culminating in a 529-464-30 record, and we are able to imagine the lives of long gone students just by digging into these numbers.

I know given another 100 years, others will look back to the records of our time. I hope they think about our potential during the canceled 2020 season. I hope they wonder how we didn’t win a home game in 2021 and 2022. Finally, I hope they wonder what it was like being a Hoya in the 2020s. G

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