The Georgetown Voice, 9/27/24

U P DAT E P U B DAT E

S E P T E M B E R 27, 2 0 2 4

“ONE GEORGETOWN, TWO CAMPUSES”: GEORGETOWN’S NEW PUBLIC POLICY MAJOR

By Chih Rong-Kuo

COMPASS COFFEE EMPLOYEES ATTEMPT TO UNIONIZE AMIDST ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES

By Franziska Wild

Contents

September 27, 2024 Volume 57 | Issue 4 Editor-in-Chief — Ajani Jones Managing Editor — Connor Martin

4

sports

The football student section is bad. How can we fix it?

TIARA HAGGINS

5

11

10

halftime sports

news

features

Is the Guardian Cap “Vote for your beliefs”: Students gear up to really the solution vote despite confusing policies and lost to football's safety ballots woes?

KATIE DORAN AND RENEE PUJARA BRADSHAW CATE AND BEN JAKABSCIN

on the cover

6

features

“One Georgetown, two campuses”: Georgetown’s new public policy major

How to vote from college, explained AUBREY BUTTERFIELD

12

voices

Dead or alive: Does Instagram determine our existence?

EVALYN LEE

13

leisure

CHIH RONG-KUO

7

MJ Lenderman can’t escape his North Carolina angst on Manning Fireworks

editorials

Georgetown should rethink how the Capitol Campus will impact students and D.C.

JACK KEALEY

14

halftime leisure

EDITORIAL BOARD

8

“Clean Up On Aisle Three”

news

PIA CRUZ

Compass Coffee employees attempt to unionize amidst alleged unfair labor practices

...AND THERE’S MORE! Check out more pieces on our website, including Lou Jacquin’s “Dear Dirndl: Unraveling the thread of tradition” and Paige Benish’s photo essay about the freshman rapper, MC Matthews, who recently performed his original music while touring Georgetown’s freshman dorms.

FRANZISKA WILD

www.georgetownvoice.com

Trailer Takes: A Minecraft Movie needs to return to the crafting table KENNY LE

15

halftime leisure

“Neva Play” with Megan Thee Stallion—she will rock you AJANI JONES

Thank you Wingo’s and DC Tasty Corner for supporting this issue!

“At its core, it is a sandbox with simple pieces that combine with the creativity of its players to create monumental and awe-inspiring projects. The animation in A Minecraft Movie, on the other hand, is grotesque and overdone [...]”

PG. 14

2

THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

internal resources: Exec. Manager for Staff — Sabrina Shaffer Exec. 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 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, Tina Solki 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 Exec. 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 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, Elle Marinello, Rory Myers, Christina Pan, Nicholas Romero, Katie Snyder,Isabella Stratta, Kami Steffenauer, Brendan Teehan, Nadine Zakheim

contact us

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

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.

crossword by brendan teehan; pg. 4 graphic and pathetic dog by elle marinello; photo by paige benish; layout by tina solki

Page 3

Someone, please let him inside.

Georgetown, Short ’n Sweet: Take a crack at some of Brendan’s blue ’n gray abbreviations!

ACROSS: 1. Org. in possession of notto-scale cardboard cutout of VP Harris 5. Org. with segment aptly called “College Radio is so much fun!”

9. Verb invoked at times by policing reform advocates 11. International org. unsurprisingly founded in Baghdad, Iraq 12. Mattresses many echelons above ours 14. Acceleration, vis-à-vis velocity 15. Advanced arts degrees 16. May honorees 18. Time zone we “fall back” into on Nov. 3 19. On-campus speaker fervently protested against during the 2022 fall semester 20. More than passed the test 22. Org. welcoming “Show”ers and “Grow”ers 25. The only public university in the District of Columbia 26. Pontification 29. “Me and _____”: boygenius track

32. It’s Brutal in here 33. Drew perpendicular lines over 34. Occasion to spell “October” with a “k” 35. Sparrow, Cook, or Morgan 38. Manxes, Lynxes, and Mainecoons 40. Pentagram ­­– circle = 41. Winged fish with largest brain-to-body ratio 42. Maj. Government majors back out of (myself included) 43. On-campus EMT, or a reason you’d call them DOWN: 1. Common on-campus mispronunciation 2. Still hungry 3. Nonrecyclable parts of plastic bottles 4. Dr. with eight Grammys 5. Metastaszes 6. Metric that professors stress “isn’t everything” 7. Vietnamese New Year celebration stained by notorious “Offensive” 8. Before Christmas?

10. Canonically married MLB mascot 12. Org. that recently debuted its new office in the OSEI space (among others) 13. GU School whose students desperately need transportation funding 17. Wedding guest with a handheld mic 19. Tau ÷ 2 21. Six lines that will get you far 23. What makes February unique?

24. Way to cut stitching 26. It typically doesn’t work without a router 27. Home service of the current Corp CEO 28. Olivia Rodrigo’s preferred on-campus transit?

30. 23rd chromosomes 31. Gen Z word of confirmation 34. Well-grated 35. Org. managed by 12 Down 36. 4 + 4, slangily 37. It’s “Super” good at reelecting incumbents 39. The SaxaNet special

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EDITORIALS SPORTS

The football student section is bad.

How can we fix it?

BY TIARA HAGGINS

I

didn’t come to Georgetown for the football team. But, as an Ohioan, football is in my blood. I bleed scarlet and gray. From the brutal rivalry between Ohio State (OSU) and Michigan to our two NFL teams, every Ohioan lives and breathes football—even if they don’t want to.

I miss those Saturday mornings in October, watching a game against some unknown school on the 65-inch TV my mom got just for football.

See, the thing that makes Ohio State football so exciting is the atmosphere. Even while sitting at home, watching people in the stands chant “Hang on Sloopy” and jump out of their seats when we scored a touchdown always brought a smile to my face. The yearning for football was almost tangible, and I always loved the feeling of being united with the 100,000 people in the stadium and the millions like me watching from home. Both players and fans could feel the taste of victory in the air.

So, I’m sure you could only imagine my excitement on Aug. 31 when I attended my first Georgetown football game as a college student.

I was electrified at the idea of finally being in the crowd and experiencing a college football game in person.

Then, suddenly, the thrill of the game was gone when I walked into Cooper Field and saw that Davidson had more fans than us. Although they have a student population of less than 2,000, it seemed like the whole university was there. Even still, Davidson is over five hours away; so why don’t Georgetown students attend football games?

The biggest issue that removes the atmosphere many students need for enjoying football is that people don’t attend our home games. But why don’t students attend?

For many, the answer lies in not being aware of when games are taking place. “No one says, ‘I’m going to the game.’ Your average Georgetown student has no idea there is a game on,” Pietro Elie (CAS ’25) said. “Unless they walk past on a Saturday morning and go ‘Oh, there was a game.’”

Moreover, despite Georgetown offering free admittance to all football games for students with a valid GOCard, students are noticeably absent when compared to the level of attendance at other universities, like OSU, where students have to purchase season passes to attend games.

According to Nami Bolat (CAS ’25), another senior, students like herself are even less likely to attend home games because they lack a necessary social element.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

“It would be great if they were good and I could feel proud, [but] I don’t have friends who go to this shit either,” said Bolat, who had never attended a Georgetown football game before this year’s homecoming.

So, how do you fix the lack of student support going into these games? The answer lies in curating an atmosphere that feels less like that of a high school game and one more suitable for the proud university that we are.

However, to fix this, a lot of things need to change. Right now, Georgetown does not have a dedicated student section for its football games, although such sections exist for sports like basketball. The lack of a dedicated student section for football makes the game less interesting for students and potentially hurts player morale.

Further, we have a small but mighty pep band, but no one can even hear it. Without a dedicated space in the stands, the pep band doesn’t stand a chance to be heard by students when up against the giant speakers that surround the stadium. In college football, you drown out the other team’s band with music over the loudspeakers—not your own. It’s disrespectful to the pep band and to the students who never get to hear the time and hard work that the band puts into preparing for the games. If there was a designated student section reserved by the university, then everyone could not only hear the pep band, but could be corralled into a cacophony of chants by Hoya Blue, the student organization stand-in for an official student section here at Georgetown.

As our nontraditional, albeit official student section, Hoya Blue should put in a more concerted effort to bring freshmen out to games. Freshmen don’t know what a losing streak feels like here (yet) nor are they full of the negativity and disappointment that comes along with it. We are optimistic, doe-eyed, hopeful kids who just want to see our team win sometimes.

More than that, the restrictions on Hoya Blue’s activities perpetuates this cycle.

This is only exacerbated by Athletics not allowing the club to throw t-shirts or bring noisemakers.

Even now, first-years like Madison Coyne (CAS ’28), who has attended Kentucky State University games, are already teeming with ideas of how to improve Georgetown’s own student section at games.

“If Hoya Blue could run the student section and do cheers, or do some t-shirt tosses like normal schools do, it would make it a lot more fun,” Coyne said, expressing her disappointment in the overall atmosphere of her first Hoya game. “I went because… it doesn’t get any better than homecoming, which is kind of sad because it wasn’t the best.”

Although football isn’t our main sport, these changes would be a good start to building a real student section—even if we aren't good. You can have school spirit and never win—just think of our men’s basketball team, they only won nine of the 32 games they played last year, yet my seniors say the stands are always radiating with energy.

I believe Hoya Blue and Athletics have a responsibility to make games more enjoyable so more students will come. But more than that, I hope that students make an effort to show up and show out at our games.

We may not be good at football, but we’ll never know if our team could’ve been better with just a little bit of crowd support. But until then, I guess I’ll just have to keep rooting for OSU and making enemies of all the kids from Michigan (the entire state) on campus. G

design by elle marinello

HALFTIME SPORTS

Is the Guardian Cap really the solution to football’s safety woes?

BY BRADSHAW CATE AND BEN JAKABCSIN

T

here’s a reason we did not play football growing up. Despite our deep love for the sport—the late nights spent watching games, the emptiness we feel from February to July between seasons—we’d never let our kids play. It’s bad for the brain.

The frequency of hits to the head in football puts former players at risk of developing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain condition that could lead to dementia or premature death, later in life.

However, a sport deeply tied to national and regional identity will not disappear overnight. So, leagues are now searching for ways to make an inherently violent sport safer.

In recent years, one proposed solution has been the Guardian Cap, a mesh of padding that goes over the outside of the helmet.

While it may seem like the Guardian Cap should be a universally lauded product, its efficacy is highly debated. If you ask Guardian Sports themselves, they would say their “cap” reduces impact force on contact by 33%. Ask the NFL, and they’ll say it’s between 10% and 20%. Ask Stanford scientists, and they’ll say the reduction in force is negligible. Although the sports world has yet to reach a consensus, given the product’s novelty and the variation in testing processes, we are constantly learning more about Guardian Caps and their potential.

Below, we discuss whether the rollout of Guardian Caps is the answer the NFL (and other leagues) have been looking for regarding player head safety.

Pro (Bradshaw Cate): Regardless of whether the Guardian Cap works, the equipment symbolizes a continued push from the NFL to reform a gladiator sport into something that does not wreck its players down the road. Since 2012, the NFL added independent, certified athletic trainers to watch for potential concussions or hard head hits from a bird’s-eye view, alerting on-field referees who may have missed the play. And, after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was cleared to re-enter play after a concussion in 2022, the league amended its concussion protocol to prevent more players from playing while injured. These critical changes have already resulted in meaningful shifts in the way football is played at various levels across the United States.

While an NFL-style concussion protocol is not uniform across colleges, similar protocols are generally in place across most schools.

Moreover, the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations have also allowed the use of Guardian Caps during practice, and may adopt them into games soon.

For the NFL to best use its influence, however, the league should use players as safety advocates, whether by wearing Guardian Caps, making videos on the NFL’s social media, or returning to players’ alma maters to speak on ways to improve safety. Players like Indianapolis Colts tight end Kylen Granson have already begun to use their influence to advocate for more safety in the sport.

Recently, Granson posted a TikTok video saying that he wants to make the Guardian Cap seem cool so younger players adopt the little things that go a long way in protecting their health.

Guardian Caps have built momentum for player safety, and therefore, I think the NFL’s introduction of them is a right step forward.

graphics by katie snyder; layout by jihoo yang

Con (Ben Jakabcsin): Similar to my compatriot, I will put off questions about whether the Guardian Cap works. While it may seem odd, I can promise that it’s not all that important to the following.

It may seem counterintuitive to argue against the current Guardian Caps rollout when the NFL says concussions are down 50%. But even taking those numbers at face value, reducing concussions shouldn’t be the NFL’s primary focus. The real priority must be long-term health risks like CTE. Just because the NFL only chooses to acknowledge the events it defines as concussive, that doesn’t mean that non-concussive events don’t matter just as much in the grand scheme for players’ health. When it comes to brain injuries, it’s not all-or-nothing; every hit matters.

Concussions and the development of CTE are not as causally linked as most people believe. In fact, according to 2018 Boston University study, as many as 20% of people who have been diagnosed with CTE have never been formally diagnosed with a concussion. While it is possible that many of those people have experienced undiagnosed concussions in their lifetime, at the end of the day CTE isn’t caused by singular instances of injury; it is caused by repeated impacts to the head, whether that be concussions or non-concussive events.

Consider a player like Cleveland Browns linebacker Jeremiah OwusuKoramoah who said in his post-game interview after Week Two that he wore the cap in order to “feel nothing.” If players could ultimately feel inclined to play the game more recklessly because of a misinterpretation of the equipment’s designed use, then has the football field truly become a safer place?

Safer equipment, therefore, may not be the panacea to address the inherent danger of football. Instead, coaches and leagues need to adjust how players are taught to initiate contact. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to follow the lead of the NFL’s amateur counterpart, college football, and institute ejections for targeting. Moreover, the league could also work with the NFL Players Association to increase the penalties and fines for targeting. If you want teams and players to take head safety more seriously, tie it to what matters most to them: their records and their wallets.

Is there a place for something like the Guardian Cap in professional football? Absolutely. Having safer equipment is an important part of making the game safer. At the same time, the NFL needs to make sure that its agendas are set in a way that addresses the root of its problem. Guardian Caps can be part of a solution to the NFL’s head trauma issue, but it is wildly unrealistic to suggest that they can be the solution–or even the main part of one. G SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

5

FEATURES

“One Georgetown, two campuses”: Georgetown’s new public policy major

BY CHIH RONG-KUO

G

eorgetown may already be in the nation's capital, but for students who want more hands-on experience at the center of political action, the university’s new undergraduate public policy degree brings the Capitol to the classroom.

In February 2023, Georgetown announced a new A.B. in Public Policy, a joint program between the McCourt School of Public Policy and the College of Arts and Sciences. The first cohort of the Joint Program in Public Policy (JPPP), currently sophomores, must declare on the College’s Academic Program Changes Form

by Nov. 1, 2024.

“We want to essentially provide a policy problem-driven degree that is interdisciplinary and provides students with experiential learning opportunities,” James Habyarimana, professor of public policy and the faculty director of the JPPP, said. “Georgetown is a university for change makers, and we think that this is a degree that gives those students the tools to engage more directly through other pathways.”

Enrolled students will spend their first two years on the Hilltop and their junior and senior years at the McCourt School on the Capitol Campus. The school is located at 125 E St. NW—a few blocks away from Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, and Union Station—which also hosts the Capital Applied Learning Labs (CALL), a semester program based in downtown D.C. for undergraduate students to intern or participate in fellowships while taking classes.

“We’re trying to create the idea that this is one Georgetown, two campuses, albeit separated by half an hour of a commute,” Habyarimana said.

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

During their first two years, students will complete the College’s core curriculum as well as an introductory course, How Public Policy Works, which must be taken before the spring semester of their second year. In their junior and senior years, students must complete the four-course public policy core sequence while taking electives from four policy clusters— Environment, Energy, and Climate Change; International Development; Political Strategy and Governance; and Social Policy—and choose one to concentrate in. Students must also enroll in either an internship seminar or a policy lab on the Capitol Hill campus.

McCourt, which houses the program, was previously the graduate school for public policy.

Since its move off campus in the summer of 2024, it will now serve both undergraduate and masters students, in an effort to make policymaking more accessible.

“There was a very strong intention by the university to move down here—to be closer to the policy capital,” Habyarimana said. “It opened up the question, ‘How do we give undergraduate students the opportunity to also take advantage of the location?’”

According to Habyarimana, the academic and social experience of students in the public policy major will likely be similar to that of students at the CALL. Being at the CALL has allowed Francyne Diola (SON ’27) to take two internships downtown.

“The housing and being downtown is definitely really cool. We’re a 15-minute walk from the Capitol, a seven-minute walk from Union Station, so you have huge access to a lot of things,” Diola said, “I think Georgetown has a really big bubble that you stay in pretty well. But being here, you explore a lot more.”

To students, the location of the downtown campus is either the main appeal or a deal-breaker for declaring to the JPPP. The distance may alienate downtown students from the social, academic, and extracurricular scene on the Hilltop, some students said.

Judy Wang (CAS ’27), who is studying political economy and studio art, initially considered declaring to the

JPPP after taking the introductory course before switching to her current majors.

“The class was really interesting and aligned with what I wanted to study,” Wang said. “It was a much more practical aspect of politics I wanted to go into and it would teach me a lot of hard skills. But then I learned more about it, and there’s just a lot of limitations with the major.”

Diola said that staying involved in campus life has been challenging while at the Capitol Campus.

“The community life is a little lackluster, for sure,” Diola said. “The trek, if you’re going to the main campus, is also tough sometimes because the GUTS is often late. If there’s traffic, a 20-minute drive ends up taking 45 minutes and you don’t want to go to class late.”

Furthermore, the JPPP restricts students’ options to double major or minor on the Hilltop.

“I’m double majoring in art right now, and I don’t think I can do that if I did the Public Policy major. For me, it really just came down to, ‘Am I willing to forgo something I’m really passionate about for another major?’” Wang said.

JPPP students who are interested in majoring or minoring in programs offered at the Capitol Campus, such as the B.S. in Environment & Sustainability, can still do so.

“We’re working on a wide range of minors that leverage our location,” Habyarimana said.

“A minor that was just approved yesterday [Sept.

9] is the Law, Justice, and Society minor.”

For Annabelle Kim (CAS ’27), a student considering JPPP, the benefits of the program seem to outweigh the drawbacks.

“The two years at the Capitol Campus really put me off,” Kim said. “But for me, it’s still worth it. I really like the intro class, and I made a lot of good relationships with the professors.

It feels more practical than just a government major.”

Habyarimana said the program hopes to respond and adapt to students’ concerns.

“We have a footing and an orientation to listen to what students would like us to do, but we’re still very much in the early stages,” he said. “I would say, as a policy school, this is very much in our DNA.” G

graphics by leah abraham; layout by maggie zhang

EDITORIALS

Georgetown should rethink how the Capitol Campus will impact students and D.C.

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

G

eorgetown’s new Capitol Campus—a component of its $3 billion Called to Be fundraising campaign—aims to increase the university’s downtown presence and expand opportunities for students to engage with D.C. While exciting, in emphasizing the possibilities posed by expansion, the university obscures how the downtown campus’s growth could negatively impact both its student body and the D.C. community. Georgetown’s prioritization of longterm expansion and prestige cannot come at the expense of current students, existing academic programs, and the wider D.C. community.

What is the Capitol Campus?

Over the last 50 years of its development, the downtown campus has been primarily for graduate and law students. The Called to Be campaign seeks to build up the existing space into a second Hilltop for undergraduates, including those attending the Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL) and those pursuing degrees in public policy and environmental studies. Once construction is completed, the downtown campus will include six buildings spanning eight city blocks, just west of Union Station.

Impact on downtown D.C. In a promotional video, President John DeGioia describes the Capitol Campus as a way to intersect “knowledge and inquiry, civic engagement, and building for the common good.”

These are admirable, if vague, goals, but they say little about the campus’s potential impacts on students or the surrounding District.

Moreover, the idea that this campus would help Georgetown students integrate into the District sidesteps the fact that Georgetown is already a D.C. school—and one with a lessthan-stellar track record for treating the local community well. The university has been a major gentrifying force in the neighborhood, and as the city’s fourth largest employer, has a history of contracting with problematic companies like Aramark and treating its non-faculty employees poorly. While the university tries to engage with D.C. residents through over 40 Center for Social Justice programs and the Prisons and Justice Initiative, the success of these programs does not depend on being centrally located. On the contrary, further developing the downtown

campus will displace the very people Georgetown believes it is serving through these programs.

This expansion will also contribute to an existing trend of satellite campuses in D.C. While these campuses have repurposed buildings left vacant by COVID-19, drawing people and businesses back into downtown, these developments have further contributed to gentrification in many U.S. cities, including D.C. In the 1990s, an increase in young professional residents hiked up property prices in Foggy Bottom—the home of George Washington University (GW)—changing the area from a predominantly Black neighborhood with affordable housing to a predominantly white area with housing costs higher than most working-class and middle-class families can bear. Real estate booms near Howard University, a historically Black university, have also forced out many longtime residents.

Furthermore, the construction of urban university campuses like the Capitol Campus tends to exacerbate food insecurity, disrupt existing residents’ access to trauma care, and result in over-policing of the neighborhood under the guise of student safety.

Impact on student life It is also unclear how Georgetown will bridge the social divide between the two campuses.

GW’s downtown and Mount Vernon campuses have illustrated the challenges of having a split student body. These students have described feeling isolated from the rest of campus and spending much of their day commuting, making it difficult to engage with main campus student organizations. Georgetown’s situation will be notably different: while some GW students are forced to live at Mount Vernon, Hoyas will be able to choose whether they want to live at the downtown campus. Still, students at the Capitol Campus may experience similar social isolation, and the university should proactively offer mental health support and other resources to ensure these students’ well-being.

To that end, it is also important for the university to help foster a sense of community among students at the Capitol Campus. The Capitol Campus should cultivate student organizations that offer a sense of community but differ from the pre-professional culture of the main campus, as the downtown campus already includes professional opportunities from its location. Furthermore, Georgetown should ensure that connecting with peers and opportunities on the main campus is accessible by increasing the frequency of shuttles between the two campuses.

graphics by sophina boychenko; layout by maggie zhang

What’s left behind?

Georgetown’s expansion of the environmental studies program is very timely, and the public policy joint degree has already been met with a high level of interest from students. These programs deserve their own space and resources to grow. However, the university has continually failed to meet its obligation to support its faculty and students in existing programs.

The consequences of this neglect are most evident in the Department of Performing Arts.

Citing “significant staff and faculty attrition and a lack of sufficient support from the University,” the department has canceled, curtailed, or otherwise transformed their programming through the 2024-25 academic year, including ending their regular full productions. These productions offered Theater and Performance Studies (TPST) majors a practical way to fulfill their requirements within Georgetown’s limited options to engage with theater, which traditionally serve as spaces for self-expression, leadership, and community-building.

Institutional neglect is cyclical. Underfunded and understaffed departments have less capacity to offer the diversity of programming that initially draws students to these programs, which then shrinks student engagement. Since 2011, the average number of TPST majors has decreased by 13% every year; in the last five years, that rate has accelerated to almost 23%. If the university can muster the will—and the funds—to invest in a long-term prestige project downtown, it must also extend that will toward sustaining established programs. Expanding outward while shrinking support for existing programs isn’t growth; it’s negligence in disguise.

University administrators cannot prioritize Capitol Campus expansion while neglecting to invest in existing programs and failing to address student concerns. Moreover, the Capitol Campus development must partner with District residents to ensure that the university’s investments further the just engagement it markets to its donors. Three billion dollars says that commitment will soon stretch to the corner of 55 H Street—but it should begin right here, on the Hilltop. G

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

7

NEWS

W

Compass Coffee Employees attempt to unionize amidst alleged unfair labor practices

BY FRANZISKA WILD

8

hile Georgetown students flock to Compass Coffee on Wisconsin Avenue for lattes and a dependably serene study spot, for Compass baristas, work has been anything but dependable or serene.

Compass workers at seven of their 17 storefronts, including the Georgetown location, voted in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) unionization election on July 16. Since then, workers and CEO Michael Haft have waited for the final vote tally, as it has been mired with ballot challenges.

Workers at Compass have alleged that prior to and after the vote, Haft and other managers tried to discourage and prevent unionization through a variety of tactics.

Haft did not respond to the Voice’s repeated calls and emails for an interview or comment.

Workers begin organizing Workers at the petitioning cafés began to organize this spring, and officially announced their intention to unionize in late May. Reasons for unionizing ranged from maintenance concerns to demands for benefits, wage increases, and the reinstitution of iPad tipping.

Christopher Buchanan, who has been a barista and supervisor at the Georgetown location for three years, said that years-long maintenance concerns were resolved only after he and others announced their intentions to unionize.

Penina Meier-Silverman, who also works at the Georgetown location, told the Voice that maintenance issues impact both customers and baristas. She said that one of her coworkers at Compass’s Spring Valley location was electrocuted by the sandwich oven and was denied workers compensation because the coworker was not hospitalized.

“A lot of our maintenance concerns, like when it came to having mall bars or brewers working all the time, washing machines, dishwashers, I could go on and ad infinitum, they just weren’t being addressed or fixed in a timely fashion,” Buchanan said in an interview with the Voice.

Similarly, after the union went public, baristas received a 50 cent wage increase after having been denied one for the past five years, according to Buchanan.

Baristas report anti-union activity leading up to the vote At the Georgetown location, the number of staff nearly tripled in the two weeks after workers went public with plans to unionize, Buchanan and Meier-Silverman told the Voice. In order to vote in the union election, employees don’t need to be fulltime, but they need to work a minimum number of hours in the week leading up to the vote.

Buchanan found the influx of staff difficult.

“It’s very stressful, it’s packed behind the lines, so it’s hard for people to move around and stuff like that,” Buchanan said. “I think some of these hires are meant to sway the vote to a ‘no’ vote.”

According to reporting by The Guardian, multiple Compass employees accused Haft of hiring executives of D.C. chains as baristas, including Union Kitchen CEO Cullen Gilchrist, who himself has previously opposed unionization efforts. The Guardian also reported on tweets made by an Uber

lobbyist who attended a new hire training at Compass and then was not scheduled to work a single shift this past summer.

According to Buchanan and MeierSilverman, this mass hiring only occurred at unionizing cafés, and they think it was an effort

by Haft to infuse the cafés with voters—many of whom had never worked as baristas—to oppose the union. They also both told the Voice that many of the executives hired at the Georgetown location were close friends of Haft’s or even family members.

However, not all the new hires seemed to be friends of the owner; others were students looking for a summer job, and some seemed to have no idea about Compass’s unionization efforts, Buchanan said.

Among this group of new hires, there were some who spoke little to no English. This language barrier was incredibly challenging for Meier-Silverman and Buchanan, who said that upper management failed to provide support to them or the new employees.

“It’s entirely the fault of the company for hiring these people and not providing proper translation services,” Meier-Silverman said.

“We were just told to use Google Translate. We were even told to tell customers to use Google Translate, which is even more absurd.”

Jessica Hubbard, the former manager at the Georgetown location (who transitioned into a different role at Compass on Sept. 21), told the Voice that translated materials were emailed individually to employees who might need them.

Workers also told the Voice about being written up by their managers for discussing the union while at work. Being written up for discussing unionization is something that the NLRB classifies as an unfair labor practice if company policy doesn’t prohibit the discussion of nonwork topics—which Compass does not, according to all four employees the Voice spoke with.

Meier-Silverman received one of these writeups because she was talking to a customer about the unionization effort.

“This was soon after we went public, so I had customers coming up and asking me questions.

There was only one time during my shift where I went, ‘Hey, did you hear we’re unionizing?’ and that was to one of our everyday regulars,” she said. Meier-Silverman explained that, a day later, she got a message from her manager saying that someone in executive management wanted her to write Meier-Silverman up for “soliciting about the union to customers.”

But according to Meier-Silverman, she wasn’t soliciting, just answering customer questions, and even her manager at the time refused to write her up.

“It was very clear to me that they were lying, or if they weren’t lying, it was somebody close to Michael [Haft], and he was fabricating the situation,” she said. “My manager refused to write me up, and so they went over her head and Michael himself wrote me up.”

The vote The fate of the Compass union has been in limbo since the union election was held in mid-July, as lawyers debate challenged ballots in front of the NLRB.

design by cecilia cassidy and tina solki

Note: This data is from the NLRB website.

At each of the seven petitioning cafés, the vast majority of the ballots remain uncounted because they have been challenged by either side. In NLRB elections, ballots may be challenged if they believe that the employee is not a member of the bargaining unit or is ineligible to vote. In the Georgetown Compass election, 22 ballots were challenged of 29 who voted.

Anti-union activity continues, according to baristas Management’s tactics have shifted since the July 17 vote, but they have continued to discourage pro-union activity, according to Buchanan.

“I feel like they’ve changed their union busting tactics to just being insufferable,” Buchanan said.

“The most recent thing they’ve been doing is scheduling people outside their availability.”

This practice puts employees who are scheduled for shifts they cannot work at risk of being written up. Buchanan has been routinely scheduled to work the opening shift, which starts at 5:30 a.m., despite living over an hour away from Georgetown in an area where the Metro doesn’t operate early in the morning. He has been able to find someone to cover those shifts, but feels as though he was purposefully put in a “‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t’ situation.”

The staffing of the café continues to fluctuate— according to Buchanan, the Georgetown location is understaffed once again—as many of the summer’s new hires left after the union election.

Some of those are students who went back to school, Buchanan said, but others just seemed to disappear.

“We had a few people who only showed up to vote, who I’d never seen before except to vote. And they’re no longer employed there,” Buchanan said.

“We’ve had a few people who have coincidentally transitioned to more beneficial positions for them within the company.”

Among the employees that have stayed most are non-native English speakers and the language barrier, understaffing, and erratic schedules remain difficult for everyone at the Georgetown location, Buchanan said.

“There are still people with tenure who don’t get hours at all, while other people do get hours, and it’s causing a lot of frustration,” Buchanan said. “They’re doing that to try to divide and conquer and lower morale, and try to turn us against one another.”

Tatiyana Thompson loves connecting with her customers and creative practice of latte art. She’s also one of the employees who had her hours cut severely. Before June, she was a full-time barista at the Georgetown location. While she initially chose to cut back her hours a little in early June following a bad car accident, after she came back to work full-time Hubbard refused to put her on schedule, she said.

Thompson described how she would go back and forth with Hubbard asking for more hours given her seniority and status as a full-time employee; each time Hubbard would promise to fix her schedule and still Thompson would find herself with only one or two shifts of work.

“I went from working 30 to 40 hours a week to working four,” Thompson said. What Thompson found most frustrating is that Hubbard would tell Thompson that she wasn’t responsible for the scheduling.

“There were times that I would go to her and say, ‘Hey, my schedule is not looking right.’ And she’s telling me that, ‘Oh, I have no control over this schedule.’ And then next week she’s posting the schedule that she created, and I’m not on it,” Thompson said. Hubbard confirmed to the Voice that she was responsible for building the schedule at the café.

Eventually, Thompson began to notice a pattern in Hubbard’s scheduling—it seemed to disproportionately affect the employees of color, particularly the Black employees.

“At the time, I was the only Black woman in that café and there was only one other Black person, and he works in the evening time. His hours were affected too.” Thompson said. “She would either schedule him 10 days in a row with no day off or, like, not schedule him at all.” Hubbard denies any racial discrimination in scheduling and told the Voice that if baristas don’t update their availability in the scheduling system, they might be scheduled for shifts they can’t work.

VOTE BREAKDOWN BY CAFE

Workers support each other In the midst of turbulent working conditions and a long wait for the finalized union vote count, baristas have been trying to support each other. They’ve designated September as “Solidarity September” and have encouraged other labor groups and customers to show support.

Buchanan told the Voice that other unions in the area, including the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, have delivered pro-union letters to management.

He also stressed the importance of customer support for the baristas. The organizing committee asked customers to show up on “Union Tuesdays” and order their drinks under the name “real good union” or other supportive messages.

“We encourage people to try adopting a café so they can come in and get to know the workers and constantly be a supportive force and boost the morale,” Buchanan said. “I think it really helps the baristas and also continues to put Compass on notice that, ‘Hey, what you’re doing is messed up.’”

With support from other organizations like Northern Virginia AFL-CIO, the organizing committee created a mutual aid fund that raised around $13,000 for baristas who’ve been wrongfully terminated or have had their hours cut.

For Thompson, the mutual aid fund has been an important source of support.

“You just fill the form out, let them know your situation and let them know the hours that you're getting, the hours you’re supposed to be getting, and then they weigh each option, and then approve you for a certain amount,” she said.

“So far I’ve been able to get almost $800, and it’s been a very big help.”

This solidarity has also allowed the organizing committee and pro-union baristas to maintain a united front. Thompson, Meier-Silverman, and Buchanan all told the Voice they remain steadfast in their belief in the union.

“I truly believe that if you thought you won, you wouldn’t be doing these things. They want to dilute our ability to negotiate once all this is said and done,” Buchanan said. G SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

9

FEATURES

“Vote for your beliefs”: Students gear up to vote despite confusing policies and lost ballots

BY KATIE DORAN AND RENEE PUJARA

I

n March, Evan Cornell (CAS ’27) was excited to vote for the first time, but his ballot never arrived.

Cornell, a Florida resident, wanted to vote in the presidential primaries, but when he requested his mail-in ballot, it never arrived at Georgetown. He’s not sure what went wrong.

“Here at Georgetown, we don’t have a mailbox with our name on it. It has to go to the university, who then files it to us,” Cornell said. “If there’s some mix-up in the process, you miss one letter, one number, it might not show up. And then, essentially, you’re being disenfranchised.”

Cornell is one of 41 million Generation Z voters—according to a Tufts University study— eligible to vote in November, but undelivered ballots as well as state-specific voting laws can pose barriers to voting for students.

In 10 states, voters need at least one witness to cast an absentee ballot. In four states, they even need a notary, a designated public official who can serve as an impartial witness, to verify their absentee ballot. For students who are unaware of these requirements, the extra hassle can discourage voting.

Getting registered to vote can also be difficult from afar. In states like Wisconsin, there is a cut-off date a few weeks before an election, after which citizens can only register in person, as opposed to online or via mail. Other states don’t allow any voter registration—in-person, online, or by mail— within a few weeks of an election.

When Alexa Garber (CAS ’28) tried to register to vote in March—the month she turned 18—she couldn’t do it online because it was within 20 days of the Wisconsin primary.

“You can’t register to vote three weeks before an election, unless you’re there, in person, or if you go to your clerk’s office, which is really annoying for people who don’t live in Wisconsin anymore,” Garber said.

Garber did not register to vote until a few months later.

Beyond voting registration, some students said it’s confusing to find information about mail-in voting.

“With navigating Arizona’s policies specifically, I have been left feeling very confused,” Maria Halter (CAS ’27) wrote in an email to the Voice. “Upon looking into how to get my absentee ballot, I found that the information is more concealed than I would

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

like. It ultimately only had a number for me to call to register.”

Halter has relied on her family mailing her a ballot, rather than changing the address for her mail-in ballot.

“In the past, my mom has had to mail me my ballot, which has been successful, but can also not be preferred by many students for a plethora of reasons, such as parents not having similar political beliefs and therefore do not want to send their children their ballots,” Halter wrote.

For students like Halter, who have family members send them their ballots, the envelope won’t have the official election stamps that signify importance to the U.S. Postal Service and to Georgetown.

To avoid issues with their ballots or registration, Cornell, Garber, and Halter all advised that students research their state’s policies early on. Sam Lovell (CAS ’25), copresident of GU Votes, a student-led voter advocacy organization, offered the same advice.

“Start early. Register early. Don’t just do it on the deadline,” Lovell said. “It can take several weeks for your registration to be approved, for your documents to come, and for your ballot to come. So if you want to participate—and you should want to participate—act early.”

In the last few years, 48 states have introduced bills that raise barriers to voting, like implementing stricter identification and documentation requirements to register or cast a ballot. Critics of these policies say that these laws aim to disempower voters of color and have their roots in Jim Crow-era voting restrictions that disenfranchised Black voters.

While many of the proposed voting restrictions have not been passed into law, Halter said that these proposals make it even more important for students to be proactive in researching their state’s laws.

“Many politicians, specifically in recent years, have attempted to limit or silence student voices and our votes because they know that we have the capability to elect politicians who will adhere to our values,” Halter wrote. “This makes it even more difficult and crucial that we know and understand our state’s voting laws.”

Pratik Jacob (CAS ’25), the other copresident of GU Votes, added that while registering and voting can seem “daunting,” GU Votes will work with students to make

sense of their state’s laws and meet any requirements. With the help of GU Votes, 93% of Georgetown students were registered to vote in 2020.

“GU Votes is doing everything we can to provide all the resources and support and make this as accessible and easy and straightforward as we possibly can,” Jacob said. “We can make it a fairly simple process for every student here, regardless of what state you’re from.”

GU Votes offers stamped envelopes for students’ election-related mail, arranges notaries for students’ ballots, and works to register students to vote every year through initiatives like Storm the Dorms, a campuswide voter registration drive for which Cornell and Halter both volunteered this year.

Interviewed students all encouraged their peers to make the effort to vote. Cornell also emphasized the importance of down-ballot elections and local politics, since many tend to focus on presidential elections.

“It’s about your state legislatures. It’s about your school boards, your town or city commissions, it’s about who is the sheriff in your county—it is so much more than just the White House,” Cornell said. “Everyone needs to vote, no matter how hard it is.”

Garber added that as young people, college students have a unique position and opportunity to influence politics.

“The younger population’s perspective on politics is very different from the older generation, typically,” Garber said. “Having young college voters out there is very important.”

Cornell said that the results of the November election could have far-reaching impacts and encouraged students to vote to protect their interests.

“Having an active participation and making sure your rights aren’t taken away and aren’t stripped is extremely important, because you could wake up on November 6th and all of a sudden the world has changed,” Cornell said. “You’ve got to vote for your rights, vote for your beliefs, and know that you can make a change.” G

NEWS

How to vote from college, explained

BY AUBREY BUTTERFIELD

F

or college students, especially those who attend school out of state, voting in the Nov. 5 elections is not as straightforward as going to a polling center or ballot drop box on election day.

To answer some common questions, we’ve enlisted co-presidents of GU Votes, a student-led organization to increase student participation in elections, Pratik Jacob (CAS ’25) and Sam Lovell (CAS ’25).

Here’s what Georgetown students need to know to vote: First, who is eligible to vote?

To be eligible to vote in the 2024 election, you must be: 1. A United States citizen. In D.C. and some municipalities in some states, non-citizens are eligible to vote in municipal elections.

2. 8 years of age or older on or before election day. Most states allow 17-year-olds to register, if they turn 18 before Nov. 5.

3. Meet your state’s requirements regarding residence, criminal history, and mental ability.

4. Registered to vote.

How do you register to vote?

Information on registering to vote in your state can be found under Campus Resources on GUExperience (formerly MyAccess) or at Vote.gov.

Selecting “Register to Vote” on GUExperience will take you through the online registration process, which most states allow. However, potential voters in Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming must mail a voter registration application.

Each state has different rules and deadlines for registering to vote, ranging from Oct. 6 to election day. State-specific information can be found on USA.gov, on the “Voter registration deadlines” page.

Should I register to vote in my home state, or in D.C.? If I hold residence in multiple states, how should I decide where to vote?

Before deciding where to vote, it’s important to know what you can vote for. As the District of Columbia is not a state, it has no senator or voting member in the House of Representatives (D.C. residents may elect a non-voting delegate to the House). Both D.C. and all states participate in presidential and municipal elections. If you’re registered in a U.S. territory, like Puerto Rico or Guam, you are not able to vote for president.

Ultimately, it’s up to the voter. However, Lovell encourages students to consider where they might have the most impact.

“If we’re on the margins, where a student may have more influence on the outcome of a race or

graphics by katie reddy; layout by olivia li

referendum in their home state, it might be illadvised for a student to vote in D.C.,” Lovell said.

For students with multiple residences across the United States, Lovell encouraged students to register for the state where they spend most of their time.

If you want to change your place of voting, update your registration before the deadline and remember that proof of residence may be required.

How do political parties affect voting?

Should I register with a political party?

“For the general election, the voter’s party isn’t going to matter at all. It only matters for your own personal preference,” Jacob said.

You’re free to register and vote however you please, Jacob and Lovell said. However, while public records do not show who someone voted for, they do show party registration.

I’m already registered. What’s next?

For Hoyas away from home, voting by mail is the easiest way to cast their ballot. You can find a “Request Your Absentee Ballot” page under Campus Resources on GUExperience, which will walk you through the steps you need. Each state has different protocols for voting by mail, however, they fall into three categories: 1. Automatic Mail-in Automatic mail-in voting is also known as “all vote-by-mail.” These states, such as California, Hawaii, and Oregon, automatically mail a ballot to all registered voters—a ballot may have been sent to your home address automatically.

How should students mail their ballots back? Where should they go, and what should they include?

“There’s a big blue USPS mailbox right outside the front gates. That’s the best, fastest, most secure way,” Jacob said. There is also a USPS office location at 1215 31st St. for those who want to deliver their ballot in person or priority mail it.

Election experts say that ballots should only be mailed through USPS, not FedEx or UPS, as some states will not accept ballots sent through private services.

Jacob noted that each state has its own guidelines for what voters are required to include with their ballots, when they mail them back.

In Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, voters have to get their ballots notarized— signed by an official, designated witness.

GU Votes provides free envelopes, forms, and any notarization a student may need. They can be found in the GU Politics office in Healy G-18 or at any GU Votes table around campus.

How reliable is absentee voting?

Absentee voting and the vote-by-mail system has proven to be a safe, reliable method to vote.

“We take the integrity of our elections very seriously. Of course concerns have been raised, and have been litigated, and I think people should feel secure in voting absentee,” Lovell said. G Still have questions? Consult Vote.gov, contact your Secretary of State, or email GU Votes at voting@ georgetown.edu.

2. No Excuse Mail-in “No excuse” mail-in voting is a form of absentee voting for which you do not need to have a “valid reason.” You may have to fill out a form or complete some other steps, which can be found on your Secretary of State website.

3. Excuse Mail-in For some states, including Alabama, Indiana, and Texas, you must present a valid reason to vote absentee. Studying out-of-state is a sufficient excuse, but you may have to fill out an absentee ballot application, which you submit either online or by mail to your country clerk.

Like registering to vote, different states have different deadlines for requesting an absentee ballot, which can be found on Vote.org under “Absentee Ballot Deadlines.” The required time frames for requesting these ballots range from over 45 to less than 30 days before the election, depending on your state. So plan ahead!

If your ballot does not arrive on time, reach out to your county clerk or registrar of voters.

SEPTEMBER UPDATE PUB 27, DATE 2024

11

VOICES

Dead or alive: Does Instagram determine our existence?

BY EVALYN LEE

I

no longer exist…on Instagram. My friends have texted me messages along the lines of “Did you delete Instagram? So-and-so was asking if you were dead!” With our end-ofsemester photo dumps, roommate shopping on @georgetownclassof20XX accounts, and screening of boys’ Instagrams to check for “red flags,” Instagram has become so rooted in our college life that it seems like our very existence depends on our online presence. So, now that I’ve deactivated my Instagram account, do I still exist?

As a member of Gen Z, I have heard plenty of the “social media is poison” and “dangers of the screenager” sermons from my elders—many of whom seem to be equally addicted to social media (why is my dad on Facebook Reels?) Given that we’ve already heard plenty of those tirades, I’m not here to advocate for you to reduce your screen time. Rather, I’m asking you to reimagine a world where your experiences exist solely in the moment instead of being immortalized in a post, where people meet you for the first time in the flesh before they pre-screen your social media profile, and where your real life identity matters more than your online one.

Before I deleted Instagram, I used to curate the perfect post to portray myself as a mysterious artsy girl. I viewed my Instagram account as my résumé to the world, so that anyone who viewed my profile would bestow their unspoken stamp of approval. I tirelessly scrolled through my camera roll to hunt for worthy photos, the glowing screen searing my corneas.

However, I always felt like my social media identity fell short of the Instagram girl I wanted to be. I didn’t feel “cool” enough. My outfits felt boring, photos were never at the right angle, or my posts didn’t prove I was having enough fun. I could tell you about body image issues that social media amplifies. The dominance of eurocentric beauty standards that, I, as a person of color, can’t ever meet. The material demands of keeping up with fashion trends, and the very economic pressures of “having fun,” like traveling and eating out. All of this led me to the point where my own self perception of daily life overshadowed the way others on Instagram perceived me.

For example, if I had a great day hiking down a ravine to a secret beach, but did not

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

have photos to post, I felt like that day didn’t happen. I legitimized my life by making my Instagram followers witness to it. But while I was putting effort into portraying my life as cool and interesting, I could have been working toward actually becoming a better person in real life.

A part of becoming a better person is also becoming a better friend. To me, Instagram

felt full of loosely connected and distant friendships. I would numbly scroll past faces that were empty to me—friends of friends I vaguely knew from my old hometown or people I followed just because they had “Georgetown” in their bio. It felt inhumanely impersonal that their faces only received a millisecond of my attention and then with a swipe of my finger, they left my mind. The brevity of an Instagram interaction—a like, comment, or view—made me feel more lonely, like the thousands of socalled Instagram friends were just phantoms that passed through my screen. Social media is meant to help people stay connected with each other. Instead, I felt detached and dizzy.

My paradoxically overly-conscious and severely-subconscious use of Instagram led me to delete my account. But what about things I was missing out on?

I couldn’t see photos from my close friends when we were apart during the summer. I missed out on those hilariously specific memes and reels and brilliant creatives who use Instagram to share their art. I also struggled with navigating Georgetown’s extracurriculars and social life as many clubs use social media to communicate application deadlines, upcoming events, or even to share photos of their “new hires.”

But in reimagining an alternate way of being without Instagram, I found replacements and substitutes. I started making more of an effort to call or Facetime my friends, replacing a “like” with conversations filled with: “wait tell me more about…” I started sending more text messages, asking friends for life updates and private “photo dumps.” I also tapped back into the lost art of snail mail, sending poems, birthday cards, and postcards to my friends. However, I’m not perfect at staying in touch. There will be relationships that I will lose over time now that I’ve cut the fragile string of Instagram that was holding them together—but maybe that is just more natural. I’d rather be more intentional and active in my relationships, even if it’s just a handful.

Now, I feel more aware of the world around me. I get fashion inspiration from people-watching on the train, and I remember to look up at the sky every now and then. I enjoy nature through the lens of my own eyes rather than the lens of my iPhone camera. In addition to feeling more connected with others and my environment, I also feel more connected to myself. I focus less on constructing my social media identity and more on how my actual lived experiences develop me as a person. Instead of obsessing over superficial ways to create an “aesthetic,” I’m starting to feel like I could be “enough.”

I’m no longer falling short of an aestheticized version of my life because it doesn’t even exist. I realized that it’s enough for me alone to witness my life experiences.

Even though I’m “dead” on Instagram, I feel the most alive I’ve ever felt before. G

design by lucy montalti

LEISURE

MJ Lenderman can’t escape his North Carolina angst on Manning Fireworks

BY JACK KEALEY

“W

herever you find me, you’ll find me on my knees,” MJ Lenderman assuredly proclaims on Manning Fireworks’s (2024) penultimate track, declaring his submission to that which he resents. Resigned and angsty lyricism has always been a go-to of brooding, sad rock, and here it comes from a small-town North Carolinian who docks his boat in the local “Hippo Dome,” cleans semen off hotel shower curtains, watches birds fly into windows more than into better situations, and has had enough of the clergy. The jaunty, easygoing nature of the album gives a sense of relenting to what Lenderman’s life, though unpleasant, is. But the record’s sly charm and Southern suburban motifs create an inviting welcome to the daily frustrations of a repressed small towner.

Lenderman came to my attention in January as a featured artist on Waxahatchee’s “Right Back to It” (2024), a duet which saw the two fall back into each other time and time again in a Texan bog and twang. The two artists’ harmonies on the chorus are dissonant and hauntingly beautiful, largely because of Lenderman’s work on the song. But Manning Fireworks heads in a different direction sonically, blending classic rock and country into a punk and indie rock record.

Lenderman repeatedly succumbs to the ubiquity of Christianity on the record. Although his attitude toward religion is consistently cynical and irreverent (“I wouldn’t be in the seminary if I could be with you” from “Rudolph” doesn’t give the ring of one who is enlivened by a religious education), he seldom protests. In the face of forces that crush his soul—Christianity, boredom, technology, fame, women, or the hypermasculinity of childhood icons—you’ll probably find Lenderman on his knees. But while he’s down there, he’s gonna rock out.

design by mariela cruz and ryan goodwin

Lovers of music as scripture will find much to attach to in Lenderman’s ultraspecific memories.

His lyricism floats between illustrating minute yet poignant moments found somewhere in a small town to larger aphoristic statements that frame his recollections. He sings, “Everybody’s walking in twos leaving Noah’s ark / It’s a Sunday at the water park,” at the start of “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In,” a late-album track finding Lenderman nostalgic and unsure. On “On My Knees,” the album’s best punk-pop banger, he sings, “And every day is a miracle / Not to mention a threat of bees nests nestled in a hole in the yard / of Travolta's bald head.”

In addition to Travolta (and his indeed ghastly bald head), Lenderman refers to other ’70s and ’80s stars, from Rip Torn of Men in Black (1997) to Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath. To Lenderman, these likely icons of his youth signify a particular, aggressive archetype of masculinity, the anachronistic nature of which he satirizes.

From analyzing an ambiguous, biblically-inclined acquaintance on the title track (“Some have passion, some have purpose / You have sneakin’ backstage to hound the girls in the circus”) to life lessons learned in the seminary on “Rudolph” (“How many roads must a man walk down ’til he learns / He’s just a jerk who flirts with the clergy nurse ’til it burns”) Lenderman is overexposed to these old backwoods dudes who use the Bible to justify their misogyny.

However, Lenderman remains resigned to these outdated mentalities. In conversation with another unnamed character on “Rip Torn,” Lenderman recalls, “You said, ‘There’s men and then there’s movies / then there’s men and Men in Black.’” Referencing the titular actor again, the character distinguishes between idealized masculinity and reality.

Lenderman refuses to engage with these distinctions, saying, “You said, ‘There’s milkshakes and there’s smoothies’ / You always lose me when you talk like that.” In his typically tongue-in-cheek fashion, Lenderman disengages with this challenge to the legitimacy of masculinity standards, seeming almost to fight against himself at the same time. It’s frustrating to watch Lenderman succumb to the old-fashioned ostracism of modern awarenesses, especially when he seems captive to the standards of masculinity

his friend challenges. Yet, Lenderman doesn’t rise to challenge himself. He can be found on his knees, remember?

Even amidst serious conversation, Lenderman’s humor on just about every track is bitter and spoton. “On My Knees” perfectly articulates drunk latenight thoughts when Lenderman queries, “Is it the quiet hiss of a midnight piss or a river turned to creek?” In “Bark at the Moon,” he sings “I’ve never seen the Mona Lisa. I've never really left my room.

I’ve been up too late with Guitar Hero playing ‘Bark at the Moon.’”

While Manning Fireworks characterizes its lead singer and guitarist through its self-effacing tone, perhaps it leaves something to be desired for listeners in terms of connecting with the starlet.

For sure, there are moments where Lenderman bares his vulnerable sides with less inhibition, especially in moments on “Joker Lips” and “She’s Leaving You.” But having even more chances to see Lenderman shed his cynical skin would afford listeners a peek into where he may grow were he to escape his confinement.

The pessimistic tone of the record carries into Lenderman’s reckoning with his growing fame. On “Rip Torn,” he sings, “If you tap on the glass / The sharks might look at you / Damned if they don’t / And you’re damned if they do.”

Though not previously known far beyond the overlapping worlds of indie and punk rock, Lenderman already can feel the encroaching danger of public perception.

Whether Manning Fireworks will ascend Lenderman to a position of mainstream attention is yet to be seen. It’s still a relatively underground project, but 2024’s recent A-list pop stars all seem to have less successful releases under their belts before reaching a big break. Mainstream success or not, Lenderman’s record is a deep-dive into a smalltown, bog-adjacent life from the perspective of someone who desires evolution but doesn’t seek it out. Despite attempts to rebuke the American countryside, he continually sees himself in the good ole white dudes, the Christians, the small town roads, and the “birds against a heavy wind that wins in the end”—the very first lines of the album. He will continue kneeling, continue relenting to the forces that be, while also being a rockstar, making music specific to his spot.

Lenderman may not be moving forward, but he’s putting on a really good show. G

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

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HALFTIME LEISURE

Trailer Takes: A Minecraft Movie needs to return to the crafting table

BY KENNY LE

I

n the world of Minecraft (2011), the only limit is your imagination (and perhaps “Y = 320”).

Unfortunately for Warner Bros., they got a little too imaginative.

On Sept. 4, Warner Bros. Pictures released its first trailer for the highly anticipated A Minecraft Movie (2025). At least, I hope it’s the first and not the final version. If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend watching it with your sound off and eyes closed. Since its release, it has garnered over 1.7 million dislikes (according to the Return Youtube Dislike Chrome extension), and the comment section has left no stone unturned in its criticism. Commenter @JordoSez wrote, “Aren’t trailers supposed to make you want to see the movie?” while @deft4184 wrote, “Back when I was a kid, I always imagined what a Minecraft movie would look like. It did not look like this.” These comments, some with over one hundred thousand likes, expressed a collective dissatisfaction with the movie’s production, from the writing to the animation. After watching the trailer, it is clear why.

The trailer begins with Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers), Dawn (Danielle Brooks), and Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), who is decked out in what can only be described as a trashy outfit, stumbling through a portal into the world of Minecraft. The actors are green screened in, meaning that while most of the movie is animated, the main characters and Steve are all real people. Not only does this mean they stick out like a sore thumb, but the animation itself is questionable at best.

After a montage of different Minecraft staples like crafting, piglins, and creepers, Steve (Jack Black) bursts onto the scene with a fiery appearance. The characters seem unimpressed with Steve, with Natalie rolling her eyes and saying, “He is such a tool bag.” (Which is obviously something we all say.) The trailer ends with the title screen and piglins stampeding past a village.

Members of the Georgetown Gaming Club, an on-campus community of gamers, had their own takes on the trailer.

While Luke Suko (SFS ’27), an avid Minecraft player since 2013, expressed excitement for

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THE GEORGETOWN VOICE

the “campy” angle that the movie was taking, the majority were less optimistic. One member lamented that the movie “seems to completely miss the core themes and heart of the game,” verbalizing the club’s collective disappointment in a lack of effort to represent fans or consider them in the production process.

So much of Minecraft’s beauty is that it is not a complex game. At its core, it is a sandbox with simple pieces that combine with the creativity of its players to create monumental and aweinspiring projects. The animation in A Minecraft Movie, on the other hand, is grotesque and overdone, a far cry from the original pixelated design of the game. Instead of making a silly yet endearing attempt to recreate real animals with nothing but colored boxes—part of the peaceful simplicity that makes Minecraft so endearing in the first place—the animation forcefully and painfully crams realistic-looking animals into the shape of a Minecraft mob. Dan Law (CAS ’27), a member of Georgetown Gaming’s board, critiques the style, declaring, “those mobs aren’t Minecraft sheep or creepers, they’re blocky abominations trying to mimic the creatures in Minecraft without intention nor care.” Rather than remaining faithful to the source material, A Minecraft Movie attempts to retrofit nostalgic video game graphics into a modern live-action story, and the result is a greater tragedy than Jason Momoa’s character outfit.

Unfortunately, this corporate destruction of an established franchise is not an isolated incident. Over the years, dozens of video game film adaptations have come and gone, yet they rarely satisfy the core audience they were meant for. This could be attributed to the challenges of creating a unique story while staying true to the source material, but this conclusion seems far from true in this case.

Had the only issue been writing a compelling story, we would not be seeing a live action mess with animation that strays so far from the whimsy of its video game origin. It feels as though production companies believe that making a movie “funny” and using a game’s intellectual property is all that’s necessary for fans to pour in money hand over fist.

Sadly for you, Warner Bros., that’s not how this game works.

In the 13 years since Minecraft’s release, the game has spawned its own distinct subculture. The community has created an endless stream of content ranging from original animated songs to hardcore Let’s Play videos.

Animations like the YouTube series “Monster School” by Stillcraft Animations and original music videos like “Take Back the Night” by CaptainSparklez made in the original Minecraft style have become staples in the community’s relatively young but legacy-filled media catalog. Yet, in spite of the years of content that reveal what fans really want, Warner Bros. decided to try and carve out their own path in the culture. Not only have they evidently failed to do so, they did it in a way that is blatantly disrespectful to fans.

So what, then, should be done? I, for one, am a strong supporter of giving the movie the “Sonic treatment,” as it has come to be known. The original trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) had a similar issue of animating an overly “realistic” Sonic (or at least as realistic as an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog can be) that many people hated for its unsettling proportions and facial features. Following rampant online criticism, Paramount Pictures delayed the movie release by three months to redesign Sonic. Not only was this a win for the fans who waited decades for their favorite character to be animated on the big screen, but this change also demonstrated that fans can have a say in how the media they love is adapted.

With all due respect to the people involved in the creation of the film thus far, fans of Minecraft should continue to pressure Warner Bros. to bring members of the community into the writers’ room and production team to make the necessary changes. As @Mandalrian123 wrote, “Please send it back to the crafting table.” G

graphics by jenny su; layoutdesign by paulcredit kang

HALFTIME NEWS LEISURE

“Neva Play” with Megan Thee Stallion she will rock you

BY A J A N I J O N E S

I

n case you haven’t heard yet, Megan Thee Stallion is back and hotter than ever.

The star has made a triumphant return to the music industry this year after a fivemonth hiatus in 2023 to “focus on healing” and come back in “a better place.” And she most certainly has. Following a dynamic collaboration with Cardi B on “Bongos” and two of her own singles in late 2023, Megan has continued her meteoric rise with the release of her latest album, MEGAN (2024).

Clearly, she intends to take her industry icon status to the next level with the recent release of two singles: “We Will Rock You Megan Thee Stallion Version” and “Neva Play (feat. RM of BTS).”

The first of the two singles, “We Will Rock You,” is a rap-centric reimagining of Queen’s widely beloved 1977 rock anthem of the same name. The track opens with the iconic stompclap chorus of Queen’s original, but Megan quickly takes over as her signature “aah” ad-lib breaks through the otherwise metronomic beat of the legendary track. As the Queen sample fades away, a grungy electric guitar accompanies Megan’s opening verse, drawing us in with her undaunted charm.

Megan’s version of “We Will Rock You” is the focal point of Pepsi’s recent “Make Your Gameday Epic” campaign, which likely pays homage to the 20th anniversary of the company’s cult classic gladiator-themed commercial. Whereas Beyoncé, Britney Spears, and P!nk faithfully channeled the familiar rebellious spirit of the Queen song in 2004, Megan’s rendition sets her at the top of her own kingdom.

Megan’s energy is fierce and magnetic as she raps, touting herself as “the one to beat.”

Cleverly tying together gladiator and football references, she entertains us with her witty bars while weaving together a story of resilience and self-assurance: “Hard work, dedication, an understatement / We fill up arenas that’ll rock the whole nation.” Her verses ooze unrelenting confidence as she promises to come out victorious against any obstacles in her way: “Bring ‘em out, I’m ready to eat / I’ma use what’s left to pick my teeth.” Whereas Queen’s original remains sonically consistent for the majority of its run, Megan’s reimagined “We Will Rock You” perfectly blends the rockstar aura of the classic tune with her signature hot girl charm.

Megan’s dedication to her craft is truly understated, and she cranks her creativity up to an 11 on “Neva Play (feat. RM of BTS).”

design by michelle wang

The song opens on a sprightly beat reminiscent of an old arcade game. As Megan introduces her first verse, the game-like notes shift to subtle synth hits backed by a heavy bass, demanding full control of the listeners’ attention with her suave delivery: “Boss level, you ain’t even in the rankin’ / They wanna smell what the hottie be cookin.’”

Gaming references are abundant throughout the track, referencing Megan’s glorious return to music and the satisfaction gained through her continued success: “Just know when it’s time for me to get my lick back / All y’all finna be finished (Hadouken).” Here, Megan refers to a special attack from Capcom’s Street Fighter game series, suggesting that her “revenge”—her accomplishments—will be the perfect end to those who opposed her throughout her journey.

“Neva Play” feels perfectly at home in Megan’s discography with its tenacity and seamless integration of nerd culture. Megan has never shied away from her pop culture interests, having become well-known for her love of anime and gaming culture.

The music video perfectly complements the song’s arcade aesthetic, reminiscent of the half-animated, half-live-action style of Megan’s most colorful and creative music videos, like that of her single “BOA” (2024). While the video’s visuals flawlessly accompany the song’s references, they also serve a practical purpose by allowing the main feature, RM, to make an appearance—of sorts.

While we’re not too sure how the rapper, who rose to fame as the leader of K-pop sensation BTS, logistically recorded a verse amid his mandatory enlistment in the South Korean military, he manages to deliver a feature with intense impact.

RM’s tone is rich and captivating, rapping about his and Megan’s joint success with the same unyielding conviction: “For Asia, man, we paved the way / Smooth like criminal, off to digital.” The lyric is likely a nod to BTS being credited with solidifying the popularity of K-pop for western audiences, all while using a motif from BTS’s “Butter” (2021).

Together, Megan and RM are an excellent musical duo. They play off each other’s energies perfectly, resulting in a final product that feels cohesive and genuinely fun to listen to. Although their musical chemistry is a testament to their pre-existing bond—the pair first worked together when Megan was featured on a remix of “Butter”—it also feels indicative of Megan’s incredible dynamism as an artist.

Her ability to complement and amplify other artists is truly unmatched.

In addition to its stellar composition, “Neva Play” has been a massive success for both artists. Since its release, the single has maintained a place in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, marking the first Top 40 entry for RM, and the 21st Top 40 entry for Megan—a feat that has cemented her as one of the most charting female rappers of all time.

Both “We Will Rock You” and “Neva Play” demonstrate Megan’s individuality as an artist.

By creating music that reflects her journey and authenticity, she has built a brand that is impossible to replicate, and understandably beloved by many.

And, as “Neva Play” is rumored to be one of a few singles to be included on the deluxe version of MEGAN, fans can rejoice; these singles feel like an omen for good things to come. G

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

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