Your rights interacting with federal officers, explained SOPHIE ST AMAND AND SAMANTHA MONTEIRO
September 12, 2025
5
editoria,s
Dear Hoyas
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
6 voices
The nonchalant trap: Reclaiming sincerity in art
ALI CHAUDHRY
7
feat0res
Hoyas keep running up that Hill to hilltern
CHIH - RONG KUO & SOPHIE ST AMAND
8 1e2s
Resident Assistants face unexpected policy changes ahead of new year
AUBREY BUTTERFIELD & ALEXANDRA RISI
10
L eis0re
Laufey’s A Matter of Time is a midcentury fantasy
LUCY MONTALTI
“olivia's room"
BY OLIVIA LI
11
H a,ftime L eis0re
Halftime Leisure's top 10 songs of the summer HALFTIME LEISURE
“Our activism—whether through protest or service—must not be isolated on our campus; it should be part of a larger movement within Washington, D.C.'s social fabric…”
12 voices What I’ll miss the most about Georgetown is… Lau?
EILEEN MILLER
13 sports
The Hoyas have a dog in this fight: 2025 Georgetown soccer preview
STELLA LINN & SHANA STRUSKI
14
ha,ftime sports The Summer Luka Doncic Turned Pretty
EILEEN WEISNER
15
ha,ftime sports Slower and stranger: Racquet Theory serves up a new take on tennis
ANDREW SWANK
Editor-in-Chief — Eddy Binford-Ross
i1ter1a, reso0rces:
Exec. Manager for Staff —Samantha Monteiro
Exec. Editor for Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion — Imani Liburd
Asst. Editor for Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion —Elaine Clarke
Editor for Sexual Violence Advocacy, Prevention, and Coverage — Olivia Fanders
Social Chairs — Aubrey Butterfield, Phoebe Nash Archivist — Elle Marinello
co1tact 0s editor@georgetownvoice.com Leavey 424 Box 571066 Georgetown University 3700 O St. NW Washington, DC 20057
Dear readers, new and old,
Welcome to this semester’s first issue of The Georgetown Voice! If we haven’t crossed paths yet, my name is Eddy and I am honored to serve as editor-in-chief of this lovely little newsmagazine.
As always, this issue is a true labor of love. I am so proud of the remarkable staff — artists, designers, writers, and editors — who made it possible. From reporting about on-campus labor organizing and commentary on the federal law enforcement occupation of D.C. to a preview of our impressive soccer teams, this issue captures the range of what it means to be a Hoya.
In last semester’s letter from the editor, my predecessor Connor reminded us that, at its best, student journalism is community journalism. As student journalists, our role is to serve and uplift our campus and the people who call it home.
After three years with the Voice, I know this mission is vital. We are living in a moment when universities and academia serve as a flashpoint for political and social conflict. That makes it all the more important that we stay informed and engaged with the communities around us.
But our responsibility doesn’t end at the front gates of Georgetown. Since our founding more than 55 years ago, the Voice has passionately recognized that we do not live in a vacuum on the Hilltop. You’ll see, in this issue and those forthcoming, that we cover not only
things happening at Georgetown but in the District at large. This is a conscious decision and I hope that all Hoyas will recognize the importance of knowing the city we live in.
As we continue into this semester, I can’t promise you that we won’t make mistakes. In fact, we almost certainly will. I can promise that our team is committed to empathetic and considerate journalism. We will strive to hold those in power accountable, report with accuracy, and uplift as many voices in our community as we can.
In that spirit, you play a vital role in our student journalism. If you have any thoughts on our coverage — what stories we should be telling, what we’re doing well, or what we can do better — don’t be a stranger. My inbox is always open: editor@georgetownvoice.com.
Until we talk again,
Eddy Binford-Ross, Editor-in-Chief, Fall 2025
President Donald Trump deployed approximately 2,000 National Guard troops to D.C. and took control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in early August, after declaring an emergency based on inaccurate representations of violent crime.
Federal officers stopping or arresting residents can be alarming. However, students and D.C. residents are entitled to rights when interacting with law enforcement and federal agents, including MPD, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI, and the National Guard.
Scout Cardillo (CAS ’27), a student organizer with Free DC, acknowledged that ongoing changes in federal actions cause uncertainty over safety but that students can take steps to prepare themselves.
“There’s a lot that we don’t know, which is why it is so important for students to not only know their rights but to also educate fellow students so that they know their rights in this context,” Cardillo said.
The Voice assembled a list of the rights and resources for students to prepare for a potential encounter with federal agents compiled from Free DC, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Immigrant Justice Center, all of which are available online.
Right
to remain silent
If law enforcement stops you for questioning, you have the right to remain silent and do not have to answer questions. You can respond with “I wish to exercise my right to remain silent” and cannot be punished for doing so.
If you are not a U.S. citizen, you are required to show your ID or immigration documents to immigration agents when requested.
MPD officers can only require you to give identification if they stop you while driving. In D.C., you must provide your legal name and address if officers ask, even if you choose to remain otherwise silent.
Right to a lawyer
You have the right to legal representation if you are arrested; you can request a lawyer immediately. Once you verbally state that you
are exercising that right, you do not have to answer any questions until you speak with a lawyer. Students, faculty, and staff can also contact Georgetown’s Office of the General Counsel.
Privacy: Home entry & searches
If federal agents attempt to enter your residence, you have the right to refuse entry and the right to legal representation. Federal agents can only enter your home if they have a court-issued judicial warrant, signed by a judge or if you provide verbal consent. If agents do enter your home, you still retain the right to remain silent.
Warrants that are not signed by a judge, such as an ICE administrative warrant, do not grant agents the authority enter your home.
If an agent stops you in public for a physical search, they can only search you by patting down the outside of your clothing. Agents may not search inside your pockets or ask you to remove any items of clothing.
If an agent stops to search you, you can say “I do not consent to this search,” but they may legally be allowed to continue the search. Officers can pat down anyone they suspect of carrying a weapon. Physically cooperating with the frisk may help protect your safety and prevent a charge for resisting an agent.
or reason for the interaction—to collect information or gain access to private spaces. Actions you can take as a bystander
If you witness interactions with law enforcement, you have the right to photograph or film the encounter in public spaces. If an interaction occurs on private property, the owners can permit you to continue documenting or may ask you to leave. Officers cannot view any information you collect digitally by searching or seizing your device without a warrant, and they cannot delete any of your data.
Leaving interactions with law enforcement
If an agent blocks your path, stops you, or begins asking you questions, you can politely ask, “Am I free to leave?”
If the agent says yes, calmly and politely leave. If the agent says no, you must stay where you are. You can ask why you are not free to leave—an officer can stop to detain you only if they suspect that you have, are about to, or are actively committing a crime.
You can also ask “Am I under arrest?” If they answer yes, you have the right to ask why or for what crime.
Be aware that ICE agents have permission to use “ruses”—lies about their identity
You are not allowed to interfere with or obstruct actions from law enforcement and they may order you to move a reasonable distance away from them. If officers ask you to move, it is often safest to comply, but you are still allowed to continue filming.
Bystanders can also help those stopped by law enforcement contact someone they trust.
“If you’re witnessing someone being detained, you’re able to ask the person for their name and if they have a phone number of a loved one that they would want to be notified,” Cardillo said. On-Campus Resources
Undocumented Student Services: undocumented.georgetown.edu, or undocuhoyas@georgetown.edu
International Student and Scholar Services: https:// internationalservices.georgetown. edu/ (Office of Global Services)
• U.S. Immigration Policy & Regulatory Updates from Georgetow: https:// internationalservices.georgetown. edu/immigration-updates/
• Georgetown University Office of General Counsel: https:// counsel.georgetown.edu/, or generalcounsel@georgetown.edu
D.C.-Wide Resources
• Report an ICE Raid: Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid ICE Emergency Hotline: (202) 335-1183
• Free DC ‘Know Your Rights’ Resources and Fact Sheet: https:// freedcproject.org/rights
Dear Hoyas
BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The institutional memory of a university is short. Every four years, the undergraduate population turns over entirely, and with it parts of its past are forgotten. For students arriving on campus for the first time, this letter serves as an introduction to our recent campus history and the role we can play in shaping its future.
When you step onto Georgetown’s campus, there is a gulf between the privileged university experience and the stark realities facing Washington, D.C. The “Georgetown bubble” separates students from the rest of the city. While parents bringing their children to school in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood face federal agents threatening arrest, those on M Street carry name-brand shopping bags. The detachment of our campus allows us to ignore the political situation, culture, and history of the city we are a part of. As a predominantly wealthy and white university, our separation can breed ignorance and apathy. Comfort in our bubble is especially dangerous as President Donald Trump’s regime accelerates the disparities in law enforcement and arrests between our neighborhood and the rest of D.C.
Privilege has shaped Georgetown University since its founding. The school began as an institution exclusively for white men and was further financed by the sale of at least 314 enslaved people in 1838. Despite a student referendum demanding reparations, the Reconciliation Fund, and a new required class on Georgetown’s history, the university has had limited atonement for its past. Our exclusionary history continues today, with a quarter of the freshman class being legacy students, and around three-quarters of the student body coming from families in the top 20% of America’s wealth bracket. Given Georgetown’s prestige across fields such as law, business, and academia, its graduates are likely to continue to hold significant influence, making current students a key part of the future American elite. As a part of this university, you have tangible power either perpetuate or resist the inequities of our society.
Here on campus, we must continue to build on the history of student resistance. Despite the work of students across decades, the university has repeatedly dismissed our needs and demands. This spring, a referendum calling on Georgetown to
divest from companies providing weapons technology to Israel and end partnerships with Israeli institutions passed with twothirds support from the student body voters. The Georgetown administration rejected the referendum 30 minutes after the result was released.
As Israel continues to commit genocide against Palestinians while annexing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the apathy of this university is disturbing. Especially given that many Georgetown students aspire to work for the U.S. Departments of State or “War,” we implore all in Georgetown’s community to contemplate the employment they pursue and the ways they may be complicit.
Our activism—whether through protest or service—must also not be isolated on our campus; it should be part of a larger movement within Washington, D.C.'s social fabric. In the predominantly Black neighborhoods of Wards 6, 7, and 8, bordering the Anacostia River, advocacy is crucially important for residents. As communities face food apartheid, groups like D.C. Greens are working to create sustainable food systems in these communities. Meanwhile, organizations like the Washington Interfaith Network lead campaigns related to economic and climate justice.
With Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and takeover of the D.C. police force, it is even more necessary that we support our neighbors throughout the city. If you see immigration enforcement, report it to the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Hotline and always record interactions with o!cers to provide an objective record of events, as is your right to do. We are proud to see students mobilizing on campus to oppose the federal
occupation of the city through groups like Free DC, which organized a D.C. area walkout of students this past Tuesday. We hope this activism continues and grows in the coming weeks through the work of on-campus groups including, but not limited to, Georgetown Students for Justice in Palestine, Georgetown Coalition for Workers’ Rights, and Georgetown ACLU.
If you decide to mobilize, it is important to be aware of potential risks and prepare accordingly. Even before Trump’s presidency, organizing in D.C. and across the United States was a dangerous task. In the spring of 2024, police brutalized college students across the country for peacefully protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In D.C., vigils, walkouts, and protests culminated in a two-week-long encampment at George Washington University. Ultimately, the encampment ended when nearly 150 Metropolitan Police Department o!cers cleared it by force, arresting 33 people, including seven Georgetown students. These tactics used against student protesters are proof of the state’s willingness to enact violence upon dissenting speech, and we must prepare for such uses of force in the future. All students should know their rights when protesting or interacting with law enforcement, and attend all events alongside people they trust.
It is not enough to simply be aware of these injustices unfolding around us; we know our engagement has power and we, as Georgetown students, must act accordingly. The nature of our campus and city demands strategic commitment, and the future you wish to see will not be built on apathy, but by action.
The editorial board is the official opinion of The Georgetown Voice. The editorial board operates independently of the ’s newsroom and the General Board.
The board’s editorials reflect the majority opinion of the board’s members, who are listed on the masthead. The editorial board strives to provide an independent view on issues pertinent to Georgetown University and the broader D.C. community, based on a set of progressive institutional values including antiracism, trauma-informed reporting, and empathetic and considerate
GRAPHICS
Hoyas keep running up that Hill to hilltern
BY CHIH - RONG KUO AND SOPHIE ST AMAND
At Georgetown, the pressure to intern at Capitol Hill—or “hilltern”—runs high.
More paid congressional interns come from Georgetown than any other higher education institution except American University and University of California, according to a 2019 report by non-profit Pay Our Interns.
Many Georgetown students, particularly those majoring in government or related fields, feel an expectation to complete a hillternship during their time on the Hilltop, said Suzie Ahn (CAS ’26), who interned for Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (DPa.) during the summers of 2024 and 2025.
“People are surprised if you don't do one when you're doing Government or [International Politics],” Ahn said.
Students who work these coveted internships find that they are often surrounded by misconceptions around their
job. Mira Banker (CAS ’27), who worked for Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) in the spring of 2025, said that many of her peers believe that students hilltern just for the sake of hillterning, rather than a desire to tackle policy issues on a congressional team.
“I think a lot of people see it as a Georgetown preppy rite of passage,” Banker said.
But for Banker, hillterning came with significant pressure and responsibility. Even administrative tasks typically assigned to interns, such as answering phone calls, are not always as simple as they sound, Banker said.
According to Banker, there’s an emotional aspect to many of these tasks. For example, she said that during phone calls, she often witnessed policy’s immediate effects.
“It’s definitely hard to walk into work and see that people are losing their health care. Single mothers are calling in and saying they can’t feed their kids,” Banker said. “As a hilltern, you have literally no say in what's gonna happen higher up. It's like having a front row seat of the slowest car crash of your life.”
Ahn said that her internship reached a peak pressure point when Congress approved the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act in July, which passed a sweeping set of tax breaks, budget cuts, and Medicaid restrictions. “There were some days when every two seconds, a new phone call would come in,” Ahn said.
But Ahn’s job wasn’t limited to just picking up the phone— another common assumption about hillterns.
“A misconception is you’re doing grunt work,” Ahn said. “I went to briefings or hearings and would write up policy memos for the staffer.”
Sometimes the identity of the office a hilltern is working for can add even more pressure, beyond the work
itself. Students living in states whose representatives do not always align with their political beliefs face unique challenges. Isaac Kim (CAS ’26), who interned for Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) in the fall of 2024, said that finding an office that represents his home state of Louisiana’s political complexity has difficult.
“If you want to work for a blue office and you’re from Louisiana, you have very limited options,” Kim said. “A lot of people from Louisiana don't fit neatly into any political spectrum, being a rural Cajun state, and that is something you have to navigate.”
Like Kim, Dechen Atsatsang (SFS ’26) dedicated considerable time to her internship search, looking for a position that suited her interests. She considered positions at the State Department, though she ultimately chose to intern at the Select Committee on the CCP, a special committee in the House of Representatives focused on bipartisan solutions to American economic and security competition with the People’s Republic of China. She said the internship helped focus her career path.
“I first came in really wanting to do foreign service at some point in my life, and I still think that is true, but I realized that it doesn’t necessarily have to be through one pathway,” Atsatsang said.
Atsatsang said that congressional internships can help students hone their interests in policy spheres, but they must be intentional about how they approach the process.
“People tend to apply to dozens of internships on the Hill and then tend to not hear back,” Atsatsang said.
Atsatsang approached her internship search with intentionality and she believes that paid off in both her experience and her success in the application process.
“In my opinion, it's better to just apply to a few that you are really committed to and are passionate about,” Atsatsang said. “Being more intentional with what you want to do based on your interests—I think that comes across in the applications.”
Kim agreed that choosing an internship personalized to the student can make or break their experience.
“A hillternship is very much what you make of it,” Kim said. “Most offices are very willing to put your interests in mind, as long as you have the courage to ask.”
Resident Assistants face unexpected policy changes ahead of new year
BY AUBREY BUTTERFIELD AND ALEXANDRA RISI
Resident Assistants (RAs), old and new, arrived on campus in mid-August for their yearly training before the new semester. But this year, training came with several unexpected changes to Residential Living policies that could affect the newly unionized RAs’ work schedules and on-campus residential life.
“A lot of the returners sign up for this job with certain expectations, and now those are being shifted without us being notified beforehand,” said an RA in the Southwest Quad, who spoke to the Voice on the condition of anonymity out of fear of employment repercussions.
One of the most notable revisions to RA policy includes the way that RAs report minor infractions. Previously, an informal warning process addressed violations. RAs would give a verbal warning to students after the first minor infraction and report them after the second.
The new policy requires all RAs on duty to file incident reports for both student conduct and community living expectation violations without an initial warning. These violations can range from alcohol possession to noise complaints.
“Typically, in the past, if someone called the RA on duty and was like, ‘Hey, someone's being really noisy,’ you could just go over and tell them to be quiet,” the Southwest Quad RA said. “Now they're kind of requiring that we file an incident report for that.”
For residents, the changes could make it more likely that they receive a formal report, but the new process doesn’t guarantee any
DESIGN BY PAUL KANG
particular disciplinary action from the university.
“Whether that actually results in something is not up to us at all, and it's not anything that we have any control over,”
Ria Maheshwari (CAS ’26), a third-year RA, said.
According to the university, the policy changes came after a reassessment of policies at the beginning of this year.
“The beginning of the academic year provides us with the opportunity to ensure that our policies and procedures reflect current best practices to serve the needs of our students, staff, and community,” a university spokesperson said. “Our goal is to foster intentional communities that nurture individual growth, encourage reflection, and promote holistic well-being.”
Some RAs are worried about the effect the new citation rules could have on their relationship with their residents.
“Where the real challenge is coming up is in us having to execute that plan for a student body that is either uninformed or misinformed about it,” said CC Mesa (SFS ’26), organizing lead for the Georgetown Resident Assistant Coalition (GRAC).
“There's a disconnect, which is frustrating because it makes RAs seem like the bad guys.”
Some RAs contend that the changes directly conflict with the terms set in
their contract with Georgetown, which says that the university must first notify GRAC of any changes so they can be properly negotiated.
“The university is not supposed to make these drastic changes to our working conditions without first bargaining over them,” Izzy Wagener (SFS ’26), chairperson of GRAC, said. “I consider this to be a drastic change to our working conditions that should have been bargained.”
The university stated that they remain in consistent communication with RAs about policy changes.
“We regularly engage with RAs and their union in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, which provides a forum for union and university representatives to come together and discuss issues of mutual interest and concern,” a university spokesperson said.
Changes to RAs’ holiday schedules also caused concern for many returners.
Before this year, each residential community was assigned a partner building for holiday breaks, meaning that fewer RAs had to remain on campus to work. Now, RAs’ residential communities are limited to the same building throughout the entire year, meaning more RAs are expected to be on duty—and on campus— during Thanksgiving and spring break.
“I know it's already created a lot of anxiety, especially because holiday duty is something that everyone prefers to figure out at the beginning of the year,” Wagener said. “If you talk to any student who has stayed here over the holidays, it's not a situation that people want to be in, because it is really hard to be away from family.”
RAs are unsure of the reasoning behind the change, though some suggested it stems from a portion of GRAC’s contract, which was ratified unanimously in May, stating that an RA cannot work outside their assigned residential community. However, some RAs ratified the contract under the assumption that longstanding practices— such as holiday building assignments—would continue.
Wagener expressed concern about whether the policies will affect how many RAs return to the position in the coming years.
responsibilities are,” Wagener said. “There have been multiple times where CDs have just told me information that I know to be incorrect based on Res Living's own operations.”
Despite notable changes to their policies, RAs did not learn about these developments until they arrived on campus, according to the four RAs who spoke with the Voice . The RAs said they learned about the new warning system from individual CDs rather than administrators.
“There was no RA-wide communication,” Wagener said. RAs first heard about the other policy changes at their training sessions the week before move-in.
“RA retention, at least from what I've observed, isn't very good, and part of that is because students want more flexibility than the RA role often offers,” Wagener said. “If that decision somehow remains and it goes forward, I think that will deter a lot of RAs from continuing the role.”
“We as RAs specifically are not really made aware of those changes until they are done and we are given our presentation on the code during training,” Mesa said.
Union leaders say they are working to get in contact with Residential Living to discuss the changes, but it's been a slow process. Mesa said it's been difficult to get responses, particularly productive ones, so far. Even so, the RAs said they’re committed to advocating for themselves.
“Everybody said, ‘Yes, right. Let's do this. Let's ratify this contract,’” Mesa said. “If it had been clear in our bargaining agreement that this standard practice could be interpreted as null and void, I don't think RAs would have voted unanimously for it.”
“It's not loud because it's me and Izzy [Wagener] who are particularly impassioned. It's loud because behind our voices are the voices of the rest of the RAs,” Mesa said. “We are not asking for total shifts happening here. We are just asking to meet.”
Some RAs question the necessity of this new policy, citing that shifts on the average holiday duty are uneventful.
“I feel like they're using some vague contract language to basically make all of the RAs do something unnecessary,” Wagener said. “As any RA who's been on holiday duty will tell you, we very rarely get calls during that time because there are very few students on campus.”
Other Residential Living policy changes affect Community Directors (CDs), who supervise RAs. For instance, the number of CDs on duty was increased from one to two each night.
“That's going to affect RAs because our CDs are going to be overworked and stressed and unable to take more time off,” Mesa said.
With a high turnover rate, increased hours, and multiple new CDs, veteran RAs are worried about finding support from their supervisors in navigating campus policy.
S“These CDs who are starting a new job, they don't really understand what their
Despite the challenges, Maheshwari explained that she is continuing in her role as she would have before.
“I try not to let it affect how I perceive my role, just because I've always thought about myself as an RA who is a friend first, a mentor first, a resource first, and some sort of authoritative figure second,” Maheshwari said.
Editor’s note: Izzy Wagener is a contributing editor for the Voice and previously served as the newsmagazine’s photo editor.
Laufey’s A Matter of Time is a mid-century fantasy
BY LUCY MONTALTI | GRAPHICS BY ELLIE TA; LAYOUT BY KARINA HA
If modern-day heartbreak was scored like a Golden Age Disney film, it would sound a lot like Laufey’s A Matter of Time (2025).
Grounded in sweeping strings and orchestral grandeur, the IcelandicChinese singer-songwriter’s latest record continues where she last left off. Just like in her sophomore project Bewitched (2023), A Matter of Time blends the wistful elegance of jazzinfluenced pop with witty lyricism and a hefty dose of sentimental longing, while also branching into new genres and sounds. Laufey’s voice, with its signature vintage warmth, brings her lyrics to life in a way that is both personal and cinematic. She tells stories of nostalgia, insecurity, finding closure, and more. In doing so, she whisks listeners away on a journey through beginnings, endings, and everything in between.
The theme of time is, as the title suggests, central to the album. A Matter of Time begins with three tolls of a bell as a choir sings in the distance, “Ding, dong / Ding, dong,” ushering in “Clockwork,” a simple song telling the story of a first date in Laufey’s classic, jazz-inspired style. The time motif continues in titles like “Too Little, Too Late” and “Cuckoo Ballet (Interlude).” Time also appears in the lyrics, through both conceptual references and literal clock imagery, binding the whole record together through a clear thematic thread. In “Castle in Hollywood,” she reflects on the passing of the seasons— “I thought that lilies died by winter, then they bloomed again in spring”— and in “Silver Lining,” she admits, “I met you at the worst time.”
The project’s sound is somewhat scattered, as many tracks venture outside of Laufey’s signature jazz sound and experiment with a more popforward style—a move she explored briefly on Bewitched, but develops more fully here. Though this exploration adds a fresh take to her discography, it can feel slightly disjointed when looking at the album as a whole, and it leaves questions about the direction Laufey may be headed in future projects. “Snow White” and “Sabotage,” for example, are pure, emotional ballads. The former is a lament about feelings of imperfection and insecurity, and the latter is a reflection on her tendency to selfsabotage relationships. Alternatively,
songs like “Castle in Hollywood” and “Tough Luck” are guitar-driven pop songs with a Taylor Swift-esque rhythm, a comparison that makes sense once you realize that frequent Swift collaborator Aaron Dessner is one of the album’s primary producers.
One of the tracks that diverges most significantly from Laufey’s existing discography is “Clean Air,” which incorporates plucky guitar instrumentation and layered vocal harmonies. These elements give the track a strong country-pop feel, similar to some acoustic tracks on Sabrina Carpenter’s Short and Sweet (2024). In the song, Laufey explores the process of moving on from a past relationship, singing, “Sweeter pastures / Wait for me like a lover,” or more bluntly: “Get the fuck out of my atmosphere.”
Like the rest of the more experimental tracks on A Matter of Time, “Clean Air” ventures into a different genre sonically, contributing to an album that can feel incohesive at times. Yet, its familiar conversational lyricism and wit ensure it still belongs within Laufey’s broader body of work. What ultimately ties the varied tracklist together is the instrumental centerpiece “Cuckoo Ballet (Interlude).” The interlude interpolates melodies from “Lover Girl,” “Snow White,” “Carousel,” and other tracks, combining them into an enchantingly charming classical medley. The piece highlights her skills not just as a songwriter but also as a composer, grounding the record in timeless elegance despite its modern influences.
combination that is prevalent throughout her writing, making it instantly recognizable.
Again returning to her more typical influences, “Forget-MeNot” is a haunting orchestral ode to the country of Iceland, where Laufey grew up. Longing for the “black sand beach” and “stone cold kiss” of her childhood home, she sings in Icelandic, “Gleymdu mér aldrei þó ég héðan flýg / Gleymdu mér aldrei elskan mín,” or in English: “Don’t forget me, even though I’m leaving / I love you, I’ll love you forever.” Including lyrics in Icelandic—the first time she has done so on an original track—amplifies the emotional weight of the song, grounding it firmly in her homeland.
Still, Laufey shines the brightest in the genres that have set her apart in the indie-pop sphere: jazz and bossa nova. For instance, “Lover Girl” is a catchy love song with fills of syncopated claps and playful woodwinds that complement the warm timbre of her voice delightfully as she sings, “Oh, what a curse it is to be a lover girl.”
“Mr. Eclectic” is another noteworthy addition to the tracklist, with a lively bossa nova beat and royally brutal lyrics describing Laufey’s experiences with self-aggrandizing mansplainers: “Truth be told, you’re quite pathetic / Mr. Eclectic Allan Poe / … What a poser, you think you’re so interesting.”
She creates a juxtaposition, blending a mellow, easygoing sound with the razorsharp language of 21st-century dating—a
By the time the album reaches its final notes on “Sabotage,” Laufey has struck a delicate balance between the old and the new. Sharp observations and biting remarks about ex-boyfriends (and exbest friends) sit alongside tender arrangements that anchor the album in a bygone era. In A Matter of Time , love may be fleeting, but Laufey makes every second count with a signature that is, without a doubt, uniquely hers.
Halftime Leisure’s 2025 songs of the summer
GRAPHICS BY ELYSE VAN HOUTEN; LAYOUT BY KATIE REDDY
1. “The Subway” - Chappell Roan
By Lucy Montalti
After months of asking, begging, and pleading for Chappell Roan to release “The Subway,” she finally dropped the studio recording, and thank God she did. Despite fears of “demo-itis”—that the polished track wouldn’t compare with the live recording—the studio cut stays faithful to its intoxicating Gov Ball 2024 debut. It’s a dreamy ’90s indie-pop ballad which culminates in a cathartic belted outro, perfect for a late-summer evening.
2. “Sue Me” - Audrey Hobert
By Phoebe Nash
6. “Burning Blue” - Mariah the Scientist
This summer, I dreamed about dancing dramatically on my childhood bedroom floor, belting into a microphone-hairbrush. Audrey Hobert’s debut single, “Sue Me,” invokes this energy as she chaotically obsesses over her last relationship. While referencing Amazon Basics and being misheard as saying she wants “to be sushi” might undercut her artistic qualifications, Hobert’s rhythmic and lyrical talent stand out. “Sue Me” is the perfect soundtrack for letting loose with your friends—maybe even to the point of an existential crisis.
3.
“Taxes” – Geese
By Elizabeth Adler
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Geese! Your favorite Brooklyn-based, alt-indie-punk-country-prog-rock band is back with their new single, “Taxes.” Beginning with timid, sparse instrumentation, the song gently builds beneath Cameron Winter’s blunt, yet tremulous vocals. It floats along until the lead guitar breaks through like a blinding ray of sunlight. Suddenly, the entire song is set ablaze in a whirl of bright guitars, spiraling percussion, and wild, colorful vocals. Exciting, bold, and hopeful, “Taxes” is the alt-rock summer anthem to scream out your car window.
4. “Paint” - First Day Back
By Elaine Clarke
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: ’90s emo is back and better than ever! On the Santa Cruz-based rock band’s debut album, Forward, First Day Back’s “Paint” stood out. In a summer of nostalgia and reflection, the song became my backtrack. From mournful violin sections balancing intense moments of guitar, to the almost-nasally vocals that all emo music requires, “Paint” captured my feelings of being anchored, back home for the summer, while still floating “away from it all.”
5. “Mystical Magical” - Benson Boone
By Alexandra Risi
I know this is a hot take. Benson Boone has received plenty of hate these days for his interesting lyric choices. His description of love as “moonbeam ice cream,” vivacious backflips, and chevron mustache has taken social media by storm. Despite his seemingly foolish lyrics, Boone captures the whimsy in wondrous, unpredictable love. His catchy, upbeat single whisks us away to a land of fantasy and magic, one that is emblematic of a summer homecoming.
By Imani Liburd
“Burning Blue” by Mariah the Scientist checks all the boxes for what a good “song of the summer” could be. In the middle of a chaotic year, Mariah’s beautiful melody and vocal tone create a tranquil listening experience, instilling a much-needed calm in listeners. “Burning Blue” will have you relaxed and swaying back and forth: a must-have on any summer playlist.
7. “Suzanne” - Mark Ronson, RAYE
By Aubrey Butterfield
All-timer producer Mark Ronson collaborates with a powerhouse vocalist of our generation, RAYE, in this evocative, sultry single. Staccato trumpets layered over intricate, jazz-inspired percussion is enough to transport anyone right to a beachside bar, red from the heat of a summer situationship. For those seeking an even more intimate edition, the “At The Church” version provides the perfect laid-back vibe. “Suzanne” is for everyone, regardless of if you spent your summer skipping in the sun or trapped in your childhood bedroom.
8. “Nice to Each Other” - Olivia Dean
By Aaron Pollock
The best summer days flirt with reckless abandon, and the best summer nights end with juicy debriefs in your best friend’s car. For either occasion, “Nice to Each Other” by Olivia Dean will enable even the most questionable behavior. Returning home for the summer can be overwhelming, but the song’s breezy guitar and bright piano breathed new life into our day-to-day. Summer may have been complicated, but at least we were “Nice to Each Other.”
9. “Cross Your Mind” - Shelly
By Apara Chandavarkar
Despite the awesomeness of summer, there is one thing we all dread: running into people we used to know in our hometown (yikes). Shelly, Clairo, and friends dive into the complicated juxtaposition you feel when returning to a place you’ve grown out of yet simultaneously long to return to. Complex piano and steady guitar weave together to emulate the classic experience of “high school you” resurfacing. It’s the perfect soundtrack for when you run into your old crush at Trader Joe’s and your heartbeat recognizes them before your eyes do.
10. “Manchild” - Sabrina Carpenter
By Karcin Hagi
No song of the summer is complete without a driving beat, an infectious chorus, and a tasteful amount of male hatred. Thankfully, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” is right on the money! This song feels designed for drives to the beach with the windows down after a loredefining breakup. Nothing is more cathartic than screaming, “I swear they choose me, I’m not choosing them!” with your vocally-challenged friends. Carpenter tapped into the nectar of the male-loving (or hating) community to create a synthdriven rant about the endless source of incompetencies one finds in men, and thank God she did. !
What I’ll miss the most about Georgetown is… Lau?
BY EILEEN MILLER
GRAPHICS BY HANNAH YU; LAYOUT BY LUCY MONTALTI
There was something undeniably sad about walking into Lau in the middle of July. While the perpetually AC-blasted floors provided much-needed relief from the heat, a silent Lau 2 filled with empty tables reminded me that there were far more exciting things to do than visit my university library. But I was glad— excited, even—to make the trip because I was on a mission. Weaving between shelves of East Asian history, I was there to get books that were too niche for my local library.
Over the past three years, the number of books I’ve checked out from Lau has probably topped one hundred. Early in my freshman year, I shed all knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System and embraced the Library of Congress Classification to navigate the Lau stacks.
Checking out books from Lau (sometimes a dozen at a time) has been such a core part of my routine that I'd forgotten that it is a privilege I only have while enrolled at Georgetown. After I graduate this spring, finding a truly comparable resource to fill the gap will be difficult.
If I want to pick up a copy of a new novel or popular nonfiction book, I can easily go to a public library and pluck it off the shelves. But the most interesting books I’ve thumbed through over the past three years are the ones I can’t find back home. They’re the niche nonfiction books on State Department leaks or American journalists in China, the research primers that directed my class papers, and the satirical Polish microfictions and Ukrainian novels that I read in my free time.
There is no better way to understand the sheer range of texts Lau has than to delve into the stacks yourself. Want to read about world religions? Go to
Lau 1. World history? That’s on Lau 2. Interested in browsing catalogs of declassified U.S. government documents? You can find those on Lau 5. Want to play one of Chopin’s nocturnes or cook Egyptian cuisine? Visit Lau 4’s shelves of piano music or pick up a cookbook on Lau 5.
Beyond the Lau stacks, the broader Washington Research Library Consortium gives us access to the collections of eight other D.C. area universities. Altogether, we have over 22 million items. If Georgetown doesn’t have the book you want, George Washington University, Howard University, or another school in the area may have it among its own vast collection.
With hundreds of classes offered each semester and events held weekly on campus, opportunities to learn during your four years on the Hilltop are endless. But amid this abundance, don’t discount your university library. Not only do we have access to our professors during their classes and office hours, we can also go to Lau and read the texts written by the experts who taught them. Academic texts can be expensive—just look at your receipt from this semester’s textbooks order—but as a student, you can access them for free through Lau.
Perhaps it is silly for me to mourn the loss I will experience upon graduating. This is, after all, a university library that I will lose access to: a resource that is intended to support the education of current students. Access to the libraries comes as a part of the tuition I pay to attend Georgetown. But what if I want to be, as I am sure I will be pressed to be at my graduation ceremony, a lifelong learner?
There is no easy substitute for access to such an incredibly broad range of niche texts. The books I read after I graduate will depend on the salary that will fund my bookstore trips, or, if I don’t want to pay, the local libraries that let me borrow texts for free. And yet those repositories may be incomplete. Is there enough demand in my home county for a book of Soviet science fiction? Probably not.
This all goes without even acknowledging the plethora of online
resources also available to us at Georgetown. Peer-reviewed papers and academic journals, typically restricted behind paywalls, are just a search away from us via JSTOR or ProQuest. But even as I complain about losing Lau privileges this May, I have to acknowledge that most people never even get to step foot inside places like Lau. Georgetown students are fortunate to have access during our four years on the Hilltop, but most Americans are not currently enrolled in college and cannot benefit from these same resources.
The fruits of research and academia, already under attack and facing existential funding cuts, should not solely be available to those who can afford to spend thousands on education. As expert knowledge is sidelined and misinformation is spread by people in positions of power, it’s more crucial than ever that access to knowledge remains accessible to all. And yet, many research journals are paywalled and extensive research collections like Lau aren’t accessible to the general public.
While Lau may be a ubiquitous sight for Georgetown students, our access to its contents has an expiration date.
The next time you scan your GoCard at Lau’s entrance, think about how lucky you are to have access to this incredible repository of knowledge. Before sitting
The Hoyas have a dog in this ght: 2025 Georgetown soccer preview
BY STELLA LINN AND SHANA STRUSKI | DESIGN BY RYAN GOODWIN
As students around the country wake up at 8 a.m. to watch their school play against the gods of Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana State, Georgetown students get excited about the other football. Both Hoya soccer teams started their seasons with difficult matchups and the teams are showing potential—with room for improvement.
Georgetown’s soccer program has become the school’s athletic poster child. The men won the NCAA Division I Championship in 2019 and won the 2024 BIG EAST Championship. The women have won the past three BIG EAST regular season titles and reached the second round of the 2024 NCAA Championship. Both teams have precedent in their favor and solid foundations to build upon.
Women's team
On the women’s side, six games into the season with a 3-1-2 record, the Hoyas look promising. At the time of writing, Georgetown is ranked No. 2 in the BIG EAST and No. 16 in the NCAA.
As most students were enjoying their second day of classes, women’s soccer upset No. 16 Virginia Tech (4-2-2, ACC) in Blacksburg. Despite a turnover in the early second half that led to a Hokie goal, efforts of graduate forward Maja Lardner and junior midfielder Mary Cochran helped the
and a draw against Old Dominion (4-11, Sun Belt Conference). While the win was a morale booster for the team, these opponents were not at the same caliber as UVA and Virginia Tech. Most recently, the Hoyas fell to Vanderbilt 0-1 but upset No. 18 South Carolina 1-0. While the Vanderbilt game resulted in Georgetown’s first loss, the subsequent win against a top team demonstrated that they can rebound.
Before the season began, Georgetown Women’s Soccer was voted No. 1 in the BIG EAST Conference preseason rankings. They are already living up to expectations. Georgetown is tied for fourth in their conference in goals scored, with 10 to their credit. The offense has been strong thus far, especially from star player Lardner. Having scored five out of the Hoyas’ 10 goals, Lardner poses a significant threat to opposing teams. The Hoyas have shown additional strength in their defensive abilities, but their offense must adequately support Lardner to truly capitalize on their potential. The real test will be their ability to beat next-level opponents.
Men ’s team
Starting off 2-2-2, Georgetown Men’s Soccer secured two morale-boosting wins, two hard-fought draws, and two losses against quality opponents. The Hoyas are currently ranked near the middle of the BIG EAST, but hope remains for the rest of the season.
“We can’t think about what happened in the past, we just have to look forward and continue to react positively,” Senior midfielder Zach Zengue told the Voice in a postgame interview.
The men’s first two games of the season culminated in losses. The team fell 1-2 at the season opener against High Point (3-0-2, Big South) and the trend continued at the Hoyas’ home opener, losing an arduous 0-1 matchup against Maryland (3-0-1, Big Ten).
Fans packed the stands for Georgetown's Aug. 29 victory against the No. 5 Pittsburgh (32-0, ACC). Georgetown led in possession for the first half before scoring on a strike from Junior defender Oliver Stafford towards the end of the second. The Hoyas left Shaw Field with a palpable sense of optimism.
This scrappy men’s team doesn’t go down without a fight. They have performed well against top-tier opponents like Pittsburgh, shutting them out and scoring when it mattered. Players like Zengue have proven
integral to the team’s success, with three assists and a goal.
"To win a national championship, we have to be mature, and we have to be focused at every single minute of the game, and we can’t slip up,” Zengue said. “I think we have it in us."
On Sept. 1, Georgetown tied No. 1 Vermont (3-0-3, America East), after a defensive error allowed Vermont to equalize in the 86th minute. In similar fashion, the Hoyas let a two-goal lead slip against No. 17 Duke (2-0-2, ACC) on Sept. 5, conceding two goals in the last six minutes of the match. This ultimately forced a 2-2 draw in a game they should have won.
Most recently, Georgetown shut out the winless James Madison 4-0 on Sept. 9.
The men’s offense is clearly a creative and talented group. Soccer fans are abuzz about Zengue, Van Horn, and Baker, and all three are clearly adept at creating chances. However, this offense has been struggling to finish. Despite 67 total shots, the Hoyas have only scored five goals this season. Improvement is necessary, and not just on the offense. Defense is where the Hoyas will really make or break their season. In the past six games, the Hoyas have only had two shutouts, and until their most recent victory over James Madison, they had let in more goals than they had scored. It will be crucial for the defense and goalkeeping to step up to turn draws into wins.
Despite a rocky start, the team projects confidence for the coming season.
“I know the results aren't really showing that, but we've been improving every game and you know, this is going to help us,” Zengue said in a postgame interview with the Voice. “This heavy schedule in the front load of our season is going to help us in the of end the year.”
The Summer Luka Dončić Turned Pretty
BY EILEEN WEISNER
GRAPHICS BY APARA CHANDAVARKAR; LAYOUT BY ELLE MARINELLO PHOTO COURTESY OF ERICK DROST
As summer magazines showcasing celebrities in swimwear drift off the shelves, a hot new bombshell graces the covers lining check-out aisles. This one turns away from the normal actress “beach body” headline to spotlight a different A-lister: Los Angeles Lakers point guard Luka Dončić and his off-season fitness grind.
At the end of July, the newly ripped Dončić made headlines as the cover of Men’s Health magazine, raising questions once again about what athletes owe us with their bodies.
The corresponding article, by Andrew Heffernan and Ebenezer Samuel, references his notable biceps and slimmer physique, products of an intense workout regimen and improved nutrition after a tumultuous season. After suffering a sidelining calf injury in January amid murmurs that he was out of shape, Dončić was traded to the Lakers by the Dallas Mavericks. The trade came as a shock to all: Dončić and the Mavs reached the NBA Championship Finals in the 2024 season, Dončić was a fan-favorite franchise star, and the Mavs did not get a player of his caliber in return.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka even coaxed Mavs general manager Nico Harrison out of receiving first-round picks and other players by insinuating Dončić was a risk due to his weight and injury history. The trade, which happened overnight, came just a few weeks after Dončić finalized the purchase of a multimillion-dollar house in Dallas.
Following the Lakers’ early elimination from the NBA playoffs, the summer break came as a welcome way for Dončić to reset his game, complete with a short respite from basketball. After sitting on the injured list, dealing with the Mavs shipping him off, and hearing NBA fans commenting seemingly nonstop on his appearance, Dončić and his trainers team crafted a summer rebuild to start fresh this coming season.
He took off to his summer abode in Croatia, where weights and training equipment awaited him. His hard work paid off in a handful of ways—he reported better sleep and energy, enhanced athletic performance, and an even stronger discipline and growth mindset.
Still, the negative attention he received last spring, such as the article in Men’s Health about his “summer shred” and the ensuing media coverage, show that athletes’ bodies are still unfairly in public domain discussion.
Criticisms of Dončić’s pre-shred body had little-to-no historical basis. Dončić scored
over 10,000 points in his six NBA seasons before turning 25 years old. He has the thirdhighest average regular season points-pergame in league history, trailing only NBA alltime greats Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. And while attitudes around weight loss and muscle gain take on an aesthetic tone in our society, fitness is much more than that.
Dončić’s functional training caters specifically to his strengths as a player, not his weaknesses as a supermodel. For example, while he is not known for his speed, he is capable of switching directions on a dime— referred to by the term “eccentric force.”
It’s this eccentric force, not top-line speed, that makes it possible for shooters to shake off defenders. So when he went to work out at the track, he would not do simple cardio: instead he practiced changing speeds and directions with resistance bands, according to the Men’s Health piece.
Even Dončić’s nutrition changes were not for crafting an Adonis-like body; his inclusion of anti-inflammatory foods, like nuts, berries, and leafy greens, boost post-game recovery, while high protein meals fuel top-level playing time.
Authors Heffernan and Samuel importantly included that athletes come in all shapes and sizes, despite stereotypes of athletic appearance. Every sport requires a different skill set, and as such, simply demanding buff or trim bodies is outdated. Bodies are flexible, but ultimately fragile, and are constrained by genetics.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, multiple U.S. female athletes endured online comments mocking their wide shoulders and muscular backs. Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher and swimmer Katie Ledecky—the most decorated woman swimmer in Olympic history—received comments insulting their appearances for looking “manly.” Throughout her career, tennis star Serena Williams faced similar cruel comments. If we valued athletes for their bodies instead of their talents, strengths, or performances, so many of the astounding acts of coordination, grit, and determination that we love in sports would not exist.
However, as easy as it would be to say that body judgement has no place in sports, the matter is unfortunately not that simple. Team scouts searching for the next top talent continue to judge potential recruits based on body shape and athletic stereotypes. But athlete body judgement should not come from outside of the recruiting staff or professional trainers. And even within those roles, holistic evaluations cataloguing performance stats and player behavior should render simple body judgements obsolete and crude.
When fans mock their teams’ athletes, they hurt what they claim to love. Thoughtlessly cruel jokes about athletes’ bodies can get back to the athlete, harming both their performance and mental wellness. Fans invest so much time, money, and energy into sports that throwing unnecessary jabs at players is
Slower and stranger: Racquet Theory serves up a new take on tennis
BY ANDREW SWANK
GRAPHICS BY CAYA ASBILLE AND KATIE REDDY; LAYOUT BY KATIE REDDY
Evan Cole (CAS ’26), like many Georgetown students, ended his junior year planning to enter the business world after graduation. But he always had an itch to explore his passion for tennis.
“I was pretty poised to go into investment banking, consulting, that kind of route,” Cole said in an interview with the Voice. “I didn’t have the security or the courage to kind of really explore what I wanted to do.”
This summer, however, he grew frustrated with that path, realizing that he was not passionate about his internship. Halfway through the summer, he decided to take the leap, founding an online tennis publication called Racquet Theory, with help from a dedicated team of friends. Noah Young (CAS ’26) has played an especially big role in Racquet Theory’s creative output, directing photoshoots and guiding the publication’s vision.
Cole, Young, and their tennis-loving friends have spent the past few months pouring time into this project, trying to turn their vision into something that connects with tennis fans, both old and new. So far, Racquet Theory has produced player analysis essays, tennisthemed photoshoots, and short videos about tennis events and shops. One thing connects the range of content: exploring a love for tennis.
“Racquet Theory is an immersion. It’s not a business. We’re not selling anything. I’ve said it before, but it’s just really my attempt at immersing myself in something that I lo1ve for the very first time,” Cole said. “We’re kind of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks for other people, but everything that we produce we like.”
Racquet Theory begins with the sport, but it also seeks to explore the intersection of tennis, art, fashion, and design. To Cole, tennis fits seamlessly with these aesthetic forms of expression.
“I think the geometry of a tennis court, the minimalism, the sleekness, the texture is all there,” Cole said. “It’s just such an open book of aesthetics, and I just feel like it's not tapped into.”
Taking the time to appreciate the aesthetics of tennis is part of what Cole calls the “slower and stranger” approach that Racquet Theory is trying to take.
It’s a way of looking at the sport that contrasts with the flashy, headline-driven sports media landscape that exists today. Racquet Theory’s strategy takes the time to understand all the people who make tennis.
“Not only is it not a team sport and you’re out there by yourself, but you can see these people’s faces, you can see them figuring things out in front of them,” Cole said.
If tennis is a mirror for the human experience, it also reflects some of people’s worst tendencies. In particular, the sport has a history of exclusivity, with access to the game often reserved for only the most affluent players and fans. Racquet Theory’s mission is to combat that exclusivity by letting more people connect with the game.
“We’re trying to meet you where you’re at,” Cole said. “I’m starting with trying to bring people to the game and showing them that there’s a place for them somewhere. Whether it’s playing, whether it’s watching, whether it’s critiquing the outfits that you see in the stands.”
The legacy of exclusion in tennis is also deeply tied to the sport’s history of racism. Tennis clubs and tournaments, including the most prestigious tournament organizer in the United States, the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA), repeatedly excluded Black players until 1938. Although some Black players founded their own clubs and tournaments, such as the American Tennis Association, a competitor to the USLTA, the sport still has the widespread perception of being a sport for wealthy white players.
Cole, who is Black, finds inspiration from Black tennis stars like the Williams sisters, Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka. He hopes that through Racquet Theory, he can inspire the next generation of tennis players, as his idols inspired him.
“I think I can fill that space. And in terms of representation, I think as a Black tennis journalist…it’s a space that’s really important to me,” Cole said, adding that he wanted to create that space for the next generation of fans. He hopes that Racquet Theory can show young Black tennis fans that there is a space for them in the game.
Engaging with tennis lovers and bringing new people into the sport is the essence of Racquet Theory. It starts with a love and passion for every aspect of tennis and a desire to share that with the world. Cole doesn’t know where the publication will take him, but the possibilities are exciting.
“I’ve never been a person to enjoy uncertainty. This is the first time I’ve enjoyed uncertainty,” Cole said.
So much is up in the air, but Cole has one certainty about the future of Racquet Theory.
“I want to create content that makes people feel something,” Cole said. !
