Working for the working poor

VOICE
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COLLEGE DEAN AND PROFESSORS
CLASH OVER SEMINAR CHANGES
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HOYAS LOOK TO BRUSH AWAY
WOES AGAINST COLGATE
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HISTORY BOYS IS A HIT
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Georgetown University’s Weekly Newsmagazine Since 1969  October 18, 2012  Volume 47, Issue 10  georgetownvoice.com
Working
for the
working
poor
2 the georgetown voice
october 18, 2012
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Voice Crossword “At the Dais” by Tyler Pierce
puzzle answers at georgetownvoice.com
35. Aryan preceder
38. Take up again
39. 10/16 event in New York
43. Saturday morning cartoon,
usually
44. Lion’s den
45. Opposite of post46. With a gun on you
47. Direct
50. Bro’s sib
53. Type of soup
54. Lode load
57. Blue participant in 39
Across
62. Sweet pickle
64. Pinocchio, at times
65. Pains
66. Particular, for short
67. Fringe
68. Partners of whorls and
arches
69. Warmonger
70. Views
DOWN
ACROSS
1. Con job
5. Gulp
9. It has two hands but no legs
14. Bananas
15. Meat of a vegetable
16. Crapped out used car
17. Like wings
18. Successively
20. Red participant in 39
Across
22. Casual attire
23. “I got it!”
24. Blue
25. Electric device with four
electrodes
29. Flowering plants in the
family Araceae
34. Biblical suffix
1. Cole ___
2. Place-name for islands in
areas with Scandinavian
influence
3. Antioxidant-rich berry
4. Pestle partner, in a lab
5. Random
6. Lush
7. Tabloid twosomes
8. Lake Volta’s country
9. Henry of early American
politics
10. Authorize
11. Leave out
12. Draw near
13. Joint with a cap
19. Comedy about a teddy
bear
21. However, when texting
25. Prefix with -hedron
26. Early anesthetic
27. -ometer preface
28. Carbon compound
29. “___ you kidding?”
30. Confederate soldier, for
short
31. Not suitable
32. D.C. rider
33. Win every game in a series
36. Genetic stuff
37. Norse war god
40. Good name for a lawyer?
41. Conclude
42. Punt
48. The Matrix role
49. Russian rodents
50. “My gal” of song
51. “Fighting” mascot
52. Greek-Irish supermodel
Georgia
54. Birthstone after sapphire
55. Puerto ___
56. Audio effect
57. Low voice
58. Hammock cord
59. Assistant
60. One of three Nativity visitors
61. Mars, to the Greeks
63. Ballistics stat
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Share your love of words and help us write crosswords.
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editorial
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VOICE
the georgetown
Volume 47.10
October18, 2012
Editor-in-Chief: Leigh Finnegan
Managing Editor: Keaton Hoffman
Blog Editor: Vanya Mehta
News Editor: Gavin Bade
Sports Editor: Kevin Joseph
Feature Editor: Connor Jones
Cover Editor: Neha Ghanshamdas
Leisure Editor: Mary Borowiec
Voices Editor: Claire McDaniel
Photo Editor: Lucia He
Design Editors: Amanda Dominguez, Madhuri
Vairapandi
Projects Editors: Christie Geaney, Cannon Warren
Puzzles Editor: Tyler Pierce
Assistant Blog Editors: Morgan Manger, Isabel Echarte
Assistant News Editors: Julia Jester, Matt Weinmann
Assistant Sports Editors: Chris Almeida, Steven Criss,
Keith Levinsky
Assistant Leisure Editors: Will Collins,
Julia Lloyd-George, Kirill Makarenko
Assistant Voices Editor: Sara Ainsworth
Assistant Photo Editors: Julian de la Paz,
Matt Thees
Assistant Design Editor: Lauren Ashley Panawa
Staff Writers:
Sara Ainsworth, Maitane Arana, Jane Conroy, Alex Lau, Jeffrey
Lin, Shom Mazumder, Caitriona Pagni, Paul Quincy, Heather Regen,
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Editorial Board:
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On this week’s cover: “Kalmanovitz Initiative”
Cover Photo: Tess O’Connor (COL ‘15)
the georgetown voice 3
SWEAT IT
University should sever contract with Adidas
Last week, the Georgetown Licensing
and Oversight Committee recommended
that the University sever the tennis team’s
contract with Adidas. In September,
Georgetown Solidarity Committee delivered its second letter to President DeGioia
encouraging the University to end the
Adidas contract in protest of the company’s treatment of workers. The University
should abide by the LOC’s recommendation and continue to be mindful of the labor practices of the companies with which
it does business.
GSC inaugurated the campaign last
spring, after Adidas made it clear that
they would not give severance pay to
the workers laid off when the PT Kizone
factory in Tangerang, Indonesia, closed.
Adidas subcontracted to the factory to
produce its university sports apparel, and
when it closed, Adidas refused to take
financial responsibility for the workers’
severance.
According to GSC’s original letter, this
decision violates the University’s Code of
Conduct for Licensees—not to mention
Indonesian law. The Code of Conduct
requires all contractors to pay terminal
compensation.
In an email sent to Vice President of Federal Relations Scott Fleming, Adidas representative Gregg Nebel wrote, “At the end
of the day, what we intend to do with relief
aid through PT Lidi could cost hundreds of
thousands but it will be spent for the most
relevant and expedient needs.”
It is not company policy to pay severance
to workers who are laid off after their contract
ends with the factory. However, Adidas has a
responsibility to its workers. At a minimum,
it should ensure that they are afforded a modicum of financial stability in the wake of an
unpredictable, mass termination such as this.
It should make no difference that these workers are subcontracted, rather than directly
employed by Adidas.
TESTING 123
The termination of Georgetown’s Adidas
contract could encourage other universities to
sever their ties with the company, a domino
effect that would exert incredible pressure on
the company to change its business practices.
In 2009, the University was one of the first
schools to sever its contract with Russell Apparel, pursuant to a similar GSC campaign.
Soon after, over 100 universities followed suit.
The company ended up rehiring the scores of
workers who were laid off after Russell’s Jerzees de Honduras closed its doors.
As a Jesuit institution, Georgetown has
a responsibility to pressure its business partners to use fair labor practices and only invest
in socially responsible enterprises. That starts
with the University increasing transparency
in its business dealings and publishing the
full contents of its investment portfolio so that
potentially unethical practices can be scrutinized. Practicing social justice in its business
relationships is the least Georgetown can do
to further workers’ rights.
Benefits outweigh home HIV test concerns
On Oct. 9, an in-home HIV test called
OraQuick went on sale in the District after becoming the first test of its kind to be approved
by the Food and Drug Administration. This
test is not without its critics, as some HIV/
AIDS activists fear that patients who test positive at home will not actively seek out treatment and social services designed to help
them cope with their infection. However, the
public health benefits to be gained from more
accessible testing outweigh these concerns.
OraQuick testing involves a painless
cheek swab that yields results that are as accurate as those produced in a hospital or clinic
in as little as 20 to 40 minutes. Selling for $40
at pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, OraQuick is also affordable, an important benefit
since HIV disproportionately affects the poor.
Besides simply increasing access to
testing, OraQuick could also work around
negative stigmas that can be associated
with getting tested. Much in the same way
that home pregnancy tests empowered
women to take control over their own
health in the 1970s, a test like OraQuick
allows people to avoid the public assumptions associated with entering an HIV/
AIDS clinic to receive a test, for example.
Magic Johnson, a national face of the
fights against HIV/AIDS, believes OraQuick will do a lot to make people more
comfortable to get tested. “When you
think about the black and brown community, the stigma behind HIV and AIDS in
our community ... [not wanting] anybody
to see us walk into a clinic or to the doctor’s office, this kit will help,” Johnson
told The Huffington Post.
At 2.7 percent, the HIV/AIDS infection
rate in D.C. is on par with Rwanda’s and
higher than those of Haiti, Sierra Leone, and
Ethiopia. A generalized epidemic, HIV/AIDS
impacts roughly 17,000 D.C. residents. Given
that an estimated 10,000 are unaware they
carry the virus, simply increasing the number of people who get tested is an important
step in the right direction. The hope is that
anyone who tests positive will take measures
to prevent spreading the infection to sexual
partners.
Home testing does come with a higher
risk of misdiagnosis if the test is performed
incorrectly. Homes also lack the immediate
counseling and informational services that
are typically provided by hospitals and community clinics in the case of a positive diagnosis. These concerns underscore the need for
comprehensive awareness campaigns that
destigmatize HIV/AIDS, making in-clinic
tests less onerous.
With so many residents unaware of
their HIV status, anything that will give
people a chance to learn that they have
HIV and seek early treatment should be
seen as a positive development in the fight
against HIV/AIDS.
CIRCLE CIRCLE, DOT DOT
Female education combats poverty, sexism
Last week, Georgetown Circle of Women launched a campaign to raise awareness
and mobilize students to advocate for the
advancement of female education around
the world. As one component of its campaign, the group encouraged members of the
Georgetown Community to finish this equation on paper: Girls + Education = _________.
Students’ answers ranged from the powerful—“progress” and “opportunity”—to the
witty—”more men in the kitchen” and “more
Tina Feys.”
This is a worthwhile campaign because
it focuses students’ attention on a tangible
project that has far-reaching implications.
The correlation between female education
and economic development is a statistical
fact, although skeptics debate the direction of
causality in that relationship. The United Nations accepts that educating women is one of
the most effective ways to alleviate poverty
for entire families, as it allows them to pursue
higher paying jobs.
At the root of the issue, unequal education is an effect of gender discrimination.
Allowing women to attain the same education as men helps undermine this systemic patriarchy. Female empowerment in
general gives women greater agency—to
control their own fertility and careers, for
example.
As one of the signs from the Circle of
Women campaign puts it: “Girls + Education
= common sense.”
While most of the signs produced by
members of the Georgetown community
promoted Circle of Women’s message,
some featured sexist messages that indicate the importance of this type of awareness campaign. One sign read, “Girls
+ Education = Wife.” Another, “Better
hamburgers in the kitchen.” These kinds
of responses indicate a complete irreverence for the severity of the cause. Furthermore, they actively codify the very
restrictive gender roles that hamper female education.
Education isn’t a privilege, it is a right.
As beneficiaries of a formal higher education, Georgetown students should be
mindful of the intersection between prejudice and educational inequality.
This campaign comes at a critical moment.
Last Tuesday, 14-year-old Pakistani education
activist Malala Yousafzai was attacked on on
her way home from school. Yousafzai was
shot in the head and is currently in critical
condition in London.
Despite her age, she is admired in Pakistan for her blog, which promotes gender
equality in education. Since the incident, the
Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility
of the attack. The group’s leader, Ehsan ullah
Ehsan said in a televised statement, “Whom
so ever [sic] leads any campaign against Islam
and Shari’a is ordered to be killed by Shari’a.
It is not merely allowed to kill such a person,
but it is obligatory in Islam.”
These are the kinds of attitudes that
awareness-raising campaigns like the one
conducted by Circle of Women can help
combat. Regardless of the tangible economic
benefits of equal education, defeating sexism
is a worthy goal unto itself—one that Georgetown students should embrace, not mock.
news
4 the georgetown voice
october 18, 2012
Deans and professors clash over seminar schedules
by Vanya Mehta
This semester, Dean Chester Gillis of Georgetown College has cut
the number of seminar courses that
may meet once a week dramatically,
inciting significant discontent from
many faculty members.
Any professor’s request for
a course to meet once a week for
2.5 hours must be approved by the
Dean. “The rules are rules,” Dean
Gillis said. “[Professors] can make
a case, but I’ll make the decision,
and generally I say they should
meet twice a week.”
The Dean’s default position illuminates a stark divide between
himself and the faculty over the
most effective way to teach seminar-style, upper-level courses. “The
issue is, pedagogically, is that the
best way to run a seminar?” said
Government professor Harley Balzer. “I think the faculty member
ought to have the choice…I know a
lot of my colleagues have expressed
the same concern.”
University Registrar and Assistant to the Provost John Pierce
said professors have the opportunity to go through their department chairs to express their
disagreement with the policy. “If
professors feel that their views
need to be expressed to the Dean,
I know that the [department]
chairs have an equal opportunity
to do that,” he said.
Pierce added that in 2011 the
policy was approved unanimously
by the executive faculty, and the
consensus was that “an excessive
number of such once a week courses are not pedagogically sound.
Everyone agreed to those policy
guidelines,” he said.
In the past year, Dean Gillis has slashed the once-a-week
course count roughly in half. According to data provided by the
University Registrar, in the fall of
2010, 34 courses in the Government Department met once a week
and the History Department held
29. This semester, Gillis approved
12 once-a-week courses for the
Government Department and 18
for the History Department.
This semester, there are approximately 49 once a week
courses in International Affairs.
These typically go through the
School of Foreign Service.
Senior faculty from the SFS
declined to comment on why the
school’s policy is less stringent with
once-a-week courses.
Professor and Chair of the History Department Carol Benedict
believes that most upper-level History courses are better suited to
meet once a week.
“I think most History professors
find the once per week format more
suitable because students have time
to actually read the assigned book
carefully, to prepare their thoughts
for discussion, to reflect on the reading and discussion afterwards, and
therefore to get more out of the
class,” Benedict wrote in an email.
Dean Gillis argues that meeting
twice a week with students would
increase faculty-study contact hours.
“I want faculty presence and availability to students,” he said. He
argues that professors who consistently choose to hold once a week
courses will choose not to commute
to campus frequently enough.
John Bailey, Chair of the Government Department, feels comfortable with the Dean’s policy. “I personally see both sides, but if that’s
the position of the College, even
though I can see the other side quite
clearly, they’re being somewhat flexible about it,” he said. “If it were a
straight-up vote about whether or
not we should have a default towards twice a week, I would say yes
for a couple reasons. It’s just hard to
keep our energy up for two and a
half hours, I’ve taught a lot of classes
that go that long…and we absolutely need a ten minute break.”
Bailey added that there is a
possibility some professors do
not know they can request to
hold a course once a week in the
first place. “I can think of one case
where someone didn’t agree with
the policy but knew about the policy and therefore was submitting
twice a week classes and only later
did it come out, did I tell him that
oh, you can apply, you can ask.
There may be this kind of latent
interest that’s not fully revealed.”
Exceptions can be made, but
only for professors with compelling
reasons. “If we had a well-known,
high-value, adjunct professor who
can only teach on Monday nights
for two and a half hours because
he’s running the federal government, then that would make sense
because that is his or her only instance where they can come to campus. But for ordinary faculty, that’s
not the case,” Dean Gillis said.
Adjunct professors who are
straddling multiple jobs between
Georgetown and other universities in the D.C. area, however,
do not see the same exception.
“It would have to be someone
who was compelling. Adjuncts
are great, I’m not devaluing what
they do, but if they’re not the
most powerful person in their
field, we’re not necessarily arranging our schedules for their
convenience.”
At its core, the rift between
professors and the top-level administrators lies in a pedagogical debate over the most effective
way to teach higher level courses.
While the Dean asserts that seminars can still offer the same educational experience in a twice a
week format, many professors
vehemently disagree.
“As it is, Georgetown seminars
are too short. Making them shorter
still sabotages the purpose of the format,” Matthew Rudolph, a professor in the Government Department,
wrote in an email. “Lecture halls
should soon be empty. Rooms with
rows of chairs instead of seminar
tables serve mostly to earn tuition,
not to teach.”
Georgetown Energy to install solar
panels on 43 University townhouses. The group was initially started
“to consult local neighbors about
going solar,” said Dan Mathis (SFS
‘13), the group’s executive officer
and head of the solar project. With
the reform, “we realized we could
make a difference with the amount
of money that was available to students” Mathis said.
The current plan is to install
panels on seven townhouses for a
total cost of $45,000. Although the
proposal originally called for installation on 43 houses, the age and design of many of the roofs decreased
the viability of that project. “The way
a solar panel works, it clamps onto
the seams, but if it’s a certain material you can’t clamp--you have to drill,
which has liability issues,” Mathis
said. “So, they cut it back to seven
which they knew had had their roofs
replaced in the last fifteen years.”
As a part of this project, students in townhouses will no longer pay a variable electric bill.
“The main change is a new housing billing structure that was implemented this fall, under which
townhouse students pay a flat fee
for housing each semester, similar
to students in Georgetown’s other
on-campus housing,” wrote Audrey Stewart, Director of the Office of Campus Sustainability, in
an email to the Voice.
“Before what [the University]
would do is send the utility bill
after a couple months to the students,” Mathis said. “The way the
model is setup to work there is a
fixed payment for each student
who lives in the house. That payment is going to based on the average of the last 20 or 30 years.”
The difference between the
payments students make and the
electric bill for the townhouses
with solar panels will go to GU-
SA’s Student Activities Fund. “The
project is expected to generate
about $82,000 in revenue to GUSA
over the 20-year life of the project,
or about $3,000 per year during the
first several years, with increases
in the future as regional electricity
rates rise,” wrote Stewart.
The contract was awarded
through a competitive bidding process. “We sent out requests for proposals to a bunch of solar providers, and we had a few companies
come back. It’s a pretty specialized
industry,” said Colton Malkerson
(COL’ 13). Solar City and one other
company responded with proposals. “All the students, GUSA, myself,
Georgetown Energy, and facilities
looked at all the proposals,” Malkerson said. “We determined Solar City
was the best.”
“This week, the solar program will be submitted to the
[Advisory Neighborhood Commission] and [Old Georgetown
Board],” Malkerson said. “Essentially, we are expecting a really
smooth regulatory approval process. OGB is primarily concerned
about how it will look and you
really can’t see the solar panels.”
The presentation before the
ANC and OGB will be made by
Solar City. The company did not
respond to requests for comment
before the Voice went to press, but
“Georgetown representatives both
from facilities and students will be
there when they present to make
sure everything goes smoothly,”
Malkerson said.
“In total, the project is expected to provide about 20,250 kwh
each year – about one third of the
total electricity needs for these
residences, or enough electricity to power two full average U.S.
homes,” Stewart wrote.
Stewart sees the project as a
chance to develop a model for future
proposals. “On campus, this project
will serve as a valuable pilot from
which lessons can be applied to future sustainability projects, such as
those to be supported by the student
Green Fund,” Stewart wrote.
Although
the
remaining
$205,000 of the green fund cannot
be allocated until the planned panels
are installed, Mathis said Georgetown Energy is full of ideas for the
money once it becomes available.
“Overall, we’re trying to partner
with the sustainability office with
what they’re doing to see how we
can make a difference with projects
going forward.”
Solar panel proposal moves toward ratification by ANC and OGB
by Matthew Weinmann
The recently announced contract between the University and
Solar City, a solar power company, is bringing change to students’
utility bills, GUSA’s budget, and
Georgetown’s environmental impact, as well as opening the door
to future renewable energy projects on campus.
The project is part of the Student
Activity Fee Endowment reform
passed by GUSA last year. One of
the three proposals from SAFE reform brought forward by Georgetown Energy allocated $250,000 to
A total of seven townhouses are set to be outfitted with solar panels.
Tess O’Connor
news
georgetownvoice.com
the georgetown voice 5
LOC suggests Georgetown should sever ties with Adidas
by Isabel Echarte
The Licensing and Oversight
Committee recommended last Friday that Georgetown end its contract with Adidas no later than Dec.
15, due to the company’s violation
of Georgetown’s Code of Conduct
for Licensees. The company has refused to pay the $1.8 million owed
in severance to workers of the PT
Kizone factory in Indonesia for violation of local labor laws.
The LOC decided to make the
recommendation to the President’s
Office following a report from the
Workers’ Rights Consortium, a
meeting with an Adidas representative, and demonstrations of student
support guided by the Georgetown
Solidarity Committee.
Gregg Nebel, the Adidas representative, told the committee
in April 2012 that the company
would give the workers food
vouchers and job placement assistance. Adidas, in a statement to the
Voice this week, said that the company would provide $525,000 in
“humanitarian aid” with the food
vouchers. It also said it would “address the systemic root cause of
unethical factory closures.”
“At our request, the Global Forum for Sustainable Supply Chains
will convene a summit … to con-
sider options for a private insurance
fund,” Adidas announced in the
statement. “This unique approach
looks to close one of the critical
gaps in governance where countries have legislation providing for
severance pay, but very few require
the employer to make provisions
for eventual severance obligations.”
Nike and the Dallas Cowboys,
the two other companies using the
factory, have paid the severance
owed to the workers, and were not
included in the LOC’s statement.
Scott Fleming, Interim Chair
of the Committee, said these remediation attempts are insufficient in complying with the
“letter and spirit” of the Code of
Conduct for Licensees.
“Adidas has made what they
feel are remediation efforts,” said
John Kline, Director of the LOC.
“They weren’t really addressing the
major nature of the issue. They are
trying to do other types of things
but not accept responsibility for the
severance pay itself.”
In its press release, GSC, which
has two members on the LOC, was
confident that President John DeGioia will follow the recommendation. The President’s Office was
aware of the LOC’s impending action and is “giving it careful consideration.” Georgetown would be the
The unhappy consensus
Keeping in line with the ritual
of every election over the last 40
years or so, this fall’s contest is the
most important one yet. At odds,
we’re told, are two fundamentally
different visions of America.
The nation is either on the verge
of completing its transition to a socialist economy under the leadership of a fiery anti-colonialist, or it’s
on the brink of an unprecedented
corporate coup d’état that will set
back the great progress of the last
four years—depending on which
campaign narrative you prefer.
There are indeed some meaningful differences between Obama
and Romney, but what debate
season ultimately reminds us of is
the enormous amount of common
ground these two candidates share.
Over the first two debates,
Romney and Obama have battled
it out over who’s more “serious”
about cutting the deficit, each of
them playing up their hawkishness on the budget, and criticizing the other for not being “serious” enough. The candidates have
each paid tribute to the beauty of
American business—acknowledging nevertheless that some minor
regulations are needed. And, of
course, who could forget Obama’s
swooning paen to the beauty of
“free enterprise” and “individual
initiative” in his closing remarks
on Tuesday night?
The debates have reminded
us that Obama and Romney are
both in favor of a governmentsubsidized, privately-run health
care plan, the massive transcontinental Keystone XL pipeline,
and keeping existing gun laws on
the books. They also both want to
crack down on undocumented immigrants. Employing a phrase that
would’ve set liberals into a frenzy
had it come from his opponent, the
President tactlessly bragged about
deporting “gangbangers.”
In fact, this kind of language
isn’t all that surprising coming
from an administration that has
deported more immigrants than
any other residency in U.S. history.
A week earlier, in the extended
third university severing ties with
the company, following Cornell
University and Oberlin College.
In addition to the LOC’s recommendation, GSC protested in
Red Square in April and delivered two letters to the President’s
Office, one in April and one in
September, suggesting the school
terminate its contract.
“While it might not make a
huge impact financially for Adidas if we terminate the contract,
Georgetown was the second university to cut the contract.”
Georgetown chose not to renew
the sportswear contract with Russell Athletic in Feb. 2009 because
the company was accused of closing a Honduras factory in effort to
prevent unionization. Several other
universities also severed ties, leading to the company’s decision to
reopen the factory that November.
“The University, as happened
in the case of Russell Athletic, has
GAVIn MenG
GSC members deliver their letter to President DeGioia about the Adidas contract.
I think the fact that Georgetown
would be making this gesture
to show Adidas that we do care
about these issues would be an
example for other universities,”
said Julia Hubbel (COL ’15) ,
member of GSC and LOC. “In the
past Georgetown has also been a
leader in these issues. There was a
campaign against Russell, which
had a factory in Honduras, and
discussion of foreign policy, Paul
Ryan and Joe Biden expressed
unending support for Israel, celebrated the “achievements” of the
ongoing war in Afghanistan, and
beat the war drums on Iran. One
can only imagine the genuinely
chilling agreements Obama and
Romney will come to in the foreign
policy debate next week.
Union Jack
by Cole Stangler
A bi-weekly column about
national politics and policy
But in addition to the issues
they’ve agreed to on in the debates, it’s worth recalling the issues that haven’t surfaced at all
over the last few weeks—questions related to civil liberties, the
War on Drugs, the future of public
education and its mostly unionized workforce, or raising the federal minimum wage for the first
time in more than three years.
For all of the liberal media’s
talk about the Occupy movement
shaping the election dialogue,
there hasn’t been a single question
shown that it really takes seriously
the principles involved in licensing manufacturers who license our
logo,” said Joseph McCartin, Executive Director of Georgetown’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and
the Working Poor. “It was a clear
evaluation of what we believe is the
right way to treat workers.”
To further improve the University’s ability to adhere to its Jesuit
posed about economic inequality.
Presumably, Obama and Romney
are in broad agreement on these
matters as well. Through the two
parties’ ownership of the Commission on Presidential Debates, Republicans and Democrats negotiate
a pre-debate contract that often determines which questions can and
cannot be raised.
To be fair, there are some meaningful differences between the candidates—most notably, on social
policy. There are also key distinctions that lie less in the individual
candidates’ personal views than in
the voting blocs and class interests
that their parties represent: Democrats are, for historical and political
reasons, generally more accountable to minorities, women, the
LGBT community, labor, and most
of the working class. Republicans
are more accountable to the Christian Right, disaffected swathes of
the white working class, and smallbusiness owners. These distinctions
matter and still impact policy.
Nonetheless, the debates speak
to the frightening consensus of
both parties’ leadership on issues
values and, through this, advance
workers’ rights, the LOC is looking
into the Designated Supplier Program, according to Kline. The Worker’s Rights Consortium has suggested this approach as an alternative to
responding to the abuse of workers’
rights in a case-by-case basis.
Kline said the goal of this program is to consolidate manufacturing in fewer, more easily monitored
factories that provide a living wage
and good conditions. He said this
would prevent cases, such as Adidas’s refusal to pay, so that the University would not have to react after the fact as is how such decisions
are currently made.
According to the LOC, the
recommendation marks the end
of its work with the Adidas case.
Although all the administrative
channels have been used in this
effort, GSC maintains that students can and should still demonstrate support for the termination of the contract to ensure that
the administration follows the
committee’s suggestion.
“Just because we’ve cut our
contract that does not mean
the workers in Jakarta are being paid,” Hubbell said. “The
workers themselves have not yet
achieved success and we can’t
celebrate until that happens.”
that extend from the economy and
the workplace to the environment
and foreign policy. As the power of
corporate America grows, bouldering over the remnants of our welfare state and quelling resistance
to the destruction of our planet,
the American political consensus
is likely to expand in the future,
eliminating almost any hope of
systemic societal change from inside the political system.
In a time when the country truly needs a new direction, both parties continue to lurch toward soggy centrist policies that hold little
promise of stimulating the economy, stemming the tide of ecological destruction or keeping Americans safe from violence at home
and from abroad. If there’s one
thing the last two debates should
show us, it’s that while there’s a lot
of attention wasted on the differences between the two parties, the
fact is the distance between them
is functionally very small and only
keeps getting smaller.
Spark a debate with Cole by emailing him at cstangler@georgetownvoice.
sports
6 the georgetown voice
october 18, 2012
Soccer bounces back with Marquette victory
by Steven Criss
After losing their last two conference matches to University of
Connecticut and Notre Dame, the
No. 6 Georgetown men’s soccer
team (13-2, 4-2 Big East) played a
crucial game last Saturday against
a Marquette team (12-1, 3-1) thenranked second in the nation.
Georgetown controlled the
ball early in the game, keeping
possession on Marquette’s half
and pushing up hard on offensive
attacks. One of the earliest true
opportunities came up short in
the 27th minute, when freshman
forward Brandon Allen received
a through ball inside the 18-yard
line but was pulled down by a
defender, resulting in a controversial no-call. A tough Georgetown
defense forced Marquette to play
mostly long balls in the beginning
with few of them resulting in shot
opportunities.
The Hoyas got on the board
though in the 22nd minute, when
junior midfielder Steve Neumann received a free kick just
outside the corner of the 18 yard
box. He played the ball in the
air and senior defender Tommy
Muller was able to get a head on
it, deflecting the ball past a diving keeper and into the far post.
Georgetown kept the pace up,
keeping constant offensive pressure on the Marquette defenders.
After several goal attempts,
including a ball from Neumann to
Allen that was headed just wide
right of the goal, senior forward
Andy Riemer was given a yellow
card in the 28th minute for a cleatto-cleat slide tackle. Marquette’s
shot off the penalty was snagged
out of the air by sophomore goalkeeper Tomas Gomez.
The Hoyas made another
scoring attempt in the same minute when a center slid through
the box and Neumann fired for
the bottom corner, but the shot
was stopped by a diving save.
In the 35th minute, a Marquette
cross was knocked out to a midfielder standing on the 18-yard
line, who shot the ball just out
of the reach of Gomez and into
the bottom right corner to tie the
game at one apiece.
The second half was barely underway when Allen was
tripped one yard outside the goal
box. Neumann slotted the shot
right around the wall and into the
bottom right corner of the goal,
putting the Hoyas up again early.
The defense pressured hard on
many of the scoring opportunities, giving Georgetown an extra
offensive push on Marquette’s
four-three-four formation.
“We got both our goals on set
pieces today,” said Coach Brian
Wiese of the team’s opportunities.
“I’ve been absolutely laying into
our guys all year because I said
why aren’t we any better on set
pieces...and today you’re playing
against maybe one of the better
teams in the country on set pieces
and that’s how we win the game.”
Marquette then picked up
their offensive pressure, but the
Hoya defense held strong. Freshman midfielder Cole Seiler saved
a possible Marquette goal by sliding in front of a shot and clearing
it out. The ball was crossing the
half line much more frequently
as the clock winded down but
the defense was able to contain
any drives.
Gomez also did his best to
delay time in the final minutes
by taking water and requesting
different balls from the line aids.
With just two minutes left, Nealis
and a Marquette midfielder both
went for a ball in the air, resulting
in a head-to-head collision that
left the opposition’s player bleeding from his forehead. Nealis
continued to play while the other
player was taken out of the game.
Marquette was given one last corner, but despite bringing up their
keeper the ball was cleared out by
Georgetown’s defense, ending the
game in a 2-1 Georgetown win.
Jimmy Nealis pushes hard up the field to aid offensive efforts.
MATTHEW FRIED
“They did a great job in the last
10, 15 minutes withstanding Marquette’s push and just to clear out
all the set pieces, corners, and free
kicks from midfield that they were
dumping in. Just to handle all those
is definitely great for our defense
and great for our confidence going
forward,” Neumann said of the defense stepping up late in the game.
Handing Marquette its first
loss of the season and improving Georgetown’s record to 122-1 was huge for this team. With
only three games left during the
regular season and all of them
conference games, Georgetown
needs to keep up the high pressure play in order to make it to
postseason play. Their last home
game will be the last game of
the regular season against Seton
Hall on Oct. 27.
“I thought the guys had a real
discipline performance today,”
Coach Wiese said. “I thought it
was a hard game, [Marquette]
makes it hard to do some things
but I thought we were unlucky to
just have two goals in at the end.”
the Sports Sermon
“It’s true. It was witnessed in the dugout. The whole thing is true.” -A Yankee
team source on A-Rod propositioning a woman’s number during a playoff game.
Baltimore made things entertaining and had a legitimate shot
at an upset if not for a couple of
dominating performances from
C.C. Sabathia. One could also
credit that to the Baltimore pitching staff, but now that the Yankees
find themselves in a significant
hole against the Tigers, one has to
point to their lack of hitting as the
main culprit.
This season was certainly
different from when New York
regained its place atop the baseball universe in 2009. There was
a changing of the guard, quietly,
when Robinson Cano became
the focal point of the offense.
Mark Teixeira struggled mightily
from the beginning of the season
before picking things up, while
Alex Rodriguez suffered through
have been compounded by his
knack to get up in crucial situaA grueling six-month seations. Bases loaded with one out?
son that produced 95 wins is
Don’t worry, A-Rod can and did
considered pretty successful in a
find a way to screw that up with
lot of people’s minds, especially
a three-pitch strikeout. Down to
when the end reward is a divitheir last out? Rodriguez will suresion championship and entrance
ly screw it up, let’s pinch hit him
to the postseason. My Mets, for
for Raul Ibanez (who miraculously
example, would be thrilled with
tied the game with a homer).
that result, considering their disHis struggles, though sigmal fourth-place finish and gennificant, belie the comprehensive
erally horrid outlook.
struggles of the Yankee lineup.
Over in the Bronx, though,
Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderanything short of a World Series
son, and Nick Swisher—all mainis a failure. It’s a reputation which
stays in the heart of their batting
my cross-river Queens brethren
order—have struggled tremenfind quite elitist and even a reflecdously in the postseason. The
tion of fair-weather fandom. (Yes,
pitching has been fine, but even
we’re bitter and not that successYankee fans deserve a little better
ful. I still have the Giants to fall
than an utter offensive collapse.
back on.) After all, once the BombAs if things weren’t bad
ers start struggling
enough
already,
Pete Rose Central
even a little bit, the
Derek Jeter’s broken
Da bettin’ line
“boo” birds come out
ankle at the beginin full force at Yankee
ning of the ALCS
Dookies
Margin
Hoyas
Stadium.
put the final nail
(underdogs)
(duh!)
That said, I have a (favorites)
in the coffin on the
great deal of sympaseason. Their capYankees
Vegan Prince tain, leadoff hitter,
Tigers
thy for the Yankees’
Patriots
plight right now. Part
shortstop, and most
Russ
Seahawks
of it is a peculiarField
Indoor swing constant contributor
Federer
ity with me, but if the
was suddenly gone.
Mets are out of contention, I se- an injury-riddled year that really Watching the Yankees without
cretly desire success for our cross- showed the wear and tear of a 20- Jeter is borderline painful. With
town rivals. But the other part has year career in baseball.
each at-bat, I’m expecting a pato do with how far they have fallen
Rodriguez, of course, had been thetic strikeout or feeble groundin just a couple of weeks.
the scapegoat of numerous failed out. Jeter seemed to be the only
A 95-win season, and one in postseason runs in the Bronx prior guy not swinging for the fences
which they dominated through- to 2009. Merited or not, his post- on every pitch.
out, should have led directly to season struggles became enhanced
But, as the Yankees do evsome postseason success. Sure, because of the incredible numbers ery year, they will go home for
they took their licks along the he compiled just months before the winter (barring a miraculous
way—a season-ending injury during the regular season. Oh, and turnaround) and come back with
for Mariano Rivera, the greatest there’s also his monstrous salary, at some expensive new players in the
closer in baseball history, princi- $29 million this season, with five middle of the lineup. But problems
pal among them. The rotation had more seasons left.
like a declining Rodriguez and a
a number of question marks as
It’s not as if he had a great reg- rehabbing Jeter and Rivera remain.
well, but with the Red Sox strug- ular season; while he still put up With a veteran group like the
gling so much, the Yankees just power numbers, the success was one GM Brian Cashman has conhad to overcome the upstart Ori- bridged by injuries and struggles. structed, there’s a small window
oles and Rays to take the division. Nevertheless, his dismal perfor- to win another championship. It
For all the Orioles did to com- mance in the postseason became hasn’t closed yet but a lot has to go
pete with the Yankees, there was the storyline once again.
right for ultimate triumph. Unforalways a significant talent disparThere is some comical tunately for the boys in pinstripes,
ity, only natural with the Yankees’ schadenfreude going on with A- just about everything that could go
expensive collection of stars. Still, Rod’s trials. His abysmal at-bats wrong this season did.
by Kevin Joseph
sports
georgetownvoice.com
the georgetown voice 7
Colgate awaits hapless Hoyas Swimming makes splash
by Joe Policcino
On a beautiful fall day for football, the Georgetown Hoyas (3-4, 0-1
Patriot League) lost to the powerhouse Lehigh Mountain Hawks (7-0,
1-0 Patriot League) 17-14.
The Hoya defense was the story
of the day, forcing seven Lehigh
turnovers, including four interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
Senior cornerback Jeremy Moore led
the effort with three interceptions
and a fumble recovery, returning
an interception 80 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter.
“The defense did a heck of a job
against a very good offense,” said
Head Coach Kevin Kelly following the game. “We just didn’t score
when we had the opportunities.”
The Hoyas got off to a quick
start, capitalizing on a Lehigh fumble early in the first quarter. Sophomore quarterback Stephen Skon led
the Hoyas on a four-play 31-yard
drive that culminated with a Nick
Campanella 2-yard touchdown run,
giving the Hoyas a 7-0 lead with 9:51
remaining in the first quarter.
The Georgetown offense was
able to move the ball effectively early
in the first half but had nothing to
show for it, as the players had a difficult time converting in critical thirddown situations. Junior running back
Dalen Claytor led the effort on the
ground for the Hoyas with 10 rushes
for 47 yards. However, early in the
second quarter, Claytor was sidelined with a shoulder injury and did
not return for the rest of the game.
After both teams exchanged a
series of punts for the rest of the first
quarter and early second quarter, Lehigh took advantage of a Hoya fumble on Georgetown’s own 31. Lehigh
sophomore quarterback Michael
Colvin then led the Mountain Hawks
on an eight-play 31-yard drive ending in a 1-yard touchdown run by
Lehigh running back Zach Barket,
which tied the game at 7-7 with 6:17
remaining in the second quarter.
For the rest of the second quarter, it was the Jeremy Moore party
on defense. He intercepted a Colvin pass in the flat and returned
it untouched 80 yards for the
Georgetown touchdown giving
the Hoyas a 14-7 lead with 3:52 left
in the second half. “I just look to make plays for the
team,” Moore said after the game. “I
Aaron Aiken struggled in his limited playing time last Saturday.
JULIAN DE LA PAZ
Changing my tune on the Irish
I wasn’t raised to hate Notre
Dame like some people, I just
always hated them of my own
accord. I hated that they were
always on NBC even though I
had never seen them have much
success. I hated that every year,
so many analysts (specifically
Lou Holtz) would come out and
say that this was Notre Dame’s
year even when they had no
good reason for saying so. I hated that probably half the people
I knew loved them, even though
few had actually gone to Notre
Dame. I hated the uptight traditions and their independence
from a conference, and the seeming arrogance that I supposed
was intrinsic.
I prayed (despite my assumption that God is a Notre
Dame fan) that they would keep
on suffering year-in and year-out
and that all of their so-called fans
would just have to keep saying,
“I guess we’ll just have to wait till
next year.”
But here we are, week eight of
the college football season, Notre
Dame’s ranked fifth in the first
BCS standings of the year and
still undefeated, and instead of
cursing them, I think I’m actually
rooting for them.
The Irish have turned it on
this year not because of an easy
schedule (they’ve played three
ranked teams so far this year
and are slated to play two more);
they’re winning because they
have some great talent. The
team’s defense has been one of
the best in college football, it’s
ranked 11th in turnover margin,
and it seems as if the quarterback
carousel is working in the team’s
advantage. Everett Golson, by
stepping up and taking the reins
of this football team, has been
able to take some of the pressure
off Tommy Rees, who seems a
little more comfortable not having the weight of carrying college
was just at the right place at the right
time. I try to be a spark for the team.”
Lehigh came out of the gates rolling in the second half to tie the game
at 14. Colvin, after throwing 4 interceptions in the first half, rebounded
nicely as he led the Mountain Hawks
on a nine-play 76-yard drive to start
the half, which culminated in a
1-yard TD run from Lehigh running
back Keith Sherman.
Lehigh kicker Jake Peery converted on a 29-yard field goal, giving the Mountain Hawks a 17-14
lead with 10:58 remaining in the
fourth quarter.
Both teams battled to a stalemate
until the Hoyas last chance came
with the ball at their own 21 and
1:22 remaining in the game. Skon
showed great poise in driving the
Hoyas to the Lehigh 38-yard line.
“Stephen did a heck of a job,”
Coach Kelly said. “He did exactly
what we asked him to do.
After a pair of scrambles by Skon
to the Lehigh 23 and a Campanella
run to the 20, the Hoyas sent out
MacZura to tie the game at 17 with
3 seconds remaining in the game.
However, a bad snap caused MacZura to miss his potential game-tying 37-yard field goal wide left.
“Its frustrating for our players,
our seniors, our coaches to lose a
game like that,” Coach Kelly said.
“It’s a five-game season now. The
thing we have to do now is keep
winning football games. We have
to keep doing what we’re doing. I
told our players it was a great effort today.
On Saturday Oct. 20 the Hoyas
look to rebound from this disappointing loss in upstate New York
against the Colgate Raiders.
football’s most storied franchise
all on his shoulders. Rees instead
has been a vocal backup, helping
the younger Golson learn some
of the tricks of the trade, which
has allowed him to get back to
the basics and regain some selfconfidence.
Unsportsmanlike
Conduct
by Alex Lau
A bi-weekly column about sports
Of course, the credit can’t
all go to the players; coach Brian
Kelly might be the most important reason this program has been
turned around. For the first time in
the past decade, Kelly has allowed
the his players to enjoy playing for
the Fighting Irish, and the players
are finally more enthused about
finding ways to win, than finding
ways not to lose. Despite a more
by Chris Almeida
The Georgetown men’s and
women’s swimming programs
first dipped their toes in the water
in mid-September, but things really got kicking with the first dual
meet at Delaware on Oct. 6.
Though the Hoyas lost the
meet overall, there were several
strong individual performances.
“We’ve only had two meets, and
I am pleased with how we’re doing,” Head Coach Jamie Holder
said of the season so far. “I think
were ahead of schedule, compared to last year.”
The Delaware meet showcased much of the young talent
on the team, especially freshman
Austin Evenson who won the 500
and 1,000-yard freestyle. Other
freshmen standouts Cal Rhode,
Erin Timochenko, Maryellen
Campbell, and Nicole Tronolone
placed in the top three in their
respective events. “I was pretty
impressed with some of my freshman performances,” Holder said.
“They were in close races. I was
pretty happy with how they did.”
Several upperclassmen also
showed up at the pool, achieving a slew of top-three finishes.
Of note were junior Lauren
Opatrny’s win in the 200-yard
individual medley and junior
Christian Kilgore’s first-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“We started off the season
pretty strong. At Delaware last
week, we had a strong performance,” said women’s captain
and senior Christina Daquila. “I
don’t think it’s necessarily where
laid-back approach and a players’ coach reputation, Kelly is not
afraid to step up when players
step out of line; he’s already suspended a number of key players,
such as Rees and Cierre Woods,
for things such as violating team
rules and getting in trouble with
the law. This combination of fun
and discipline has brought Notre
Dame football to life again.
So the evidence is there
that Notre Dame is good, but
where’s the evidence as to why
I’m happy about it? I’ve realized that maybe it’s important
to have a team with such a rich
tradition, that’s been struggling for close to two decades
to compete with the top teams
in the country, to actually have
a legitimately strong football
team again. People want to see
Notre Dame be good again because they either want to see
the Irish win, or want their own
team to beat a good Notre Dame
squad. Everyone loves to compare the old days with the cur-
we want to be, but we had some
good races, so that was exciting.
I think we have a really strong
team. We have been working really hard in the weight room and
the pool to have a good season
and to be ready for the Big East.”
This weekend, the Hoyas
travel to Baltimore to take on
Towson. “Right now we’re focused on training hard,” Holder
said. “Obviously we’re going to
put in our best lineup to deal with
Towson, but we’re aiming on improving for the end of the year.”
The swimming season runs
for about six months, requiring
the athletes and coaching staff
to maintain a high level of fitness and morale for an extended
period of time. The Big East
season begins at the beginning
of November, and is mixed in
with meets against schools from
throughout the region up until
the Big East Swimming and Diving Championships in late February and early March.
“I think one of the biggest
challenges is just to keep positivity up through all of the dual
meets,” said Daquila. “We have
a long season, so we need to focus on keeping spirits high and
keeping our minds ready when
were at practices and in the
weight room. We want to win as
many meets.”
With the season only beginning, Coach Holder is optimistic.
“We want to keep getting faster
every meet, and just use each one
as a stepping stone to the next level. I anticipate that we’re going to
continue to improve as a team.”
rent season; with Notre Dame at
its best, college football is able
to do this, by having the longtime top dogs face off against
the new top dogs. The Irish are
fun to love and fun to hate, and
it’s more fun to do both when
they’re good.
Obviously, Notre Dame isn’t
out of the woods yet. The team
had the fortune of playing two of
its first three ranked opponents
at home, but the boys will have
to go on the road to face their
last two toughest opponents
in Oklahoma and USC, both
of which tend to attract large,
noisy crowds. It’ll be tough for
the Irish to make the national
championship with that type of
schedule, but the team has already been successful in changing fans’ perceptions, as well
as the way the players view the
school they play for, and that’s a
step in the right direction.
Change your opinion on Alex at
[email protected].
8 the georgetown voice
feature
october 18, 2012
feature
georgetownvoice.com
In dealing with sensitive issues such as
worker movements and labor rights, education plays an essential role in instructing future leaders on how to deal with these concerns. Public approval of labor unions in the
U.S. remains at a historical low, with only 52
percent of the population having a favorable
opinion of them, according to a Gallup poll
released in August.
“People, particularly in the United States,
don’t really support the notion of unionization or they look at it as something which
decreases efficiency,” said Katerina Downward (SFS ‘14), an active member of the
Georgetown Solidarity Committee. “They
don’t really understand the nuances of the
importance of the right to unionize, and the
integrity of labor, how important respect for
the workplace is in actually creating a harmonious environment.”
A labor of love
Kalmanovitz and the fight for labor rights
By Lucia He
Several groups of men stand scattered
around the Home Depot parking lot on a chilly
October morning in Brentwood. They are not
the usual customers looking to redecorate their
homes or buy gardening supplies, but rather
day laborers testing their luck trying get a job
for the day.
“We come here every day of the week.
Sometimes, if we have luck, we get a job for
two or three days,” Alfredo said in timid Spanish. He came illegally to the U.S. from El Salvador 20 years ago and has since stayed in D.C.
earning meager wages as a day laborer. Due to
his status as an undocumented immigrant, he
did not offer his full name.
According to the National Employment
Law Project, even though the economic recovery since the late-2008 recession has recuperated 3.3 million jobs out of the 8.1 million lost,
low-skill, low-wage jobs constituted 58 percent
of these gains.
“The economy is transforming and so is
the American workplace, with the rise in casual and part-time labor, a decline in middleincome jobs, and a long-term transition from
manufacturing to service-sector jobs,” explained Jennifer Luff, the Research Director of
the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the
Working Poor.
The Kalmanovitz Initiative is a Georgetown-based think-tank and advocacy group
which also sponsors regular service outings
such as the Day Laborers Exchange. The initiative supports research on issues of increasing
national significance—how labor will fit into
the 21st century economy.
“The American labor movement, like its
counterparts around the world, is transforming in response to these changes, and it’s a
fascinating moment to study and think about
what role workers can and should play in governing their workplaces and the economy,”
Luff said.
According to Denise Brennan, chair of
the Department of Anthropology and Faculty
Fellow of the Kalmanovitz Initiative, these
changes in production and labor have largely
left migrant workers behind.
“In today’s recessionary economy, what
has become normalized are low-wages, no
overtime, unprotected working conditions,
job insecurity, and no benefits,” Brennan said.
“This has become expected and has been
framed as an accepted business practice. And
it is unacceptable.”
The Day Laborer Exchange is one of the
many programs offered by the Kalmanovitz
Initiative which seeks to mitigate these problems by carrying out its mission of developing “creative ideas and practical solutions for
working people that are grounded in a commitment to justice, democracy, and the common good.”
Standing next to Alfredo is Georgetown
student Jamie Ramirez (COL’15). He holds a
small booklet that reads “Basic English for Day
Laborers—Inglés Básico para Jornaleros.”
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning,
Ramirez joins a few other Georgetown students to inform workers of their rights and
teach them survival English through the
Kalmanovitz Initiative’s Day Laborer Exchange Program.
“These are people that are trying to make it
out in America. They are away from their families, and there’s also a lot of language barriers.
They need help,” Ramirez said.
Although Georgetown holds itself to a
high standard of labor justice through the
Just Employment Policy, students interested in labor rights complain that the Univer-
sity’s academic offerings in this area tend
to be limited.
“In my experiences as a Georgetown student, I’ve found that there are few academic
and extracurricular resources to seriously engage with worker justice,” said Tessa Pulaski
(SFS ’15), a board member of Hoyas for Immigrant Rights. “However, I have found an opportunity through the KI that has allowed me
to pursue real advocacy opportunities regarding labor rights.”
The Kalmanovitz Initiative was launched
in the fall of 2009 with a gift of $5 million
from the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation,
which was established in 1987 after the death
of Paul Kalmanovitz, a wealthy brewery owner and real estate developer.
“One of the reasons they chose Georgetown is because part of the University’s mission is a commitment to social justice, and
these concerns for labor, labor unions, for the
working poor, for people that might not be able
to defend for themselves,” said Nick Wertsch
(COL ’09), Program Coordinator for the KI.
The Kalmanovitz Initiative has become an
integral part of the University’s administration, and runs projects focusing on “empowering leaders” and “incubating innovation.”
Service projects offered to students by the
Susy Jivotovski (COL ‘15) interacts with day laborers at the Brentwood Home Depot.
TESS O’CONNOR
Initiative include the Day Laborer Exchange
Program, the Domestic Worker Outreach Program, and an Alternative Spring Break trip focused on worker justice.
“The Kalmanovitz Initiative does a great
job at engaging students with labor issues and
issues relevant to the working poor, students
who might not necessarily originally be drawn
to those issues,” said Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS
’13), the Vice President of Georgetown University Student Association and longtime member of Georgetown Solidarity Committee.
Kohnert-Yount was part of an International Trade class that incorporated the Day
Laborer Exchange as part of its Community
Based Learning component, a partnership put
forward by Kalmanovitz.
Besides offering service opportunities
to students, the Kalmanovitz Initiative also
sponsors research and activism, which distinguishes it from similar organizations, such as
the Center for Social Justice.
“What I think differentiates us with a lot of
programs at the CSJ is that there is a large advocacy component to what we do,” Wertsch
said. “We are not just trying to create service
opportunities where a student shows up, puts
out their time and that’s sort of the end of it. In a
lot of ways we are trying to encourage students
to take a more active role around these issues.”
With this objective in mind, the Kalmanovitz Initiative also offers a Practitioner
Fellowship Program, Faculty Summer Research Grants, and an Undergraduate Fellowship Program.
“A lot of our work concerns bringing
together practitioners, researchers, and students,” said Joseph McCartin, Executive Director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative. “I think
our special mission is to bridge the gulf between the real world and the university and
these issues.”
To Donald Cohen, a Practitioner Fellow of
the Kalmanovitz Initiative, one of the ways to
bridge this gulf is through research.
“We know that one of the most important solutions is to give workers power to
negotiate with owners and those rights are
being eroded,” Cohen wrote in an email to
the Voice. “More research and discussion is
essential if we are to find new ideas and educate the public.”
Joe McCartin, Executive Director of KI.
LUCIA HE
The Kalmanovitz Initiative identifies 15
courses related to labor offered by the University. Among these are Anthropology classes
focused on the correlation between migration and labor rights, and others related to
the regulation of the workforce in the global
economy.
Over the past few years, student movements advocating for labor rights on campus, such as the campaign to unionize Leo’s
workers and the campaign to terminate the
University’s sportswear contract with Adidas, have also increased the visibility of these
issues on campus.
At the same time, however, students and
activists identify a disconnect between the
level of student interest in labor justice and
the number of academic offerings in the subject, especially for an institution that prides
itself in promoting the Jesuit ideal of “Women
and Men for others.”
Pedro Cruz, a Ph.D. student at Georgetown and Graduate Assistant at the Kalmanovitz Initiative, sees a need for increased
curricular commitment to labor issues.
“The United States for the longest time
was the major industrial nation in the planet
and has a great history of labor organizing,”
Cruz said. “I think there should be more
courses in the curriculum that inform about
these issues, not only at the U.S. level but
also at the global level. That would be a field
many students in Georgetown would be interested to know more about.”
While the College and the School of Foreign Service offer students the opportunity to
focus their studies in areas such as Education
or Justice and Peace Studies through minors
and certificates, there is no comparable offering for students interested in labor rights.
Cornell University’s School of Industrial
and Labor Relations enrolls over 900 undergraduate students who focus their studies
on issues of domestic and international labor, making it the only school in the United
States specifically devoted to this field at
the undergraduate level. Other institutions
offer programs in Industrial and Labor
Relations, including New York University,
Rutgers University, and the University of
Massachusetts Boston.
The Kalmanovitz Initiative is working to
change Georgetown’s academic approach to
labor rights, and is examining creating a program similar to those that Georgetown’s peer
institutions offer.
“A number of the faculty who teaches labor related courses have begun to talk among
each other about creating some kind of formal recognition for people who want to do
this kind of study,” said McCartin.
According to McCartin, faculty from
across the four schools have already shown
interest in constructing the program.
“It’s just a matter of getting the momentum to actually do it,” explains McCartin.
“[Awareness of labor rights] is definitely limited on campus,” Pulaski said.
“A lot of the classes don’t really highlight
anything about the workers’ rights. The
University needs to make a much better job
focusing on that.”
Downward recognizes the need to increase the number of courses dedicated to
labor rights, but she also takes issue with the
way that some courses are taught.
“Economic courses at Georgetown really all propel the same agenda of presenting things in such an academic way that you
don’t see the human face to economics, which
is labor,” she said.
To Pulaski, the University has a responsibility to promote student activism in such
issues as labor rights.
“The campus needs to put the Jesuit values into action a lot more. I always struggle
with learning about social justice and then
not being able to see it,” she added. “Georgetown, especially the SFS, is a very internationally-minded place where people are not
even willing to go to Columbia Heights or
Petworth. People love to sit in the ivory tower
and theorize about poverty in Africa.”
For McCartin, Georgetown already demonstrates a progressive approach toward labor rights.
“Georgetown is really ahead of the curve
compared to many other colleges and universities in starting to grapple these issues,”
he said. “In one way, you can see this in the
University’s own labor policies with its own
workers; it has gotten very progressive policies in those areas.”
Georgetown is also the only member of
the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities that has instituted a labor standard as
stringent as Georgetown’s Just Employment
Policy, a policy “committed to providing fair
and competitive compensation packages for
University employees and full-time contract
workers who provide services on its campuses.”
On Oct. 13, representatives from the
Kalmanovitz Initiative and the University
gathered with other members of the AJCU
to discuss the possibility of the association
adopting similar just employment guidelines.
“We believe that a just employment policy that is in line with the Jesuit values, that
prioritize how people are treated, should be
the heart of any school’s policy,” Wertsch said.
As a relatively young undertaking, Kalmanovitz’s main challenge has been to increase its visibility on campus. Even though
membership in the Kalmanovitz Initiative
has doubled since its founding and enrollment now stands at 40 people, this figure is
miniscule compared to the over 550 students
who participate in weekly tutoring and mentoring activities in the city as part of programs
such as D.C. Reads and D.C. Schools.
“I would like to see campus awareness of
the Kalmanovitz Initiative expand, because I
think they are an incredible resource on campus,” said Erin Riordan (COL ‘15), member
of GSC. “A lot of students aren’t necessarily
aware of the work they do or the opportunities that exist through the KI.”
One of the factors that has greatly hindered the expansion of the KI in the past few
years has been the insufficient number of faculty members interested in participating in
the project.
“It’s going to be interesting to see in the
next few years how they establish a foothold
on campus—which they already have—and
they grow from there,” Kohnert-Yount said.
In the past two years, the Kalmanovitz
Initiative has accepted two to three student
fellows a year, and this year its directors expect to expand its research opportunities to
twice as many students.
“Part of our goal is to get more faculty
and more alumni at Georgetown involved in
our work. The more people from the community who are willing to work as mentors for
the georgetown voice 9
these programs, the more students we could
involve in them,” McCartin said.
However, another problem lies in the
nature of the specific programs themselves.
When interacting directly with workers, more
volunteers are not necessarily better, as is the
case of the Day Laborer Exchange Program
and the Domestic Worker Outreach Program.
“If we took larger numbers of students,
it can throw off the dynamic at the program
site if too many students are trying to approach workers at the same time,” Wertsch
said. “Sometimes smaller groups are able to
more effectively interact with workers in this
kind of a setting, and this has an impact on
the number of spots in the program.”
As the Kalmanovitz Initiative enters its
fourth year at the University, it looks forward
to expanding its engagement with the Harrison Institute for Public Law, furthering the
collaboration with the Labor and Worklife
Program at Harvard University Law School,
and continuing to promote the implementation of a Jesuit Just Employment Policy.
“I am very optimistic of this beginning.
We are only three years old, and I think that it
has expanded pretty quickly, developing a lot
of useful avenues of engagement for people,”
says McCartin. “I am optimistic that this will
grow as we go forward.”
Watching the students get into the van
that will take them back to Georgetown, Alfredo smiles with satisfaction.
“You know, even though I’m too old to
start learning English now, I like it when you
[students] come here,” he said. “Sometimes it
is good to be treated as a human being. There
are many things to change in this country,
but watching you come here gives me the
hope that someday you’ll be standing in
the place where Romney and Obama stand
now, and will be advocating for the rights of
people like me.”
Additional reporting by Gavin Bade
and Connor Jones
TESS O’CONNOR
Jocelyn Fong ( SFS ‘14) teaches immigrant workers survival English as part of the program.
leisure
10 the georgetown voice
october 18, 2012
Don’t be smashed while watching Ponsoldt’s Smashed
by Will Collins
Heartbreak and alcoholism
are placed in front of a crystalclear lens in James Ponsoldt’s
Smashed. All too real, Smashed
follows Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s increasingly sober Kate
as she comes to terms with her
alcoholism at a pace that mirrors the arduous 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program in
which she enlists. Weaving together elements of a rom-com
with those of a serious drama,
the film operates on the wave of
recent years’ sadcore comedies
like 50/50 and Funny People. This
fresh, composed film will have
viewers reconvening with their
own lives as they amble out of
the cinema, saying, “Damn, I’m
glad that’s not me.”
The story revolves around
Kate, an elementary school
teacher who realizes her alcoholic tendencies through a series of
embarrassments. Only when her
co worker, played by the fantastically awkward Nick Offerman,
proposes Alcoholics Anonymous
as an outlet does Kate try to get
better. From here, the soberingup Kate wholly destroys her life.
Throughout Smashed, the
audience is given short, linked
vignettes of drunken humor,
elementary school chatter, and
married-couple hostility. But
the film’s framework brings us
deep worry of Kate’s bad news
for her boss by the sound of
her breath and the slow swaying of the camera. Her shameful one-night stand with the
crack pipe shows itself in the
warm glimmer of a back alley,
quickly cutting in and out of
IMDB
“Let’s go home, slip into something comfortable, and make some meth.”
closer than just a third-person
onlooker. Intoxication—be it
by alcohol, depression, or even
crack—is itself characterized by
the visuals. Viewers can feel the
our protagonists’s spectacularly
college-grad ramble. The audience’s view is that of someone
who is there with Kate, but also
of Kate herself.
a love of learning for learning’s
sake in his ambitious students
striving for acceptance to the
top universities in the country.
Hector, as he is known fondly,
valiantly battles the powers
of conformity and the allure
of teaching to the test to leave
the boys with lessons that last
a lifetime.
Set almost exclusively in
the classroom, the play still
never fails to neglect the kind
of education that inevitably occurs outside. A story revolving
around a group of male teenagers would be remiss without a
considerable amount of sexual
angst, and The History Boys certainly doesn’t skimp in this respect. Themes of homosexuality
run throughout, interweaving
with the broader concepts of
growth and self-discovery at
the play’s heart.
In keeping with Mask &
Bauble’s 161st season theme
of “If You Dare,” History Boys
deals with this sense of daring and self-questioning that
is also at the core of the upcoming productions Polk and
Spring Awakening. Navigating
the challenges of growing up is
an education in itself, the play
reminds the audience.
“[History Boys is] a great
play for bringing the relationship between education and
self-discovery not only to the
stage, but to the forefront of our
consciousness,” said producer
Allie Van Dine (SFS ’13). The
cast and crew do an excellent
job of doing both, whether it’s
through the actors’ laughable
antics or the fantastic use of the
stage as the hallowed place of
learning.
Set Designer Swedian Lie
(COL ’13) chose a rather unique
approach to using the space in
Poulton Hall. With the audience divided on either side of
the room, there are two stages
at opposite ends. This tactic
“lets the audience choose what
to focus on,” Lie said. “It also
allows them to see a richer
world with more detail.”
The actors do their own part
in portraying this rich world
through their performances
worthy of “top marks.” Adrian
Prado (COL ’14) and Taylor
Mansmann (COL ’15) are especially noteworthy in their portrayals of Hector and Dakin,
Kate’s husband Charlie,
played evocatively by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, deepens
the overwhelming despair of
the film as his character creates
an unfortunate crux. Constant
drunkenness and an uncanny
inability to support his wife
pound out a miserable outcome
for Charlie.
This same juncture induces
a somewhat blunt yet imperative resolution for Kate. Instead
of the deterioration of their relationship or Kate losing her job
over admitting a drawn-out lie,
truly tragic scenes of her waking
up on a sidewalk, Donnie Darkostyle, monopolize the emotions
of the audience. While Charlie
is a central figure, and we do
feel sorry for him, there exists
a strain of ambiguity towards
his presence. He does not come
around until it’s too late, and by
that time, we’ve become a part of
Kate’s struggle.
Awkward lighting and angles aid the edgy humor that
makes a few surprise appearances throughout the film. During a scene in which Kate’s co-
worker proclaims his lust for
her with poorly-chosen words
like “moist,” all we’re given is a
car light to see the disgust and
shock on Kate’s face. Lighting
also does the job of opposing
the joy of sobriety over the deep
depression of alcoholism: Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are
well lit; bar scenes are dark and
dingy. The film has an unshaken
message, but it handles properly the grey areas of real life.
Reality’s teeth, bright and
blackout drunk, come together
in the form of Smashed’s beautiful and subtle tale of sobriety
and failed love. Biting drama
comes from Kate’s critical onlookers, rather than from Kate
herself. The camera’s focus on
her big, brown eyes tends to put
the audience in Kate’s shoes,
moving constantly but not always with direction. Bringing
these impeccably crafted elements together, Smashed succeeds, like a truly great film, in
its ability to effectively communicate true anguish in the moment and produce a lingering
sense of unease afterwards.
Prado the very picture of a romantic intellectual, and Mansmann embodying adolescent
swagger.
The
chaotic
classroom
scenes are some of the best,
disintegrating into rambunctious hilarity over something
so basic as a vocabulary question—there’s even an entire
scene, conducted in French,
that ends with a character losing his pants. The more somber
classroom moments, one even
involving a tearful breakdown,
reveal the play’s high emotional IQ at the same time. It’s this
inexplicable combination of humor and profundity that makes
those lessons, and the play itself, memorable.
As the school’s headmaster
says at one point, “it isn’t that
[Hector] doesn’t produce results—he does, but they’re unpredictable and unquantifiable.”
At the end of the day, it turns out
those are the best kind.
Mask & Bauble makes history with The History Boys
by Julia Lloyd-George
The most effective litmus test
for a fantastic play is often the
most basic. Every audience member responds differently, and
many will walk away with few
lasting impressions of the couple
of hours they just spent in a darkened room, watching actors flit
across the stage for their entertainment. It’s rare that someone
walks away with anything more
enduring from that experience it’s only the greatest plays that
have this effect, the ones worth
remembering.
The History Boys, the Tony
award-winning masterpiece by
British playwright Alan Bennett, is this kind of play. Following the earnest and often
hilarious efforts by a group of
working-class schoolboys to
win places at top universities,
the play turns the concept of
education on its head and asks
the audience to do the same.
The central figure, an idealistic English teacher who can’t
go five minutes without quoting poetry and who ought to
have “carpe diem” tattooed on
his forehead, attempts to instill
Khadijah Qamar
“Please, if One Direction did it, we can definitely pull it off.”
georgetownvoice.com
“rainbow land is a fictitious place!” — The Campaign
the georgetown voice 11
lez’hur ledger
Bronx emulates N.Y. pizza in D.C. Reviews, Haiku’d
by Alexandra Golway
New Yorkers take pizza seriously. Aware of this, Mike Cordero,
a Bronx native, aims to introduce
the D.C. area to the classic pizza he
grew up with with his new restaurant, Bronx Pizza and Subs. Though
part of an overcrowded pizza market in Clarendon, Bronx Pizza clings
to its New York roots in everything
it does, from the décor to the dough,
proving to DMV residents why
Domino’s just doesn’t cut it for the
prize of a premium pie.
Bronx stands across the street
from the Clarendon Metro station,
beckoning the hungry traveler
with meat and cheese hanging behind the windows, under bright
lights that proclaim “NY STYLE
PIZZA BY THE SLICE.” In typical New York fashion, the inside
of the restaurant boisterously
boasts the owner’s Bronx heritage:
photographs of New York and
Italian-American icons adorn the
walls—the Godfather, Scarface,
the Sopranos, the Rat Pack, the
George Washington Bridge, and of
course the Yankees (who, I assume,
dominate the giant television in the
corner on game days). The interior
serves as a charming homage to
New York culture, but it begs the
question of whether the New York
pride is a gimmick: Does Bronx
Pizza cater to misplaced New Yorkers who long for a taste of home,
or to Virginians who don’t know
what they’re missing?
For what it’s worth, Bronx does
serve decent pizza. In this casual
restaurant, $2.75 gets you a jumbo
cheese slice—hopefully fresh, but
most likely reheated from behind
the counter. The pizza definitely
plays the part of a New York-style
NOrThErN VirGiNia maGaZiNE
The only thing better than a Bronx pizza is a binder full of women.
“Haute Mess” knows best
Dear Neha and Julian,
The other day I was walking
down M Street wearing my salmon
chinos, a white button-down, and
green loafers. Everyone stared me
down and I felt like Dorothy in the
land of Oz. Even though it’s already
fall, can I still wear my pastels and
brights? Is this a faux pas?
- Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
It is most definitely not a
faux pas. Do not put away those
colored slacks just yet! We often associate fall/winter with
dark colors and find ourselves
transitioning to a dreary dark
palette of blacks, grays, and navies. But this season burgundy
is the new black, orange is hot,
and green has replaced navy as
the new staple. Accessorize your
brights with heavy winter knits
and fall jackets. It’s all about being flexible with your wardrobe,
so don’t fret if all you have in
your closet is an assortment of
clothes suitable for a Fruit of the
Loom commercial. Pair a neutral
sweater or a tweed jacket with
your salmon chinos, and maybe
just swap the green loafers for
brown boots.
Dear Neha and Julian,
How do you match prints with
each other? Florals, graphic prints,
stripes, plaids etc. Do they need to
have a particular color scheme?
- Hillary Heer (COL ’15)
Dear Hillary,
We have always been told
not to match stripes with stripes
or florals with florals, but if
there is any time to do it, it’s
here and now. You can definitely match prints with each
other, and there is a simple way
to make a statement. First, there
doesn’t need to be a particular
color scheme, as long as you
don’t go too crazy. Looking at
this season’s runway shows,
Prada showcased heavy geo-
slice. The cheese and sauce complemented each other well, and
the slice wasn’t too heavy on either. The crust was thin and crispy
with a soft center; it easily held
its integrity when folded in half.
Bronx may not hold a candle to the
pizza powerhouses of Cordero’s
childhood home, but it makes a
satisfying slice.
Bronx sells a few varieties of
pie, ranging from Sicilian to barbecue chicken to make-your-own—
and all named after different streets
in the Bronx, if the customer needs
one more reminder of where this
pizza draws its roots. The menu
also offers calzones, subs, hoagies,
and pasta—a few with standout
names like the Tony Soprano Over
Stuffed and the Michael Corleone
Chicken Alfredo.
If your home is Arthur Avenue,
Bronx Pizza is nothing to write
home about. However, it’s a good
place to go with friends if you want
to satisfy a pizza craving. Latenight revelers in Arlington will
also appreciate Bronx’s hours of
operation, as it’s open until 3 a.m.
Monday through Saturday (and
until 1 a.m. on Sunday). It’s not
New York, but Bronx Pizza is making itself at home in the D.C. area.
Now if only Georgetown could
realize that Tuscany isn’t known
for its pizza and that Domino’s is
a game best played with grandma.
metric prints on prints in bold
hues and strong cuts. An easy
collegiate way to do this would
be to rock this season’s floral
bottoms, whether it be leggings,
pants, or skirts, with striped
sweaters or textured tops. Try
and keep your look either top
or bottom heavy, so if you pick
a bold flowery legging, try pairing with a subdued striped knit.
haute mess
by Julian de la Paz &
Neha Ghanshamdas
a bi-weekly fashion column
Dear Neha and Julian,
What is the verdict on Sperrys? No socks acceptable?
- Zach Ashenfarb (COL ’15)
Dear Zach,
Sperrys are certainly a
Georgetown staple, and we
want them to be as versatile
as possible. To keep the tradition alive all year round, yes,
you may want to wear socks.
Chasing Mavericks
Please, as if we want
To watch yet another
Johnny Tsunami.
Wreck-It Ralph
Disney destroys its
Brand by giving video
Game characters souls.
Skyfall
Who cares about Bond?
Adele’s theme is the only
Reason to see this.
Flight
Denzel Washington
Crash-lands a plane upside down
That’s really bad-ass.
Lincoln
The Vampire Hunter
Casts doubt on this new so-called
“Historical” film.
Breaking Dawn - Part 2
Your favorite vamps
Return in the last chapter
Of a shit series.
However, the white socks do
need to go. Please. Just like
you don’t wear white socks
with dress shoes, please refrain from using them with
any shoe unless you’re wearing trainers and going to work
out at the gym. Instead, try
cuffing your jeans or chinos
(approximately 1.5 inches as
per GQ instruction) and rocking a pair of statement socks.
To draw attention to your
shoes, pick a fall stripe, quirky
pattern, or, better yet, warm
wool, to make your Sperrys
seasonally appropriate. If you
want to get away from the
whole Sperry look, we recommend investing in a good pair
of loafers that will take you
from season to season. They
work for everything from a
fall evening out to a hot summer day.
Dear Neha and Julian,
Are combat boots still trendy?
It seems as though they have been
around for a few years now. Is
this just a Georgetown fad? Can
I still wear mine this season?
- Kimberly Yam (SFS ’14)
Dear Kimberly,
Yes. Combat boots are definitely something you want to
have in your wardrobe. Although it seems to be a somewhat overdone trend, combat
boots are definitely versatile, and
so wearable. Transitioning from
summer to fall, these boots are
a great option for D.C.’s capricious climate. You can wear them
with tights or without, printed
or solid, jeans or leggings. Given
the numerous variations of the
classic, you can tailor the boot to
your style. Pick either a studded
leather, or a classic brown laceup, and, voilà, you are ready for
you close-up.
Stay fabulous,
Neha and Julian
Get fab advice from Julian at [email protected] & Neha at
[email protected]
leisure
12 the georgetown voice
october 18, 2012
C r i t i c a l V o i ces
ZZ Ward, Til The Casket Drops,
Hollywood Records
“I wear a fedora to pay homage
to those artists that inspired me,”
explains L.A.-based singer-songwriter Zsuzsanna Ward. Growing
up in the tranquil town of Roseburg, Ore., Ward was influenced by
influenced by an eclectic group of
artists, ranging from blues legends
Big Mama Thornton and Muddy
Waters to Jay-Z. As a result, Til The
Casket Drops is a funky amalgamation of hip-hop-laced blues and soul
that borders on perfection.
Entirely absent from Casket is
the idea of solo instrumentation.
Instead, the LP allows Ward to
showcase her spectacular vocal
range and versatility (which rivals and often easily surpasses
that of pop diva Adele) by effortlessly navigating between
bluesy growls, smooth pop
notes, and a hip-hop, staccato
rhythm—all within the confines
of a single song.
Off the bat, the title track demonstrates Ward’s virtuosity over a
steady kick drum and guitar chord
beat. As a subdued violin scale
builds to the chorus, the haunting,
pained vocals inject overwhelming
emotion into a confession of everlasting love.
“Put The Gun Down” follows
with stark contrast drawn by a guitar harmony and fast-paced tambourine percussion. Ward crescendos to a soulful R&B chorus as she
dispenses with the previous song’s
sincerity in favor of a snarling plea:
“Imma set fire to the whole damn
house/Put it down.”
The mid-album “Last Love
Song” offers an entirely new look at
Ward; the borderline hymnal track,
featuring only an acoustic guitar, a
piano, and soft strings, has the singer
bemoaning a broken relationship in
a quivering, gospel-tinged voice.
Collaborations on Casket serve to
further bolster the quality of the LP.
Kendrick Lamar’s sexually suggestive verse on “Cryin’ Wolf” seamlessly blends with a hip-hop drumbeat and blues guitar runs. Similarly,
Freddie Gibbs’s rapping on “Criminal” matches Ward’s R&B vocals
Politics: Only okay if it’s on TV
For the past few months, I
have been systematically hiding the posts of certain Facebook
friends from my newsfeed for one
reason—it’s an election year, and
slews of college students from all
sides of the political spectrum with
access to HuffPo or Fox News think
they’re top political analysts. I can’t
stand it. So, when I was scrolling
through my feed the other day and
saw that a libertarian acquaintance
of mine had posted a picture of a
campaign poster, I almost hit the
“hide” button immediately. But I
chuckled audibly once I read the
actual text on the blue-and-red picture: Ron Swanson 2012.
If you don’t recognize that
name, follow these instructions
very carefully: Put down this
newspaper (or, more likely, close
this window on your computer),
go to the Internet, and start watching Parks and Recreation from Season 1. Thanks to the deluges of
politicking, propaganda, and pub-
lic relations that we’re currently
drowning in, the show’s humor
will be magnified.
Although it’s often lumped
with the rest of NBC’s comedy lineup alongside Community, 30 Rock,
and The Office (when it was still
funny), Parks and Rec is unique in
that, beneath its mockumentary sitcom veneer, it is at its core a satire of
American life and politics. Pawnee,
Ind., the tiny town whose Parks
and Recreation department serves
as the setting for the show’s action,
is a hilarious microcosm of modern
America—its obesity rate is absurdly high; its environment is polluted;
its history involves the violent
slaughter of native peoples,;and its
people are ill-informed, hot-tempered numbskulls.
Trying to placate those people
are our good friends at the Pawnee
Parks and Rec Department, with a
focus on now-City Councilwoman
Leslie Knope, played impeccably
by Amy Poehler, whose hysterical
and backing “ooh”s, helped along
by percussive piano notes over
bouncing kick and cymbal attacks.
Despite being a debut album, Til The Casket Drops possesses the quality of wellcrafted, expertl—produced art
expected out of an established
musician. With this performance, ZZ Ward is far from
writing her last love song.
Voice’s Choices: “Til the Casket
Drops,” “Save My Life”
—Kirill Makarenko
K’naan, Country, God, Or The Girl,
A&M/Octone Records
Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar
rap of the struggle in Compton,
Nas and Jay-Z speak of their
incredible journeys growing
up with nothing in the streets
love for her town (and for sugar)
and belief in her ability to become
the first female president are the
heart of the show. The writers keep
her endeavors to protect Pawnee
or further her career relevant and
reflective of those facing the American people today.
Example: one episode in the
show’s fifth and current season
idiot Box
by Leigh Finnegan
a bi-weekly column about television
finds Knope attempting to pass a
bill limiting the sale of large sugary drinks, à la Mike Bloomberg’s
New York soda ban. A session with
a woman from a local fast-food
restaurant involves Poehler hilariously wielding soda containers big
enough to bathe a small child—if
blended—and criticizing the
woman for selling “water zero,”
which neither contains water nor
has zero calories. Americans of every political affiliation can chuckle
of New York, and Rick Ross
illustrates his rough life as a
modern-day hustling gangster. But not one of these prolific artists can touch rapper
K’naan’s intriguing past. The
creator of Country, God, or the
Girl hails from Mogadishu, Somalia, where he lived through a
bloody civil war.
While K’naan holds a wealth
of powerful, moving stories
to tell through his rap—songs
from his sophomore album,
Troubadour like “Somalia,” and
“Wavin’ Flag” still resonate—
Country, God or the Girl disappoints with largely unoriginal
themes which only hope to be
saved by K’naan’s exciting African instrumentals.
In Country, God or the Girl, this
unique instrumentation is applied
once again in songs such as “Nothing to Lose,” “Simple,” and “The
Wall”. But while the tracks on this
album are feel-good and fun to listen to, the themes and hooks in the
majority of them are extremely cliché. How many artists have songs
about not wanting to be “left (behind) in this world”? How many
about living life with “nothing
to lose?” How many about their
“breaking hearts”? At these points
in the album, the beats and overat this scene and relate it to the
massive sodas they encounter in
their everyday lives.
But with content like this, Parks
and Rec could easily polarize audiences and turn off people like me
who don’t want their sitcoms to
taste like The Daily Show. As for
weekly comedies that provide
social and political commentary,
it’s going to take a hell of a lot for
any show to surpass South Park in
its timeliness and willingness to
tackle any and every subject, and
a network office comedy should
not and cannot assume that role—
think about what would happen if
Mr. Slave’s slut-off with Paris Hilton were aired on NBC.
And that’s where Parks and
Rec succeeds best; its satirical
elements come with a heavy
dose of good old-fashioned funny. Nick Offerman, who plays
Parks Department Director and
übermensch Ron Swanson so
well that I’m convinced they’re
the same person, is genius as
a government employee who
all sound are indubitably groovy,
but the lyrics and themes leave
the listener unsatisfied, especially
considering the incredible stories
and ideas K’naan usually supplies
to his audience.
There are a few exceptions to
this trend. “Bulletproof Pride,”
which features Bono, along with
“70 Excuses,” and “The Wall,” are
brilliantly moving records. With
“Coming to America,” K’Naan
returns to the style and attitude
he displayed in Troubadour, as he
draws similarities between the
terrors he has seen in both Africa
and North America. Moreover,
he touches upon the more abstract idea that evil exists everywhere and affects everyone.
Though the tunes in Country, God or the Girl will certainly
inspire a lot of head-bobbing
and hip shaking, K’naan’s typically powerful messages are
regrettably absent from this
album. If K’nann wants to pursue unoriginal themes in his
writing, maybe he ought to rap
about about epitomizing the
American Dream.
Voice’s Choices: “Bulletproof
Pride,” “Coming to America”
—Nick Maffei
hates government, and the everdelightful Aziz Ansari steals almost every episode with his getrich-quick schemes and romantic
strikeouts. Poehler, as good as
she is, couldn’t carry the show
on her own, and the ensemble
cast—complete with a rotating
series of celebrity guests, including Megan Mullally and, in an
upcoming episode, Christy Brinkley—provides the real impetus
behind the show’s humor.
When the presidential election
is over and the leader for the next
four years has been chosen, certain
factions of people, most of whom
I’ve hidden from my newsfeed,
will undoubtedly post the standard “I’m moving to [insert country that really isn’t all that perfect
here]” statuses. If I had the choice,
I’d escape this whole climate and
move to Pawnee—the politics may
be just as bad, but at least they
have some fun in spite of it.
Send tickets to Pawnee to Leigh at
lfi[email protected]
georgetownvoice.com
page thirteen
the georgetown voice 13
voices
14 the georgetown voice
october 18, 2012
Winter of our discontent: Facts absent from election
by Claire McDaniel
Nobody panic when I tell
you this, but we’re less than
three weeks away from the election. I know. I freaked out when
I realized that, too. We’re within a month of deciding who is
going to lead a country of over
300 million people for the next
four years, and we know nothing about the candidates.
Let me clarify: we know
Barack Obama is black and
Mitt Romney has hair TV presidents would kill for. We know
Paul Ryan loves him some P90X
and Joe Biden has a lovely tendency to say “fuck” in front of
microphones. We know that
Michelle Obama has wonderful arms and Ann Romney has
MS, and we’re not even voting
for them in November. What
we don’t know, however, is everything else.
This isn’t because I’m illinformed. I subscribe to the
New York Times, my favorite
app is The Associated Press,
and I haven’t missed an episode of The Daily Show in over
six months. I’m even watching a live feed of this week’s
presidential debate as I write
this piece, although you could
chalk that up to excellent procrastination skills. The point is,
I’m a well-informed voter, and
I still don’t know the things
that really matter.
From tax plans to employment numbers, these are the
most important domestic policies that will face whoever
wins in November. These are
issues that will affect every
single Hoya currently enrolled
in Georgetown as we enter the
job market after college. And,
for the life of me, I don’t know
a single number from either
candidate’s policy.
I’m not talking about poll
numbers, although those are
the only ones that seem to ever
be mentioned. I mean facts like
how our country’s debt is currently over 16 trillion dollars,
or how one out of every two
college grads are jobless or unemployed. These are numbers
that matter, not how much Ann
Romney’s last dress cost or
how many police officers are in
the president’s motorcade.
This goes beyond numbers,
though. Plain, simple facts are
absent from this election season.
Anything from blatant falsehoods to obfuscations about
policy from both parties are
commonplace in the ongoing
soap opera we call “being elected president.” I still don’t know
what Romney’s tax plan other
than his sweeping statements on
“revenue-neutral” this and “taxcuts” that. Obama still hasn’t
given me a good answer on how
to increase job growth. Both
campaigns are doing it, and the
sad thing is, it’s working.
I’d like to think the American
electorate isn’t stupid, I really
would. But if one debate performance where our president
doesn’t land as many “zingers”
as the contender means the difference between re-election or
not, that’s just stupid. Frankly,
it’s stupid that those things
changed poll numbers in the
slightest.
I’m not sure if voters realize
this, but picking your country’s
president is a bigger deal than
picking the prom king. In fact,
in Joe Biden-speak, the election
is what would be known as
“a big fucking deal.” It seems
obvious that this quadrennial
contest should be taken seriously, with careful attention by
voters given to the positions of
both candidates. Unfortunately, this is where the election
season goes far off the track.
From
designated
“spin
rooms” outside of the debates
to Fox News and MSNBC waging war on the airwaves, not to
mention angry Internet commenters constantly shouting
about who is the best candidate, it seems like the election
is more about maintaining
personae than explaining how
the candidates will govern.
This is unconscionable.
Securing the title “President of the United States of
America” isn’t the end all be
all, there are four years of actual governing that have to happen after the big showdown in
November. Voters cannot rationally decide on a candidate
“expressing themselves,” my
fellow Americans created a
bubble of security for how I felt
about my future. With all of
this praise for being able to order at my local Chinese restaurant, I figured Chinese CEOs
would be lining my doorstep
as soon as I flung my graduation cap into the sky. Last summer, I spent one week in Beijing
on my way to Vietnam with my
mother. While there, that rosy
construct was reduced to rubble. I quickly saw my golden
career path of corporate Chinese success decay into com-
peting with qualified Chinese
high schoolers for underpaid,
if not unpaid, internships.
With the Chinese education
system pumping out amazing
test-takers who are fluent in
Chinese and have passable, if
not excellent, English, I quickly found my own value to the
workforce disappearing. Speaking Chinese was my selling
point in the U.S. But in China,
it would simply earn me a pat
on the back, where my Chinese
peers, dare I say competitors,
would quickly outshine me.
I thought of all the thousands
of flashcards I had made bearing vocabulary ranging from
goofy chengyu, Chinese idioms,
to “state-run enterprise,” and
felt supremely disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong; the opportunities in China are still
endless. From 2000, the average income has risen from $760
per person to around $9000.
The Chinese middle class represents a huge untapped market for international companies, and theoretically a surge
in jobs for Americans going
to China. However, the opportunity gap for Americans
across the Pacific is growing
slimmer. Most jobs for laowai,
or foreigners, are upper-level
management positions in multinational corporations that
transfer established employees
over from other offices. There
is a small slice of entry-level
positions available for foreigners, but appropriate matches
are already fluent in Chinese
and possess some other incredible skill—more than just
my study abroad-level knowledge of French and Italian.
This is not to say that I
have given up on working in
China. Most of the people I met
with in China told me similar
things: I was going to have to
improve my Chinese, to the
point where I could contribute at a meeting, but that they
had confidence that I would
be able to find some opportunity. Some even went so far as
to suggest that I simply move
to Beijing, Shanghai, or Hong
Kong and figure out my career
upon arrival. The perfectionist in me wasn’t elated with
that uncertain trajectory, but
the sinophile in me rejoiced.
If I move to China, it is nearly certain that I will be scraping
by on what many of my friends
earn as a stipend. It is probable
that I will be tossed to and fro
in the bustle and insanity of the
Beijing metro. It is also highly
likely that after a few years,
I will return to the U.S., but
when I do, I’ll be all the better
for it. Not only am I unwilling
to see eight years of learning
an alphabet-less language go to
waste, but I am confident that I
will be able to have an impact
in my first job in China, and my
later career back in the States.
to govern this country if all
they know is the vague malarkey being spewed forth by the
campaigns.
I know it’s probably too late
to change the way this election
is being run, that we’re stuck
with this horrible, factless limbo. But, I’d like to think that it
could change. If the electorate
demands answers, then we will
get them. If we say we need the
unspun facts, then that’s what
we’ll get. And if we put our
collective foot down and demand that candidates actually
explain their platforms to the
public, then maybe we’ll get
that much better of a president.
You can argue the merits or
disadvantages of Big Bird and
PBS all you want, but I think
it’s Count von Count and his
reliance on numbers that we
should all be listening to.
Claire McDaniel is a
junior in the College. If
only there was a way
to fact-check the nutrional information of
Leo’s food. That tilapia
looks mad sketchy.
A laowai’s struggle to adapt or die in the Chinese job market
by Alexandra Eitel
Whenever I tell someone
that I speak Chinese, I get the
usual chorus of “oohs” and
“aahs,” and the occasional
demand to say “I like to eat
hamburgers” in Mandarin.
More importantly, ever since
I learned how to say chopsticks and read “fried rice” on
a menu, every adult has told
me that I’m set, because I have
Chinese under my belt and will
have no trouble finding a job.
In a country where kindergartners get gold stars for
If you add “in bed” to this one, it gets even more depressing.
AMANDA DOMINGUEZ
On my way back from another interview in Beijing, I
spoke with the taxi driver. He
was impressed, and even honored that I was learning Chinese. He told me that he often
felt disrespected when Westerners came to China. Whereas
he was making every effort to
learn crucial English phrases,
even beyond what was needed
of him as a cab driver, he never
got more than a weak ni hao and
a mispronounced xie xie from
American travelers. He thanked
me for my effort, and I thanked
him for boosting my somewhat shattered confidence.
Regardless of where I end
up, I hope that I will show
China the linguistic commitment I have made, show them
the respect they deserve, and
bring deeper understanding of
China back to the States. Perhaps my newfound inspiration
is coming from the advice of
the contacts I met with in Beijing, or perhaps it is just my
mother ’s threats of financially
cutting me off upon graduation, but I am determined to
find a job across the Pacific
where I can make a difference,
and be made different in return.
Alexandra Eitel is a
senior in the SFS.
Tempt not a desperate jobseeker,
because she will
cut you. But, seriously. Don’t do it.
voices
georgetownvoice.com
the georgetown voice
15
An iPhone by any other name would be as sweet
by Kevin Meurer
“Whoa, what’s that thing?”
a friend asked me when I pulled
out my phone in Leo’s a few days
ago, “It’s like a brick. Why don’t
you have an iPhone?” All I could
do was defend my phone and
show off some of its better features, like a snazzy built-in kick
stand. Unfortunately, I looked
around the table, and every
other person owned an iPhone
4 or 4S, so nobody agreed with
me. While I was sitting there, it
suddenly dawned on me that, in
many cases, not having an iPhone
has become somewhat unusual.
The thing is, my phone was
top-of-the-line when I bought
it a year ago. The HTC Thunderbolt was supposed to be Verizon’s best phone yet. It rocked
a crystal clear screen, lightning
fast speeds, a thin design, and
infinite power in the palm of
your hand. I was sold. I had to
have it. Then, a cracked screen,
endless scratches, and a broken
back plate later, my phone suddenly was not up to par. Its
awful battery life forced me to
install a larger battery in the
back, nearly doubling its size.
In just one year, my phone had
gone from awesome to awful.
“A droid! A droid! My kingdom for a droid!” Said no one, ever.
KAREN BU
Et tu, Jim Belushi?
On Sunday morning, life was
going incredibly well; my weekend included partying on a bus
with my Danish friends, conversing with a British drug dealer
about his problems getting laid,
and hijacking the stereo system
at a party (obviously I put on ‘90s
music). Then, out of nowhere, I
stumbled upon the Thanksgiving
Special of According to Jim. From
that point on life’s been downhill.
Fun fact: According to Jim
ran for eight seasons. Now,
try looking at the glass as halffull. In case you are unaware
of this show’s existence, you’re
probably familiar with Jim Belushi’s unapologetic allegiance
to sports, laziness, food, beer,
and female subservience. While
Jim is ostensibly the portrait of
a common American family, the
mind-numbing situations coupled with the second-grade level
sense of humor make Joe the
Plumber look like T.S. Eliot.
How some Americans stoop
this low for entertainment is beyond me. I’m assuming viewers
use this show as a form of escape, leaping into a simple man’s
simple mind. Still, if watching
this show is how you cope with
depression, there are healthier
alternatives—Everybody
Loves
Raymond, Frasier, or The King
of Queens. Okay, these are still
piece-of-shit sitcoms, but they
have their pockets of genius.
According to Jim, on the other
hand, has no redeeming qualities. Correct me if I’m wrong,
but the show’s deference to obesity, lethargy, and idiocy represent all that is wrong with this
country. Sure, these characters
could be engaging in worse activities, but they’re too fucking
lazy to pick up a gun or kidnap
an infant (and what about the
planning? Could these feeble-
Let the Voice be your voice. We accept opinions, letters to the
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When the iPhone 5 came out
this past month, I can’t deny
that I was immediately tempted to go buy it. I wanted to be
in the iPhone club. I wanted
to have a phone that was considered “the best.”
Looking
back though, I would be making the same mistake I had
made with my current phone.
Every time a new product
comes out, we are conditioned
to think of it as the best that has
ever been made. Every product is the “thinnest,” “sleekest”
product out there. Those who
market these products aren’t
wrong. The latest gadget always
is the sleekest for at least a week
after it comes out. It’s just the
nature of the technology market
to immediately surpass its latest invention or market it well
enough to convince us that it has.
The issue isn’t with advertising or how much people enjoy
technology the fact that people
enjoy the technology they own,
it’s that many of us here seem
obsessed with having the newest and best of everything. In
only the first weekend, the
iPhone 5 sold over five million
units. When everyone’s talking about how amazing some
new piece of technology is, it
becomes difficult to not get
caught up in the excitement.
The new iPhone is impressive,
I agree, but inevitably I know
that in a couple of months all
of us will be obsessed with the
next big phone on the market.
An interview recently surfaced on YouTube in which a
woman waiting in line for the
iPhone 5 was asked why she
was waiting. Despite persistent
questions, she knew nothing
about the phone’s features or
even how it worked. The video
is hilarious, but poignant: we get
a certain thrill from being first,
from getting something before
our friends. Then, once we have
it, we take pride in how great it is.
It becomes an issue of where
we place the emphasis in our
lives. Before I rush off to go
buy the newest gadget, I need to
think about whether I actually
need it. That is the reason I will
likely never convince myself to
camp out for a product. If it will
be the same as everyone else’s
in a month, then the exclusivity of being the first to have
it only has temporary value.
As for the iPhone club that
all my friends seem to be a
part of, it may be a while before I join. While they hassle
minded creatures plan a trip to
the zoo, let alone an intricate terrorist attack?)
Then there’s the misogyny.
In the Thanksgiving Special,
guess who gets to cook the turkey all day while the rest of the
family slouches in front of the
television? If you guessed Jim’s
wife, bingo.
But with only this tidbit of information, it may be premature to
accuse the show of stereotyping.
Want to hear something
even more ridiculous? As the
story of Jim’s wife unfolds, his
obese brother-in-law assumes
the source of the satellite disruption is from an army of vengeful
turkeys. As I began to lament the
devolution of humanity, my fingers simultaneously trembled at
this startling reminder: younger
brother John Belushi died when
he was 33. Jim is now 58.
Perhaps the most frightening aspect of this experience was
the setting. I am studying in
Copenhagen right now, and for
the Danes to see According to Jim
as a sort of epochal representation of contemporary America
is troubling. Is this some kind
of cruel joke on the Danes’ part?
Are they trying to satisfy their
high-mindedness by seeing what
these purported superior nations
are up to? To my relief, I came up
with an answer: this show’s basic
application of the English language means Danes can use the
show as a practical didactic tool
for improving their English. Still,
According to Jim playing a pedagogic role sends a shiver down
my spine.
At the end of the Thanksgiving Special, Jim sits down with
his wife. In a clumsy attempt
at empathy, he tells her that he
felt some indiscriminate feeling
Carrying On
by John Sapunor
A rotating column by Voice senior staffers
The gut-wrenching chauvinism
becomes fully apparent when the
audience sees how Jim treats his
wife. After expressing the solitude
she feels every Thanksgiving, Jim
proceeds to offer no help whatsoever. After a bit more complaining
emerges from her lips, Jim starts
throwing flour all over the kitchen
to make her living hell a little bit
worse. To top things off, the wife
gets locked on the roof, and Jim
only becomes aware of her absence when she destroys the satellite dish. Guess who he’s more
concerned with upon this discovery, his shivering wife or his precious entertainment emitter.
me for sending green texts
instead of blue iMessages (a
neon sign that I don’t use an
iPhone), they will just have
to wait a little while longer.
Eventually, I probably will buy
the phone simply because of
overwhelming peer pressure,
but it will not be because it is
the next big thing, or because
the most apt shape to describe
my current device is “brick.”
At the end of the day,
our technology is actually a
smaller part of our lives than
it may seem. While many of
us feel that we could never
live without our phones or
our computers, the specific
model we own is ultimately irrelevant to our quality of life.
Now, I take a certain pride
in my brick of a phone. It may
not be the best, but it is unique,
and I know that it will still be
dependable one year down the
road, when all of us are eagerly anticipating the iPhone 6.
Kevin Meurer is a
freshman in the SFS.
He gets to avoid the
condescending Apple
Genius asking, “So,
how drunk were you
when you broke it?”
in his gut when she took the
whole family, except for him,
out to dinner. His wife replies,
“Jim, that was loneliness. You
felt lonely.” Was this show created for adults whose childhood
skimped on Sesame Street or Veggie Tales? Who the fuck has to be
taught what loneliness is when
he’s 50? Jim, that’s who. And,
apparently, the four to six million Americans who tuned in to
182 episodes of this program.
Someone once noted that
we’re not really adults; we’re
just children feigning maturity.
Well, count According
to Jim as an exception to this
rule. Nothing is feigned. And
maybe that’s admirable. Jim’s
problems are simple, but with
simple problems come simple
solutions. Name a genius who
went to the grave completely
satisfied with himself--it’s impossible. The “ignorance is
bliss” aphorism does not take
into account the depth of one’s
liveliness, but if there’s a textbook example of someone who
may be happier with a myopic
worldview, it has to be Jim.
Here, ladies and gentleman, is
the perfect example of a man
who has achieved success despite his own lazy efforts. In
other words, a man who has
lived the American Dream.