Georgetown Day put up quite a fight: moon bounce, live music, free food, NBA champ Jeff Green, a rock climbing wall, and so on. In the end, though, Georgetown Nite stole the show with a concentrated soap solution, a giant blow-up rink, a mass of soaking wet drunk people, and a tiny bit of magic. Foam party, indeed.
Got a DC neighborhood you’ve been wanting to see, or just want to know more about Georgetown? This weekend’s the perfect chance, as WalkingTown DC on Saturday and Sunday has organized a bunch of walking (and biking) tours around the capital. Here’s a schedule (PDF) so you can plan the outing, courtesy of the District Zen masters at Greater Greater Washington.
I’m thinking of hitting up one or two of the tours, depending on how wild Friday gets (it’s Georgetown Day, after all). The picture is a house in Brookland, taken on a previous walking tour. I’ve been meaning to learn more about Brookland for a while because I keep hearing about it from people but don’t know anything about it. If my cover story about Anacostia piqued your interest, check out the Anacostia bike tour Saturday morning.
Thinking about doing any walking tours, or are you swamped with finals? Hit us up in the comments.
-Will Sommer, Blog Editor. Flickr photo from user Stgermh.
Our favorite entries in the photo contest ran in the paper, but these are pretty great too. My favorite is Best Neon, and Best Illegal Use of Photoshop because I can easily seeing it being the cover of a self-published novel.
Washington, D.C. - Georgetown University Men’s Basketball Head Coach John Thompson III announced today that sophomore forward Vernon Macklin (Portsmouth, Va./Hargrave Military Academy) is transferring to another (as yet unspecified) school.
“We appreciate the hard work he put in at Georgetown, both on and off the floor,” Thompson said. “We wish him the best in the future.”
What a run it’s been. From touted All-American recruit to athletic freshman project to struggling sophomore, and now this. I can’t say I blame Macklin (though Barker Davis over at the Times has a different perspective). Barring a summer miracle (cue: montage of Macklin practicing day and night, in the sweltering heat and pouring rain), Macklin would probably have taken a backseat to the Doctrine and Henry Sims (nickname ideas, anyone?) next year anyway.
All hail the die-in. Georgetown finally decided being complicit in Darfur’s genocide wasn’t that great and divested from countries operating in Sudan. Staff writer John Cooke has the details:
Georgetown University, in response to lobbying by STAND, a Georgetown group advocating against the current genocide in Sudan, has decided to divest itself from companies that do business with Sudan.
In a statement, the University stated it completed its divestment in coordination with the Sudan Divestment Taskforce. The group is dedicated to identifying businesses with questionable ties to the Sudanese government, singling out those companies whose revenue goes to the Sudanese government’s arming of militias in the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
In addition to divesting University funds from Sudan, the Administration will also advise its investment fund managers to divest their funds from Sudan, affecting more investments and having a deeper impact.
Reaction from STAND members has been positive.
“Georgetown’s divestment policy reflects a significant step in the divestment movement,” said Hailey Flynn, a STAND member. “It’s a reflection of the depth of which Georgetown values its moral code.”
I was on STAND’s divestment committee freshman year, before the Voice made me interested in more venal things. Good for STAND and the University.
-Story by John Cooke, Staff Writer. Frame story by Will Sommer, Blog Editor.
I don’t know much about hockey, but I know I like to see rich old men cry. That’s why I say hurrah for Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, who got so choked up after last night’s loss that he needed a hug (above). Even if Flyers fan Mike Stewart thinks you need to drink blood during the off-season to be a real hockey team, the Capitals are cool with me.
They’re also cool with The D.C. Universe, the sleeper hit of DC blogs: “Seeing Leonsis looking as absolutely devastated as he did after the loss made for both an extremely surprising and an extremely powerful image.”
As far as D.C. versus Philadelphia goes in general, I cite this and this. But I guess it doesn’t matter because the Flyers are such barbarian mountain men vikings.
-Will Sommer, Blog Editor. Picture from DC Universe.
I don’t like D.C.’s gangs of candy-ass prancers sports teams, being from Philly (save the United–I highly respect something like a real barra brava in the States). And the Flyers’ 3-2 OT game 7 win over the Capitals last night was especially gratifying, keeping in mind this Washington Post article by Mike Wise, written after game 2. Whining about the Flyers and their fans, Wise wishes for a happier time when players shared orange slices between periods and fans politely applauded both teams for their 110% effort. Here are a couple choice parts:
For most of the evening, there was this unmistakable air of testosterone coming from the Flyers’ direction that just reeked of physicality, a way of exerting their mauling style on the Capitals that just sent their denizens into some medieval state of euphoria.
Well, I feel like a barbarian. It gets better:
Something about this R-rated environment is just not conducive to Ted Leonsis‘ Family Pack Night or Ovie on Ice. The contrasts are so stark and revealing.
The Caps’ postseason slogan: “Rock The Red.” The Flyers? “Vengeance Now,” which comes across as less of a slogan and more of a sequel to Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish.”
Yeah, the Flyers should go home and think about the way they’re approaching the only sport left where fights are a regular, acceptable part of the game. Except now the Caps are the ones sitting at home, sucka. Even Caps’ players are calling Flyers’ fans better. I mean come on, it’s not as if the Caps were playing this other famous Pennsylvania team:
Georgetown Day’s coming up this Friday, and its website boasts that it will be “one of the community’s most memorable experiences on the Hilltop!”. That’s not exactly the Georgetown Day I remember from last year, but maybe I missed the best stuff–where and what, readers, should every Hoya check out to get the full Georgetown Day experience?
I’ll start. Last year there was a bouncy castle on Leavey Esplanade which was pretty cool if you stood in line for it, and there was a free ice cream in front of the library, which is probably the worst place on campus to give people ice cream in front of. Best of all, the schedule promises Family Hour on Copley Lawn, which sounds like ‘Come on guys, put that beer away, the professors’ kids are here.’ but is actually Elmo and Winnie the Pooh cosplay.
-Will Sommer, Blog Editor. Photo from Flickr user World of Oddy.
There’s loose talk about Metro considering a subway stop in Georgetown. The typical reaction from Georgetown students is that neighbors afraid of rail-mounted criminals and homeless would block the stop just like they did last time–but ah, that never happened in the first place.
According to Metro history The Great Society Subway, nosy Advisory Neighborhood Commission types had nothing to do with it. Instead, Georgetown was rejected because it didn’t have enough jobs in the area and because of the difficulty of building across the Potomac. But we’ve got an entire university here, and Metro planners are considering an elevated rail over the river. With luck, the class of 2025 won’t have to worry about GUTS bus routes at all.
Vox Populi is the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice, Georgetown University's preeminent newsmagazine since 1969. The opinions expressed in Vox Populi are those of their authors unless specifically stated.
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