The University has just announced that it will be closed Tuesday, February 9. From preparedness.georgetown.edu:

Georgetown University is closed today, and will remain closed on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. Classes are canceled for the Main Campus, the Medical Center, the School of Medicine, and the School of Continuing Studies (all locations).

All designated emergency employees must report to work on time. The Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS) will not operate on Monday or Tuesday.

The library will remain open (see http://www.library.georgetown.edu/ for details). Dahlgren Medical Library will operate as usual (see dml.georgetown.edu for details).

So, if you didn’t do any work today, you lucked out! And with 10 to 20 more inches on the way tomorrow night, who knows what Wednesday will hold…

Update 10:09 p.m.: Provost James O’Donnell has just sent a charming, poetic e-mail about the University’s decision to close the school. From the e-mail, whose subject line is “snow, closing, coping”:

We have spent the day consulting and looking for a way to make it work, but have been unsuccessful, and that’s immensely frustrating for many of us …. Administrative offices will be closed Tuesday, but faculty members who wish to hold classes may do so according to the regular Tuesday schedule but without penalty for students unable to attend. (Alas, that won’t be possible for School of Continuing Studies classes.)

We now have the advantage of multiple technologies of communication, including notably the Blackboard course management system, and I strongly encourage faculty and students alike to take up those tools and see just how much of the business of teaching and learning we can achieve. With a little more time on our hands, can we be inventive and imaginative and find ways to keep the semester moving forward, even on a thick layer of ice and snow? I look forward to hearing about the experiments and victories that ensue.

Victories in the meantime: Lauinger Library, that beacon of our commitment to learning and inquiry, has remained and will remain open and welcoming. Many others, including staff in dining and residence life, the students of the Corp and GERMS, the shovelers and plowers and many others in facilities services, and the officers and staff of DPS — and I wish I could be sure I’m not forgetting anybody! — are still keeping the campus safe and comfortable during this time, and we owe them all our warmest thanks.

OK, so this isn’t something you need to watch out for at the moment—dozens of Metro stations are closed and even if you’re using the underground rail, where are you going?

But when D.C. pulls itself back together, keep an eye out for potential thieves on the Metro when you’re riding to a basketball game or internship. The Washington Examiner reports that in the first 11 months of 2009, robberies on the Metro skyrocketed to 805 thefts from 538 over the same period in 2008.

And 2007, the same period saw only 397 thefts—which means that robberies on the Metro have essentially doubled in two years.

Driving the rise in theft, Chief of Police Jeff Delinski told the Examiner, are suspects who grab electronic devices like iPods and BlackBerries out of people’s hands.

“In many cases, a robber will grab an iPod or cell phone from a rider just before train doors close at a Metro station,” the article says. “The crime isn’t reported until the victim reaches the next station and by then, the robber has gotten away.”

In April, transit police began placing undercover agents on Metro cars to arrest criminals who snatched electronics (or committed other crimes) but they can’t be everywhere. So watch your iPhone.

Via DCist.

Photo from Flickr user WisDoc used under a Creative Commons license.

Vox has been eagerly browsing the photos you’ve all been sharing on Twitter and Facebook of a Snowpocalypsed Georgetown. (What can we say? When we’re snowed in it exacerbates our stalkerish tendencies).

Now we’d like to put together a slideshow of the aftermath of the snowstorm, like the one we ran in December.

So send your snow photos to blog@georgetownvoice.com, Tweet them @GtownVoice, or join the Voice Flickr group and upload your best shots! C’mon—are you really going to use your day off to catch up on work?

Photo from Flickr user muhkeeduh, who’s already sent us several gorgeous shots of Georgetown!

While Americans were busy “awww”ing over that Google ad on Sunday, Costa Ricans were handing a landslide victory to Georgetown graduate Laura Chinchilla, the center-right politician who has become the first woman elected President in the country’s history.

“Today we are making history,” said Chinchilla, who lead her closest rival by 22 points in the election. “The Costa Rican people have given me their confidence, and I will not betray it.”

Chinchilla received her master’s degree in public policy at Georgetown in the late ’80s after graduating from the University if Costa Rica. A social conservative who opposes abortion and same-sex marriage, she campaigned on continuing free market policies in Costa Rica. She is the former vice president and public security minister of Costa Rica, and when she takes office in May, she will be the fifth Latin American female president.

Of course, she’ll be one of several presidents to have graduated from Georgetown University. A few in particular come to mind. There’s everyone’s favorite former Harbin resident, of course—Bill Clinton (SFS ‘68)—and then there’s Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the current president of the Philippines. Arroyo is incredibly unpopular and has been linked to the deaths of many Filipino activists and serious corruption scandals. (We like Chinchilla and Clinton a lot more.)

Before her victory, the Global Post’s Alex Leff wrote that given Costa Rica’s very progressive laws about women in politics, it’s actually a wonder that Chinchilla was about to become only the first female president of that country.

“By law, women must make up 40 percent of a party’s seats in the Legislative Assembly, and by 2014, the law mandates a 50-50 split. That’s well above the world average,” he wrote. “Parties also are obligated to include at least one women on the ballot for their executive branch bids, whether for one of the two vice presidencies or the presidency.”

Last week, the Voice’s Tim Shine profiled Chris Tiongson (COL ‘89), an alum and pediatrician from Fargo who records delightful songs celebrating Georgetown basketball players and great moments in Georgetown basketball.

How’d he get his start?

“It started, I think, Roy [Hibbert’s] freshman year,” Tiongson told Shine. “There was a Starbucks commercial … the guy’s name was Roy, and they started chanting his name: Roy, Roy, Roy. I think it was at one of the McDonough home games the students started chanting this, doing the ‘Roy’ chant to ‘Eye of the Tiger.’ Then somebody on HoyaTalk said, ‘Well wouldn’t it be funny [if someone] did a song to that.’ So then I did.”

“That would be ‘Heart of a Hoya,’” Shine writes, “a simple acoustic guitar effort that began what is now a 26-song catalog.”

Tiongson posts his songs on HoyaTalk under the username nodak89. Shine’s whole article is a terrific read, but for our listening pleasure, he has picked out his top five favorite songs:

“I Am Free,” to the tune of “Free Fallin’”:

“Bleeding Blue,” to the tune of “Bleeding Love”:

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Think You Know Your Harry Potter?

Melissa Anelli, a Georgetown alumna and ‘webmistress’ of top Harry Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron, is giving Georgetown a behind-the-scenes look into her career as a fan turned author. This Wednesday, she’s speaking at Georgtown about topics ranging from the outing of Professor Dumbledore, to Harry Potter’s cultural impact, to her time spent with J.K. Rowling herself. Anelli will be speaking Wednesday, February 10 at 7:00 p.m. in the Hariri Building’s Lohrfink Auditorium.

The Vagina Monologues

Sponsored by Take Back the Night and hosted in conjunction with V-Day 2010, The Vagina Monologues is a no-holds-barred performance featuring the empowering stories of women and girls from around the world. Tickets are $10 for students ($12 General Admission) at the Davis Center box office for shows Thursday through Saturday (February 11-13) at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 14 at 2:00 p.m.

Careers for the Common Good

The fourth Annual Careers for the Common Good features more than 40 alumni and networking opportunities in the fields of Education, International Development, Health, Human Rights, Environment, Government, and the arts. The event will be help Tuesday, February 9 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Fisher Colloquium at the Hariri Building. Students must RSVP with the Center for Social Justice to attend.

Photography by Lynn Kirshbaum

If you haven’t already gotten the e-mail, Georgetown University has announced that tomorrow, there’s no class! From the e-mail:

“Georgetown University will remain closed on Monday, February 8, 2010. Monday classes are canceled for the Main Campus, the Medical Center, the School of Medicine, and the School of Continuing Studies (all locations). All designated emergency employees must report to work on time.

“The Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS) will not operate on Monday.

“The Library will remain open … Dahlgren Medical Library will operate as usual.”

Photography By: Hilary Nakasone (slides 1-2), Jackson Perry (slides 3-5), Max Blodgett (slides 4-7), Mathew Funk (slides 8-12), Kristen Janiszewski (slide 13), Shira Saperstein (slides 14-16)

There is snow EVERYWHERE! My California soul almost can’t handle it, but even in my stunned state I was able to find some great remixes for this week: a remix by Party Rock, and a Fredrick Carlsson remix a well.

The first song, Shwayze’s ubiquitous “Get You Home,” is a Party Rock remix with LMFAO accompanying on vocals, much like Party Rock’s Lady Gaga remix I posted some time ago. This song just goes to show how hard Party Rock parties when it comes to remixes: the group takes out the synths and revs them up at just the right moments, in short: it’ll make you shake that booty. Speaking of LMFAO here’s a great remix of their single, “Shots.”

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