Today is partly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms and a high of 81.

To masticate today:

• Georgetown’s Black House celebrates anniversary: 40 years ago, 10 students stood outside of former University president Timothy Healy’s office demanding the establishment of a support system for minority students that could monitor and track Black students who enroll in Georgetown University. Today, Black House continues to support and serve minority students.
• Commencement live webcasts: Though commencement excitement has come to a close, the university has released the live webcasts of each commencement address for you to enjoy at your leisure.

What to look out for:

• Thomas Wells enters race for mayor: DC’s 2014 mayoral election became a race Saturday when Democrat Councilmember representing Ward 6, Tommy Wells, officially entered the contest against Republican Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser, who announced her campaign last month.
• Metro to announce unlimited “short trip” pass: Today, Metro launches an unlimited “short trip” pass for SmarTrip cards that will allow users to purchase and load short trip passes from their computers, rather than making a trip to a fare vending machine to purchase the pass. The “short trip” pass is a practical option for riders who make frequent trips between nearby stations.

Better than a cup of coffee, the Morning Digest will provide you with what you need to be prepared for the day: a daily round-up of links, local news, and important events on campus and around D.C.

Note: Due to the looming shadow of finals, Vox will be operating at a reduced posting schedule until the end of the semester. Be sure to check back for the Morning Digest and other updates designed to tempt and delight you in these times of darkness.

  The weather today will be cloudy in the morning and clear later in the day, with a high of 70.

To masticate today:

• Midnight Breakfast: UnBirthday!: What’s After Dark, Student Affairs, and Dining Services are hosting an Alice and Wonderland themed end-of-the-year celebration tonight from 10 pm to midnight at Leo’s. It will include a number of activities like painting your own teacups, mixing your own tea, playing a giant game of chess, and free food!
• Superfood’s final performance of the year and senior send off: Superfood will give its final performance of the year at 3 pm in front of the John Carroll statue in Healy Circle. In addition to being the last concert of the year, the group will be sending off its five seniors.

What to look out for:

•  $10 million dollar gift to National Mall from Volkswagen: Volkswagen planned to announce a $10 million gift today to to the Trust for the National Mall in order to help fund its plans for an aesthetic renovation.
• Capital Bikeshare adds new options for infrequent users: A new membership option allows users to pay $10 for the key, which is like the traditional annual and monthly membership keys. But, with this key, users only have to pay $7 for a day pass to use a bike for a day.

You’re most likely in denial that finals start this Friday, and are tempted to scroll over any post that says the world “finals” in it in an attempt to suppress potential panic attacks. Not to mention the fact that you’re feeling so sad at the thought of school ending in less than two weeks.

But maybe Vox can cheer you up with some good ways to switch up your studying routine as you put your nose to the grindstone, because lets face it: the idea of studying in an overpacked Lau full of stressed students makes you want to run for the hills.

Vox’s suggestions for on-campus studying:

• Hariri Building (Business School): Perfect for long days of on-campus studying. Hariri is clean, comfortable, and has abundant functional power outlets, unlike Lau or Regents. You’ll be especially lucky if you get there early, because you can snag one of the coveted booths with the large tables. Hariri is also close enough to the Leavey Center, so if you find yourself in dire need of Corp coffee or late night Ben & Jerry’s from Vittles, you’re covered.
  
• Blommer Science Library: If you want minimal distractions (there’s always Facebook) in a monastic environment, study in the Blommer Science Library on the third floor of Reiss. You’ll also find the benefits of easy printing and open desktops in this secluded study spot.

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How do you categorize a band that ranges from blues, jazz, soul, hip-hop, and R&B, and has a rapper, a keyboardist, a trombonist, a trumpeter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a lead guitarist?

You invent a new genre.

The 7-piece Chicago band, Kids These Days, got the inspiration for the name of their debut album when they were tired of trying to explain their music genre, so they came up with one of their own: Traphouse Rock.

With so much controlled vocal and instrumental talent, you would think KTD is a group with several years of touring and performing experience. Truth is, the seven musicians have only been doling out their blues, soul, hip-hop swagger, and sultry jazz lines for a relatively short time.

KTD is comprised of recent high school graduates and former Merit School of Music students. The members of the group got together in 2009, rocking out in one of the band member’s basements. Each musician came into the band being able to play 2 to 5 instruments and almost all of the 7 were receiving advanced training at Merit School of Music, focusing on improvisation and jazz.

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Aly Spaltro‘s story of stardom is almost as whimsical as her voice.

She began her musical pursuits by playing and practicing in the basement of the video rental store at which she was a clerk in her hometown of Brunswick, Maine. Bart & Greg’s DVD Explosion’s customers probably had no idea that the same clerk that would rent Transformers movies to them would develop into a major musical talent under the name of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper.

After working her 3-11 p.m. shift, Spaltro would venture down into the basement of Bart & Greg’s and let her lyrical thoughts pour into her music until morning broke. She taught herself to write music and sing, and her experimental and structureless music is characterized by a range of emotions, from anger and confusion to the simple and sheer bliss of love.

Anxious and hesitant to share her music with others, Spaltro gave herself the name “Lady Lamb the Beekeeper” and would arrange her CDs on the counters of Bart & Greg’s and the record store next door to give out as free samples to customers.

That’s how Lady Lamb the Beekeeper made herself to the top of the music scene in Portland and Brooklyn.

Spaltro is famous among her fans for her live shows. They can be characterized as beautifully chaotic, with melodies that seem to follow an internalized structure only known to Spaltro herself. She sings and plays the guitar, both electric and acoustic, and her lyrics and music offer insight into the world of a young women full of emotion and  intense passion for living deeply.

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Just when we were beginning to get over our excitement about the GUTS buses running late on weekend nights, we have something new to look forward to: a new mobile app that will allow commuters to track GUTS shuttles in real time.

Connected to a new GPS-tracking feature for university shuttles, NextGUTS will map the location of the next available GUTS bus, allowing anyone with an Apple or Android smartphone to look up estimated times of arrival for the next available shuttles. (LOL, sorry Windows Phone and BlackBerry.)

The NextGUTS new feature is an strong update to the app, since it previously only told the next time of departure for the shuttles. As everyone appreciates being able to be efficient and maximize their time, this new tracking system will be extremely beneficial for students, faculty, and staff alike.

Additionally (and most importantly) the NextGUTS app will include real time arrivals for the new late-night shuttles to and from M Street, Dupont Circle-Adams Morgan, West Georgetown, and Burleith, which will prove to be a gift from heaven on cold winter nights next year.

The app was created in collaboration by Georgetown University Facilities and University Information Services. Throughout the year, the team has worked to develop a historical data set that has the ability to monitor things like red lights and traffic jams that might alter arrival time predictions.

For example, app knows that an off-time bus ride that normally takes 15 minutes will take much longer in peak traffic times, and it ensures that users know this as well.

Though the official launch of the app is April 15, it still needs some trial time before it is running entirely smoothly. According to Robin Morey, Vice President for Planning and Facilities Management, the more data the app compiles, the more accurate its estimations of arrival times will be.

Users can download the Georgetown mobile app from the Google Play store for Android phones or App Store for iPhones.

Image: Google Play store

While Georgetown students know the Tombs goes hand in hand with the true “Georgetown Experience,” it seems that various travel and leisure guides are finally recognizing the magnificence of Georgetown’s quintessential college bar.

Actually, Yahoo! Travel+Leisure recently ranked the Tombs one of America’s best college bars. The article highlights the plaque with the names of the 99 Days Club Members (who celebrate their last 99 days of senior year by visiting the Tombs and purchasing a drink or dish each day until graduation), the varied customer base, ranging from professors to students, and, of course, the classic comfort bar food, which has been noted a “gastronomical experience” of its own.

The Tombs has previously received a fair amount of press, most significantly for its diversity in regards to customers and menu items. U.S. Airways magazine commended the Tombs for providing an atmosphere for families, professors, and senior college students alike to enjoy, relax, and dine. In terms of food, the Tombs menu can meet the tastes of most palates, ranging anywhere from Mediterranean to American with items like quinoa tabbouleh with falafel, Shanghai Rolls, and classic Chicken wings.

At the same time, the college bar enthusiasts over at Yahoo! probably didn’t know that Tomb’s lamb ragu was so good because it came from upstairs.

Scottish DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer, Adam Richard Wiles—better known by his stage name Calvin Harris—will bring Georgetown students into his force field of addictive synthetic sounds, strong and commanding percussion, and catchy vocal collaborations during GPB’s Spring Kickoff Concert on Saturday, Apr. 6th.

Calvin Harris has long held a passion for electronic music. He was first introduced to the genre in his teens, when he began recording his first demo tracks in his bedroom. Deciding to withhold from having any formal mixing training or production help, he went straight from posting his own D.I.Y. electronic dance tracks on MySpace to signing with the multinational British record company EMI. And, only a short time later, he was recording material with leading artists like Kylie Minogue, Dizzee Rascal, and Rihanna.

With the help of EMI, Calvin Harris recorded his debut album I Created Disco in the summer of 2007. I Created Disco featured two two top-ten hits, “Acceptable in the 80s” and “The Girls,“and quickly made it to the top of the album charts.

Though Harris was already making it as a solo-arist, he was also in high-demand as a mixer and producer. He worked on remixing singles for electronic groups Jamiroquai, Groove Armada, All Saints, and CSS, wrote and produced songs for Kylie Minogue’s 2007 album, and worked with Dizzee Rascal on “Dance wiv Me“, which reached the top of the charts in the U.K.

Calvin Harris’s second album, Ready for the Weekend, also topped the U.K. album chart and made it to number 12 on Billboard’s U.S. dance/electronic chart as well, featuring singles “I’m Not Alone” and “Ready for the Weekend“.

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Even if some of us like to pretend that we go to school in the South, it isn’t too often that we see famous country bands at small, local venues in the District. However, on Tuesday Mar. 26th, the talented country trio, Gloriana, will perform at 9:30 Club and make its audience remember those long summer night drives and relaxing days at the lake that we’re all looking forward to.

Gloriana was formed back in 2008 and was originally a group of four, with brothers Tom and Mike Gossin, Rachel Reinert, and Cheyenne Kimball. In 2011, Kimball left the group, but Gloriana was determined to continue making music together as a trio.

From the beginning of their individual careers, Gloriana’s three members had been passionate about making music and performing, but, even after devoting their lives to music, their careers as musicians didn’t flourish until they finally came together in Nashville in 2008.

Tom and Mike performed in bars together for 10 years, but as he describes, “[I]t wasn’t until the three of [them] got together that [they] knew [they] had something special.”

The trio stuck together through several turbulent events throughout which they often doubted whether their music would ever take off. Their wishes were granted after releasing their self-titled debut album of 2009 and watching it soar to the top of country music charts.

On their current tour, Gloriana will be featuring their newest album, A Thousand Miles Left Behind, which has been praised as a “consistent, strong album that remains in a strong musical sweet spot that gives [Gloriana] a dynamic and unique presence.”

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Pastor Rick Warren, founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church in California visited Gaston Hall this Tuesday to engage in a dialogue about the importance of religious freedom.

The event was part of a series of discussions held by the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. RFP began in January 2011 with the goal of analyzing religious freedom, a basic human right that is unfortunately restricted in many parts of the world.

The team of scholars examines how religious freedom is related to other fundamental freedoms: its relation to democracy, its role in development, diplomacy, and the struggle against violent religious extremism.

“In these discussions in the Religious Freedom Project, we hope to facilitate provocative and probing conversations on religious freedom because we believe it is extremely important issue today,” said Thomas Farr, director of RFP.

According to Farr, there are two important factors that drive RFP to investigate the idea of religious freedom: first, that religious liberty is important, whether individuals are religious or not; and second, that religious freedom is in global crisis, as 75 percent of the world’s population live in regions where religious freedom is severely restricted.

In RFP’s view, humans are such spiritual beings that without religious freedom, it is impossible to live a truly human life.

With this in mind, Timothy Shah, associate director of RFP, asked Pastor Warren the first question of the afternoon: Why is the topic of religious freedom so important to him?

“Let me start off by saying that religion is far more than worship. If you are truly a religious person, your religion affects every area of your life: how you spend you time, how you run your business, how you spend your money, how you educate your children. You can’t leave your religion at the church or temple door. It has to be allowed in every area of your life,” Warren said.

According to him, religious restrictions are growing around the world, especially in European nations and even in the United States. Pastor Warren emphasizes that this is especially dangerous, since so many of our other rights are based upon the freedom to practice what we believe in.

“If I don’t have the freedom to believe what I want to believe, then freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press are all irrelevant,” Warren said. “And it is so important that we don’t let anyone tear these freedoms away.”

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