Monday night, Midnight MUG hosted a reading for the winners of the Midnight Writer Scholarship. Students crowded MMUG’s blue couches to experience budding talent of story writers at Georgetown.

The event showcased six writers. The two $250 winners of the six-word story were Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Lai Su Lyn (COL ’16). For the short story category, the $1000 winner was Zach Busch (SFS ’16) and the three $500 winners were: Jacquelyn Stolos (COL ’13), Amy Reavis (COL ’14), and Kate Brody (COL ’13).

After each reading, the writers got a picture with a kitschy over-sized dry erase check.

Luther opened up the night with his six-word story:

“You look beautiful tonight.” “Thanks Grandma.”

Su Lyn followed with:

“Danced with her! Damn that alarm.”

The subsequent readings were a tad longer.  Zach Busch ran just under an hour with his “Freezing Icarus.” This winning submission is to be a chapter in an ongoing novel of Busch’s. The story, along with many others of the night, pivoted around that inexhaustible topic: women.

The unnamed narrator dictated his obsession and complicated relationship with the intriguing Collette. The story took a macabre turn when the narrator exhibits signs of schizophrenia. Busch read to a captured audience: “How about it, old buddy? I’m in the mood to destroy something beautiful.”

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If you’ve been to Lauinger since you’ve been back on campus, you may have noticed a small, but shocking change to the area—open spaces.

The bookshelves that once stood directly across from the coffee shop are gone, replaced by extra tables and chairs. The changes, which were among the many suggestions made by the Student Space Working Group last spring, provide a bit more study space to the library’s often-crowded second floor.

Midnight Mug itself got a bit of a redesign as well. In addition to those comfy couches and chairs, there’s a Starbucks-esque bar along the glass wall that allows for a few additional work spaces.

Brendan McElroy (COL ’12) said the addition is “a much-needed first step towards creating more space and accessibility for students to work in the library.”

McElroy added that he will probably take advantage of the extra study space, “provided the music isn’t too loud.”

What do you think? Should we be grateful that the University is responding to our demands for more study space, or is this a half-hearted attempt to appease students without making great changes?

Photo: Julie Patterson

Yesterday, we cataloged the health violations of four Georgetown-area food establishments that had been pegged as “high-risk” by the Health and Regulations Licensing Administration within the last year or so—Leo’s, Epicurean & Co., The Tombs, and Bangkok Bistro.

Today, we’re running an accounting of the nine remaining restaurants whose two most recent food establishment inspection reports we acquired through a February Freedom of Information Act request. 

We found that Wisey’s, the Starbucks and the Cosi in the Leavey Center, Booey’s, Tuscany Cafe, the former Philly Pizza, and Midnight Mug were listed on at least one report as “medium-risk” establishments, mostly due to non-critical violations. Only two establishments, Vital Vittles and Hoya Snaxa, were never listed as risky establishments.

In total, they garnered 9 critical and 16 non-critical violations. Again, six critical violations that cannot be corrected on site result in the closure of the restaurant. Owners are usually given five days to rectify critical violations and 45  for non-critical violations or they risk closure.

COSI

An August inspection of the Cosi in the Leavey Center found three critical violations. The establishment was cited for needing to clean food contact surfaces and its “warewashing, sanitizing, frequency methods.”

“Resurface, clean, and sanitize cutting boards” for sandwich preparation areas and other cutting boards, the report said. “Adjust hot water on hand sinks in rear and prep area so [temperatures] reach 110 degrees; repair hot water gauge on dish machine.”

An inspection five days later confirmed that Cosi had corrected all of the violations, and a notice it had been given after the previous report was abated.

TUSCANY CAFE

An August inspection found that Tuscany Cafe had one critical and two non-critical violation. Several food storage units were missing thermometers, many food items were not labeled and dated, and employees were cited for personal cleanliness, although the only written note about employees was that they were seen not wearing either hats or hair restraints when handling food. The establishment was given five and 45 days’ notice to make corrections.

A subsequent inspection 20 days later found no violations and abated the five and 45 days’ notices, but still listed Tuscany as a medium-risk establishment, which is not uncommon for an inspection following up on a notice to correct violations.

The Corp, Wisey’s, and how gross Philly Pizza was, after the jump!

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Pegged to the story of Eric Sheptock, a homeless man in D.C. who has blogged about homeless issues all the way to CNN, NPR, and the Washington Post, the Washington City Paper has put together a guide of where to go in the District to access the Internet for free if you don’t have a computer.

Barring the D.C. Public Library system, which maintains about 600 free computers, or, not nearly enough to service the 40 percent of residents in City Wards 5, 7, and 8, WCP has put Georgetown’s Lauinger Library first in that guide:

“The best place in the area for virtually unlimited, unmonitored computer use. In what Georgetown officials say is ‘a conscious effort to reach out to the community and the city,’ the library is open daily from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. to anyone with a photo ID. On the main floor are 45 computers equipped with Windows Vista and available to anyone, though they tend to be for short-term use.

“The real sweet spot is downstairs. Open 24 hours most days (closed between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights), the basement’s Gelardin New Media Center has roughly 65 computers with a basic version of Windows; the chairs are soft, the lighting not too bright, and the computers all come with keyboard wrist pads.”

Flattering us further, reporter Amanda Abrams gives props to the Corp: “Best is the second-floor café, which is open until 2 a.m. many nights and offers dirt-cheap bagels with cream cheese,” she writes. While service can be notoriously slow at said café, Midnight Mug, we have to agree, those are some damn good, cheap bagels.

But a few points of information, D.C. residents: Not all 65 downstairs computers are available for anyone to use. Any computers that do extra stuff—video editing and scanning, for instance—required a Georgetown login that only students and employees have.

And Abrams incorrectly reports that through clever navigation of our “idiosyncratic entry scheme for outsiders,” you can enter the Library at 10:45 p.m., just before they start turning away outsiders, and “no one will care whether you’re a student or not.” In fact, the Department of Public Safety scours the Library almost every evening checking to see if you have a University ID once it’s time for outsiders to leave. If you don’t, adios.

Still, she closes with strong advice.

“[G]et ready for sensory deprivation—if you spend too much time in the windowless Gelardin Center, it will start to feel like a dungeon.”