Sarah Vowell at Lisner Tomorrow Night

The writer and frequent NPR contributor Sarah Vowell will be performing at GW's Lisner auditorium Saturday night at 8pm. There are still tickets available for her reading, which will include a question and answer period at the end and a book-signing in the lobby after that.

Vowell's work includes the bestselling books The Wordy Shipmates and Assassination Vacation. On NPR she mostly contributes to This American Life, much like author David Sedaris, with whom she shares a comedic and sharp observational style.

Tickets to this and other Lisner auditorium shows have been on sale for months, many since before the beginning of the school year. So far only very big-name draws, such as David Sedaris, have managed to sell out beforehand.

Vowell has a new book coming out in spring of next year that is reportedly titled Unfamiliar Fishes. The Lisner Auditorium website reported at first that she would be reading essays from that work, but have since issued a correction explaining that she does not plan to read from this unpublished material.

Falling Whistles speaks to GW students about child warfare

Falling Whistles, an advocacy group focused on conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spoke to a group of college students from GW and around the area on Thursday about new initiatives in protecting Congolese citizens from the devastation of conflict resources.

The presentation, keynoted by James Stein, surrounded the story of children who were forced to fight in Congo’s ongoing civil war.

“More people have died in the war over Congo’s resources than any conflict since World War 2,” Stein said.  “When you buy a laptop or iPhone, do you really want that on your conscience?”

He noted that the history of resources in Africa has left hundreds of millions dead and a severely lagging regional economy.

“How is it that one of the most naturally rich countries in the world is being torn apart?” he asked.

With the focus on children, Stein noted that those who are too small to carry a gun are equipped with a whistle and “sent to the front lines to die.”

Thus the name Falling Whistles has taken its name.

“With Falling Whistles, their only choice is to feign death or to face it,” Stein explained.  The group has sold over 25,000 whistles to support its cause with chapters in Los Angeles and Washington DC. The group focuses on small discussion circles and gatherings to spread its word focusing mainly on youth, specifically college students.

To learn more about Falling Whistles and the conflict in Congo, visit http://www.fallingwhistles.com. 

Westboro Baptist Church Comes to GW

Students swarmed on Washington Circle to counter-protest the controversial, gay-bashing Westboro Baptist Church’s picketing of GW early this morning.

The GW Patriot sponsored the event in response to claims made on the church’s website that “parents and teachers, including college professors, are responsible for raising a generation of God-hating heathens.”

The counter-protest received sizable support from the GW student community, with over 1,800 “attending” guests for the Patriot’s Facebook event. Though the initial Hatchet report estimated the actual crowd size at 200 attendees, Patriot writer and creator of the Facebook event, Dan Keylin, claimed there were as many as 350 protesters.

Four members of the Westboro congregation casually paced the outer rim of the George Washington University Hospital side of Washington Circle with their now famous “God Hates Fags” signs, while passionate students took to the Patriot’s designated protesting space, on the Northern half of the of the circle, with signs attacking the church members’ anti-gay sentiments. One protestor wandered the crowd dressed in a Jesus getup and held a “No I Don’t” sign to counter the Westboro slogan.

Despite the occasional cry of “You suck!” or “Go back to Kansas!” the crowd was relatively tame.

Westboro’s picketers smiled while flashing their signs to passing cars and zealous protesters. They even sang a version of pop star Lady Gaga’s single, “Telephone,” replacing the outspoken gay rights advocate’s words with their own lyrics.

The event ran without incident, ending with a raucous send off of "Na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" as the church members left Washington Circle for their Veteran's Day protest at Arlington National Cemetery.

-Joseph Rabinowitz

National Press Club Hosts Annual Book Fair

On Tuesday evening, the National Press Club hosted its 33rd Annual Book Fair and Author’s Night at the Ballroom of the National Press Club building. Among the participating authors were Captain Chesley “Sully” B. Sullenberger, the ‘Miracle of the Hudson’ Pilot; former Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham; and authors of the New York Times bestseller Game Change, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.

The event served as a fundraiser for The SEED Foundation, an organization that helps prepare students for a successful college experience at high-performing public schools in D.C. and Maryland. Specifically, the event raised money for books at the school library at SEED’s Maryland campus. Among the primary sponsors of the event were Amtrak and The Hill.

Diane Rehm, a radio talk show host on National Public Radio (NPR), chaired the event. Over ninety writers participated in signing books and speaking to readers during the three hour event. The books at the fundraiser were provided by Barnes and Noble Booksellers.

Cultural Immersion Exhibition Grand Opening in Smith 102

This Tuesday students flocked to Smith 102 to see the grand opening of the Cultural Immersion Exhibition. The exhibit is a part of the deans seminar “The Art of the Exhibition”, though the art put up was brought in from all over the art department, graduate and undergraduate students alike.

As implied by the title, the exhibit seeks to highlight art capturing another culture, thus presenting the blend of cultures in DC as a blend of cultures in the art. The art displayed comes from all over the world, ranging from pictures of Honduras at midnight to the art of middle school students in India. The art form similarly broad, having watercolor, photography, film, wood carving, and more.

As students came into the premier they were given guides to the art, with the artist’s statements of their work and the declaration of purpose of the exhibit. The room quickly filled with curious patrons soon the room stuffed with students looking over the art and eating the complimentary cultural food.

Before students left, they were invited to create a small piece of art for a greater collage, titled “What does culture mean to you”. All the works are put on the wall to illustrate the range of culture at GW. The exhibit is open until November 19th and GW students are invited to go explore it.

Rove Speaks At CR Event

Karl Rove, Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff under former President George W. Bush, told the College Republicans on Friday that this year's elections were a referendum from independent voters on current president Barack Obama's policies.

Rove spoke to the College Republicans at a private event held at the Jack Morton Auditorium about the results of Tuesday's midterm elections, and what they showed about the college-age demographic.

Rove explained the results of Tuesday’s elections by providing statistics about the voting electorate, by ideology, age, and issues. Rove claimed that in the 2008 elections, the turnout among young voters aged 18 to 24 years old was 12 percent, while this past Tuesday, turnout for the same demographic was 11 percent. He also stated that more individuals from the 18-to-24-year-old age demographic voted Republican on Tuesday than in 2008.

A VIP meet-and-greet reception with Rove was held before the event for members of the College Republicans who had campaigned for local Republican candidates and volunteered with College Republicans' events throughout the last few months.

In a question and answer session moderated by the College Republicans Vice Chairman Will Frey, Rove reminisced on his years as a College Republican. He said it was a memorable experience where he traveled the country, meeting future legislators such as Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Rove campaigned throughout the South to become National Chairman of the College Republicans.

Rove promoted his book, Courage and Consequence, at the event by signing copies and often alluding to a few chapters during his speaking engagement.

Dominic Tierney Speaks to Elliot School about the American way of War

We love to fight, but we hate to clean up. This was the message derived from keynote speaker Dominic Tierney in his lecture on American thought on war surrounding his new book “How We Fight: Crusades, Quagmires and The American Way of War.” Tierney, a political science professor at Swarthmore College, described our addiction to regime change yet our disgust of nation building conflict.

Looking back at our “great wars” such as the Civil War, and World War 2, Tierney pointed out that, though multiples more people died, and there were many more civilian deaths, the United States found huge support for the troops. He contrasted this to our “dark wars” in countries such as Vietnam, Korea and the Philippines that led to massive public rejection and disgust. Why? Because, all of the ”dark wars” consisted of the United States attempt to implement democracy or, in other words, attempting to build nations. Tierney argued that Americans need a defined enemy and a clear plan, which becomes increasingly difficult when the enemy is the diplomatic target.

Former GWU President to Serve on Gray Transition Team

After an unsurprising victory in the DC mayoral election Tuesday, Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray unveiled his transition team today and included a name familiar to many GWU Students: Stephen Joel Trachtenberg.

Trachtenberg, the predecessor to current GWU president Steven Knapp, was selected alongside the president of the DC Chamber of Commerce, Barbara Lang, to advise the Mayor-Elect on issues of economic development. The pair were instructed to immediately address the District's soaring unemployment.

Trachtenberg, now 73, was the 15th president of the university from 1988 to 2007.

The 5th Avenue Deli: ‘Clean,’ ‘High Quality’ Food from a Friendly Face

A Lifelong Businessman Faces the Challenge of his Career Operating a Kosher Deli
“I was a businessman in my retirement,” said owner Fred Boldaji, “but they called me up and offered me a challenge.”

Three years ago the George Washington University didn’t have a kosher restaurant on campus. Even today, many students still don’t know the 5th Avenue Deli exists.

“Jewish kids come by and say ‘we didn’t know you were here,’” Boldaji explained.

But things are changing for the solely certified kosher restaurant on campus.

“We started off slow, but we’re doing better and better each month,” the owner stated.

The strategy is simple: if one person has a good experience, Jewish or not, kosher or not, he or she will come back.

Hundreds of Thousands Gather For "Rally to Restore Sanity"

Over two hundred thousand people gathered this Saturday at the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear", a rally hosted by John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. People came from all over the country to see the comedians put on a show in which they ribbed modern journalists and politicians while satirically arguing with each other. The show itself was apolitical, however, many political protesters demonstrated in the crowd and around the rally, especially at the Fox News truck.

Solid blocks of people stretched back along the national mall, far beyond the jumbo-trons set up for viewers. People at the back of the crowd were forced to strain their ears to try to hear the performance. GW freshmen Jim Crudele describes that he could "barely hear, from the distance and the ambulances that drove through the crowd every ten minutes". Even so, the crowd stood for hours listening to the hosts and various musical guests ranging from The Roots to Kid Rock.

The crowd, though mostly just normal audience members, was dotted with those dressed up or carrying signs. These people ranged from absurdest to political, with signs about tights not being pants and legalization of marijuana standings side by side. But as a whole, the event remained non-partisan with most costumes being just for fun.

As comical as the event was, it ended on a more serious note, with Stewart articulating the need for taking media with a grain of salt and embracing bipartisanship. After two more musical numbers, the crowd began to disperse, entertained, but sore after hours of standing crowded against each other to hear a message of sanity.