More than 100 runners came out to the Renaissance Hotel Monday evening to take part in a memorial run honoring the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
The participants ran 4.09 miles around the National Mall, the same number as the elapsed time on the official race clock as the first explosion occurred.
A poster for HBO’s new series “Vice.”
It’s the last real school week of the year. Congratulate yourself on surviving this long.
– The Obamas and their green agenda, according to one group of athletes, are out to destroy a great American pastime — Ultimate Frisbee.
– Head out to eat at one of these 100 D.C. restaurants Thursday to participate in Dining Out For Life. A portion of your tab will go directly toward funding AIDS service organizations. Whole Foods and Tonic are participating.
– The Newseum will host a screening of HBO’s new documentary series “Vice.” Following the screening, producers, including alumnus Jason Mojica, will answer audience questions. Free baked goods will also be provided. The screening is Thursday and doors open at 7 p.m.
With finals looming on the horizon, now is the time to escape Foggy Bottom and explore the city. Soon enough the only thing you’ll be exploring is your textbook.
– Tap into your inner nerd at Awesome Con, the District’s own comic book convention. The event will have appearances from “Criminal Minds” stars and a presentation on surviving the Zombie Apocalypse. Awseome Con runs Saturday and Sunday at the Washington Convention Center. Tickets are available at the door.
– Break out your dancing shoes for the Let’s Move Dance-a-Thon. Spend eight hours dancing to help raise money for the DC Center, an organization that provides support and connections for the local LGBT community. The competition will take place at Cobalt DC on Saturday beginning at 4 p.m.
– Show your support for the victims of the Boston Marathon tragedy by participating in the Second Wind Cross Fit Solidarity five-kilometer run. Runners are encouraged to wear blue and yellow, Boston’s colors. The race begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday in Rock Creek Park.
Lori Clark, a professional belly dancer, at the annual Turkish Night celebrations Thursday. Erica Christian | Hatchet Photographer
This post was written by Hatchet reporter Shazreh Khan
The audience watched as she deftly balanced the sword on her head and lowered into a split.
Belly dancer Lori Clark, also known as Yasmina, was one of the highlight performers at the Turkish Student Association’s annual Turkish Night in the Marvin Center on Thursday.
The night started off with speeches from former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and President of the American-Turkish Council James Holmes and Behic Hatipoglu, a counselor from the Turkish embassy.
“Some say they were bitten by the Turkish bug…which [for me] was to to serve in Turkey, experience Turkish hospitality, Turkish history, culture, cuisine,” Holmes said, “and have the alluring sense that no matter how much you study Turkey, it’s never enough.”
The Turkish Association made sure its cultural night coincided with Turkey’s national sovereignty day in an effort to generate increased interest about the country and its history.
“I realized since I came to study in the United States that although a lot of people know about Turkey, they have this stereotypical image in their head and we’re trying to change that,” Beril Akman, president of the Turkish Student Association, said.
Students also enjoyed traditional Turkish food including stuffed grape leaves, baklava and Turkish coffee. Turkish senior Emre Can Erdemli was the night’s DJ and played a mix of Turkish and American music throughout.
This post was written by Hatchet reporter Caroline Multerer
The annual battle of high notes, harmonies and vocal percussion picked up Wednesday in Lisner Auditorium as campus a capella groups competed to see which was the best of the best.
The GW Vibes beat out seven a capella groups, including a new addition to the lineup – the GW MotherFunkers, for the best overall performance award. The a capella groups performed two songs each, ranging from top-40 hits to gospel tunes and classics from the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Each group also performed a snippet of “Don’t You Worry Child” by Swedish House Mafia, which was this year’s Class Council song choice requirement.
The groups were judged on tempo, pitch, style, group effect and clarity of lyrics for a chance to win four awards: “Voter’s Choice,” “Best Beat Boxer,” “Best Rendition of the Class Council Song Choice,” and “Best Overall Performance.”
An audience cheer-off broke the tie between the GW Troubadours and the Vibes for the voter’s choice award. Troubadours fans prevailed and the group won the award with their performances of “Some Nights” by Fun and “Locked Out Of Heaven” by Bruno Mars.
The Troubadours also won over the judges with their version of “Don’t You Worry Child,” which included frenzy of glow sticks, and took the prize for the best rendition.
$31.50 was how much sophomore Peter Sacco and senior Tae Min Kim were allowed to spend for weekly groceries as part of the GW SNAP Challenge.
The SNAP challenge – short for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – seeks to raise awareness of challenges faced by families who depend on a federal food stamp program.
Watch how Sacco and Kim worked through the challenge which started Tuesday:
Students threw packets of colored powder Sunday on University Yard at the annual Holi celebration, the Hindu festival bringing in the beginning of spring, held by GW Satyam.
Students from eight university Bhangra teams competed at Warner Theatre Saturday night in Bhangra Blowout XXI. University of Virginia’s bhangra team swept first place. Benjamin Lim | Hatchet Photographer
This post was written by Hatchet reporter Olivia Kantor.
This is where Bollywood meets dubstep.
Strobe lights flash across the stage as students dressed in hot pink, neon green and deep purple romp across the stage, dancing their hearts out to sick mash-ups of American pop hits and Bollywood classics.
The 20th annual Bhangra Blowout kicked off Saturday at the Warner Theatre. The event featured the top eight Bhangra teams in the country, YouTube sensation Lilly Singh – better known by her online alias Superwoman – and GW’s own dance crew Capital Funk.
A high-energy dance, which originated in northern India and features lengthy routines and intensive dance moves, Bhangra today infuses modern music with traditional choreography. Dancers use props and yell chants to liven the performances.
GW Bhangra co-captains Eishita Nariani, Pratigya Singh and Vishaal Kothari each find that Bhangra dancing offers them an outlet, culturally and artistically, that they can’t find elsewhere.
“I think dancing sets it aside from other cultural groups because getting together and doing something cultural, for me it makes my day feel full, and without dancing I just don’t feel right,” Nariani said.
University of Miami came in third place, Carnegie Mellon University in second and University of Virginia — to the cheers from their supporters in the audience — won first place and a $2,000 cash prize.
Regardless of the winners and losers, however, performing is what truly counts, Singh said.
“To go out there and put forward the best performance and the set we’ve worked so hard on, just seeing that come to fruition is the best reward we could ask for,” she said.
Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, reads for an audience in Jack Morton Auditorium on Tuesday. Delaney Walsh | Contributing Photo Editor
This post was written by Hatchet reporter Olivia Kantor.
Tony Kushner has written Oscar-nominated movies, won two Pulitzer Prizes and a penned Tony-Award winning play, but he announced to the audience Tuesday night that he would rather his biography boast “two time Golden Globe loser.”
This self-effacing attitude punctuated the “Evening With Tony Kushner,” hosted by the Jewish Literature Live series – an English department course taught by Faye Moskowitz which invites the authors from the class’ syllabus to speak on campus.
Kushner, most famous for his play “Angels in America,” spoke openly on everything from working with Steven Spielberg and writing the screenplay for “Lincoln,” to his literary heroes and how he’s writing his new play.
His play “Angels in America,” which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1993, is a mammoth – clocking in at seven hours and most often performed in two parts. For his screenplay for “Lincoln,” he read more than 100 books on the president and spent seven years on the 500-page manuscript.
He said he so fully invested himself in the research on Lincoln that he still finds himself reading books on the president even after the movie has been released.
Not one to waste time between projects, Kushner said he began writing his newest play in between takes on the set of “Lincoln.”
His award-winning accomplishments aside, Kushner said he remained indebted to his playwright idols like Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, and regarding his own role in the theater world, he genially acknowledged that “it’s the secret wish of everyone in theater that the playwright was dead.”
“I know I’ve made my own directors cry and throw up – literally throw up,” he said.
The English department over the past few months has organized a number of events surrounding Kushner’s visit including critical workshops about his work and student performances of a number of his plays.
Photo used under the Creative Commons license
With temperatures reaching the mid-80s Tuesday, head to Ben and Jerry’s in Georgetown (3135 M St.) to nab for a free ice cream cone.
Or go to any of these participating locations.
Building on the daily news that happens at GW, Beyond The Books covers the pulse of student life on campus.
Vol. 109
An Independent Student Newspaper
Serving The George Washington University Community Since 1904
