Thinning the Herd in Michael Eric Dyson’s Jay-Z Seminar

October 17, 2011 1 Comment

Recently, news outlets including The Nation reported that eminent African-American scholar Michael Eric Dyson has been teaching a seminar on Jay-Z’s “art and craft” at Georgetown University.

Unsurprisingly, the class is a huge hit, with over 140 students enrolled.

While this number is cited by Dyson as evidence of the seminar’s success, it raises the question of how effective this class really is for the students taking it, as opposed to an occasion for Dyson to hear himself talk while TAs handle all the actual discussion groups…

Wouldn’t it be a more successful undertaking for everyone involved if the class size was pared down to the point that each student could expect to interact with the brilliant Dyson, and to work out their ideas in freewheeling discussions? That’s kind of tough to pull off with a group that’s four times larger than the average Georgetown class.

Dyson’s fellow Georgetown scholar, Kelley Wickham-Crowley, faced a similar quandary when she taught a class on “The Lord of the Rings” several years ago. (It was actually a sneaky way to get people to sign up for a medieval literature course with a side dish of Tolkien, but that was forgivable because it was a really GOOD medieval literature course.) Needless to say, students perusing the course catalog jumped when they saw a course based on such a compelling pop-cultural topic and the signups were off the charts. But to avoid holding the class in a cavernous lecture hall, Wickham-Crowley greeted the class on Day One with a test to ensure they had read and remembered “The Lord of the Rings.” Everyone who failed the test was kicked out. Brilliant!

Since Michael Eric Dyson is a busy guy, ROTI created this test to help him out. It’s a simple 15-question examination; get fewer than 10 questions right and you’re outta there! Administering this bad boy would separate the true Jay-Z scholars-in-training from the dumb-asses who just wanted to get 3 credits for a class about a rapper.

Let’s begin! Answers are at the bottom of this post.

1. According to the song “December 4th,” Jay-Z was concieved when his parents, Gloria Carter and Adnes Reeves, made sweet love under what kind of tree?
a) Weeping Willow
b) Oak
c) Sycamore
d) Dollar Tree
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Dikembe Mutombo’s Request for Sex: How Did He Phrase It and Where Was It Uttered? An ROTI Investigation

September 15, 2011 Leave a Comment


In the 80s and 90s, possibly even earlier, there was an annual event at Georgetown University called the Block Party. Students paid a nominal sum, passed through a cursory ID check into a barricaded-off block of 37th Street, and proceeded to drink all the beer they could handle and more.

As GU blog Vox Populi recounts, Block Party was a “one-day outdoor carnival of drinking that masqueraded as a charity barbecue. Much to the chagrin of Georgetown administrators, students would drink openly and sloppily right outside the front gates.” Afterwards, students retired to New South Cafeteria to stuff their faces. And every year, a massive food fight broke out. It was awesome.

But at the 1991 block party, after the feasting had begun but before the food fight started, Georgetown’s seven-foot star center Dikembe Mutombo unwound his prodigiously long limbs, raised his frame to tower over the rest of the student body, and bellowed in a beer-sauced,  Zairean voice, “Who wants to sex Dikembe?” As the rest of the University looked on in pure awe, two comely volunteers quickly identified themselves, and Dikembe Mutombo left New South with a woman on each arm.

This is how the tale was passed down to me in 1998. But is this really what happened?  Read more of this post

Filed under Smiles, Sports Tagged with ,

Lisa Madigan: Murderer!!

December 22, 2008 Leave a Comment

madigan

We’re never afraid to buck a trend, and here’s one trend we’re freely bucking: the Lisa Madigan love fest.

The Illinois Attorney General is a new face on the national scene, with Hoya credentials and political knowhow, and her efforts to unseat slimy Governor Blago “Rod” Blagojevich have earned her such accolades as the leadoff spot on “Meet the Press” a few Sundays past.

By fighting to get rid of the corrupt Blago, a sleazeball who refers to his hairbrush as “the [nuclear] football”, Madigan is winning a lot of fans across the land.

The NYT even suggested that Madigan might be President someday:

Almost unanimously, the experts say that a successful contender will come from a younger generation than Mrs. Clinton — promising, as Mr. Obama has, to move to a post-boomer era, beyond the old identity politics.

But as fundamental a change as that may be, much else seems unlikely to change.

Mrs. Clinton easily cleared the bar with many voters on her ability to be commander in chief, making it easier for people to see a woman in that role. Still, most people assume that the burden will fall on women to prove toughness — of a certain kind.

Mrs. Clinton seemed to have the most success in the last months, fighting like a mama bear for her cubs. So some people look to women who have earned reputations as tough fighters: Lisa Madigan, a Democrat who is attorney general in Illinois, and mentioned as a possible successor to the embattled governor, Rod Blagojevich.

Madigan’s father is an influential Illinois politico, so naturally fellow dynastic heiress Caroline Kennedy gave Madigan an award for her “public service in the spirit of John F. Kennedy.“

cks madigan
Our daddies made us political princesses!!!!

What crap. Would you consider outlawing a delicious, alcoholic energy drink to be public service in the Kennedy tradition??

We certainly don’t.

MillerCoors agreed to stop selling Sparks, a caffeinated alcohol drink as part of an agreement Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Thursday.

As part of the agreement about so-called alcopops, MillerCoors will stop using images that imply power, like the identifying “plus” and “minus” symbols on its can that resemble those on batteries, Madigan said. MillerCoors will also cease marketing campaigns that appeal to underage youth, like its sponsorship of professional air guitarist William Ocean.

Chicago-based MillerCoors denied all allegations but cooperated with the investigation and will reformulate Sparks without caffeine or other stimulants. The company said it would also cease production of all caffeinated alcohol beverages and will not produce any in the future.

“These drinks are extremely dangerous in the hands of young people,” Madigan said in a statement. “They contain substantially more caffeine than coffee or soda and are marketed as a way to ‘power’ your nights by staying awake and drinking more alcohol. This is a completely inappropriate message to send to younger audiences.”

Madigan’s office participated in the investigation, which was led by Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe. The attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, and Oklahoma and the city attorney of San Francisco also participated in the settlement.

In June, St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, following negotiations with Madigan and 10 other states, agreed to withdraw from the alcohol energy drink market and reformulate Tilt and Bud Extra without caffeine or other stimulants.

That’s right – Lisa Madigan killed Sparks.

And she won’t stop until every sweet, sweet blend of booze and stimulants is off the market…

All in the name of “protecting the kids”!!!

Damn you, Lisa Madigan. Damn you and your moralizing ways. You are the most despicable Hoya politician since philandering Hank Hyde.

At least Hank never ripped tasty drinks from our thirsty hands!

RIP, Sparks.

Your sweet boozy nectar will always remain dear to our taste buds, like a phantom limb of tart intoxication…

sparks

Sniff.

Filed under Power & Politics, Serious Business Tagged with , , , , ,

Greg Monroe’s Ready to Go

November 17, 2008 Leave a Comment

Last year’s Morgan Wooten Award winner for high school player of the year, Greg Monroe, makes his debut for the Georgetown Hoyas tonight against Jacksonville.

Past winners of the award include LeBron James, Kevin Love and Greg Oden…so yeah, this guy can ball.

As the WAPO reports, the Hoyas definitively move on this season from the roster that took them to the Final Four two years ago:

The beauty of college basketball, Georgetown Coach John Thompson III likes to say, is that it constantly evolves.

There is no such thing as a finished product to sit back and admire, but instead a revolving cast of players, perpetually defining and redefining itself.

Thompson’s fondness for that flux — and the notion that his work, as a result, can never be finished — will be tested this season.

That test gets under way tonight at Verizon Center, where Georgetown opens its first season in four years without Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace and Patrick Ewing Jr., who led the Hoyas to consecutive Big East regular season titles and three NCAA tournament appearances.

The opponent is Jacksonville (0-1), a team Georgetown beat by 32 points last season but one Thompson isn’t taking lightly. The Dolphins have all five starters returning and scored 40 second-half points against Florida State in both teams’ opener Saturday before falling, 59-57.

“They’re a significantly different team than when we played them last year,” Thompson said of Jacksonville, picked to finish second in the Atlantic Sun Conference. “With their whole group back, they’re going to be confident, and we’re finding ourselves.”

For the faithful at Verizon Center, where Georgetown was unbeaten last season, the focus will be entirely on the new-look Hoyas.

Will 6-foot-11 freshman Greg Monroe, a McDonald’s all-American, show promise of becoming the Hoyas’ anchor inside?

Thompson cautions against assuming that Monroe will simply step into Hibbert’s role, characterizing him instead as “a facilitator.”

“He’s someone who’ll make his teammates a lot better,” Thompson said of the sought-after recruit. “He has an affinity and a gift for being able to pass the ball.”

Teammates rave about Monroe’s work ethic in practice.

“I love the kid!” gushed junior forward DaJuan Summers, who returns for his third season as a starter. “He works tremendously hard. His skill set is very good. And he’s very aware of what’s going on the game.”

Here’s a YouTube highlight reel of Monroe in action at some major national/international camps. We can’t vouch for the audio on this, but the visuals are banging. Update: Got your voucher right here…Gang Starr – “Full Clip.” Certified awesome.

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