Washington City Paper: Contents for Mar. 21

The Comeback Kid
J.P. Blackford's recipe for dominance in GW's senate: one man, one vote, nine terms.

Cover Story

J.P. Blackford studies engineering at George Washington University. Most everyone on campus knows of him. More than a few have said his name in vain.

Blackford, to be sure, doesn't cut a prominent physical presence on the GW campus. Like many of his classmates, he hasn't lost his rounded baby face. His skin is pale, his hair short, dark, and parted on the side. He walks quickly and straight ahead, undistracted by the outside world. He looks, in sum, like someone who's more comfortable interfacing with software than people.

And Blackford's campus fame has nothing to do with his dissertation on boat traffic density in San Francisco Bay. Instead, it comes from his work in the senate of the campus government, the Student Association (SA). The group's charter, approved by the university's board of trustees in 1990, defines the SA's responsibilities as protecting the rights of students, encouraging participation in university policymaking, and reporting "on matters of concern to the students." The senate functions as the SA's unicameral legislative branch.

Blackford, who grew up a few blocks from Union Station in Northeast D.C., was slow to embrace a career in campus politics. It wasn't until his senior year that he decided to get on the ballot. "I had a friend who was running for office, and he said, 'Why don't you run for office, too?'" Blackford remembers. "It wasn't anything big....It was just like, Why not run for the SA? OK, sure." ... Continued

Issue of Mar. 21 - 27, 2003

News and Features

The Comeback Kid
J.P. Blackford's recipe for dominance in GW's senate: one man, one vote, nine terms.
Cover Story By Josh Levin
Closet Fire Clears Homeless Shelter
#2 D.C. Village Lane SW, March 7, 11:32 p.m.
The City By John Metcalfe
Bad Fix
Budget cuts threaten a District methadone program.
The City By Annys Shin
Protective Inaction
The art of guarding against boredom
The City By Jamahl Godfrey
Tough Bounce
Club guard arrested for alleged on-the-job beat-down.
The City By Holly Bailey
Travel Light
The Mail By Bill Vincent
Gravy Train
The Mail By Patrick G. Grasso
Chart Topper
The Mail By Chris Jandoli
Food for Thought
The Mail By Nina Planck
Now in Theaters...
The Mail By Nikolas Trendowski

Columns

Real March Madness
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Feeding Frenzy
Dept. of Media By Erik Wemple
Garbage Time
City Desk By John Metcalfe
Schoolhouse Rocks On
City Desk By Felix Gillette
Bite the Bulletin
Loose Lips By Elissa Silverman

Eats

Movies

Spoiling the Stew
Film Review By Arion Berger
Rodent Rage
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski
Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time
Film Review By Glenn Dixon
Piglet's Big Movie
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski

Music

Soul in Bondage
Music Review By John Murph
Screen Playing
Music Review By Andrew Beaujon
Attention! Blah Blah Blah
Music Review By Joe Warminsky
Transfiguration of Vincent
Music Review By Pamela Murray Winters
Green
A few of the things we're listening to this week, in no particular order
Music Review By Tricia Olszewski
Outside the Dream Syndicate: 30th Anniversary Edition
A few of the things we're listening to this week, in no particular order
Music Review By Mike Petillo
Remain in Light
A few of the things we're listening to this week, in no particular order
Music Review By Shannon Zimmerman
Cigarbox Planetarium
A few of the things we're listening to this week, in no particular order
Music Review By Dave Nuttycombe
Fall in a Hole
A few of the things we're listening to this week, in no particular order
Music Review By David Dunlap Jr.
Stormcock
A few of the things we're listening to this week, in no particular order
Music Review By Shauna Miller
Never Never Land
A few of the things we're listening to this week, in no particular order
Music Review By Brent Burton

Theater

On Edge City
Theater Review By Pamela Murray Winters

Arts and Events

Revival Houses
The new Silver and Avalon theaters demonstrate different approaches to cinema revitalization. But both face the same challenge: staying open the second time around.
Arts By Mark Jenkins
The Ones That Didn't Get Away
Artifacts By Joe Dempsey
A Woman Rebels
Artifacts By Louis Jacobson