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Volume 55, Issue 44 | wednesday, february 17, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
Faculty to diversify curriculum Professors pledge to deepen exploration of race during Black History Month By GABRIELLE PENNA News Writer
In celebration of Black Histor y Month, Notre Dame professors have pledged themselves to educate students of a ll studies on issues related to art, monuments and materia l culture, segregation and integration, civ il rights, race and politics, race and ethnicit y and race and human behav ior. One of these professors, Dor y Mitros Durham, associate director of the K lau Center for Civ il and Human Rights in the Keough School of Globa l A ffairs, voiced her desire to see a change in perspective from the Notre Dame
Poet laureate to speak Observer Staff Report
The U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo will speak at Notre Dame during a virtual event Monday, Feb. 22, as part of the annual Walk the Walk Week. Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the 23rd poet laureate, is the first Native American to hold the prestigious position. Harjo was named U.S. poet laureate in June 2019 and is currently serving her second term. She is critically acclaimed for her nine books of poetry, multiple plays and anthologies, children’s books and two memoirs. Additionally, Harjo is a musician and is known for six award-winning albums. Her signature poet laureate project is her interactive map and audio collection of Native Nations poetry entitled “Living Nations, Living Words.” Her latest album, “I Pray for My Enemies,” will be released March 5. see POET PAGE 4
NEWS PAGE 4
communit y. Durham said that in look ing at an institution’s stance on socia l concerns, one must identif y first what ma kes them different. W hat ma kes Notre Dame different, to her, is “our Catholic mission.” Because of the Universit y’s faith-driven mission, Durham encourages students, facult y and administrators to, a long w ith her, “put racia l justice front and center, ma k ing it imperative to our faith.” Durham said “reframing and reta k ing this issue as one that is inescapable for us as a Catholic institution” adds necessar y urgency to the problem. With faith, Durham
believes the Notre Dame communit y can address the inequa lities that persist in societ y. Transitioning to the significance of BHM in 2021, Durham addressed the socia l unrest of 2020. She noted the critica l change last year brought, “It had been a year where people who weren’t necessarily pay ing attention to racia l justice issues were now paying attention — at least a little bit,” Durham said. On the other hand, she stated that “people who were pay ing attention are now pay ing attention at a much deeper level.” Even so, Durham said it is
ludicrous to tie this issue to 2020 a lone. Racia l injustice is no new topic; for decades, there have been documented, racia lly motivated police k illings. “It seems a lmost silly to be ta lk ing about the emergency of socia l justice in a 400 + year struggle in the United States,” Durham said. Durham then said that a lthough 2020 is over, the fight for racia l equa lit y is far from that. As coverage of these events slowly leans off, Durham reiterated that the problem of racia l injustice still ex ists. She said Notre Dame students are ca lled to see HISTORY PAGE 3
Election tickets posted Observer Staff Report
The Notre Dame Judicial Council announced the running tickets for the upcoming student body president and v ice president elections Tuesday. The presidential and v ice presidential tickets, respectively, include juniors A llan Njomo and Matthew Bisner, juniors Ma x Siegel and Zachar y Holland and juniors Mabr y Webb and Jacob see ELECTION PAGE 3
University seeks vaccine approval By RYAN PETERS News Writer
Vice president for student affairs Erin Hoffmann Harding and v ice president for campus safet y and Universit y operations Mike Seamon met v ia Zoom on Tuesday evening to answer student-submitted questions on the Universit y’s COVID-19 policies and its potential to become a vaccine center in the see TOWN HALL PAGE 3
RYAN PETERS | The Observer
Erin Hoffmann Harding and Mike Seamon addressed students in a virtual town hall in which they discussed current testing procedures and the possibility of becoming a vaccine distribution site.
Activist details signs of stalking By MEG LANGE News Writer
Editor’s note: This story contains language describing stalking, violence and suicide. A list of reporting options and on-campus resources can be found on the Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross websites. Activ ist Debbie Riddle emphasized a singular point in her v irtual discussion
VIEWPOINT PAGE 7
Tuesday n ig ht: “Ta ke sta l king ser iously.” R idd le def ines sta l k ing as “a patter n of behav ior d irected at a specif ic person t hat is going to cause a reasonable person to feel fea r.” Liz Cou lston, Bel les Aga inst Violence Of f ice d irector a nd Bel les Suppor t ing Bel les coord inator, sa id R idd le has been v isit ing Sa int Ma r y’s for yea rs to teach st udents
SCENE PAGE 10
more about sta l k ing a nd to sha re t he stor y of Pegg y K lin ke, R idd le’s you nger sister who was attacked a nd k i l led by a sta l ker in 2003. Col lege st udents u ndersta nd ing t he sig ns a nd da ngers of sta l k ing is v ita l, R idd le sa id, as t he major it y of sta l k ing v ict ims a re bet ween t he ages of 18 a nd 24 yea rs old. R idd le bega n to tel l her sister’s stor y by ex pla in ing
t he or ig ins of K l in ke’s sta l ker. In 1998, K l in ke bega n med ica l school a nd sta r ted dat ing a ma n. T h is relat ionsh ip lasted u nt i l 2002. R idd le recou nted severa l insta nces of emot iona l abuse, invasion of pr ivac y, possessiveness a nd isolat ion over t he cou rse of K l in ke’s relat ionsh ip. She specif ica l ly reca l led when K l in ke’s boy f r iend
ND W LACROSSE PAGE 16
ND W SOFTBALL PAGE 16
see STALKING PAGE 5
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To accomodate students during the cold weather, Notre Dame installed Quad Lodges in both South and North Quads. These heated tents include ammenities such as boardgames, blankets, cornhole sets, miniaure golf and adirondack chairs.
The next Five days:
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Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Mediating Justice virtual 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Lecture about law, violence and ethnography.
Fellows Spotlight Zoom 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Come hear from Kellogg visiting and dissertation fellows.
Lecture: “Ferguson” virtual 12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. With guest speaker Wesley Lowery. Please register online.
“Touchstones of the Twentieth Century” Snite Museum noon - 5 p.m. Free photography exhibit.
Basilica Mass Basilica of the Sacred Heart 10 a.m. and noon All are welcome to attend.
YLND Goes Ice Skating Howard Park 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. Please register online for this free event.
“Labor Trafficking” virtual 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Featuring guest speaker Terrence C. Coonan.
Dante in America II Special Collections 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Kathleen Boyle speaks on Dante and ItalianAmerican culture.
“The Joy Luck Club” DeBartolo Hall 101 5:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Free movie sponsored by SUB and Chinese Culture Society.
La Misa en Espanol Basilica of the Sacred Heart 4 p.m. Mass rooted in Hispanic tradition.
News
Town Hall Continued from page 1
second of a series of v irtual tow n hall meetings. Moderated by first-year student Amanda Pirkowski, the v irtual tow n hall gave Hoffmann Harding and Seamon an opportunit y to prov ide insight into the Universit y’s decision-making. To start off the session, first-year student Madely n Stout inquired about the planning for pre-matriculation testing after seeing the rise in cases two weeks into the semester. Seamon said even w ith the thorough pre-matriculation and general sur veillance testing programs, the principal method for preventing a sharp rise in cases is follow ing the fundamental health guidelines. “We hear over and over again that the simple guidelines … are what’s really making a difference,” Seamon said. Second-year law student Annika Nielsen-Kim asked if
History Continued from page 1
get involved, if not fully dedicating themselves to the issue, then by finding ways to get more people involved. Durham believes students should do what they can in the time they have. She encouraged them to “take ever y moment of opportunity to grab the attention of those who are willing to be apart of this movement for racial equality.” In addition, she said she would remind students that there are professors on campus at all times, willing to talk and educate. Professors in these fields “do not exist just
ndsmcobserver.com | wednesday, february 17, 2021 | The Observer
it is possible for students to request an additional test on a day other than their scheduled sur veillance testing day. With the saliva lab already operating at a high capacit y, Seamon said students are not able to request an additional test or change their sur veillance testing day. “We don’t have the f lexibilit y to let people change times once people selected their day, and we gave ever ybody the chance [to choose their sur veillance testing day],” Seamon said. In addition to general surveillance testing, Seamon added that the Universit y has implemented supplemental testing to tr y to diagnose cases w ithin demographics in the communit y experiencing concerning trends. Follow ing a question regarding the possibilit y of mov ing Junior Parents Weekend (JPW ) to next year, Hoffman Harding said an in-person JPW for the class of 2022 is not feasible due to the uncertaint y of next fall. “I am sad for the junior
class that we’ve asked them to go v irtual this spring, but we really think it’s necessar y for the health and safet y of ever ybody,” Hoffmann Harding said. In response to t wo questions regarding the status of athletic facilities, Hoffmann Harding said RecSports has updated the Smith Center schedule in order to fit as many appointments as possible and that students will not be able to play basketball in any of the facilities this semester due to it being a closecontact activity. Junior George Seyfried asked Hoffmann Harding and Seamon if the University has played any role in ride-sharing services’ limited offerings. Hoffmann Harding and Seamon said the University has no knowledge of ridesharing companies’ plans. “I think people sometimes think the University has more inf luence than we really do in certain areas and this is one,” Seamon said. Junior Cole Carpenter asked if students who have received both doses of a
COV ID-19 vaccine w ill have to quarantine if deemed a close contact. Seamon responded by say ing vaccinated students w ill not be subject to quarantine but w ill still need to be tested due to uncertaint y surrounding vaccinated indiv iduals’ capabilit y of spreading the v irus. Seamon and Hoffmann Harding then fielded a question regarding the Universit y’s potential of becoming a COV ID-19 vaccine site. Seamon said the Universit y is working w ith the Indiana Department of Health to become a vaccine site, but the process ultimately revolves around the vaccine supply which is dictated by the state and federal governments. “It’s going to be dictated by [the state and federal governments], not by us.” Seamon said. “Our job is to have a site and have a structure ready so that we can take any vaccines they give us and we can deploy them quickly to the eligible populations at that time.”
when there are protests out on the quads,” she said. Even so, she cautions students who seek to celebrate this month to not “think that [you] can just section this off and do a little something with it for a while and then move on.” Korey Garibaldi, assistant professor of American Studies, echoed Durham’s sentiments on the importance of viewing Black histor y outside of the month of Februar y. “Black histor y is American histor y and transnational histor y,” he said. “It is not something that is limited to a month or a particular course.” Garibaldi explained the benefits of thinking about Black
histor y all the time. “If Black histor y isn’t something that is conceptualized as one month, there becomes a stronger opportunity to facilitate and encourage racial pluralism,” Garibaldi said. Although often forgotten about, it is the seemingly insignificant actions, that have the power to create positive change, Garibaldi said. Among these actions is taking into consideration what is taught in the classroom. “We all have to make sure we are not teaching racially homogenous curriculums,” he said. These subtle changes — thinking in terms of how communities and institutions are conceptualized — which stem
from a collective effort, allow for social progress, Garibaldi said. Transitioning to the responsibilities Notre Dame students have, Garibaldi urged each member of the community to ask themselves the following: “How diverse are your reading habits, social habits and professional habits?” Doing so, in addition to “speaking up, thinking about the ways that different experiences can be represented, and taking that message out into the world,” is how Garibaldi believes real change manifests. N’Kaela Webster, senior and president of the Black Student Association (BSA), said the organization’s goal is to bring further awareness to Black history
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Seamon added if the University does become a vaccine distributor to the Notre Dame community, unlike the Flu Blitz in the fall, they will not have enough vaccines to vaccinate all the students in a short time period. “If we are successful in becoming a site, we will get incremental amounts just like all these other sites across the state are,” Seamon said. “Then what we’ll have to do is distribute them to the Notre Dame community in the pecking order that is outlined by the state.” Seamon said he is hopeful that the University will eventually become a vaccine distributor, but said it’s still unknown about when or if it will happen. “I really am hopeful, but it’s too early to tell. We want more vaccines [distributed] quicker into all of societ y,” he said. “Keep lighting Grotto candles.” Contact Ryan Peters at rpeters5@nd.edu
and host tri-campus events at Notre Dame to bring the community together. Webster said she calls on individual action and motivation. She said true education begins with the individual “wanting to know more and then pursuing different opportunities to do so.” Webster recommended students stay up to date with the activities BSA and the various clubs that fall under BSA host throughout the academic year. Although the COV ID-19 restrictions make it challenging for clubs to continue hosting events, the lack of in-person events should not be an excuse to not pursue education on racial injustice, Webster said, as there are still platforms to use for continuous education — including the pages black@ nd on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. All are easily accessible resources Webster said “ever yone should be using.” The most important aspect that this month highlights, Webster said, is the importance of “bringing ever yone together.” Contact Gabrielle Penna at gpenna@nd.edu
Election Continued from page 1
Calpey. The campaign period begins today, and election day is Wednesday, Feb. 24 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Students w ill be able to vote v ia a link sent to their email. Incidents of alleged Election Misconduct should be reported to the Judicial Council.
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NEWS
The observer | wednesday, february 17, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
Student reflects on working for Kamala Harris By SERENA ZACHARIAS Notre Dame News Editor
Third-year law student Rachel Palermo said she became interested in politics when she was in high school. Now she’s serving as the assistant press secretary to vice president Kamala Harris while finishing up her law degree. “I think it all kind of started with high school speech team, and then it kind of spurred through extracurriculars in college from there,” Palermo said. Palermo grew up in New Brighton, Minnesota, and was an undergraduate at St. Olaf College. As student body president her senior year in college, Palermo said her cabinet focused on combating sexual assault on campus. That same year, former President Barack Obama and the White House Council on Women and Girls launched the “It’s On Us” campaign to raise awareness and prevent assault on college campuses. “We took that very seriously at school and ran that campaign at our school, and that was something that I was really proud to be a part of,” Palermo said. During college, Palermo also interned at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. She knew she wanted to get a law degree by the time she was a senior, but a number of lawyers she met during undergraduate advised her to get some experience prior to law school. Taking that advice, Palermo got a job
Poet Continued from page 1
The office of Multicultural Student Programs and Ser v ices, the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience and the Native American Student Association of Notre Dame are sponsoring “An Evening w ith Joy Harjo.” She w ill read some of her poetr y and participate in a Q& A. Native American Student Association president, senior Mikaela Murphy, and professor of English and Africana studies and director of the Initiative on Race and Resilience Mark A. Sanders w ill moderate the Q& A. The free event begins at 7 p.m. and registration is required.
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at the Democratic National Committee in Washington D.C. on their press team. During the 2016 general election, she became assistant press secretary and the director of women’s media. Palermo kept busy by writing press releases, working on speeches, talking to reporters and traveling across the country to host events rallying people to vote for Hillary Clinton. “The most fun experience I had was attending several of the Democratic primary debates to help run the entire press operation,” Palermo said in a follow-up email. “One of them had nearly 700 reporters in attendance, and a colleague and I managed all of the press logistics and facilitated interviews. That was an absolutely incredible experience.” At a stop in South Bend, Palermo was first introduced to the city and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, not knowing she would eventually move to South Bend and work for the Buttigieg campaign. After the election, Palermo began working for the communications team for SKDKnickerbocker, a consulting firm that supports Democratic politicians. As she worked in communications during and after the election, Palermo said she also sought out opportunities to be involved in legal work to get more experience before getting her law degree.
Palermo chose Notre Dame partly because the tight-knit community reminded her of St. Olaf. “The way that people talked about Notre Dame, and the way that people talked about their experiences here, it just really seemed like people cared about each other and cared about the community,” Palermo said. When she began law school, Palermo thought the political chapter in her life had ended. However, as rumors began to spread of Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, Palermo knew she wanted to be involved. She volunteered at Buttigieg’s campaign announcement in the Studebaker building, helping with press again. “It made me realize how much I missed being in that space,” Palermo said regarding the event. Palermo was offered a legal externship and continued working for the Buttigieg campaign until he eventually dropped out of the race. “It was an incredible way for me to still be pursuing my law degree and be learning the law but be back in the political space that I was in before law school,” Palermo said. Meeting Buttigieg at a previous stage of her career made working as an extern “even more special,” Palermo said. This past summer, Palermo began volunteering with the Biden campaign, helping on
Courtesy of Rachel Palermo
Third-year Notre Dame law student Rachel Palermo is serving in vice president Kamala Harris’ cabinet as assistant press secretary.
the legal team and working with Women for Biden after her summer job at a law firm in Washington D.C. got cut short. “For all of us, it was very disappointing that our summers looked a lot different because of this horrible pandemic, but it allowed me to get involved with the campaign when I may not have been able to get as integrated,” Palermo said. In September, Palermo joined the Biden-Harris Transition Team. Palermo said she’s passionate about gender equity issues in particular. At Notre Dame, Palermo is the co-president of the Women’s Legal Forum, and at every stage of her career, Palermo said she has tried to focus on issues surrounding gender equity.
Palermo said she’s honored to serve as assistant press secretary to Vice President Kamala Harris and is grateful for the opportunity. “We are at a time when our country is facing converging crises, we’re facing an economic crisis, a pandemic or reckoning on racial justice, a climate crisis and those are just a few of the urgent issues that we’re facing,” Palermo said. “I’m looking forward to playing a part in addressing [those issues] because I think that there’s a lot of work to be done. And I think that we’re at a really important time in our nation’s history to come together and try to figure out answers to these problems.” Contact Serena Zacharias at szachari@nd.edu
Tours continue for prospective Gateway students, Driscoll Scholars By MEGAN FAHRNEY News Writer
Though campus tours for prospective Notre Dame students remain suspended for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19 concerns, tours of Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame have recently been made available for prospective Gateway and Driscoll Scholar students. This year, these students may only schedule individual campus visits with themselves, their family and a guide. Emily David, coordinator of the Gateway, Driscoll Scholars and NROTC prep programs, said because Holy Cross is so much smaller than Notre Dame, the College is in a position where it can provide personal campus visits. Each tour begins with a oneon-one meeting with David. Next, a current Gateway or Driscoll student gives a tour of Holy Cross. Then, prospective students have lunch with a different Gateway or Driscoll student. Finally, prospective students walk from Holy Cross to Notre
Dame and tour Notre Dame with a sophomore, junior or senior who went through one of the two programs. “I’m just so thankful that we are able to organize all of this because coming to campus is a huge help in understanding if the Gateway [or Driscoll] program is a good fit for the students,” David said. The visit days began Feb. 8 and will continue through the end of April. On campus visits, masks must be worn at all times, students receive a temperature check when they arrive and physical distancing is practiced, David said. First-year Kathe Pribyl Pierdinock, a current Gateway student enrolled at Holy Cross, helps schedule tour guides. She said it can be challenging to coordinate guides for the individual visits. “With the visit days, we’re only allowed to have one family at a time,” Pribyl Pierdinock said. “We have three separate visit times on Monday, and also on Friday.” In normal years, the Gateway program has five group visit
days, where prospective students and their families meet each other, tour both campuses, listen to a presentation and attend a group reception. The Gateway Program, started in 2013, admits 76 students each year. This select group is enrolled at Holy Cross for their first year with a guaranteed transfer to Notre Dame as sophomores. Gateway students take four classes at Holy Cross and one at Notre Dame, plus the Moreau First Year Experience course. The Driscoll Scholars Program was founded in 2018. The program is designed for students interested in STEM majors. Driscoll Scholars spend two years at Holy Cross followed by either two or three years at Notre Dame, depending on which college they enter into. First year Andrew Packard, a current Driscoll Scholar enrolled at Holy Cross, said he has had a very positive experience in the Driscoll Scholars program. “From a social standpoint, I’ve created a lot of friends not only within Driscoll, but also [with] other students at Holy Cross, both Gateway and non-special
program students,” Packard said. David was a member of the first class of the Gateway Program herself and said she enjoyed having the benefits of both a big and small school at Notre Dame and Holy Cross. “I ran cross country for Holy Cross, and … I wasn’t a big runner, but I still got to t echnically be a collegiate athlete,” David said. “But I was also very much involved at Notre Dame. I was part of Dance Company when I was a Gateway student, and then that continued on through my senior year at Notre Dame.” The Gateway and Driscoll Scholars programs are highly selective, and prospective students should be very proud of being chosen, David said. “When you come and see campus and learn more about the program, and you meet the students who are here in the program, and you see how happy they are, you understand, ‘Oh wait, this is a really good deal,’” David said. Contact Megan Fahrney at mfahrney@nd.edu
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Filmmaker addresses impact of racial injustice By GENEVIEVE COLEMAN Associate News Editor
On Tuesday evening, Saint Mary’s welcomed film director Fred Kuwornu, who gave a presentation entitled “Black Lives Matter Italy and the Legacy of Italian Colonialism.” The event was cosponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures and the Office of Inclusion and Equity. Associate professor of Italian, Umberto Taccheri, began the presentation by introducing Kuwornu to the virtual audience. “So Fred describes himself on his CV as a filmmaker, a producer, an activist, a scholar and an educator,” he said. “ Fred produces political documentaries. [His film “Inside Buffalo”] was the winner of the Best Documentary at the Black International Cinema in Berlin. … On one hand, Fred does these incredible documentaries; on the other hand, he’s also another good ambassador for the rights of the African-Italian community.” Kuwornu opened his presentation by speaking about how his talk is situated in an important moment in history. “I’m very excited to have this conversation because we are in the
middle of Black History Month in the United States, and we are also in the middle of an interesting timing in Italy to talk about the connection between colonialism and also the Black Lives Matter movement in Italy,” he said. Kuwornu showed a trailer of a Vice News documentary to highlight the present Italian racial justice movement. He then addressed the words of an Italian politician who claims that Black people were not supposed to be in the country by speaking about his heritage as an Afro-Italian man. “Actually, I’m a source of an African immigrant — my dad who came in 1965 to study medicine in Italy and is a surgeon since 1976, so he worked there for more than 50 years as a doctor,” he said. Continuing to discuss his upbringing, Kuwornu said he was often the only person of color in certain spaces, which inspired him to produce films that are more representative of the African community and its history. “I felt [like] the only one in the room in many occasions: In elementary school, middle school, high school, at university, when I had my first job in radio and as a TV producer,” he said. “We want to share not only contemporary stories
of the average audience, but we want to share also historical stories about African descent.” Reflecting on Black Italians in history that were influential to Italy, such as St. Josephine Bakhita and Domenico Mondelli, Kurworu played a clip highlighting their accomplishments and their impact on the country. After this montage, Kuwornu discussed the impact of racist propaganda being espoused among the Italian government as it invaded Northern and Eastern Africa and society as a whole. “This was a tremendous time in which of course a racial idea of the society has been propagated into everything, so in advertisement, into the film, into the radio show and into the schoolbook,” Kuwornu said. “In particular, the idea of the Black woman was sexualized. This was also a feeling of the time because the same thing happened in the United Kingdom or in France.” Kuwornu also spoke about the effects of colonialism are still seen today. He gave the example of an Italian pasta company that named three new pasta shapes after three Italian colonies in December of last year. To conclude his presentation,
Alumnae organization hosts mentorship program By SIOBHAN LOUGHNEY News Writer
Hesburgh Women of Impact (HWOI), an organization of Notre Dame alumnae dedicated to celebrating and supporting female leadership within the University, is hosting a mentorship program in partnership with the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development. The program matches undergraduate women with an alumna in their field of interest to guide and support them in career related preparation and goals throughout the spring semester. Hesburgh Women of Impact was formed in 2016 by a group of alumnae led by Anne Thompson (‘79) and Cindy Parseghian (‘77), with the initial goal of fundraising to renovate Hesburgh Library’s north entrance. Since then, inspired by the legacy of Father Hesburgh, the organization has aimed to highlight the work and leadership of Notre Dame women, as well as fundraise for undergraduate financial aid. As part of its mission to engage with future female leaders in the undergraduate student body, HWOI runs the mentorship program every fall and spring semester, with the exception of the fall 2020 semester, during which the program was paused. Forty-nine Notre Dame alumnae have volunteered as mentors for the spring 2021 semester, bringing
experience in law, finance, healthcare, sustainability and a variety of other fields. Mentors and mentees will be required to contact each other at least twice during the semester, but are given the flexibility to utilize the partnership as much as they would like in a variety of ways. “The mentorship program typically runs the length of the semester, and we ask mentoring pairs to connect at least two to three times in some form — a phone call, a Zoom meeting, etc.” said Grace Prosniewski, program director of HWOI. “They can include mock interviews, resume reviews and short- and long-term goal setting.” In a partnership that brings together women from all different classes at Notre Dame, mentors and mentees alike have much to gain from the experience. One mentor with experience in finance and education, Laura Schwartz Cesaro (‘09) has been working with undergraduate women through HWOI since 2018. “I chose to become a HWOI mentor so that I could give back,” Cesaro said. “Sometimes the business world can still feel maledominated, so I like to help women feel supported, prepared and confident as they enter into their careers.” Cesaro works with students to gauge their goals and how they can benefit from the program early on. By staying in contact for the duration of the semester, she provides participating students
with insight into their field of interest, as well as contact with other professionals. This semester’s mentorship program is set to begin in early March, with applications due today, Feb. 17. Cesaro encourages undergraduate women to complete the brief form, which includes a few questions about the student’s goals and interests. She encourages students to take the opportunity to join the program, emphasizing the value of engaging with an alumna who can share new perspectives and career guidance with them. Once a student is matched with a mentor in the program, they may continue to work with their mentor for future semesters. HWOI seeks to match as many undergraduates with mentors as possible, but space is limited. Should the program run out of space, undergraduates are encouraged to reapply or reach out to Career Services to find more similar opportunities. “Our women love to interact with and support Notre Dame students. We are always eager to feature students and student clubs in our newsletters, mailings and social media,” Prosniewski said. “We also love to host students at our events — which are currently all virtual.” Students with question can email hwoi@nd.edu. Contact Siobhan Loughney at sloughne@nd.edu
Kuwornu took questions from the audience. He responded to a question about when he realized his Blackness when he was a child. One instance was when a woman approached him and his mother and assumed that he was adopted, which caused him intense concern. “I was really shocked by this word [adopted] because I never really knew what it meant, so I asked my mom and then I started to panic because I started thinking that I really was adopted,” he said. Kuwornu also spoke about seeking out diversity after growing up in a predominantly white town and also about creating it for others. “I had my goals and my dreams, but I’m surely limited by the fact that I didn’t know all the world and the context of the beauties of diversity, so what I’m trying to do right now with a lot of people in Italy is to create institutional diversity to the school into the system into the institution, because the society is just diverse,” he said. When answering a question about the new administration changing rules about giving Italian citizenship to immigrants, Kuwornu was hopeful changes would occur after the next election. “Maybe with the new election and a new parliament, they will put
Stalking Continued from page 1
spontaneously showed up at her family home for New Year’s without being invited. At this part of the discussion, Riddle paused her story to issue a warning. “Trust your gut,” she said. “If it feels weird, it’s probably because it is weird.” In general, 78% of stalkers use more than one mode to stalk — calling, texting, using social media or physically following and harassing their victim — and the majority of victims know their stalker, Riddle said. After Klinke ended the relationship, the stalking began. “The most dangerous time in a stalking victim’s life is when [the victim] decides to leave, because they don’t know what will happen next,” Riddle said. Klinke’s ex-boyfriend began calling and texting her upwards of 50 times a day, leaving coercive messages and threatening violence. When Klinke didn’t react, the stalker tried a new tactic. He printed accusatory f lyers including her phone number, and distributed them all over the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they both lived. Klinke took the f lyers to the police, but they offered little help, Riddle said. Despite her best efforts to stay hidden from her stalker, Klinke was discovered and
again on agenda the idea to vote in your city, but we are talking about it, not before 2023 or 2024,” he said. Kuwornu referred back to his childhood when asked about his sister and their search to find their roots. “It was just difficult to explore our roots with the fact that we didn’t have relatives in Italy and traveling to Ghana in West Africa, the culture my dad was from, was very expensive at the time,” he said. “… This opportunity unfortunately was not allowed to me to see so basically, also my sister grew up with an experience so that was really more homogeneous to the white side that we had.” In addition, Kurwornu also talked about the similarities between global approaches to immigration. “Basically, it’s similar to many other people, young people in many countries in which they have basically this problem, they are born in many countries, or they are recognized, or they raised in this country since they were kids, but they are not recognized as citizens,” he said. “…So of course, it’s a global issue and I think that needed to be addressed.” Contact Genevieve Coleman at gcoleman01@saintmarys.edu
attacked six days before her scheduled stalking trial. Police arrived at the scene and attempted to negotiate with the stalker, but were unable to stop him from killing Klinke and then himself. Riddle reminded the audience that weapons are used in about 20% of stalking cases, with knives being the most heavily utilized. In addition, women are more likely to be stalked than men. Klinke’s experience and early death serves as a reminder to take stalking seriously, Riddle emphasized. “Stalking is not based on love, these behaviors are really based on power and control,” she said. “They usually fall out of rejection, the stalkers are seeking attention.” Some victims will question themselves, Riddle said, wondering if they are jumping to conclusions or exaggerating. To avoid this, victims need allies and support, she added. “Trust the victims’ instincts,” Riddle said. “Believe what they’re say ing.”
Liz Coulston is a confidential resource on the Saint Mary’s campus and the Belles Supporting Belles Coordinator. She can be contacted either by phone at 574-284-4081 or by email at ecoulston@saintmarys.edu Contact Meg Lange at mlange03@saintmarys.edu
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The observer | Wednesday, February 17, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
Inside Column
Thank you, egg quesadilla
The child allowance debate reveals the emptiness of ‘working-class conservatism’
Serena Zacharias Notre Dame News Editor
Patrick Aimone BridgeND
Everyone has “their” meal. The meal they can make better than any other meal. Or in my case, one of the few meals I can make at all. After spending hours scouring YouTube, watching a variety a cooking competition shows and purchasing my very own pots and pans over the summer, I felt equipped to start cooking regularly for myself. While I can make a number of dishes (as in multiple types of curry and fajitas), I am incredibly lazy when it comes to cooking. Meal prepping has helped, but I eventually get tired of whatever dish I made Sunday morning by Tuesday night, and that’s when I turn to my trusty egg quesadilla. My roommate first introduced me to the egg quesadilla on a Monday night in October when we were hungry for a late-night snack. Ever since that first night I was hooked. In the past few months, I have consumed far too many egg quesadillas than I would like to admit. I am currently eating an egg quesadilla as I write this, and as you read this, I might very well be eating an egg quesadilla. To allow others who have never enjoyed the gooey goodness of an egg quesadilla, I have transcribed a recipe below with tips and tricks from me personally. Please enjoy and let me know how your egg quesadillas turn out. *Note: I am allergic to milk protein, so I eat fake cheese. You people who have been graced with the ability to eat real cheese can substitute do so. How to make an egg quesadilla (the way my roommate taught me): 1. Place pan on stove and turn stove to medium heat. 2. Add oil/butter/greasy substance of choice to pan. 3. Whisk an egg — or two if you like thick quesadillas. 4. Add whatever random toppings to the eggs you have on hand. My favorites are spinach and diced green peppers. I hate onions. 5. Scramble the eggs. Hope it doesn’t stick to the pan. I don’t know why it sticks sometimes. If you know why, please reach out. 6. Take eggs off the pan and place them on a plate. Be very careful during this step to not drop the eggs on the ground. It might happen. 7. Run quickly to fridge and take out fake cheese (or real cheese if you dare) and tortillas. 8. Place a tortilla on the pan, and then slap it with a spatula over and over until it’s warm. 9. Place the scrambled eggs on one half of the tortilla. Generously sprinkle the fake cheese over the eggs. 10. Add Tabasco. And then add more. 11. Fold the tortilla in half and try not to burn yourself. Continue slapping the tortilla with a spatula until you’re ready to flip. 12. FLIP. 13. Slap with a spat. 14. When the tortilla seems crispy enough (or when you’re too hungry to wait any longer), take off stove. 15. Enjoy your creation! You are a chef! 16. Check to see if you’re running out of eggs, tortillas or fake cheese because what else are you going to eat for the rest of the week? You can contact Serena at szachari@nd.edu The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the most significant intraparty division in Washington recently is related to the second impeachment of President Donald Trump, with seven Republicans joining Democrats in voting to convict him for incitement of insurrection — and you might even be right. But in the midst of all that furor, Sen. Mitt Romney decided two weeks ago to buck his party on another issue, which may prove more lasting and consequential: becoming the first Senate Republican to endorse a child allowance. Romney’s proposal, entitled the Family Security Act, would send families a monthly cash benefit of $350 for children under six years old and $250 for those 6-18, up to five children. It’s a simple program predicated on a moral truth — that no child should grow up in poverty — and an economic truth — that families who raise children are producing a major social benefit at great financial cost to their household, and ought to have some of that cost offset. Romney’s proposal mirrors a key platform plank of the Biden campaign, and Senate Democrats have since proposed a (slightly less generous) version of the program. The differences between the proposals are small relative to the magnitude of the program, and most cut in Romney’s favor — his benefit is more generous, phases out later, is administered through the Social Security Administration and would be permanent. The key difference is the fiscal impact — the Democratic proposal would be a one-time expenditure folded under COVID-19 stimulus, whereas Romney’s plan is deficitneutral and paid for primarily by consolidating existing child benefits and eliminating the SALT tax deduction, which primarily accrues to the wealthy (and before you cry foul — poor and middle-class families still end up significantly ahead). Plus, the proven resilience of social programs after they are created suggests that Democrats would be fools to pass up the opportunity to make the child allowance permanent on a bipartisan basis. The Romney proposal is great, and great for a lot of liberal, conservative and non-ideological reasons: It would cut child poverty by a third, enable parents to pursue the family size and structure they desire without the looming threat of poverty, decrease existing marriage penalties and be easier to administer than current benefit programs. And it’s permanent. There’s a reason 33 of the 34 other OECD countries offer more generous family benefits than we do. It’s good policy. That’s not the point. The more interesting aspect of this debate is how quickly many on the right have abandoned all pretense of a “working-class conservatism,” which many hoped Trump had ushered in, and retreated to well-worn arguments against antipoverty programs of any kind. Marco Rubio is of course the worst offender here — his penchant for blowing in the wind has taken him from calling for a “pro-worker Republican Party” to slamming the child allowance as “welfare assistance” that would benefit the undeserving poor. But (dis)honorable mention too goes to Republican leadership, which has stayed silent on the proposal, as well as the American Enterprise Institute, which helpfully chimed in to argue that poverty is a useful incentive to keep poor families on the right track. (The primary economic argument here, if you are still inclined to consider these sorts of objections in good faith, is that the child allowance would produce an income effect that decreases work incentives and therefore the labor supply — in essence, that some parents would have enough supplemental income from the child allowance that they would choose to work fewer hours in order to spend more time with their children. If you can believe it, this is an argument against the proposal.)
Admittedly, the evolution to such a pro-family, antipoverty proposal has been a long time coming for Romney, he of “47%” fame as the 2012 Republican nominee. But given the hypothesis that the Republican coalition is shifting to include more working-class voters, one has to wonder — why doesn’t he have more Republicans alongside him? This may be surprising, at least, at the surface. But at a deeper level, the GOP’s reflexive opposition makes sense. Because passing a child allowance — or any significant government program that will provide material benefits to a broad class of citizens — is an existential threat to the present conservative strategy of attaining political power. At present, the Republican Party benefits from a powerful asymmetry — that the federal government doesn’t need to work to justify their political program. Democrats suggest that the government is a mutual project, to which you ought to contribute and which will look out for you in times of need — this requires the government to administer social programs in a timely and effective manner. By contrast, if the last four years are any indication, the GOP policy program consists of tax cuts for the rich, judicial confirmations and occasionally hauling Jack Dorsey before a committee. None of this requires state capacity; none of it touches the average voter’s life. And so freed from the notion that politics can provide them material benefits, large swaths of America are free to treat politics as entertainment — rooting on their team, obsessing over dramas and “dunks” and selecting the most enthralling personality to hold office. (If you think for a moment that this habit is confined to conservatives, turn on The Daily Show or John Oliver and then get back to me). Democrats have been gifted with unified control of government for the next two years, but there is no long-term road out of this polarized morass except the hard task of actually governing. The child allowance, as a broad social program that provides undeniable material benefits to a broad swath of the population, would be a major step in this direction. But since Reagan coined his nine “terrifying” words, the American Right has realized that their best path to lasting political power is to mock, deride and undercut the notion that government exists to help its citizens. So one can hardly expect them to support such a proposal. All that to say: You can bloviate as much as you like about a populist realignment in the U.S., warn Democrats that they’re being “outflanked” on spending policies or point sanctimoniously at the European right’s (mixed) record of pro-worker policies. But the fact remains that until the Republican Party comes out in favor of policies that aid the material needs of working families, all their rhetoric about “working-class conservatism” will remain empty posturing. And there may not be incentive enough for them to do this on their own — our 45th President indicates that leaning on a primarily aesthetic politics of flag hugs and middle fingers is not necessarily a bad electoral strategy for Republicans. This will be a tough cycle for the GOP to ever break. I do hope the Democrats do it for them, by reminding Americans of what their government can and should provide. The child allowance is a good place to start. Patrick Aimone is a junior in Sorin who looks forward to one day collecting a child allowance or two. He is the co-president of, but does not speak for, BridgeND, a non-partisan political education and discussion group committed to bridging the partisan divide through honest, respectful and productive discourse. BridgeND meets weekly on Mondays at 5 p.m. and will be discussing the child allowance policy next Monday, Feb. 22. You can contact the club at bridgend@nd.edu or @bridge_ND on Twitter. The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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The observer | Wednesday, February 17, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
We need to move beyond green dots Ashton Weber Living Relig-ish
For the past three years, I have been barraged with propaganda about how massively important it is to take GreeNDot training. It was part of our welcome weekend intro curriculum, our freshman year Moreau class and, last year, my dorm wanted us to all get trained so we could have a better chance at winning Hall of the Year. But, unfortunately, the training is four hours long and I’m a chronically busy person, so I was never able to get to it. Enter winter session, a 10-week break that I purposefully kept un-busy. It was the perfect opportunity to finally participate in this crucial training and the Gender Relations Center (GRC) was offering virtual training sessions, two hours a day for two days, so how could I not attend one? In the first week of December, I logged onto my computer to start the session. All I knew about GreeNDot was that they would teach me how to prevent power-based personal violence on campus and that their methods of choice are direct, distract and delegate. Two days and four hours of training later, I logged off of the Zoom call fuming. What I had entered knowing was all they taught. It’s important to note now that I study gender, so I am acutely aware of power-based personal violence and the fact that it occurs so commonly on college campuses. I also study sociology, and this combination gives me special insight into the fact that power-based personal violence is a reflection of institutional violence. When a Black student is called racial slurs in a bathroom on campus, that isn’t random. It reflects the racist colonial nature of academia and the idea that many white people, including some University officials, still believe that BIPOC don’t belong here. When a queer student is publicly harassed and called derogatory names, it isn’t just because one student is a bigoted homophobe. It’s intrinsically related to the fact that queer people at Notre Dame have been fighting for years to have our full humanity recognized by this University. (Don’t believe me? Check out this amazing project by junior Marty Kennedy.) When a woman is sexually harassed by a man here, it’s not just because he’s a predator. It’s related to the fact that
he feels empowered by our school’s continued history of excluding women. Last year, all three of those seemingly hypothetical examples happened to one student at the same time. When she protested the violence and started End Hate at ND, the University threatened to expel her for peaceful demonstration and the violence written into the structure of this institution became even more painfully clear. Over winter session, I also took a class. It was called “Transformative Justice” and, for three weeks, we studied methods of violence intervention, harm reduction and community safety that aren’t rooted in punitive justice. We talked about why violence happens and how we all contribute to it because punishment seems to be the only method of dealing with harm that we know. It was a revelation to me to read these words from activist Danielle Sered: “No one enters violence the first time by causing it.” Through those words, I realized the thing that made me so angry about GreeNDot when I was sitting in training: it was completely lacking in accountability. At the beginning of training, we talked about the fact that some of us on the call were survivors of the most acute forms of power-based personal violence, but we neglected to address the truth that each of us in the Zoom room had perpetrated violence at some point and that we all, as Notre Dame students, continue to perpetuate violence every day, as we live and work and benefit from oppressive and violent structures. When we address violence as though there is a binary between survivor and aggressor, we fail to hold the complexity of violence. We fail to recognize that each of us has experienced harm and been taught to harm by social structures and norms. We also fail to recognize that those who perpetrate acute forms of harm are often empowered by social structures which imbue them with power or the desire to acquire it. If we forget that power-based personal violence is rooted in power and that upholding unjust power structures therefore empowers power-based personal violence, it remains impossible for GreeNDot to achieve its goal of reducing violence in our community. The first week of winter classes contained Jan. 6, the day that white supremacists stormed the Capitol building. In case you missed it, someone brought a Notre Dame flag to the siege and raised the words “God, Country, Notre Dame,” proudly next to a Trump flag. My first thought was
not shock or disgust or fear, it was actually quite the opposite. I was completely unsurprised. Over the next few days, the expected emotions set in and I started to realize how incredibly messed up that is. If someone was waving a UCLA flag at the white supremacy party, the general reaction would be more along the lines of “WTF?” or “That’s so random.” But, for some reason, a Notre Dame flag in the same position is entirely unsurprising. As a community, that’s something we desperately need to talk about. The intersection of the axes of power that our institution rests upon (capitalism, white supremacy, Catholicism, cisheteropatriarchy) gives us the unique opportunity to either make radical changes for good in the world or to continue upholding racist colonial power. As our university currently spends much time and money doing the latter, my transformative justice classmates and I have decided to create a new program to bring accountability to our community. We’re calling it Beyond Green Dots, because we believe that there’s more to violence prevention than making “good choices” in tough moments. This spring, we’ll be presenting a workshop to address the ways in which harm is perpetrated on our campus and beyond, and how we can individually stop feeding into the power structures that empower violence on a larger scale. You can follow @ beyondgreendots on Instagram to learn more about the project. None of this is to say that I think GreeNDot is entirely ineffective and that Notre Dame is too deeply-rooted in violence to ever do good. GreeNDot does offer some great tools to our community and Notre Dame has offered some great things to the world. But, without embracing the principles of transformative justice and becoming accountable to the harm that we are accomplices to, the harm will never stop. Ashton Weber is a junior with lots of opinions. She is majoring in gender studies and economics with a minor in sociology. Ashton can often be found with her nose in a book, but if you want to chat about intersectional feminism, baking blueberry scones, growing ZZ plants or anything else, she’d love to hear from you. Reach Ashton at aweber22@nd.edu or @awebz01 on Twitter. The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Campus election season The campaigning period for student body president and vice president began yesterday. The leadership and members of the Election Committee of the Judicial Council have been hard at work to make this election season a possibility as we battle the coronavirus pandemic. We are very excited to announce that three tickets were able to secure enough of your signatures to officially become candidates for the student body elections. Listed in alphabetical order by last name of the presidential candidate, they are: Allan Njomo and Matthew Bisner Max Siegel and Zachary Holland Mabry Webb and Jacob Calpey To the student body: Thank you for your participation so far in this election by engaging with potential candidates and signing their petitions. Over the next week, you will have the chance to hear more detail from the aspiring student leaders about important issues at Notre Dame. Pay close attention to the tickets running to represent you for the next year as they elucidate their platforms on social media, on campus and in the debate (more on that below). Finally, please exercise your right to vote for the ticket you want to see in office on Wednesday, Feb. 24, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., via an online form which Judicial Council will send to you. To the candidates: This is your opportunity to display the most important planks of your platform and differentiate yourself from other tickets. By engaging in the respectful but rigorous discourse for which Notre Dame is known, you will get the chance to voice the opinions and policies which motivated you to run for elected office. While staying mindful at all times of the elections regulations, the Campus Compact and other regulations on campus, continue to
find ways to adapt to this unprecedented campaign and reach voters with your message. Notre Dame students embody creativity, and we wish you luck in overcoming these challenges, but we know you all will impress us. Last, the Election Committee considers allegations of election misconduct with great seriousness, but we hope there will be no need to conduct such hearings. Let’s make this a clean, fair and substantive election cycle. To current members of the Student Union: It is of utmost importance that you are aware of the election regulations, especially those regulations surrounding endorsements. Article XV, Section 1(g) of the Constitution of the Undergraduate Student Body prescribes the specifics as to which positions, offices, residence halls or organizations may not endorse tickets. Please understand if you are bound by this clause, you may not give any public, formal or organized indication of support to any ticket or candidate, including via social media. When in doubt, we strongly encourage you to err on the side of caution and distance yourself from the race. This will help your privately favored ticket to avoid controversy and prevent you from becoming the subject of an ethics allegation. Finally, we’re pleased to announce that the 2021 Student Body Debate will take a slightly different form this year to account for the health and safety of the candidates and the student body. On Monday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m., the 2021 Town Hall Q&A will be hosted by the Election Committee and partnered with NDtv to broadcast throughout the student centers across campus, including Midfield Commons in Duncan Student Center as well as LaFortune Student Center. It will be a town hall style discussion in which each
ticket has equal, uninterrupted time to respond to your questions and lay out their campaign platform. We urge the student body to tune into this Town Hall Q&A live to gain the best insight into those running for the highest offices in the Student Union. More details on this Town Hall Q&A will be sent to the student body via email this Friday. It is obvious that the necessary restrictions on large gatherings in the dining halls, student centers and campus meeting areas will create a chasm of communication and interaction between candidates and members of the student body. With this in mind, we ask that you submit your questions for the candidates directly to the Election Committee via the Google Form on the Judicial Council website. We aim to provide you with an opportunity to have your questions answered by candidates during their time to speak at the Town Hall Q&A. Any questions about how this election cycle will play out are best directed to jcouncil@nd.edu, as are any allegations of election misconduct. Please see the Judicial Council website for election regulations, timeline and more information. Have a great week, and Go Irish! In Notre Dame, Thomas Davis Judicial Council President junior David Haungs Judicial Council Vice President of Elections sophomore Feb. 16
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The observer | Wednesday, February 17, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
The not-so-great schism Eva Analitis On Second Thought
We all sort of knew what we were getting into when we chose to attend a Catholic school. There would be some religion. But politics, too? Who knew we’d get so much of both? However, as the nomination of one of our faculty members — Professor Amy Coney Barrett — to the Supreme Court at a controversial time and by a controversial president thrust our university into the national spotlight, we have had no way to avoid talking about the two things we’re supposed to avoid talking about. The recent intersections of religion and politics on campus reflect a broader conflict that is playing out on the national stage at the moment. Religion and politics are on the minds of everyone nowadays, not just Catholic school students who had a professor from their university placed on the Supreme Court. America is diverging into the religious right and the secular left. As Notre Dame students — some religious, some not — we have to choose a side in this schism — or do we? The right often derides the left as the godless party, devoid of faith and allegiance to a higher power. The left, on the other hand, is seeing the rise of a movement to reclaim religion, arguing that they are the ones who actually embody Christian (and perhaps other religions’) values. Basically, both sides are fighting over who gets to claim religiosity. Religion can be used as a lot of things — comfort, community, guidance — but if you are ever using it as a weapon, I assure you you’re using it wrong. Any honest person must admit that if someone fully obeys Christian teaching, her beliefs and actions will not totally align with either the Democratic or Republican parties. Christianity does not fit neatly into any one political ideology or party, and the only way to place it into a political container is to distort it. God did not say, “Let there be light!” on the first day of creation and then, “Let there
be the Democratic (or Republican) Party!” on the second. However, since faith is so big a part of people’s identities that it is likely to influence their politics, people of faith must simply choose which values they prioritize and determine which party best promotes these when they vote. For those in America who appeal to religion when it affirms how they want to act but disregard it when it is inconvenient for them, I have some brief words. To the left: If you openly and actively despise Christian principles and teachings but refer to them to try to catch your political opponents in a “gotcha” moment, please don’t. It’s disingenuous. If the only time you invoke religion is as a weapon against conservatives, don’t invoke it all. Furthermore, countless Instagram posts are circulating nowadays with messages along the lines of, “You say you’re ‘pro-life,’ but what about the baby’s life once it’s born, the life of the migrant child, the life of the homeless man, the lives of people of color?” Since when are being pro-life pre-birth and postbirth mutually exclusive? I personally can point to many people who are staunchly opposed to abortion yet advocate for immigrants, people of color, homeless people and many other marginalized communities with persistence and zeal. The spite that some on the left exhibit toward traditional Christians and religious people in general plays a role in pushing these people to the right, making them think that the political right is the only place that offers them a home in U.S. politics, when they might otherwise lean left. To the right: The left is correct to call out the hypocrisy of many conservative Christians in observing Christian teaching. If your biggest takeaway from reading the Bible is that same-sex marriage and abortion are wrong, rather than to go to the margins, welcome the outcasts and stand with the downtrodden, I don’t think we have been reading the same book. One of the most frustrating tactics of the right is to shut down valid criticism and avoid answering tough
questions from the left simply because the left supports abortion rights. You can defend your beliefs about the sacredness of life from the moment of conception while also engaging in discussions about the crises of inadequate healthcare, white supremacy, addiction, homelessness and more in America. Moreover, there are in fact people on the right who claim to be devout Christians, yet belong to white supremacist groups and exhibit violence and hostility toward the Black, Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities. If you are one of these people or support them, you can keep the Republican title, but drop the Christian one. The political right and left nowadays have turned to weaponizing Jesus Christ and the teachings of Christianity to impose their worldviews on the Christian faith in a way that affirms their beliefs and behavior. This must stop. God is a universal and timeless figure that does not belong to a specific side of 21st-century American politics, or a certain geographic region of the U.S., or a particular race. If you choose to make politics your religion, that is your prerogative, but don’t make religion fit into your politics, selectively celebrating certain religious principles that correspond to a set of beliefs you’ve come up with about the world while conveniently skipping over the ones that do not fit your desired outcomes. Religion can and should guide our political views as we weigh which party’s platform aligns more closely with our most important values, but religion — especially Christianity — does not belong exclusively to one political side. If we’re really honest, it belongs to neither. We may be heading toward a great schism in America between the right and left, but let’s leave religion out of this one. Eva Analitis is a junior in Lyons Hall majoring in political science and pre-health. Even though she often can’t make up her own mind, that won’t stop her from trying to change yours. She can be reached at eanaliti@nd.edu or @evaanalitis on Twitter. The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.
No rules, just vibes: ND football in the 19th century Ella Wisniewski Consider This
“There are so many valuable, important stories to be told regarding collegiate football, tales that help us better understand ourselves and the unfolding drama of athletics and sports in America,” writes Moose Krause (of circle fame) in a foreword to Michael R. Steele’s compendium “The Notre Dame Football Encyclopedia”. And while this is true, while Notre Dame’s storied history of national championships and heroic comebacks is significant, this wasn’t always so. When I came across this Encyclopedia, I was immediately fascinated by the beginnings of Notre Dame’s football program. Before the Four Horsemen were outlined against a blue-gray October sky, before the team won one for the Gipper, before they even considered waking up the echoes that would later go on to cheer her name, Notre Dame football was just some guys hanging out. Upon reading the section of the book entitled “The Early Years: 1887 to 1899,” I felt it was my obligation not only as a very serious journalist but as a fan of Irish football to tell you about the dudes who started it all. When the team started, the university did not own a football. It really just started out as 15 guys at an interest meeting with absolutely no equipment. Eventually, they got all the right stuff — faculty member Brother Joachim ordered a football from Chicago, the campus literary society fundraised to buy some all-white cotton uniforms, and they used a patch of land near Sorin Hall as their field. However, when the team roster was selected, there were only eleven players on it, since that was the number of uniforms that the literary society had been able to afford. During the first unofficial game, the team finished with only 9 of its 11 players. Apparently, while playing a
scrimmage against the South Bend Shamrock Athletic Club in April of 1887, several of ND’s players were knocked unconscious. It probably had something to do with their uniforms. We didn’t just play colleges. In the olden days, random organizations could just have their own football teams. Some of Notre Dame’s earliest non-collegiate opponents included the Illinois Cycling Club, the Indianapolis Light Artillery and the Chicago Physicians and Surgeons, which is separate from the Chicago Dental Infirmary, who they also played. ND also faced off against a number of very unfortunate local high schools. The rules were nonexistent. In their only game of 1889, one ND player stopped an opponent from running the ball by sitting on them. In the same game, another player got a gain of 25 yards by dribbling the football down the field. In 1896, a man named Frank Hering was simultaneously the team’s coach, quarterback and captain. And Charles Roby, an absolute unit, has two utterly wild plays attributed to his name from the 1893 season. Once, he scored a touchdown by crawling into the end zone with three opponents piled on top of him. Another time, Roby physically picked up his teammate Fred Schillo, who had the ball, and carried him for a gain of five yards. It’s clear that the only rule during this era of football was to have fun and be yourself. Of course, Notre Dame football eventually grew out of this awkward, fledgling phase. Frank Hering, that aforementioned triple threat, would eventually take football at ND from a club activity to an actual intercollegiate sport. (He would also go on to be the first coach of both basketball and baseball at ND, to campaign to establish Mother’s Day as a national holiday and to start community outreach programs in South Bend. A true legend.) But I don’t think we should ever forget the first years of our football program, if only for the fact that they were kind of ridiculous.
After ND’s first official game, the student newspaper wrote that the “coming years [would hopefully] witness a series of these contests.” I’m grateful for all of the so-called contests that followed that first game, but I urge all ND football fans to always remember their roots — no rules, no equipment, just some dudes wearing footie pajamas for uniforms and demolishing dentists and high school teams with plays that make no sense.
KERRY SCHNEEMAN | The Observer
Ella Wisniewski is a junior studying English and economics. She tries her best not to take herself too seriously. You can reach her at ewisnie2@nd.edu or @ellawisn on Twitter. The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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The observer | wednesday, february 17, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
By AIDAN O’MALLEY Scene Writer
“Judas and the Black Messiah” is no biopic, at least not by any average measure. It is, first and foremost, a thriller. This crackling piece of political, social and historical intrigue resurrects the ’70s stylings of Sidney Lumet, whose collaborations with Al Pacino on classics like “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Serpico” laid the gritty, grimy groundwork for the crime movies of today. If writer/director Shaka King — in collaboration with producer Ryan Coogler, better known as the director of “Fruitvale Station,” “Creed” and “Black Panther” — is channeling Sidney Lumet, it is tempting to cast Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”) in the role of Al Pacino. And while his turn as Fred Hampton, the tragically young chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, is the British actor’s most dynamic and absorbing performance to date, it is instead LaKeith Stanfield (“Sorry to Bother You”) who represents the beating heart of this pulsating picture. Stanfield plays Bill O’Neal, to whom we are introduced at the start of the film as he is impersonating an FBI agent. O’Neal bursts into a Black-owned bar, confiscates the belongings of its patrons and hijacks one of their cars. When he’s caught by a real FBI agent (Jesse Plemons), he explains: “A badge is scarier than a gun.” Bill is facing five years of jail time, but the FBI cuts him a deal. If he can infiltrate the Illinois chapter of
By JIM MOSTER Scene Writer
It’s the spring of 2011. In the suburbs of Chicago, a group of awkward fifth graders practice a dance routine. The kids have decided to perform their own version of “Friday,” a pop song, at their school’s student-run talent show. Their routine is peak comedy. On the other side of the country, in Irvine, California, 13-year-old Rebecca Black sifts through death threats in her inbox. Her song has gone viral. Virality comes cheap nowadays. It took a bit more work in 2010, when Georgina Marquez Kelly paid Ark Music Factory $4,000 to produce a song for her daughter. “Friday” sat quietly on YouTube until a Comedy Central comedian posted it to his blog. Others took notice, and the attention snowballed until Black had the audience of a nation. When “Friday” reached my grade school, my class performed the song at the talent show for our parents and teachers. It was the joke that kept on giving, but Black wasn’t laughing. A decade later and Rebecca Black is back — but I wouldn’t blame you for not recognizing her. The creator of the “worst song ever” now sports blue hair and an unapologetic attitude that emanates joy. With the release of “Girlfriend,” a Katy Perry-esque pop anthem, Black came out to the world as queer. At 23 years old, Black has finally found her own voice.
the Black Panther Party and earn the trust of its charismatic chairman, Fred Hampton, the Bureau will forget that anything ever happened. Bill agrees. In Stanfield’s hands, Bill is everything from a conniving weasel to an almost tragic hero. The subtleties in his performance are simply unmatched; his attempts to suppress a smile, for example, as he is delighted by his ow n cleverness, or the tears he works to conceal as he comes to understand the FBI’s purpose. If you’re familiar w ith Fred Hampton as a historical figure (and you go to church ever y Easter), it should come as no surprise, then, that Bill is the titular Judas. And even though we know the way this ends, the brilliance of Stanfield’s performance is that a part of us likes him in spite of that. The Golden Globes, however, have chosen Kaluuya for awards season glory, and you can’t really blame them. He’s a bit too old for the role — Hampton was only 21, while Kaluuya is a decade his senior — and had King and Coogler cast a younger actor, perhaps the tragedy of the story would be more acutely felt. But as it stands, Kaluuya is hypnotizing, galvanizing the audience much like the real Fred Hampton galvanized the city of Chicago. Dominique Fishback — coming off a breakout performance in Netflix’s “Project Power” — nails a much more adult role as Hampton’s partner in life, while Jesse Plemons of “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” proves he’s one of the most capable character
actors in the industry. Martin Sheen (in Rudy Giulianiesque makeup) as J. Edgar Hoover isn’t quite as compelling, but I’ll forgive it. As much the star of the film as Kaluuya, though, is writer/director King, who explodes onto the cinematic scene with only his sophomore effort. As a director, King demonstrates a mastery of mise en scene in his recreation of the turbulent streets of 1960s Chicago — aided, of course, by Steve McQueen’s frequent cinematographer Sean Bobbitt and a searing score by Mark Isham and Craig Harris. Meanwhile, as a writer, King leans into the radicalism of Hampton’s politics, involving the story in the civil rights struggle that’s unfolding still to this day. In a year overflowing with films about this era — Aaron Sorkin’s undercooked “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Regina King’s much better “One Night in Miami” — “Judas and the Black Messiah” handily takes the crown. Like the films of Sidney Lumet, it could one day be a classic.
Most recently, Black re-entered the spotlight with a hyperpop remix of “Friday.” The remix features Dorian Electra, 3OH!3 and Big Freedia, with Dylan Brady of 100 gecs producing. Black featured on Electra’s track “Edgelord” last fall. “It’s a community, hyperpop, and they’ve been so welcoming to me over the past few months,” Black said in an interview with Billboard. Hyperpop disturbs the unfamiliar ear, but conceptually, it suits Black. Black, like hyperpop, is a product of the Internet. Her career is linked to, and helped create, the online culture that gave birth to the genre. Black nods to her role in Internet history in the music video, which features retro memes like the trollface and rage comics. The video is Black’s palette cleanser — its neon pinks and greens wash away the toxicity of her past. In a synthesized swirl of high-energy chaos, Black looks to the future with friends at her side. In my opinion, Black is the pop icon and role model that young Gen-Zers need. Her story is relatable: She wanted to be like the confident, beautiful stars who filled her social media feed. After putting herself out there on the Internet, she got cyberbullying and years of therapy instead. She, like many Gen-Z kids, grappled with her sexuality as she came of age. Now, barely older than the seniors at Notre Dame,
Black has emerged a symbol of perseverance in the digital age. Not convinced? Picture a middle school-aged girl who made a TikTok of the latest dance trend. The girl is generally disliked at school; there are whispers that she is “not into boys.” After her classmates get wind of the TikTok, it is passed around class group chats and mocked mercilessly. The girl feels lost and her parents “just don’t understand.” I can think of somehow who would understand, though. Rebecca Black could probably speak to that girl better than any pre-packaged Disney Channel star. Now Black is at a crossroads. Does she fully embrace hy perpop or become a queer Carly Rae Jepsen in the vein of “Girlfriend? ” Neither, probably. Black is keeping the details of her current project under w raps, but she warns that “the sounds and things [she] explore[s] might surprise people.” “It hasn’t been made w ith the idea of ‘let’s make big pop hits,’” Black added. No matter the direction of Black’s musical st yle, her status as an icon and role model w ill only be further confirmed. Ever ybody’s looking for ward to the weekend, and I, for one, am looking forward to Rebecca Black’s promising future
Contact Aidan O’Malley at aomalle2@nd.edu
“Judas and the Black Messiah” Director: Shaka King Staring: LaKeith Stanfield, Daniel Kaluuya, Dominique Fishback If you like: “Selma,” “Dog Day Afternoon”
Contact Jim Moster at jmoster@nd.edu MARY O’REILLY | The Observer
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The observer | wednesday, february 17, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
By MAEVE FILBIN Assistant Managing Editor
Imagine sitting down to dinner with your freshman year roommate, someone you’ve come to know with the closeness that accompanies sharing a small dorm room. You’ve spent the first year of college together — enough time to make shared memories and inside jokes (remember that time with the birthday cake?) — but it’s still hard to picture her life before she met you. You know and love a version of her, the sum of all of her experiences and personal growth up until this point. Now imagine your roommate steps away from the table for a moment, and, when she returns, she’s 16 years old again and in love with her lab partner. She just got her driver’s license and she’s never tasted hard liquor. She’s the version of herself before she left home for the first time, before she pierced her nose, before she stole a birthday cake from a men’s residence hall. This is the kind of time travel Maggie Rogers requires of her listeners on “Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016,” a compilation of her earlier projects and unreleased work. In “Notes from the Archive,” Rogers’ ascent from experimenting in relative obscurity to touring sold-out concert halls across the world has yet to happen. The journey — musical and personal — which took place between 2011 and 2016 came before “Alaska,” the song that took Rogers 15 minutes to write, about the state she explored
By CLAIRE RAFFORD Assistant Managing Editor
Have you ever heard a song and immediately thought to yourself, “I’m going to listen to this at least 10 times in a row, right now?” Maude Latour did that for me just two weeks ago. I actually first heard the song — Latour’s single “Block Your Number” — when it came on a Spotify playlist my dear friend, and Observer assistant managing editor, Maeve Filbin had made. Though I wasn’t listening closely, the vibes reminded me of Lorde (missing her) and I saved the song so I could revisit it later. The next day, I slipped in my earbuds, readied myself for a freezing walk to class and hit play on my most recent playlist. When “Block Your Number” came on, from the beginning whisper declaring “It’s always best at the beginning,” I was entranced. By the time the beat dropped at before the first chorus, I found myself involuntarily reaching into my pocket to blast the song at full volume, caught in that rare, glimmering experience of not wanting to miss a single second. And then I played it again, and again, and again, until I regrettably reached DeBart. Somewhere in the euphoric pop instrumentals and confessional lyrics, it felt like Latour was talking directly to me. Later that day, I ventured to Latour’s Spotify profile to immediately listen to everything else she’s ever released. Her whole body of work on Spotify is just 10 songs — four singles and a six-song EP, “Starsick.” Her entire collection is just enough to fill the 10 spots under “popular” selections, and totals only 30 minutes on a playlist. But in that small body of work, she boasts millions of streams and shows an immense
on a month-long hike. Before 2013, when she walked through icy streams and across glacial plains, sloughing off old senses of self as she went. Before she cut her hair short. Before years of writer’s block finally began to thaw. Before the video of Pharrell’s Masterclass opened the door to her professional music career. Before Rogers became an emerging artist and, later, a household name. Before all that, she was just Maggie. A student and struggling musician wrestling with her own expectations and the fear of failing to meet them. “Notes from the Archive” is a time capsule containing the years leading up to “Alaska” and all that followed. The pandemic posed a unique question for artists: what kind of music do I want to make in this moment? Taylor Swift answered with “folklore” and “evermore,” twin surprise albums born from a cabin in the woods. HAIM delayed the scheduled release of “Women in Music Pt. III,” one of the “most anticipated albums of 2020.” Instead of simply looking forward like her contemporaries, Rogers turned her gaze to the past and allowed herself a moment of reflection. Rogers has referred to the crisis that took root during her time at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where learning about production and the industry made her question her own musical identity. Despite having established herself securely in the hearts and playlists of her fans, in “Notes from the Archive,” Rogers seems to take the final steps needed to find herself.
This record is a diary read back to front, with Rogers splitting her musical timeline into four periods — her rock band on the Lower East Side, her 2014 indie record “Blood Ballet,” her first band Del Water Gap and her debut record “The Echo.” We hear Rogers age backwards from her final semester of college to her senior year of high school, and the reverse chronology makes her growth and artistic development ever more apparent. It’s an almost Benjamin Button-like structure, and it works. “I wanted to give you the chance to hear me grow and hear me make mistakes, hear me change,” Rogers says in her introductory commentary, “Because all of those pieces are really beautiful parts of my present, and I don’t feel complete without them in the world.” Rogers remains true to these younger iterations of herself by leaving the records in their original forms, making them less than perfect but also sincerely honest. This isn’t the Maggie Rogers we came to know after her viral explosion, and definitely not the polished production we would anticipate following “Heard It in a Past Life.” At the same time, “Notes from the Archive” hints at the poetic storytelling, expansive vocals and grounded presence we would now expect from Rogers. Despite the seemingly overnight success of “Alaska,” Rogers was always trying to find where her story started. To do so, she had to take us back to “before.”
emotional range and impressive songwriting skills. The English major in me appreciates how Latour’s songs often read like short stories — in “Furniture,” she declares “I heard what you told Emma,” not bothering to explain who Emma is or what someone told her. It doesn’t matter; her story is about more than the details. It’s about the experience of wondering, and of a friend letting you in on a secret, even if you don’t get every bit of the story. In addition to her music career, Latour is also a full time college student, a junior at Columbia to be exact. But rather than shying away from the college experience, she embraces and addresses it in her music, in a way so direct that it feels even more empathetic for anyone who’s ever broken up in college. In “Block Your Number,” she sings poignantly about seeing her exboyfriend “with your backpack on, baby” and crying “alone in [her] dorm room.” Including these details of a uniquely college experience only strengthens her storytelling prowess. Similarly, Latour’s way with words allows her to describe a specific feeling in a way that feels universal to a whole generation. In “One More Weekend,” she declares, “I fell in love with how you emphasized your sentences / Got a crush on the shape of your name in my phone.” This is all to say that, while my first exposure to Latour’s music reminded me of Lorde, and she has the emotional honesty of Taylor Swift, and she’s named Clairo and Lana Del Ray as her influences, she embodies something new and all her own — and she does it all her way, one that is unapologetically Gen-Z. With just over 77,000 followers, Latour has found success on TikTok — @maudelstatus, like all her other social media
platforms. She uses the platform to promote her music, sharing backstories from her rawest, emotional lyrics and being her own hypewoman, along with her friends and roommates. Just recently, she did a question-and-answer on her Instagram story, actively polling her followers for whether she should sign with a label or continue to produce her work independently, like she’s been doing up until this point. Her approach to social media, similar to her songwriting, lays it all out on the line, proving she is an artist of a new generation, one who’s open to being vulnerable on the Internet. Last Friday, just two days before Valentine’s Day, Latour released “Walk Backwards,” her latest single. Latour, who identifies as bisexual, said her friendships “blur the line between romance and platonic love.” “I think we place too much emphasis on romantic relationships,” she said in the closed captions another video. “I’m sick of love songs so… I wrote this song about my best friends.” “Walk Backwards” both feels like a natural next step and also a departure from Latour’s prior works on “Starsick” and the singles, a commitment to her signature, openhearted style that expands to a wider focus than just romance. If we’re sharing here, Latour’s gratitude for platonic love in the absence of romance shows a maturity that I personally have been struggling to develop for a while, and one that I admire. At this precarious moment, Latour’s music career appears to be on the brink of exploding. I’m anxiously waiting to see what’s next for her — an album? A tour? Signing with a record label? Whatever it is, she’s is going to do it her own way. Until then, I’ll keep replaying her songs over and over again.
Contact Maeve Filbin at mfilbin01@saintmarys.edu
Contact Claire Rafford at crafford@nd.edu JACKIE JUNCO | The Observer
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Crossword | Will Shortz
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Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday:Make adjustments that encourage a better home life. A wellthought-out and organized household will help you reach your long-term goals. Negotiate with finesse when dealing with someone who can make a difference regarding your prospects. Stick to your plans, regardless of what others decide to do. Strive for stability and security; you’ll attain peace of mind. Your numbers are 4, 12, 18, 22, 26, 32, 43. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Keep your eyes on your objective. It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing; what does matter is that you take care of your responsibilities and forge ahead relentlessly. You are only as good as your word. Live up to your promises. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Update a license, contract or personal identification. Don’t take an unnecessary risk that may leave you in a precarious position at work or with an organization or group. Control your temper; the fallout will not be worthwhile. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You stand to get ahead if you share your ideas and follow through with your plans. Be aware that someone will be eager to take credit for what you do; be prepared to prove otherwise. A partnership looks inviting and personal gain promising. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Put your creative imagination to the test at work, and you’ll come up with a great idea that leads to a transformation. Education and preparation will help you take on a trendy challenge that leads to profits. Do more and spend less. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Don’t let what others do upset you. Take the initiative, look out for your interests and get Do what’s best for you. Help yourself instead of putting your time and effort into something that benefits someone else. Pledge to do your own thing and to work alongside people who have as much to offer as you. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Open your mind to change. Look for ways you can use your skills and knowledge to open a conversation that can lead to an exciting position. Don’t sell yourself short. Have your resume fine-tuned and ready to go. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Be creative without overspending. Where there is a will, there is a way to overcome any obstacle that challenges you. Laziness and relying on others will be your downfalls. Pick up the slack by doing the work yourself. Romance is featured. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Use your charm, and you’ll avoid getting into an argument. Listen attentively, and go about your business. The less fuss you make, the easier it will be to get things done your way. Take better care of your health and well-being. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll spin heads with your outgoing, spirited nature. What you have to bring to the table will make others take notice. A romantic encounter will encourage you to spend more time nurturing a meaningful relationship. Self-improvement is encouraged. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Making a change will tempt you. Take precautions before you spend money. Refuse to buy into someone’s plans. Don’t settle for anything less than what you want. Hold out for a better deal, investment or suggestion. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Spend more time taking care of personal matters. How you handle domestic responsibilities will make a difference in the way others treat you. Be willing to compromise when faced with a dilemma. A kind gesture will help you get your way. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Keep your secrets to yourself. An emotional incident can affect your reputation and your chance to advance. Look inward, then make adjustments that will enhance your ability to reach your goal. Change the way you handle money, and prosperity will follow. Birthday Baby: You are compassionate, helpful and curious. You are changeable and assertive.
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Sports
The observer | wednesday, february 17, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
Sports Authority
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Can ND achieve NCAA goals? Liam Coolican Sports Writer
Every February, like clockwork, Notre Dame fans ask themselves the same question. How can we make the NCAA Tournament? Recently, it has popped up after the Irish have made a late-season run, beating a few subpar ACC teams (looking at you, Duke) and have made just enough noise to be in the conversation. They are perpetually on the bubble of being a bubble team. In other words, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?” Yes, yes I am, and being an optimist, I’m going to explore that chance, even if it is far too early to talk about March Madness. The first step is to play (and hopefully win) as many games as possible. This may sound simple, but with the game against Clemson that was scheduled for Wednesday postponed and the status of the ACC tournament in Greensboro still up in the air, the Irish only have five regular-season games left on the schedule. Winning those last five games, which is a tall order considering two come on the road against Syracuse and Louisville, and another is against a 12-3 Florida State team, would put the Irish at 14-10 overall, and 11-7 in ACC play. Especially this year, with so many teams having games canceled by COVID, any team that plays 18 games in the ACC and finishes above .500 will at least be in the conversation. However, Notre Dame has only beaten one team in the top 50 of the KenPom rankings thus far. Despite the crack I made about Duke earlier, it remains Notre Dame’s best win, coming in at 34 on KenPom. The road win at Kentucky, despite the team’s struggles this season, also remains impressive, and the blowout win against a Pittsburgh team that is likely to finish above .500 could prove important. However, these last few weeks will be critical because getting a few more quality wins is vital if the Irish want to keep this dream alive. The Louisville and Florida State games in particular are ones to look out for. In the best-case scenario, the ACC tournament would continue as scheduled and Notre Dame could pick up another couple of wins in Greensboro, perhaps even against a ranked team like Virginia Tech. The ACC is the weakest it has been in the past few years; the last time the conference sent fewer than seven teams to the Big Dance was in 2015. This year may have even fewer, so the Irish would be much better off to win a few games in the ACC
tournament. Discussing theoretical scenarios is the easy part. Putting them into place is where the difficulties arise. One of the primary reasons the Irish have vastly improved over the last month is the balanced scoring attack. With the thin, 7-man rotation that Mike Brey likes to use, it is crucial for everyone to contribute. Over the last six games, five different Irish players have led the team in scoring. The Irish offense functions best when point guard Prentiss Hubb can act as a facilitator rather than the primary scorer, and he’s been able to do that these last few games. Hubb is still the go-to guy down the stretch, but his ability to see the whole floor and find open teammates is unparalleled. His supporting cast needs to continue to step up, as it is incredibly difficult for opponents to game plan against Notre Dame when any given player can go off for 20+ points. The Irish also need to improve their defense. Their offense has been prolific, but they need to be able to fall back on a solid defense when the shots aren’t falling. The Irish rank 215th in scoring defense which is … not great. Part of this is the relatively fast pace Notre Dame plays at, and, playing only seven players while other teams are using nine or even 10 means fatigue is likely to set in late in games. They rank 189th in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot nearly 44% from the field, so there is clearly room for improvement. I started this column on a positive note, but I must end it on a more sobering one. This February push is not new. Last year, Notre Dame won seven of nine down the stretch before falling on its face against Wake Forest and losing a crucial game against Florida State. In 2018, the Irish won five of seven before coming up just short in an attempt to add a signature win against then-No.1 Virginia. Now, two seasons is hardly a trend, but it’s hard not to notice the similarities. Perhaps it is overly optimistic to even discuss the Irish’s chances for the tournament, or I have jinxed it by writing this column. However, there’s no denying the Irish have an opportunity to impress over these last few weeks of the season, yet have failed to do so in similar situations over the past few years. Contact Liam Coolican at lcoolica@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Sports should be less serious and much lighter Jimmy Ward Associate Sports Editor
I’ve only legitimately been writing about sports in this paper for around two and a half years now. But I’ve loved sports for a long time, and they have always seemed to have had a presence in my life. Not to get soppy in the wake of Valentine’s Day, but no matter what stage of life I was in, sports always seemed to be a constant companion. Whether it was rooting for my Colts on Sundays, heading to cross country practice and then playing in a rec league basketball game during the winters in high school, sports were always there. I’ve only been asking coaches and athletes questions in a journalistic manner for a short time, though. It has really broadened my views on sports and has sometimes yielded some rather awkward and funny moments. I admittedly have no memory of my first encounter with a real athlete at all. The year was 1999. I was still a baby and my parents had moved in with my grandparents while our house was being built. My mom was pushing me around in a stroller outside when she saw a tall man jogging past. I guess the man was jogging at such a steady pace that my mom was able to get a good enough look at the guy to decide that she recognized him, and she decided to chase him down so he could sign my Colts hat. She was correct in her assumption that the man running was Peyton Manning. I might vaguely remember sitting in a stroller when I was a child, and all those memories seem to blur together. But as a huge sports fan, this was a major milestone in my young sports life. One of my favorite hobbies when I was younger was collecting sports items or memorabilia. It got pretty bad to the point where I was actually causing damage to our house. My mom would offer me the sports section of the newspaper, and I would take it up to my room with a pair of scissors and tape and cut out all the pictures I deemed worthy enough of earning a spot on my wall. The paint
on the wall was starting to chip and my parents weren’t thrilled about my antics. So I started saving money to buy NFL trading cards. Don’t ask me why I chose football cards over the more traditional baseball cards, but it might have had something to do with the sweet pigskin-styled binder of which I had found myself in possession. Now you might be starting to wonder why I’m waning on about just my sports experiences. Well, slowly I have come to the realization that sometimes sports, like anything else in life, can produce some terrific gaffs, moments that might be miserably awkward and tense in the moment, but can be looked back on with a smile and a laugh. The next encounter I had with a big sports figure was with Brad Stevens before he would lose a nail biter of a National Championship game with Butler in 2010. I remember this encounter much better. I got a photo with him and stuck around for a bit when a small group of reporters started to gather where we were standing. I remember one of the reporters asking a rather strange question. The reporter asked Coach Stevens about a moment during a game when he had supposedly had no Black players on the court. This question kind of surprised me, and looking back I can see how strange of a question this was, but I admired how Coach Stevens handled it. He seemed to respond exactly the way I was thinking at the moment and brushed it off like that shouldn’t be something people should be drawing their attention to. It was simply a moment during a game when he had coincidentally made substitutions to have all white players on the court. Some people aren’t able to handle unusual interactions with the press as well. That brings me to my most recent, and probably my favorite sports story. Over the summer, a golf club in my hometown was hosting a celebrity charity event. My friends and I were hoping to catch a glimpse of a local sports celebrity, like Pacers play-by-play announcer Chris Denari. Some names caught our eyes more than
others, one being former college football phenom and Heisman trophy winner, Johnny Manziel. My friends and I rather stupidly missed Manziel’s group as they rolled by. No other group we saw would have had the courage to roll up to the green blaring country music and ashing their cigarettes on the green as they bent over to mark their balls. When we finally realized it was indeed Johnny Manziel’s group, they were already teeing off on the next hole. We decided to grab a football to toss around with him and in the process of saying hello again, we completely glossed over another notable sports figure. Nick Sirianni, who was the Colts offensive coordinator at the time, was in the group behind Manziel, and he decided to pull up to greet him when he had the opportunity after we paused his play. When one of his playing partners pointed him out, we were quick to remind him of his beastly offensive line that he could run behind. My friends and I were high off of another great draft class by Chris Ballard and Frank Reich that we had to overzealously ask him about rookie running back Jonathan Taylor. Even this rather simple question about what he thought of the player seemed to throw Sirianni off guard and he said that he would need to get a better look at Taylor before putting him in any specific role. This little story was at the forefront of my mind when I saw Sirianni start to get grilled online after his debut press conference as the Eagles head coach. I started to look back on that moment with a smile when I remembered that I, too, was able to get an NFL coach to crack with a question. So when somebody asks you a question that makes you a little uncomfortable or you accidentally do the same to someone else in the process, don’t worry about it too much because it will probably be looked back on with a chuckle. Contact Jimmy Ward at jward@hcc-nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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W Swim Continued from page 16
championships where the amount of distance swam decreases and recovery increases. The training camp allowed for much more control over their schedule. “We weren’t beholden to a regular schedule,” Litzinger said. “We could sleep in. We could dictate our practice hours, and when we’re able to do that, we’re able to craft a little bit more rest and a little bit more detail work in instead of the six 6 a.m. practices.” Continuing, the ACC Championships will be the object of many goals and aspirations this season, especially for junior Bayley Stewart, Litzinger said. “When you have somebody like Bayley Stewart, who has been knocking on the door of elite performance for a while,” Litzinger said. “She’s starting to come into her own, so I’m really, really excited to see what she can do at this level with high-end backstroker in this league.” He was also incredibly complimentary of how far the diving program has come. He praises by firstyear diving coach Mark Bradshaw for how he has prepared the diving team, saying that he “has been able to elevate their performance and how they prepare for these meets.” Considering this will be the last chapter for many seniors, Litzinger said he wants to make sure his team ends on the highest note possible. This pandemic year being so difficult to have in-person meets has caused challenges for swim programs all across the country. “I think some other teams out there are just chalking it up to the pandemic,” he said. “And we get another year next year. There is no ‘another year’ for the seniors, so they’re going to get something out of this meet.” Looking towards the future for the women’s team, the swimmers and divers are mentally preparing for that next meet, NCAA Championships. Litzinger has highlighted a “match mentality.” “When someone puts a diving score up, match it,” he said “And I think if we have that kind of an attitude, we’ll move on to the next meet and be set up for success.” The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team will travel to Greensboro, N. C. for the meet scheduled Wednesday, Feb. 17 through Saturday, Feb. 20. Contact Sean Kelley at skelley5@nd.edu
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Adams Continued from page 16
Johnson became the poster child and, apparently, the answer to all the complaints Irish fans and media have with the way Brian Kelly runs the Notre Dame program, and more specifically the Irish offense. Why? Well, it has to do with a (somewhat inaccurate) belief that freshman skill players don’t contribute much at Notre Dame and a (very accurate) belief that freshman wide receivers seldom contribute to the Irish. After all, here are the combined totals of every true freshman wide receiver to record a catch under Brian Kelly at Notre Dame: 80 receptions, 1338 yards and 10 touchdowns in 11 seasons. There have been four years — 2011, 2014, 2019 and 2020 — in which no freshman wideouts recorded a reception. If you take out the receiving statistics for T.J. Jones in 2010 (23 catches, 306 yards, 3 TDs) and Kevin Stepherson in 2016 (25 catches, 462 yards, 5 TDs), then you’re left with 32 receptions, 507 yards and two scores. With all due respect to Brian Kelly, that’s absolutely ridiculous, because it’s not like the passing game has been stocked with multiple elite upperclassmen every single season. And that’s the problem. The reality of college football in the year 2020 is that elite offensive play — specifically from the wide receiver and quarterback positions — is a prerequisite to being a legitimate national championship contender. Part of the issue at wide receiver is recruiting. Per 247Sports Composite, Notre Dame’s roster currently lists only two wide receivers that were top-100 recruits — Kevin Austin and Jordan Johnson, with Deion Colzie coming in next season. That’s not great, especially considering Austin (injuries/suspension) has been perpetually unavailable. I’m not so blind to reality that I believe a true freshman Johnson would make up the difference between the Irish and other CFP teams from a receiving standpoint. However, I think he — and fellow freshman Xavier Watts — could have made some difference, even if only slightly, if they had been allowed to get on the field and get meaningful reps of ingame action throughout their freshman campaigns. I’m not saying Johnson and Watts should have been starting over Skowronek, McKinley and Davis. But they should have been worked into the rotation early in the year so that they could have the confidence and experience to be complementary rotational pieces by the end of the year because they present dynamics that can confound an opposing defense in ways the three starters can’t. Ian Book obviously played
conservatively at times, and there was debate over whether or not his receivers were actually getting open for him in the ACC Championship game. If they were, it clearly wasn’t enough for Book’s liking, so maybe Johnson and Watts can create more separation than those ahead of them? Just a thought… However, when we get down to it, the fact of the matter is that this Notre Dame offense is not receiver friendly. Just ask current junior Joe Wilkins. Wilkins is a member of the five-man wide receiver recruiting class of 2018 — along with Austin, Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys III and ex-Irish transfer Micah Jones — that was supposed to present game-changing potential but through three years has combined for just 49 catches, 673 yards and four touchdowns. “Definitely a difficult offense; we got a lot of plays, lot of different formations, same play out of different formations. It’s a lot to it,” Wilkins said during a weekly media session following the season opener against Duke. “Coming in as a freshman you’re thrown this huge playbook and you gotta know it. And it’s rough, it’s definitely rough, learning the plays. But you know, you’ll get it... “I feel like I’m very smart. That’s one of my biggest strengths. I’m not the biggest, not the fastest, not the strongest, but I’m a smart football player. So, picking up plays has always been something that, it’s not easy, but not the hardest thing in the world for me. And that’s kind of how I got to try my freshman year because I was knowing the plays.” Good on Wilkins, but to me, that’s a problem if mastery of the scheme is so important that it prevents guys like Johnson and Watts from seeing the field as freshmen. Now, I’m not saying Johnson doesn’t share some responsibility for his particular situation. Apparently, he had some academic issues in his first semester. At least, that’s what can be inferred from the buzzword Brian Kelly loves to throw out as a blanket excuse for why reportedly talented players don’t see the field: “traits.” And don’t get me wrong. “Traits” are an important part of why the Irish have turned the program around after 2016. But don’t try to confound Johnson’s struggles picking up the playbook with the struggles he may — or may not — have in the classroom. If we’re taking Wilkins at his word, it’s pretty clear that the playbook is far too convoluted for every wide receiver, especially when several young pass-catchers — a few of whom eventually became great players such as Will Fuller, Miles Boykin and Chase Claypool — have struggled so mightily to get on the field before later seasons.
Bryan Driskell, the publisher at Irish Breakdown, loves to make this point, and I think it holds a lot of weight: In 2017, Notre Dame lost to Georgia 2019 in a game in which graduate transfers Freddy Canteen and Cam Smith and former walkon Chris Finke played over 100 combined snaps at wide receiver; meanwhile, then-junior Miles Boykin, then-sophomore Chase Claypool and thenfreshman tight end Cole Kmet played a combined 12 snaps. I’m not saying Johnson and Watts should have been starting this past year. But you’re telling me they don’t know five routes to run? You’re telling me they couldn’t be trusted to step out on the football field against USF (outside of garbage time), Pitt (if Johnson had actually traveled with the team), Georgia Tech or Syracuse and actually get a target? If the staff didn’t think the five-star Johnson and underrated three-star Watts would pick up on the playbook as freshmen — which I don’t think they could reasonably assume considering their track record — and they refused to play Johnson and Watts because they didn’t have enough of a hold on the offense for their liking, then I can’t help but see that as a failure of coaching, developing and/or recruiting evaluation. This brings me back to Dontaie Allen. John Calipari has refused to adapt to modern basketball and has made his own bed with a team likely to record the worst record in program history. That’s pretty much all because he didn’t recruit enough shooters and didn’t play the best one on his roster soon enough. The kicker? Everyone said he needed to play Allen and he refused to listen to them as long as he could. Fans and media are usually a bunch of blowhards who don’t know what they’re talking about, but that was the once-in-a-bluemoon instance where everyone around Kentucky was right and Calipari was wrong. I have to believe this is another one of those instances because all the evidence points to the fact that Notre Dame’s offense is what is holding them back on the national stage. At this rate, the Irish are never going to crack the top tier of college football occupied by Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State so long as Brian Kelly keeps doing what he’s been doing in South Bend. And, to be clear, the point of this piece is not to make Jordan Johnson or Xavier Watts into some sort of savior; that would probably just be setting the guys up to fail (and a savior isn’t what Notre Dame needs because they shouldn’t be at risk of another 2016 season). In fact, it’s more about saying Kelly needs to start working future elite wide receiver recruits — like Colzie and Lorenzo Styles Jr. — into the offense
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early on in their careers. But Johnson in particular, whether he wanted to or not, became the go-to reference for griping about the Irish offense because he is the most prominent symptom yet of a clear problem with Kelly’s offensive philosophy. Of course, assuming change will actually happen with Kelly’s offensive philosophy at some point, the key question here is if Johnson and others like him will be on the roster when it does. If you saw Johnson’s Dec. 19 tweet — sent less than three hours before kickoff of Notre Dame-Clemson pt. 2 in the ACC Championship game — in which he said, “Mane I jus wanna play,” don’t tell me you didn’t have an inkling that he might be considering a transfer after one year riding the bench. And could you blame him? Why would someone like Johnson wait around? Why, when he had offers from Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Texas A&M, LSU, Florida, Auburn and Alabama, would he expect to be redshirting for non-medical reasons as a freshman at Notre Dame? Unless all the ratings services just made a HUGE error with Johnson, I have to believe that, barring injury, a borderline five-star player isn’t meant to be a four- or five-year ‘project.’ And why would Johnson be OK with waiting around for three or two or even just one season without doing anything of consequence, not knowing when or even if the coaching staff will make the arbitrary decision that he finally has enough of a grasp on the playbook to be thrown out on the field? I’m sure the archrival USC Trojans, who also offered Johnson, would be glad to have his services. So, in summary, I’m not at practice. Brian Kelly knows far more about his roster and the game of football than me. But it seems evident to me that the product he is throwing out on the field every year consists of championship-caliber defense and an offense that all too frequently leaves that defense out to dry. Maybe the answer isn’t Jordan Johnson or Xavier Watts. But those guys are emblematic of a commitment to prioritizing veteran wide receivers over younger ones that, at least to me, seems to be part of the reason why this offense hasn’t tapped into another gear against premier competition. And, for all the people — this coaching staff included — who lament the fact that the Irish need to do better on the recruiting trail, Kelly and co. may damage their prospects with future elite playmakers if they continue to undervalue the ones they already have.” Contact Hayden Adams at hadams3@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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Softball Continued from page 16
for one inning a nd t hat was t he whole ba l lga me. So, I t hin k our pitching sta f f is ready for t his weekend a nd for conference play. So, I def initely t hey’ve done a g reat job to prepa re.” Wit h seniors A lex is Hol loway a nd Pay ton Tidd a nd junior Morga n Rya n in t he lineup on t he mound, a l l of whom played sig nif ica nt por t ions of t his weekend, Coach Gumpf has no doubt in t heir abi lit y going for wa rd. “I t hin k t hat t hey’ve a l l prepa red t hemselves in a way to where I feel li ke a ny of t hem is capable of sta r t ing a nd w inning a ba l lga me,” she sa id. “So I rea l ly li ke t hat. I t hin k t hey’re a l l in a good place.” It wasn’t just on t he mound t hat Not re Da me found success. Aga inst t he Lions, Irish senior center f ielder Abby Sweet had a r un a nd t wo RBIs. A f ter being shut out in t he Saturday evening ga me aga inst t he Crimson Tide, Sweet t hen ca me back aga inst t he Hornets to have t wo more r uns a nd a not her RBI. “[Sweet] had a wonder f u l weekend, a nd did a g reat job leading t he tea m in hitt ing,” Gumpf sa id. “She has such good power a nd such good speed t hat people rea lly don’t k now what to ex pect f rom her. So she’s involved rea l ly wel l right now, which is good.” Gumpf a lso spoke high ly of sophomore right f ielder Emma Cla rk’s per forma nce during t he tourna ment. “Emma Cla rk, she does just a g reat job of putt ing t he ba l l in play a nd ma k ing t he defense pa nic because she is so fast,” Gumpf sa id. Cla rk was a not her recogni zable na me t his weekend. Wit h 2 r uns a nd 1 RBI across bot h ga mes, a nd topping of f t he weekend, t y ing t he a l l-t ime Not re Da me stolen bases record, Gumpf has f u l l fa it h in Cla rk. “I had no idea t hat she t ied it, a nd I hope she brea ks it t his yea r,” Gumpf sa id. “I t hin k she ca n brea k it a nd I hope she does.” Gumpf was a lso quick to recog ni ze t he ef for ts a nd successes of some of her newer players as well, sophomore out f ielder Leea Ha n ks whose f irst season was cut shor t due to COV ID-19 as wel l as f irst yea rs Ca rlli K loss a nd Ka rina Gask in. “Leea Ha n ks did a g reat
job, a l l weekend, f inding t he f inding a way to put t he bat on t he ba ll a nd ma king t hings happen Ka rina Gask ins as a f reshma n ca me in for big situat ions a nd ca me in big for us, which I was rea lly pleased to see a f reshma n, ma k ing t hat k ind of cont ribut ion right away,” Gumpf sa id. “Ca rlli K loss did a g reat job as a f reshma n coming in. She had, I t hin k, t wo hits on t he week, a nd a lso behind t he plate, she t hrew somebody out. Shelby Grimm was a ma zing behind t he plate a nd ever ybody was a f ra id to r un on her she was so good.” W hat’s st ill up in t he a ir is t he exact st r ucture for t he end of t his week a nd t his coming weekend aga inst Sy racuse a nd Du ke. “I’m not sure how we’re going to go about t his weekend yet,” Gumpf sa id about pitching decisions t his week. “A lot of it’s going to go into t he weat her we’ll see how t he weat her plays out a nd if we play t hose f irst few ga mes on t hat ver y f irst day so I t hin k I’m just gonna go in, a nd I’m sure a ll t hree of t hem a re going to pitch at some point. So we’re going to attack our opponent, rega rd less of who’s on t he mound.” The tea m has a couple of t hings to consider before play ing aga in, especia lly to ensure a not her inning like t he last one of Saturday’s ga me aga inst t he Crimson Tide ca n’t happen aga in. “It wasn’t just one t hing,” Gumpf sa id. “Ever y t hing k ind of fell apa r t at t he sa me t ime, a nd I rea lly believe t hat when, when t here was a mista ke made t hat, you k now, we were so focused on t he mista ke t hat we made instead of being able to quick ly move on a nd rea li zing … we’re gonna ma ke mista kes. It’s okay as long as we cont inue just to let t he mista kes go a nd focus on t he nex t play. I don’t ever foresee t hat happening aga in. I t hin k it’s t he f irst weekend, play ing at night, gett ing out of a n inside building k ind of a t hing. I t hin k now t hat we’ve been outside one weekend, I t hin k it’s gonna be a litt le easier.” Wit h Sy racuse looming a nd Du ke on t he horizon right behind it, Gumpf ta lked about what she expects f rom t he t wo tea ms a nd how t hey w ill move forwa rd a round t hem. W hile t he ga me-t ime decisions haven’t been made yet,
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Gumpf a nd t he Irish have goa ls for t he Sy racuse ga me. “Sy racuse is a ver y good tea m who is led by t heir pitching sta f f,” she sa id. “A nd if we get to t he pitching sta f f, I t hin k you k now t hat’s t he key t here. I t hin k we ca n cont rol t heir hitters. A nd I t hin k t hat we ca n ha nd le t hem, but you k now t hey’re a good tea m a nd t hey’re going to come out on a ll cylinders. It’s t heir f irst weekend play ing. So I expect t hem to be prett y f ired up to play us. Our st reng t h facing Sy racuse I t hin k w ill be our of fensive ga me. I t hin k we’re going to be able to create r uns w it h our speed a nd being able to put pressure on t heir defense. A nd I t hin k our pitching sta f f is going to do a g reat job aga inst t heir hitters.” Rega rding Du ke, Gumpf sa id t he tea m has “ever y t hing.” “As for Du ke, t hey have a ver y good sof tba ll tea m,” Gumpf sa id. “They have ready hitt ing t hey have g reat pitching. So it’s just a matter of, I believe t hat, you k now, we ca n beat t hem if we played just good sof tba ll. A nd we just have to focus on t hat a nd ma ke sure we’re doing litt le t hings rea lly well. Aga inst t hem, I wou ld say t he exact sa me t hing [as for Sy racuse] I t hin k we have to f ind ways to generate r uns a nd cont rol t heir hitters.” A f ter being of f t he f ield for so long a nd unable to play Gumpf sa id “a ny day we get to play is a g reat day,” a nd she believes t he sa me goes for t he women on her tea m as t hey come back to t he f ield a nd establish who t his tea m w ill be t his season. “I t hin k t hey’re f ig uring t hings out a nd t hey’re f inding out t heir ident it y on t he f ield, as we’re playing,” Gumpf sa id. “A nd I t hin k t hat happens in t ime a nd t hrough t ime. W hen you ta lk about unit y a nd t he tea m, I t hin k t he stuf f t hat happens of f t he f ield is just as impor ta nt as t hat t hat happens on t he f ield.” The Irish w ill ta ke t he f ield in a doubleheader aga inst t he Sy racuse Ora nge at 11 a.m. a nd 1:30 pm on Thursday, Feb. 18 a nd aga in at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19. Exact ly 24 hours later, t hey face Du ke at 4 p.m. on Feb. 20 a nd get up for t wo more Du ke ga mes on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 11 a.m. a nd 1:30 p.m.
W Lax Continued from page 16
Choma sa id players like senior goa lie Bridget Deeha n, g raduate student defenders Kat h leen Roe a nd Kel ly Donnel ly a nd senior midf ielder Dia na Kel ly took t he younger players under t heir w ing last yea r, a nd demonst rated t heir ta lents in pract ices. However, it was not unt i l play ing on t he f ield w it h t he seniors a nd g raduate students t hat t he tea m rea lly was able to f u l ly appreciate t heir sk i l ls. “We k new how good t hey were,” Choma sa id. “But t hen once we rea l ly went out t here a nd played as a collect ive unit on defense, it was just a rewa rding feeling.” Even t hough t here was ta lent to spa re on t he f ield, Choma sa id t he rea l sta ndout was t he sideline. “One of t he most importa nt t hings of t hat ga me was our sideline a nd how elect ric t hey were,” Choma sa id. “I was li ke, ‘Oh my goodness. They’re bringing a l l t he energ y right now. Time to produce for t hat.’” This energ y, Choma sa id, was la rgely cu lt ivated during t he preseason. Due to t he pa ndemic, t he tea m’s 2020 season was cut shor t. Saturday’s ga me aga inst Va nderbi lt was t he f irst ga me t he tea m
has played in over 300 days. “Last yea r was rea l ly ha rd just because as a tea m, we k new we were ver y conf ident in ourselves,” Choma sa id. “We were just so conf ident a nd ready for t he season a head, a nd gett ing it ta ken away just li ke t hat was probably one of t he ha rdest t hings ever.” The ca ncel lat ion subsequent ly caused a lterat ions to preseason act iv it ies. The tea m was rest ricted to play ing aga inst each ot her as opposed to schedu led scrimmages aga inst ot her schools, a nd severa l players had to qua ra nt ine t hroughout t he semester. Choma sa id t he compet it ion t hat resu lted f rom play ing each ot her elevated t heir ga me a nd helped t hem adopt a new menta lit y, understa nding t hat a ny t hing ca n happen during t he season. “Ha nd ling t he adversit y I t hin k was somet hing t hat we did a good job of in t he fa l l,” Choma sa id. “The compet it ion a mongst each ot her was unrea l. We rea l ly pushed each ot her li ke no ot her. I was on ly here for one yea r before t his, but compa red to last yea r, I t hin k t he compet it ion t hat we’ve had as a tea m def initely excel led.” Contact Emily DeFazio at edefazio@nd.edu
Allison Thornton | The Observer
Contact Mannion McGinley at mmcginl3@nd.edu
Irish senior midfielder Andie Aldave stands ready for the next play in Notre Dame’s 16-4 home win over Louisville on March 2, 2019.
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nd SOFTBALL
ND Women’s Lacrosse
Irish win season opener away By EMILY DEFAZIO Sports Writer
In t heir season opener, t he Not re Da me women’s lacrosse tea m defeated Va nderbi lt w it h a score of 19-5. The tea m ca me out sw inging, w it h t hree players scoring at least four goa ls each a nd g raduate student attacker Sa ma nt ha Ly nch matching her career-high of seven points. Ly nch was subsequent ly na med ACC Of fensive Player of t he Week. “I didn’t t hin k it was going to actua l ly happen,” sophomore midf ielder Kasey Choma sa id about t he ga me. “We ta lked to [Ba lt imore Ravens head coach] John Ha rbaugh right before t he ga me, a nd somet hing he told us was to ‘play w it h ma x ef for t.’ ‘Shock ing ef for t’ actua l ly were his words.” The tea m t ra nslated t his
Fresh off Stinger Classic, ND to face Syracuse, Duke
menta lit y into t heir ga meplay. Choma sa id ever yt hing bega n to click for t he squad. “It was just f un,” she sa id. “I t hin k we just went out t here w it h shock ing effor t a nd just played relentless, because we’ve just been wa it ing for t his a nd we had f un w it h it, a nd it was just so a ma zing to see ; hav ing f un, play ing w it h t hat ma x ef for t, a nd t hen t he score ca me w it h it.” The tea m wound up keeping Va nderbilt of f t he boa rd for t he f irst 18 a nd t he last 19 minutes of t he ga me. Choma sa id t his was la rgely due to t he defense, say ing t hat t his yea r’s defense was one of t he best she has seen a nd t hat t he ha rd work of t heir preseason pa id of f in t hose minutes. see W LAX PAGE 14
By MANNION MCGINLEY Sports Writer
ALLISON THORNTON | The Observer
Irish junior infielder Quinn Biggio prepares for a hit during Notre Dame’s 8-0 win at home over IUPUI on April 3, 2019.
Squad focuses on ACC Championships By SEAN KELLEY
Let first-year wide receivers play Hayden Adams
Sports Writer
Sports Editor
see W SWIM PAGE 13
see SOFTBALL PAGE 14
COLUMN
ND Women’s Swimming and Diving
Notre Dame’s women’s sw imming and div ing team looks to make a splash at the ACC Championships this weekend. This team has been in a training camp bubble on campus since Dec. 27 preparing for this championship weekend. Head coach Mike Litzinger noted that “to have that opportunit y to really focus on our craft has been unique.” To follow this, he gave high praise for the mental and physical state of his team. “I really like what we’ve accomplished over this training break and heading into the championship.” Litzinger said. “So I think that we’re going to end up surprising ourselves w ith some excellent results.” This bubble has also allowed for a different taper season than normal. Taper is the time leading up to
Not re Da me’s sof tba l l tea m (2-1) is coming of f a split weekend at t he St inger Classic in Montgomer y A la. The Irish won 13-0 a nd 9-0 aga inst t he A laba ma State Hornets (0-4) a nd t he Nor t h A laba ma Lions (1-2), respect ively. They a lso saw a hef t y loss 10-0 to t he A laba ma Crimson Tide, w it h mista kes most ly conf ined to one messy inning. Irish sof tba l l head coach Dea nna Gumpf encompassed t he weekend say ing, “I saw so ma ny good t hings t his weekend. A nd I t hin k it sta r ts on t he mound. I t hought our pitching sta f f did a g reat job. Aga inst a l l t hree opponents actua l ly, even in t he ga me we didn’t play ver y wel l it rea l ly ca me dow n to one inning, t he g irls just k ind of fel l apa r t
Allison Thornton | The Observer
Irish junior back stroke swimmer Bayley Stewart sets to begin her race during the Jan. 17, 2020 meet at home against Northwestern.
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — On Jan. 2, 2021, University of Kentucky redshirt freshman guard Dontaie Allen hit seven three-pointers in a 78-73 overtime win over Mississippi State. No, don’t go anywhere. You’re in the right place (assuming you’re here for a Notre Dame football discussion). The reason I bring up that Kentucky basketball business is to draw an analogy that will become apparent shortly. But first, a little backstory. See, Kentucky head coach John Calipari is about as stubborn as they come. He has these preconceived notions about how a team is a “fraud” without a legitimate interior presence — a belief that doesn’t totally track with modern basketball in the age of the threepointer — and he has certain entrenched biases that lead him to favor five-star recruits over everyone else. That philosophy led Kentucky to start the season 1-6 while
posting some of the most abysmal shooting numbers in school history because only one guy in the rotation could shoot. However, there was hope, and it just so happened to be sitting on the Kentucky bench. That hope’s name is Dontaie Allen, a homegrown, three-star Kentucky product who is a pure shooter, and when he got his chance, he led the Wildcats to a win. The reason I just dedicated 200 words of this piece to Kentucky basketball is that I’m trying to draw a parallel between the Dontaie Allen-John Calipari dynamic and the Jordan JohnsonBrian Kelly dynamic. That’s right, Jordan Johnson. The (borderline) five-star freshman wide receiver out of St. Louis for whom fans and media alike were clamoring to make an appearance this past season, especially when Notre Dame’s passing game went stagnant (as it did far more often than it should have for a College Football Playoff team in the year 2020). see ADAMS PAGE 13