Print Edition for The Observer for Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022

Rep. Liz Cheney speaks at Notre Dame

By RYAN PETERS news e ditor

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story was published online on Oct 14.

u s rep. l iz c heney ( r wy ) said Friday, o ctober 14, dur ing her lecture at notre dame that she thinks “there’s no question about the answer” regarding whether or not for mer p resident donald Trump broke the law during the Jan. 6 riot at the u. s. c apitol in 2021. c heney, the vice chairwoman of the house s elect c ommittee on the January 6 attack, refer enced u s d istrict Judge david o c arter’s march opinion that stated it is likely that Trump

l ecture discusses c hina’s strategy

By KATIE MUCHNICK news writer

Fiona c unningham, as sistant professor of political science at the university of pennsylvania, visited cam pus Tuesday to present her re search on c hina’s strategy in limited war.

c unningham’s research lies at the intersection of technol ogy and conflict, especially in c hina. she traveled to beijing

to conduct fieldwork from 2015 to 2017 as a joint ph.d. research fellow at renmin university of c hina. c unningham re ceived her ph.d. from the massachusetts i nstitute of Technology in 2018.

The focus of c unningham’s forthcoming book is how c hina copes with the “lim ited war dilemma.” according to cunningham, limited war

‘a rt of Faith’ exhibit opens at hcc

By KATE NAESSENS news writer

i n an effort to showcase the diversity of religious art in the area and celebrate the intersection of artwork and the c atholic faith, a ngelo r ay m artinez, a h oly c ross professor and the direc tor of the s t. Joseph g allery organized and curated

‘The a rt of Faith.’ o pen to visitors on the h oly c ross campus until d ec. 16, this exhibition features 10 art ists from a variety of artistic and c atholic backgrounds, all with the united vision of sharing what faith looks like to them.

and his lawyer John e astman broke at least two federal statutes.

c heney, who lost her w yoming gop primary to Trump-backed harriet hageman, said she expects the committee to approach a potential criminal referral for Trump “in a unanimous way.” d uring the committee’s ninth and potentially final public hearing Thursday, the members voted unani mously to subpoena testi mony from Trump. c heney said Thursday’s hearing was “not necessarily the last hear ing” and the committee felt it was acting responsibly by

Students study abroad in Galapagos over fall break

By KELSEY QUINT news writer

o n m onday, a group of 14 students and two faculty members returned from their 10-day trip exploring the g alapagos i slands, off the coast of e cuador.

Jeremy Fein, professor of civil and environmental engineering and e arth sci ences, and g ary l amberti,

professor of biological sci ences, oversaw the excur sion. l amberti explained that this trip differed from other n otre d ame study abroad programs.

“The trip is embedded in a regular course. s o the course is a two-credit [biol ogy and civil engineering] course and it’s called ‘Field p racticum – g alapagos i slands’,” l amberti

explained.

s tudents don’t just leave campus to travel to s outh a merica for the course; they also go off campus into s outh b end, l amberti said.

“a s part of this course, the students also do a service project at the r obinson c ommunity l earning c enter down on

Jan. 6 committee co-chair hints at potential criminal referral for Trump in lecture on democracy

see

MEGHAN LANGE | University of Notre Dame

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) delivered a lecture in Washington Hall on Oct. 14 entitled “Saving Democracy by Revering the Constitution,” hosted by the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government.

Courtesy of Gery Lamberti

Students and faculty traveled to the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, during fall break. The group traveled for a biology and civil engineering course called “Field Practicum - Galapagos Islands.”

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Today’s Staff

Question of the Day:

What was the name of your first pet?

Raleigh Kuipers sophomore Lyons Hall “I’ve never had a pet.”

Claire McArthur sophomore Johnson Family Hall “Pixie.”

Have

you want answered?

Katie Burke first-year Lyons Hall “Josey.”

Lauren Engates first-year Lyons Hall “Meekers.”

Mark Valenzuela first-year Morrissey Hall “Winston.”

Lindsay Goldschmidt junior Breen-Phillips Hall “Hobbs.”

Corrections

The Observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times. We do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. If we have made a mistake, please contact us at editor@ndsmcobserver.com so we can correct our error.

Wednesday

Inaugural Yeats

Lecture

Jenkins Nanovic Halls

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

On the relation of arts and humanities.

Music in Irish Culture

Remick Family Commons

4 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Cross-cultural coffee hour.

Thursday

Relationship Violence Awareness Student Center Atrium

11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Learn about resources and write affirmations.

Basil’s Boo Bash Ave Brew

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Halloween activities for the South Bend community.

Want your event included here?

Friday

“Great Discoveries in Mathematics (GPS)”

Pfeil Board Room

11 a.m.

Faculty development committee dialogue.

Voting Rights Lecture Zoom

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Discussion of election law reshaping.

Saturday

“The Dance of Death”

DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Presented by the Irish Theatre of Chicago.

Halloween Festival Library Lawn 9 p.m. - 12 p.m. Join SAO for a seriously spooky good time.

Sunday

SMCDM Run for Riley 5k Run/Walk Le Mans Green 11:30 a.m. Free food and dance party to follow.

Halloween-themed Science Sunday St. Patrick’s County Park, South Bend

1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Insect identification.

Sofia CrimiVaroli | The Observer

The Frank Montana Sketching Club hosted a workshop with Lucien Steil on architectural capriccio. Steil is pictured leading a re view of the students’ imaginary topographical scenes. In Italian capriccio means that which is capricious, whimsical or fantastic.

collecting evidence from fig ures around Trump before subpoenaing him.

Following more than a year of investigation by the com mittee, c heney said Trump had a premeditated plan to de clare victory regardless of the outcome of the election and in spite of evidence demonstrat ing an absence of voter fraud.

“o n election day and in the days after the election, there was no American who was better informed about the ab sence of fraud than d onald Trump,” she said. “In spite of this, he made a conscious deci sion to claim fraudulently that the election was stolen.”

she said Trump proceed ed to pressure state officials to change election results

Galapagos

PAge

e ddy s treet… we have them spend two sessions with the students at the r obinson c enter, teaching them about the g alapagos.”

Lamberti reflects on how the service element of the course is special, as it brings the u niversity’s funding for the trip “full-circle” and gives the students an op portunity to give back to the s outh b end community.

b ut why the g alapagos? Fein explained the famous reputation of the islands and why they are considered so unique.

“The g alapagos were where c harles d arwin made his observations that led di rectly to the theory of evo lution,” Fein said. “ s o that’s why it’s world-famous. These are ‘fresh islands’ that have come out from the seafloor on top of a hotspot and have been colonized by a whole range of plants and animals that have evolved separately from the mainland,” he said.

Lamberti expanded on just how special the islands are.

“The plants and animals that occur on the islands are unique worldwide. m any of them exist no place else on the planet,” Lamberti said. “And the animals in particu lar have virtually no fear of humans.”

h oney s tukes, a junior studying biology, said that the unique atmosphere of the g alapagos was notice able from the minute the group stepped off the plane.

“We just walked a couple of steps like right off the plane… we saw the prickly pears and so much, and we weren’t even in the airport yet.” s tukes said. s he de scribed her attempt to “soak it all in like a sponge.”

The group stayed in Puerto Ayora, the most populous town in the islands. e ach

and pressure both state and republican Party officials to manufacture fake electoral slates that tried to correct the department of Justice.

o n the day of Jan. 6, Trump was the lone person with the ability to send the rioters home, c heney said. Instead of calling for an end to the attack as staff members, family mem bers and members of c ongress were urging him to do, he sent a tweet at 2:24 p.m. criticizing former v ice President m ike Pence for not cooperating in his bid to overturn the elec tion, which incited further violence, she argued, and sat quietly while watching the events unfold on television.

“I want you to think about what kind of human being does that,” she said. “That is not normal or acceptable or lawful in our republic.”

c heney said a police officer

day, they visited a different island, making observations and conducting individual research, as well as experi encing the landscape around them through many hikes and snorkeling expeditions.

s enior m egan h ilbert, an environmental science ma jor, reflected on the diversity of the islands.

“ o verall, I was really sur prised by how different all of the islands were. e very day it just felt like a totally dif ferent corner of the world,” h ilbert said.

s tudents agreed that what every place had in common were the up-close interac tions with wildlife.

Junior s hannon r eilly, a civil engineering major, joked that it was often the animals that broke the exist ing mutual protection rules.

“ s ea turtles came and swam right underneath us and it just did not look real. We’re supposed to stay six feet, but the turtle complete ly broke that one.” r eilly said.

In addition to sea turtles, students highlighted their close encounters with sea lions, manta rays, giant tor toises, iguanas, and native bird species— just to name a few.

Junior Peter m artin, a bio logical sciences major, re ferred to the islands as “the h oly Land for biologists.” m artin said that the conser vation of the g alapagos is a product of hard work and sacrifice.

“It showed that when you conserve these large areas of land and you have people willing to make sacrifices to protect the environment, you create these rich biodi versity hotspots with ani mals that aren’t afraid of humans,” he said.

m artin said that the pres ervation of the islands was due to conscious choices.

“We met members of the community who understood

told her that night he had never seen anything like the combat he witnessed Jan. 6. The officer was an Iraq War veteran.

despite the prevalence of republican candidates today who cast doubt on the election, c heney said the courage of republicans who resisted and continue to resist Trump’s ef forts inspires her.

“but what gives me hope has been the individuals that both have testified in front of the committee and those who haven’t, but those who acted that day to save the republic. That is one of the most impor tant stories of what happened on January 6,” she said. “The power and the courage and the dazzling honor of indi vidual Americans to save this republic. And they’re mostly republicans.”

c alling donald Trump “an ongoing and real threat,”

how valuable and precious these ecosystems and places are… it really showed me the need to educate the next generations and show them how we can have this love and respect and care for the natural world,” he added.

s enior h annah e nabnit, an environmental engineer ing major, explained how the group was fortunate to learn from one of these locals, their guide Luis.

“We had our guide Luis, and he had lived there for at least 20 years. h e was so knowledgeable… he knew every detail about the g alapagos, but also just other things going on in the world. It was so impressive to me,” e nabnit said.

Attempting to sum up the experience in a single phrase, students described their trip as “surreal,” “out of a dream,” and most collec tively: “once in a lifetime.”

Professors Fein and Lamberti agree that their fa vorite aspect of the program is getting to watch the stu dents’ enthusiasm unfold. Fein explained that this is the most rewarding part of the program.

“I think g ary and I both do it because we love the reac tion of the students… it’s, you know, a potentially lifechanging experience,” Fein said.

“ s eeing the excitement in our students when they see their first g alapagos tortoise or their first marine iguana or their first blue-footed boobie and all the unique animals is just wondrous,”

Lamberti said.

s tudents reflecting on the trip expressed a sense of gratitude. r eilly said that, above all, she feels “ex tremely lucky.”

“ n ot many universities have programs like this, and I feel just really lucky that n otre d ame does and with such great professors

c heney said the hearings are not partisan. nearly every wit ness who has testified has been a republican.

“This isn’t about politics,” she said.

c heney said there are too many republicans in elected office who ignore the threat posed by Trump. she called the ability to commit oneself to the c onstitution regardless of an election outcome the “fun damental fabric” of American democracy that is currently at risk.

“most people in most plac es in most periods of time on this earth have not been free. America is an exception. And we continue only because we bind ourselves to our found ing principles and to our c onstitution,” c heney said.

c heney called on Americans to refuse to act as bystanders.

“There is no power on this

earth that is stronger than free citizens determined to stand together to defend the miracle and the blessing of our free dom,” she said.

As c heney’s term concludes, she faces questions about her political career after c ongress. she said a decision about whether she will run for presi dent will come in the near future.

“I think 2024 is going to be really important. I think it’s going to be crucial that we elect people that will defend the c onstitution,” she said. “I haven’t made a decision yet about what I’m going to do. We have a lot of excellent can didates, we have a lot of bad candidates too, so I’ll make a decision about that in the com ing months.”

Contact Ryan Peters at rpeters5@nd.edu

and that I got chosen to go,” r eilly said.

s tukes expressed a similar feeling of appreciation.

“It was just a life-chang ing experience, I think for all of us… I’m still trying to process it. I look over the pictures and I’m like ‘I was there.’” she said.

“We all tried to record stuff, but at some point, we all just kind of stopped. We just had silent moments, and we were just looking around. We were just present in the beauty.”

Contact Kelsey Quint at kquint@nd.edu

Courtesy of Shannon Reilly

A marine iguana sits on the sand in the Galapagos Islands. Students engaged flora and fauna as part of the ten day excursion for the class.

Courtesy of Shannon Reilly

A Galapagos sea lion pup emerges from moss-covered rocks on the shore. Native to the islands, they are the smallest species of sea lions.

Courtesy of Megan Hilbert

Students saw a spotted eagle ray off the coast of the islands. They are considered near threatened by the Red List of Threatened Species.

Book club explores global-themed reads

By KENDELLE HUNG-INO News Writer

This year, Notre Dame’s book club is striving to go global by picking a book with an international connection each month. To maximize their multiculturalism, the officers plan to collaborate with Notre Dame’s cultural clubs that correspond with their monthly read.

“We are choosing books based on different cul tures,” said book club presi dent and graduate student Mayesha Sahir Mim.

It is the first year the club has taken on a theme with their book choice.

Sahir Mim said the club wants to “make things more fun and interesting” through a theme since it was inactive last semester, and meetings have been held over Zoom since the CO v ID-19 pandemic.

e ach month, the club will pick a book that fits the theme, purchase it for in terested members and then meet on a Thursday eve ning at the end of the month for an informal discussion about their thoughts on the book. September’s book was “The a lchemist” by Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian au thor. a t September’s meet ing, the Brazilian Students

a ssociation gave a presenta tion on Brazil and Coelho’s life.

“We thought the theme would be just for the se mester, but there’s so many countries. a nd when we collaborated with the Brazilian club, we had a lot of fun with it,” Sahir Mim said. “We thought three months won’t be enough time, so we’ll just continue with it even over the spring semester.”

This month, the club is reading “The Girl with the Louding v oice” by a bi Daré, a book about a Nigerian girl and written by a Nigerian author. For its Oct. 27 meeting, Sahir Mim said the a frican club plans to give a presentation on Nigeria and share a frican food while discussing the book.

“I love our global theme this year. I think it’s really important to seek out stories from all types of people and am hap py to be learning about different parts of the world from it,” social chair Sarah Nano said in an email.

Sahir Mim also men tioned the book club is planning to collabo rate with Notre Dame’s Multicultural Student

Programs and Services (MSPS), diversity council and international student and scholars affairs in their upcoming meetings.

Sahir Mim said she is hoping that establishing a theme and holding more engaging meetings will encourage current mem bers to become more active and attract new ones.

“We definitely want more people to be aware of our club and join,”

she said.

Currently, the club mostly consists of graduate students, but Sahir Mim said the group is open to undergraduates as well.

“You will make some friends, and you get to discuss your ideas about a book that you’re reading,” she said of the club.

Nano seconded that idea, saying she has enjoyed meeting new people as part of the club.

“I’ve already met so many great people who’d I’d love to get to know more about. I also like that book club push es me to broaden my reading choices,” she said in an email.

Interested students can contact Sahir Mim at mmim@nd.edu or direct message the Instagram account, @bookclub_nd.

Contact Kendelle Hung-Ino at khungino@nd.edu

China

CONTIN ue D F rOM PaGe 1

is a dilemma that all nucleararmed nations face when they want to use their military power to meet their political goals without triggering a cata strophic nuclear conflict.

Historically, most states have pursued one of two paths to cope with this dilemma: using conventional military weap ons to engage in a conflict or relying on threats of nuclear war.

Both strategies are attempts by the states to gain “coercive leverage” over their adver sary, she said. Coercive lever age is the the cost that a state can threaten to impose on its adversaries as a way of influ encing their decision-making, Cunningham said.

China, however, reject ed both of these approach es, a move that confused scholars and policymakers, Cunningham said.

“In particular, they’ve been puzzled by the fact that China has maintained a policy that it will not use its nuclear weap ons unless it suffered a nuclear attack, despite the fact that it couldn’t field war-winning conventional capabilities, which is a very unusual com bination of policy choices,” she said.

Instead, China has developed

“information-age technolo gies” to gain coercive leverage. These technologies include of fensive cyber capabilities that could temporarily disable an adversary’s critical infrastruc ture and anti-satellite weapons that threaten an adversary’s satellites and possibly cast shards and hazardous debris into space. Cunningham also grouped precision convention al missiles under this term.

“What animates me in this book project is why China has made this decision to pursue these novel, unproven military capabilities to gain coercive leverage rather than following suit with other nuclear-armed countries,” Cunningham said.

In response to the discrep ancy between China and oth er nuclear-armed countries, Cunningham presented a new theory: the strategic substitu tion approach.

Cunningham hypothesized that “China’s search for coer cive leverage was constrained to substitutes for war-winning conventional military capa bilities and nuclear threats.”

Specifically, China relied on information-age technologies as substitutes.

To test her hypothesis, Cunningham conducted com parative case studies of China’s information-age weapons decision-making.

For a political conflict to qualify for a case study, China

must be facing some sort of “le verage deficit.”

“Leverage deficit basically refers to a situation in which a state’s … existing military capabilities are inadequate to prevail in the kind of war and against the kind of adver sary it is most likely to face,” Cunningham said.

Within situations where China was facing a leverage deficit, Cunningham identified whether or not the state pur sued information-age technol ogies. She reviewed hundreds of original Chinese language documents, mostly military documents, that she gathered during her fieldwork.

During the lecture, Cunningham discussed one particular case study — the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis from 1995 to 1996.

This crisis was the effect of a series of missile tests by China in the waters surrounding Taiwan, including the Taiwan Strait. The missiles were al legedly intended to intimidate then Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui.

Cunningham found spe cific indications that China was moving away from con ventional capabilities and threats of nuclear war and turning toward informationage technologies after this crisis. Specifically, a Chineselanguage “Military Building Plan Outline” describes their

intent to develop precision conventional missiles.

However, the effectiveness of these information-age technol ogies has yet to be determined.

“From my judgments, I think there’s still significant uncer tainty about whether these information weapons can ac tually deliver on the promise that China’s leaders saw in them as a way of gaining co ercive leverage in this kind of strategic substitution capac ity,” Cunningham said.

She suggested that precision conventional missiles have been the most successful at creating problems for China’s adversaries.

“But at the same time, all of

these information age capa bilities have probably created greater risks of inadvertent nu clear escalation than China’s decision makers appreciated at the time that they made de cisions to pursue them in the early 2000s,” she added.

Much of the effect of the stra tegic substitution approach remains to be tested. Given the recent tension between Taiwan and China as a result of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, Cunningham suggested that there might be more instances of this approach by China in the future.

Contact Katie Muchnick at kmuchnic@nd.edu

Courtesy of Mayesha Sahir Mim

The Notre Dame book club read the “The Alchemist” and collaborated with the Brazilian Student Associa tion to learn about Brazilian culture. This month, the club is reading “The Girl with the Louding Voice.”

KATIE MUCHNICK | The Observer

University of Pennsylvania professor Fiona Cunningham discussed China’s military strategy Tuesday evening in Jenkins Nanovic Hall.

The pieces on show include both artwork commissioned specifically for the exhibit and pieces like that of m elonie m ulkey, an adjunct professor of visual arts. h er work, ‘The Five Wounds,’ was featured in a two-person exhibi tion called ‘Innermost’ at the University of n otre d ame earlier this year.

m ulkey, an experienced artist, said this exhibit is different than some of the others she has been in.

“This is, in a really long list of exhibitions, the first one I’ve been in that specifically addresses and talks about faith,” m ulkey said.

m ulkey’s excitement at the unique nature of the ex hibition and its artwork is also reflected in local artist and high school art teacher Anastassia (Tess) c assady, who made last year’s Paschal candle for the b asilica of the s acred h eart.

“Fusing c atholicism and interesting, heartfelt and original art is something that hasn’t been seen in a long time,” she said. “When I do something that’s ar tistic and religious, fel low artists will respect the artistry of it but can say

‘I don’t want anything to do with c hristianity, why would you mix the two’ so I was really im pressed with the fact [ m artinez] found such a wide variety of art.” b ringing together the lo cal community of c atholic artists was a major compo nent of m artinez’ vision, he said.

“There aren’t a lot of art venues that dedicate them selves to exhibiting con temporary faith-based artworks, so it can be difficult to find the con versations and discourse that is necessary to progressing your work,” m artinez said.

This type of collaboration is some thing c assady said she is all for and thinks it could serve a greater purpose in reaching the wider c atholic community.

“I think it’s a great idea, especially for parish es to have someplace to both bring artists togeth er, but also educate the congregation with original artwork that they have never seen be fore, rather than the same printouts that are fad ed [churches] that they don’t really notice any more — not because it’s not striking, but that it’s noth ing new,” she explained.

m artinez expressed that he hopes both c atholics and non- c atholics can gain something from the exhibit.

“I hope that visi tors are able to reflect on their own c atholic faith in a deep er way if they are of the faith, and if they are not, that they are able to better appreciate some of the beauty and mysteries of c atholicism,” m artinez said.

As for the effects of this exhibition, m ulkey said she is confident it will make a positive impact on the c atholic communities’ re sponse to more modern, faith-based art.

Contact Kate Naessens at knaessen@nd.edu

study finds impact of reviews on movie sales

By PETER BREEN news Writer

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story was published online on Oct 13.

m ovie reviews are of ten studied in marketing research as a measurable form of online word of mouth, n otre d ame marketing professor s hijie Lu said.

Lu is a coauthor of a forth coming paper in the Journal of m arketing that found that similarity in review content between critics and gen eral users impacts movie demand.

d ue to the vast availabil ity of data, Lu said, movies are often the most conve nient focal point of online entertainment industry research.

“ m ovies are also relatively new products, which have a short product life cycle,”

Lu said. “It just makes it easier for researchers to un derstand how online word of mouth affects demand throughout the product life cycle.”

In the past, Lu added, movie marketing research has looked at the two sourc es of movie reviews: crit ics and the general user, separately.

“ s ome research has looked at how critical re views affect box office sales, and the majority of research ignores the critical reviews completely,” he said. “They just focus on user reviews, because the sheer volume of user reviews is usually much higher than that from critics.”

In the study, Lu and his co authors found that the con tent of both types of reviews may be more important than the actual evaluation of the film.

“We are saying that when both parties are talking about the same aspects of the movies, they are more likely to make consumers be aware of the movie,” he said.

Lu uses the award-win ning potential of a movie as a topic example to help clarify the concept of top ic consistency and how it might affect consumer demand.

“If critics are talking about the award-winning potential of the mov ie and if consumers are talking about the same at tribute, this will make this particular movie attribute more memorable in con sumers’ minds and there fore encourage them to

check out this movie in the aters,” Lu said.

To test this hypothesis, Lu said his team needed to devise a way to measure the similarity in review content with text mining tools.

“If we want to process the review data on a large scale, we use statistical measures,” Lu said. “The particular measure we’re using, this research is called topic modeling [and] it’s a statistical modeling method.”

For the movie “La La Land,” Lu said, the text min ing process found that there were 25 topics that could generally summarize all re view content.

“ e ach review will have a weight along each of the topics,” Lu said. “We can summarize each review as a kind of a vector along the topics [and] we can use this vector between two reviews to measure their similarity, that’s the basic idea.”

Lu said his team aggregat ed critical reviews and user reviews, analyzing 10 user reviews for every one criti cal review.

“We look at the simi larity for each pair, and then we aggregate the

similarity across all reviews. s o, what we did is to create a measure, which we call topic con sistency, based on all the reviews written by users and critics, and when this overall simi larity measure or topic consistent measure is high, we find that it’s usually associated with high box office revenue,” Lu said.

After gathering this field data to test the posi tive correlation, Lu said, his team ran lab experi ments to check whether presenting subjects with different pairs of criti cal and user reviews with high or low similar ity would change consumer willingness to watch a movie.

e unsoo Kim, mark ing professor at n anyang Technological University and coauthor of the study, discussed the application of the research results.

“The common topics gen erated by critics and users help potential moviegoers better evaluate and remem ber the movie by its attri butes (topics),” she wrote in an email.

n ow that they have es tablished a link between content similarity and box

office sales, Lu said movie producers may be able to take advantage.

“We are suggesting that producers can use our findings to create some common themes for critics and users to … see if they can nudge box office sales,” Lu said.

Kim clarified that this would probably mostly af fect movies with middle-ofthe-road ratings.

“The analysis shows that the impact of topic consistency is positively significant, and this asso ciation is more prominent when it comes to movies with mediocre reviews than movies with extreme rat ings,” she wrote.

b eyond movies, Lu said, topic-driven promotion can be applied to televi sion commercials, online video advertising and even other industries outside entertainment.

“This idea of topic con sistency can be generalized to any other industry where you have reviews from both general users and the experts like fashion and electronic products,” Lu said.

Contact Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu

Courtesy of Angelo Ray Martínez

“The Art of Faith” exhibit is featured in the St. Joesph Gallery on Holy Cross’s campus to celebrate diverse religious art in the local community. The exhibit highlights pieces fusing Catholicism and modern art.

Courtesy of Angelo Ray Martínez

Adjunct professor of visual arts Melonie Mulkey’s work “The Five Wounds” is featured in a two-person exhibit at the gallery until Dec. 16.

cOlumn

Where to run, walk and hike in South Bend

Claire Reid Assoicate News Editor

I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, where the UW-Madison campus is seamlessly integrated into the city.

Local families and students alike stroll the same State Street, hike in the same arboretum and frequent the same restaurants and cafes without a second thought. So imagine my surprise when I came to Notre Dame and saw how completely divorced its students are from the rest of the South Bend community!

I’m now a senior, and I’ve realized I often feel more at home in South Bend than I do on campus. And as a marathoner, I feel most at home while running outdoors.

If you’re eager to get outside and explore South Bend, here are (from experience) three of the best trails to check out.

East Bank Trail

The East Bank Trail is great for a long, out-and-back run or bike ride. Tri-campus students can easily access it at the trail entrance on W. Angela Boulevard near Holy Cross College.

Much of the trail runs along the St. Joseph River and takes you past Howard Park, the Notre Dame Rowing facility, the farmer’s market and IU-South Bend.

If you’re down for an even longer run or ride (I use this part for my marathon training), you can take the trail to S. 26th Street and then turn right onto Mishawaka’s Northside Trail.

The Northside Trail offers gorgeous views of the river and Mishawaka’s beautiful parks and suspension bridges (my civil engineer boyfriend loves those). There are also plenty of drink ing fountains in case you need a pick-me-up after traversing double-digit miles.

Riverside ‘West Bank’ Trail

Known as “West Bank” among the Notre Dame Running Club, the formal name for this trail is the Riverside Trail. (I just learned this while doing research for this column.)

The trail is about 3.5 miles long, providing another great op tion for out-and-back journeys, but it also provides easy access to the East Bank and LaSalle trails if you’d rather run/ride/hike a loop.

You can access the trail by turning right down the hill on W. Angela Boulevard and then turning right on Riverside Drive at the roundabout.

The trail runs right along the river and provides beautiful sunrise views. It also takes you through a residential neighbor hood and past the newly-revitalized Pinhook Park.

At least three drinking fountains can be found along the trail, and bathrooms are available in Pinhook Park.

LaSalle Trail

Have you ever wanted to run/ride/hike across state lines? The LaSalle Trail makes a trip to Michigan easy.

You enter the trail by turning left on Dublin Road, just past Douglas Road and the Inn at Saint Mary’s.

Numerous restaurants, including Culver’s, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ and Subway, are available right off the trail between Cleveland and Darden roads.

The LaSalle Trail proper extends 3.5 miles to the state line and connects to the Indiana-Michigan River Valley Trail once you reach Michigan. (You won’t even notice you’re on a new trail.)

The River Valley Trail extends an additional 3-or-so miles to the Pulaski Highway. There, you can then take S. Third Street north to Fort Street and hop back on the River Valley Trail, which takes you into the heart of Niles, Michigan.

Despite completing an 18-mile out-and-back run on the LaSalle/River Valley trail, I’ve never traversed the entire thing, so if you’re looking for a long bike ride (or maybe training for an ultramarathon?), the trail provides plenty of ground to cover.

You can contact Claire at creid6@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Chevron, Perry the Platypus and transubstantiation

Devin Humphreys Law, Life and the Lord

Once upon a time in my high school days I encoun tered a meme entitled “The Engineering Flowchart.” Translated into prose, it basically asserts the following four propositions: first, if it moves, and it’s supposed to move, you have no problem. Second, if it doesn’t move, and it’s not supposed to move, you also have no problem. Third, if it moves, and it shouldn’t, duct tape. Fourth and finally, if it doesn’t move, and it’s supposed to, WD-40.

I think I was drawn to the Engineering Flowchart in high school for its humoristic simplicity. All the world’s problems solved with WD-40 and duct tape? Yes, please! And a flowchart featuring a mere two questions and four possible avenues down which to travel? All the better! But what if I told you that a key doctrine of administrative law has a flowchart that purports to be even simpler than the Engineering Flowchart to ap ply? Welcome to the wonderful world of Chevron. The case of Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, decided in 1984, set out a deceptively simple principle of administrative law. In flowchart-esque terms: Is the statute ambiguous? If not, then courts should simply interpret the statute. If it is, then ask: is the relevant administrative agency’s construction of the statute reasonable? If so, follow that construction. If not, then don’t. Two questions, and three total avenues? What could be better?

But I did just state that Chevron set out a deceptively simple principle of administrative law. I don’t think it’s quite true that describing legal principles as simple is an inevitable oxymoron, but in Chevron as in most legal doctrines, the devil’s in the details. Interestingly, the de bate over the Chevron doctrine has not always been on ideological lines. Modern commentators like to paint a narrative that more conservative jurists tend to want to overturn the doctrine (thinking it’s given too much fuel to the administrative state), while more liberal jurists see Chevron as a vehicle by which experts in admin istrative agencies can have their expertise more easily deferred to. But no legal narrative is so neat. Chevron itself was a unanimous decision, and while Justice Antonin Scalia was not on the Court at the time the case was decided, he quickly became one of that decision’s most ardent defenders.

Whether we’re willing to engage with the nuances of the debate over Chevron deference or not, one thing is certain: the doctrine itself is in significant peril. Two key cases that came before the Supreme Court last term were seen as possible avenues for the Court to overturn Chevron: American Healthcare Association v. Becerra and West Virginia v. EPA. The second of these decisions was one of the last cases the Court released back in June of this year, and its “major questions” doctrine, which says that Congress needs to legislate clearly if it wants to delegate the ability to construe major components of its statutes to administrative agencies, got significant me dia attention. But I think the case that will have more impact on how Chevron is applied in the courts in these years to come, even though it might not get as much credit for it, is the aforementioned AHA v. Becerra.

On its face, AHA doesn’t seem like the kind of ground breaking decision I’m talking about. Justice Kavanaugh wrote the decision for a unanimous court, and the case dealt with how to calculate the formula for reimburs ing prescription drug costs to hospitals participating in Medicare. But I think AHA is more important for what it didn’t do than what it did do. As SCOTUSblog com mentator James Rommoser explained after AHA was released, “business groups and conservative legal orga nizations had urged the justices to use the case as a ve hicle to overhaul — or even overturn — the 38-year-old doctrine known as Chevron deference.” However, the justices did no such thing, and perhaps most notably, they didn’t even cite Chevron in the resulting opinion! Instead, they relied on the “traditional tools of statutory

interpretation” to conclude that the Department of Health and Human Services’ understanding of how the formula worked was incorrect, then instructed HHS to fix it accordingly. By using “traditional tools of statutory interpretation” before even determining whether the underlying statute was ambiguous or not, the result is that I get the feeling, yet to be corroborated, that the Court adopted a decision that walks like it doesn’t over turn Chevron, talks like it doesn’t overturn Chevron, but yet basically overturns Chevron.

My hunch about what the Court did in AHA may be flat-out wrong, but I don’t actually mean to prognosti cate about how the Court is going to handle administra tive deference in the years to come. Other people get paid far more than I do to write that kind of analysis, and they’re much better at it than I am. I write anyway, however, because of how these recent events have led me to reflect on two very different things pointing to the same fundamental truth. First, I thought of a classic clip from an episode of “Phineas and Ferb,” the animated series where every episode has the same plotline. As the main sideplot in this episode unfolded, as always featuring Perry the Platypus seeking to thwart Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s latest attempt to take over the tri-state area, hilarity ensued as Perry entered Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. without Doof trapping Perry in his trap of the week. Instead, Perry “disguised” himself as a plumber to obtain entry into the building, then handed Doof a bill for having fixed the plumbing in a mere 15 seconds, resulting in a hilarious conversation: “What kind of a plumber are you?” Perry takes off his plumber hat: “A platypus plumber?” He puts on his Agent P hat: “Perry the Platypus Plumber?” It’s only when Perry ditches his plumber belt that Doof realizes the trouble he’s in: “PERRY THE PLATYPUS?!” Of course, one of the run ning gags of the series is Doof’s inability to recognize Agent P without his signature hat, but this exchange plays with the underlying trope to reveal just how in capable Doof is of recognizing what’s going on right in front of him.

We are all Doofenshmirtz at times. Sometimes we can be Doofs about things like recognizing that the Court’s overturned Chevron without overturning Chevron — though when all is said and done, if my hunch is wrong about that then I’ll have been the Doof. But other times we can be Doofs about matters of faith. Take for instance a principle that is at the core of our Catholic faith: the doctrine of transubstantiation. As Catholics, we believe that at each and every Mass, the bread and wine offered on the altar really and truly become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The stuff on the altar looks like bread and wine, smells like bread and wine and tastes like bread and wine, but the substance of it is not bread and wine. It’s Jesus, physically present before us every Sunday, and for those of us that go to daily Mass, every single day. But that doesn’t mean we recognize the real presence the way we should. We can be Doofs about this too: “What kind of bread is this? Regular bread? Bread and Jesus?

JESUS INCARNATE?!”

So perhaps my advice for these weeks to come is simply this: Let’s pay more attention to what’s actually going on around us, so as to try to avoid having a Doof moment. Whether it’s Chevron or the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, sometimes the chaos of our lives is made simpler if we only take a little bit of extra time to acknowledge those things that stare us in the face.

Devin Humphreys is a 3L at Notre Dame Law School. When he isn’t serving as the sacristan at the Law School Chapel or competing at a quiz bowl tournament, he’s sharing his thoughts on the legal developments of the day with anyone who will lis ten. For advice on law school, hot takes on Mass music and free scholarly publication ideas, reach out to Devin at dhumphr2@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Letter to tHe edItor

I’m sorry, rory Gilmore

Editor’s note: This letter contains discussions of self-harm and mental health.

Editor’s note: This letter also contains spoilers for Gilmore Girls.

In season 5, episode 8, rory Gilmore makes the decision to not return to Yale for what would have been the fall se mester of her junior year of college.

honestly, the first time I saw Gilmore Girls, I thought rory was an entitled brat during season 5 (which lowkey, I still think she is). how could she just leave after one person criticized her? Yale was her dream school! she was always a planner! This would completely ruin her life plan!

Throughout the series, rory is constantly shown to be an overachiever, a hard worker and ambitious. she grew up desperately wanting to go to harvard, then deciding on Yale. she fights her way into an internship with mitchum huntsburger, editor of the top newspaper in the country, during which he tells her she doesn’t have what it takes to be a journalist. rory completely breaks down, steals a boat with her boyfriend and tells her mother that she’s not going back to Yale.

I thought about this character arc as I told my own moth er that I needed to leave notre dame in september 2021.

Withdrawing from school in the middle of a semester was never something that I thought I would do. It felt like quit ting, and I had never really quit anything before. Whenever I sign up for something, if I go to that first meeting, I hAve to see it through to the end, even if I hate it. Finishing any responsibility I take on is just what I always thought I was supposed to do. I never thought that I had any other option than to keep doing what I’m doing.

most college students at elite institutions of higher educa tion follow the same path: participate in as many activities as possible in high school to get into a good college, partici pate in as many activities as possible in college to build a resume to get a job, find that high paying job immediately after graduation, rise up the corporate ladder as fast as you can. That’s just what you’re supposed to do.

but what happens when you’re covered in stress hives, unable to eat due to anxiety and blinking back into focus at 3 a.m. to find yourself holding a kitchen knife and man gling your thigh? What happens when you become a literal danger to yourself? Why are we supposed to keep working to the point of being in the goddamn trenches mentally and emotionally?

We are not conditioned to believe that it’s okay to take a break. every moment of rest is spent stressing over the fact that we aren’t doing something “productive.” We value our education and labor over our health and well-being.

And that’s f*cking stupid. There have to be more options than “do” or “die.”

so, I would like to say I am sorry, rory Gilmore. I was too hard on you for dropping out.

maybe rory didn’t have to leave Yale, but why do we feel so strongly about sticking with something you’re unsure about? Why not take the third option? Why not take a break to live at home (or I guess in your grandparent’s pool house) and do a whole bunch of nothing for a while in order to fig ure out who you are and what you really want to do?

rory represents a very privileged sect of the population as someone who comes from money (shut up I don’t care about Lorelai being disowned, emily and richard are rIch

and more than willing to drop bands on rory whenever she asks).

but in my leave of absence journey, I realized there aren’t as many barriers to leaving as I thought. I got a partial re fund on the semester, my financial aid transferred to the extra semester I would have to take, and my scholarships and loans did the same (without interest because I was still technically a student despite not attending). Leaving — tak ing a break — can indeed be a viable option. notre dame just doesn’t want you to know that so their four-year gradua tion rate stats can look really good.

I like to think that it’s brave to say “I don’t want to do this anymore. I am done for now” and walk away, even if it feels cowardly at the time.

be radical and rest for a couple of months! Figure out more about who you are and what you want to do! recover! begin to feel like a real person again (then come back, if you want)!

now I’m back and in awe of how much better I feel now compared to this time last year (thank you, antidepressants and therapy!) and all set to receive my diploma in January 2023. I do not at ALL regret taking leave.

before my time off, I realized I hadn’t had an extended pe riod of time without a looming responsibility since I was in high school. It was incredibly freeing to go home and know that the only thing I had to do was exist.

I think we all deserve to take some time to do nothing except exist.

Zoe Case senior oct.

Latin for fun and profit

Jonah Tran de re Publica

salvete omnes qui aut forte aut sua sponte tempus die exceperunt adesse nunc mecum. Quod scripsi est ordini maximi et certe dignus legendo multitudinis discuplorum. ego ipse pollicior.

congratulations! You made it farther than many of your peers, who almost started reading this article but were deterred by the first word of the title or the three sentences’ worth of Latin words. To preface, I am neither compensated by The University of notre dame’s classics department to write this nor am I compelled by my major to tout its cur rent benefits and future monetary promises. In fact, I am a finance major — not a classical studies major or anything of the same vein. I have no plans of pursuing a career in classics wherein I would most likely end up as a high school Latin teacher; I will leave those implications up to you. I am writing this article to share my well-informed opinion about a noble subject matter that, I estimate, receives a bad reputa tion from ill-informed opinions. I have been studying Latin for almost five years by now, and for almost five years, I have been the subject of ridicule. essentially, I have heard it all.

my favorite assertion against Latin is “Latin is a dead lan guage!” In response, I say, “Yes! And no!” I agree with one sense of the word “dead” and disagree with the other. Latin is a “dead language” in the sense that there are no more native speakers. such is the case with many other ancient languages like sanskrit and biblical hebrew. however, the alternative sense of dead, the colloquial one, implies that Latin is useless. And this could not be any further from the truth.

Firstly, the colloquial sense of “dead” is loaded with nega tive connotation and ubiquitously appears with a standoff ish tone. “dead” in this context is akin to my telling a friend “The party was dead, bro” when, the assessment stems not from measuring the decibels of the noise or tallying the amount of people there but rather from a deeply har bored frustration after seeing my crush talking to another guy. calling Latin a “dead” language is the equivalent of responding to a heavily corroborated, fool-proof argument with a resounding “cAP” and saying nothing else after.

These are incredibly hyperbolic analogies, but the truth lies in that calling Latin “dead” is an unfounded statement, based purely in opinion. The Anti-Latinist position would be much more respectable if it were based in reasonable rebuttals like, “There are other more relevant, beneficial languages to learn in the 21st century.”

I concede that spanish and mandarin are probably more significant languages to learn to speak given the U.s.’s demographic trends as well as the future of commer cial business. however, spanish is a romance language, which means that it is a derivative of Latin, as are French, Portuguese, Italian and romanian. Therefore, there is tremendous overlap between Latin’s vocabulary and gram matical constructions and those of any romance language. Latin could possibly be used as a linguistic foundation be fore one is to delve into new languages or even be used as a concurrent study aide, a handy point of reference. however, this relationship does not end with just the romance lan guages; english, a Germanic language, still has much Latin influence.

Like romance languages, english implements a sizable amount of Latin vocabulary and grammar rules. moreover, countless english words have etymological roots in Latin. Latin even influences idiomatic english, colloquial vo cabulary. Take the phrase “willy-nilly,” which implies doing something whether one wants to or not. What if I told you that this phrase is an extension of the Latin words volens and nolens, which mean willing and unwilling, respec tively? I could go on and on, applying the same principle to other words and phrases. The important takeaway is that there are many subtle Latin influences in english, many of which go unnoticed.

At this point, you are probably exhausted by the linguis tic jargon and are wondering how Latin can be for fun and profit. Let me explain. classical studies have something for everyone. If you are dying to compete with your grand parents by clearing the ancient civilizations category on “Jeopardy,” consider studying Latin history. If you are dying to learn the words of an exorcism, learn oral Latin. If you are just dying to prove to that one problematic english teacher that you can, in fact, write an essay, practice analyzing Latin texts. The skills are the same! If none of these applied to you, still consider learning some Latin, so you can avoid the near

occasion of improper grammar or botched roman numer als in tattoos. vinni viddi vicci!

on a more serious note, Latin and classical studies, writ large, are multifaceted: There is much culture, history, lan guage, politics, liturgy and literature to be appreciated. As I said above, there is something for everyone. Perhaps I am alone in this, but I think it is possibly fun to read cicero’s “First catilinarian,” a 63 b c. equivalent of a diss track. Accusations. slander. mudslinging. In fact, there is a valu able storytelling aspect, akin to that of a novel, in every Latin text. In my personal writing career, I have profited from reading the prose of great writers like Julius caesar and Pliny minor, whose writing styles and rhetorical motifs have tremendous effect on my own. I am not saying that I copy the way they write, but I would be a rank liar to say that the implementation of antithesis, chiastic word structure, hyperbole, anaphora, aposiopesis, tricolon crescens, praet eritio and ring composition in this very article happened by accident. Think of these people more as quasi-ghost writers, literally.

These rhetorical devices, all of which I acquired during my Latin career, add stylistic nuances to the texts I pro duce. It absolutely enhances the quality of my writing, an indispensable skill in any professional career. Latin has had such a profound impact on my life that I am continuing my education with a classical studies minor, to the dismay of my parents. A major reason for why I write for The observer stems from a passion for writing nurtured by an even great er passion for Latin. I mean, my byline “de re Publica” is a nod to cicero and his work of the same namesake.

What began as another boring high school grammar class eventually became an intellectual passion that influences how I express myself. I hope that what I have written has given you a new informed perspective of Latin, maybe even lightened some of your disdain. If not, call me a Latin loser. It is victus Latinus.

Jonah Tran is a first-year at Notre Dame double majoring in Finance and Economics and minoring in Classics. Although fully embracing the notorious title of a “Menbroza,” he prides himself on being an Educated Young Southern Gentleman. You can contact Jonah by email at jtran5@nd.edu.

Mikey Colgan Day at a Time

earn your dopamine release Stephen J. Viz shall never return to Las Vegas, Nevada

It’s too easy. I just stop looking at my work for a second to check my phone. A notification pops up. I click on it. After viewing my notifica tions, I want to put off work just a little longer. So eventually, I think to myself: why not check on some Celtics or Patriots news? Then, a minute break suddenly turns to 20 minutes of completely wasted time. I look up from my phone and realize what I’ve done. I feel disappointed and try to get back to work. Now, a question I’ve had a tough time address ing is why I continue this vicious cycle when I know exactly where it will lead me. Thanks to a podcast hosted by Canadian psychologist, Jordan Peterson, with guest Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist and professor at the University of Stanford, I finally have discovered a scientific expla nation of why we are inclined to waste time and ways to address it.

Think about the moments leading up to watching your favorite show or listening to the same playlist you love so much. The anticipation builds in your mind, and you probably feel a little excited. Then, you watch the show or listen to the music and it’s enjoyable as you’re doing it. However, the experience itself generally does not beat the anticipa tion. Once you stop watching, especially if you over-did it, you will probably feel a little down. This is all part of the dopamine cycle. The anticipation of an event raises your dopamine levels, then after it’s all said and done, your dopamine dips below baseline levels, causing a low feeling. This cycle is a leading cause of addiction in the form of drugs or even social media. In the podcast, cocaine was used as an example. When an individual uses cocaine, there is an immediate dopamine release followed by a harsh low below baseline. So, to get out of the low state and reach that high again, an addict will keep taking cocaine. A major problem with this form of dopamine release is that there is next to no sacrifice involved in attaining it. If a person wants to feel this high, he or she simply must pay for cocaine and use it. The dopamine release is too easily accessible, which causes a reliance on the drug.

Now, this issue leads into the question: What form of dopamine release should we strive for? While I wouldn’t say there is a set-in-stone ideal action we should take, Huberman and Peterson agreed that choosing activities that require some sort of sacrifice and lead toward a goal are best. It can range from higher-level goals to smaller ones. Say you want to be in great shape down the road. This means you will have to sacrifice time and effort exercising day in and day out. In that exercise, you will experience a healthy dopamine release and still have a goal to look for ward to and chase as you slowly attain good health. You could also just want a clean room. So if you vacuum and do your laundry, you will enjoy a dopamine release for completing your task. In addition, you will receive the benefits of a clean room and continue enjoying releases of dopamine if you maintain its cleanliness over time. The combination of goal-setting and dopamine can also explain in part why healthier foods may taste better as you age. As a kid, eating vegetables serves no greater purpose to you and just tastes bad. However, when you are older, it is easier to view things from a deeper lens and see how vegetables lead to good health. Since your goal is no longer just good-tasting food, eating healthy is a sacrifice that leads to your larger purpose and allows you to feel the dopa mine releases along the path. This creates a positive association between healthy food and how it makes you feel that did not exist as a child.

So, at this point, I’ve made a clear distinction between the positive releases of dopamine (those requiring sacrifice pointing towards a positive goal) and negative ones (easily achieved with virtually no sacri fice required at all). I think it’s great to shoot for as much of the positive side as you can, but there will have to be balance if you’re trying to shift your habits. Sticking to a long-term outlook sounds great on the sur face, but it’s difficult to sustain a prolonged focus on the future without giving any attention to the desire for short-term dopamine release. To properly toe this line, you can regulate your quick releases of dopamine instead of eliminating them entirely. For example, if you have a sweet tooth and want a better diet, you could consider allowing some treats with your friends on the weekends. This could help you avoid burnout on your diet while mixing in a quick release of dopamine with a posi tive long-term goal of strengthening your relationships. Regardless of how you approach it, taking control of your addictions, big or small, and regulating them in a positive, repeatable manner can aid in controlling your releases of dopamine.

With that said, I urge you to take control of your dopamine cycles. Instead of allowing your dopamine spikes and lows to control you, set goals and plans that allow for healthier, sustained releases of dopamine.

Mikey Colgan is a sophomore from Boston majoring in finance and ACMS. He can be reached at mcolgan2@nd.edu.

Stephen Viz Poor Stephen’s Scrapbook

OK, that’s probably hyperbole, but let me explain some things before I begin. First, I must apologize to the faithful readers of our humble little newspa per. This was a week with Vegas heavy content in The Observer. But c’mon, there was no way I was going to travel to Las Vegas and not write about it. Feel free to stop reading at any point if you have Sin City burnout. Second, as I wrote before Labor Day, if you get the chance to travel for Notre Dame football, take it and run with the money. The atmosphere inside Allegiant Stadium was electric and the football team’s turnaround under the leadership of Marcus Freeman and company must be commended. My excitement for the com ing years can hardly be contained, as Notre Dame versus Texas A&M in 2024 is already on my calen dar. With that being said, I only came to Las Vegas for a Notre Dame football-focused reunion, and without the pomp and circumstance of the Irish, I will find it hard to make it back to the city. Allow me to shed some light on the subject.

Upon arriving to Harry Reid International Airport on Thursday night, I found myself as an exhausted little man. The week of Oct. 3 was a finals week for MBA students, and upon complet ing finals on Thursday morning, it took nearly us three and a half hours to make it to O’Hare in Chicago. Unreal. (JB Pritzker, you owe me $12.50 for overcharging us in tolls). The stop-and-go traf fic made us nearly miss our flight, but by the grace of God, we made it. The six-hour flight was made worse by what must have been the world’s most annoying flight attendant. This dude seriously would not shut up. I’m sorry. His jokes were even worse. “Why was the mountain bad at hide and seek?” he asked. “Because it peaks!” Dead silence followed until a rowdy bachelor party sitting be hind us began to curse him out. After that, I just may never fly Southwest again. Once we landed, we ventured out of the airport to hail an uber. As we were taken into the heart of the strip, the next sixty hours in the city would give me some keen insights on a place I’d rather not return to in the immediate future.

My euphoria certainly increased upon seeing old classmates and taking in an Irish Victory, but my opinions regarding the city persisted through out the high and lows of the weekend. How badly the city smelled was my first thought. Both inside and out, Las Vegas is a stinky town. Imagine Cheers Pub met a hot steam shower met a piece of gas station pizza and that will give you the insight on how I think Vegas smells. It was repulsive. It probably doesn’t help that folks are allowed to smoke inside, but the smell is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. My second thought regarded the price gouging. It was most apparent at a Notre Dame function at Caesars Palace on Friday night. My friend Camden or dered a cocktail, and I eagerly awaited the receipt like a tiger stalking its prey. “That will be $73.50 sir,” the bartender responded. Lol. Bring back Prohibition if the venues in Vegas have the gall to charge nearly 100 bucks for a drink. But since people will gladly pay, I suppose those prices will stay the same (I chose to settle for a $17 Michelob Ultra, how lucky am I. Look at us, who would’ve thought).

But as my thoughts continued to linger, they were always brought back to how depressing the town is. The sunshine, palm trees and bright

lights don’t do a good enough job of hiding the depressive ooze of overpriced booze, bad behavior and the manipulation of customer appetites. The house always wins, and the gambling industry that has made Vegas a household name deserves a lot more criticism than I think it gets. While Vegas serves as a cultural center of America that brings people together for conferences, shows and bachelor parties, gambling sits at the heart of it all. A revenue driver that pieces the whole place together, it cannot be escaped. The airport is clut tered with various slot machines that beep and blink for any traveler that wants a taste. Casinos up the ante, as their floors can become filled with hundreds of guests looking to win it big on the blackjack table. But the reality is, almost all of them end up leaving with less money than they came in with.

And I know what you might be thinking. “Oh Stephen, shut up nerd, live a little.” “Oh Stephen, you’re just a sore loser who lost money at the tables and now wants to complain about it.” “Oh Stephen, you’re just a guy who clearly can’t handle Vegas.” To answer that, yes I have lived a little, and love a healthy wager from time to time, whether that be on the golf course or on a downloaded sportsbook. And yes, I lost a little bit of money playing blackjack, but thank God I know my lim its, because unfortunately for some, they don’t.

Sadly, gambling can be devastating for those who don’t know their limits. Gambling addiction is a vice that can affect the wellbeing of not only those afflicted but the well-being of their friends and family as well. “I can make it all back on this hand” is a mindset that can be cancerous and once compulsive gamblers find themselves in a hole, it becomes very difficult to climb out of. Las Vegas’s bread and butter has been made off those with this crippling addiction. I found this great ar ticle written by a compulsive gambler fighting his addiction in Las Vegas. “Unlike alcohol or drugs, gambling was easy to hide. You couldn’t smell it on my breath. I could walk in a straight line and drive safely after a binge (my drink of choice while playing slots was sparkling water with a twist of lime). Gambling didn’t leave track marks on my arms or white residue in my nostrils. Several times, I met up with friends for dinner or to see a comedy show twenty minutes after losing a thou sand dollars at the machines. I simply put on my happy social mask and carried on.”

A harrowing but optimistic story, the predatory nature of “Adult Disneyland” on those with ad diction is the biggest reason why I will always find myself contemptuous with the city. While surely many people can enjoy a weekend in Nevada without worrying about overdrawn bank state ments and maxed-out credit scores, gambling addictions have cost people their homes, careers, marriages and even their own lives. So, if you are reading this and have a compulsory gambling addiction, I am praying for you and your courage to be honest about your addiction. Viva La Vegas, I think not.

Stephen Viz is a one-year MBA candidate and graduate of Holy Cross College. Hailing from Orland Park, Illinois, his columns are all trains of thoughts, and he can be found at either Decio Cafe or in Mendoza. He can be reached at sviz@nd.edu or on Twitter at @StephenViz.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Observer.

‘DIRT FEMME’: A BRAVE NEW WORLD FOR TOVE LO

talent. It illustrates Lo as an evolving artist, whose increasing ambition doesn’t always bloom here.

The best moments on “ d irt Femme” are when Lo’s exceptional storytelling and pop aspirations align. “ n o o ne d ies from Love” is a euphoric, unapolo getic synthpop about devastation, which could also be said of all her best work. The lyrics achieve this balance so perfectly, the best explanation is to simply print the chorus: “ n o one dies from love / Guess I’ll be the first / Will you remember us or / Are the mem’ries too stained with blood now?”

her ritualistically repeating a heartbreaking verse over swelling acoustic production — classic guitar and pianos — before breaking out with a slam ming club drum as the band production continues to blaze. It is anthemic in an unexpected way for her, the sort of song that will surely explode and transfix in concert.

e ven the less successful tracks on this album have their earworms and flashes of concep tual genius. “Grapefruit,” another dance cut that is about an unspecified eating disorder, is

the horizon for Tove Lo, and there’s no better time to join her on her journey.

Contact Ayden at akowals2@nd.edu

“Dirt Femme”

Artist: Tove Lo

Label: Pretty Swede Records/Mtheory

Favorite tracks: “True Romance,” “How Long,”

By ROSE ANDROWICH scene Writer

Editor’s note: This article contains discussions of gun violence and sexual assault. This article also includes spoilers for “Luckiest Girl Alive”

“Luckiest Girl Alive” was released on n etflix on o ct. 7, 2022. The mystery/drama follows a n ew York journalist who has never publicly spoken out about the school shooting that happened at her high school. The narrative switches between the present and her experience in high school. The flashbacks help viewers understand her negative experience while connecting it to her present life.

Ani ( m ila Kunis) is living the perfect life, or so it seems. Ani evolves throughout the movie when she is forced to confront the past. The facade of her dark past is seen through imagined scenes that show Ani’s disturbed state of mind. These recur ring scenes make the accusation of Ani’s involve ment in the school shooting seem plausible. b y the end of the movie, Ani was more than a hidden woman with disturbing thoughts.

s he is fleshed out through the flashbacks, which show the suffering she faced at an early age. The broach of the suffering that was faced is what makes this film a triumph.

The way the mystery unfolds entices viewers to see how it unravels. A true crime documentary is

investigating the school shooting. The filmmaker is persistent on Ani being in the film considering her former classmate d ean’s (Alex b arone) ac cusations that Ani helped the perpetrator in the shooting. d ean is now a gun-control advocate and is being interviewed in the documentary. Ani de cides to do the documentary but requests that she is not obligated to see d ean. Ani endured trau matic experiences being a scholarship student at a private school.

s he attends a party where she is sexually as saulted by three of her classmates. The heartbreak over her experience is worsened when she goes to the eventual school shooter, Arthur (Thomas b arbusca), and tells him about the assault. The two disagree over her decision not to do anything. Ani, considering her trauma, even apologizes to one of the boys who assaulted her. Ani is unable to do anything because of her estranged relationship with her mom. The two have a conversation where the mom defends her actions and says that she put Ani in the position to meet a rich fiancé like Luke (Finn Witrock).

Ani’s relationship with Luke throughout the movie shows her aspiration for perfection. The two eat together at a restaurant where Ani barely touches her food. o nce Luke disappears, she eats the two slices of pizza, not wanting Luke to see her being a ‘pig.’ s he fakes a spill to justify the pizza

being gone and he tells her how proud she is that she ate carbs. Ani’s dreams of someday working for The n ew York Times m agazine are diminished by Luke, who thinks she should get a m aster of Fine Arts to author a book. h e wants them to move to e ngland, but Ani wants to stay in n ew York.

Ani quits the documentary after encounter ing d ean and decides to write an article exposing what happened to her. When Luke finds out, he asks questions about her motive and draws atten tion to d ean’s suffering of being paralyzed.

Ani decides to stay in n ew York and not marry Luke. Ani does feel bad for hurting him. h owever, the relationship that is emphasized is Ani’s friend ship with n ell (Justine Lupe). The scenes in this movie combined produce more than an intriguing mystery movie.

“Luckiest Girl Alive” shows the long-term impact of traumatic experiences. Ani’s character arc is fleshed out and the characters are what make us remember the movie.

Contact Rose at randrowich01@saintmarys.edu

“Luckiest Girl Alive”

Starring: Mila Kunis, Chiara Aurelia, Finn Witrock

Director: Mike Barker

By GABRIEL ZARAZUA scene Writer

h alloween is upon us! While there are plen ty of great animated h alloween movies like “ m onster h ouse” and “ A n ightmare before c hristmas,” I wanted to find one that wasn’t en tirely meant for kids. I wanted to try something new and see if there were any adult animated horror movies. h owever, it’s surprising to see that there aren’t that many adult animated hor ror movies out there in the world, which is pret ty sad, since I’m sure there are plenty of stories to tell that would scare some people with the power animation holds. Then, I randomly saw one movie called “ s eoul s tation,” an animated zombie movie. n ow, I am a gigantic sucker for zombie movies, though finding a good zombie these days is few and far between. I came to realize that it is an official prequel to the hit s outh Korean zombie movie “A Train to b usan.”

(While it’s not animated, I still highly recom mend it!) s o, I decided to give this small bud get animated film a shot. h ere’s my review of “ s eoul s tation.”

The film serves as a prequel to the live-action film “Train to b usan,” depicting the very begin nings of the zombie apocalypse in s outh Korea. The film focuses on three characters. h ye-sun is a runaway, but her father s uk-gyu and her

boyfriend Ki-woong try to find her around the area of s eoul s tation. The film seems to be try ing to build on the father-daughter relationship that we see prominently in “Train to b usan.” h owever, that is the only theme that is remotely close to the previous film and saying that is still a bit of a stretch. The film has an overall nihil istic view on the world. While we hear it in hor ror movies all the time, the amount of phrases like “It’s meaningless!” and “It doesn’t matter!” I heard in this film was honestly a little over whelming. We see it with h ye-sun, a woman who ran away from a brothel and thinks every one only sees her as a disposable object. We also see it with a homeless man whose acts of kind ness ultimately meant nothing in the end, when it would usually stand for redemption.

It’s hard to not compare this film to the mas terpiece that came before it. “Train to b usan” is one of the best horror zombie movies of all time. The movie tells a redemption story about a fa ther and his daughter, while showing that while there are selfish and terrible people in this world, acts of kindness and selflessness by oth ers aren’t pointless or a waste of time. h owever, perhaps that is what director Yeon s ang-ho wanted to show “ s eoul s tation.” h e wanted to show us both sides of the coin in a zombie apoc alypse. While there are those stories that give people hope, there are those that aren’t so lucky

and don’t receive a “happy ending.”

The animation itself is pretty fluid for being completely c GI. While the film does start slow in actually showing the zombies, the animation keeps up with the fast pace once the apocalypse comes in full force. h ye-sun, while no saint, is still a good character who, despite having a bad view on the world around her, still tries her best to be a good person. It was also interesting to see the forgotten and overlooked people in s eoul’s society.

b y itself, “ s eoul s tation” is a decent zom bie film with some interesting characters and social commentary on how those who seem worthless are treated in s eoul. While the story started slow, it picked up in the second act and some last minute twists near the end of the film genuinely caught me off guard. It’s not “Train to b usan” by any means, but it does its best to stand on its own.

Contact Gabriel Zarazua at gzarazua@nd.edu

“Seoul Station”

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Starring: Shim Eun-kyung, Ryu Seung-ryong, Lee Joon

Streaming: Amazon Prime

By CLAIRE LYONS Associate scene e ditor

“We’re experiencin’ life through the postmodern lens/ Oh, call it like it is/

You’re makin’ an aesthetic out of not doin’ well/ And minin’ all the bits of you/ You think you can sell whilst the fans are on.”

These lyrics, written for the opening track of The 1975’s newest release, “ b eing Funny in a Foreign Language,” set the tone for the whole album. “The 1975 ( b FIAFL)” has the stereotypi cally quippy writing of frontman m atty h ealy. With lighthearted references to serious topics like QAnon and drug usage, the song toes the line between an “ironically depressing state-ofworld address according to m atty h ealy” and a sincere apology from a millennial to today’s youth.

The album itself dances between irony and sincerity as h ealy explores what it means to be both a famous musician and a vulnerable artist. h e thinks he’s “minin’ all the bits” of himself which he thinks he can sell, but still claims this album is the most sincere one he’s written. As Pitchfork writer r yan d ombal says, we’re “stuck between two m atty h ealys, with one of them

rolling their eyes at the other.”

“ b eing Funny in a Foreign Language” is an at tempt to bridge the gap between h ealy’s private and public-facing identities. In an exclusive interview with s potify, h ealy says the album’s title comes from “the height of empathy…strad dling two cultural boundaries…and bringing them together.” Ultimately, it’s an album about connection in a time of severe alienation. It’s love through the postmodern lens.

I’ll spare readers the whole conversation about postmodern philosophy and literary theory, but the important thing to note is that “ b eing Funny” is postmodern art. h ealy rejects the idea that the world is ordered and under standable, instead, he focuses on the one true thing he can attest to — his experience as a singer-songwriter. The album is both incredibly earnest and contradictory.

o nly The 1975 can write a song called “ h appiness” with lyrics like “God, help me ‘cause/ o h, I’m never gonna love again, hey.” o nly The 1975 can write a catchy 80s bop like “Looking for s omebody (To Love)” and casu ally drop that it’s about toxic masculinity and school shootings in an interview. o nly The 1975 can write a cheesy over-the-top love song like “I’m in Love With You” in 2022 without a

resounding “Ugh!” in response from fans. o nly The 1975 can write an incredibly vulnerable song like “All I n eed to h ear” and say it sounds like a cover.

The band plays with sincerity and irony in side and outside of the studio, toying with both their instruments and the music industry alike. The beauty, though, is in the dynamic between their sincerity and irony. There’s balance. The album as a whole is concise and sonically co hesive. The fact that earnestness and sarcasm exist together in the same album goes to show that maybe, contrary to h ealy’s opinion, great and funny aren’t very different.

Contact Claire Lyons at clyons3@nd.edu

“Being Funny in a Foreign Language”

Artist: The 1975

Label: Dirty Hit

Favorite tracks: “I’m in Love with You,” “All I Need to Hear,” “About You”

If you like: M83, The Neighborhood

The Observer

MARIA GORECKI

HorosCope

EugENIA

Happy Birthday: Embrace change and new beginnings. Don’t let negativity stand between you and your dreams. Put your energy into planning your next big adventure. use your ingenuity to devise a unique way to handle monetary issues. Steer clear of joint ventures, and don’t pay for other people’s mistakes or shortcomings. Make personal growth, spirituality and better health your priorities. your numbers are 3, 11, 23, 26, 35, 38, 43.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Join forces with someone who wants the same things as you. Discuss your thoughts and intentions and map out how you intend to reach your goal. Avoid pressure tactics when trying to get your way. It’s best to offer incentives, not threats.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Announce your plans, listen to the feedback you receive and discard what you no longer need in your life. Staying on top of what’s important to you will stop anyone from trying to interfere with your plans. Do what makes you happy and self-sufficient.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): use intelligence and experience to avoid trouble. Put your heart and soul into your responsibilities. look for opportunities to work alongside people who share your interests and concerns. get what you want in writing.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): hang on to what you’ve got and find different ways to use items, information and knowledge to suit your needs. Calling on all your resources will make your ideas appealing to superiors and others you want to impress. Mix business with pleasure.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Take a deep breath and evaluate what you are up against, then rethink your game plan. Don’t feel the need to change something that is working fine. look for ways to save money and eliminate waste. Don’t let someone’s uncertainty unnerve you.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Don’t be shy. If change is what you want, make it happen. Put your energy into research and success. A personal situation will require your attention. listen to complaints and offer solutions and incentives that are difficult to turn down.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Absorb information and apply what you learn. your communication skills will help you enlist others to pitch in and help. Take pride in what you do, and don’t pay for something that isn’t up to your standards. A meeting will lead to success.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take the initiative to do things before someone puts in a request. Efficiency and consistency will help you gain respect and reach your goals. Take notes, verify information and lower your overhead. Tone down situations by distancing yourself from people who exaggerate.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Pitch in and make a difference. The information you gather will give you the lowdown and help you discover the best way to do your part. refuse to let anyone pressure you to take on more than you can handle.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Take a seat, wait and watch; you’ll make the right decision. Surprise everyone by applying a unique approach to handling money, earning a living and dealing with manipulative individuals. Positive change and personal gain are apparent.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t let your guard down. Joint ventures or shared expenses will get you in trouble. keep tabs on finances, health and legal matters, or someone will take advantage of you. Stick close to home and fix up your surroundings.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Don’t let someone’s debt drag you down. Put things in perspective and be blatant about what you are comfortable doing for others. Invest more time and money in your appearance and finding the best way to save for something you want.

Birthday Baby: you are empathetic, passionate and reserved. you are intense and persistent.

WOrk Ar EA

Jumble | DAvID hOyT AND JEff kNurEksudoku | ThE MEPhAM grOuP

Joseph Tunney sports Writer

Another week of college football brings another slate of games, each with unique stories, traditions and players.

In the words of famous sportscaster b rad n essler, “you can go to every sta dium in the country, and never see the same thing twice.”

5. Michigan State @ No. 4 Michigan, 7:30 p.m., ABC, (Michigan -22.5)

This iconic battle is waged for the 115th time this s aturday, as two teams with divergent sea sons clash in a rivalry matchup. m ichigan is 7-0 and has looked the part of a team willing to chal lenge o hio s tate again for b ig Ten supremacy.

The Wolverine offen sive attack possesses a talented group of wide re ceivers and strong back field led by running back b lake c orum. c orum has received some h eisman trophy hype, the prognos ticators currently project him with the fourth-best odds to win the award.

After a good deal of pre season fanfare, m ichigan s tate has had a rocky sea son, going 3-4.

Their offense hasn’t got ten over the loss of n FL running back Kenneth Walker III, although the team still has playmak ers. Wide r eceiver Jaylen r eed had a game-winning catch against Wisconsin last week. d efensive end Jacoby Windmon has won b ig Ten d efensive Player

Top 5 games of cFb Week 9

of the Week twice. The Wolverines may be the better team talent-wise, but to achieve their goals they’ll have to get past a team that has been their kryptonite.

Jim h arbaugh is 0-2 against s partan head coach m el Tucker, and the Wolverines are 4-10 in the last 14 matchups.

4. Notre Dame @ No. 16 Syracuse, Noon, ABC, (Syracuse -2.5)

After an up and down month, the Irish travel east to central n ew York to play a surprisingly good s yracuse team.

The Irish had the ben efit of a get-right game last weekend, beating an in ferior U n Lv squad 44-21.

Throughout the year, tight end m ichael m ayer has looked like the real deal; he’s the leading receiv er on an Irish team that needs more playmakers to emerge.

r unning back Audric e stime has run well at times but has struggled with ball security, fum bling three times in his past four games.

If the Irish want to upset s yracuse, they will need to take care of the ball. s yracuse is 6-1, coming off of a tight loss to fifthranked c lemson.

r unning back s ean Tucker has been the best player for the o range this year, which makes head coach d ino b abers’ de cision to largely exclude him from the game plan against c lemson all the more confusing.

Tucker only carried the ball five times for 54 yards. Quarterback

Garrett s hrader has had a good year for the o range, and if they want to stay in contention for a n ew Year’s s ix b owl Game, they will need this win.

3. No. 9 o klahoma State @ No. 22 Kansas State, 3:30 p.m., F oX, (Kansas State -1)

The b ig 12 plays host to another important battle, a dogfight that could po tentially decide the sec ond spot in the b ig 12 c hampionship Game. b oth teams have lost to T c U, who has taken charge as the best team in the b ig 12 thus far.

o klahoma s tate re sponded from their dou ble overtime loss to T c U two weeks ago (their only loss of the season) with a huge win over Texas. Quarterback s pencer s anders is dealing with undisclosed injuries, but he fought through to give the c owboys an important win. s anders threw for 391 yards and 2 touchdowns last week.

Kansas s tate has lost two games, to T c U and a ranked Tulane team, and have shown flash es of being a conference contender.

The Wildcats were up 28-10 on T c U at one point before collapsing and allowing a comeback. Kansas s tate also barely avoided an upset against Iowa s tate.

Quarterback Adrian m artinez also was injured against T c U, and although backup Will h oward filled in admirably, the starter’s health is a paramount concern. b oth teams need the game to stay in

the battle for the b ig 12 c hampionship.

2. No. 19 Kentucky @ No. 3 tennessee, 7:00 p.m., ES pN, ( tennessee -12.5) This showdown between two ranked sec teams has potential to be a clas sic. Quarterbacks h endon h ooker and Will Levis are two of the most talented in the country for their re spective teams, and their showdown on s aturday night is going to be fun. h ooker has been the man behind the reins of an in sanely talented offensive attack, and his connection with wide receiver Jalin h yatt might end up lead ing the volunteers to the sec c hampionship and beyond.

The volunteers are play ing their first conference game since their big gest win in years, a 52-49 win over Alabama. Fans stormed the field, uproot ing the goal posts and transporting them out of the stadium into the nearby river. Last week end, the volunteers put up 65 points on a hap less UT m artin squad. Kentucky is coming off of their bye week, which al lowed their star quarter back to get healthy. Two weeks ago, they earned a key win against a ranked m ississippi s tate, stop ping a losing streak of two games. Kentucky’s philos ophy is built on running the football and playing strong defense.

If they can somehow get defensive stops this Kentucky team could turn Tennessee’s championship dreams into a nightmare.

1. No. 2 o hio State @ No.

13 p enn State, Noon, F oX, ( o hio State -15.5)

o hio s tate is undefeat ed and has a claim as the best team in the country. Quarterback c J s troud has been scary good, with 28 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions. o hio s tate has made their living off of having the best wide receiver rooms in the country over the past few seasons and this year is no different. e meka e gbuka, m arvin h arrison Jr. and Julian Fleming have more than stepped up in the absence of the crown jewel, Jaxon s mith- n jigba. h ead coach r yan d ay is hopeful that s mith- n jigba can return for his first game since his injury against n otre d ame.

Last week, the b uckeyes obliterated an Iowa de fense that some called the best in the b ig Ten, over coming a flat start to put up 54 points.

Penn s tate is coming off of a big win against m innesota that keeps them in the b ig Ten c hampionship race (for the time being). That con tention is dependent on a win this weekend.

If Penn s tate loses on s aturday, the n ittany Lions and head coach James Franklin will be ef fectively out of the run ning. Franklin’s team has talent, and have played the b uckeyes close in re cent years.

Contact Joseph Tunney at jtunney2@nd.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

between n ovember 4-23 are ranked, on aver age, sixth in the country.

The Irish (3-2-1) cannot expect to easily create rhythm against the big dogs, so the time is now for them to build some se rious momentum.

They started the year with uncertainty, as they lost handily to thirdranked d enver and need ed a wild comeback to tie Air Force, but then rattled off three straight wins over n orthern m ichigan and Western m ichigan.

The thrill of Friday’s 2-0 defeat of the 17th-ranked b roncos quickly turned sour in a rough, 4-0 loss

on s aturday. Western m ichigan outshot the Irish 38-22 in game two, peppering the visitors with 29 shots on goal through two periods.

Though n otre d ame has struggled on the road (02-1), they are still a per fect 3-0-0 in s outh b end, favoring a resurgent effort this weekend.

o ne season has made quite the difference for the Irish penalty kill.

After posting one of the best kill percentages in college hockey last year, n otre d ame has survived just 74.1 percent of oppos ing power plays. In the 4-0 loss to W m U, the Irish asked for trouble by mak ing four trips to the pen alty box before receiving a single man advantage.

Junior forward r yder r olston’s three goals and six points lead the team, and his 28 shots are twice the amount of the nexthighest shooter. Graduate student forward c hayse Primeau has arrived from o maha on a mission, tal lying five points and winning an impressive 59.3 percent of face-offs. s hould their production carry into conference play, n otre d ame will be well-prepared to shine in big games.

o n the defensive end, junior d rew b avaro has stepped up with four as sists, while sophomore

r yan h elliwell has been reliable with a team-best +5 plus-minus. s enior goaltender r yan b ischel’s performance will make for an intriguing matchup in net.

b ischel pitched a shut out last Friday and collect ed 31 saves in s aturday’s loss, bringing his season save percentage to a fine .913 mark.

Series h istory and Statistics n otre d ame and m ichigan s tate have ap peared in 36 combined national tournaments and 13 Frozen Fours. s ince

n otre d ame joined the b ig Ten prior to the 201718 season, the Irish lead the series 13-5 with four ties. h owever, m ichigan s tate has tightened up the margin over the last three seasons, as n otre d ame is just 5-4-4 against the s partans during that time frame. Last year, the teams split the s outh b end leg before n otre d ame earned a sweep in e ast Lansing. After this weekend’s bout, the two will meet again at m unn Ice Arena on Feb. 3 and 4.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

The Observer accepts classifieds every business day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Notre Dame office, 024 South Dining Hall. Deadline for next-day classifieds is 3 p.m. All classifieds must be prepaid. The charge is 5 cents per character per day, including all spaces. The Observer reserves the right to edit all classifieds for content without issuing refunds.

By AIDAN THOMAS sports e ditor

coming off a dishearten ing loss to Acc cellar-dwellers virginia, notre dame vol leyball faces a brutal test in their effort to bounce back.

The Irish travel to Louisville to take on the fourth-ranked cardinals on Wednesday evening. Louisville enters the game with a sparkling 18-2 record. Their only losses are to no. 6 ohio state and no. 7 Pittsburgh. The latter loss came in a heartbreaking five-setter, as the cardinals dropped their game with the Acc leaders.

notre dame enters the con test with a 4-6 record. They’re one result against virginia from feeling like their season was fully on the upswing. After an 0-4 start to Acc play, the Irish bounced back with four straight wins. An expect ed loss to Pittsburgh dropped them to 4-5, but then notre dame meekly fell in straight sets to the cavaliers. Instead of sitting in a tie for seventh, a game out of fourth place, the Irish are tied for tenth and searching for answers. They have two matchups with Louisville remaining which will likely not help their record.

The cardinals are not in fallible though. both virginia Tech and Wake Forest, a pair of teams the Irish beat a little over a week ago, claimed sets

ND HOCKEY

Irish await road test versus No. 4 Louisville

against Louisville. but, out side of the Pittsburgh loss, the cardinals have dropped just three total sets in nine Acc wins. claire chaussee leads Louisville with 259 kills and teammate Aiko Jones is sec ond with 182 kills and leads the squad with 27 service aces. That duo boasts hitting percentages of .310 and .403, respectively, contributing to a .302 team mark that ranks fourth in the country. notre dame will need an otherworldly effort to topple Louisville on Wednesday. Graduate transfer middle blocker Kaylyn Winkler leads the Irish with 150 kills, and freshman outside hitter Lucy Trump follows right behind with 149. Winkler is the more efficient of the duo with a .251 hitting percentage. Junior li bero hattie monson has been the heart and soul of the team; she is the linchpin of the Irish defense with 330 digs. on the attack, monson’s 26 service aces lead the squad, and her 104 assists rank second.

Last year, in two contests versus Louisville, notre dame went 0-2, losing six of seven sets. Their last win against the cardinals came in the 2020 season opener, on sept. 25. Wednesday’s game will start at 8 p.m. at the KFc Yum! center, and it will be broad cast on Acc network.

Contact Aidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu

Irish prepare to meet Spartans in Big Ten opener

By TYLER REIDY sports Writer

Throughout the first month of the season, Fighting Irish hockey has become well-ac quainted with The Great Lakes s tate. h aving al ready squared off with n orthern m ichigan and Western m ichigan, n otre d ame now turns its atten tion to the m ichigan s tate s partans. This weekend’s series in s outh b end will usher in b ig Ten action, marking the first of twelve series on both teams’ conference slates. The matchup will also serve as a crucial segue for the 12th-ranked Irish, whose seven games to follow are against teams rated above them.

Michigan State: From the Ground Up

After losing 15 out of 16 games to end the 202122 season, the s partans are off to a promising start. Under head coach Adam n ightingale, they enter with a 4-2-0 record — all against unranked opponents.

The s partans split a home-and-away series with b owling Green to open the campaign, then split with U m ass-Lowell and swept Long Island on home ice. Last weekend, ms U dominated both ends of the two-game se ries, handling the s harks 3-1 on Friday and 8-4 on s aturday. d efense was the story of game one, w the s partans limited LIU to just 15 shots on goal.

s aturday saw m ichigan s tate crank out eight goals for the first time in nine years, pummeling the visitors with 50 shots on goal. s enior forward Jagger Joshua registered his first career hat trick, and the s partan power play scored four times in seven opportunities. o n the weekend, seven of ms U’s eleven goal-con tributors were first-time scorers.

In a limited sample size, m ichigan s tate’s offense is clicking. The s partans, on average, are outshooting opponents 37.7 to 23.3, and outscor ing them 3.3 to 2.5. They have racked up at least 39 shots on goal in four of six games, and have yet to allow more than 30 shots

on goal in a game. ms U’s top forward line consists of two freshmen in ad dition to Joshua, but the newcomers have been magnificent in adjust ing to the college game. d aniel r ussell leads the team with nine points, while Karsen d orwart has already amassed five assists. All six players on their second and third forward lines have over 60 games of collegiate ex perience, while ms U’s top three defensemen have combined to play 397 nc AA games.

b etween the pipes, grad uate student d ylan s t. c yr is an undersized, yet effective goaltender. h e stands at just 5-foot-8, but is coming off a spectacu lar season at Quinnipiac,

in which he posted a .936 save percentage and 1.16 goals against average. s t. c yr is also no strang er to c ompton Family Ice Arena. h e started 30 games for the Fighting Irish between 2017 and 2021.

This s partans team is much improved from last year’s debacle, already producing noticeably bet ter results in the non-con ference schedule. Their combination of youthful skill and well-document ed experience should serve them well in s outh b end and beyond.

Notre Dame: A Need for Consistency n otre d ame’s opponents

SOFIA CRIMIVAROLI | The Observer

Irish sophomore outside hitter Paris Thompson from Florida spikes the ball in an offensive play in a game against Wake Forest on Oct. 14. The team’s current record is 9-11 with eight more games left in the season.

Russo pulls off hat trick against Michigan on Senior Night

By ANNIKA HERKO sports Writer

Throughout the first month of the season, f ighting Irish hockey has become well-acquainted with The g reat Lakes s tate. h aving already squared off with northern m ichigan and Western m ichigan, notre d ame now turns its attention to the m ichigan s tate s partans. This

weekend’s series in s outh b end will usher in b ig Ten action, marking the first of twelve series on both teams’ conference slates.

The matchup will also serve as a crucial segue for the 12th-ranked Irish, whose seven games to fol low are against teams rat ed above them.

Michigan State: From the Ground Up

After losing 15 out of 16 games to end the 2021-22 season, the s partans are off to a promising start. Under head coach Adam n ightingale, they enter with a 4-2-0 record — all against unranked oppo nents. The s partans split a home-and-away series with b owling g reen to open the campaign, then split with U m ass-Lowell and swept Long Island on

home ice. Last weekend, ms U dominated both ends of the two-game series, handling the s harks 3-1 on f riday and 8-4 on s aturday. d efense was the story of game one, as the s partans limited LIU to just 15 shots on goal.

s aturday saw m ichigan s tate crank out eight goals for the first time in nine years, pummeling the visi tors with 50 shots on goal. s enior forward Jagger Joshua registered his first career hat trick, and the s partan power play scored four times in seven oppor tunities. o n the weekend, seven of ms U’s eleven goalcontributors were firsttime scorers.

In a limited sample size, m ichigan s tate’s offense is clicking. The s partans, on average, are outshoot ing opponents 37.7 to 23.3, and outscoring them 3.3 to 2.5. They have racked up at least 39 shots on goal in four of six games, and have yet to allow more than 30 shots on goal in a game.

ms U’s top forward line consists of two freshmen in addition to Joshua, but the newcomers have been magnificent in adjusting to the college game. d aniel r ussell leads the team with nine points, while Karsen d orwart has already amassed five assists. All six players on their second and third forward lines have over 60 games of col legiate experience, while ms U’s top three defense men have combined to play 397 nc AA games.

b etween the pipes, grad uate student d ylan s t. c yr is an undersized, yet effective goaltender. he

stands at just 5-foot-8, but is coming off a spectacu lar season at Quinnipiac, in which he posted a .936 save percentage and 1.16 goals against average. s t. c yr is also no stranger to c ompton family Ice Arena. he started 30 games for the f ighting Irish be tween 2017 and 2021. This s partans team is much im proved from last year’s de bacle, already producing noticeably better results in the non-conference sched ule. Their combination of youthful skill and welldocumented experience should serve them well in s outh b end and beyond.

Notre Dame: A Need for Consistency n otre d ame’s opponents between n ovember 4-23 are ranked, on average, sixth in the country. The Irish (3-2-1) cannot expect to easily create rhythm against the big dogs, so the time is now for them to build some serious momentum.

They started the year with uncertainty, as they lost handily to thirdranked d enver and need ed a wild comeback to tie Air f orce, but then rattled off three straight wins over n orthern m ichigan and Western m ichigan. The thrill of f riday’s 2-0 defeat of the 17th-ranked b roncos quickly turned sour in a rough, 4-0 loss on s aturday. Western m ichigan outshot the Irish 38-22 in game two, pep pering the visitors with 29 shots.

Contact Annika Herko at aherko@nd.edu

to a still-young Irish locker room.

heading into the offseason.

s o she hit the transfer portal to adapt. The Irish brought in Kylee Watson from o regon and Lauren e bo from Texas to help flesh out the squads depth in the paint.

e bo arrives in s outh b end as a graduate student on the back of a career-best senior season in Austin, where she averaged 8 points and 6.7 re bounds per game. A battletested veteran whose last two seasons featured nc AA tournament runs, e bo can be expected to be an im portant leader who’ll pro vide invaluable experience

Watson should provide an other option for Ivey down low. The 6’4 junior brings a former five star pedigree to Purcell Pavilion.

o f note for Watson is that she hails from n ew Jersey and has previously played with m iles, allowing her to have early chemistry with n otre d ame’s starting point guard.

When asked about frontcourt turnover, coach Ivey raved about what Watson brings to the table as the team looks to replace d odson.

“I’m super excited about Kylee,” Ivey said. “[ s he] has a motor, which you guys will see. s he’s a difference

maker. s he’s exciting, with explosiveness… she brings what we lost with m aya and her athleticism and her abil ity to run the floor.”

Ultimately, it’s difficult to see how n otre d ame doesn’t improve on their 2021 cam paign provided everyone stays healthy. m iles has seemed to get better every game she’s played in her col lege career, and now has an other offseason of training and development under her belt.

m abrey should provide the type of experienced compli ment that will ease m iles’ growth as well.

Westbeld is a proven quan tity who also has shown flashes of being an all-A cc player in 2022. c itron is

another of last year’s fresh man who seemed to get bet ter as she gained experience to perfectly fit into Ivey’s system.

Watson and e bo both look to be shrewd transfer por tal additions, and if they hit the ground running, n otre d ame’s front court should be a solid unit as well.

The wild card in the Irish squad is freshman guard KK b ransford.

The rookie is the only member of n otre d ame’s freshman class, but brings an impressive high school pedigree.

r anked in the top thirty of all 2022 recruits, b ransford has also drawn praise from Ivey for her ability to guard and play one to four on the

court, making her seem a natural fit for n otre d ame’s positionless style. h er 5’11 frame combined with an already short Irish bench makes it seem highly likely the rookie could be in line for high leverage minutes early.

If all goes well for n otre d ame, the Irish could be in contention for titles at both the A cc and national level. s uch possibilities are contingent on continued development and steady production, which is never assured.

b ut, the expectations are sky high if the Irish can hit the right notes.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Irish junior forward Daniel Russo dribbles the ball in a game against Boston College on Sept. 30. Russo has scored two goals and had four assists so far this season. Notre Dame has a current record of 8-6-1.

WOmEN’S BASkETBAll

LEVEL UP: IRISH LOOK TO TAKE NEXT STEP UNDER IVEY

By J.J. POST sports Writer

n otre d ame women’s basketball enters the 2022 season with expectations unlike any they’ve seen in two years under head coach n iele Ivey.

For every rebuilding hard ship that Ivey’s first season brought, her second cam paign in 2021 provided signs of a program on the way back to the top. Ivey’s inau gural Irish lost on opening day to o hio and ended the season with an unceremo nious first round exit in the A cc tournament. h er sec ond squad beat o hio by 36 points on opening night, and didn’t end the season before making a run to the s weet s ixteen of the nc AA Tournament.

b ut more impressive than last years’ squad’s achieve ments was its youth. n otre d ame took the floor against n orth c arolina s tate start ing three underclassmen and two freshmen. As such, most of their core returns for 2022 offer hope of a team that can build off of last sea son’s s weet s ixteen run and

challenge for an A cc title.

While a title winning men tality isn’t anything new in s outh b end, this season marks the first time Ivey and her group can reasonably expect to compete on such a level. n ot shying away from the program’s history, how ever, Ivey says she sees the teams’ prior accomplish ments as a motivation for the new generation of talent at n otre d ame as they try to bring home a title of their own:

“The expectation is al ways there. When you think n otre d ame, you think Final Four,” Ivey said. “When you walk into this arena you see two national championship banners, you see the ring of honor. In the practice facil ity you see nine Final Four logos. s o you hear about it, you see the murals… but [the team] has to go through it. s o it’s about challenging them, talking about that standard and trying to set that standard and tone ev ery day.”

Any such title challenge will almost certainly be an chored by the backcourt. The Irish return one of the

nation’s most potent guard pairings in sophomore o livia m iles and graduate student d ara m abrey. m iles provides the flash, last sea son making a very solid case as perhaps the best player in the 2025 W nb A draft class. n otre d ame’s team leader in most major statistical cat egories, m iles finished sec ond in the entire country in assists in addition to first on the Irish in points, steals and assists.

m abrey adds a cool hand to the backcourt, as an ex perienced on court leader who’s yet to miss a start in four years split between n otre d ame and v irginia Tech. Providing a spark from beyond the arc, m abrey led the 2021 Irish in three point percentage. It was her 29 points and seven three pointers that helped n otre d ame notch a major state ment victory on the road against o klahoma in the nc AA tournament.

o utside of the m iles/ m abrey pairing, c oach Ivey is likely to lean on more of a positionless core to imple ment her high-tempo, offen sive style of basketball. To

achieve that style, Ivey has made heavy use of flexible sophomore combo guard s onia c itron and junior for ward m addy Westbeld.

Though c itron didn’t work her way into the n otre d ame starting lineup until the second half of the sea son, her impact was mas sive. Proving capable in just about every facet of the game, c itron proved invalu able on both offense and de fense: shooting the ball and driving the lane with equal ability, posting the second most rebounds on the team and guarding just about any player on the court.

Ivey has even hinted that she wants to get c itron even more involved than her flex ible, positionless role al lowed her last season.

“ s he’s like a jack of all trades,” said Ivey. “I’m going to force her to score a little bit more, she’s very unself ish which I think is a great attribute to have, but with this team, I need her to step up and score a little bit more, be a little more aggressive. b ut she does everything well so she’s a joy to have on the floor because I know she’s

going to be in the right spot all the time.”

Westbeld took up a simi lar versatile role, one she can be expected to fill once again in 2022. An efficient shooter, the junior led n otre d ame in field goal percent age last season. s he also proved indispensable down low, averaging 6.3 rebounds per game. And, at times when m aya d odson got into foul trouble, she would act as the team’s de facto cen ter. Against n orth c arolina s tate, Westbeld was forced into a matchup against one of the country’s best bigs in e lissa c unane for much of the second quarter. s he handled the challenge well, keeping n otre d ame in the game.

c enter is the one position where n otre d ame will have a vacancy compared to the 2021 squad. m aya d odson was an anchor down low for the Irish, leading the squad in both rebounds and blocks by a wide margin. b ut with d odson’s departure to the W nb A, Ivey had no clear options in the front court

GABRIEL ZARAZUA | The Observer

Led by Ivey, women’s basketball team strives for ACC title in their upcoming season