Print Edition for The Observer for Monday, September 18, 2023

Ducks totter, fundraise

Howard Hall event takes over South Quad for 24 hours

By SAKURA YAMANAKA news writer

on Thursday and Friday, howard hall held their signature event, Totter for water, a 24-hour fundraiser that raises money for engineers without borders, a notre dame club and a national organization dedicated to clean water access in communities across the globe.

The event, held on south Quad, began Thursday at 5 p.m. and ended Friday at 5 p.m., and the proceeds from the 2023 edition of

LHOP serves breakfast for dinner

By GRAY NOCJAR news wrtier

on Friday, sept. 15, the five levels of lewis hall were abuzz with activity, as the smell of sizzling bacon and fluffy pancakes wafted through the corridors.

The signature lewis house of pancakes, known as lhop, ran from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. For just five dollars, students were free to enjoy a variety of breakfast-for-dinner options cooked by an large crew of lewis hall residents.

“we have bacon in the basement, gluten-free pancakes on the first floor, second floor is eggs, third floor is regular pancakes and fourth floor is cinnamon rolls,” said Áine boyle, student commissioner for the event. “it’s a whole blast and we go late into the night. w here else can you get pancakes at midnight?”

Throughout the week, the lewis hall chicks were hard at work promoting the event. students drew advertisements in chalk around north and south dining halls, sold $10 commemorative pink T-shirts and walked around campus in chicken suits. on Friday, those

u.s. poet l aureate to visit saint mary’s Thursday

By KATELYN WALDSCHMIDT a ssociate news editor

on Thursday, saint mary’s will welcome u s poet laureate ada limón to o’laughlin auditorium. limón has authored six books of poetry, including her latest work, “The hurting Kind.” limón comes to the college as part of the newly minted Francis a mcananey humanities lecture series, which was formally known as the christian culture lecture.

humanistic studies professor and event organizer laura williamson said the purpose of the lecture is to bring the best names in literature, philosophy and theology to saint mary’s to talk to students.

“it’s so we can appreciate the role that humanities disciplines and humanities thinking play in the world and really why it matters,” williamson said.

see laureaTe PAGE 3

mendoza offers new minor in impact consulting

By JENNA ABU-LUGHOD news writer

efforts appeared to pay off, as students packed the stairways and kept the lewis cooks on their toes throughout the night.

“it’s all hands on deck,” lewis hall rector megan moore said. she stressed how much the cooks cared about the quality of their food.

“we actually started early this morning cooking bacon because it takes a very long time to cook well,” moore said.

a couple changes were instituted for this year’s rendition.

“instead of griddling bacon during the event, we baked it ahead of time so as to avoid burning down the building or just causing the fire alarm to go off,” moore said.

moore also noted the “eggbreakfast casserole” on the second floor that replaced last year’s “weggs.”

according to moore, all lhop proceeds go to the Food bank of northern indiana.

“we raised over $5,000 last year and hope to at least hit that goal if not beat it,” moore said.

The long lines began to die down as the night went on, but waves of people still wandered

see lhop PAGE 3

Editor’s note: This story appeared online Sept. 14.

in an attempt to expand their offerings for business students, notre dame’s mendoza college of business recently launched two new minors. one of these minors is the 15-credit impact consulting minor. This minor aims to give students the opportunity to use interdisciplinary experiential learning to make an impact and

tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues.

“The origins really began from my innovation and design Thinking class where we work on solutions grounded in empathy for key stakeholders,” wendy angst, professor and director if undergraduate studies for the impact consulting minor, said.

“Then, the course would end with a recommendation to the partner and that would be it. To truly have a transformative impact, we recognized the value of having students continue to work

with the course partners all the way through implementation.”

after recognizing the demand for an impact-oriented field of study, angst began investigating the idea of enabling students to follow up with their projects and go on site to work hand-in-hand with those most impacted by the challenge at hand.

“we then launched another course piloting what it would look like if those student teams were allocated funding to actually build

see mendoZa PAGE 3

more than 100 shots fired on south bend’s west side

Observer Staff Report

at least four people were shot saturday night on south bend’s west side during mexican independence day celebrations which turned dangerous, police said.

officers received reports of numerous shots fired around 10:30 p.m. saturday near the intersection of philippa and huron streets, according to the south bend police department.

authorities said there were as many as five different shooting scenes, spanning from south olive street in the east to pulaski park in the west and western avenue in the north. south bend police department chief scott ruszkowski said more than 100 rounds were fired.

“we’ve had multiple houses shot up [and] multiple vehicles shot up,” ruszkowski told reporters early sunday. “in essence,

bullets were flying through houses and neighborhoods.” police said hundreds were gathered for mexican independence day festivities in the parking lots and side streets near el Tecate restaurant when the shooting began. according to ruszkowski, the restaurant was the nucleus of the violence. as of early sunday, the four people struck by the gunfire were expected to survive their injuries, authorities said.

SAKURA YAMANAKA | The Observer Howard Hall’s signature fall charity event, Totter for Water, took place on South Quad from 5 p.m. Thursday until 5 p.m. on Friday.

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SANCHEZ CORDOVA

According to Williamson, Limón fits into this lecture series for several reasons.

“one of the main reasons is because she’s fabulous,” Williamson said. “she is also a Poet Laureate of the United states, and that is a huge honorific that’s bestowed by the Library of congress.”

The mission of the Poet Laureate is to advocate for why poetry matters — which aligns with the college’s mission as a whole, according to Williamson.

“We’ve had wonderful success with writers on campus,” Williamson said. “We’ve had a

previous Poet Laureate on campus, Tracy K. smith. she sold out the auditorium. Writers often do a great job engaging our student body.”

Williamson said she expects the audience to be wowed.

“she is an exceptional speaker, not simply because of her intellect and her creativity, but because she’s personable. she makes poetry both beautiful and accessible,” Williamson said. “she writes about ancestry, her relationship to relatives, friendship, desire, heartbreak. she write about illness and death and loss and the deep desire to feel human connection.”

Paige Parker is a research assistant in the humanistic studies department under Professor

Williamson. over the summer, Parker’s research work focused on Limón’s writing and themes.

“over the summer, I was really interested in post-colonial studies and the concept of identity in her works,” Parker said. “specifically, I applied the themes of post-colonialism and identity to how a woman’s role as a Poet Laureate can uphold democracy.”

Parker said that more recently she’s been interested in focusing on the the eco-spirituality in her works, specifically “The hurting Kind.” Parker added that she is excited to see Limón speak not only as a scholar researching her but also as a student.

“I think it’s important for her to bring her poetry to saint mary’s

because we are so focused on uplifting the voices of women,” Parker said. “I think Limón can really speak to what it means to be a woman in today’s day and age. she will speak to us about the way that certain members of our society see us and the way that capitalism has an influence on womanhood and our relationship with our body.”

Parker said she thinks Limón will help saint mary’s students bring a reckoning to themselves, feel more confident and uplift their voices as women.

“It’s really important for a women’s institution to have someone to look up to like that,” Parker said.

After studying Limón’s poetry for so long, Parker said she is

still eager to hear her speak this Thursday.

“Lately I’ve been really drawn to how she aligns her speaker in each of her poems with the natural environment and that kind of spiritual relationship,” Parker said. “I would love to hear her talk a little more about that.”

After Limón’s lecture, there will be a brief question and answer session hosted by Williamson. Afterward, Limón will do a book signing where masks are required.

Tickets for the lecture are on sale at the saint mary’s college box office in the lobby of o’Laughlin Auditorium.

Contact Katelyn Waldschmidt at kwaldschmidt01@saintmarys.edu

the prototypes, test them, visit their clients and go all the way through launching a business,” Angst said.

In 2019, Angst’s class developed a partnership between the University of notre dame and st. bakhita’s vocational Training center in northern Uganda. st. bakhita’s is a catholic school created in 2007 as an opportunity for girls who were abducted in the Lord’s resistance conflict to receive an education and to support themselves and their children.

Together with her students, Angst worked to reimagine st. bakhita’s to support the school to become self-sustaining and to improve the economic prosperity of the region through an emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship.

“our strategy involved reshaping the curriculum a bit so that aside from students learning and vocation, they’re also learning skills and entrepreneurship,” Angst said. “so, we worked with the school to install a computer lab, solar and internet, and then began offering a work study program for the students.”

The primary projects undertaken by Angst and her students involved creating revenue-generating businesses for st. bakhita’s. “our main goal is to be generating additional revenue for the school because part of their goal is to reduce their student’s tuition because that’s a big barrier for women being able to receive an education in Uganda,” Abbie hegarty, a 2023 notre dame graduate who majored in management consulting and spanish, said.

The projects students tackled allowed them to incorporate knowledge learned in the classroom to their projects at st. bakhita’s.

“The project I worked on was related to peanut butter, which we called ‘bakhita butter.’ A lot of what I did was financial tracking and projecting revenues. I also created a google sheets tracker for revenues and expenses for their business,” grace Kamholz, a 2023 notre dame graduate who majored in finance, said.

several students involved in the various st. bakhita’s projects

took the Innovation and design Thinking class, completed the immersion course and then implemented their ideas in the Applied Impact consulting class, both of which are required for the new impact consulting minor.

“When I was in the Innovation and design Thinking class, my team and I started the project to write a book about victoria’s story, the principal of st. bakhita’s,” hegarty said. “After traveling to Uganda in January for Wendy’s Applied Impact consulting class, I shifted my focus to helping improve the overall operations of st. bakhita’s restaurant, while another team continued working on victoria’s story.”

A unique aspect of the classes that are now required for the impact consulting minor is their interdisciplinary nature. In the past, students with various majors and interests were able to offer their perspectives in order to provide st. bakhita’s with a holistic experience.

“As I got more involved, I realized there was a possibility to improve the school architecturally,” 2023 architecture graduate carlos flores said. “I worked with a younger class of architecture students to design a childhood development center to help take care of the students’ children. We are currently looking for contractors to get the process going.”

While the minor is currently only open to students in mendoza, Angst is working on making it available to all students. she is also striving to expand the immersion opportunities available to students in the minor.

“We are working on other projects that are both domestic and international so that we do give students the opportunity of collaborating on projects beyond Uganda,” Angst said.

students who have been involved in Angst’s projects have already recognized the immersion part of the program as one of the most impactful and important parts of the process.

“You can plan all you want and you can Zoom the people all you want when you’re in the classroom, but you don’t really understand how the culture works or what resources are available or really how remote this place is until you go there and experience it yourself,” hegarty said.

“The immersion is super

important.”

based on past students’ positive learning experiences with immersion trips, they are now a required aspect of the minor.

“consulting is all about making assumptions, and probably every assumption I made about the school was wrong. so, we told Wendy a big thing we thought was really important is the immersion requirement,” Kamholz said.

students who took Angst’s classes in the past have been vocal about their recommendation that students take advantage of the opportunity to minor in impact consulting.

“It is something I wish was available when I was a student. It is very rewarding to be a part of that type of collaboration and the classes offer a good way to build your own education and your skills,” Quin gallagher, a 2022 graduate who majored in management consulting and spanish, said.

A key aspect of the impact consulting minor is that it allows students to gain a different perspective and emphasizes the diverse paths one can take with a business degree.

“The minor takes the best part of the entrepreneurship program and puts it in the frame of consulting. I think it’s really cool that you are required to go to a site and see what is actually happening. You are consulting with people in need,” Alex Potts, a 2023 graduate who majored in science computing and minored in Innovation and entrepreneurship, said.

The impact consulting minor is a demonstration of mendoza’s theme of “grow the good in business.”

“The idea of growing the good in business, which mendoza is pushing for, can really benefit mendoza students and help them realize there is a lot more to do with a business major than the set path several mendoza students follow,” flores said.

The application for the minor is open until friday, october 13 and is available on the impact consulting minor’s webpage. The course requirements and other important information can also be found on the website.

Contact Jenna Abu-Leghod at jabulugh@nd.edu

LHOP

in for seconds, thirds or more of the unlimited food. many also sat down in one of Lewis hall’s many common rooms, located right next to the food, in order to enjoy their meal with friends or fellow L hoP attendees.

one such late-stayer was

collon said.

“Yet, it will always primarily be a collaboration with notre dame and students and faculty from notre dame. This is going to be an incredible opportunity for students

c arroll hall freshman Tommy Lariccia, who highlighted the inviting atmosphere.

“I like the environment the most because of its couches,” Lariccia said.

he also shouted out the fourth floor, his favorite because of its world-class cinnamon rolls.

Contact Gray Nocjar at gnocjar@nd.edu

at all levels of academia.”

As of this time, c ollon estimated that in the bestcase scenario, the facility for n AUTILUs would be fully ready and available to faculty and students in just over a year.

Contact Nolan Hines at nhines@nd.edu

Americorps awards University education grant

Observer Staff Report

Editor’s note: This story appeared online Sept. 14.

Americorps has awarded the University of notre dame a $640,000 grant to recruit, train and support 500 volunteers for tutoring in south bend and schools working with the Alliance for catholic education.

one of the largest initiatives benefiting from the award is Tutornd, a program which trains tutors in “evidence-based tutoring practices” to work in the elkhart and south bend areas, as well as Ace schools.

Tutornd, which trains its tutors in the cognitive science of learning, aims to bridge the gap between research and practice. The program developed out of research from notre dame’s cognition, Learning and development (cLAd) lab.

nicole mcneil, professor of psychology, is the director of cLAd

“Too many children in our

community still lack access to high-quality, structured tutoring. volunteers are eager to help, but without the right tools and evidence-based resources, even the most motivated tutors find it challenging to make a meaningful impact,” mcneil said, in the grant announcement.

Tutornd provides in-person and virtual one-on-one and small group tutoring. currently, the program serves 300 students, using methods from the “What Works” evidence clearinghouse that are shown by research to improve student outcomes.

The tutors will use cognition connection, a learning hub that connects tutors with cognitive science and learning research.

early outcomes suggest that Tutornd has a positive impact on south bend students. All elementary students from south bend who worked with a tutor in the full support program demonstrated growth at an above-average rate in oral reading fluency.

By TY HARRINGTON news Writer

science journalist lectures in mvp Fridays series navy transfers nAu TILus system to nd

o n Friday afternoon notre dame hosted e d Yong, a p ulitzer p rize-winning science journalist and bestselling author. Yong’s lecture titled “c an stories of science create a more empathetic world?” was the second event in the mvp Fridays lecture series hosted by the c enter for s ocial c oncerns.

A science journalist since 2006, Yong has covered a broad range of topics from the cov I d -19 pandemic to the origin of life. he said that throughout his career his thinking about three topics — what science journalism is for, what science journalism can achieve and what it strives to do — has changed.

Yong said his latest book, “An Immense World,” is about how animals sense the world around them and how that differs from human sensation. The book “is fundamentally an exercise in taking the perspective of other species,” he said.

h is latest piece for The Atlantic took on long cov I d -19 and the experience of fatigue for those suffering from the disease. The story explained how the fatigue brought on by long cov I d -19 is completely unlike what healthy people experience, Yong said.

h is book and cov I d -19 story both attempt “to get readers to take the perspectives of others who are very different to them, whose experiences lie well outside their own lived realities,” Yong said.

he said both works are fundamentally about empathy and, more broadly, that science and science journalism is

Totter

con TInued From pAGe 1

Totter for Water will go toward a community in ecuador.

during the course of the event, howard hall residents took shifts operating the totter, and notre dame community members were encouraged to take rides with a suggested donation of $2.

According to the hall, planning began as soon as school started for the fall semester. This year’s commissioners were three junior engineering students: emily colleran, Anna Fent and Alex bobbit.

Ashby Whitaker, a sophomore political science and global affairs student, manned the event during the final shift. she said howard hall chose to donate to engineers Without borders because of the high concentration of sTem students in their hall.

“While there are many girls [in howard] who are also members of the actual club, our dorm does this on its own because it’s

all about empathy. Yong also reflected on his reporting about the cov I d -19 pandemic, the sum of which won him a p ulitzer p rize for e xplanatory reporting.

he discussed the onset of the omicron variant when many individuals observed that it had a “lower risk of bad outcome” and downplayed its significance. o thers, especially healthcare workers, noticed that it “spread so much faster” than the previous variants, Yong said. he added that the variant did indeed inundate healthcare systems.

The reaction to the variant differed based on “whether [individuals] believed in collectivism over individualism or whether they center the vulnerable instead of pushing them to the periphery,” Yong said.

he also said he believes the interpretation of scientific data is influenced by values and culture, making diversity and equity incredibly important.

s cience, Yong said, is not the tome of facts and statements that it is often caricatured to be. The common conception that science is perfectly objective is a lie, he said. s cience is instead a human pursuit.

“It is subject to all the foibles of humanity: ego, power, brands, bias and all the rest,” Yong said.

Yong said science arises from culture.

“o ur values are what tell us how to convert science into policy and action,” Yong said.

o ften, Yong said, the work of a scientist reflects their individuality.

s ensory biology “is full of people who are neurally atypical, people whose own

mostly a sTem dorm, and that’s in conjunction with engineers,” Whitaker said.

Taylor Girard, a sophomore mechanical engineering student who was operating the event with Whitaker, is a part of the engineers Without borders club. According to Girard, the totter’s proceeds will go towards two present issues: treatments for cleaning water supply and building a new water tank.

“The engineer Without borders club helps to provide basic human resources to communities around the world that need it. so right now, we’re going to try and improve water quality in communities in ecuador,” Girard said. “In the club, we’re researching treatments that are going to be helpful in cleaning their water, and then I think we’re also looking to rebuild the water tank that stores water for the community.”

Girard explained that the water tanks the club has been mapping out would cost upwards of $30,000. howard hall used social media

perceptions of the world are different from what is the norm,” Yong said. “I think that draws them to understanding how other animals understand the world.”

The absence of those who are marginalized “leaves holes” in scientific understanding, according to Yong.

“The people who get to be part of science influence the kind of science that gets done,” he said.

As such, Yong said he strives to include marginalized voices in his reporting.

Yong analyzed his work and found that he quoted women only 25% of the time, while quoting men 75%, a consistent proportion across the field. Yong said passive concern is never enough, so he started reaching out to more women and more people of color for pieces.

“e quality matters in science. e mpathy matters in science. s cience is human pursuit. We can not understand it without understanding that,” Yong said. “s cience is not divorced from its humanity, from its empathy. It is lesser without them. It is greater for them. s o is journalism. s o am I and so, I hope, are you.”

In response to a criticism about not reflecting the status quo of science, Yong said journalists can do better than be society’s mirror. he said that by reflecting the status quo in his journalism, he actively maintains it.

“I create the world that I report on and it is part of my moral stance to do that with intention and care,” Yong said.

By NOLAN HINES news Writer

Editor’s note: This story appeared online Sept. 14.

The u s naval research Laboratory (nrL) recently moved to transfer its groundbreaking nAuTILus system to notre dame, signing an educational partnership Agreement (epA) that transferred all rights, title and interest in the instrument to the university. The measure required approval by congress.

nAuTILus, otherwise known as naval ultra-Trace Isotope Laboratory universal spectrometer, has been revolutionary in the delicate art of material analysis. unique among spectrometers, it combines secondary ion mass spectrometry (sIms) analysis with single-stage accelerator mass spectrometry (ssAms). This makes nAuTILus significantly more powerful than conventional sIms instruments and grants the university a unique position in both research and academia.

As such, the college of science and the college of engineering have both taken steps to prepare and operate a joint research and teaching facility enclosing nAuTILus several faculty members from both colleges have expressed interest in how this will affect ongoing research projects.

is to be kept and maintained. Among the requirements, collon lists are fifteen hundred square feet, complete thermal insulation, a dedicated faculty and a reliable source of energy.

still, the real challenge lies in actually transporting the instrument.

The system’s larger parts, which include a seven-ton magnet, are currently being collected at the nrL and are expected to be fully shipped over to notre dame by late december.

putting it back together will be a collaborative effort between postdoctoral researchers and graduate and undergraduate students alike, both from the college of science and the college of engineering. beyond that, an expansion in research faculty will be required.

“We do not currently have the bandwidth to be able to put it back together and test it fully, because the Institute of structure and nuclear Astrophysics (IsnAp) already is running three accelerators here,” collon said.

“running one more is simply beyond what we can do, so extra personnel are clearly needed.”

Though the time and resources invested in this project are immense, so are the possibilities it presents. collon, as the director of undergraduate studies, believes that the system will afford undergraduate students a unique learning experience.

Contact

Ty Harrington at tharrin2@nd.edu

to spread the word about Totter for Water, encouraging residents to share an Instagram post with information about the event.

“on Tuesday, we also [direct messaged] campus celebrities with information about the event. We reached out to marcus Freedman and sam hartman, and we hoped they would come and bring some press,” Girard said. The 24-hour nature of the event served as a fun way for students to take a break during studying. Julia dunn, a freshman physics major in mcGlinn hall, said she and her friends decided to visit the teeter totter at 2 a.m. in the middle of an intense homework session.

“The howard Teeter Totter was a unifying experience, and the all-night aspect made everything even more exciting,” dunn said. “despite the fact that I fell off, or rather, was catapulted off by a friend, it was absolutely worth it.”

Contact Sakura Yamanaka at syamanak@nd.edu

dr. philippe collon, a professor and associate chair of the department of physics and Astronomy, has worked most extensively on the transfer of this system, and has high hopes for its potential. “What we’ll be looking at is what we call the needlein-the-haystack, those small isotopic signatures that make the things like identification of the origin of nuclear materials possible,” collon explained.

“The signature of various supernovae and other events that get recorded in meteoritic and lunar samples, those very small anomalies that are very hard to find, all things to be gleaned through nAuTILus.”

dr. clive neal, a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering and the earth sciences, also intends to implement nAuTILus into his research on lunar samples from the Apollo missions. “Well, it’s one-of-a-kind,” neal said on the instrument.

“It gives unprecedented resolution at very low concentrations and spot sizes. This provides a competitive edge in being able to get the spatial resolution required in some of these some of these analyses, especially if we’re looking for volatiles.”

The vast nature of the transfer, however, requires certain stipulations. namely, those regarding the facility at which nAuTILus

“The usage from the point of view of academia will be training of the next generation of scientists to work on a piece of cutting-edge equipment, combining both a standard accelerator and the modernized sims,” collon said.

“In that sense, it allows any student, even an undergraduate student, to do measurements under supervision. Yet, it’s not only working with a piece of equipment like that, but also using it and learning techniques that nowadays, if you’re looking at environmental science, if you’re looking at nuclear forensics, if you’re looking at climate studies, are so telling about the vital processes and breakthroughs of their industry. That’s the sort of training that students will be getting here.”

besides that, nAuTILus’s presence at notre dame enables an unprecedented degree of collaboration with the university on a national level. collon stated both the national Aeronautics and space Administration (nAsA) and the nrL to have expressed interest in working with them in these coming years, among many others.

“There is an extensive list of universities and national labs that are heavily interested in using this unique piece of equipment,”

By PETER MIKULSKI scene Writer

“Taxi driver,” “American Psycho,” “clockwork orange” — men tend to lump movies like these into one post-facto category: movies that make them say “he’s literally me,” “he’s just like me ‘fr’” or some other variation on that theme.

At first, bertolucci’s “The conformist” seems like it might fit this mold. our protagonist is marcello clerici, an eager new member of the fascist secret police in Italy.

Like Alex from “clockwork orange,” he’s distinguished from the other characters by an appreciation of high culture and a high IQ. he’s a classics scholar, and one character genuinely declares, “he was the best student ever!”

Like in “American Psycho” when the serial killer Patrick bateman sarcastically bemoans apartheid, the nuclear arms race, terrorism and world hunger, clerici also cynically performs morality. heeding his petitebourgeoisie fiancee’s demands, he receives the sacrament of reconciliation, but in his confession he lambasts the priest and threatens him with violence in order to receive absolution.

Like Travis bickle, the taxi driver in martin scorcese’s “Taxi driver,” he perceives depravity everywhere he looks, and it drives him into a furious rage. For bickle, it’s prostitution, and for clerici, it’s homosexuality.

What keeps “The conformist” from becoming fodder for clips on Instagram reels like other “he’s literally me” movies is that bertolucci depicts this sort of man realistically: he’s the least likable character in the entire film.

he’s smarter than his wife Guilia and his partner manganiello. Guilia’s foolishness and the actress stefania sandrelli’s beauty, though, make her far more charming than her husband. next to manganiello, clerici may be an intellectual, but he seems like a pathetic coward in comparison.

Professor Quadri, whom clerici is tasked with killing, is a trusting man. he lacks clerici’s pessimism, and while this ultimately gets him killed, it endears him to the audience. The list goes on. clerici is so unpleasant that we find ourselves preferring the fascist ideologue Italo, the morphine-addicted mother and the clinically insane father to him.

clerici is not even a particularly good fascist. he betrays the professor, but once the betrayal is complete and clerici has his target in his grasp, he’s too much of a coward to finish the job. he makes manganiello do the dirty work. once the fascist regime collapses, he doesn’t hesitate as he gives up Italo to an anti-fascist mob and runs away.

This is how the movie makes its anti-fascist argument. At first clerici comes off as smart and strong, but by the end we realize he — like all fascists — is compensating

for his weakness, and we’re repulsed by him and by fascism.

even without this poignant narrative structure, the movie would be fun just to look at with the subtitles off. “The conformist” has look very different from Pasolini’s “Il decameron” (screened at browning two weeks ago), which is sometimes a little ad hoc in its cinematography. It also differs from “death in venice” (playing at browning this week), where every inch of every shot is covered in props, is in focus and is rendered in technicolor.

everything bertolucci does with the camera and on set evokes fascism. every room in the Italy of “The conformist” is massive, empty and hewn from marble. When the plot takes us to Paris, the bohemian apartments full of wicker chairs and houseplants feel like a breath of fresh air. choices like these, and some smart moves with the lighting, reinforce what he’s doing with the plot and the characters.

There are some loose ends — e.g. a subplot which implies clerici is fascist because he was molested — but overall “The conformist” is a hit. The browning cinema at dPAc picked a great third installment for their “Learning beyond the classics: early 70s Italian cinema” series, and you should consider coming to the next four. There’s yet to be dud.

Contact Peter Mikulski at pmikulsk@nd.edu

By BRISNEY RODRIGUEZ FLORES scene Writer

“horror movies can be an easy hit or miss. The visuals, the storytelling, the acting, the person watching the film and a variety of other factors can cause what could have been a hit (or at least a decent film) to turn into a miss, becoming laughable, annoying or even forgettable.

sadly for me, “Talk to me” fell into the latter half. Worst of all? It fell under the umbrella of “forgettable.”

I initially didn’t believe “Talk to me” would be a miss. It was one of the biggest horror movies that came out in 2022 with relatively high ratings throughout most platforms. People were saying “it’s a must-watch,” and I would be “scared if this was my first run-through.” It fell under the ghost/demon possession sub-genre of horror, which has always disturbed me. All of this made me excited to watch the film, and that in itself may have been its downfall.

during the first five minutes, I could feel my excitement dampen. sound was heavily used in the film, and that is perfectly fine. It’s a form of expression and can be used to tell more about the story and the people living in it. It is commonly used to build the anticipation in horror

films. however, there is such a thing as an over reliance on sound, or rather, volume.

The volume of the film differed widely based on the scene. In some cases, it was so loud I could feel it in the air, as if it was one of those cars whose music was so loud you could feel the rhythm projected in your lungs and eyes, vibrating them from the inside out. In other cases, the volume was so low I had to strain myself to hear what the people were saying. or even both! In some scenes, the background noise was so loud it muffled the conversation we were supposed to focus on. The only scene that we didn’t witness this discordance seemed to be the flashes of consecutive possessions that the group underwent.

Going even further along the film, the excitement I had left just turned into irritability (apologies to the people around us who had to witness my reactions) and, at the end, boredom. most of the characters didn’t draw me in. Their actions seemed discordant in relation to the traits they already showed. I just wasn’t able to develop sympathy for any of them outside of riley. Any sympathy I could develop, such as with mia and the death of her mom, was immediately squashed by their actions, such as mia letting riley be possessed for far longer than what she originally stated. This leads me to believe that the writers were

aiming for this sort of reaction, trying to show deeply flawed characters in a sympathetic light. It seemed if they were trying to say, “hey they’re human, and humans just kinda suck sometimes, even the best of them.” This attempt felt rather flat, possibly due to how weak the storytelling was.

The story idea was good, but the way it was told was weak. not bad, but weak. Within the first 15 to 20 minutes (that is whenever riley went tosleep with mia), I could figure out the entiremovie. something was going to happen to riley, probably possession, and the problem will directly stem from mia. mia will then have to conduct the mercy kill she avoided with the kangaroo at the beginning on some other living creature, in alllikelihood riley. she’ll fail and end up living her nightmare — existing in a world where she can’t see her reflection and other people can’t see her. In all likelihood, this other world would be on the other side of the hand.

At the end of the line? This film was just forgettable. It didn’t leave much of an impression. It wasn’t satisfying. It just ended up missing its mark for this member of its audience.

Contact Brisney Rodriguez Flores at brodrig5@nd.edu

Christina Sayut Graphics editor

Busy isn’t always bad nevermind meghan markle, why aren’t we talking about Prince Andrew?

r ecently, someone looked at my Google c alendar and immediately gasped. “Why are you so busy?” I laughed and said, “ o h I don’t feel busy.” s he pointed at my computer screen and asked me where I had free time to be by myself, and I looked and just shrugged my shoulders. It honestly doesn’t exist — but I would not have it any other way.

I looked at my Google c alendar and tried to perceive it from an outside perspective and see what my friends saw, and I realized that I just simply am busy. I saw every single minute and hour of my day blocked into a few different sections: class, The o bserver, r A duties, c ampus m inistry, study/homework time, boxing/workouts, hangouts and thesis meetings. m y calendar is made up of a bunch of rainbow rectangles that detail my life, and somehow it brings me peace.

If any of you know me personally, you know that I am a huge extrovert. I thrive on knowing others and hanging out with anyone. Last spring, I told all of my friends in Keenan that I wanted each of them to sit down with me for a 1:1 lunch or dinner, just so I could get to know them a little bit more. o ne of them told me that I could never get each of them to agree to that, but I did. I loved every second of getting to talk to my friends and get to know them a little deeper. A section of my calendar that takes up a lot of my weekly time is the “hangouts” section, a place where I schedule various lunches, dinners, coffees and general study or hangout time. s ometimes it is as simple as running to Trader Joe’s with a fellow r A to grab section snacks or popping into The o bserver office even when I don’t have to, just in case that someone else is doing work in the basement.

Last semester, I felt busy in a way that was overwhelming. b ut I don’t think that it is overwhelming now. Last semester it felt like I was running a marathon every day of my life that had no end goal in sight. e verything was a chore, and I just knew that I needed to make a change for my senior year. I had big plans to quit all of the things that filled up my life. To probably no one’s surprise, I ended up adding more to my plate. Going into the first week of classes, I felt a lot of anxiety. I looked at my calendar and knew that I was going into a semester of 18 credit hours, a thesis presentation at the end of the semester and commitments to various clubs and organizations.

Last Wednesday was the first night since classes started where my last scheduled commitment ended at 8:15 p.m. n ormally I have something going on until around 10 or 11 p.m., but for the first time ever I was able to relax. I originally planned on taking time for myself and going to bed before 10 p.m. instead of my usual 1 a.m. Instead, I found myself sitting on a friend’s futon in the middle of the hallway, talking about life and how our weeks had gone. After that, I went and sat down outside of my friend’s doorway, talking to different girls who passed through the hall. n eedless to say, I did not make it to bed before 10 p.m. n o part of me wants to change that.

There is a beautiful kind of joy that can be found in being busy in a way that makes life fun. I don’t count down the minutes until something is over, but I instead try to soak up every second and moment where I am surrounded by people that I love. e ven on Tuesday nights where I work with Andrew and roll my eyes at him, I know that one day I am going to look back and miss joking with him and Gabby when the nights get late. s ome nights, I choose to stay even later for no reason other than I don’t want to leave the people around me.

I have loved every single minute of this semester. And it isn’t because I am less busy. It is because I have filled up my moments with experiences that allow me to be close to the people that I love. d o I wish that I had more time to sleep in the mornings when I get up at 5:30 a.m. for boxing practice? m aybe. b ut do those feelings go away the second I see m aggie or Trista ready to face it with me? d efinitely.

I don’t think that it is a bad thing to be busy — in fact, it might be the best thing that ever happened to me.

Contact Christina at csayut@nd.edu.

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

As an international student from London, e ngland, one of the questions I am most frequently asked is: “What is your opinion on m eghan m arkle?” While m arkle has received a lot of press attention in recent years since her marriage to Prince h arry and resignation from royal duties, otherwise known as “ m egxit,” I argue that there is another much more problematic member of the family who seems to have almost gotten away with it.

The person I am talking about is Prince Andrew, who was discovered to have highly personal involvement with the most famous pedophile, predator and sex trafficker in the world, Jeffrey e pstein.

Prince Andrew also had a close relationship with e pstein’s right-hand woman Ghislaine m axwell, who is now serving 20 years in prison for conspiring with e pstein to sexually abuse minors.

It was one photograph that changed our view of the queen’s “favorite son” forever. It was from over a decade ago, in 2010, when Prince Andrew was photographed in conversation with Jeffrey e pstein while walking through c entral Park in n ew York.

It propelled a young woman and mother of three, v irginia r oberts Guiffre, beforehand only known as Jane d oe 102, to come out with her shocking story.

r oberts had been coerced by m axwell to enter the disturbing and twisted world of e sptein at the mere age of 17 while working at Trump’s m ar-a-Lago spa, and during her time of horrifying exploitation she had had two encounters with the Prince. The first when she was 17, and the second was when she had just turned 18 years old.

r oberts, who accused Prince Andrew of sexually abusing and raping her as a minor, was received with suspicion at the time, as press offices such as the d aily m ail reported that “There is no suggestion that there was any sexual contact between v irginia and Andrew, or that Andrew knew that e pstein paid her to have sex with his friends.” h owever, in 2022, the Prince paid out a $13 million settlement to r oberts to settle the suit. This added further fuel to the speculation against him.

What truly shocked the b ritish public, and indeed the world, was Prince Andrew’s interview on bbc n ewsnight with e mily m aitlis where he revealed himself to have no remorse for his friendship or association with the pedophile e pstein.

When asked if he regretted his friendship with e pstein, he immediately

objected, stating that the opportunities he got from it “were actually very useful.” s urprised? s hocked? s haken? We all were, as the queen’s favourite son and celebrated war hero showed zero regret for his association.

“People aren’t ready for his return,” Anna Whitelock, royal commentator and historian, said.

b ut contrary to popular belief, there are hints that he is returning to public life.

You would think that while King c harles is trying to establish his own identity and set the tone of his liberal rule, bringing back the palace’s public enemy n o.1 would be a bad move, right? Well, evidence suggests otherwise after he was photographed in a car with Prince William and Kate m iddleton on their family’s annual stay in b almoral, s cotland.

b ut while there is speculation that c harles is slowly forgiving his brother, it is noticeable that he is not extending the same olive branch to his son. While h arry is due to be in e ngland for the Well c hild Awards on s ept. 7, the day before the anniversary of the Queen’s death, The d aily b east reported that he “is not likely to see his father or brother, and will not be expected to attend any private or public family gatherings to mark the late queen’s passing.”

At that point, the conversation quickly turns to h arry, s pare, m eghan m arkle and the o prah interview. If you search the name Prince Andrew, only a handful of articles have been published in the past 24 hours, most of which link back to h arry. o n the other hand, if you search up m eghan m arkle or Prince h arry the search bar floods with articles from m eghan’s make-up artist getting plastic surgery to their appearance at the b eyonce r enaissance tour, with Prince Andrew nowhere to be seen.

s o what is our obsession with this infamous couple? And why does it constantly overshadow darker and more disturbing dynamics that brew within the royal family? Is out of sight, out of mind really what is going on here? e ither way, it is a dynamic that needs to be under further investigation. While the tabloids cannot get enough of m arkle and sparkles, we are taking attention away from a real monster lurking behind closed curtains at b almoral c astle.

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington is an international exchange student from London, England. She is currently a junior studying history, political science and journalism. You can contact her at lcarrier@nd.edu.

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

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington The crown Jewel

An introduction to Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels

of some of the questions of morality that emerge in “An Artist of the Floating World.” If you enjoy m c e wan’s work of b ritish fiction, then perhaps Ishiguro is a natural progression.

“Never Let Me Go” (2005) and “Klara and the Sun” (2021)

If you liked: “ s tation e leven” by h ilary m antel or “The Prime of m iss Jean b rodie” by muriel s park.

I’m indulging myself to spend an entire column dedicated to exploring the works of Kazuo Ishiguro — the author who is the focus of my thesis. b orn in n agasaki, Japan in 1954, he later moved to e ngland in 1960. These distinct geographic experiences have integrated themselves into his novels, as he incorporates the landscapes of Japan and b ritain in his works. Ishiguro was awarded the n obel Prize in Literature 2017, cited as “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”

o ne of the most intriguing things about Ishiguro’s novels is that he explores a myriad of genres. While there are arguably similar themes across all the novels, the narrative form is quite distinctive between all the books. h is books consist of science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, literary fiction and even more sub-genres. As I read through his oeuvre this summer in preparation for writing my thesis, I found myself surprised by the vastly different genres he presents his work. s everal of my friends asked which order they should approach his fiction, but I found that it’s up to the individual’s genre preferences. s ome of his works are more fast-paced and are rooted in the dystopian world (e.g. “Klara and the s un”). h owever, some are more drawn-out narratives focused on an individual’s characterization (e.g. “The r emains of the d ay”). As such, I found myself creating a mental list of comparative titles every time I read one of his books which is the foundation of this column.

“A Pale View of Hills” (1982)

If you liked: “The o cean at the e nd of the Lane” by n eil Gaiman.

This is Ishiguro’s debut novel and my personal favorite. It follows the story of e tsuko reflecting on her life as a woman who left Japan to live in e ngland with her family. e tsuko grapples with the loss of her eldest daughter, Keiko, to suicide, and the story explores feelings of guilt and culpability through unreliable narration, character projection and the motif of memory.

Its world-building reminded me of Gaiman’s “The o cean at the e nd of the Lane,” which follows a man who returns to his hometown for a funeral. The narrative reminiscence of the past from a renewed perspective struck me as being analogous between the two novels, and much of the magical realism in Gaiman’s work can be found in Ishiguro’s fiction.

“An Artist of the Floating World” (1986)

If you liked: “Amsterdam” by Ian m c e wan.

“An Artist of the Floating World” follows the protagonist m asuji o no as he reflects on the past — particularly after the decline of his prestige and his notoriety post-second world war Japan. d espite the war context, it is a quiet novel — one that reveals certain truths in reflective comments.

much of Ishiguro’s work reminds me of Ian m c e wan’s writing, which is not a novel observation as both are graduates of the University of e ast Anglia’s creative writing course. The role of the artist in “Amsterdam,” as well as the political pull that figures of authority have reminded me

“The Remains of the Day” (1989)

If you liked: “ h owards e nd” by e m Forster. Arguably Ishiguro’s most famous and revered novel, “The r emains of the d ay” is what made me want to write my thesis on Ishiguro and write a column for The o bserver. It won The b ooker Prize in 1989 and features the first-person narrative of s tephens — a butler who dedicates his life to the services of the fictitious d arlington h all in e ngland.

o n the surface, it is the quintessential b ritish novel. h owever, many literary critics have noted the subversion of the literary scene in which it emerges itself. Author s alman r ushdie said that the novel “is a brilliant subversion of the fictional modes from which it seems at first to descend.” The relationship between master and servant “and the codes by which both live, are no longer dependable absolutes but rather sources of ruinous self-deceptions.”

The question of human dignity and its relationship to our occupations or roles in society is everpresent as a graduating senior who is looking to work full-time post-graduation. h ow do we live an authentic life? h ow does one avoid bad faith? These existentialist questions were the seeds that later turned into my thesis proposal.

In addition, the arguable use of a house or estate as a metonymy for e nglish social code or nationalism reminded me of similar devices present in “ h owards e nd,” whose title is the name of the estate that surrounds the plot of the work of fiction.

“The Unconsoled” (1995), “When We Were Orphans” (2000) or “The Buried Giant” (2015) If you liked: “The c urious Incident of the d og in the n ight-Time” by m ark h addon or Julio c ortazar’s fiction.

For the sake of brevity, I am lumping these three novels into a single recommendation although their surface-level attributes are vastly different. h owever, they all create a surreal nature that makes them comparable. “When We Were o rphans” is a detective story that reminded me of the mystery in m ark h addon’s novel, as well as their narrators’ similarities (both named c hristopher and seem to lack awareness of their respective situations). “The b uried Giant” is rooted in Arthurian legend, and the mystical mist that descends itself upon its characters cheats the civilization of their memories. This plot lends itself to the consideration of the past, and its transcendent quality seems to permeate the readers themselves.

In addition, the speculative/fantastical worlds created in “The Unconsoled” and “The b uried Giant” reminded me of some of the worldbuilding that Julio c ortazar’s fiction brings to life. These Ishiguro novels are not for the faint of heart; they are more head-scratchers than some of his other novels. Their geographic contexts are a blend between real and fiction, and the narrators seem to oscillate between achieving revelation and succumbing to the ineffable.

Again, for the sake of brevity, I will discuss these two novels in combination as they are Ishiguro’s more dystopian fiction. If you are actively engaged in debates surrounding AI, c hatGPT and technological innovation, either of these books would certainly be of interest. “Klara and the s un” is a fast-paced novel that follows the experiences of an “Artificial Friend” (Klara) and her integration into a household. “ n ever Let m e Go” is similarly dystopian, although a slower-paced read that takes place at h ailsham, a boarding school in e ngland whose students are taught little to nothing about their surroundings outside of the school. The progressive unveiling of their reason for existence is both horrifying and heartbreaking.

The dystopian nature of these novels will intrigue fans of “ s tation e leven” and other similar genre-specific texts. h owever, both novels feature interesting dimensions of pedagogy and how children should approach education. In addition, the books arguably demonstrate the inequities of power when it comes to students, which reminded me of similar themes in muriel s park’s “The Prime of m iss Jean b rodie.”

Final Thoughts

m y brief synopses of these novels are my reflections or are in dialogue with literary critics of Ishiguro’s work and may not be the same conclusions that another individual draws towards these respective works. Ishiguro has further speeches, essays and short stories, but the works mentioned previously are the bulk of his oeuvre. b efore this summer, I had never attempted to read all an author’s works. When people asked about my favorite novel, I simply recited the name of an author whose singular book I enjoyed. h owever, by reading all of Ishiguro’s works, I gained more of an understanding of his central threads of thought and personally witnessed the progression of his writing.

In Ishiguro’s n obel Lecture, he states that “in the end, stories are about one person saying to another, ‘This is the way it feels to me. c an you understand what I’m saying? d oes it also feel this way to you?’” This feeling of emotion permeates his literature, regardless of whether the protagonist is an elderly couple in an elusive post-Arthurian e ngland or a detective who returns to s hanghai during the s ino-Japanese War. These different settings, genres and plots merely unveil common questions that prevail over us all. Ishiguro himself says “I tend to write the same book over and over.” This repetition makes me stop and wonder “What is he trying to say?” And perhaps, more collectively, “Why should we listen?”

Elizabeth Prater is a senior at Notre Dame double majoring in marketing and the Program of Liberal Studies. She is interested in the cultural implications of analyzing classics and literature under a contemporary lens. When she isn’t writing, she loves playing the violin, hiking in the Pacific Northwest and offering unsolicited book recommendations. Elizabeth always appreciates hearing from readers, so feel free to reach out to eprater@nd.edu or @elizabethlianap on Twitter.

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

Elizabeth Prater spark nd

Irish roll to victory at National Catholic Invite

By MATTHEW CROW Associate sports editor

o n Friday afternoon, n otre d ame cross country competed in the n ational c atholic Invite, their first home meet of the season.

The Irish won in dominant fashion, sweeping the top five positions in both the women’s and men’s races.

The invitational served as the season debut for most of n otre d ame’s lead runners, with a few notable exceptions. The Irish’s top returners on both sides — graduate student o livia m arkezich, senior c arter s olomon and sophomore e than c oleman — are all healthy but worked out on Friday instead of racing after getting a late jump on their summer training programs.

“You get more fit through training than racing, and so giving them a chance to do a workout on that Friday versus racing on that Friday [is more valuable],”

Irish director of track & field and cross country m att s parks said after the meet. “Whether it’s an injury throughout the summer that maybe kept people out of some training, or if they raced late into the summer, and then they just had a later start to their training cycle, that’s how we decide who’s going to race in some of these early-season races.”

s parks noted that all three runners are expected to be back in action for n otre d ame’s next meet.

In m arkezich’s absence, the Irish women were led by junior s iona c hisholm, who broke away from a group of n otre d ame runners to win the race. c hisholm transferred to n otre d ame last fall. After a strong first season in s outh b end, she has established herself as a key leader of the team.

“ s iona c hisholm’s really grown a lot in the last 12 months [since] she walked in the door last year as a transfer sophomore,” s parks said.

“ s he contributed on a conference level a year ago, but [we] expect her to make a big impact on a national level [this season]. s o for her to be up front for us was an expected piece, and she’s become a good leader for the team.”

c hisholm was followed closely by freshman Grace s chager, senior e rin s trzelecki, graduate

student Andrea m arkezich and freshman Gretchen Farley. s chager and Farley competed unattached, as the coaching staff is still determining whether to preserve their eligibility by redshirting them this fall.

n otre d ame’s common practice is to redshirt nearly all true freshman. b ut the impressive efforts in training and on the race course from s chager and Farley have made it difficult to keep them on the sideline.

“

b oth were very successful high school stars and have transitioned well to the college distance. It’s just a matter of, ‘ c an we continue to thrive with our upperclassmen, or do we need to rely on the freshmen?’” s parks said.

“We like to redshirt all the freshmen to save their years of eligibility. Their fifth year versus their first year, we would assume they should be dramatically better. b ut if the team needs them, then they will put a uniform on in o ctober and help the team out.”

m arkezich, who previously attended Washington, was one of several graduate transfers who impressed in their n otre d ame debuts on Friday.

“They participated for one team for four years, and then [I’m sure] it feels a bit like overnight, [they’re suddenly] wearing a different uniform,” s parks said.

“They’ve adapted to the training well, adapted to the team culture well, so we expect to see graduate transfers on both sides making big impacts.”

o n the men’s side, senior Josh m ethner was first to the finish line. h e stuck with the lead pack for most of the race before pulling away down the stretch, eventually winning by an impressive margin of more than nine seconds.

m ethner dealt with persistent injuries for much of last fall but has been in strong form this season after redshirting in the spring.

“ h e could just really focus on training in the spring and summer, versus having to race all the way through late spring,” s parks said about m ethner’s redshirt season.

“That fitness gave him the confidence that he needed to be where he is today. And we’ll have c arter s olomon out there in the coming weeks, and those two are going to give us a really good one-two punch

when it’s time to compete on the conference and national level in n ovember.”

b eyond m ethner, the Irish were packed in about as tightly as you can get. Graduate student Jake r enfree, senior r obbie c ozean, graduate student Quinn Gallagher and graduate student Tyler b erg filled out the second through fifth slots and were separated by less than three seconds.

“That’s what we expect to see out of that group all year. They do a great job of training stride-for-stride together, and so once they get into a race, they just follow suit and work together and kind of lock in for three-fourths of the race,” s parks said. “Then, the theme is, ‘Alright, the last mile or two, let’s pick it up and see how many people we can run down.’ They did a great job of working together and moving the last mile together.”

The Irish will look to build on Friday’s performance through the remainder of the season. That starts with their final home meet, the Joe Piane n otre d ame Invite, on s ept. 29.

After not facing much competition to this point in the season, n otre d ame will match up with several of the nation’s top teams. The n o. 4 Irish women will have their hands full with defending national champion n o. 1 nc s tate. The n o. 8 men will enter the meet as favorites against n o. 19 b utler and n o. 21 nc s tate.

“It’ll be another good step for both teams,” s parks said.

“To go from where we ran pretty comfortably in our home meet at [the] n ational c atholic [Invite], to now racing against several top-30 teams.”

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

M Soccer

con TIn U ed From PAGe 10

mistake when the ball fell to him. r usso’s composed, right-footed tap bounced inside the right post for his second goal of the season.While the clock ticked inside the final five minutes, both teams found chances to pull ahead.

Irish volleyball sweeps Toledo

By RYAN MURPHY sports Writer

The n otre d ame volleyball team completed a two-match sweep of the Toledo r ockets this weekend, pushing their overall record to 6-2.

The two match series against the r ockets marked the end of a successful non-conference schedule for the Irish, who begin A cc play next weekend.

o n Friday night, the Irish used four sets to take out the r ockets at Purcell Pavilion.

n otre d ame dropped the second set, but won the first, third and fourth en route to the victory.

s tar freshman Ava Lange continued her strong start to the season, leading the Irish overall with 16 kills on 38 attacks.

Three-time all- m A c selection Taylor Alt and fellow senior outside hitter Jada b ouyer led the way with 10 kills apiece for Toledo.

In the first set, teams traded points until the Irish strung together a 4-0 run that extended their lead to 17-11.

Toledo put the Irish to the test, though, when n otre d ame reached match point, closing the margin to 24-22 before junior outside hitter s ydney Palazzolo finished off the set with a kill.

Palazzolo and senior middle blocker c harity m c d owell each had strong first sets for the Irish, tallying 5 kills.

In the second set, seemingly the reverse occurred. Toledo dictated the tempo, jumping out to an early lead and keeping the Irish at bay for most of the set.

The Irish were able to tie things up at 20 late in the set, spurred by the play of Lange.

The r ockets went on to a 5-1 run after the Irish comeback, though, to square the

First, a straight-on U nc free kick from 25 yards out died against the Irish wall. Then, b urns stepped into an edgeof-the-18 shot on the other end, missing the right post by a few feet.

Finally, the Tar h eels neutralized a close look from sophomore midfielder KK b affour, and the ensuing

match 1-1. With 5 kills, the play of senior middle blocker Abby e rickson made the difference for Toledo in the set.

The Irish took the third and fourth sets by the same 25-20 margin each time.

n otre d ame continued its winning ways s unday when they traveled to s avage Arena in Toledo for the second game of the home-and-home.

The Irish won the first and third sets handily (25-16 and 26-19), but the second set required a few extra series.

n otre d ame won that set as well, 30-28, a part of the three-set sweep.

Palazzolo, a transfer from h igh Point University who came into the weekend 11th nationally and first among A cc players with 4.56 kills per set, continued to lead the way for the Irish on s unday.

s he tallied 16 kills and a service ace for 18 total points in the match, best on the team.

Toledo had three players record seven kills but no player more than that as the r ockets struggled to put up the same offensive production they did on Thursday night.

b oth teams begin conference play this coming weekend.

Toledo will host e astern m ichigan for a two match series Thursday and Friday to open play in the m id-American c onference ( m A c ). n otre d ame starts play in the strong A cc on Friday when the Irish host b oston c ollege at 6:30 p.m. The Irish will then host s yracuse on s unday at noon to round out the weekend. b oth matches can be streamed on A cc n etwork e xtra.

Contact Ryan Murphy at rmurph22@nd.edu

Irish corner came up empty. n otre d ame will finish its road trip with a brief return to non-conference play Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Irish will face n o. 3 Akron, their second top-three opponent of the opening month.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

happy birthday: Take a stance, bring about change and live your dream. seize the moment and construct your life to harvest success. choose to take control and use your talents, connections and ideas to improve the world around you and to build a solid foundation that offers you and future generations a platform for growth. stand up, be counted and make a difference. your numbers are 8, 14, 22, 26, 33, 37, 45.

ArIes (march 21-April 19): Pull in favors if it will help free up time to relax and enjoy the company of someone you love. A break will help improve your attitude and lust for life. be good to yourself and appreciate those who stand by your side.

TAurus (April 20-may 20): don’t waste time satisfying someone else’s needs. your happiness depends on following your heart and pursuing something that makes you happy. Put yourself first and you will achieve your goal. don’t let temptation throw you off or let someone’s words bring you down.

gemInI (may 21-June 20): Too much talk and not enough listening will put you at a disadvantage. gather information, research and do your own thing. It’s what you master and present that matters. don’t limit what you can accomplish because you are too busy trying to impress others.

cAncer (June 21-July 22): Take a stance, lift limitations and drive home your goals. stay focused on the process and use your skills and passion to help finish what you start. Trust in truth, not hearsay, and avoid getting caught up in false information.

leo (July 23-Aug. 22): change only what’s necessary. stick with what you know works and is financially sound. A healthy routine or a trendy new look will boost your morale. Time is on your side; slow down and enjoy the moment. romance is in the stars.

vIrgo (Aug. 23-sept. 22): Pay attention to what things cost before you sign up for something that isn’t budget-friendly. A day trip, social event or creative endeavor will encourage you to spend more time doing what makes you happy with the ones you love.

lIbrA (sept. 23-oct. 22): reach out to someone with courage, insight and hands-on help. how you utilize your time will determine what others think of you. be a participant instead of an observer, and you will gain respect. Personal growth, peace and love are favored.

scorPIo (oct. 23-nov. 21): get a foothold on the latest news. having all the facts before you move will make the difference between success and failure. reassess your relationships and adjust whatever isn’t working for you. A positive change based on intelligence and foresight is overdue.

sAgITTArIus (nov. 22-dec. 21): consider what you want instead of caring for others’ demands. Put your energy into pursuits that enhance your ability to bring in more cash, make your body more robust and make prospects more to your liking. don’t let someone else map out your life.

cAPrIcorn (dec. 22-Jan. 19): don’t get angry; change what you don’t like. control the situation and use your knowledge and experience to help energize your plans. It’s ok to do things differently or to make financial gain your purpose. A change at home will lift restrictions and depression.

AQuArIus (Jan. 20-feb. 18): be a good listener and be passionate about what you want and how you get your way. Put physical needs and personal gain first before you give in to other people’s demands. make self-love a priority. you will achieve your goals.

PIsces (feb. 19-march 20):Pay attention to how you earn and handle your cash. don’t share information that identifies you with a stereotype. keep others guessing. someone you intrigue will become the ally you need to reach your destination of choice.

birthday baby: you are organized, intelligent and adaptable. you are dependable and respected.

Irish secure draw at UNC

By TYLER REIDY Associate sports editor

In its first A cc road match this season, n o. 10 n otre d ame men’s soccer drew with n orth c arolina, 1-1. d espite falling behind in the 34th minute, the Irish equalized on senior forward d aniel r usso’s 84th-minute finish. s enior goalkeeper b ryan d owd stopped four Tar h eel shots, all within the game’s opening 32 minutes. With the result, n otre d ame now wields a 4-1-2 record, including a win and a draw in conference play.

The Irish may have been fortunate to concede just one goal by halftime. Just over 40 minutes in, n orth c arolina held a 10-0 advantage in the shot column. In the fifth minute, a high cross cleared a host of Irish defenders, landing for d avid b ercedo at the back post. h e lifted a shot from just outside the goal area, but d owd reached up to make the night’s first save.

d owd would come up big again on a low, 25-yard rocket from Quenzi h uerman.

d iving to his left, the keeper deflected the strike just before it reached the post, causing one of unc ’s seven first-half corners.

In the 26th minute, h uerman tested d owd one more time. After d owd punched out a dangerous lateral ball, the graduate transfer whipped a 15-yard volley, forcing a sprawling denial. e ight minutes later, the

Wrap

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con

“That feels great to have my career high,” e stime said. “b ut hopefully, let’s do it again.”

The Irish lacked consistency at times s aturday. b ut they flashed big-play upside that has been lacking in the past. The type that left them coming up short whenever a national championship contender came up on the schedule. Graduate student defensive lineman Javontae Jean-b aptiste made two explosive plays in the c hippewas backfield to force another three-and-out.

Graduate student safety

Thomas h arper followed suit on the next series, nearly bringing down b auer for a sack on first down and dropping him with a bone-jarring, fumble-forcing blow the next play. s andwiched in between, h artman turned the excited “ohs” drifting from the stands into jubilant cheers

h eels broke through. Given space on the left wing, Ahmad Al Qaq charged into the 18 and rolled a perfect cross just below the penalty spot. There, m artin v ician sent a right-footed redirection through the sweeping legs of d owd. The h arvard transfer’s second goal of the season doubled as his first at d orrance Field.

As the first half whittled away, n otre d ame finally generated a top-flight opportunity. A cleared corner kick careened to junior defender Kyle Genenbacher outside the box. h is rising, backspinning delivery cleared all traffic, including the keeper, but turned just wide of the far post.

The far more even second half saw each team register nine shots. m idway through the final 45, unc caught the woodwork as s am Williams charged a loose ball and hammered a long-range shot against the bottom of the crossbar.

b ut Williams’ near goal occurred during a 12-minute stretch that featured six n otre d ame shots. r iding newfound momentum from their push, the Irish leveled the score with under seven minutes remaining. s enior defender p addy b urns swung a cross to the penalty spot, where it pin-balled around and drew the attention of two Tar h eel defenders. As a result, r usso was left unmarked, and he made no

Irish start ACC play strong with 3-1 win

By ANDREW McGUINNESS sports editor

The first seven games of the n otre d ame women’s soccer season produced some ups, downs and inbetweens. b ut Friday night marked the beginning of what the Irish have been looking forward to.

A year ago, n otre d ame came up agonizingly close to winning the A cc regular season championship.

The same could be said about reaching the conference championship game, with n otre d ame scoring three goals against n o. 5 Florida s tate but falling in penalty kicks.

Winning in the A cc is always difficult. The conference is consistently one of the best in college soccer, and it’s shaping up to be that way again in 2023. s ix teams in the conference are ranked in the top 25.

Three are in the top 10. Wake Forest, who entered Friday at 6-0-1, wasn’t even one of them, although they did make the receiving votes section.

The Irish dealt the d emon d eacons their first setback of 2023, though, with a convincing 3-1 victory at Alumni s tadium on Friday night. For the second straight game, the Irish tallied three times from three different goal-scorers.

Two of those goal-scorers were repeats from n otre d ame’s previous contest, though.

For the fifth time in their last six games, the Irish drew first blood, barely waiting five minutes to do so. An excellent pass from sophomore midfielder Leah Klenke snuck into the box and found streaking graduate student midfielder Kristina Lynch for her third goal of the season. It was Lynch’s first game in the starting lineup since Aug. 27 against Arkansas, an opportunity she made sure to capitalize on.

Wake Forest nearly answered back just moments later, with star scorer c aiya h anks ripping a shot off the crossbar. h owever, both offenses would sputter out for much of the half, with Wake Forest in particular struggling to generate chances after the first few minutes. Given both teams entered the night top 20 nationally in shots per game, it was surprising to see both fall into a slump.

b ut the Irish wouldn’t stay down forever. While Wake Forest struggled to put pressure on the Irish defense, they had no trouble racking up fouls.

Wake Forest exceeded its season average for fouls per game in the first half alone, committing 11. Their 10th gave the Irish a free kick just outside the box with barely two minutes remaining in the half.

That was enough time for graduate student forward m addie m ercado to

make something happen, as she led the ball into just the right spot for senior midfielder e llie o speck to chip in her third goal of the season and give the Irish a critical insurance marker. The offensive dormancy quickly set back in early in the half.

o ther than another dangerous bid from h anks that senior goalkeeper Ashley n aylor made a diving stop on, chances were few and far between for the first 30 minutes of the second half.

This time, the Irish found the opportunistic trait that had bit them quite a few times earlier this season.

n otre d ame earned its luck, though, with Klenke making an impressive run to keep the ball alive along the near sideline.

m oments later, she worked it across to m ercado, who this time called her own number with a perfectly placed strike to elude the dive of Wake keeper m adison h oward.Although h anks would get a much-earned goal with five minutes left, the Irish were never seriously threatened.

With a gauntlet of top opponents to finish their season, it was paramount for the Irish to start conference play strong. Friday’s complete effort checked that box off emphatically.”.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

as he floated a 76-yard bomb into the bread basket of Tyree.

Two more beautifully thrown deep balls by h artman in the third quarter, one to junior wide receiver Jayden Thomas and another to freshman wide receiver r ico Flores Jr., both led to scoring drives. The first set up a h artman sneak.

The second resulted in a 50-yard kick by graduate student s pencer s hrader. It’s been a long time since notre d ame has had that type of quarterback play, the type capable of not just winning a game but taking it over.

“he’s an n FL guy,” merriweather said. “The difference between college and n FL is a lot of times the quarterbacks don’t get receivers a choice but to catch. And I think that’s what s am does for us.”

s till, it was far from perfect for notre d ame. While the Irish showed the ability to make game-changing plays, they also made the types of mistakes that could sink

them next s aturday. notre d ame gave c entral m ichigan a roughing the passer penalty, and it turned into a backward pass that went 12 yards in the wrong direction and a missed field goal. It’s safe to expect o hio s tate to take full advantage of similar mishaps.

s ame with the plague of bad tackling that was especially prevalent during the c hippewas’ first scoring drive.

The absences of graduate student linebacker J d b ertrand (concussion) and safety dJ b rown (hamstring) were felt as the c hippewas found success on the ground throughout the opening half. notre d ame’s defense largely played solid in the opening half, but got sloppy again in the closing moments. Two wide-open throws for b auer, including a 31-yard strike to Tyson d avis, brought c entral m ichigan back in the game as b auer capped off the drive with a one-yard rushing score.

As Freeman said before the game, it’s natural for minds to

drift to the highly anticipated clash with o hio s tate before it arrives. And it’s easy to see why the Irish like their chances against the b uckeyes, even if they will be underdogs.

Though the Irish popped for plenty of big plays, they probably wish those moments didn’t matter as much as they did.

For the second straight week, notre d ame made things harder on itself than they needed to be.

The Irish committed eight penalties for 72 yards.

It took a high-level pass breakup by sophomore cornerback b enjamin morrison to prevent the c hippewas from making it a one-score game late in the third.

A dominant fourth quarter that pushed the Irish lead to 41-17 made things feel better, but only a little. The Irish still have work to do.

“(We’re) an aggressive team.

Are [we] a disciplined team? Absolutely, but an aggressive team.

And sometimes you have aggressive penalties,” Freeman said. “You got to let these guys be aggressive. What I tell them to come out of the locker room, it’s not, ‘d on’t make mistakes.’ s ometimes, you have penalties. b ut it’s not a discipline issue, it’s an execution issue.”

That alone won’t be enough against the bigtime opponents on notre d ame’s horizon.

b ut now comes the exciting part: a high-stakes showdown under the lights against a top10 opponent. It’s an opportunity for a signature moment.

more importantly, it’s an opportunity to elevate the Freeman-era Irish to the championship-caliber level they’re aspiring for.

“We always take it one week (at a) time.” e stime said. “c entral m ichigan was our opponent this week, but now it’s o hio s tate, all o hio s tate.”

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

ND WOMEN’S SOccER

Transfer portal additions make a difference for the i rish against central m ichigan University

By ANNIKA HERKO sports Writer

it seems fitting that on the same day that former irish quarterback Tyler buchner started (and was benched in) his first football game for the alabama crimson Tide, the players that transferred into the notre dame football program for the 2023 season put together some critical plays for the irish.

Defensive End Javontae Jean-Baptiste

The defensive end transfer from ohio state got a few good hits in this week, slowing down the chippewas’ running backs. he had one tackle for loss and was credited with three quarterback hurries, the most of anyone on the team.

That was definitely one of the highlights for the irish defense who struggled at times to get central michigan quarterback Jase bauer off the field.

The back-up only completed 10 of 20 passes during the game, likely becauseexpectedstarterbertemanuel Jr. was out due to illness. most of the success of the central michigan offense came from running the ball.

Safety Thomas Harper

There are few universal crowd reactions in a football stadium. The “oooooohhh” that follows watching a safety run at top speed towards a back-turned quarterback to later make a hard hit is one of those few unifiers. That is exactly how graduate student senior harper caused bauer to lose control of the football, stalling central michigan’s drive and forcing a punt. This is Thomas’ first season at notre dame after playing for four years at oklahoma state.

besides his big impact on bauer on the play, his contributions to the defense have been significant. harper was fourth on the team during the game for total tackles with four, which include two solo tackles.

Kicker Spencer Shrader

shrader missed a 59 yarder for the irish in the game against central michigan, which would’ve been the longest of his career. he already beat his previous long of 52 with the University of south Florida in 2021, last week against nc state. he did make all five of his extra attempts (remaining perfect for notre dame in that department) as well two field goals later in the game.

Quarterback Sam Hartman

sam hartman, our savior, our hope. The transfer from Wake Forest has been everything notre dame fans wanted and expected him to be. hartman went 16 for 26 for 330 yards, 3 touchdowns and no picks in this week’s game. he also ran for six yards and one touchdown. While notre dame will have its first real challenge of the year next week against ohio state, hartman’s consistent high level of play has given irish nation a lot of confidence in their new, poised quarterback. hartman is a threat that makes defenses respect the pass in ways they didn’t have to when last year’s quarterbacks — buchner and drew Pyne — were under center.

his role as captain also shows how much his teammates and coaches value his leadership and other intangible contributions to the team. sam, any chance you’ll stay in college for a seventh year? The transfer portal has been under a lot of scrutiny recently but it seems to have worked out really well for notre dame so far this season.

Contact Annika Herko at aherko@nd.edu

through the first 40 minutes or so. The chippewas kept chipping away at notre dame’s lead, drawing within 11 on a field goal with 1:59 left in the third quarter. it set up an important drive for the irish, knowing extending the lead could be enough to put the game out for reach.

Their first play wasn’t a handoff to electric junior running back audric estime, nor was it a short hartman throw to a trusted target. instead, the irish quarterback looked deep down the opposite sideline as his firstquarter bomb and completed another one, this time for 42 yards to freshman rico Flores Jr. it was no secret entering this season that the irish receiver

room needed some help. The wideout corps were basically outproduced by michael mayer all by himself last season. Flores was one of three fourstar recruits brought to south bend in hopes of adding more talent to the irish aerial attack. Flores beat junior corner La’vario Wiley clean off the line, hauled in the pass in stride and fought off Wiley’s reach to add

a few more yards onto the play. sometimes, a wide receiver gets open deep based on brilliant scheming or a bust in coverage. Flores’ big play was pure skill, which is what makes his future so exciting.

but not all big plays have to go for big yardage. The irish settled for a field goal on that drive which, while important, kept notre dame’s lead at two

scores. a fter getting the ball back, marcus Freeman found his team at a critical fourth and two at the central michigan 40. The irish could’ve gone conservative, either punting the ball or calling a safe running play. instead, hartman rolled to his right, counting on freshman Jaden Greathouse to get open to sustain a drive that would ultimately put the irish ahead by three scores.

That’s exactly what he did. Greathouse has already made some explosive plays this season, catching three touchdowns in notre dame’s first three games.

but Freeman knows a huge key to the irish taking a step forward from last season is perfecting the little things. Whether it’s converting on short-yardage situations or merriweather taking pride in his blocking, the irish offense has largely made strides in that department.

When the dust settled, merriweather, Flores and Greathouse combined for eight catches going for 164 yards and a touchdown. none of the three are game-breakers by themselves yet. maybe they’ll reach that level someday. but they are rewriting what young receivers are capable of in the irish offense. That bodes well for their futures — and their team’s.

Paid a dverT isemen T

ARIANNA DENNING| The Observer

Irish graduate student kicker Spencer Shrader kicks for a field goal in Notre Dame’s 45-24 away victory against North Carolina State.

Irish set the stage for ohio state with inconsistent win over central m ichigan

By ANDREW McGUINNESS sports editor

It’s generally not a great thing when a football game ends and all a team’s fans can think is “Thank God that’s over.”

In fairness to notre d ame, that sentiment is more a result of what’s to come than what occurred. The latter certainly has some kinks to work out, though. For all of the talk of not looking forward, notre d ame’s Week 3 showdown against c entral m ichigan was always going to be a primer, not a feature. That comes next week, as the Irish welcome undefeated no. 6 o hio s tate into town for the biggest game of the m arcus Freeman era since the teams met 378 days ago in c olumbus.

“These wins are hard to come by. We are so greedy and selfish and we want to be perfect. I was proud of the way they battled. It wasn’t perfect, but they

battled and they battled and they battled,” head coach m arcus Freeman said.

The Irish could not have started the game any better. After luring the c hippewas defense down with three quality runs by junior running back Audric e stime, graduate student quarterback s am h artman took his first shot through the air and hit a 75-yard jackpot courtesy of a wide-open Tobias merriweather streaking down the left sideline. It was only the sophomore wide receiver’s fifth career reception. b ut three of them have gone for at least 40 yards. This one wasn’t even the first to find paydirt.

b ut the c hippewas would not let the early deficit deter them. Aided by a roughing the passer penalty on sophomore defensive lineman Joshua b urnham, c entral m ichigan methodically marched down the field on the ground. c entral m ichigan quarterback Jase b auer and

running backs m yles b ailey and m arion Lukes combined for 34 yards on five carries. An outstretched b ailey crossed the goal line from six yards out to even the score. notre d ame responded with the composure they lacked in these types of moments last season. The officials were not exactly friends of the home team on the Irish’s second drive. A pass interference flag was picked up. Then, an e stime first-down rush was (correctly) overturned after already announcing the initial call would stand. Yet h artman stood strong to complete a third-and-nine pass to graduate student wide receiver c hris Tyree. And after being ruled short of the sticks on third down, e stime stayed on his feet to turn the ensuing fourth-down conversion into seven points, setting the tone en route to a career-high 176 rushing yards.

Young receivers lead Irish into top 10 home showdown next weekend

By ANDREW McGUINNESS sports editor

In past seasons, notre dame was dependent on upperclassmen to carry their passing game. on saturday, a trio of underclassmen wide receivers delivered in an exciting way that could translate into notre dame’s highly anticipated matchup with ohio state.

It’s not that notre dame hasn’t produced quality wide receivers in recent memory. In fact, the Irish currently have four active nFL wideouts, the most of any skill position outside of tight end. And that group doesn’t even include Will Fuller, who posted three seasons of at least 600 yards in a sixyear pro career. miles boykin, equanimeous st. brown, chase claypool and ben skowronek all enjoyed plenty of success in south bend. And that’s helped prepare them to be quality nFL contributors — and in skowronek’s case, a super bowl champion.

It took a while for most of them to reach that point,

though. none caught more than eight passes as a freshman — including skowronek for a 7-6 northwestern team. e xpecting them to be key contributors heading into a Week 4 showdown against a top-10, blueblood opponent like ohio state might’ve been too much to ask.

but if notre dame’s daydreaming victory over central michigan on saturday was any indication, things might be different this year. They already are in a lot of ways for the Irish passing game. Against the chippewas, graduate student sam hartman became the first Irish quarterback with multiple 75-yard-plus touchdown passes since at least 1996. The first one came on just the third offensive play from scrimmage for the Irish.

And it wasn’t a veteran on the receiving end of it, but sophomore Tobias merriweather.

It was the fifth reception of merriweather’s Irish career, which started last season with lots of promise but was derailed due to injuries. Yet that

first-quarter score was already merriweather’s third career reception of at least 40 yards. his lone catch last season, in fact, was a go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown against stanford from 41 yards out. Against nc state, he hauled in a 45-yard grab that set up graduate student spencer shrader’s recordsetting 54-yard field goal. And of course, he galloped down the sun-soaked left sideline saturday for 75 yards to start the scoring.

“I think, obviously, first, that’s your dream. You want to score every play, ” merriweather said. “I think football is a patient game. You have to wait for the ball to come your way. A lot of things have to happen for you to get the ball and for you to make big plays. so I think just staying patient and having a good support group around me — my close friends, my family, my coaches — just telling me to keep going.”

The Irish didn’t play their most crisp game, especially

ARIANNA DENNING | The Observer

Irish junior tight end Mitchell Evans catches a pass for two yards from graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman against NC State. see WrAP PAGE 10

REcEivERS FEATURE

cENTRAL MicHiGAN GAME WRAP

MEGHAN LANGE | The Observer

Irish graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman looks to freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse in the Irish’s 42-3 win against Navy. see FeATUre PAGE 11