Print Edition for The Observer for Monday, September 26, 2022

Student governments build community Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s face off in beach volleyball match for the first time ever

By CATHY DOHERTY news writer

For the first time ever, the s aint m ary’s and n otre d ame student governments went head-to-head in a beach volleyball game.

They met at 5:30 p.m. on Friday at the sand volley ball courts on s aint m ary’s campus.

s aint m ary’s students ar rived at the sand volleyball court with colorful posters to cheer on their student government. Free shirts were given to those in atten dance, music was playing and students lined the blue fence of the court to watch the student governments

face off in the sand.

s aint m ary’s s tudent g overnment a ssociation prepared for the big game by having a volleyball training camp on Thursday night. b ecca Jones, a se nior at s aint m ary’s who is the co-chair of the sustain ability and food services committee, said the train ing consisted of making TikToks and doing sit-ups.

“a lot of us don’t have that much experience, but we have a lot of spirit,” Jones said before the match.

Jones’ teammate, v inni p aradiso, was confident in her team’s ability before the

Sister discusses death penalty

By GRACIE EPPLER news writer

on Friday, sr. helen p rejean participated in a fireside chat hosted by the notre dame l aw s chool e xoneration Justice c linic and the Klau i nstitute for c ivil and human r ights. The fireside chat was moder ated by dean and professor of law g marcus c ole in the e ck v isitors’ c enter.

p rejean said she believes that all humans, even those who have committed terrible crimes, have an inviolable dig nity. she also discussed justice for people who were wrong fully convicted, the presence of racism and socioeconomic disparities within our crimi nal justice system and how c atholics are called to be ac tivists for the most ostracized in society: convicts.

“ w here is the dignity in tak ing a human being, rendering [him] completely defenseless and deliberately killing him when we have other means to keep society safe?” p rejean asked.

p rejean has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading

anti-death penalty advocates. she is a recipient of the l aetare medal, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a c atholic.

p rejean rose to prominence for her 1993 book “dead man walking,” in which she told the story of accompanying patrick s onnier to his execution on death row. her book was later turned into a 1996 academy award-winning film.

i n recent years, p rejean has accompanied manuel ortiz, a resident at a l ouisiana prison who has been on death row for over 25 years.

“i came alive by going to death row,” p rejean said. she encourages all young people to choose “soul-sized work” that truly stimulates them and fills them with en ergy. she said she has found her true calling in befriend ing those on death row, a task which she said “keeps her soul awake.”

w hen asked how she remains joyful and good-natured de spite encountering those near ing death,

Revisiting the history of parietals at Notre Dame

By SPENCER KELLY, AVERY POLKING, LILYANN GARDNER, CADE CZARNECKI From the a rchives researchers

p arietals continue to be a consistently controver sial topic at n otre d ame, almost universally igniting the ire of the student body. w hile this policy may seem to be an eternal annoyance, in fact parietals as we know them date only to the late 1960s and are intertwined with the process of coedu cation at n otre d ame, now in its 50th year.

i n this two-part series, From the a rchives will ex plore the early history of parietals. i n this first in stallment, we uncover the u niversity administration’s initial opposition to pa rietal hours, their subse quent change in heart and

the promises and pitfalls that arose when parietals were first implemented.

Hesburgh’s “emphatic” op position to parietals

Nov. 9, 1967 | Observer

Staff | April 1, 1968 | Observer

Staff | Researched by Avery Polking

Though the social struc ture of n otre d ame is de fined by many things, perhaps one of the most concrete influences on daily life — and the most adverse to students — is parietal hours. w hile its vast unpopularity among students is well docu mented, less known is that u niversity administration was initially against them as well.

Though the social struc ture of n otre d ame is

defined by many things, perhaps one of the most concrete influences on daily life — and the most adverse to students — is parietal hours. w hile its vast unpopularity among students is well docu mented, less known is that u niversity administration was initially against them as well.

a n ovember 1967 o bserver headline announced, “ h esburgh e mphatic: n o p arietal h our.” The article examined the implications of a comment then- u niver sity p resident Fr. Theodore h esburgh made in which he effectively called parietal hours pointless, comment ing that he “[has] no stom ach for laws which don’t mean anything.”

CATHY DOHERTTY | The Observer

The Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s student governments competed in a beach volleyball game on Friday. Students from both campuses came to support their respective schools and celebrate the tri-campus.

see volleyball PAGE 3

Sean McAleer sophomore o’neill Family hall “dublin, Ireland.”

Joseph Truluck first-year morissey manor “Great Wall of china.”

Klein Simon first-year Fisher hall “The beach.”

Adam Griffin senior off-campus “olympic national Park.”

Fionn Lay sophomore dillon hall “hong Kong.” (574) 631-5313 (574) 631-5323 631-5323 631-5303 (574) 631-4543

Scene Desk (574) 631-4540 scene@ndsmcobserver.com

Photo Desk (574) 631-8767 photo@ndsmcobserver.com & Web Administrators

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.

Monday

Ukraine Flash Panel

Online

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

Discussion on possiblity of hope for diplomacy in Ukraine.

Bae-goals

Reinbeaux Lounge

8 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Learn about healthy relationships while enjoying a bagel.

Chris Mulligan sophomore dillon hall “south bend, Indiana.”

Tuesday

Afro-Latinx Poetry

Now McKenna Hall 2 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. Discussion on visiting poets’ work.

John Burgee Lecture 109 Walsh Family Hall of Architecture

5:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Lecture on restoring Notre Dame Cathedral.

Wednesday

Mueller Report Exhibition

214 Riley Hall

8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. View posters which visualize the report.

Women’s Fitness and Health Day Walk

Le Mans Hall

8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Walk to the Grotto from Saint Mary’s.

Thursday

“Energy as Power” Lecture 1050 Jenkins Nanovic Halls 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Open to the public.

7th Annual SDB Mosaic Rice Commons 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Celebrate diversity at Saint Mary’s College.

Friday

“Diversity and Democracy” Lecture Zoom 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Hosted by the Klau Institute.

Notre Dame Symphony Concert Leighton Concert Hall 8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. Buy tickets for the event online.

SARAH GRISHAM | The Observer

Irish fans were finally treated to some exciting, high-scoring football when Notre Dame beat the UNC Tarheels 45-32. During the game Saturday, one of this year’s leprechauns, Ryan Coury, ran across the UNC end zone proudly carrying a Notre Dame flag. of the dream vacation spot?

Flooring startup works to reduce fall risk

By KATE NAESSENS n ews Writer

a n otre d ame graduate entrepreneurship program alumna is working towards longer, safer lives for people with a fall risk — not with grasp bars or fall buttons, but with a patented flooring system designed to “restore the right to fall.”

Julie m oylan, ceo of so T eria Flooring and es T eem program graduate, arriving on campus summer 2021 with an undergradu ate degree in b iomedical e ngineering from the University of Galway. m oylan made it her business to dive straight into the en trepreneurial scene, having never pursued anything like it before.

s he was paired with a flooring startup previously founded by Tim o vaert, a

Volleyball

match.

“ i think we’re just going to have to work as a team and come together as a fam ily to get the [win] tonight,” Paradiso, a sophomore co-chair of the media and marketing committee, said before the game.

n otre d ame started off with a big lead when they won the first of three sets.

When the second set rolled around, the teams switched sides of the net and were given a few minutes to talk strategy.

s aint m ary’s won the sec ond set, leaving the score 1-1 before the third and final

professor in n otre d ame’s mechanical and aerospace engineering department. m oylan helped reshape the “nearly completely stopped and dissolved” company. Today, so T eria is still in the pre-seed round of fund ing, raising $80,000 dollars so far.

The twice-patented floor ing product was commis sioned by the cdc for research purposes but was soon turned into a purchas able product that reduces the occurrence of injury from falling.

“ i t can be installed under your carpet or linoleum, anything that has a bit of give, in nursing homes or care facilities, assisted and independent living,” m oylan said.

m oylan said 25% of those who fall [that are] over the age of 65 are dead within six

months of the injury, and the problem only gets worse with age.

“People are actually dying because of it and nothing has been done,” she said. d uring the 35-month period before installing their floor ing in a facility in ohio, 21 fractures were recorded. o nce so T eria flooring was in stalled, moylan said there was a 100% reduction in fractures, 100% reduction in overnight stays and a near complete re duction in er visits.

“People with dementia and a lzheimer’s forget they can’t walk anymore and are incredibly prone to falling. The only alternative to them getting up or falling down was to strap them to the bed, which is completely inhu mane, so giving them back the right to fall is a huge part of our mission.”

so T eria currently has

two major installations in o hio and has no plan to slow down. The company is cur rently talking with a care facility in Kentucky and the Logan c enter in s outh b end.

m oylan is utilizing the traction the company is gaining to expand into the construction industry,.

“ i t’s tough to be a new player in that market, so i need a global flooring or commercial flooring provid er to sell directly to the cus tomer,” m oylan said.

a partnership like this has the potential to ramp up adoption of the flooring.

“They will have the re sources to offset some costs and include us as part of their portfolio, so for me it’s about being selective about a partner that will acceler ate our route to scaling in the market,” m oylan said.

“We are in discussions with

all those people, especially their research, design and innovation arms, so they let us know what they need to see from us, and now it’s just up to us to get there.”

m oylan’s advice to bud ding entrepreneurs is to trust their gut instincts.

“You will have people to advise and guide you, but when you’re in it and some thing doesn’t feel good, don’t go against your internal in stincts,” she said. “ i can’t even describe how much you will be pulled in all sorts of directions, so just listen to yourself, trust yourself and trust your product.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of the story mistak enly said SOTERIA Flooring had raised $20,000 instead of $80,000.

Contact Kate Naessens at knaessen@nd.edu

set. The third set was filled with several long rallies, but ultimately n otre d ame won, winning the game overall.

volleyball was not the only skill on display Friday night.

Patrick Lee, the n otre d ame student body presi dent, showcased his air guitar abilities while stand ing on the sidelines be tween sets. h e frequently “strummed” along with the music being played throughout the match.

Prior to the game, s aint m ary’s s G a president a ngela m artinez c amacho and vice president Josie h aas an swered several questions about the event.

b ecause this is the first time the two groups have

met on the court, c amacho and h aas explained how it came to be.

“ i t really just started randomly in the sum mer,” c amacho said.

“ i t was like three in the morning, and i texted Josie.”

s hortly after, the two reached out to Lee and n otre d ame student body vice president s ofie s titt to start planning.

a long with how this event came to be, c amacho shared what sparked the inspiration for the tournament.

“ i t is in our platform that we wanted to create a greater connection within the tri-campus,” she said. h aas echoed c amacho’s sentiments.

“ b uilding the connec tion with n otre d ame and h oly c ross always starts at the top,” she said. “When [students] get to see our student governments hav ing fun together, and hav ing this camaraderie, that makes all the difference.”

a fter the game, s titt gave some insight on future plans involving tri-cam pus relations.

“There’s some stuff in the works,” she said. “We’re re ally excited to keep doing stuff with [ s aint m ary’s and h oly c ross] moving forward.”

i n a post-game inter view, Lee was asked how it felt to win.

“ i t was definitely more about just having fun and promoting tri-campus community,” he said. “ i think sports are a great way to come together.”

Contact Cathy Doherty at cdoherty01@saintmarys.edu

Prejean

con T in U ed From PaGe 1

Prejean said that being in the presence of those who society has turned its back on can be extremely taxing. but, she said the horror of the situation and these in mates’ impending execution dates left her with one of two options.

“i could either be paralyzed with grief and fear or galva nized to work harder,” she said.

Prejean noted she chose the latter.

she has published two books, met with the Pope and has spoken out against the death penalty in communi ties across the globe. her work with death-row inmates is also an acknowl edgment of her own privilege, both in her whiteness and in her socioeconomic status. she presented data on ra cial disparities within pris ons and the fact that eight in every 10 people placed on death row were put there for committing a crime against a white person.

“For those of us who have white privilege, we’ve got a special responsibility with God to help those who don’t,” Prejean said.

but perhaps the most grati fying part of Prejean’s work and the reason why her soul feels so “alive” in counseling death row inmates, is that she has found true connections with the men she has accom panied. she said they have taught her, most notably, to be both “courageous” and “repentant.”

“i haven’t met with any one guilty who isn’t sorry,” Prejean said.

i n her current accompani ment with ortiz, she hopes to

help prove his innocence.

“a fter being in the presence of manuel, i leave more of a hu man being than when i first ar rived,” Prejean said. she hopes to emphasize the humanity of all those that she has accompanied, innocent or not.

Prejean called all of us to be more empathetic, both to the families of the victims and to those who the state will strip of their lives.

“is he innocent? no,” Prejean said of a hypothetical deathrow inmate. “is he human? Yes.”

To Prejean, c atholicism and activism go hand in hand. because theology is so often linked and used to support the death penalty, she said the first step to abolishing it is to begin dialogue.

Prejean said Jesus always chooses life, and as catholics, we must, as well. she noted that the one chance Jesus had to condone the death penalty was the woman at the well. he instead chose life and encour aged the woman to reflect on her own life.

To Prejean, the death pen alty isn’t a political issue.

“a re you liberal or conser vative? a re you this or that? it’s not the point,” she said. “stick with the issues, and ex plore them together. Listen to each other.”

Through education and empathy, Prejean is hopeful that both the c atholic church and the legal system are mov ing in the right direction, one in which life is preserved, in nocent or not. a s humans, Prejean said everyone has an indisputable dignity that should never be stripped away.

Contact Gracie Eppler at geppler@nd.edu

Afro-Latino poets to lecture, visit classrooms

By LIAM PRICE Associate n ews e ditor

n otre d ame’s Institute for Latino s tudies (IL s ) and the Initiative on r ace and r esilience will present “Afro-Latinx Poetry n ow” on Tuesday and Wednesday, featuring six Afro-Latino visiting poets who will ap pear both publicly for talks in m cKenna h all and pri vately in selected n otre d ame classrooms.

b oth days, Poetry n ow’s public events will consist of “Poets on Poets” at 2 p.m., “ s cholars on Poets” at 3:30 p.m. and “An e vening of Poetry” at 8 p.m.

In the “Poets on Poets” event, director of the IL s Letras Latinas initiative Francisco Aragon said the visiting poets will give brief

Parietals

con TIn U ed From PAge 1

“I’m sure that parietal hours will not be allowed,” hesburgh declared.

The observer expanded on hesburgh’s stance, reporting that “The University’s reason for not allowing girls in the dormitory stems mostly from the social repercussions of en

talks “on Afro-Latinx poets of their choosing,” introduc ing another six poets to the audience over the event’s two days.

s tarting 15 minutes after “Poets on Poets” concludes, the poets will then sit in the audience for “ s cholars on Poets.”

“ s ix scholars in groups of three over two days will give talks on the work of these poets who are visiting us, which should be a spe cial experience for them,” Aragon said.

For “An e vening of Poetry,” the final event on both days, the visiting poets will perform their own work in groups of three followed by a question-and-answer ses sion and a book signing.

Poet Jasminne m endez, one of the six poets attending

the contentious conditions un der which parietal hours were first debated surely reflects their controversial nature, still evident today.

Parietals approved March 18, 1969 | Observer

Staff | March 28, 1969 | Ted Price | Researched by Lilyann Gardner

Parietals are perhaps an out dated practice in the opinion of many present-day notre dame students, but their initial ap proval was likely considered a win in the eyes of the entirely male student population of 1969.

the event, said she feels the event is a good way to uplift Afro-Latino voices in the lit erary community.

“I thought this was a great way for us to all come togeth er and be in community and share our experiences and our poetry as Afro-Latinx writers,” m endez said.

m endez said her personal experience was one of clashing identities and feelings, being b lack while identifying culturally and ethnically with her Latino heritage.

“I think that my goal as a writer and performer is to try to expand people’s view and understanding of what blackness is and how it exists in the world and across the diaspora,” she said.

Aragon is especially

Keenan, Lyons, Pangborn and Zahm with the other six fol lowing after minor changes in their hall constitutions were made.

These residence halls moved forward with detailed week end visitation hours that share similarities and differ ences with the parietal hours instituted after the move to co-education.

looking forward to the class room visit portion of Poetry n ow.

“These aren’t people who are parachuting in, giv ing their reading and para chuting up,” Aragon said. “They’re gonna spend time with our students in class rooms, where these students have been reading and dis cussing and writing about their work.”

m arisel m oreno, a pro fessor in the department of romance languages and lit erature at n otre d ame, said she is excited for the dia logue her students will get to experience with poet d arrel Alejandro h olnes, who will visit one of her classes Tuesday.

“I’m hoping that they can, first of all, enjoy that interaction with him, learn

to sit next to the sign-in book and ensure that all visitors ad hered to the policy. The con sensus among the student body was that the sign-in process was a ridiculous and unnecessarily tedious requirement.

As evidence of the absurdity of the requirement, an observer

more about him as a person to get to understand where he’s coming from and his poetry better,” m oreno said.

Poetry n ow, Aragon said, is a “modest contribution to what I believe is that national conversation of, ‘how can we celebrate the diversity of our communi ties, including our poets and writers?’”

m oreno said she feels Poetry n ow is very signifi cant as a literary gathering.

“I am honestly elated that this is taking place at n otre d ame,” she said. “It’s really a historic type of gathering, for a lot of Latinx writers, poets, artists in gen eral, don’t tend to have much visibility.”

Contact Liam Price at lprice3@nd.edu

cross, dillon, Walsh, Alumni, Flanner, carroll and morrissey.

The hall Life board threat ened these halls with the sus pension parietals as a whole if they did not clean up their acts. The board also promised a fol low up investigation to ensure the appropriate changes in con

tertaining a girl in a bedroom and the disruption such a prac tice would initiate in a mens’ dorm which is interpreted by many university officials as a men’s club.”

hesburgh valued a commu nity in which men and women could work together without the burden of time restrictions, calling this dynamic a “tension modulated by love.”

but not long after in April 1968, hesburgh showed signs of a softening stance by re instating four students who had been suspended by James r iehle, dean of students, for an unspecified parietal violation.

hesburgh acknowledged that there was “moral ambi guity” present in current re strictions and that he was “in the process of outlining a pro gram” he hoped would clarify matters.

Parietals were ultimate ly approved by the board of Trustees a year later. however,

despite Father hesburgh’s ostensibly “emphatic” oppo sition to parietals, in march 1969 the board of Trustees approved the expansion of fe male visitation hours from just 11 weekends per year to every weekend, with the expectation that certain changes would have to be made to residence halls.

“The e xecutive c ommittee ratified the student Life c ouncil’s proposals for a reor ganization of the residence hall governments, including a writ ten constitution, a hall presi dent, a hall legislative council, and a hall judicial board,” The observer reported.

The student Life c ouncil and board of Trustees made it clear that should any hall fail to make the necessary changes, they would not be granted the privilege of expanded visita tion rights.

Parietals, although approved by administrative powers, were entirely experimental and relied on student coopera tion. however, disgruntlement about these mandatory chang es was not an issue.

roughly a week later, six out of the 12 residence halls were approved to implement the new parietal rules. These halls included badin, carroll,

“The legislation passed by the sL c and approved by the trustees permits women visi tation hours in the residence halls for a total of no more than twenty-four hours from 5 p.m. Friday through 11 p.m. sunday. however, no hall’s may extend beyond 1 a.m. any day nor be gin earlier than 1 p.m. any day but Friday,” Ted Price (‘71) wrote.

v iolations of parietals were expected, but the board of Trustees believed that the ad ditional hall councils and authority figures would help maintain a certain level of ma turity and morality in the cam pus community.

Whether or not parietals are a necessary good or a neces sary evil is up for debate to day, but at the time of their approval parietals seemed to be a positive step toward cre ating a more inclusive campus community.

Early parietal problems: sign-ins and citations

Oct. 1, 1969 | Observer Staff | Nov. 6, 1969 | Don Ruane | Researched by Cade Czarnecki

Though approval of pari etals was met with enthusiasm, their implementation quickly led to a proliferation of student complaints.

The parietal policy, as it ini tially existed, required visitors to sign both in and out on a sheet in the entrance of the hall they were visiting, denoting the time of both arrival and departure.

A hall member was required

article shared that “hall presi dents [asked] each of their halls to enforce the sign-in procedure [on the] weekend to the letter and to make fathers visiting their sons sign in their wives and small daughters.”

The grievances did not stop there. others writing in The observer opined that the sign-in process served no real purpose: “no one…ever stated what the [sign-in] list was to be used for — whether to check as to if the women had left at the sign-out hour or what.”

Parietal violations began to occur almost as soon the pol icy was enacted — some due to ignorance and others due to protest.

Transgressing halls were of ten reported by rectors of other dorms. In fact, the hall Life board conducted an investiga tion into seven halls known to be repeat parietal offenders: holy

duct were made in these recur rently offending halls.

While some saw the actions of the hall Life board to be oppres sive, executive coordinator ron mastriana defended its inves tigation, saying, “The purpose of the hall Life board is to help the halls along and to make sure that everything is working as it should.”

While mastriana’s comments undoubtedly soured some stu dents even further on the hall Life board, there was a general belief that the hall Presidents council would actively work to help revise the parietals system in a way agreeable to all parties involved.

Contact Spencer Kelly at skelly25@nd.edu, Avery Polking at apolking@nd.edu, Lilyann Gardner at lgardne2@nd.edu and Cade Czarnecki at cczarne3@nd.edu

University president Fr. Ted Hes burgh at first opposed parietals.

Observer archives

March 18, 1969: A picture of students and visitors gathering outside before new parietal hours went into effect on Notre Dame’s campus.

Observer archives

By ROSE ANDROWICH scene Writer

Admittedly, I found myself a watcher of pan demic escapism shows and movies, the most prominent example being “ e mily in Paris.”

Watching “The Tsuagua d iaries” illustrated just how a director can draw inspiration from some thing so unprecedented — the pandemic — and use it to create a masterpiece.

The movie beautifully explores Portuguese cul ture. The cinematography gives us a peek into the luscious landscape of the Portuguese coun tryside, from gorgeous garden scenery to consis tent shots of over-ripe fruit. The soundscape was rich with 70s hits and the vibrant and musical Portuguese tongue. I found myself peeking into a culture that I hadn’t seen before for an hour and 42 minutes. Watching films outside of one’s cul ture allows us to see past stereotypes.

The film simultaneously provides insight into Portuguese culture and rejects the format of stan dard American box-office movies. o ur films fol low a predictable formula, created by executives who cater to our interests. As a result, American cinematography is less than stellar in most cases. The quality of the film suffers.

“The Tsugua d iaries” showed that there are still movie-makers that focus on capturing a sto ry rather than curating it to a mass market. This

film is a breath of fresh air in contrast to what we are seeing in the mass market. They created a universe of a movie inside a movie that showed the reality of endemic era filming. The premise was c arloto ( c arloto c otta) decides to go surfing and unintentionally puts the production at risk.

It leads to the decision to construct a house for butterflies. The construction of the butterfly house is how the tensions between characters to come through. The behavior of c arloto is criti cized throughout the movie arguably because of the choice he made.

o ne of the highlights of this on-screen dynamic is surprisingly humorous. c arloto is the flirting in the garden when his co-worker rudely inter rupts him and calls him out for wearing socks. The two debate over the clear value of the socks with c arloto writing them off as not a big deal. This is hardly one of the first moments to come to mind when I think about humorous moments. The masterful use of little quips that almost fly over your head is something exceptionally welldone in this movie.

The last scene also provides an exceptional flashback to when they arrived on set and the discussion of the cov I d protocols. The supervi sor is wearing an n -95 mask and face shield but is wearing an outfit that looks like a garbage col lector uniform. h e gets into a heated argument over organizing breakfast for the crew. s omeone

failed to request the milk he wanted for breakfast. h e questions everyone else and says that no one answered the email required for the order. It is re vealed that everyone else responded except him. This scene deals with the realities of pandemicera struggles but does so in a light-hearted way.

The highlight of the film was the fact that the characters went by their real names. The fact that the actors weren’t playing characters heightens the sense of realism and connection between the audience and the actors. The behind-the-scenes moments also added a layer of authenticity.

The spirit of m aureen Fazendeiro, writer of “The Tsugua d iaries,” was clearly shown in the film. We saw the inner workings of film production rather than the unreal depictions that are the norm in modern cinema. “The Tsugua d iaries” instills a feeling of love and admiration for the films that lean into real culture.

Contact Rose at randrowich01@saintmarys.edu

“The Tsugua Diaries”

Directors: Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes

Starring: Crista Alfaiate, Carloto Cotta, Joao Nnes Monteiro

If you like: “La Strada”

By GABRIEL ZARAZUA scene Writer

b elieve me, I get it. h ere’s another piece on c oco! h as it been talked about numerous times since its release in 2017? Absolutely, but for good reason. b eing m exican-American myself, I was skeptical at first when d isney announced this film. I thought right away it would be a stereotyp ical h ispanic film that the majority of audienc es would assume h ispanic culture is. h owever, “ c oco” was a film that truly moved me emotion ally. s o, while this isn’t necessarily a recommen dation, I would like to talk about what this film meant to me.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, “ c oco” is a 2017 film directed by Adrian m olina and Lee Unkrich. The story is of m iguel r ivera, a young musi cian who crosses over to the Land of the d ead to find his purpose in life while connecting with his ancestors. The film is heavily influenced by the m exican holiday d ia de los m uertos or also known as d ay of the d ead. o n this multi-day holi day, family and friends gather to pay respects and remember deceased friends and family members.

When I was little, I had very little care for d ia d e Los m uertos. I was naive to the idea of death and why we spent a whole day remembering those who

passed on, especially those that I wasn’t neces sarily close to. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I understood the importance of this holiday, as well as remembering the dead in general.

I lost all my grandfathers in high school: my Papo ( r obert b alleza) on my mother’s side, my grandfather ( r aul Zarazua) and my step-grand father (Lloyd n egrete) on my father’s side. It was hard to process. The role models of my childhood, the people I never thought would leave, are now gone. The idea of death hit me hard, and made me think about what would happen if I left now. h ow would I be remembered? Would I be remembered years down the line?

As I grew older, the thought wasn’t in my head 24/7, but still lingered, and appeared again when cov I d -19 hit. The idea of death and not being re membered hit me like a truck. I never knew how to process these thoughts until my sophomore year, when we finally came back to campus.

I went to an event showing “ c oco” and my feel ings finally come together. While those we loved are no longer with us, they are never truly gone forever. Just because someone isn’t with you any more, that doesn’t mean that the love you have for them has disappeared. Their lives have mean ing because we, the living, refuse to forget them. When we pass on, we trust and hope those we love

will do the same for us.

“ c oco” also shows the importance of passing on traditions and familial legacy. While c oco’s fam ily has a strong hatred toward music, the family and audience learn the value of respecting pre vious generations and the knowledge our elders have accumulated. There are plenty of people who feel they have made grave mistakes in their life and wish they could take them back. h owever, the best thing a person can do is to teach the people they love to not make the same mistakes. While those who look up to us want to be just like us, we want them to be better than us so they can have better lives.

n o one we love is ever truly gone, and we can continue to keep their legacy alive, remembering the times we had with them and continue to pass on their legacy.

Contact Gabriel at gzarazua@nd.edu

“Coco”

Directors: Adrian Molina, Lee Unkrich

Starring: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal

Streaming: Disney+

Faithful in the darkness

Duolingo-ing through life

This past summer, when I studied abroad in Paris, I went with very limited knowledge of French and an intermediate amount of s panish (which is definitely not as useful). b efore you say, “what a stereotypical study abroad student only talking about his time in e urope,” hear me out — I got an understanding out of it I didn’t really anticipate. In our program, we had the unique opportunity to live in home-stays for six weeks and be completely immersed in the French culture. o ur homestay fami lies would cook us dinner three times a week, question us about our day, introduce us to their traditions, tell stories about their lives and show us the best places to see around Paris.

I would say there were a lot of difficulties in adjusting to the French lifestyle, most importantly, the language barrier. s ix months before the program, I decided that it would be extremely helpful to learn the basics of French because I definitely didn’t want to be one of those Americans that expected e nglish to be spoken everywhere, so I began my journey in the great language app of d uolingo. Flash forward to June. e ven though I had that 130-day streak of straight-up French, in which all I knew was the basics (which was still extremely helpful), being at a dinner table with a bunch of fluent French people and trying to understand every word of what was being said wasn’t something my feeble mind could envelop. I would spend all my time using whatever French knowledge I had and any words that sounded remotely close to s panish or e nglish to unscramble the conversation between my host family and their friends.

o ver the course of the program, I would continue to struggle with understanding, but I also realized that there is more to learning language than trying to know every single word that someone says. To succeed, it helps to gather the main gist of what is being said, picking off words you know from the sentences to form some coherent idea. Through continuous practice, the words and phrases that initially made no sense will begin to click, and suddenly you gain new perspectives and appreciations toward others that you previously didn’t know.

To get to my main point: language is a form of understand ing. It allows us to not only communicate with one another, but to connect and share our values such that we are mutually en hanced and changed for the better. To understand fully, we do not need to know everything. We just need to capture what’s im portant. When we act fearless by opening ourselves to new perspectives and taking the time to understand what’s im portant, we become stronger, better people that love everyone equally and let them live their truth without interference. When we judge without understanding, we get nowhere except an endless cycle of miserableness and passivity towards others’ issues.

Just as I opened myself to new experiences and perspectives abroad, we should be willing to see people for the things they love and the beauty and the appreciation that comes with everyone’s life. Language may connect us, but understanding fixates us on what is important: to love everyone and not let peo ple tell you otherwise.

You can reach Andrew at amarcian@nd.edu.

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

“Why are you cast down, o my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (Psalm 42:5 esv ). This deep spiritual darkness is no doubt the state of many c hristians, perhaps you, today. A hardto-explain gloom casts its shadow, and the joy you once had in the Lord feels like a vague memory. Though you con tinue to read your b ible and pray, God feels far off.

In these moments, many feel that God has abandoned them. m any se cretly wonder if God, fed up with them, has finally decided to cast them off. o r, one may know God will bring them into glory but feel that until then they must walk alone, cut off from God.

Is such thinking correct? h as God abandoned the sorrowful c hristian? n o, absolutely not. It is imperative that we remember this during dark seasons. Yet how do we know that God has not abandoned the c hristian even though it might feel like it?

Firstly, we have God’s promises in h is Word. “I will never leave you nor for sake you” ( h ebrews 13:5). “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” ( m atthew 28:20). “... [W]hoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). “ e ven though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). The “Lord Jesus c hrist…will sus tain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus c hrist. God is faith ful” (1 c orinthians 1:8-9). God cannot lie. h is Word is always true. Therefore, we can know these words for a fact. “ b ut,” you say, “I don’t/can’t feel this. It feels hollow.” r emember, though, that yourfeelings do not determine truth. m y feelings, for example, on what day of the week it is (“It feels like a Thursday”), or how I did on my test do not make objective realities any less true. o ur supreme authority is God’s Word, not our feelings, and our feelings must be subject and conformed to the truth of God’s Word, not the other way around. s o if the b ible says something we don’t believe or feel, we know we are the ones in error, not the b ible. We are called, then, to trust God and his Word, even when we can’t see or feel it. This is the very definition of faith (cf. h ebrews 11:1). This by no means is to suggest that we, once understanding this, will automatically be joyful. b ut it reminds us of our foundation and leads us to trust God when he says he will never leave us nor forsake us, despite our feelings to the contrary.

s econdly, we know that such suffer ings are not foreign to the c hristian life but have been experienced by faithful c hristians throughout the ages. In our sorrow, it’s easy to conclude that no other c hristian has felt such darkness as we do, and, therefore, we must be cut off from God. Yet a cursory reading of the Psalms quickly puts such concerns to rest. m any times, d avid thought himself forsook by God (Psalm 22:1), yet he was not, for he later writes, “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or

his children begging for bread” (Psalm 37:25). The fact that God thought it good to repeatedly show us examples of true c hristians going through dark times reminds and comforts us that we, too, may feel cast down yet are not abandoned by God.

Thirdly, recalling God’s grace and faithfulness in the past assures us h e will not forsake us now (Psalm 77:11, Lamentations 3:21-24). “ b ut how,” you wonder, “does God’s faithfulness prove that he will be faithful and deliver us now?” s urely, though, you would think it disrespectful and untrusting to ask the same question to a faithful friend or parent. h ow much more should you be trusting of God, who has never failed you? n ote also that his faithfulness is not wearied or decreased by our sin because it is not on the basis of perfor mance but his steadfast love and grace (Psalm 51:1, 109:26; 2 Timothy 2:13). This leads us to a great truth; in the words of John Flavel, “As God did not at first choose you because you were high, so he will not forsake you because you are low.”

Lastly, and most comforting of all, our standing in c hrist guarantees that nothing can separate us from God. If our relationship with God depended to any degree on our own works, per formance or piety, we would have been cast off long ago. Yet we are not forsaken because our standing with God is not, as mentioned earlier, based on our record, but on what c hrist has achieved. h e “bore our sins” (1 Peter 2:24) and “[became] a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). h e suffered the wrath of God in our place, and, through faith in him, we are forgiven of all sin ( c olossians 2:13-14) and are children of God (John 1:12). b ecause we have been united with c hrist ( r omans 6:5, c olossians 3:3) and now stand before God in his righteousness (Philippians 3:9), God can no more cast us out than he can cast out his own s on. n othing can separate us from the love of God ( r omans 8:38). n ot the world, the devil, death or your own sins. n ot even the frailty of your faith or your spiritual darkness. e ven more, as God’s chil dren, he works all things—even suf ferings ( r omans 5:3-5) and discipline ( h ebrews 12:7)—for our good ( r omans 8:28). God’s sovereignty and love, based on c hrist’s atoning work, is a tremen dous and comforting truth for the sor rowful soul.

Know, then, that far from abandon ing you, God cares for you and works all things for your good — even in your sorrow. It may certainly not feel like it, but it’s true. d o not think God is being stingy with you. h e silenced all such accusations at the c ross ( r omans 8:32). h ow deep his love is for us—even in our darkness, even when we feel so little for him.

Andrew Sveda is a senior at Notre Dame from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, majoring in political science and theology. In his free time, he enjoys writing (obviously), reading and playing the piano. He can be reached at asveda@nd.edu or @SvedaAndrew on Twitter.

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

Andrew Marciano v iewpoint copyeditor

Andrew Sveda c hurch and state

Dilemma: Internship or retail?

Gabriel Ibarra In swift We Trust

d ear reader, welcome back to the chaos. s ince the last time you’ve read a word written by me, the temperature has dropped to cardigan and corduroy weather. n ot only that, but we’ve be gun our approach to midterm season. It can be daunting to head into midterms every year, even though we somehow manage it every year. I’m feeling a bit confident in my midterms this year, but the surrounding context is troubling me, and I might want some advice.

I am currently working three jobs, two on cam pus and one off-campus. I have been offered an awesome opportunity in the community of s outh b end to be able to help teach students art. This is big. If you don’t know me personally, I want to be a teacher and I am currently a v isual Arts major. You would think I would drop everything for this opportunity, no? You’re absolutely on the right track. s ee, if I had the money, I would devote all my time to it. b ut that is not the case. I am cur rently trying to figure out how to pay for school during the semester and still haven’t gotten great at it. It’s not easy. e ven with the three jobs I have, saving more next semester is not easy. s o here is my dilemma: do I leave one of my jobs to keep the internship?

I am currently a super-senior/junior, a dynamic that I have not really come to fully understand and neither has most of the Arts de partment here at h oly c ross, but we’re riding the wave. As part of the h oly c ross c ollege experi ence, every student is required to complete an

internship. As a past education major, I wouldn’t have had a problem with this because my student teaching would have covered this requirement. b ut after switching majors, I am left to fulfill the requirement. And here lies the issue: I am ready to graduate. The last five years have been great, but I want to experience the real world. m ind you, I will miss the b end and the way col lege has afforded me awesome memories, but home is

calling my name. Graduate studies are also calling. The dynamic of also being a 22, almost 23-year-old in undergraduate studies is another conversation we can have. b ut with this intern ship, I would most likely quit my retail job.

r etail has been a part of my life for the last four years. It is a part of my personality at this point. I love seeing people at every shift and love the things they are walking out with. I help kids get ready for back to school, or help wedding par ties and even prom-posals come springtime. b ut the smiles and infectious energy can’t seem to keep me there either. I wish I could say that the environment from last summer, when I started at my current retail job, was the same. m y favorite staff members have left and I am the only one left. m y manager, the person that got me my job and kept me there, has found a new position do ing the things she wanted to do. I can’t be mad at her, if anything I actually still talk to her and tell her everything about my life and congratulate her on her own path too. The discount will be missed but I know that there are other avenues to take.

s ee, I know I should quit. And I think it would behoove me to do so, but what to do with all the

time I have? n ot to suffer too badly from main character syndrome, but what would I be if my hyper-fixation wasn’t working? In a very far-off way, this feels like a break-up with someone that you’ve fallen out of love with. I usually would default to a Taylor s wift song to help me get through this, but I can’t pinpoint one to figure this whole mess out. If I could find one close to what is going on right now it would be some thing off of r ed (Taylor’s version). We’re about the same age, going through a breakup and just feeling all the young adult feelings. I want to run and hide again and again because of this whole situation, but I know that by the end of this I will get 1989. I can’t wait for my pop rebrand, my squad era and an iconic fashion era of striped shirts and miniskirts. h ere’s to the upcoming week; may we all get our essays in on time, our homework done without too much stress and a couple of iced-black-tea-add-espresso-withoatmilk-vanilla-and-apple-crisp-syrup this week from LaFun or Ave b rew.

s o, what should I do?

Gabriel B. Ibarra is a Chicago native currently at tending Holy Cross College majoring in Visual Arts — Studio Track — with a minor in Elementary Education. If not crying to any of Taylor Swift’s re-recordings, you can find them somewhere in the tri-campus causing chaos with laughs, pointed jokes and one of many emo tional support water bottles in hand, or leading Holy Cross College’s First Generation Club as the vice presi dent. Learning to write for a newspaper is harder than expected, so they can be contacted on Twitter @gbenito11 or via email at gibarra@hcc-nd.edu

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

Autism amplified

Jack Griffiths neurodivergence

Your six-year-old self timidly clings to your mother’s hand as your eyes are bombarded with harsh rays descending in deluges making you feel like a sweaty performer for the world’s worst stage show as your reddening ears start to swell with the cacophony of babies crying, scanners beeping, suitcases rolling and intercom blaring as you look up to the towering ceiling but regret doing so be cause now you feel like a powerless pawn in your black tennis shoes from school that are starting to dig and nip at the toes on your feet that aren’t used to walking for this long until you arrive at the giant steel capsule in which you try to stay still for the next two endless hours.

I struggled to navigate large, crowded spaces when I was younger. The airport, with its inces sant noises and obnoxiously bright lights, felt like an alien planet and I felt like a bewildered astronaut, with every little detail giving me a unique reason to feel unsettled. When encoun tering this full-on offensive of stimuli, I often had no solutions other than to cry or to mentally “shut down” and isolate myself within my brain, not saying even a word to anyone. The airport wasn’t the only thing I found intimidating. Pep rallies in my elementary school’s gymnasium overwhelmed me due to the constant shoesqueaking as well as the wonky acoustics that made each yell seem exponentially louder. I also struggled to eat certain foods, even something as simple as spaghetti, because feeling the slippery texture in my mouth would give me goosebumps.

e ven as a senior in college, I still often feel like that astronaut. Walking up the stairs of d e b artolo h all during class transition periods

makes me feel on edge with its hordes of bod ies moving in all directions. I can get frustrated and overwhelmed if the noise from a nearby dorm party leaks into my room at night, almost always obligating me to listen to calm music on my noise-cancelling headphones, especially if I need to focus on finishing an assignment. And whenever I wear a suit for a formal event, I constantly feel my scratchy dress pants rubbing against my legs like a cheese grater.

I’ve learned how to respond to my sensory overload, how to recognize moments when I need to enter a quiet space by myself to calm my nerves and how to take deep breaths when taking in new and intimidating sights, smells, sounds, tastes and textures. Fortunately for me, my family and friends have dedicated a signifi cant effort to adapting to my unique sensory preferences. Whenever my family and I sit down to eat at a restaurant only to discover that every seat is full and noise is everywhere, they make sure to ask me how I’m feeling, or they might bring up fun conversation topics to help me distract myself from the stimuli. m y friends at n otre d ame recognize that I often prefer quiet, smaller meetups over large, raucous parties, so we form weekend plans accordingly.

In essence, those close to me understand that being autistic means that all my senses are am plified, and they know what options they can provide for me to help me navigate the stresses of overload. This support, alongside my grow ing understanding of how my brain operates, has allowed me to succeed in environments that would have seemed impossibly overwhelming to a past version of myself. For instance, I use my “full heart and voice,” as the n otre d ame cantor says, when singing bombastic choral anthems with the n otre d ame Liturgical c hoir, and I

thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere at n otre d ame s tadium on game days. b eing part of loving, ac cepting spaces has helped me learn how to thrive in these situations.

s adly, many folks have not received support from others to help them process sensory overload. m any neurotypical people simply do not comprehend this type of experience, lead ing them to respond in counterproductive ways when their neurodivergent peers seem stressed. c onsider this example: a young neurodivergent child might cover her ears or cry as she enters a loud cafeteria, but faculty members might simply ignore her, or worse, try to diminish her experience, telling her that she’s simply over reacting. This compounds her anxiety. n ot only are her senses being driven to the limit, but no one is willing to help her. s he has become iso lated, left to fight these complex nerves and fears by herself.

We can do better than that. We can acknowl edge the anxieties people face in environments with myriad unique stimuli. We can provide more quiet spaces in our classrooms and work spaces. We can ask our peers what we can do to make sure they feel welcome and comfortable.

In any case, I’ll cease my rambling for now. If I made this any longer, I worry I would’ve made you feel overwhelmed.

Jack Griffiths is a senior at Notre Dame majoring in English with a supplementary major in Global Affairs. His areas of interest include neurodivergence, migration and the intersections between faith and public policy. When he’s not writing, you can find him singing with the Liturgical Choir, walking around the lakes or play ing Super Smash Bros. with folks in his dorm. He can be reached at jgriff22@nd.edu.

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

Saint Mary’s falls to No. 5 Calvin

By OLIVIA SCHATZ Associate s ports e ditor

d espite dropping three sets on s aturday against n o. 5 c alvin, the s aint m ary’s volleyball team was clos ing to breaking their sevengame losing streak.

The match opened up with the b elles and Knights equally fighting for control.

Throughout the course of the set, no team had a lead greater than two points.

While the Knights won the opening point, the b elles fired back right away. This back and forth continued throughout the entire game.

With the b elles down 2018, junior outside hitter c olleen m c c arthy scored to start the slight comeback. m c c arthy currently leads the team with 177 kills on the season, and 413 to tal in her two years. Later, m c c arthy delivered an ace before sophomore outside hitter c ali Allen tied the set with a kill. This would be the last time the b elles had a tie in the set, as the Knights were able to even tually win, 25-23.

The next set started out with the b elles taking a quick lead. With m c c arthy leading the effort, the b elles were able to pull ahead 5-1. h owever, this would not last long, and the Knights went on a 10-2 run to pull their lead to 11-7. Unlike the first set, the Knights held onto a significant lead for the remainder of the set. The Knights eventually took a commanding 21-12 lead.

e ven with this gap, the b elles did not stop fight ing. With a series of blocks from sophomore middle hitter s hay Theile, fresh man right side m ia s hields

and m c c arthy, as well as an ace from senior left back e mma Watford, and kills from both s hields and Allen, the b elles closed the gap to 22-17. This would however be the last time the b elles would score, and the Knights pushed their way to a 25-17 win.

The third set was not as close for the b elles. The conference foes split the opening points. This would be the last time the teams were tied. c alvin edged ahead 7-5, as s aint m ary’s stayed close in the early go ing. h owever, the Knights ripped off a 9-0 run. That put c alvin firmly in con trol, and the Knights ex tended that advantage to 24-9. The b elles put up stiff resistance late, and s hields put up two points in a row (a kill and an ace.) Allen also scored a point to bring the score to 24-13. h owever, the Knights scored one last time finalizing their win.

o pening up m IAA play, s aint m ary’s had a tough challenge. c alvin currently has a 9-3 record compared to the b elles’ 3-9 one. While they ultimately dropped all three sets, the b elles fought hard throughout the match. m c c arthy led the team with kills on the night (11) fol lowed by Allen and s hields with six apiece. m c c arthy also earned eight digs on the night, only second to Watford’s 10.

The b elles look to break their losing streak with another home game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ed T. s aint m ary’s will face m anchester, another team with a winning record (9-6).

Contact Olivia Schatz at oschatz@nd.edu

Michael Mayer elevates impact on and off the field

By LIAM COOLICAN Associate sports e ditor

early in the second quarter, with the game tied at seven, notre dame dialed up a play that surprised everyone in the stadium: a jet sweep to junior tight end michael mayer.

“he’s a beast,” head coach marcus Freeman said after the game. “[mayer] is a heck of a football player, and you’re a fool if you don’t find ways to get the ball in his hands, and we found a unique way.

The play gained seven yards but seemed to catch the north carolina defense off guard. Just two plays later, notre dame scored their second touchdown of the game to take a 14-7 lead.

“You wouldn’t think [mayer] is getting the ball on a jet sweep,” Freeman said. “It’s going to make a [defensive back] think twice about coming in there and tackling him.”

mayer was all over the field saturday afternoon for the Irish. The 6’4, 265-pound tight end is an imposing specimen who presents matchup nightmares for opposing defenses. he’s simply too big for most defen sive backs to cover, and he’s too skilled for most linebackers.

The matchup problems he presents for opposing defensive coordinators have led them to

seemingly focus their schemes on slowing him down this year, but that hasn’t stopped him from being able to make big plays when the Irish need it most.

he finished saturday’s con test with seven receptions for 88 yards, which included a 10yard touchdown reception that opened the scoring for notre dame and two critical thirddown conversions that extend ed drives for the Irish.

“I was able to find mike a cou ple more times this week, and just execute and do my job and get the ball to him,” junior quar terback drew Pyne said. “I’m very happy because he’s such a great player and getting the ball in his hands is something that our offense can really benefit from.”

mayer nearly hauled in an other touchdown on what would have been an incredible highlight reel play, but after a lengthy review, he was ruled to have been out of bounds.

Freeman noted that the of fense has to resist the tempta tion to solely focus on mayer.

“You can’t just focus all on [mayer], that’s the challenge,” Freeman said. “It’s easy to say, hey, [mayer] gets one on one, throw it to him, but you have to make sure that you have enough ways to get him the ball, but also

can use him as a decoy, almost in terms of the the progression, inw terms of opening other things on the field.”

mayer was held to a limited role in the loss to ohio state to open the season, with just five receptions for 32 yards. sophomore quarterback Tyler buchner often looked his way, but the buckeye defense was able to limit his output.

he exploded back onto the scene with an eight-recep tion, 130-yard effort against marshall, which included a late touchdown, but it wasn’t enough to save the Irish from the upset. he returned to a more limited role against cal, with only two receptions for 10 yards. one of those catches, however, was the game-winning touchdown grab in the fourth quarter.

by contrast, on saturday, it was clear that he would be get ting the ball early and often. Pyne’s first completion of the afternoon was a six-yard pass to mayer on 3rd and 5 which ex tended a critical early drive for the Irish. Pyne kept turning to him in big moments throughout the contest.

“he’s a guy who can do so many different things for you,” Freeman said.

It’s not just his on-field pres ence that makes mayer unique, however. It is also his presence off the field and in the locker room. Prior to the season, mayer was selected as a team captain and is one of the leaders of the offense.

“The thing you love about michael mayer is that he comes to work every day,” Freeman said. “he sets the standard for how we prepare.”

In what is an inexperienced tight end room, mayer has emerged as the unquestioned leader. his leadership will be come even more critical with his primary backup, junior Kevin bauman, ruled out for the season this week with an AcL injury.

“he’s a captain, he’s a leader, he raises the play of those guys in his room,” Freeman said. “You’ll see those young guys step up be cause michael mayer’s in there making sure that everybody’s going to perform to a standard.”

mayer’s continued perfor mance will be critical to the suc cess of the Irish this season. he has an immense impact on the team, but Pyne summed it up succinctly: “mike’s just an un believable player.”

Contact Liam Coolican at lcoolica@nd.edu

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Junior tight end Michael Mayer scored a six-yard touchdown to put the Irish ahead of Cal on Saturday, Sept. 17 and secure a victory.

Happy Birthday: changes to your living arrangements will pay off. regroup, and you’ll come up with a plan that works to diminish concerns. don’t let financial uncertainty cause you to miss out on an opportunity. consider what you value most, and you’ll devise a plan that will be equal to any foreseeable problems. Trust in your ability to get things done according to plan. your numbers are 6, 11, 23, 27, 30, 38, 46.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): get together with someone you look up to or enjoy working alongside, and together you’ll devise a plan that makes sense and helps you overcome negativity in your life. you are overdue for a change. embrace new beginnings.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): stand up for your rights and do what comes naturally. consider how you can make money doing something you enjoy. don’t wait for someone to push you in a direction or make decisions for you. concentrate on doing what’s best for you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): go over every detail and make changes that are conducive to enjoying life more while you lower stress. discuss your objectives with someone you love, and you’ll find a way to use your time and space to improve your domestic situation.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): go through your stuff and discard what’s obsolete. free yourself from the stress of too much and too many things to take care of, and you’ll ease tension and be able to head in a direction that motivates and excites you.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): be receptive, and the information offered will help you get along with others. What you learn will encourage you to use your skills in exciting ways, resulting in new outlets that bring you unexpected paybacks. A day trip or reunion will improve your day.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): do whatever it takes to finish what you start. discipline will make a difference when it comes to competitive situations. look for a unique alternative that will separate you from the crowd. nurture a meaningful relationship.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A seminar, surfing the information highway or practicing something you want to perfect will be satisfying and helpful. Address any partnership concerns and change what isn’t working for you. strive for equality, and it will be easier to get things done.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): let your mind wander, and you’ll come up with ideas that make a difference. Address concerns you have and help those in need. your input will make you feel good and spark ideas that will turn a small concept into something big.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): don’t lose sight of your goals, regardless of what’s happening around you. speak up on your behalf and clarify what you are willing to contribute. upgrade your qualifications to help you secure a position of choice.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): control your emotions when dealing with a friend, relative or peer. being a good listener will help you deduce what others need and want. understanding the dynamics of your relationships with others will give you an edge. choose love over discord.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): you’ll come up with a financial plan that helps you reduce your overhead. discussing shared expenses will resolve existing problems and ease stress. choose your battles wisely. do your best, and know when to walk away from negative situations.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): check safety issues before you proceed. Work alone and avoid interference. look for a unique alternative that cuts your time and expenses in half. Question anyone who colors situations to pressure you or others to do things differently.

Birthday Baby: you are knowledgeable, secretive and diligent. you are charming and understanding.

Work Are A

HOROSCOPE

JuMBlE

Afro-Latinx Poetry Now

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game and turning the tides of the matchup.

Freeman spoke on the impor tance of getting mayer more in volved in their offensive game plan. The All-American tight end recorded 88 receiving yards on the night, accounting for 30% of the total receiving yards. This comes after only receiving for 10 yards against cal the week before.

After mayer’s touchdown, each consecutive drive for the Irish was a scoring one. The de fense promptly forced the Tar heels to punt on the following drive, and when the Irish took the field again, another touch down was quick to follow. Pyne passed to mayer in jet-sweep fashion, ending in a gain of sev en yards as the tight end shoved his way forward. Freeman said that that method of passing is not one you would usually ex pect to see mayer involved in, but that it is a testament to how many different options he can perform on the field.

Following this, sophomore running back Audric estime clocked a 29 yard rush, putting Pyne in position to make a 30 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Lorenzo styles, Jr. A rushing the passer penalty was additionally called on Unc, and was enforced on the following drive.

on the next Irish offensive showing, after Unc made a suc cessful touchdown drive, the Irish capitalized on their third touchdown drive. Tyree found a hole in the defense to rush for a 19 yard gain, with diggs fol lowing it up with a gain of 17.

on Pyne’s next pass to mayer, the tight end continued to plow forward with three defenders on him to put the Irish firmly in the red zone. The attempt ended with estime falling forward one yard for the touchdown. To end the half, the Irish made a field goal attempt after being shut down, putting them ahead 31-14.

The Irish continued their hot streak on the first drive of the second half. Pyne found a wide open diggs near the sideline, and the running back walked the ball into the endzone to make it 31-14, notre dame.

The defense quickly shut down the Tar heels’ response as Justin Ademilola recovered a Tar heels fumble. Freeman not ed his pride in how the defense played, given the caliber of the Tar heels offense.

“It was a challenge to our de fense to stop the run,” Freeman said. “I think the lowest amount [Unc] had offensively in the first three games is 183 rushing yards, and to hold that offense 66 rush ing yards is a great accomplish ment by our defense.”

Pyne then hit up styles for an 11 yard gain to put them in the red zone. his following pass to mayer was ruled incomplete as the tight end received the ball in the endzone, but the play went under further review. despite the fact that mayer had his foot down, his heel was over the line, and the ruling on the field stood.

The Irish took a time out when they were 4th and 2, attempt ing to psych out the Tar heels by having both the offensive and kicking units out on the field in huddles. Ultimately, the team went for it. After Pyne’s pass to Tyree was ruled incomplete, sig naling the end of their scoring attempt, a pass interference call was enacted on the defense, re setting the drive to a first down. Unc head coach mack brown stormed onto the field to argue the ruling with the refs, only to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on him. These calls allowed estime to soar over the huddle for a touchdown. notre dame’s next drive re sulted in another score for the Irish. A series of penalties were called on the Unc defense, add ing to the momentum the Irish were gathering. After estime was pushed out of bounds, unneces sary roughness allowed the Irish to move forward to first and goal at the seven yard line. on the fol lowing play, another personal foul for unnecessary roughness was called when Pyne was hit out of bounds after running the ball. This caused the Tar heels to begin fighting among their own ranks, which was broken up by the referees and fellow team mates. Pass interference was called on Pyne’s red zone pass to styles, Jr., which gave them the

first down needed to complete their scoring attempt. Tyree rushed the final yard into the end zone and Grupe’s kick was good. These would be the final points the Irish notched.

When the defense took the field, Jd bertrand was ejected for targeting, giving the Tar heels an opportunity for a score. Tar heels quarterback drake maye threw two incomplete redzone passes before omarion hampton rushed for the touchdown (nd 45, Unc 26). however, freshman cornerback Jaden mickey broke the pass from maye during their two-point conversion attempt. This is the second time the Tar heels’ two-point conversions were thwarted by the Irish de fense in the second half.

This is the second game in a row bertrand was disqualified for targeting. because he missed the first half of today’s game and will miss the first half against bYU, he will have missed a full game of play this season. Freeman noted that he wants to work on different ways of tackling with the defense, and specifically with bertrand, to avoid calls like this in the future.

“As I told Jd [bertrand] on the field, it’s our job to learn from that situation,” he said. “We have to learn from it, and we have to change or you’re going to contin ue to get targeting calls.”

In the final scoring drive of the night, the Tar heels gained one last touchdown. Another unsportsmanlike conduct pen alty was called on wide receiver Andre Green, Jr., but because the call came after the touchdown, the loss of yardage did not count against their score.

despite this win, Freeman noted the team must see the bigger picture of their success: progression.

“I’m really happy with where this team is progressing,” he said. “sometimes we let the outcome kind of mask some things, right, and continue to look at ‘Is this a football team that’s getting bet ter?’ And it is. They’re playing better. They’re practicing better. And that’s the challenge: contin ue to get better.”

Contact Emily DeFazio at edefazio@nd.edu

Irish drop two ACC matches

By LUCIA AGUZZI sports Writer

The Irish opened their Acc conference play for the 2022-2023 season on Friday after traveling south to the s unshine s tate for match es with Florida s tate and m iami. d espite a host of ex tremely tight sets, the Irish dropped both matchups on the weekend. The team started Acc play by mak ing their way to Tallahassee with a 5-5 record and new coach s alima r ockwell ready for the conference opener.

The Irish saw the first set begin with a battle to get a lead on the s eminoles, trad ing possession until the score was 11-11. notre d ame then fell behind to a score of 16-11. The Irish closed to 16-14 with two aces from freshman defensive special ist m aisie Alexander, giving the r ockwell’s squad hope for a comeback. F s U, how ever, then broke off a 7-1 run to take control at 23-15. While the Irish were able to score five more points, the set ended in a 25-20 Florida s tate win.

The second set didn’t bring much success for the Irish with the s eminoles holding onto the lead for the entire ty of the set. While the point gap was small at the begin ning of the set, with just a couple of points separating the teams, the competi tion escalated to the point where Florida s tate lewd 23-11. Kills from sophomore setter Phyona s chrader and sophomore outside hitter Paris Thompson, combined with blocks from the Irish got them some more points on the scoreboard, but ul timately they conceded the set to F s U with a 25-18 score.

battle between both teams, who both lost their confer ence opener and went to five sets.

The first two sets gave m iami the two wins they needed to get a lead on n otre d ame, with the score for the first set ending in a 25-13 defeat of the Irish. While the Irish were able to close up the hurricanes’ early lead and tied them at 6-6, m iami ripped off an 8-2 run and was able to get the lead for the remainder of the set. The second set had a similar result, with the Irish trailing behind early on, closing the gap to a two-point separation at 8-6 but ultimately conced ing to m iami in a 25-12 final score.

n otre d ame seemed to ramp up the aggression and play in set three of the match, however, get ting an early lead against m iami, quickly setting the score to 7-3. m iami nearly caught up at 9-8, but the Irish kept the narrow lead. m iami eventually tied it at 17-17, but the rally didn’t last. Two kills from fresh man outside hitter Avery r oss kept the Irish ahead on the scoreboard, and a combination of blocks and one kill each from gradu ate student Kaylyn Winkler and freshman Lucy Trump set up the Irish to stay alive. They won the 3rd set with an ace by junior libero h attie m onson, with a final score of 25-20.

second half. n orth c arolina is always going to be a good defensive team, and I’m re ally proud of the way we played,” r iley said. “I think the second half, we were great. I thought it was one of our best performances. An inch here or there and we tie the game — and we maybe win it.”

b eyond those two chanc es from b urns, quality op portunities were few and far between. The Irish of fered continuous pressure and out-possessed the Tar

h eels in the game by a 5743% margin. They kept the ball in the visitor’s half of the field for most of the half. b ut they just couldn’t break through.

“We have a fit, deep squad. o ur energy continues to grow. I felt like we were inches away from getting a couple,” r iley said.

The Irish pushed hard late, getting one more excellent chance. After an Irish shot ricocheted off the cross bar, junior forward d aniel r usso faced a wide-open

net. h owever, with heavy pressure from a defender on his heels, r usso airmailed the rebound effort. s oon there after, n orth c arolina secured the clean sheet victory.

n otre d ame plays d ivision III Kalamazoo on Tuesday, and they’ll return to con ference play next Friday at Alumni s tadium. They kick off versus b oston c ollege at 6 p.m.

Contact Aidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu

While the beginning of the third set had n otre d ame scoring the first three points consecutively, the s eminoles quickly caught up and secured a 5-4 lead. The set continued with the Florida s tate lead, but the Irish trailed closely behind for a few more plays. The s eminoles finally opened up a five-point gap at a 12-7 score. The Irish were unable to catch up for the remain der of the set, losing to the s eminoles 25-17. The match was a three-set sweep for Florida s tate.

The Irish, however, ven tured farther south to m iami for their second match of the conference season against the University of m iami hurricanes. The game was a

The Irish also won the fourth set in a close battle, with the final score going over the usual 25 points, ending in a 26-28 win for the Irish. The majority of the set had the h urricanes in the lead, getting the scoreboard to 23-16, but the Irish blitzed their way to a seven-point streak and eventually tied m iami at 24-24. After the set rolled bast the 25-point thresh old, n otre d ame secured the win with a final kill from s chrader.

The game went on to a tough 5th set, with a tied score of 8-8. h owever, the h urricanes prevailed, de livering a heartbreaking loss for the Irish, 15-13.

The n otre d ame volley ball team now has a 5-7 sea son record, and an 0-2 A cc record to kick off their con ference slate. Irish play n o. 13 Georgia Tech at home on Friday, for their third game of the conference season.

Contact Lucia Aguzzi at laguzzi@nd.edu

Notre Dame notches second win of the season against Tar Heels

By EMILY DeFAZIO Associate sports editor

notre dame emerged victori ous against the Unc Tar heels, notching 45 points in their high est scoring match of the season thus far. This puts the Irish at 2-2 ahead of their bye week.

This is the second win for head coach marcus Freeman, making him 2-3 in his tenure at notre dame. Following the game in chapel hill, Freeman remarked that he was proud of his team, while simultaneously acknowledging their room for growth.“We played really well,” he said. “And the beauty of it is there’s always room to get bet ter. We can go and we can learn from a lot of situations that hap pen in the game.”

some of these situations hap pened early on for the team. The Irish finally won a coin toss, electing to defer and re ceive at the start of the second half. This put the notre dame defense on the field to start. however, despite their previ ous showings this season, their

initial performance was not what was expected of the usu ally-solid unit. The Tar heels plowed through the line, end ing the drive in a 12 play, 76 yard touchdown. Freeman said that he told his defense to be more aggressive on the field after un derstanding Unc quarterback drake maye could run.

“You have to be aggressive, but understand you have to stay in your rush lanes and it was good to see the adjustment from our defensive line,” he said. “Like I said on the sidelines to them, ‘I don’t want you to play cautious, but I want you to be aware that we can’t just rush past the quar terback because he’ll step up and he’ll run,’ and so it was good to see that.”

When the offense took over, a similar shutdown occurred. Two of junior quarterback drew Pyne’s passes were batted down, effectively stunting the drive in a minute of play. The Irish were forced to punt after only gain ing eight yards on the drive, and were again unable to score on their next offensive drive.

Junior quarterback drew Pyne’s potential touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Jayden Thomas rendered itself incom plete, and graduate student kicker blake Grupe’s field goal attempt went south to keep the score 7-0 Unc

however, this was the last true dry spell the Irish would have all night. At the start of the second quarter, continu ing from their final drive of the first, the Irish began with a first down. Pyne launched the ball to a wide-open Logan diggs for a 34 yard play after a fake out from junior running back chris Tyree drew some of the Tar heels’ de fense. Tyree followed up with nine, five and 10 yard gains to put the Irish in a first and goal situation. After the snap, it seemed everyone was covered until junior tight end michael mayer flew into the middle for an open pass from Pyne, which he carried into the end zone. The kick from graduate student blake Grupe was good, tying the

Penalty kick dooms Irish in 1-0 defeat against Tar Heels

By AIDAN THOMAS s ports e ditor

The Irish entered s aturday night’s confer ence clash with n orth c arolina with a healthy dose of momentum. e ight days previously, fresh man midfielder KK b affour had scored at the death to deliver n otre d ame their first A cc victory, 2-1 over v irginia. Then, in a Wednesday non-con ference battle, the Irish dominated and found the back of the net four times against c hicago s tate. h owever, on s aturday, fa miliar issues resurfaced for the Irish. n otre d ame generated only a few offen sive chances, and failed to finish any. As a result, they fell 1-0 to the Tar h eels in a frustrating defeat.

For the third time this season, the Irish gave up a goal via penalty kick. A foul in the box gave U nc

the prime scoring chance and m ilo Garvanian buried his team-leading third goal of the season. It was really the only scoring chance the Tar h eels produced. Irish junior goalkeeper b ryan d owd was only required to make one relatively easy save after the goal. The Irish backline produced a cohesive effort that limited n orth c arolina to very few chances. After giving up five goals in their first two games, the Irish have sur rendered just four in the past five contests.

”First halves of confer ence games are always go ing to be cagey, and we were really unfortunate with the penalty there. I’m really proud of how the guys responded, because that’s a really frustrating thing when you’re play ing well,” Irish head coach c had r iley noted. “That’s arguably our best perfor mance of the year against

a really quality opponent.” n otre d ame earned double the amount of cor ner kicks (4-2) and out shot n orth c arolina 10-6. h owever, only two shots found their way on frame, both in the way of quality scoring chances. First, ju nior halfback Paddy b urns delivered a rocket of a leftfooted volley. The slic ing shot seemed destined for the lower left corner, but n orth c arolina keep er Andrew c ordes made a reflex save with his right hand. b urns generated an other chance off of a corner kick. b affour delivered a near post cross, and b urns flicked it towards the far post corner. The flick evaded c ordes, but a n orth c arolina defender saved the Tar h eels with a leap ing goal-line clearance.

“I think they’re a tough team. n ine shots in the

SARAH GRISHAM | The Observer

Junior quarterback Drew Pyne runs the ball up the field on Saturday against the UNC Tar Heels. The Irish ultimately won the game, 45-32.

see FooTbALL PAGE 11

MIcHAel lI | The Observer

Senior defender Reese Mayer reflects after a tough loss to North Carolina. Reese and the rest of the team prepare to face Kalamazoo next Tuesday.