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Volume 54, Issue 18 | friday, september 20, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Award-winning author speaks on faith Alice McDermott reflects on Catholicism
Novelist discusses inspiration driving writing process
By MAEVE FILBIN
By MARIROSE OSBORNE
Saint Mary’s News Editor
News Writer
In her novel, “The Ninth Hour,” award-winning author and professor Alice McDermott explores the Catholic faith through the lens of multiple generations of women, telling the story of a young widow, her daughter and the group of religious sisters who care for them. Before appearing at Thursday’s Christian Culture Lecture to discuss her written works, McDermott reflected on her own Catholicism and her relationship with the Church. In an interview with “Image
The Saint Mary’s Humanistic Studies department hosted author Alice McDermott for the annual Christian Culture Lecture on Thursday. The topic of the lecture was McDermott’s eighth novel “The Ninth Hour,” followed by a question and answer session with the Saint Mary’s community. Professor Laura Williamson Ambrose, chair of the Humanistic Studies department, opened the lecture, and Saint Mary’s President Nancy Nekvasil introduced McDermott.
see McDERMOTT PAGE 3
MAEVE FILBIN | The Observer
Award winning author, Alice McDermott, delivers a lecture at Saint Mary’s about her novel “The Ninth Hour,” and her writing process. The book focuses on themes of selflessness and sacrifice.
Tri-campus to participate in Global Climate Strike By ANDREW CAMERON News Writer
Students from the tri-campus community will march from Notre Dame to downtown South Bend on Friday, joining other protesters to demand government action to curb climate change and environmental degradation.
The local demonstration, run by the South Bend hub of the Sunrise Movement, is one of hundreds of protests planned around the world for the Global Climate Strike, occurring from Sept. 20 to Sept. 27. Notre Dame senior and Sunrise Movement South Bend organizer Greg
Campion said the upcoming strike would be “a watershed moment for the planet.” “We have an existential crisis here,” Campion said. “We know that the cost of inaction is huge in the long run and that serious action is needed now. A little see CLIMATE PAGE 4
ND professor appointed to Pontifical Academy By MARIAH RUSH Associate News Editor
Last spring, Notre Dame philosophy professor Therese Cory learned she had officially been named a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Pope Francis. The John and Jean Oesterle Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies is currently one of 50 members, and is only
NEWS PAGE 2
the third woman in history to be made a member. “It was really exciting news, because the Pontifical Academy of Thomas Aquinas is the body that considers Aquinas Aquinas thought for the Vatican, right in the heart of the heart of the Church,” Cory said. “And so that was definitely a very exciting moment and a big honor.” Cory was told in early 2019
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she had been nominated for the membership by others in the Academy. The nomination had to be approved by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cory said. “Spots open up when somebody passes away or retires,” Cory said. “So then [current members] go through a list of people who are working on Aquinas see PROFESSOR PAGE 4
VIEWPOINT PAGE 6
see LECTURE PAGE 3
Panel explores fair labor standards By MAry steurer Assistant Managing Editor
Members of the Notre Dame community discussed how colleges and universities can set the standard for fair labor practices in a panel titled “From Sweatshops to Sweating Audits” in the Hesburgh and Joyce Dining Rooms of the Morris Inn Thursday. The panel was preceded by a presentation from Student Worker Participation Committee members senior Anna Scartz, Armani Porter (’18), junior Eleanor Wood and junior Emily Yeager, exploring the role of the committee at Notre Dame and sharing how other institutions can join in forming similar groups. The panel featured four speakers: Kevin Cassidy, director of the United States Office of the International Labor Organization; Notre Dame professor of business ethics Georges Enderle; Jason Roberts, CEO of consulting company Sumerra; and Miriam Rodriguez, an auditor with the Fair Labor Association.
W interhall PAGE 12
Both events were hosted by the Committee on Trademark Licensing and Human Rights, established in 2018 to ensure the ethical manufacture of Notre Dame-licensed products. The panelists began by sharing their recommendations for how universities can better promote labor rights from their suppliers. Roberts said he suggested schools approach companies on a united front. “[If] universities could have joint opinions or views on what is expected in their supply chain, it’s much easier for licensees and factories to meet those expectations,” he said. Former University director of licensing Mike Low — attending as an audience member — said even though most colleges have written policies protecting labor rights, the problem lies in their enforcement. “I think when we all got started in this process, everybody was quick to adopt the code of conduct,” he said. “So we had a code of conduct, but nobody see LABOR PAGE 4
M Interhall PAGE 12
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“What’s Peace Got to Do With It?” Hesburgh Center for International Studies 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Panel discussion.
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Film: “Burden” DeBartolo Performing Arts Center 3 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Life of Mike Burden in the Klu Klux Klan.
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RecSports hosts annual run
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Notre Dame RecSports w ill host the 37th annual Domer Run on Friday on the Irish Green. The run is staffed by a mix of employees and volunteer workers who help out w ith ever y thing from manning water stations to crowd control. Kendra Bay ne, the assistant director of RecSports, organized the run. “My favorite part of the Domer Run is seeing the w ide variet y of participants that cross the finish line on race day,” Bay ne said in an email. “No matter if you’re a runner or a walker, the only thing that truly matters is that you’re up and out there on a beautiful morning on the campus of Notre Dame and being active.” The run follows three separate courses weav ing throughout Notre Dame’s campus. These three courses consist of a 5K run, a 10K run and a t wo-mile “Fun Walk.” According to the Domer Run website, the five-kilometer run begins on the Irish Green and proceeds on a northbound route to
Saint Mar y’s lake, where runners w ill circle the body of water. After circling the lake, runners w ill travel south dow n Holy Cross drive until they reach Notre Dame Avenue, then make their way north and around Universit y Circle. Participants w ill then run south on Notre Dame Avenue until they reach their original starting point, the Irish Green. The 10K run follows a similar course, w ith the addition of hav ing contestants run around both Saint Mar y’s lake and St. Joseph’s lake. This race also includes a mile long stretch where the runners go south dow n Tw yckenham Drive before reaching the final stretch of the race and finally finishing at the Irish Greens. According to the site, the t wo mile “Fun Walk” is more focused on sightseeing than competition, and follows a ver y rela xed route through campus. The walkers begin at Irish Green, walking north around the main building, passing the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on their way.
After that, the contestants w ill walk east to the Rockne Memorial, then finally follows the course back to where they began their great Odyssey, the Irish Commons. The main purpose of the run is to fundraise for the Gy na Girls of the RiverBend Cancer Ser v ices, Gy na Girls president Nancy W hite said. RiverBend Cancer Ser v ices seeks to improve the qualit y of life for cancer sur v ivors as well as help those w ith cancer w ith managing their treatment, according to their website. “We feel so blessed to be partnering w ith the Domer Run to help raise awareness about g y necological cancers,” W hite said. Notre Dame senior Andrew Jarocki won last year’s five kilometer Domer Run race in the 18-25 div ision. “I love and do the Domer Run whenever I can because it is a beautiful course around the lakes and through campus,” Jarocki said. “For me, it is also really fun to run w ith and compete against folks from all over the tri-campus area.” Contact John Salem at jsalem2@nd.edu
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Dorms host annual tournament for veterans By JAMES BRODERICK News Writer
Lyons and Carroll Hall will host the annual Volley for the Vets volleyball tournament Saturday, with proceeds benefiting the Notre Dame Veterans Fund, providing support to veterans who wish to pursue an education at Notre Dame. All students are welcome to form teams of six for the event, and can enter the tournament for a donation of $10, which will go towards the Notre Dame Veterans Fund. Junior Aidan Cook, Carroll Hall president, said the competition will
McDermott Continued from page 1
Journal,” McDermott said “[she sees] the Church not as something that can evolve, but something that must evolve.” When asked to reflect on this sentiment in light of the growing number of allegations of sexual abuse with the Catholic clergy, McDermott said it is imperative these accusations remain part of the conversation. “We can’t not talk about this,” McDermott said. “You know, a few years ago, I would talk to Catholic groups and [they would say], ‘Oh, do you have to bring that up?’ And I think we must. As a matter of fact, this is really what I’m going to end up talking about tonight.” To turn away from the controversies of the Church and allow things to go on as they always have would be an overturning of everything Catholics believe, McDermott said. “You know, as Christians, we believe that pain and suffering is transformative,” she said. “The Church is in a lot of pain now and has caused a lot of suffering and the people of the Church are suffering.
Lecture Continued from page 1
Nekvasil said McDermott’s journey as a writer began in a college non-fiction writing class. “A professor from her college called her to his office one day after class,” Nekvasil said. “He told her, ‘I’ve got bad news for you kid. You’re a writer and you’re never going to shake it.’” McDermott spoke about her inspiration for The Ninth Hour and the faith that guides her writing. She discussed her process and the beginning thoughts of the novel. “The Genesis of every novel is unique,” McDermott said. “But this one began very pleasantly during an after dinner conversation with a friend. He mentioned that he had a vague childhood memory of a very old man who lived in his great-aunt’s house in upstate New York. This man was not a family member, but, my friend was told, had served as a substitute for this great-aunt’s brother. When the war ended the man returned and was taken in by the family as a gesture
be different from previous years, taking place at the Stepan Center beach volleyball courts instead of the ones near each residence hall. “This year we are trying to centralize things and our hope in doing that is to get some lawn games set up and play music so that people are not only there to play, but also to watch,” Cook said. In addition to the games, students will be able to buy T-shirts for $10 with the proceeds also benefiting veterans. Sophomore Dora Leonardo, president of Lyons Hall, said the tournament will use the same T-shirt design as last year “to create
unity.” Representatives will be outside both South and North Dining Halls helping students sign up to participate. Pre-registration is not required, and teams may also just show up to the event on Saturday. Last year, the event brought out 25 teams, and this year, the organizers would like to see even more. While students will compete against one another, the tournament’s deeper goal is to give back to veterans. The Notre Dame Veterans Fund helps to alleviate the cost of tuition and housing for the service men and women who are students at Notre Dame. The
Volley for the Vets tournament raises a substantial amount of money for these causes. The annual event was started by a Lyons Hall student who felt passionately about giving back to those in the military and in honor of her relative who served. “It was really strong in her heart that there needed to be some sort of event whether it was for veterans or those actively in the military,” Leonardo said. “And she took the initiative and started it.” While the event not only strengthens the relationship between students and the Notre Dame’s initiatives for veterans, it
also bolsters the community between Lyons and Carroll Hall, who are brother and sister dorms. Maggie Griffin, a sophomore in Lyons, said events like Volley for the Vets can bring people together under a common cause. “I love Volley for the Vets because it brings together students on campus to recognize the importance of veterans causes,” Griffin said. “Lyons and Carroll Hall have a great relationship and this fosters an even better sense of community.”
I think because of the degree of pain that the Church is in and that the Church has caused, redemption — which means change, transformative change — is absolutely necessary. And the Church is not so bad, you know, they can do it. We can do it.” McDermott said she understands why young people have left and continue to leave the Catholic Church, as it is challenging to remain in the midst of such spiritual and social turmoil. “A friend of mine said, ‘It’s a wonderful time to be Catholic because either we’re seeing the end of the Church or we’re seeing the beginning of a new church,’” McDermott said, “But we’re seeing something.” In the same conversation with “Image Journal,” McDermott said the ultimate undoing of the Catholic Church will be its attitude towards the ordination of women. Further expounding upon this belief, she said life as a woman of the Catholic Church, a historically male institution, can be a challenge. “A few years ago, you could say, ‘Oh, we can be patient,’” McDermott said. “But I think the
times call for us all to raise our voices. It’s the 21st century.” Church leaders tend to explain the role of women in the Church in terms of custom, McDermott said. “They’ll pull out stupid things like, ‘Well there were no women at the Last Supper,’” McDermott said. “Number one, you don’t know that, because only the men were taking notes. And Christianity didn’t begin with the Last Supper, Christianity began with the resurrection and the first person to know that Christ was risen was a woman. Now, if you believe in this faith, nothing’s arbitrary. It’s what makes … the story of Christ’s life such a good novel, because there are no superfluous details.” Ultimately, McDermott said, excluding women from ordination is a form of prejudice. “It’s saying that someone of the opposite gender is less than,” McDermott said. “I think about what it would mean for the young people in the Church, for the women in the Church, and I think, for the body of Christ as a whole, for the Church to say, ‘Oh yeah, everybody is welcome.’ Isn’t that what Christ said?”
The ordination of women — and perhaps other sources of necessary redemptive evolution — could give the Catholic Church a fresh start, McDermott said. “What a way to renew,” McDermott said. “What a wonderful thing to come out of the tremendous suffering that we’re going through right now.” McDermott said she explores the theme of rebellion within the faith in “The Ninth Hour“ and her other works. As “The Ninth Hour“ is her eighth published novel, McDermott holds years of creative writing experience. Growing up with two talkative brothers who would later become lawyers, McDermott said she rarely got a chance to contribute in conversation, and instead turned to writing. “As a kid, you look for way to take control of the world,” McDermott said. “You draw pictures, or you sing songs or you get good at some niche sport. For me, it was writing — it was always just using the written word. So, it was always there for me.” McDermott said some lifechanging professors recognized
her talent and let her know “what [she] had to say was worth hearing,” encouraging her to pursue her passion. When giving advice to aspiring student writers, McDermott said she encourages them to identify the same passion within themselves. “It’s sort of tongue-in-cheek and sort of not,” she said. “I tell students the best piece of advice is, if you can do anything else, do it. I mean, especially in the literary world, as in any of the arts, if you don’t feel that the art that you practice is absolutely necessary, if you’re doing it for some reward, rather than because you believe it’s necessary, you’re headed in the wrong direction.” With the right momentum, McDermott said, students can find success in their writing. “If you do feel, ‘I must do this,’ you’ll do it,” she said. “Trust me, it will happen. It always does. I’ve been teaching a long time. It always does. If that is there … then you should write all the time and you should read everything.”
of gratitude, and he lived with them for the rest of his life.” McDermott said this anecdote set off a curiosity and a desire to explore the nature and practice of substitution in the Civil War. “In the days that followed, I found myself returning again and again to that notion of a substitute of one man who served as substitute for another, so that the other could avoid military service and remain safe,” McDermott said. McDermott said musing over the concept of substitution led to contemplating the selflessness that derives from it. “The metaphorical implications of the term a substitute — one who puts himself in harm’s way, offers his life so that another may stay safe, so that another may live,” McDermott said. This also inspired McDermott to consider what selflessness means in the 21st-century, long after the Civil War, she said. “It brought me to think about selflessness, self-sacrifice, the value we place, here in the 21st century, on anyone who offers his or her life for another,” McDermott
said. “Anyone who says I will put myself, my life, at risk, so that you may live and thrive, you and your children and their children. I wondered if we even trust such a notion anymore. If we don’t tend to see selflessness as akin to fanaticism, or more mildly as an awkward lack of self-esteem.” McDermott also addressed the consequences of that selflessness. “And what about the burden of gratitude?” she said. “How long then, I wondered, does gratitude last? When does another’s selflessness become a burden as much as a blessing? What do we owe the selfless among us? Why are they selfless in the first place?” These were the thoughts that guided McDermott through the beginning ideas of the story, but she said other ideas began to surface as she continued her research. “All interesting notions, but none of it yet contained a story,” McDermott said. McDermott said her research on Civil War substitutes led her to their obituaries. “As I looked at these [obituaries], I found my eye was also drawn to
small items, often featured on the same pages, a number of them, reports of recent suicides,” she said. These self-inflicted deaths led McDermott to think about the people left behind after suicide, and thus inspired her novel “The Ninth Hour.” “Options for the poor, poor women with children especially, were so limited,” McDermott said. “Who would be there to serve as a substitute for the husband and father that was lost? Well of course the answer was the Catholic nursing sisters in the neighborhood.” This led McDermott to the Catholic concepts that shaped her story, she said. “I realized I had found my story of selflessness,” McDermott said. “Not a heroic story of plucky sidewalk saints, certainly not a history of religious women’s role in healthcare and education and service to the poor, but a story that would allow me to explore the very notion of selflessness, the motive for it, the burden of it, the value we place on it in any era, our own or another.” McDermott also said she wanted her sisters to be as real as possible
— she didn’t want to gloss over the harsh realities of life for them. “The concrete would be my medium, and any depiction of their lives, their selflessness, would involve their daily, vivid, inescapable encounter with the physical,” she said. “The physical reality of human suffering and death. Not to prove the truth of my faith or the existence of the supernatural, but simply to make you hear, to make you feel, and before all to make you see, look, it is there.” McDermott also discussed her own relationship and frustrations with the Church and how it shaped her writing. “To be perfectly honest, I’m halfway out the door of the institutional church, some days more than halfway,” she said. “For me, especially over this year, hope has given way to impatience. Institutional corruption has seeped into my spiritual life so that even the effort to forgive the clergy, or to reform it, begins to feel more like complicity than compassion.”
Contact James Broderick at jbroder2@nd.edu
Contact Maeve Filbin at mfilbin01@saintmarys.edu
Contact MariroseOsborne at mosborne01@saintmarys.edu
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Climate Continued from page 1
more specifically, the message of the global strike is, ‘Hey, governments and politicians, for the most part, you’ve been beholden to special interests and have not been treating this crisis with the urgency that it demands. That’s not acceptable, and we need to do better.’” Started in 2017, the Sunrise Movement is a national youth movement that advocates for government action on climate change and works to elect proponents of environmental action to political office. The movement boasts over 300 community-led hubs, including one in South Bend. W hile the demonstrations address a global issue, the South Bend demonstration will also push for action at the local level, Campion said. “Our action here in South Bend is going to focus on is urging the South Bend government, particularly Mayor Pete [Buttigieg], as he’s running for president, to take the climate change resolution that they passed last spring and move for ward with implementing that,” he said. “It’s great to go on record and say ‘Hey, we resolve that this is a problem, we need to do something about it.’” “But if that’s all we do, we’ve done nothing. We’re urging Mayor Pete to show the countr y just how serious he is about climate change on the national scale and [to] put his money where his mouth is and start implementing the resolution that was passed last spring in our city here.” In April, the South Bend Common Council passed a climate control action plan outlining steps to be taken to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. The Global Climate Strike is led, in part, by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, Campion said. Beginning in August 2018, Thunberg began skipping school to protest outside the Riksdag, the Swedish national legislature, demanding that Sweden comply with the Paris Agreement and reduce carbon emissions. She has since gained widespread media coverage, speaking at conventions and demonstrations in numerous countries to demand governments take action to address what she calls the “climate crisis.” The movement is focused on promoting political change, Sunrise Movement South Bend organizer and Notre Dame sophomore
Duncan Donahue said. “Climate activism is important because it’s sort of a challenge to this neoliberal understanding of what politics can do in the realm of the environment, because it challenges the idea that what we as a society do to the environment is a sum of individual choices,” Donahue said. “It’s not. It’s the result of structures, which condition people and put people in positions to make certain choices.” “They only give people certain options and therefore they’re picking the lesser of two evils, but that’s still an evil. Climate activism is important because it challenges the idea that it’s all about individual choice and instead calls for change in the structures that create the issues.” Students from Notre Dame, Saint Mar y’s and Holy Cross will meet at Notre Dame at 10 a.m. to walk over to the Jon R. Hunt plaza, where a rally is planned for 11 a.m., according to a Facebook page for the event. Beginning at noon, organizers from the Sunrise Movement will host a “Climate Change Teach-in,” featuring several speakers from the Greater South Bend region. “We don’t want to encourage anyone to miss class, but it is a strike,” Donahue said. “Given the amount of time we have left to take climate action, I would just encourage ever yone to think about whether an hour of class or an hour calling for saving our future is more important, 5 years down the road.”
Professor Continued from page 1
and decide who to nominate.” John O’Callaghan, an associate professor in the philosophy department, is also a member of the academy, and was appointed in 2010. Cory, who has been working at the University for four years, specializes in Aquinas and the philosophical traditions that connected Muslim, Jewish and Christian thinkers in the Middle Ages. “I work on medieval theories of mind and the human person — focusing especially on Thomas Aquinas and his Islamic sources,” Cory said. “So I’m really interested in the 13th century as a place where multiple strains of philosophical thought from different
Labor Continued from page 1
enforced it, nobody knew how to enforce it. So I doubt there is a university in the United States that doesn’t have procurement regulations that say ‘No forced labor,’ etc., etc., but nobody is checking it, and it’s not good enough anymore. To have a policy in place, you have to do the work, and reward those that comply.” Roberts said colleges and universities ought to be in constant
traditions are intersecting from Augustine and from the Islamic world and from Aristotle. But I’ve mostly been looking at Aquinas as a kind of Nexus for all of those different streams to intersect.” At Notre Dame, Cory serves on the executive committee for the Aquinas and the Arabs Project. In 2014, she was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, and in 2017, she won a National Humanities Center fellowship. Cory is currently teaching an ancient and medieval philosophy course — a requirement for philosophy majors — and is writing a book on Aquinas’ theory of intellect. As an academy member, Cory was able to attend the annual meeting in Rome this past June. “I can say that one of the most exciting things about attending the academy conference this
June — this was my first time attending — was being able to talk to all of scholars from around the world,” Cory said. “But also it was pretty exciting to be able to go past the the Swiss Guards post into the Vatican and be on Vatican grounds.” Cory will be the second woman currently in the academy, and the third in its history. “In the past, a lot of scholars who worked at Aquinas have historically been priests,” Cory said. “And I think one of the things that the Academy’s been trying to do in the past is open up to more lay people, scholars from around the world and also to include more women. So it has certainly been an exciting thing to have this trailblazing role.”
conversation about how to best push for labor rights. “What are the best practices other people use, what are the things that you’re doing that you see are successful?” he asked. “What are the downsides?” Enderle also said the University should take bigger steps to ensure ethical manufacturing. While he lauded Notre Dame’s concern for fair labor, Enderle said the University has a long way to go. “I think the project that we have started here is a very good beginning,” Enderle said.
“But it’s really a beginning, no more.” While change is necessary on the political and corporate levels, Cassidy said he feels individual commitment to ethical products is also important. “This is something that you really have to do for yourself,” he said. “When you as a consumer [are] willing to step back and realize, ‘It’s my spending habits contributing more or hurting less.’”
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The observer | friday, september 20, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
By RYAN ISRAEL Scene Writer
JPEGMAFIA wants you to be disappointed — or, at least, that’s what he’s been saying. Disappointment was the main message of the Maryland rapper’s promotion for his new album, “All My Heroes Are Cornballs,” released last week. He dropped YouTube videos of his music friends expressing their dismay after preview listens to the project with titles like “JAMES BLAKE IS DISAPPOINTED” or “JEFF TWEEDY & HANNIBAL BURRESS ARE DISAPPOINTED,” and he included similar messages in all his social media captions. A strange promotional tactic to say the least, but for JPEGMAFIA — also referred to as Peggy — it seems right on brand. JPEGMAFIA is a troll, not in the “mythical cave dwelling being” sense, but by the internet’s definition of the word. A troll uses surprising, inflammatory or digressive messages on the internet to upset or bamboozle others. JPEGMAFIA’s calling his upcoming album a disappointment to fray expectations is trolling. So JPEGMAFIA is a troll, an instigator, a villain, a satirist, etc. and “All My Heroes Are Cornballs” is his internet forum post. The song titles read like hodgepodge mash-ups of internet buzzwords. There’s the masculinity-crushing “Beta Male Strategies” or the nihilistic “Rap Grow Old & Die x No Child Left Behind.” There’s the
By DILLON BEGLEY Scene Writer
In light of today’s divisive political and social climate, it is very refreshing to hear the music of a new album from some old faces that can bring people together. The Goo Goo Dolls are certainly no strangers to reminding people that music is indeed what molds us — as human beings — into one unified people. It seems as if their new album, “Miracle Pill,” came out just in time to allow their fans and other listeners to escape the troubles we face today by reflecting upon the beauty and complexity of love, life and death. The album features 11 tracks that flow well together, along with three singles. In the album’s first track (the third single), “Indestructible”, John Rzeznik and company introduce a very uplifting song about two young lovers who feel — as the title suggests — invincible together after having felt broken alone. Next, the band digs into more pop beats with the songs “Fearless” and “Miracle Pill.” Though the chorus of “Fearless” sounds light, and the song is about someone who doesn’t give up on life and fights to find happiness, the lyrics have deep meaning. The words from verse two, for example, “I can’t be myself if I’m hiding / And if I’m not living, I’m dying / I can’t feel / What I don’t know” sound very depressing and troubling. I found the title track to be, perhaps, the best in the album, because it deals with very relevant issues. It represents America’s drug epidemic — concerning opioids and Adderall — and the
tribute to the perennial garden herb Sorrel, titled “Lifes Hard, Here’s A Song About Sorrel,” or the straight-up confusing “BUTTERMILK JESUS TYPE BEAT.” The production sounds like it came from the internet as well. “It’s like if the dark web got ahold of your beat and spit it back out,” said producer Kenny Beats after listening to the intro track “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot.” That’s what most of the beats sound like. Peggy produces every track on the album, letting his glitchy, chaotic and dark-web sound seep into each. He blends genres at will, utilizing rap, R&B, electronic, grunge, indie rock and pop elements. Smooth melodies play over unidentifiable sounds. Most songs have at least one beat switch, and the end result is enthralling, captivating production throughout — especially rewarding with headphones. When Peggy is rapping, his verses tread familiar ground — talking smack, beating his chest and namedropping a random assortment of celebrities including Adam Sandler, David Bryne, Anne Hathaway and Ann Coulter. But on the album, it’s Peggy’s singing that really makes an impact. On “Keenan v. Kel,” “Rap Grow Old & Die” and “Thot Tactics,” Peggy slips into hushed, melodic singing, sometimes with auto tune and sometimes without. His voice is reminiscent of ’90s pop and R&B, and he goes so far as to interpolate TLC’s 1999 hit “No Scrubs” on “BasicB—TearGas,” not to mention his earlier freestyle/ cover of The Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way.” “Free The Frail” features Peggy’s best singing over a
moody, ethereal beat. He lays down a rap verse, lightening the tone for the chorus: “If it’s good, then it’s good / Break it down, this s— is outta my hands, hey.” Helena Deland’s voice replaces the beat, filling every corner of the track with warmth and capping off a hazy song with a touch of clarity. One thing is for certain: “All My Heroes Are Cornballs” is no disappointment. Viewed alongside JPEGMAFIA’s breakout album “Veteran,” the two projects are a fruitful collaboration between an internet troll and a master producer, creating music that echoes the crazy and chaotic internet culture of today.
causes of addiction. The song sounds uplifting at first, but becomes more unsettling and even disturbing when you think about the real word significance. The two tracks “Money, Fame, & Fortune” and “Lost” effectively mix the classic Goo Goo Dolls sound from older tracks like “Name” with the new pop touch of “Miracle Pill.” They illustrate the band’s evolution. But this album is not perfect, or even groundbreaking. The two songs with bassist Robby Takac on main vocals are easily forgettable. They don’t offer much besides Takac’s raspy voice that may haunt you after you’re done listening. The song “Lights” is another breakup/love song that contains more generic pop than usual. I can’t help but think that the order of the final two tracks should be switched. Ending the album with “Think it Over” leaves a sort of bland musical taste that easily misses the distinct sound and flavor usually found in Goo Goo Doll’s songs. It is potentially the worst song on the entire record. Instead, the album should have ended with the ballad “Autumn Leaves,” which sucks the joy right out of you in the most elegant way. Certain lyrics like“ Life is change / We move on / And where you go I hope the summer goes along / So I wait / And I wait yeah” conjure feelings of loss someone and recovery. It really leaves the listener in deep thought. “Over You” is the most familiar-sounding song on the album. From the guitar intro to the lyrics to the beat, it is very reminiscent of timeless hits like “Black Balloon” or “Iris” that
propelled the band to stardom in the ’90s. Superb lyrics include “Haven’t seen the sun in days / Oh did you take it away with you / Might have gone our separate ways / But every night brings me back to you” and, “There’s only one truth / There’s only one you / There’s no way out / There’s just no over you.” This splendid anthem describes a lost love and inability to get over it. All in all, this album is really well-done. Even with a few hiccups, it still paints a great picture of the Goo Goo Dolls for the modern era and for future years to come.
Contact Ryan Israel at risrael1@nd.edu
“All My Heroes Are Cornballs” JPEGMAFIA Label: EQT Recordings Favorite Tracks: “Free The Frail,” “Rap Grow Old & Die x No Child Left Behind,” “PRONE!” If you like: Death Grips, Danny Brown, BROCKHAMPTON
Contact Dillon Begley at DBegley@hcc-nd.edu
“Miracle Pill” The Goo Goo Dolls Label: Warner Records Favorite Tracks: “Over You,” “Miracle Pill,” “Autumn Leaves” If you like: Alternative Rock
DIANE PARK | The Observer
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The observer | friday, September 20, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
The anti-bucket list
Inside Column
Where has all the grilled cheese gone? Tom Naatz Notre Dame News Editor
Last semester, I basked under the beaming glow of the Castilian sun in historic Toledo, Spain. I spent my time stuffing my face with heavenly jamón ibérico and bought so much European chocolate that a local storeowner subconsciously checked his shelf to make sure my preferred product was available when he saw me walk in the door. But there was just one food item my aching heart missed more dearly than anything else: the greasy yet delectable grilled cheese sandwiches available at every non-breakfast meal in South Dining Hall. When I arrived back to campus, I jumped for joy. I hopped out of my car and made like a track star to SDH’s beautifully drab brown doors. It was evening. Dinnertime. A smile a thousand miles long danced across my face as I swiped in and galivanted towards the grill area. Then I stopped dead in my tracks. My jaw hit the floor. My world came to a crashing halt. French fries? Check. Weird char-grilled chicken? You bet. The veggie burgers who’s sight alone is sufficient to make me gag? Absolutely. The mystical “mushroom beef hamburger” rounded out the lineup. Something was missing. Something big. “Wh … wh … where has all the grilled cheese gone?” I wondered aloud, sad and confused. I waited for the cheesy goodness to return. Plot twist: it hasn’t. Now, I wake up in the morning and look out my window. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. But I know it is a solemn time. For I am in mourning. Yes, I know that grilled cheese is still available at SDH lunch. I guess it also might be available at North, but — while I do love my grilled cheese — I’m not about to venture to District 12 to figure that out. Perhaps I should take solace in the fact that it seems to be burger night every night now. My aging heart tells me that the lack of grilled cheese is good for my health; without my grilled security blanket, I’ll be forced to consider options, maybe even — gasp — a salad. But gosh darn it. None of that is good enough for me. You know why? Last semester I had a dream. In a moment of homesickness — or maybe actual sickness, jamón and chocolate didn’t always go great together — I closed my eyes and let a vision fill my head. I was sitting in South Dining Hall, studying the faux “Last Supper,” a freshly-made grilled cheese filling my plate. Now, I am only left to sing Fantine’s tragic refrain: “But there are dreams that cannot be. Like there are storms we cannot weather.” On two counts. I have not lost all hope. Perhaps some day, the grilled cheese will be restored to its rightful spot between the veggie burgers and the char-grilled chicken. Maybe that day will come soon. I hope. I pray. But if it doesn’t? Well, then I will live out the rest of my days with a piece of my soul missing. I will taste the dinner-time grilled cheese in my dreams, then break out of my slumber into the cold dark reality my life has become. And to the grilled cheese station: thank you. Thank you for being there when all the options were lacking. When the only other option was some god-awful excuse for sustenance. Thank you for making my hands so disgustingly greasy that I had to be careful not to touch any textbooks, lest I stain them. In short, thank you for the memories. Perhaps we will meet again someday. But, until then, fare thee well, oh sweet and salty grilled cheese. Contact Tom Naatz at tnaatz@nd.edu The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Krista Lourdes Akiki Lifestyle Nomad
Yes, you read that right. I am going to write about all the things that scare me, all the things I don’t want to be. If I’m being honest, this is not particularly easy. I come from a family of dreamers. My mother was the optimist dreamer and always believed that the good came out of everything, no matter what. My father was the purposeful, undaunted dreamer always aspiring to grow professionally. My aunt was the adventurous dreamer who moved from Lebanon to Venezuela at merely 19 years old and started her own successful business. My sister was the artistic dreamer: whatever she worked, on she turned into art. There’s one detail missing in this picture: I also come from a family of perfectionists. This family’s inheritance was not only that of ambitious aspiration, but also that of exhaustive perfectionism. And so from a very young age, I started planning every aspect of my days. I made a lot of lists. Wrote down page after page of the projects I wanted to complete, the recognition I wanted to receive and the success I wanted to achieve. I believed that as I ticked off accomplishments and successes from my bucket list, the imaginary happiness meter looming over me would inevitably rise. Yet, the more I planned, the more frustrated I got. The more I planned, the more overwhelmed I became. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that I realized I couldn’t go on like this: it hit me like a massive wave, a massive wave of anxiety and stress. It took me a long time, plenty of patience, a few counseling sessions and lots of soul searching to realize that success — as pleasant and as satisfying as it may be — was not the key to happiness. I had built my whole life around the belief that I had to strive to be as close to perfection as possible. I’ll admit that when this belief came crashing down, it wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t easy, either. But as I type out this column, I can’t help but smile at how proud I am for all the progress I have made. Part of that progress was originated from what I call the Anti-Bucket list: a list of all the things don’t want to be. A list of all the things I need to let go off to be truly happy. I don’t want to say yes to things I should really say no to. I want to learn how to prioritize and most importantly how to turn down a club, an event or a job when I feel I have too much on my plate. Life is not an infinite black hole you can
keep overloading — at some point, it will overflow and you will find yourself stressed, drained and lagging behind in too many areas. I don’t want to hold a grudge when I can let go and forgive. Resentment is quite a heavy load to carry around forever. I don’t want to feel embarrassed when admitting weakness or vulnerability. Growth manifests itself in so many divergent ways and it is most definitely not linear. Growth is tiring, challenging and even sometimes painful, but I want to remember that “for a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction,” as author Cynthia Occelli once said. I don’t want to be always right (Yes, this one surprised me, too.) I don’t want to ignore the vitality of rest and quiet time. I now recognize that taking a break is not a waste of time. Sleeping in when I need it is not the definition of laziness. I don’t want to forget to focus on the lighter, brighter side. I want to inherit my mom’s optimism. I want to practice gratitude more often and face hardships with a more positive attitude. I don’t want to confine myself to society’s definition of a successful life. I want to trace my own special journey that fits my needs, my skills and my desires. We don’t all have to be employed engineers married with two kids at the age of 35. I don’t want to compare my progress to others’, measuring my progress based on theirs success. Their chapter 10 looks nothing like my chapter two. Finally, I don’t want to keep laying out 5-year plans, and I want to trust my instincts and intuition more. There’s this quote I love by CEO Christina Stembel which reminds me not to overthink and overanalyze: “I heard Oprah say every decision she made by not trusting her gut ended up being a bad one. So, I decided that if trusting a gut instinct was good enough for Oprah, it’s good enough for me.” Krista Lourdes Akiki is majoring in management consultancy and global affairs. Coming from Beirut, Lebanon, she always enjoys trying out new things and is an avid travel-lover. She hopes to take her readers on her journey as she discovers new lifestyles and navigates new cities. She can be reached at kakiki@nd.edu or via Twitter @kristalourdesakiki. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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The observer | friday, September 20, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
A place for the Church’s thinking Universit y President Emeritus Fr. Theodore Hesburgh once called Notre Dame “a place where the Church does its thinking.” A lthough the origin of Hesburgh’s words have been lost to time, their meaning remains clear: Notre Dame could be a sanctuar y for Catholic ref lection – a meeting ground for the Church to convene and bring about concrete change. Next week marks the 14th annual Notre Dame Forum. Titled “‘Rebuild My Church’: Crisis and Response,” the conference aims to spark discussion about the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis brought forth by the 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jur y report. As the face of Catholic scholarship in the U.S., perhaps Notre Dame is a fitting venue for this discussion by merit of its reputation alone. But there is a far greater reason we need this conference: Many in the tri-campus communit y feel the wounds of the crisis deeply. Notre Dame, Saint Mar y’s and Holy Cross draw from Catholic communities all over the world, but far too many of us share a similar narrative. We have seen sexual abuse shake our dioceses to their cores, while the Church — whether through bureaucratic failure or blind denial — sat idly by. The forum presents a unique opportunit y for the tri-campus communit y to gather in honest conversation about the crisis and to speak w ith a number of guests who have been on the frontlines in addressing it. But a worthwhile discussion cannot take place w ithout transparency, and transparency demands that we take inventor y of the progress Notre Dame — and the Church at large — has made in addressing the crisis and where we still fall short. Here’s what deser ves to be part of the conversation next week: Accusations of clerg y abuse have surfaced here at Notre Dame, too. According to a South Bend Tribune article, as of 2003, the Universit y was aware of four priests who have been accused of sexual misconduct while working at Notre Dame. Those priests were thought to be Fr. James Burtchaell, the Universit y’s first provost; Fr. Robert D. Huneke, a former rector; an unnamed priest from Erie, Pennsylvania and another unnamed priest outside of the order of the Holy Cross. The 2002 Dallas Charter only applies to priests and deacons. After the “Boston Globe” published an exposé in 2002 chronicling decades of clerg y sex abuse and subsequent Church cover-up, the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) convened to w rite the Charter for the Protection of Young People (Dallas Charter). The charter establishes a “zero tolerance” policy for the sexual abuse of minors and outlines standard procedure for sexual abuse response and prevention — but it only holds priests and deacons accountable, leav ing the discipline of higher-ranking clerg y to the Vatican. Notre Dame has invited Archbishop William Lori, criticized for his track record resisting greater Church transparency, to speak on the forum’s keynote panel. A lthough he is credited w ith leading Church reform efforts in the past, William Lori, the current archbishop of Baltimore and former bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut, has made repeated attempts to keep clerg y from the public’s scrutiny. Lori w ill join four others on a panel titled “The Church Crisis: W here Are We Now?,” which takes place at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Leighton Concert Hall. The Universit y made no mention of Lori’s controversial past in its Sept. 11 press release announcing the event. This is not the first time Notre Dame has been slow to point the finger at controversial Church figures. Last year, the Universit y decided not to rescind former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s degree until he was officially defrocked, even though an Archdiocese Rev iew Board found the initial allegation of sexual abuse against McCarrick to be “credible and substantiated,” and Pope Francis had already asked for McCarrick’s resignation. Wednesday’s panel prov ides students w ith the rare opportunit y to ask Lori himself about his past — and we hope they do. May saw the introduction of a new Church policy mandating all sexual abuse be reported to the Vatican. Pope Francis issued a first-of-its-kind law requiring Church leaders to report clerg y sex abuse May 9. The mandate came not long after Februar y’s Vatican summit, where Francis convened the Church’s high-ranking officials to discuss the crisis. The law, which went into effect June 1, outlined official prov isions for investigating reports of sexual abuse.
the diocese for not publishing the names sooner. The Pennsylvania Grand Jur y Report also praised the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, for its new policies in response to the investigation. The changes included: “An expanded set of definitions of child abuse … and the public identification of persons who have been credibly accused of actions ranging from furnishing pornography to direct, sexual assaults of minors,” according to the report. Notre Dame has taken steps to address the abuse crisis. Most notably, the Universit y has pledged to set aside $1 million over the next three years to fund research on the abuse crisis. It has also promised to look at ways to train its ow n graduates in sexual abuse prevention and awareness, evaluate how the Universit y handles sexual misconduct and promote public discussion of the issues — including through this year’s ND Forum. Notre Dame has sought to create discussion about the crisis in the past. In 2002, follow ing the Boston Globe’s investigation into clerg y sex abuse, then-Universit y President Fr. Edward Malloy created a “Church Study Committee.” The group compiled a 13page letter w ith recommendations for addressing the abuse crisis, which it later sent to the USCCB before its annual conference. The Universit y also hosted a conference to create campus-w ide discussion about the abuse crisis, follow ing the USCCB’s Dallas meeting. We hope all who attend the Notre Dame Forum come w ith hard questions. Even if the event results in neither solutions nor grand revelations, we believe it to be a worthy effort. In Hesburgh’s words, Notre Dame should be a place where the Church does its thinking.
While the Church has a long way to go to address abuse, there are examples of dioceses taking steps toward greater transparency and awareness. Here in the Diocese of Fort Way ne-South Bend, church authorities published a list of clerg y who had been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse. One sur v ivor, who lives in the area, told The South Bend Tribune she felt “v indicated” following the release of the list, though she criticized
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KERRY SCHNEEMAN | The Observer
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Classifieds
The observer | friday, september 20, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Crossword | Will Shortz
Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: You’ll have to balance intelligence and emotions to prevent you from making a hasty choice that will take time to reverse. Slow down, smell the roses, enjoy the moment and double-check everything before you make a move. Precision and detail will lead to far greater success than winging it or trusting others to do their fair share. Your numbers are 7, 12, 21, 29, 34, 41, 46. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Try something new. Explore the possibilities to see what you are capable of doing. Your only limitation is not believing in yourself. Speak up and share stories and experiences, and new friendships will develop. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Refuse to let your emotions interfere with what you are trying to accomplish. Set your course, and don’t stop until you reach your goal. Physical action will make the difference between failure and success. Get up and get moving. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Think matters through before you decide to make a change that can alter your lifestyle or domestic routine. Question anyone who is offering incorrect information or suggestions. A joint venture may be tempting, but if it’s not sound, take a pass. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Participate, offer your services and make a difference to others. How you proceed and what you are willing to do will mark your character and position you for opportunities. Do what’s in your heart, and positive change will occur. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Pause before you share your thoughts. Someone will take credit for a plan you came up with. Don’t be afraid to forge ahead alone. Trust in your instincts and your experience to help you bring your projects to fruition. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Business trips, educational pursuits and networking will lead to exciting opportunities. Do what you do best; show your talents, skills and dedication, and you will command attention as well as leave an unprecedented impression. Romance is in the stars. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Taking a diplomatic, intelligent approach and making suggestions that are valid and will also benefit someone likely to cause a fuss will make whatever transition you are trying to achieve more inviting. Peace and love conquer force. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Make physical changes that will help you improve your game. What you do will have more of an impact on the way others respond to you and the offers you receive than talking about what you plan to do. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Be careful how you use information that others reveal. You may be given false data, or someone may set you up to look bad. Listen, observe and wait to see what develops before you let others know where you stand. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You can move forward. Clear up unfinished business, and make room to build a new foundation for a better future. A chance to improve your financial status is within reach if you do the work required to forge ahead. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Someone will play with your heart if you aren’t careful. Walk away from unpredictable situations and people. Be smart, use diplomacy and protect what’s yours. Ulterior motives, compliments and unwarranted generosity should raise red flags. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Change can be useful, but going overboard is not. If you want to do something, be reasonable, think your plans through and avoid overspending or overdoing. Stick to a safe, steady path forward. Know your boundaries and your limits. Birthday Baby: You are smart, dramatic and colorful. You are friendly and charismatic.
MATH HOMEWORK | IAN SALZMAN
Sudoku | The Mepham Group
Jumble | David Hoyt and Jeff knurek
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SPORTS
9 ND WOMEN’S Tennis
Sports Authority
The Saints’ tales of misfortune Luke Sisung Sports Writer
On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall and issued in a bleak cloud over the once vibrant city of New Orleans. One of the first gleams of light to hit the city following Katrina happened roughly a year later when Steve Gleason blocked a punt on Monday Night Football by the rival Atlanta Falcons in the Saints’ first game back in the Superdome. This heroic special teams moment commenced a period of successful Saints football in which they had consistent winning seasons and playoff berths as well as their first Super Bowl victory in 2009 against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. However, between 2014-2016, the Saints had three consecutive seasons underperforming and going 7-9 back-to-back-toback. Many diehard Who Dats (Saints fans) called for a complete restructuring of leadership, starting with head coach Sean Payton, in order to reap the final years of Drew Brees’ prime with hopes of getting back into the Super Bowl. Despite the public pressure to relieve Sean Payton of his responsibility, ownership persisted through the storm and stuck with Coach Payton and the formula that had been successful in the past, a high-powered offense that never ceases scoring and a “bend but don’t break” defense. This decision payed off sweetly with playoff appearances in the past two seasons and Super Bowl hopes entering this season. However, despite the Saints’ recent regular season success, they have been plagued by misfortune in the postseason, mainly at the hands of the referees. In the 2017 divisional matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, Brees and the Saints worked their way back from a 17-0 deficit to take the lead 24-23 late in the 4th quarter. On 3rd and 10 with ten seconds remaining in the game, Vikings’ quarterback Case Keenum heaved a pass down field to Stefon Diggs and Saints’ rookie safety Marcus Williams missed an easy tackle and the Minnesota Miracle was born. The Saints’ expectations were even higher the following year with many media personalities predicting the Saints to at least make the Super Bowl and likely win. Lady Fortune, however, did not have the same fate in mind for the Saints. In the NFC championship game with the score tied at 20 all late
in the 4th quarter, the Saints were driving downfield, and on a third down play in the red zone, Drew Brees threw a pass to Tommy Lee Lewis who was subsequently fouled by Rams’ defensive back Nickell RobeyColeman. Despite the blatant pass interference, the referees did not throw a flag on the play, and thus the Saints had to settle for a field goal. The Rams’ then drove down the field and kicked a field goal with 15 seconds remaining in the game to tie the game and force it into overtime. After a Brees interception on the first drive in OT, the Rams were able to easily kick a field goal and secure a spot in the Super Bowl which they lost in an embarrassing manner by scoring only three points. The likelihood of a Rams’ NFC championship victory without the missed pass interference call is infinitesimal based on the stellar play calling of Sean Payton and the Saints’ red zone efficiency in the Dome. Despite the unfortunate endings of the past two seasons, the Saints again entered this season with Super Bowl expectations with Brees at the helm for another year and more depth on both sides of the ball. After a Week One victory against the Houston Texans on a last second field goal, the Saints traveled to Los Angeles to have a rematch with the defending NFC champion Rams. During the Saints’ second drive of the game, Brees suffered an awkward hit to his throwing hand and tore a ligament, sidelining him for the rest of the game and for the next six weeks. Saints’ backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater entered the game, and the offense hit a brick wall. Teddy could not move the Saints down the field against the stout Rams’ defense, and this sluggishness led to a 27-9 Rams’ victory. For the next six weeks, Payton will rotate between backup Teddy Bridgewater and multi-faceted athlete Taysom Hill in hopes of keeping the Saints in the playoff race during Brees’ hiatus. The Saints have all the talent in the world on both sides of the ball and the potential to win another Super Bowl in the Brees era. However, if the Saints can’t catch a break, the Drew Brees window will slowly close and the Saints could become the “Aints” again, sooner than we might suspect.
Irish look for consistency in Silverio’s second season By LIAM COOLICAN Sports Writer
The Notre Dame women’s tennis team is preparing to kick off its season this weekend. Part of the team will travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the Michigan Invitational and the rest will head south to Auburn, Alabama, to compete in the Auburn Invitational. “We’re excited to get out there and play against other teams and strong opponents,” head coach Alison Silverio said. Silverio, an NCAA champion and tournament MVP during her playing career at Georgia Tech, is in her second season leading the Irish after previously serving as head coach at the University of Oregon. She says she wants her team to be more consistent in their approach this year. “Our goals for this upcoming fall are to be really consistent day-in and day-out with how we approach practice and how we are approaching our attitudes, our efforts, the areas that we have control over,” Silverio said. “That’s something that’s really important to us, both on and off the court. We always have goals of having academic excellence, as well.” The Irish bring back an experienced group, returning nearly their entire team from
last year. Silverio said the team’s experience is important, especially given their tough schedule. “It’s very important. We essentially have our whole team back from last year, and they all competed at a very high level last year,” she said. “We know what we’re up against, being in the ACC and our spring schedule. We believe that to be the best we’ve got to play against the best, so we certainly make our schedule very challenging, and the girls are ready for that, they’re excited about it and they’re ready to make a mark this year.” Silverio also wants to continue building a winning culture both on and off the court. “This fall is going to be about continuing to build our foundation, building our culture — through consistency and relentless work ethic every single day,” she said. Silverio did bring in a new coaching staff for this season. Megan Kurey, a former All-American who played at Georgia Tech from 20122016, was hired as an assistant coach in June. Kurey was previously an assistant at Kansas State. The Irish also named Daniela Nasser a volunteer assistant coach last month. Nasser joins the staff after playing under Silverio for three years at Oregon.
Notre Dame finished last season with a respectable 1312 overall record, but were only 1-11 against ranked teams. Silverio says some opportunities slipped away in those big matches. “Our biggest improvement is going to be the belief in ourselves, being able to capitalize on big opportunities,” said Silverio. “We put ourselves in very good situations last year, and we did fall short in a few of the matches that we played, which could’ve changed the outcome of our season. We want to grow in that belief, and capitalize on the opportunities that we know are going to bring us closer to our end goal of the NCA A tournament and beyond.” However, Silverio said she was proud of the way her players competed last year through those games. “Our greatest strength last season was our resilience and our ability to attack adversity that we faced,” she said. “All of our players did a phenomenal job being resilient and being able to bounce back when some tough things were thrown our way.” The Irish are trying to reach the NCA A tournament for the first time since the 2016-17 season. Contact Liam Coolican at lcoolica@nd.edu
MICHELLE MEHELAS | The Observer
Contact Luke Sisung at lsisung@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Senior Rachel Chong returns a hit during Notre Dame’s 7-0 win over Bowling Green on Jan. 23 The Observer accepts classifieds every business day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Notre Dame office, 024 South Dining Hall. Deadline for next-day classifieds is 3 p.m. All classifieds must be prepaid. The charge is 5 cents per character per day, including all spaces. The Observer reserves the right to edit all classifieds for content without issuing refunds.
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The observer | friday, september 20, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
W Interhall Continued from page 12
have several goals. “I want this to be the highlight of ever ybody’s fall semester,” Durkin says. “I think in the past it has been for me. And I think a big part of that is going to the championship, because you get to play in the stadium. I think especially just with underclassmen and upperclassmen, [we want to create] relationships between different grades.” Welsh Fam considers a couple different dorms as big competition this season. “We always have our big rivalr y with Ryan,” Durkin says. “We lost to them in the championship last year, but we’re back. We’re hungr y. PDub always has a good program. They run a good team.” Durkin listed McGlinn Hall, who held their tr youts last week, as competition too. “Our quarterback graduated,” says McGlinn Hall senior captain Mar y K. Wentzel. “Some pretty good girls on defense graduated. But we’ve got a junior that’s gonna step up as quarterback. We’re excited for that.
M Interhall Continued from page 12
on the Irish, but getting to put on a helmet and pads and actually play on the turf is awesome,” Arellano said. “It’s my goal to get back to the championship so that these young guys get to experience that same feeling and hopefully bring a title back to Stanford.” First and foremost, the Griffins w ill have to work through a div ision of Dunne, Sorin and Morrisey. Morrisey in particular poses a threat to
Kelly Continued from page 12
a long schedule. You’ve got to play your rival too, USC, which obviously they’ll be excited. Then you’ve got to play Michigan at Michigan. That to me is the challenge more than it is getting up for Georgia. Certainly, they’re going to get up for a game like this, but it’s coming back the next week. … You don’t have an easy game the next week. When you play at Notre Dame, that next week is a difficult challenge. Managing the emotions is very difficult.” Kelly also talked about specific players for the Irish, speaking to maturation of senior wide receiver Javon McKinley. McKinley rose above struggles plaguing him throughout his Irish tenure to score two touchdowns in
She’s good.” Wentzel and Katherine Cameron are co-captains of McGlinn’s A team this year. “As captains we want to have fun and also work really hard,” Wentzel says. “We’ve lost some players, but not that many. We have a lot of seniors that have been playing since freshman year, and we’ve retained a lot of talent so we know that we have the capability to win it all. So, as a team goal of course we want to w in the championship — and then also we got a lot of knew freshmen this year, so [we want to] show them the ropes and pass dow n the legacy.” Wetzelt praises the freshman that have joined the Shamrock squad. “We’ve got some pretty good-looking freshmen,” she says. “Some on offense, some on defense but we’ve got some ‘athletic weapons,’ I would say.” As a senior on the team, Wentzel said she’s experienced a lot of memorable moments already. “The tough wins are the best, because it’s an exciting game, and it’s close, so you have to work really hard and get to see people make big plays and stuff,” she says.
“Being on offense, I love seeing defense make good plays because we get to celebrate and watch the game instead of play it.” Potential tough games
depend on each team’s coaches, according to Wentzel. “I know Ryan won last year because they had Chris Fink as a coach, and he’s pretty
good,” she says. “So if he’s still around, we’ll have our eyes out for them.”
Stanford’s success this year. They took the Griffins to overtime last year, a defensive slog that ended 3-0 on Stanford’s game-w inning 25-yard kick. “Morrissey was also a young team last year and we went into double overtime in the Semis w ith them last year, so looking for ward to a competitive game again this year,” Arellano said. A long w ith Arellano, Stanford returns top w ide receiver Phil V landis as well as their dual-threat quarterback Kellen Round. Arellano also hopes to see some
freshman getting in the mix. “Dominique Smith and Josh Dippold w ill get the ball in their hands and make some plays for us on offense,” he said. Outside of their div ision, Stanford w ill receive solid competition for the crow n in Duncan Hall, which was upset early in the playoffs last season, and the defending champs, who return a strong core in captains Charlie Flanagan, Grant Murphy and Andrew Steiner. Steiner comes back as the primar y quarterback w ith an eye on steering his squad back into
Notre Dame Stadium for another championship. Siegfried/Knott also gets the benefit of welcoming Ben Schrimpf in as a coach. Schrimpf led the league in receptions last year, but suffered a concussion that w ill keep him off the field this fall; however, that w ill not stop him from inf luencing his squad, as he takes his offensive mindset to the sidelines. Siegfried/ Knott w ill face off against Zahm/Keenan, St. Edward’s Hall and the Duncan Hall Highlanders before heading to the playoffs.
Arellano listed Dillon Hall as another team to watch, due to their returning core and strong defense last year. Arellano’s game-w inning touchdow n reception eliminated the Big Red in the quarterfinals last year. Dillon’s bitter rival, A lumni Hall, w ill also look to be a factor in that div ision, which is rounded out w ith Keough/ Fisher and O’Neill. The regular season games w ill be played on Sept. 22, Sept. 29 and Oct. 6.
Notre Dame’s rout of New Mexico and is now a key rotation player for the Irish. “Out of Centennial High School, a high level recruit, a guy that we were counting on. Just slow in his developmental process,” Kelly said. “He had to make a decision and the University had to make a decision on, ‘Is this a guy that we want to invest in?’ He did a lot of good things when he was here and he earned a second chance. “I think I said that in the press conference after the game. He had a lot of good will on this campus. He’s a good kid who made a bad choice and a bad decision, and he’s making the best of it. He’s been a different kid since that day. All the things that he’s done with the team, all the things that he’s done in the classroom, we’re just seeing a different kid that has raised
his level of accountability in everything that he does.” Kelly said McKinley has squashed any doubt about his dedication to the team, consistently being one of the hardest workers day in and day out. Along with McKinley, Kelly said that another player who will be integral to the Irish this season and has shown great improvement is junior kicker Jonathan Doerer. “It’s early and when we talk about improved player, you can list guys that played last year that are now playing or guys that didn’t play. I probably, early on, I’d say Jonathan Doerer, who really struggled in a lot of areas last year, both mentally and physically,” he said. “I really like his improvement, because a lot of that he had to handle himself.” Kelly even gave a taste of what Doerer is capable.
“Today he kicked one from 61 yards and he has that kind of leg,” he said. “Look, are we going to call one from 61? I hope the heck not. But he has that ability and it’s nice to see that he’s taken that over from a mental standpoint and really mature.” However, with the Georgia game being the talk of college football this weekend, Kelly had to address the matchup. Despite the Irish being underdogs, Kelly is not emphasizing that mindset in his team. “If it had anything to do in my 29 years of winning or losing, I would address it the first time that I get in front of them. It really just doesn’t. If you have to rely on extrinsic motivation to get your football team ready to play a game, then you’re in trouble,” Kelly said. “So, I really leave that up to whatever they want to do. If they want to look at it and
if it helps them, fine, but as a head coach, I stay away from all those things because it really doesn’t help me in my focus and in my preparation for what I need to do in covering the things that are necessary for them to be successful, so I stay away from it.” While Kelly wants his players to find the ideal motivation, he is wary of them getting caught up in the media hype and losing focus on their true opponent. “If you’re distracted for a second against Georgia, they have a guy named D’Andre Swift he’ll run past you if you don’t fit the A-gap,” he said. In all, Kelly succinctly summarized what his team must do this Saturday. “We’re going to have to do a great job against them.”
ANN CURTIS | The Observer
Left to right: 2018 Ryan Hall captains Jennie Moore, Andrea Carlson and Annie McCarter pose with the ball before their interhall football championship game against Welsh Fam last Novemeber.
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The observer | friday, september 20, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Men’s INTERHALL football
Stanford, Sorin to face off, Morrissey, Dunne to compete in first interhall match-ups of year By AIDAN THOMAS Sports Writer
while Dunne Hall clashes w ith Morrissey Manor. The Griffins w ill be eager to take the field after coming up just short of the title last year, losing a 6-3 defensive battle to the Siegfried/Knott team. The defending champions have a little bit longer to relish last year’s v ictor y, as they don’t kick off until 3:30 p.m. against Zahm/Keenan Hall. Stanford captain Emilio Arellano prov ides the Griffins w ith some experience as they look to maintain their consistent performance; Arellano was a freshman when they won the title last, and was a key performer on last year’s runner-up squad that came just short in the championship game held inside Notre Dame Stadium. “Play ing in the stadium is an unbelievable opportunity. It’s one thing to be up in the crowd on Saturdays cheering
Left to right: 2018 Stanford captains Anthony Stringer, Will Phillips and Chase Jennings before the men’s interhall football championship against Siegfried last November. The Griffins lost 6-3 to the Ramblers.
Sundays are a busy day for Notre Dame students, especially football fans. After a full day of watching college football, Sunday becomes an insane day of play ing catchup and bemoaning their tendency to procrastinate while spending 10 + hours in the Hesburgh Librar y. The truly dedicated may attempt doing their homework in front of the T V, checking up on their favorite NFL team or their fantasy lineup. W hile balancing all these items on your to-do-list may be stressful, it’s just the beginning. Because starting this Sunday, Sept. 22, interhall football returns to campus, and there is a plethora of teams that figure to be v y ing for the title. The t welve-team league kicks off w ith a pair of 1 p.m. games; Sorin College takes on the Griffins of Stanford Hall,
football
women’s INTERHALL football
ANN CURTIS | The Observer
Kelly discusses Georgia, player development
Women’s dorms prep for season
By HAYDEN ADAMS
By DESSI GOMEZ
Associate Sports Editor
Sports Writer
Notre Dame football head coach Brian Kelly sat down with Irish men’s basketball announcer Jack Nolan for another episode of “The Brian Kelly Show.” With a matchup against the No. 3-ranked Georgia Bulldogs just a couple of days away, Kelly talked about the challenge of getting his team to stay composed with such an emotional game looming. “I think the hardest [thing is] the ability to manage your emotions, so you can play this way week in and week out. That’s probably the most difficult thing because they love playing these games, but they also have to love playing next week against Virginia, a top25 team,” Kelly said. “The balancing of those emotions is probably the most difficult. “So, it’s taking this and making sure that you can manage your emotions through
Interhall f lag football is almost upon us, and the women’s dorms are ready. Welsh Family Hall held tr youts the second week of school. With more girls tr ying out than allotted spots on the A team, cut players overf lowed onto the B team. “Cuts are never like ‘you can’t play f lag football,’” says senior captain Clare Durkin. “There’s always an opportunit y for ever ybody to play. The A Team practices more. For the B Team it’s more, ‘Do you want to have this fun experience? ’ It’s more casual.” Durkin lives off campus now, along w ith fellow senior captain Ellen Foley. Junior captain Claire Cahill still resides in Welsh Fam. The t wo said their interhall f lag football team bond transcends this distance. “This is one of the best ways to meet upperclassmen,” Cahill says. “A lot of times, you can only meet the
see KELLY PAGE 10
ANNA MASON | The Observer
Irish head coach Brian Kelly watches his offense during Notre Dame’s 66-14 win over New Mexico State last Saturday.
see M INTERHALL PAGE 10
people in your section or if you’re on Hall Council. But this is a great opportunit y to meet off-campus seniors, as well as people liv ing all around the dorm.” Of course, whether or not off-campus, filling holes left by last year’s seniors always presents a challenge. “We graduated our quarterback, which was ver y stressful,” Durkin says. “But we’re really excited because we have three different freshman girls who are looking out to be our quarterbacks, so they’re totally untested talent.” Freshman candidates, on the other hand, prov ide a sense of stabilit y. “We’re excited for them to stay and continue on the next four years,” Cahill says. “The past t wo years, we’ve had senior quarterbacks so we’ve been stuck ever y year — but now we’re excited for years to come.” For this year, the captains see W INTERHALL PAGE 10