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Volume 56, Issue 45 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
Local activist discusses work with BLM Black Lives Matter-South Bend co-founder Emmanuel Cannady speaks about history, goals By MIA MORAN News Writer
Editor’s Note: This story is part one of a three-part series exploring Notre Dame connections to pressing issues in South Bend through interviewing civil rights activists in the community. Black Lives Matter-South Bend (BLMSB) was initially formed in 2016 when Deshaw n Frank lin, a Black man, was compensated $18 by a jur y after he was punched, tasered and arrested by South Bend police officers. The South Bend communit y was further galvanized in 2019 in reaction to Eric
Logan’s death at the hands of Sergeant Ryan O’Neill, who did not have his body camera on but claimed Logan approached him w ith a knife and disobeyed orders. BLMSB called for the South Bend Police Department and then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg to take accountabilit y. Later that year, BLMSB became an official chapter of the Black Lives Matter Global Network. Emmanuel Cannady, a co-founder of BLMSB and sixth-year doctoral candidate at Notre Dame, said BLMSB was able in 2019 to truly env ision their mission see BLM PAGE 3
Courtesy of Emmanuel Cannady
Emmanuel Cannady, pictured here speaking into a megaphone at a rally, called on aspiring activists to do more than post on social media. Cannady is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter-South Bend (BLMSB).
Keenan prepares Lecture views colonialism through British literature for 2022 Revue By ANNEMARIE FOY News Writer
Author and advocate Bernardine Evaristo delivered the 2022 Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy on Monday. The annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy was established in 1995 by the Kroc Institute for International Peace
MILI GARCIA CASAS | The Observer
Residents of Keenan Hall rehearse in Stepan Center for the annual Keenan Revue. The 2022 Revue will take place February 10-12. By MILI GARCIA CASAS News Writer
A tradition that started in 1976, the 46th-annual “Keenan Rev ue” hosted by Keenan Hall kicks off Thursday. After COVID-19 protocols moved last year’s show into Notre Dame Stadium, the dorm’s signature comedy
News PAGE 4
event w ill return to Stepan Center this year. As custom, free tickets were given to students w ith a two-ticket limit per student ID. On their main platform, @keenanrev ue on Instagram, the hall posted a 30-second informational v ideo w ith the see KEENAN PAGE 5
VieWpoint PAGE 6
Studies to honor the mission of the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of Notre Dame. Each year, a person renow ned for their efforts to bring peace and justice to fruition is inv ited to give the lecture. Notable former Hesburgh lecturers have included scholar Angela Dav is (2020), professor Cornel West (2019),
economist Amart ya Sen (2012), and Congressman Lee Hamilton (2005). Within the literar y sphere, Evaristo is know n as a prominent advocate for justice. She has produced reports on the lack of representation of w riters of color in British literar y societ y and introduced see LECTURE PAGE 5
Student voter turnout increased 18.1% in 2020 By MAGGIE EASTLAND Associate News Editor
Despite voting challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Notre Dame students flooded the absentee polls in the 2020 presidential election. Even though the majority live outside Indiana, students secured absentee ballots with help from campus civic engagement groups
scene PAGE 10
like ND Votes. According to a Center for Social Concerns (CSC) research report published January, 71.4% of Notre Dame students voted in the 2020 election, up from 53.3% in 2016. In line with major trends among college students nationwide, Notre Dame students favored Democratic candidate President Joe Biden
HOCKEY PAGE 13
over Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump, 67.3% to 27.8%. Associate director of the CSC Jay Brandenberger has played a major role in compiling the presidential election reports since they began in 2004. Compared to past years, Brandenberger said 2020 is notable because of the see TURNOUT PAGE 3
W LACROSSE PAGE 16
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TODAY
The observer | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
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“Zac Brown Band.”
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“Motel Breakfast.”
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“Jonas Brothers.”
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webmaster@ndsmcobserver.com Policies The Observer is the independent, daily newspaper published in print and online by the students of the University of Notre Dame du Lac, Saint Mary’s College and Holy Cross College. Editorial content, including advertisements, is not governed by policies of the administration of any institution. The Observer reserves the right to refuse advertisements based on content. The news is reported as accurately and objectively as possible. Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the majority of the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Assistant Managing Editors and department editors. Commentaries, letters and columns present the views of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer. Viewpoint space is available to all readers. The free expression of all opinions through letters is encouraged. Letters to the Editor must be signed and must include contact information. Questions regarding Observer policies should be directed to Editor-in-Chief Adriana Perez. Post Office Information The Observer (USPS 599 2-4000) is published Monday through Friday except during exam and vacation periods. A subscription to The Observer is $130 for one academic year; $75 for one semester. The Observer is published at: 024 South Dining Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556-0779 Periodical postage paid at Notre Dame and additional mailing offices POSTMASTER Send address corrections to: The Observer P.O. Box 779 024 South Dining hall Notre Dame, IN 46556-077
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ALLISON THORNTON | The Observer
Students study for midterms on the first floor of Le Mans Hall. This common space, named Reignbeaux Lounge, is very popular. In the early 20th century, the space served as the dining hall for Saint Mary’s College, where students gathered to share meals.
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Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
100 Years of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” 102 Hesburgh Library 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. See the first edition of the book.
WIS ‘22 Professional Investing Summit Jordan Auditorium 4 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Student stock pitches and industry panels.
DanceArts 2022 Moreau Center for the Arts Auditorium 7:30 p.m. Student dance, art and music performances.
Faya Dayi (2021) Browning Cinema 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. View the documentary about Ethopia and drug culture.
Basilica Mass Basilica of the Sacred Heart 10 a.m. & noon Masks required. All are welcome.
“Reporting on a Pandemic” 105 Jordan Hall 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Lecture by New York Times COVID reporter.
Love at First Snite Snite Museum of Art 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. Make crafty valentines for all of your favorite people!
Dance Company BODYTRAFFIC Show DeBartolo Performing Arts Center 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Tickets required.
Keenan Revue: “Back to the Revueture” Stepan Center 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Tickets required. Final show of three nights.
Performance: Jennifer Koh LaBar Recital Hall 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Tickets available on the DPAC website.
News
BLM Continued from page 1
to not only help the South Bend communit y w ith the implications and aftermaths of Eric Logan’s death, but also to help address the other communal issues that disproportionately affect communities of color, such as health and housing inequit y and the school-to-prison pipeline. “We’re tr y ing to dismantle white supremacist structure — so structural racism,” Cannady said. “With that, we’re tr y ing to secure resources for Black and brow n people.” Cannady listed the main goals of BLMSB in the South Bend communit y. “We want better schools, we want more Black businesses, we want the cit y council to have parit y in how the local government assigns contracts, we want people to be aware of how housing is incredibly segregated and how there’s lead poisoning in a lot of the kids in tow n,” Cannady said. Cannady also called for more awareness of Notre Dame’s impact on the livelihood of the South Bend communit y, specifically on how the construction of Eddy Street Commons has gentrified a part of the east side of South Bend. After George Floyd’s death in May 2020 — which sparked a global resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests — Cannady recalled the good and the bad that followed. “It was legitimizing,” Cannady said. “I mean, the whole world is shouting what your organization is called for.” However, Cannady also said that time was “only a moment” — a sentiment shared by many other activ ists around the countr y. Cannady referenced a sur vey conducted by the Pew Research Center and published in September 2021 that described how support for Black Lives Matter had declined, and the amount of support for is now similar to what it was before George Floyd’s death. Cannady went on to explain that after the Capital Riot in Januar y 2021, many states passed anti-protest laws — including the state of Indiana. “They are hav ing stricter punishments for people who protest, like seizure of propert y and an increase to felony six rather than misdemeanor one,” Cannady said. The anti-protest laws
ndsmcobserver.com | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | The Observer
are not the only hardships Cannady said activ ists experience, however. “One of the biggest hardships that I see is that the people who choose to be activ ists are already struggling,” Cannady said. “They might be struggling through oppression or finding economic strain, housing and job insecurit y.” With South Bend being a small communit y, Cannady has w itnessed people who speak out as activ ists not getting hired as a result of being “black listed.” Cannady urged those in the communit y to “realize that we are in the midst of a civ il rights movement right now.” Cannady also explained that aspiring activ ists posting on social media and participating in “slacktiv ism” is not enough. “Do something tangible for somebody else,” Cannady said. “You should be getting your feet dirt y. You should be ex isting in a space where you feel uncomfortable, whether you had a perception of the way the world works that was completely rocked or that you understand what white priv ilege is. You aren’t doing real work if you’re prioritizing your comfort over substantive changes.” He also emphasized that civ il rights should incorporate human rights. “Civ il and human rights means the equal access to the resources that are in the way of life that is promised by the countr y that one lives in,” Cannady said. Contact Mia Moran at miamoran@nd.edu
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Courtesy of the Center for Social Concerns Research Report on Democratic Engagement
Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns conducted a survey on voter turnout, analyzing the voting patterns of students. Results show students have increasingly supported Democratic candidates.
Turnout Continued from page 1
high proportion of students who voted. “The change in 2020 is that way more students voted,” he said. “It was harder to get to the polls, all of those barriers, and we got about 2,000 more students to vote.” Elevated voter turnout was identified through a survey sent out to a sample of students and more extensive data from the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE) conducted through Tufts University. Brandenberger and another one of the report’s co-authors, senior Madeline Ward, said the campus survey is susceptible to self-selection bias, but the NSLVE data — which accounts for every student at Notre Dame — confirms the survey findings. “If you’re a person who’s just not interested in political things, you’ll probably just trash the email,” Brandenberger said. Ward agreed that those who responded to the survey — which had a 41.7% yield rate — were likelier to be more politically
engaged than the average student. Still, the survey numbers aligned with the NSLVE data, giving the researchers confidence in the validity of the survey. The NSLVE collects data on student voting records through public records to determine the level of civic engagement on college campuses. These records do not show which candidate students voted for, but they do provide a source of voting data not swayed by self-reporting biases. Ward, who is also a student leader at ND Votes, said the data will help the group continue to encourage civic engagement. “As one of the leaders of ND Votes, it’s super important to have the knowledge and data to back up what we’re doing and how we choose to approach getting people registered and engaged in elections,” Ward said. Ward said this data will become even more relevant during the midterm elections this November. ND Votes plans to employ dorm representatives and tabling events to encourage students to continue voting in high numbers during midterms. Some states’ absentee ballot application deadlines are quickly
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approaching before midterm elections, she added. In terms of his future research, Brandenberger said he hopes to examine strategies to decrease political polarization at Notre Dame. Brandenberger said polarization and differences between parties were illustrated in the report by the different ways students prioritized issues when voting. The report found that students who voted for the Democratic ticket in 2020 cited COVID-19 pandemic response and racial justice concerns as key voting issues. Those who voted for the Republican ticket cited the economy and abortion as their priority voting issues. Voters on opposite sides of the spectrum prioritized few similar key issues. “I’m most interested in how we can cross the political divide that’s emerged in the last 4 to 5 years,” Brandenberger said. “What I hope we can get beyond is ‘My party is the only thing I think about.’” Contact Maggie Eastland at meastlan@nd.edu
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NEWS
The observer | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
DIANE PARK | The Observer
Celebrating the Black community at ND By UYEN LE, ADRIANA PEREZ, SPENCER KELLY, EVAN McKENNA and LILYANN GARDNER From the Archives Researchers
Since 1947, the year the first Black student graduated from Notre Dame, the Black community continues to be a vibrant part of campus life. They have faced many adversities, from the effects of Jim Crow that reached the North, to the toll of police brutality, to the daily microaggressions made by classmates and faculty members. Throughout the years, Black students have sought to elevate their experiences and stories in a predominantly white environment. As Black History Month begins, From the Archives also strives to highlight the stories of the Black experience at Notre Dame, calling attention to the injustices the Black community faces while also celebrating their accomplishments and cultural impact at Notre Dame.
First Black students speak on early stages of integration and persistent struggles Feb. 23, 2000 | Colleen McCarthy | Researched by Adriana Perez Frazier Thompson became the first Black student to graduate from Notre Dame 75 years ago, in 1947. He had returned to finish his studies after completing his service in the Navy during World War II. Despite some of University President Fr. Theodore Hesburgh’s best efforts toward integration after he became executive vice president of the University in 1949, Associate News Editor Colleen McCarthy wrote, few Black people chose to come to Notre Dame. Black people, Hesburgh said back then, “may not have felt welcome here because they saw it was pretty much all white and that may have affected the number who chose to attend the University.” “I can see how it would have been kind of a lonely path, and it would require a lot of courage,” he added. In 2000, The Observer interviewed two people who had displayed that courage a little under 50 years earlier: Clarence Hodges ’55 and Ben Finley ’60. Hodges, whose home was a 20-minute drive away in Michigan, graduated from Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in education. A veteran with a wife and five kids, he had served in the U.S. military from 1940 to 1943, so the G.I. Bill allowed him to receive a college
education. He was one of three Black students on campus at the time, but that didn’t bother him, McCarthy reported. “Hodges attributed the lack of racism he saw at the University to the Catholic nature of the institution,” she added. Nonetheless, he would add integration did not mean interactions between Black and white students were common — quite the opposite. But he’d go to the Huddle to play pool with the younger students in hopes of “doing [his] best to integrate the pool tables.” Ben Finley, a New York City native, was one of 25 Black students on campus in 1956, his first year at the University. “I was used to being a grain of pepper in a sea of salt,” Finley told McCarthy. The electrical engineering student said he was called a racial slur for the first time at the University during orientation week. Sitting on one of the docks by the lakes, Finley delivered a punch that landed him and his aggressor in the lake. “That was the last time that that happened,” he said. The 25 Black students remained a tight-knit group that would have long post-dinner conversations about everything from race to weekend plans. As the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum in the 1960s, Finley said he felt he had to step into the “role of teacher fielding questions from confused white students.” In 2000, Finley and Hesburgh reflected on Notre Dame’s integration efforts and agreed the University had a long way to go in recruiting Black students and keeping them enrolled. “In all honesty, Notre Dame has made huge strides in recruitment and while much is yet to be accomplished, the University should be congratulated for its accomplishments,” Finley said. Cliff Brown: “At the helm” of Notre Dame Football Sept. 15, 1971 | E.J. Kinkopf | Oct. 11, 1971 | Jim Donaldson | Oct. 18, 1971 | Jim Donaldson | Oct. 26, 1971 | Neil Amdur | Researched by Spencer Kelly After the 1970-71 season, Notre Dame was searching for a new quarterback. Star signalcaller Joe Theismann moved on to the NFL, leaving big shoes to fill in an already pressurepacked position. One leading contender was Cliff Brown. The sophomore had undeniable talent with a strong arm and perhaps an
even stronger leg — he nailed a 51-yard field goal in the 1971 Blue and Gold Game. Brown also showed a tireless work ethic. Instead of going home for the summer, he stayed on campus to train with All-American wide receiver Tom Gatewood. Earning the starting nod would be an achievement for anyone. But the stakes for Brown were greater: he was vying to be Notre Dame’s first Black starting quarterback. However, Brown was not concerned with this added implication. “No, there’s no additional pressures on me because I am Black,” Brown said. “Believe me, there’s enough pressure just coming here and trying to play a top class of football.” Brown apparently did not meet this “top class” level, as senior Bill Etter was named the starter instead. After Etter led the Irish to a 3-0 start, Brown’s chances of playing seemed slim. But in game four against Miami, Etter suffered a serious knee injury. Brown was thrust into the game on third down, wholly unprepared. Still wearing kicking cleats, he slipped while stepping back to pass and Notre Dame was forced to punt. After that inauspicious start, Brown changed into proper cleats and led three successful scoring drives. The defense did the rest of the work, and the Irish won 17-0. Etter’s knee injury was deemed season-ending. So, in the next game on Saturday, Oct. 16 against North Carolina, Cliff Brown would make his historic start. Brown was again triumphant. In a run-heavy scheme, Brown threw just 14 times, but had five completions and a touchdown pass. Another defensive shutout powered a 16-0 Irish victory. After the game, head coach Ara Parseghian praised Brown’s performance. “I think Brown did a very good job at quarterback,” Parseghian said. “Based on his play today, I would say that Brown will start again.” Brown would indeed remain the starter for the rest of the 1971 season, finishing with an 8-2 record. However, Brown would lose his job next year to Tom Clements. Brown played sparingly over his final two seasons as Clements led Notre Dame to a national championship in 1973. Still, Brown’s
accomplishment in 1971 remains significant. At the time, Black players were marginalized from football in general, but particularly from the quarterback position. Brown broke that barrier in a big way by starting in such a prominent program. In a 1971 New York Times profile republished in The Observer, Brown already recognized his place in history. “For so long the Black athlete was thought of as ‘give him the football and let him run– he can’t think,” Brown said. “I think a lot a Black athletes probably haven’t come to Notre Dame because people have told them they wouldn’t have a chance. My being first string should convince them that a Black man can play at the helm anywhere if he’s good enough.” Students advocate for bettering of Black experience at Notre Dame Feb. 25, 1986 | Marin Rogers | Lester Flemons | Researched by Evan McKenna Before there was Walk the Walk Week at Notre Dame, there was Minority Awareness Week. For a number of years in the mid-1980s, Minority Awareness Week sought to promote efforts toward diversity and to recognize the issues affecting students of color on the University’s campus. And just as Walk the Walk Week sparks a yearly campus dialogue surrounding issues of diversity and inclusion, 1986’s Minority Awareness Week brought with it a campus-wide conversation about improving the Black student experience at Notre Dame — with a portion of said conservation occurring in The Observer’s Viewpoint section. On Feb. 25, 1986, in the wake of that year’s Minority Awareness Week, guest columnist Marin Rogers briefly commended the week’s efforts. In the spirit of raising awareness, Rogers chose to highlight an event from the previous year “that for one reason or another was overlooked.” It all began on Oct. 10, 1985, Rogers wrote, with the formation of a Notre Dame mini-senate made up of approximately 20 Black alumni. Led by then-University President Fr. Hesburgh, the mini-senate was created at the request of the Notre Dame Alumni Association to discuss “the problems facing minority students at Notre Dame, the role of Black alumni in the Alumni Association and how to attract more Black students and
faculty to Notre Dame.” After engaging in conversation with countless figures and leaders across campus, the Black alumni of the minisenate wrote and presented a report, titled “Imperatives and Recommendations,” to Hesburgh and the Alumni Association. After being endorsed by the Alumni Association, the report was to be presented to the University’s Board of Trustees for consideration. The recommendations of the report varied widely, but all shared a goal of improving the Black student experience at Notre Dame: implementing a pre-orientation for Black students, bolstering admission and financial aid programs for Black students and formalizing a sub-committee of Black alumni to assist the University in diversity-related efforts. And the fight for inclusion continues to this day. In recent years, student movements such as End Hate at ND have advocated for many of the same policies, bringing the fight for such initiatives into its fifth decade. Just this year, the University’s newly formed Trustee Task Force on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion seeks to rectify many of the issues discussed by the mini-senate way back in 1986. But progress never comes all at once, and the fight for inclusion may never truly be over. Also on Oct. 10, 1985, columnist Lester Flemons (‘87) acknowledged these difficult truths. “There will always be problems to confront the minority student at Notre Dame,” he wrote. “In the future, hopefully, the administration will increase its efforts to address the situation.” Black History Month celebrated through festival of the arts and diverse talent Feb. 5, 1982 | Joy Leapheart | Researched by Lilyann Gardner The Black Cultural Arts Festival at the University of Notre Dame was viewed by many students as the perfect start to Black History Month and the celebration of Black excellence in the arts. The students of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College came together in a collaborative effort to shine a spotlight on the talents of esteemed Black artists from across the United States and from the local tricampus community.
see ARCHIVES PAGE 5
News
Lecture Continued from page 1
stories, poems and essays. Her work is rooted in her passion for the African diaspora. Recently, Evaristo won the 2019 Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards, for her novel “Girl, Woman, Other”, which tells the story of twelve women through the lens of race, sexuality, gender and economic injustice. She was the first Black woman and first Black British author to win the award. Evaristo began her lecture by explaining her personal history. “I was born in 1959 to a Nigerian father and a white English mother who married in spite of my mother’s family objecting to her marrying a Black man,” Evaristo said. Despite the social stigma, “British history up to that point had actually been a very multicultural society,” Evaristo said. “There were Black people in Britain … certainly from the 1500s and 1600s onwards that history is very well-recorded.” However, despite the “really deep history” of people of color in Britain, “people of color have dissolved into the bloodstream of white Britain over the centuries,” Evaristo said. This force motivated Evaristo’s passion for representing identities and communities that are infrequently seen in popular culture. After World War II, “Britain called out to its colonies … to fill in gaps [of those who had been killed in the war],” Evaristo said. It was at this time that her father immigrated to Britain. “White Britons had a deep sense of racial cultural superiority, they saw the masses of people arriving in the 20th century as barbarians and all sorts of bad … stereotypes,” she said. Evaristo described herself as a “child who was mixed-race, growing up in a society that was at the beginning of the tail end of empire and also having been brainwashed by the makers of British history … that people of color … were savages and the imperial
Archives Continued from page 4
The guest speakers for the Black Cultural Arts Festival of 1982 included Lerone Bennett, Jr., an author and historian who acted as Senior Editor of Ebony Magazine, and Sonia Sanchez, a poet and a prominent figure in the Black Arts Movement. Darlene Sowell (‘82), the chairperson of the festival, stated, “We pick our speakers because of the diversity of their talents and careers. We want to present a positive image of the Black experience and a positive role model, not only to the majority students on campus but to the minority students as well.” The speakers made profound impacts on the students by highlighting the festival’s theme of “Cultural Dimensions” through poetry readings and powerful performances;
ndsmcobserver.com | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | The Observer
project was actually to save these people from themselves.” After secondary school, Evaristo attended drama school, which she said was instrumental in developing her Black and feminist identity. However, she realized that drama schools didn’t want to train Black actors because there were very few roles open to them. So Evaristo and her colleagues established the Theatre of Black Women in 1 982. Although the Theatre is no longer active, Evaristo notes the impact it has had on her to this day. “That kind of creative path that I chose in my twenties is something that has continued until today,” Evaristo said. “I wanted to create theater that was representative of the African diaspora of Britain at that time, especially women’s stories.” She then experimented with forms, branching out into poetry and fiction. “I have a seed of an idea in my head, and through the act of writing, I am surprised by the characters that emerge and the stories that come through,” Evaristo said of her writing process. Integral to Evaristo’s work is the concept of intersectionality. “I am very interested in intersectionality as someone who is very intersectional,” she said. “The purpose of ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ was to give presence to absence … It’s a mapping of different ways of being and living.” Evaristo’s impact on the British literary scene extends beyond her award-winning written work. “I initiated diversity projects because I want to ensure that I take people with me, and that’s something I learned from my father, who was an immigrant, who was there to help his community,” Evaristo said. One such project was The Complete Works, in response to a report commissioned by Evaristo that found that only one percent of the poetry published by major British presses was written by people of color. The Complete Works is a mentorship and networking program for poets of color. Program participants are
“now winning most of the poetry awards in this country,” Evaristo said. This has caused a “rippling effect” as younger poets have representation and role models. Another initiative is the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, which Evaristo established “to put African poetry on the global scene.” As a result of the prize’s growing visibility, “the world has woken up to the fact that African poetry had been invisible, and we had been ignoring an entire continent of poetry,” Evaristo said. Evaristo’s most recent initiative is to return to circulation older books by Black British authors that had been ignored by British academia. These books ought to be taught to future generations as history and inspiration, she said. Evaristo’s prominence in the British literary scene has allowed her to gain access to the insular, often homogenous elite that control awards and publishing houses. “Instead of throwing verbal rocks at the citadel, I’m now inside the citadel, effecting change,” Evaristo said. However, she acknowledged the dangers of becoming a token minority in a push for greater diversity. “I don’t allow myself to be used and exploited,” she said. “My politics have matured, but my basic belief system [and] my belief in equality haven’t changed.” Throughout the lecture, Evaristo repeatedly acknowledged recent changes in British culture and literary culture in terms of their attitude towards race and social justice. Movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter “spoke to raise consciousness globally about voices that had been left out of the conversation,” Evaristo said. However, despite Evaristo’s commitment to social justice, she reiterated that politics do not shape her characters or her stories. “Even though I am an activist, and my activism underpins my creativity, and the need to explore these untold stories, my writing is not political.”
however, the process of inviting these notable guests was not an easy task. The first Black Cultural Arts Festival began in 1968 and lacked financial support or an established budget. The festival was considered a part of Black Cultural Arts Council (BCAC), which resulted in very little money being allocated to this specific event. The financial deficit brought about an absence of speakers, and the Director of Minority Student Affairs recognized a change was needed in order to ensure the celebration continued in the years to come. “According to Director of Minority Student Affairs Edward Blackwell, the festival and the council have become two separate organizations on campus,” wrote Showcase author Joy Leapheart (‘83). The separation of the Black Cultural Arts Festival from the Black
Cultural Arts Council did not create a schism between the organizations. In fact, the festival acknowledged the BCAC as its primary sponsor and many individuals remained members of both groups. By 1982, the financial problems had all but disappeared and the festival had become “established as a part of campus life.” The accomplishments of Black students were being commended alongside well-known authors, poets, artists and actors. Additionally, students gained a greater education and appreciation for diversity in art.
Contact Annemarie Foy at afoy@nd.edu
Contact Uyen Le at hle2@nd.edu, Adriana Perez at aperez8@nd.edu, Spencer Kelly at skelly25@nd.edu, Evan McKenna at emckenna2@nd.edu and Lilyann Gardner at lgardne2@nd.edu
Keenan Continued from page 1
v ideo w it h t he capt ion “It’s like SNL , but on Thursday a nd Friday too.” Ticket dist ribut ion occurred f rom 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1 in La For tune Student Center. The 2022 Rev ue r uns f rom Feb. 10-12, w it h a show each night f rom 7-9 p.m. Li ke ot her yea rs, t his yea r’s show w i l l include sk its, da ncing a nd live music. Sen ior Pat r ick Bren na n, t h is yea r’s producer, a s wel l a s head w r iters a nd sen iors Lu ke Mau r ice a nd Lu ke Sher ida n-Rabideau have a l l been i nvolved i n t he Keena n Rev ue si nce t hei r f i rst yea r at Not re Da me. Brenna n’s involvement in t his yea r’s Rev ue bega n ea rlier in t he academic yea r. “I found out t hat I was t he producer of t his yea r’s show before fa l l brea k,” he sa id. “Li ke t wo weeks before Christ mas, we had t he t heme picked. A nd t he week before Christ mas, we had our music picked. The sk its were picked t he second week of school.” Maurice a lso sa id t he process for formu lat ing t he Rev ue ca n beg in sooner. “During t he summert ime, ideas a re just k ind of t hrow n into a document,” he sa id. Brenna n ex pla ined t hat Rev ue rehea rsa ls a re a big communit y-bui lder for t he dorm. “There’s not one person … pract icing for t he Rev ue t hat is not absolutely necessa r y,” he sa id. “Ever y single person in t here needs to be in t here a nd we cou ld not do w it hout t hem. It’s like t he biggest communit y exercise a nd t hat’s t he coolest t hing about it.” For t he t icket dist ribut ion, Brenna n sa id t he police helped to ma ke sure ever y t hing was orderly, due to t he si ze of t he event a nd t he high dema nd for t ickets. “We’re ex pect ing about 2,000 people per show t his
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yea r, so we’re excited. About 6,000 people a re going to see us,” sa id Brenna n. “A nd t hese g uys r unning t he show a re a lso seasoned vets. I say I get ner vous about t he event but it’s a l l exciting. Because in a couple of nights your f riends a nd fa mi ly w i l l be out. A nd it’s just li ke, I’m excited to see what t hey t hin k of it, excited to get out t here a nd ma ke people laugh.” Brenna n a lso discussed t he suppor t t hat helped ma ke t he Rev ue happen t his yea r. “I a lso rea l ly appreciate a l l t he administ rat ion’s suppor t because even last yea r, t he one g ua ra ntee t hat we had was t hat t he Rev ue was going to happen — [in] t he stadium, but it was going to happen,” he sa id. “We didn’t k now where it was going to happen a nd in what capacit y but it was going to happen. A nd t his yea r, it was li ke t he sa me t hing, a nd maybe to a n even g reater ex tent t hat it was going to be in person. People a re going to be t here. They might be masked, but people a re going to be t here.” Sherida n-Rabideau emphasi zed t hat t he Rev ue t his yea r is impor ta nt for younger classes. “The f reshma n class have not seen t he Rev ue, of course, most of t he sophomore class has not seen one a nd you k now t he juniors haven’t ex perienced one in some t ime. It feels incredibly impor ta nt a lso for us to rea l ly do as good of a job as we ca n to k ind of keep t he legacy going,” he sa id. In addit ion, t he f undra ising cause for Keena n Ha l l is a persona l one. “We do a lso get a l l t y pes of cha rit y donat ions t hroughout t he show t hat we donate to Dismas House, which is a house in Sout h Bend t hat houses recent ly released, reforming inca rcerated people,” Brenna n sa id. “A nd we’l l go to do dinners w it h t hem as wel l. But t here w i l l be people f rom Dismas here [at t he show.] It’s prett y excit ing.” Contact Mili Garcia Casas at egarciac@nd.edu
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The observer | WEDNESDAY, February 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
Inside Column
An apology to anyone who’s ever listened to me talk about music Nia Sylva Scene Copy Editor
A few days ago, a few friends and I were watching one of the snowboarding events at the Olympics. Unfortunately, I can’t be any more specific about which event this was, but my overall ignorance serves a larger point: We simply had no idea what was going on. A contestant would complete her “run,” involving multiple jumps with all kinds of flips and rotations. Unless she fell, we would assume the “run” went well — the more flips, the better, right? Then, the color commentators would wonder about “What the judges were going to do with this”... and somehow, that snowboarder’s “run” would be given an incredibly specific score, one that often seemed lower than the overall impressiveness of the tricks should have earned. As far as we were concerned, there was almost no way of predicting which snowboarders’ scores would make the top three. The judges were clearly using some sort of detailed scoring system, but we couldn’t figure it out. We knew which runs we found most impressive, but our scoring system — if you can call it that — was more based off of vibes than anything else. Why am I telling you all of this? Because of something I realized as I was watching the competitors flip around in the air while simultaneously reciting a Japanese Breakfast song in my head, a song from an album that I would only semi-ironically call “objectively great” despite having no objective standard for judging these things. The truth is this: I like music the same way I like snowboarding — with near-total ignorance, but thinking I can recognize the good stuff when I see (or, in this case, hear) it. It feels good to get that off of my chest. I’ve tried to maintain this facade of “expertise” for far too long. I may write and copy edit for the Scene department at The Observer, but I honestly know nothing about music theory or production. Seriously, nothing. I took a music class last year, and when we analyzed various songs, I would have to write question marks next to the instruments I was talking about because I couldn’t even tell what was being played (imagine: trumpets?). So, when I say that I like an album because of the production or the quality of the melodies, I really just mean that I like the way it sounds. I can recognize a good bass line or guitar hook, but that’s about it. Everything I’ve already said would be bad enough. Except my tastes aren’t just subjective; sometimes, they’re not even really mine. I pretend to be immune to various music “trends” and to scorn top 40 music, but I go through phases and follow the crowd like everyone else. I was quick to abandon Taylor Swift (along with much of the world) upon the release of the “reputation” radio singles, even though I loved “1989.” Now, I can once again appreciate both Taylor and “reputation,” but it only took the opening bars of “...Ready For It?” and a little Kanye drama for me to write her off as an artist for almost five years. I also went through a “classic rock” phase that irritated everyone around me, mostly because I refused either to admit that it was a phase at all or to listen to anything that wasn’t written or performed by a long-haired, coked-out white man. My rationale at the time was that this kind of music was the best ever made and that anyone with a discerning ear should exclusively listen to stuff from before the 1990s, too. Now, I’ve pretty much returned to the present, as far as my tastes are concerned (though I do still love Led Zeppelin). But I still read Pitchfork and Rolling Stone reviews to make sure I’m listening to the “right stuff.” And as much as I am ashamed to admit it, some of the songs that have become my favorites are those that were recommended to me on indie music TikTok. By now, you surely understand what I’m trying to say: I’m a fraud, and I’m taking this moment to come clean to anyone who’s been subjected to my uninformed ramblings about post-punk revival and lounge jazz concept albums. But this column is more than just a confession (seeing as that would be a real downer). Yes, my music preferences are somewhat governed by a desire, however subconscious, to like the music adored by people who actually know what they’re talking about. Yes, they can change on a whim, no matter how sure I am that whatever Arctic Monkeys b-side or Major Lazer and Ezra Koenig collaboration has become my hyperfixation of the month will be my favorite forever. Yes, Lorde is probably right that “all the music you loved at 16 you’ll grow out of.” All of that may be true. But who cares? Why should anyone be ashamed about having tastes that change, or about having tastes that are influenced by our peers, or about really loving something we hardly know at all? Sometimes, popular things are popular for a reason. Sometimes, I — and really all of us — will inevitably fail to discover something great until the masses do. Watching snowboarding has taught me you can enjoy a sport without really getting it, or even pretending to get it, and that there’s nothing wrong with being an armchair enthusiast, jumping on the bandwagon with more joy than real understanding. The same can be said for music (even if I’d still rather be a connoisseur). You can contact Nia at asylva@nd.edu The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
This is an amateur pun Madeline Law Trivial Matters
Just a second, please… I’m laughing at my own nerdy joke… (thank you for laughing or pretending you did.) OK, I’m ready. I have a question for you. When someone says the word “amateur,” what comes to mind? Thinking of something? Alright, cool. I’m now going to attempt to read your mind. When you heard the word amateur, did you think of things like a beginner, non-profession, novice, unskilled or something similar? If I’m right, that’s awesome, thanks for helping me be telepathic for a minute! If I’m wrong, then either you know exactly where I’m going with this, or I’d really love to have a conversation with you and find out what you were thinking instead. Either way, I hope you keep reading because I wrote this for you. What I learned is that “amateur” used to mean a person who does something for the simple fact that they love doing it, regardless of skill. I think that’s beautiful. Now, I don’t remember where I learned this wonderful thing (probably on some odd grammar-joke-filled pocket of the internet), but I have been wanting to put some research behind it, hence this column. I would likely be a linguistics major if there was such a thing at Saint Mary’s. Instead, I found the closest thing — a mash-up between English literature and communication studies. So, here’s a little etymology tidbit for you: We borrowed the word “amateur” from the early 15th-century French word “amateur,” meaning someone who loves (we didn’t really give it back). A few decades later it began to mean someone who loves an abstract concept. In the 17th century, an amateur referred to someone who was a “non-practicing enthusiast of the fine arts,” and in the 18th century, a “non-professional practitioner of an art or a science.” Of course, the French-derived it from the Latin “amator,” which means lover, devoted friend and enthusiastic admirer. Thanks, online Oxford English Dictionary! I adore this original meaning because of what the word amateur means today; it is a much-needed reminder. In our historical moment, especially these recent classes in the 2010s (and now the 2020s, too…when did that happen?!), it seems we’ve collectively been raised to carefully curate our academics, extracurriculars, hobbies, even the shows and movies we watch and the books we read in order to present a picture-perfect concept, *cough* sorry, person to the world. That was just getting into college, though. Once we’re actually in college, the narrative becomes layered. We are told that college is the time for trying new things and exploring different interests while simultaneously being reminded from day one to have a four-year, fiveyear plan to launch yourself into the real world. We are offered a bounty of fun, and career-minded clubs and courses to try, but what those inspiring, abstract
images and videos promoting these institutions don’t detail is that it’s actually a race to find the thing you’re good at so that you can put yourself on the next track to a career. That is the cynical view, to be sure, though it doesn’t feel untrue. But this is why I wanted to talk about the word “amateur.” Despite that notuntrue cynicism, I believe in the importance of being an amateur at something. Or at many things! In the modern colloquial sense, yet, but more importantly in the language of love, that French meaning. To have something that is not consequential in any way except to bring joy, something you do simply because you love it. And by no means does this prevent you from becoming better at it. Being an amateur at something reminds us of how much we don’t know, and how much it’s OK to not know everything. It’s humbling, but it’s wonderful. It’s freeing. I recognize that this is entirely my singular perspective, too. I’ve only come to it after a long period of stressing out over my involvement and interest in things that change from semester to semester more often than not. But, c’est la vie, oui? Call it a hobby, call it a guilty pleasure, call it whatever you can think of — if there is something that you just enjoy doing just for the love of it, then do it. Be an amateur. Be a non-professional practitioner or non-practicing enthusiast at something, or at nothing, it’s your call. But do be someone who loves. Better yet, become someone who loves. And now that I’ve been sufficiently, ironically, serious about not being too serious about something you love, I’d like to end this column with a few suggestions for things to be an amateur at, courtesy of my friends. These are things that some people consider themselves amateurs at, but do it for the love of it anyway: Singing (this was a popular one, I think many can relate) Creative writing Watercolor or drawing Multiplayer video games Badminton (apparently it’s not spelled “badmitten”) Makeup or nail art Tap dancing Thinking about the existence of the soul Photography (that’s mine!) Please share what you are an amateur at! Share it with yours truly over email (see my bio below), share it with friends and family or just give it a brief thought and move on with your day. Or anything in between. It’s up to you. Madeline Law is a Saint Mary’s junior from Petoskey, Michigan. She studies English literature and communication studies with a minor in theater. If you can find her, she’ll either be adding books to scattered to-read lists or rereading old favorites. Reach her through email at mlaw01@saintmarys.edu and send book suggestions. The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.
The observer | wednesday, february 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
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Peace, love and Punxsutawney Julianna Conley In My Own Words
Earlier this semester, I was updating the wall calendar at my on-campus job, when Obed Antwi-Baidoo, a first-year from Ghana, came over and asked me what Groundhog Day is. As I explained the traditions surrounding our favorite rodent Punxsutawney Phil, a look of confusion came over Obed’s face. “You’re meaning to tell me,” he started, briefly pausing before continuing, “Americans get their weather… from a hog?” A big fan of the often-overlooked holiday, I laughed and explained to him that in my personal opinion, the tradition is less about predicting weather — the temperature will be the temperature no matter which season Phil decides to name it — and more about celebrating silliness. I first watched the Groundhog Celebration with my mother when I was still in middle school. Passing down to me her love for people who take ridiculous things ultra seriously, my mother beckoned me to her computer, telling me to enjoy the production being made over a ground squirrel’s shadow. Just as I enjoyed watching the almost campy pomp and circumstance then, I still love the comically serious solemnity with which the event is approached. For those who weren’t as clever as I was in using my snow day to watch the celebration live, here are a few highlights from this year’s ceremony for the prognosticator of prognosticators (their words, not mine):
1. Great nicknames Each jolly, top hat sporting man in the “rain makin’, downpourin’, day breakin’, shingle shakin’ inner circle” of PGC (Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, for those not in the know) is introduced with a jaunty little nickname. My favorites included “Moonshine,” “O-Zone,” “Thunder Conductor” and “Big Chill.” Just Google Butch Philliber and tell me it doesn’t bring you joy to know that he goes by “Iceman.”
2. Peace, love and Punxsutawney? The president, a.k.a. “Fair Weatherman,” compared the biggest midweek crowd in Groundhog Day history
to Woodstock, adding, “You people are proving something to the world: that 10,000 people can get together at 3 o’clock in the morning and have fun and music and nothing but fun and music! And we God bless you for it!” Ah yes, the Gobbler’s Knob Groundhog Day celebration. The closest thing we have to a modern-day Woodstock.
3. Global gobblers Shortly after the comparison to Woodstock, the president announced nearly every country in the world was represented in the crowd. To think, poor Obed was one of the few Ghanaians who hadn’t previously made the trek to Gobbler’s Knob.
4. Sensitive large men Big, burly, bearded men in top hats and bow ties waved carefully designed floral printed signs that read “Think Spring!” Once winter was announced, the sign was quickly flipped to “We <3 Old Man Winter.”
5. Intimate interspecies bonds After retrieving Punxsutawney Phil from his burrow, the handler (“Rainmaker” A.J. Dereume) victoriously waved Punxsutawney Phil overhead, tightly holding on with one hand. Once Phil was put down, the president shyly whispered, “You look… you look beautiful today.”
6. Punxsutawney Phil is surprisingly poetic In the scroll found in his burrow as his written declaration of winter’s continuation, Phil wrote, “Winter has been bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet winter is just another step in the cycle of life. As I look out over the faces of the true believers from around the world, I bask in the warmth of your hearts.” A groundhog uses the word “bereft.”
7. A twice-repeated reminder that “for those who want to stay, we stay as looong as necessary to get [everyone’s] picture with Phil.” They’re for the people, that PGC Inner Circle. Watching the Gobbler’s Knob broadcast, I was shocked more people don’t tune in for this yearly delight of sincere, earnest absurdity. To me, Groundhog Day is more than just a silly way to break up the monotony of everyday life. Or perhaps the real importance of it is that it isn’t. It’s just good ol’ fashioned, Woodstockesque fun. The importance doesn’t come from the
act of pulling a rodent out of its stump and asking it to predict the seasons. The importance comes simply from the people whose belief wills it into being so. The crowd wearing their crochet groundhog hats, the reporter crouched with his microphone next to Phil’s snout, the 95-year-old Inner Circle member who’s made the 160-meter procession enough times that he’s now logged 5.5 miles just walking to the stage — they all care that this day matters, so it does. And in a world that too often seems to alternate only between jaded and outraged, how refreshing it is to care about something for which the stakes are so low. At work, team point recounts were held to determine who won an Evil Czech brunch, and more than once, employees have come close to blows over the results of Taboo. My first year of college, my best friend wanted to know which Hemsworth brother people found more attractive, so she and I systematically conducted a survey of more than 250 Notre Dame students. Even in terms of Notre Dame traditions, the gravity with which we understand the importance of not walking on the Main Building steps or accidentally traversing God Quad is almost comedic. There’s something endearing about a person who takes their tasks so seriously, something kind of cool about being so passionate you assume everyone else is just as invested as you are. It’s contagious. It’s exciting and fun to buy in all the way, to approach every hatched plan like it’s necessary to national security. For all I know, that Groundhog Day president may have been right, and every last country was gathered in a small Pennsylvania town this past Wednesday. But even if they weren’t, it doesn’t matter. The whole world was in Gobbler’s Knob, as far as the Punxsutawney Groundhog Council was concerned. Julianna Conley is a senior studying sociology and pre-health studies with a minor in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy. Though she is forever loyal to Pasquerilla East B-team athletics, Julianna now lives off campus. She can be reached for comment at jconley4@nd.edu or @JuliannaLConley on Twitter. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Just Goggins it Mikey Colgan Collegiate Crossroads
Since middle school, when I was complaining about a mountain of work I had or an upcoming sports practice, my dad would smirk at me and say, “Just Goggins it.” This response would always irk me because I was hoping for a response that sympathized with my situation. At the time, those three words did not carry much meaning for me. I may have known some of the story of David Goggins, a retired Navy seal, but I never completely understood the message until I began learning more about the man on my own. David Goggins is an absolute legend. He was raised with an abusive father and escaped his home to a small town in Indiana with his mother at just eight years old. Goggins was one of few African Americans in his town and commonly faced racism and bullying at his school. Since birth, any glimmer of confidence or hope had been shot down by those around him. He had a severe stutter and thought lowly of himself. In school, he struggled with classes due to severe learning disabilities. After high school, Goggins joined the Air Force, working as a Tactical Air Control Party officer for five years. After his contract finished, Goggins began spraying for cockroaches at an Ecolab. After work, he would come home and eat an entire box of mini donuts to reward himself for his efforts. His weight was up to 300 pounds and his future prospects were looking bleak. But then an idea began to form in his head. While evaluating his life, Goggins believed there must
be something better for him to do. He then dreamed up an image in his head. He envisioned himself walking across the stage as he was officially named a Navy SEAL. With that dream in mind, his life changed for good. In three months, he lost 100 pounds with an excruciatingly difficult training and diet regimen. He joined the Navy and on his third attempt, Goggins passed BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL) training to become a SEAL. After passing training, his legend only grew larger. In 2005, Goggins decided to run an ultramarathon (100 miles) to raise money for the families of his friends who had recently passed away in Afghanistan. However, in order to qualify for the fundraiser, Goggins had to run 100 miles in 24 hours to prove he was capable of going the distance. He had not run in months and was about to try the impossible. On race day, Goggins reached mile 70 and appeared incapable of continuing. He was peeing blood and his ankles were swollen to the size of baseballs. His wife implored him to stop, but he attempted to keep going by walking. Around 10 miles later, his wife told him he wasn’t going to finish within the 24 hour limit. Upon hearing he would fail, Goggins ran and never stopped, finishing the 100 miles and needing an immediate trip to the hospital afterwards. Goggins continued running ultramarathons and eventually broke the world record for pull ups at 4,030. A man who was once afraid of his own shadow and did everything in his power to avoid uncomfortable situations was now the toughest man in the world. For most, when reading about Goggins, the most memorable aspects of his story are his physical accomplishments. While his world record endurance is a
marvel to behold, I believe what makes him so special is his mental fortitude. When he speaks about his story, Goggins always highlights the switch in his mindset as the deciding factor in his transformation. He was never talented. However, he simply refused to be stopped from reaching his goals in life. People thought he was crazy, but he did not care. Whether he had blood running down his leg and 30 miles to go or 100 pounds to lose before SEAL training, Goggins would put his entire self into achieving his dream. This is a lesson we can all learn from and apply to our lives. No matter what your purpose is in life, developing your mind to be unwavering and focused on your respective goals is a must to reach your potential as a human being. This extends from career to character. Determining what you ought to do and then doing it seems like the easiest task in the world. However, we all know how difficult it is in everyday life. With that in mind, I challenge you to improve your mental fortitude everyday. Set goals for yourself and achieve them. Whether it’s getting in shape or being a great friend, envision the future you want and just make it happen. No matter what people say or how daunting the path seems, have a vision for your life and “Just Goggins it.” Mikey Colgan is a sophomore from Boston, Massachusetts, studying finance and ACMS. He is an avid college basketball fan and resides in Morrissey Hall. He can be reached at mcolgan2@nd.edu or @Mikeycolgs15 on Twitter. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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The observer | wednesday, february 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
A declaratory conception celebrate in the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception emphasizes what God, in the three Persons of the Trinity, did. Our Heavenly Father, knowing in his divine Providence that His Son would soon be sent, by way of Mary, to save the rest of the world, allowed that salvific grace to preserve the Blessed Mother from the stain of even original sin. This mystery of faith is more like lawmaking, because it emphasizes this belief about how Mary was created and the fact that it’s still Jesus that is doing the actual saving there. But the Annunciation is a little different, because that feast’s very name invokes thoughts of the archangel Gabriel. Gabriel was the one who did the announcing, informing Mary that she would bear a son, and he would be Emmanuel — God with us. Gabriel’s not the one actually doing the work here, since we believe as Catholics that Jesus was conceived “by the Holy Spirit.” In both Mary’s and Jesus’s conceptions, God is doing the work of preserving Mary and Himself from the stain of original sin. But since Gabriel announces that fact to Mary, we honor him on March 25 each year for engaging in that related work — just like we respect judges for finding, rather than making, law. So perhaps we students of the law and eventual members of the legal profession might take up (in addition to the wonderful-in-his-own-right St. Thomas More) an unlikely patron in St. Gabriel the Archangel. May he give us the grace to know when God might asking us to do something less like law-finding than like law-making, and then give our Heavenly Father the room to take care of the rest.
collegiate level, and writing question sets that are used at regular-season tournaments all across the country. From time to time, in addition to all of this, the members of NAQT’s exceptionally capable editorial board put out a column called “You Gotta Know” that typically gives a list of items in a set that quizbowlers should know about, as well as some background on each of those items. Examples include “geologic time periods,” “Baroque painters” and “ancient Greek places.” One older “You Gotta Know” column was about “common mistakes.” And one of the “common mistakes” that NAQT flagged was about the Immaculate Conception. When my friend noted this point to me, something clicked inside my head. Since my elementary school days, I’ve understood that the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s conception without the stain of original sin, but many quizbowlers, like many people in general, misconstrue the Immaculate Conception to refer instead to Mary’s conception of Jesus. What clicked was a hypothesis as to why this confusion persists: if those who misconstrue the Immaculate Conception and those who are unaware of the theological significance behind the Annunciation are the two circles of a Venn diagram, there is a large overlap in the middle, and much confusion would be avoided if more people knew that the Annunciation, nine months before Christmas exactly, covers analogously the same material. But it begs the question: why isn’t it the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Jesus? Why don’t we commemorate the fact that from the moment that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus, fully God and fully man, was without original and actual sin? We instead elevate the Annunciation, which denotes the archangel Gabriel declaring to the Blessed Mother that these things will happen. And herein lies the rub. Whether intentional or (more likely) otherwise, the Feasts of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Annunciation of the Lord are yet another analogy that provides support to the notion that judges find law rather than make it. Here’s why: I argue that St. Gabriel the Archangel is like what declaratory theory says judges should be. His role in the Annunciation can be contrasted with what we
Devin Humphreys Law, Life and the Lord
In my last column, I wrote about how a parallel can be discerned between the judicial “finding” of law (also known as the “declaratory theory” of law) and the way that some friends are found rather than made. But a conversation with a dear found friend of mine made me realize that that’s not the end of the story. Both this dear found friend of mine and I captained our respective quiz bowl teams in high school and are members of the quiz bowl team here at Notre Dame. For those who don’t know what quiz bowl is: imagine Jeopardy!, but there’s teams, you don’t pick categories and typically money is not involved. Races to the buzzer to demonstrate superior knowledge of a hodgepodge of things, plus the study of that hodgepodge to prepare, is truly what makes quiz bowl an enjoyable experience, and the Notre Dame team practices every Tuesday and Wednesday from 9-11 p.m. in LaFun. This weekend, I had the great privilege of competing (my first time on the buzzer since high school) as one of the four members of Notre Dame’s A-team, and while eight of the 10 games ended up giving me and the rest of the team a dose of humble pie, as a proud alumnus of Michigan State University, it gave me great joy that my first victories at the collegiate level were a sweep of a twogame series against the University of Michigan. But I digress. The preeminent organization in quiz bowl, the one that has had good question production values for the longest time, is National Academic Quiz Tournaments, or NAQT for short. (I’ve always spelled out the letters, but other friends of mine inform me that the acronym can take the colloquial pronunciation of “nacket,” as in “NAQT packet” for a packet of questions written by NAQT.) NAQT got its start by writing questions that are “pyramidal” in style, putting more difficult clues before easier ones and making it so that those who have more knowledge about an answer are more likely to be the ones buzzing in first. They’ve since expanded their empire, hosting national tournaments at the middle school, high school and
Devin is a member of the Notre Dame Law School’s class of 2023. Originally from Farwell, Michigan, he is a 2020 graduate of Michigan State University’s James Madison College. In his free time, he sings with the Notre Dame Folk Choir and discusses the legal developments of the day with anyone who will listen. Inquiries into his surplus of law journal articles and note ideas can be directed to dhumphr2@nd.edu or @DevinJHumphreys on Twitter. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Looking for logic In the Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, edition of The Observer, Adam Morys, a junior at the University of Notre Dame, penned a letter decrying the University’s requirement that all students and staff receive a two-shot dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as well as a third booster shot six months after the completion of initial inoculation. Mr. Morys presented his framework for the conditions under which it would be permissible for the University to mandate such a requirement of its students and staff. Namely, he opines that the University should be subject to strict scrutiny in assessing its decision to require the COVID vaccine. From there, he lays out a series of questions, blending his remedial knowledge of the law with his budding medical acumen, posed to the administration of the University. In this letter, I do not intend to examine Mr. Morys’ analysis of the medical side of the vaccines and their efficacy. That is not my prerogative. I instead will treat the legal arguments that Mr. Morys put forth. Namely, his assertion that the University impinges upon a supposedly sacred right to bodily autonomy through its vaccine mandate. Mr. Morys makes several clear and egregious miscalculations in his argument, beginning from his initial treatment of the problem. The University of Notre Dame, as a private institution, is not subject to his standard of strict scrutiny. If Mr. Morys had decided to take his ineffable persuasion skills to a public university, perhaps his argument to apply exacting standards of the law would have more traction behind it. Except, it wouldn’t. During the summer of 2021, in light of Indiana University’s requirement for all students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before re-matriculation that fall, the Supreme Court, through Justice Amy
Coney Barrett, rejected the Emergency Application for Writ of Injunction filed in the case Klaassen et al. v. Trustees of Indiana University. This effectively cleared the way for all public universities to require their students to be inoculated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing and mask-wearing. Additionally, Mr. Morys’ assertion that vaccine mandates are “infringements upon fundamental constitutional rights” does not carry water either. The Supreme Court held in Jacobsen v. Massachusetts that citizens could be required to receive vaccines or face criminal culpability. This, in effect, recognized that Mr. Morys does not have the “fundamental constitutional right” to refuse either to receive a mandated vaccine or face repercussions for his refusal. Moreover, in determining the Jacobsen case, the Court applied the rational basis standard, the least exacting form of judicial scrutiny and the polar opposite of Mr. Morys’ astute suggestion of strict scrutiny. As a brief aside, my rebuke of Mr. Morys’ critique of Notre Dame’s vaccine mandate is not meant to signal my support for a nationwide mandate to receive the COVID vaccine such as the one haphazardly attempted by the Biden administration. That piece of regulatory rigmarole was ineffective and unconstitutional because of its shoddy bureaucratic processes and failure to attain legislative legitimacy. Mr. Morys also mischaracterizes Notre Dame’s policies on the COVID vaccine. Notre Dame is not “seeking to abrogate an individual’s right to consent to a medical procedure.” If one does not want to receive a COVID vaccine, they do not need to receive it. It is one’s choice to do so. However, there are consequences to every choice, and for this particular choice, the effects are
having to wear a mask on campus and submit to regular testing. Additionally, His Holiness Pope Francis, in June 2021, stated that receiving the COVID-19 vaccine was a “moral obligation.” This should make abundantly clear to any rational observer that as a Catholic university, Notre Dame not only has the moral authority but an “obligation,” as the Pope put it, to ensure that its community is as safe as it can be. With all of this in mind, Mr. Morys’ approach to the logic behind the University’s COVID vaccine mandate is flawed from the very start. The University is not subject to strict scrutiny in deciding to require the vaccine. The law does not preclude one from having the state require them to be inoculated (if properly legislated). Finally, the University is not requiring that anyone get vaccinated unequivocally and without an alternative. This does not even begin to touch on Mr. Morys’ patently false pretexts, which straddle the line between disinformation and conspiracy, against receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. As a brief conclusion, I would pose to Mr. Morys that if he so opposed to the University of Notre Dame’s “contradictory” mandate, why does he still attend this school? There are plenty of higher education institutions across the country that do not have a vaccine requirement. If he is unable to articulate a cogent argument against the requirement and still wishes to thumb his nose at the administration, then leave. We will be all the better for it. Jon Boehmer junior Feb. 7
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The observer | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
By JP SPOONMORE Scene Writer
When watching foreign shows, the creators’ culture often dilutes in translation. But Netflix’s newest original, “All of Us Are Dead,” goes above and beyond to keep South Korean culture at its core. This webtoon-inspired show explores every socioeconomic angle of the stress-ridden life of South Korean high schoolers. Test scores and bullying are bad enough, but when the high school becomes ground zero of a zombie apocalypse, the entire city falls into ruin. While many productions stalled or were limited due to Covid, the scale of "All of Us Are Dead" is mind blowing. Hordes of infected sprint through hallways and streets, banging against each other while yanking survivors through barricaded windows. Close calls have the infected go face-to-face with the main cast, their humid breath and blood dripping onto the humans’ terrified expressions. The classrooms become claustrophobic safe havens with twenty pairs of teeth and hands pressed against the other side of the doors. Filming a show at this level of intense action is impressive by itself, but having to deal with Covid in scenes of thirty actors pretending to be in a different pandemic is ironically terrifying. The zombies in this show are fantastic. Each transformation utilizes grotesque contortions and cackling screams, bringing a blood-pumping physicality to emotional sacrifices and failures. They are more than rabid track-stars or undead shufflers. The brilliance of the nature of the virus
By XIYUN WU Scene Writer
Guided by the name of the exhibition, “Who Do We Say We Are?,” the Snite Museum of Art displays the juxtaposing answers from the past century of Irish art. As curator Cheryl Snay pointed out in her opening speech, it is not a hyphen that connects 1922 and 2022, but rather, a vertical slash that implicates this juxtaposition. While she spoke, William’s "Hibernia" (1916) and O’Donoghue’s "Revolution Cottage" (2015) hung on either side of the podium. As witnesses to this centennial exhibition, their palettes referencing the Irish national flag corresponds with the exhibition's core theme — probing into the Irish artistic journey over the last 100 years. In most cases, a query waits for an answer — but not at this event. By emphasizing the word “we” in the question, this exhibition addresses viewers as a single entity invited to participate in witnessing this journey that began in Paris in 1922 with "The Exposition D’Art Irlandais." With the beseeching of an answer, the process of this dynamic but gradually solidified national identity is depicted along with the blossom of Irish art — in its direct visual representation, in voices of time and timelessness. Maybe because of the complementary color rule, the shades of orange in "Hibernia" and "Revolution Cottage"
is that expands on every aspect of zombie fiction; it's activated as a mutation of fight-or-flight hormones, so the more a character is accused of being sick, the faster the virus gestates inside them. So, when the rich, popular girl escalates the tension by pointing someone out, she’s never in the wrong, making her antagonism even more frustratingly genius. Socioeconomic status and seniority are everything to these characters. In most zombie narratives, the characters always ask each other what they ‘were’ before it happened, but in this show, they don’t just look back fondly to their career — they cling to it as their identities. Group dynamics completely shift because a teacher enters the room, or a suit reveals a politician. The high school pecking order is decided by wealth: the class president being the daughter of the biggest donors, and the popular girl having command over the boys because she lives in a gated community and they’re on welfare. The rigid structure of class traps every classmate and citizen, forcing the poor to do all the work while the rich point and accuse them of being infected. This divide is shown visually as well, with the rich and powerful wearing clean, pinkish clothing, while the poor’s green school-uniforms or firefighter suits are torn and covered in blood. Positioning class as the main antagonizing force elevates this story beyond a simple zombie survival. It pits politics against the very situations their rules were made to protect people from, yet it ends up abandoning them when they need it most. There’s just one problem: The show is too long. Watching
12 hour-long episodes drained me. The episode-ending hooks chop emotional beats in half just to force you to hit “next episode.” Early deaths are merciless and heartbreaking, but later threats become cheap fake outs when it’s only the essential main characters left. The best elements are perfectly represented in the first three episodes, which are only recycled through the rest of the season over and over again with little variation. The explosive ending brings a ticking clock to add needed adrenaline, but the final resolution spoils the regained energy and falls flat. I highly recommend the beginning of this show, but it comes with a warning. The zombies are intense, and the emotions really punch. In the end, there were too many storylines and fake outs to really center my focus. Finishing the story feels like a marathon, and when the final credits rolled 12 hours later, I was left wanting.
glow brightly against the navy walls. Shades echo with one another. Orange pastel strokes dance with the radical and expressive brush on the cottage's rooftop, delicately highlighting the texture quality of Hibernia's hair and outfit. Their names are also intertwined: The classical Latin name can be traced through to the modern semiotic-like title. The exhibition's most powerful voice comes from the juxtaposition of these two classic visual expressions of Irish national identity. In the colors of their national flag, they highlight the finest of the Irish people's ongoing examinations and recontextualizations of their identity through self-determination and being revolutionary in their circumstances. The O’Shaughnessy East Galleries are divided into three galleries in this specific exhibition. The white title and the exhibition description stand out against the navy wall that comes across the first two galleries. Viewers may witness the clarity of Irish art emerging from the blur as they walk through it in Shannon Dunne's concertina Irish music. They can also peek into the gradual build-up of identities in blurriness, similar to Jack B. Yeats' expressive brushstroke and thick impasto. The man’s face fades into the air and the multiple tracings of the horse’s contour lines add to the emotional intensity. The same profound affection for natural scenery is also shown in the other Yeats’ painting, "In Tir na nÓg" (1936). The merge between human and the natural world elevates their physical existences to metaphysical realms. The
dynamic strokes grant the same agency to the natural world as to humans, suggesting their inseparable relationship. The connection that Irish artists have to their homeland is evident in their work. Amelia Stein's images in the third gallery embrace this idea in extraordinary clarity, breaking apart from the cohesive ambiguity suggested by Yeats' paintings. Through Stein’s lens, viewers can observe her world in the northwest County Mayo. The eternity of the landscape is recaptured and reframed in such clarity that they truly turned eternal. Unlike the lively brushstrokes of painters, Stein’s subjects witness the changing history of Ireland in solitudes — transporting viewers back to the most ancient Irish mythologies. In "The Precipice of the Fox (Fothair a'tSionnaigh)" (2017), the sun shedding on the aesthetically appealing elements of the precipice to create the details again demonstrates the significance of land in Irish art. At the end of the opening reception, empathetic to Elizabeth O’Farrell’s pain and resilience, Julie Morrissy, Poet-in-Residence at the National Library of Ireland, performed her poem. This reading not only serves as a prelude to her upcoming poetry reading on Feb. 25, but also as a physical manifestation of her power in response to the topic posed.
Contact JP Spoonmore at jspoonmo@nd.edu
“All of Us Are Dead” Starring: Park Solomon, Lee Yoo-Mi Directors: J.Q. Lee, Kim Nam-Soo If you liked: “Train to Busan,” “Parasite”
Contact Xiyun Wu at xwu23@nd.edu EMMA KIRNER | The Observer | Image sources: Lily Williams
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The observer | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
By AMY LENKIEWICZ Scene Writer
Whether February is a month that loves or hates us has yet to be decided. The calendar page might coo in warm pinks and pass around Valentine’s hearts, but the front door promises freezing fingers, slippery footing and wind-burned cheeks. Dramatizing the clashing characterizations of February as romantic haven and icy tundra, South Bend dubs February the month of “Fire and Ice.” The seventh annual Fire and Ice festival kicked off on Friday, Feb. 4, with live ice carvings, fire dancing, a s’mores station and fireworks. The heart of the celebration beat in Studebaker Plaza, an area which first celebrated the power of fire back in 1852, when Henry and Clem Studebaker opened a blacksmith shop there. Now a small patio downtown, the Plaza was made more intimate by the snow piles fencing residents into huddles, close enough to laugh at strangers’ jokes and fawn over their babies. While there is nothing more glorious than the triumphant toasting of a golden-brown marshmallow, held up like a battle flag at the end of a stick, the real joy of the Fire and Ice festival was in seeing a 6-year-old
By MAGGIE CLARK Scene Writer
Last week, folk singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell said “[she stands] with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities” in her decision to remove her music from Spotify. This decision came after a particularly controversial episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” was released on Spotify. In an open letter published on Mitchell’s website, various medical professionals and members of the scientific community requested the removal of a podcast episode that featured COVID-19 “misinformation.” “By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions,” the letter states, “Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals.” Many fans of Mitchell, including me, were disappointed to learn that they would no longer be able to listen to her discography on Spotify. However, the fact that her decision was received with such sadness by fans and critics alike only proves Mitchell’s lasting relevance in the music industry. Mitchell’s seemingly endless collection of critically-acclaimed releases includes her most famous album, “Blue.” Despite being released over 50 years ago, the album remains not only popular, but also timeless. In the wake of Mitchell’s
roast 10 marshmallows in a gooey row, or a 3-year-old, arm supported by her mom, burn two and wave them around like torches. The best part of the “fire dancing,” which featured a hula hoop with six blazing fireballs dangerously circling a dancer’s waist, was seeing a toddler and her dad try to mimic the moves (sans fire, sans hoop, plus ice). Events like this — for which invitation is extended by location to city residents and physical presence is therefore essential — may seem old fashioned now that even public talks and performances are available in “dual-mode” streaming and that “digital presence,” once an oxymoron, has become a ubiquitous mode of experience. The notion of community proposed by the digital age, experienced passively and alone, through a Facebook scroll of people, was sanctified by mandatory COVID-19 social distancing. The isolation that once might have been criticized as antisocial became praised as safe, and rightly so. However, the implications of this newly enshrined way of connecting with people — by observation instead of interaction — may be less than praiseworthy. This new social norm was readily visible in the way that residents attending the Fire and Ice festival interacted with one another. Despite standing close
together around a fire pit or next to each other in front of the ice-carved Olympic torch, they only interacted with the groups with which they’d arrived. Social distance, no longer physical, has become emotional. If, even in a community-building event, it is a social faux pas to talk to new people, then we risk locking ourselves into networks of those we already know, with no room to diversify, especially in age range. The primary demographic in attendance at the Fire and Ice festival was composed of families with young children. When we cannot speak to our neighbors, people connected to us on the basis of physical proximity, because physical proximity has been so associated with disease, we risk the breakdown of traditional notions of community as place-based. As groups of people stood in a circle taking turns photographing themselves in front of the ice carvings spouting live fire, they “oohed,” and they “aww’ed” at families posing in photographed hugs. If we could extend the reach of COVID social etiquette beyond passive reactions, we might be able to answer the question of whether fire or ice will prevail this February and those to come.
decision and due to this timelessness, I decided to revisit “Blue.” Since I could not listen to the album on Spotify, I had to listen to it in its original format: a vinyl record. I have always appreciated being able to own and listen to music in its physical form. With the convenience of streaming, however, I typically listen to random songs on shuffle, rather than to an album in its entirety and in its original order. I found that after experiencing “Blue” in vinyl, I was better able to fully understand the story Mitchell was telling. Ultimately, I believe “Blue” describes Mitchell’s yearning and searching for a sense of belonging; because of this theme, “Blue” actually begs to be listened to in its fullness and in order. I think it would be impossible to fully understand Mitchell’s true feelings — or the true themes of her work — without listening to the album in this format. The idea of belonging stretches across the entirety of “Blue.” Over the course of the album, Mitchell demonstrates that this belonging can come from a place, a person or oneself. In the song “California,” for example, Mitchell mourns her increased distance from the Golden State while she travels all over the world. In addition to this homesickness, she also questions whether she would lose her sense of belonging upon her return, saying “California, I’m coming home / Will you take me as I am?” Through the song’s lyrics, Mitchell perfectly encapsulates
the combination of being homesick and wondering if the place where you used to belong will accept the person you have become away from it. In “A Case of You,” Mitchell similarly explores the dichotomy of belonging. In this song, however, this dichotomy exists in a person, rather than of a place. She sings, “oh, you’re in my blood like holy wine / You taste so bitter and so sweet / Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling / Still I’d be on my feet.” These lyrics demonstrate a complex emotional state. Mitchell feels as if she has found belonging in a loved one who, at the same time, is not necessarily good for her; because of this, she feels that she must be “prepared to bleed.” All in all, I think that it is due to such continuous themes that Joni Mitchell’s masterpiece resonates so deeply with listeners. This connection is only really possible if one experiences of “Blue” as a whole — an experience that can be prevented by the convenience and expanse of streaming. It is through this unity that Joni Mitchell expertly scrutinizes the idea of belonging for herself. In doing so, and by means of intensely creative imagery, she helps listeners to feel a similar sense of belonging. Ultimately, her relatable, memorable and intimate songs become “like tattoos” for those who experience them.
Contact Amy Lenkiewicz at alenkiew@nd.edu
Contact Maggie Clark at mclark34@nd.edu
MAKAYLA HERNANDEZ | The Observer | Image sources: Ithaca times, south bend tribune, youtube, spotify
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Crossword | Will Shortz
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Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: Stand up for your rights. Let go of the past, and head in a direction that offers a better future. Refuse to make questionable or unnecessary changes. Keep the peace, but not at the expense of taking on something that doesn’t interest you. Consider what will make you happy and head in that direction. Your numbers are 8, 19, 23, 28, 33, 37, 41. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Watch, and you’ll see a pattern form that will help you make up your mind. Call on someone who offers sound advice, and you’ll come up with a plan that will put your mind at ease and give you something to celebrate. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Don’t let uncertainty hold you back. Check off all the boxes and forge ahead with confidence. It’s up to you to make things happen and turn your ideas into something substantial. Celebrate what you accomplish with someone you love. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Don’t lose sight of your goal. Set your radar on your target, and don’t stop until you are happy with the results. Steer clear of anyone who tends to meddle or entices you to be indulgent. Take your responsibilities seriously. CANCER ( June 21-July 22): Use your skills and knowledge to find a distinct way to get ahead. Partner with someone who has something to contribute, or discuss your ideas with an expert who can help you focus on what you want to achieve. LEO ( July 23-Aug. 22): Consider indecisiveness a red flag and say no. Spare yourself the worry and stress of getting involved in something that makes you feel uneasy and vulnerable. Protect what you have worked so hard to achieve, and nurture meaningful relationships. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Live in the moment, observe what’s going on around you and learn all you can to help you turn your skills and attributes into a lucrative commodity. Socialize and network with like-minded people, and promising opportunities will open up. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Put a halt on joint ventures or shared expenses. Divvy up what’s yours and what’s not to protect against loss or take care of damage control. Go it alone if you want to get things done. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You’ll attract people who are disciplined and ready to take on additional responsibilities. Discussing your plans with a friend or relative will be enlightening and offer you many options to consider regarding your long-term goals. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Do what suits your needs and helps you stay on course. Taking care of your responsibilities will also keep someone at arm’s length who is trying to interfere. A serious approach to how you make and handle your finances is encouraged. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Pay attention to detail, organize your thoughts and incorporate changes at home and to your schedule to ensure you reach your objective. A kind word will lift someone’s spirits and give you a better chance to get what you want. AQUARIUS ( Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Take note of what others do and how they act before you respond. Keep your thoughts to yourself, which will help you assess what’s going on without making waves. Time is on your side, and patience will pay off. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): It’s up to you to bring about change if that’s what’s required. Don’t wait for someone to make a move when taking the helm and making things happen will bring higher returns. Take a leadership position and call the shots.
Sudoku | The Mepham Group
Jumble | David Hoyt and Jeff knurek
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Sports Authority
Sports Authority
Ranking the Winter Olympic sports
The King’s successor John Kalemkerian Sports Writer
Love him or hate him, LeBron James embodies what we as fans love about basketball. From the poster dunks, to the no-look assists, to the clutch three-pointers, he brings everything to the table. In the same way that Michael Jordan defined the 90’s and Kobe Bryant defined the 2000’s, LeBron has been the face of the NBA for the last decade plus. King James is still going strong, scoring his most points per game since his first stint in Cleveland. He’s been plagued by injuries over the past two seasons though, which is no surprise given he has 19 NBA seasons and over 50,000 NBA minutes under his belt. LeBron has made it clear he wants to play several more seasons, potentially to play with his son to finish off his career. It remains to be seen whether he’ll retire with miles left in the tank like Tom Brady, or overstay his welcome like Michael Jordan (and honestly most stars, regardless of their sport). The door is opening for someone new to become the face of the NBA, and these players are the most likely candidates. With all due respect to recent MVPs Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic, I’m choosing the younger players who won’t be on the wrong side of 30 by the time LeBron retires for this list. Luka Doncic At just 22 years old and already in his fourth NBA season, Doncic has proven himself to be the most talented young playmaker in the league. Doncic has been averaging just an assist and rebound shy of a double-double and has kept a shaky Maverick’s roster right in the thick of the Western Conference standings. Dallas locked Doncic up to a five-year extension before this season, so he appears to be following in Dirk Nowitzki’s footsteps. Already a perennial MVP candidate, the sky’s the limit for Doncic. Having an international player be the face of the sport would be right in line with the
way the NBA is trending, with a quarter of the league and counting being international players. Zion Williamson It’s remarkable how quickly Williamson has been forgotten about. Hailed as the most highly regarded player since, you guessed it, LeBron, he came into the league with a bang. But the hype has faded quickly. Having played just 85 games through what is now his third NBA season, injuries are going to be a major problem for Williamson. While his size and strength are his calling cards on the court, they seem to be contributing to his inability to stay healthy. Still just 20 years old, there’s plenty of time for him to turn his career around, but it’ll need to happen sooner rather than later for him to have a shot at becoming the next generational player. Ja Morant To Williamson’s dismay, Morant is quickly establishing himself as the brightest star from the 2019 draft class. An All-Star starter this season, Morant has improved every facet of his game since his rookie season, and has made the Grizzlies exciting and relevant for the first time in a while. Morant’s off-the-chart athletic ability and fearlessness on the court, despite standing “just” 6-foot-3, have quickly placed him among the most likable players in the league. He’s poised to have a long and successful career, but will need to continue to improve his game and accumulate playoff wins to have a shot at being the next face of the league. Whether it be these already trending players, or a rookie that gets drafted in the near future, LeBron’s time is coming to an end, and we are all ready and excited to see where the next chapter of the NBA takes us. Contact John Kalemkerian at jkalemke@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Nate Moller Sports Writer
With the 2022 Winter Olympics kicking off in Beijing, China this past weekend, it is time to rank the top 11 Olympic sports based on their level of enjoyment to watch and the athleticism required.
11. Alpine Skiing This one is a classic, and it would be rated higher, but I gave priority to more niche sports that are less common. Nevertheless, any of the alpine skiing events are fun to watch, and the icy conditions present in Beijing make this event a whole lot more interesting. The Super-G is one of the most entertaining to watch with competitors going faster than 80 mph down the mountain. While the other downhill events are slightly more tame than the Super-G, they are still very fun to watch.
10. Cross-Country Skiing Is watching a 50 kilometer race on TV a little bit boring? I’ll admit that it is, but because I am a cross-country skier myself, I have to give some credit to this sport. Cross-country skiers are notorious for having the highest VO2 max, which is the amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise, of any group of athletes. It is amazing to see the discipline that these athletes have. If you are looking for a more fun cross-country skiing event to watch, give the sprint relays a try. Minnesota native Jessie Diggins is the best skier the Americans have had in a long time, and she will look to put on a show in Beijing over the next couple of weeks.
9. Snowboarding Another winter classic, snowboarding is always a solid event to watch. There are a variety of competitions, and Team USA is always on top in this event as well, which increases the level of enjoyment. Some of the spins and jumps these athletes complete are just ridiculous.
8. Figure Skating I am listing classic after classic, and this one is probably a lot of people’s favorite to watch. The coordination these athletes must have to do what they do on the ice is simply astounding. This is definitely the most graceful sport in the Olympics, and it is a great change of pace from some of the more intense, action filled events. Team USA is
greatly improved in figure skating as well, making the event that much more fun to watch.
7. Luge The remaining events are very niche sports that you have to be somewhat crazy to do. The luge definitely requires at least a little bit of craziness to say the least. The fact that the sled is only roughly 50 lbs and can get up to speeds near 100 mph is absurd. To see athletes zooming through the course definitely makes it a fun event to watch. It’s pretty majestic in a sense to see the athlete lying on their back, barely moving as they guide their sled through the course.
6. Freestyle Skiing Now this one is just absurd. Freestyle skiing includes a plethora of events such as halfpipe, slope-style, aerials, moguls and ski-cross. It’s one thing to see someone do halfpipe on a snowboard, but the coordination required on skis must be even harder. Moguls is another really fun event to see as well. You have to wonder how someone finds out they are good at this stuff.
5. Biathlon This is another personal favorite of mine because of the cross-country skiing that is involved. The event consists of the cross-country skate skiing technique where the athletes must also carry a biathlon rifle on their backs for the extent of the race. Then, at various checkpoints athletes must shoot at a target, and if they miss, they have to do a penalty lap. This could be the toughest Olympic sport because you have to keep your heart rate down to be able to hit your targets. It is also fun because you never know what is going to happen with the penalty laps that are incorporated.
4. Ski Jumping This is definitely the craziest of all Olympic sports, and I truly don’t understand how you figure out that you are good at this. I guess you start with a small jump and work your way up, but it is crazy nevertheless. It is definitely entertaining to watch on television though. I have the utmost respect for these athletes because they are truly risking their lives every time they go off a jump. I can only imagine how intimidating it must feel at the top of the ski jump. These athletes must be the most confident and unfazed people in the world to do
this event.
3. Skeleton This is very similar to the luge, but it is more thrilling because the athlete goes face first down the course. The race begins with a running start, and then the athlete is on their way. Although the skeleton is a slower event than the luge, it makes for a thrilling race to watch as the rider tries to guide their sled through the course while in an uncomfortable position on their stomach.
2. Nordic Combined This one is high on my list because it combines two sports that are very different. Although they are both on skis, nordic combined combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing, which are arguably the two most different skiing events. The event has been around since the winter game’s inception in 1924, and it has stuck around as a tradition of the Olympics. In the ski jump, competitors are judged on style, distance and ability to stick a landing, and then the 10 km cross country ski is all endurance. To be successful at this event, you truly have to be an all around athlete, and that is what makes this event so special. Unfortunately, nordic combined is only available to male athletes, but the hope is it will be available to women in the near future.
1. Short-Track Skating
Speed
When I think of skating at the Olympics, I usually think of gracefulness and technique. Short-track speed skating, however, is the exact opposite of that, as it combines aggressiveness with speed and technical ability. Competitors race on an indoor track the size of a hockey rink (111 meters), vying for position and looking to pass their opponents. This event is so fun because it only takes a matter of seconds and because the event is so hectic. Disqualifications and falls are very commonplace as well, making this event truly anyone’s to win. The quickness and aggression required in short-track speed skating truly makes it a sport like no other. Contact Nate Moller at nmoller2@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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ndsmcobserver.com | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | The Observer
Hockey Column
Sports Authority
Predicting the Big Ten hockey playoffs Tom Zwiller Sports Writer
The Notre Dame hockey season is almost over, if you can believe it. The Fighting Irish have just three opponents left in the regular season: at Wisconsin, at Michigan State, and home against Michigan. The Wisconsin series will take place Thursday and Friday. Notre Dame will travel to Lansing Feb. 18 and 19 and close out the season at CFIA a week later. After that, the B10 tournament first-round goes from March 4 to 6 (the tournament is a best of three). The second round (single elimination) will take place March 12, and the championship game is March 19. Notre Dame has a lot at stake in the upcoming weeks and the B10 tournament. They still have some time to make up some ground against Minnesota; however, it is relatively unlikely. If Notre Dame wanted to catch up, they would have needed to have swept Minnesota. A loss and an OT win have likely put the third seed out of reach for Notre Dame. As for the B10 tournament itself, the tournament’s winner gets an automatic bid into the NCA A tournament. I feel that Notre Dame will make the tournament regardless, but it would likely be as a third or fourth seed. A tournament win would likely increase their seeding, helping them make it to the Frozen Four. W hen I researched for the Penn State Preview, I came across PlayoffStatus.com, a website with probabilities for pretty much any sport. Currently, they have data for the NFL, NHL, NCA A Basketball and Hockey, UEFA and the World Cup. So, my goal is to predict the rest of the season for Notre Dame and see what their chances are to make it to the B10 Championship.
The B10 Table The best way to find Notre Dame’s path moving forward is by seeing what the most likely B10 bracket would look like. Currently, the leader of the B10 conference is Ohio State, sitting atop the conference with 42 points. However, the Buckeyes winning the tournament’s only bye is far from a certainty. In second and third are
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Michigan and Minnesota, with 39 and 37 points, respectively. Both teams will have their chance to knock off the Buckeyes: the Golden Gophers on Feb. 11 and 12 and the Wolverines on Feb. 18 and 19. Because of how the individual teams’ scheduling goes, Ohio State has played 20 conference games, whereas Michigan and Minnesota have only played 18. So, while Ohio State still is ahead by points, Michigan can catch up. Michigan plays Michigan State twice, as mentioned Ohio State and Notre Dame. MSU should be a sweep; Michigan can split with Notre Dame and Ohio State. Advantage Wolverines. Minnesota arguably has the easier slate with games against Ohio State and then PSU and Wisconsin. They split against Ohio State, swept PSU and split Wisconsin. That results in Ohio State getting six points for a total of 48 points (they split their remaining games). Michigan would split with Notre Dame and OSU and should at least get three against MSU, if not six. That totals at 51. Minnesota would likely sweep Penn State, split with Ohio State and Wisconsin, which would net them 12 points. That gets them past Ohio State with 49 points. That feels like too much, so let’s say they pick up one another loss and sit at 46. That ends with the table having Michigan in first (and with the bye), Ohio State in second, and Minnesota in third. At 32 points, Notre Dame has locked up fourth; the next closest team is at 17 points. Wisconsin and Penn State knotted at 17 points, giving Wisconsin the slight edge to finish fifth. That leaves MSU in seventh, with 14 points.
Projecting the Playoffs That bracket results in Ohio State finishing in second and taking on Michigan State at Columbus. Next, Minnesota takes on Penn State in Minneapolis. That leaves Notre Dame to host Wisconsin at CFIA. This is where PlayoffStatus.com comes in. Ohio State currently has a 90% chance of making it to the semi-finals, and they only have a 21% chance of going three games in the first round. So, I feel confident in saying that Ohio
State sweeps Michigan State. Minnesota has an 85% chance of making the semifinals and has a low probability of going three games in the first round (27%). So, Minnesota should likely sweep Penn State too. Notre Dame, who has an 84% chance of making the semifinals, should advance past Wisconsin; of the three host teams, Notre Dame has the highest probability of going three games at 32%. So, that leaves Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota and Notre Dame in contention for the title. Currently, Michigan has a 63% chance of advancing to the Championship Game, Ohio State 49%, Minnesota 40% and Notre Dame 37%. Based on each team’s probability, Michigan and Ohio State should advance and would face off in Ann Arbor for the championship game. Michigan currently has a 38% chance of winning the B10 Championship, and Ohio State sits at 24%. So, rather unsurprisingly, No. 4 Michigan wins the B10 and gets an auto-bid into the NCA A Championship, locking up a very likely No. 1 seed. Under these conditions, I would assume Notre Dame makes it into the tournament. They are ranked 11th, meaning they have some margin for error (the tournament only has 16 teams instead of the 64 teams that participate in March Madness). If they do as well as I project them to do, I could see them making it into the top 10, but they would likely end up as a three seed. However, is it that crazy that Notre Dame makes it to and wins the B10 Championship? Not really, if you think about it. The semis and finals are a single-game elimination, so it is certainly not impossible. While 18% is not the best chance of winning the title, in 100 simulations, they would win about one-fifth of the time. So, my official prediction for the tournament is Michigan. However, I think Notre Dame can make some noise in the B10 tournament. Go Irish! Contact Thomas Zwiller at tzwiller@hcc-nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
The legend of Evan McPherson Tom Zwiller Sports Writer
Swagger. Mox ie. Confidence. W hen you read those words, and you think of football, you likely think of the quarterback, the position that has legends such as Joe Montana, Tom Brady and more recently Patrick Mahomes. The quarterback position tends to make icons. W hen the casual viewer watches the game, they tend to focus on the quarterback, for better or worse. However, the person I want to talk about is not on that list. They play for the Bengals and are just beginning their legend. And no, I’m not talking about Joe Burrow, but he certainly belongs on that list. I am also not talking about Jamar Chase, though he certainly fits that description too. Instead, I want to talk about the Bengals kicker Evan McPherson. I was introduced to McPherson like most of us when the Bengals took him in the 5th round of the NFL draft, 149th overall. However, it was not an introduction that stuck. The most I remember was the mention of it on Tw itter. Eddie Radosevich, a w riter for Sooner Scoop, tweeted out, “So the Bengals opted to not protect their franchise QB in the first round and took a kicker in the 5th. That’s an interesting game plan.” That tweet has since been retweeted by Freezing Cold Takes. The reintroduction to Evan McPherson came later against the Titans in the Divisional Round when he kicked a game-w inning field goal. After the game, Joe Burrow revealed that as McPherson went out onto the field, he said, “Looks like we’re going to the AFC Championship” before kicking a 52-yard field goal. Talk about swagger. Pure ice in his veins. And that was capping off a performance in
which he was already 3/3 on field-goal tries and 1/1 in extrapoint tries. McPherson had an interestingly similar stat-line in his game against the Chiefs. He went 4/4 and 1/1, w ith his farthest being from 52 yards. So when the Bengals had a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, and they got the ball back, I think ever yone knew who would be sending Cincinnati to the Super Bowl. At 31 yards, it felt like a lock. His outstanding kicking performance against the Chiefs and the Titans may have felt like a surprise, but it likely should not have. According to ESPN, McPherson went 28 of 33 on attempts in the regular season, including 9/11 from 50+ yards. He went 46/48 on extra-point attempts. His play has only improved in the postseason, where he has gone 12/12, including a perfect 3-3 from 50+ through three games. But again, that performance should not surprise us either. McPherson missed just one extra point attempt in his 150 tries at the University of Florida. That is good enough for 99.3% . His collegiate field goal percentage is a little less stellar. As a freshman, he went 17/19 (89.5%), 17/19 again as a sophomore and then 17/22 (77.3%) as a junior to close at a career percentage of precisely 85% . The career percentage was historically outstanding, which sort of surprised me. With that career percentage, McPherson ranked #1 in the SEC since 1956. And it was also good enough to rank him 13th in the NCA A since 1956. On top of that, in both 2018 and 2019, his season percentage was good enough to rank him first in the SEC. It got him 5th and
see McPHERSON PAGE 14
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ND men’s Basketball
Notre Dame seeks ACC lead vs. Louisville By GREG McKENNA Sports Writer
W hen Notre Dame fell to Indiana in the state capital Dec. 18, the Irish sat at 4-5 and firmly off-pace to end an NCA A Tournament drought dating back to 2017. With a w in Wednesday night against Louisville at Purcell Pavilion less than two months later, Notre Dame w ill obtain sole possession of the ACC lead. The Irish are currently tied atop the league standings w ith No. 7 Duke, who beat Notre Dame at Purcell convincingly Monday. However, Notre Dame’s subsequent road w ins over Miami and NC State, combined w ith Virginia’s last-second 6968 victor y at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday, mean the Irish w ill stand alone, at least for a night, at the summit of the conference if they can take care of a below-.500
McPherson Continued from page 13
10th in the NCA A, respectively. (CTSY of College Football Reference) So maybe it should not be a surprise the Bengals took McPherson in the 5th round. The move looks better and better the deeper you look into it. The Bengals special teams unit ranks 8th by Football Outsiders DVOA metric. More specifically, the Bengals FG/XP unit ranks fourth, and their kickoff unit ranks second. Packers fans look on in env y. So, looking at how good McPherson is, and how good the Bengals special teams are, begs the question: Does it make sense to draft kickers more often? I got some historical data from DraftHistory. com, and there are approximately 4.3 kickers taken in every NFL draft. On average, they were drafted in the 8th round and taken 215th overall. Those numbers feel a little bit high, and with good reason. The NFL draft has gone through many changes since its inception in 1936 when it was nine
Cardinals squad at home. Notre Dame (16-7, 9-3 ACC) has won six of its last seven and 12 of its last 14 games since Dec. 20. Joe Lunardi’s ESPN Bracketolog y currently has the Irish inside the bubble as one of the last four teams receiv ing byes past the First Four. Notre Dame’s 9-3 conference record matches the 2014-15 Irish team for the best start to an ACC schedule in program histor y. Meanwhile, the Cardinals (11-12, 5-8 ACC) are losers of their last five games, including an 82-70 home loss to the Irish in late Januar y. The Notre Dame defeat was the penultimate game in charge for former Louisville head coach Chris Mack, who parted ways w ith the Cardinals Jan. 26 after an 11-9 start. Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune reported Tuesday that Nate Laszewski is unlikely
to be available against the Cardinals. The senior for ward ex ited Notre Dame’s 69-57 w in over the Wolfpack Saturday w ith a bruised right leg. Brey said he considers Laszewski, who is averaging 8.4 points per game and 44.4% shooting from three this season, a game-time decision. The Irish have largely stuck w ith a seven-man rotation all season long, but Laszewski’s injur y means sophomore for ward Matt Zona might see significant playing time Monday night. Zona has played just over nine minutes in four games for the Irish this season. Though thin in the frontcourt, the Irish have been able to rely on graduate transfer Paul Atkinson Jr. for consistent scoring in the post this season. The 2019-2020 Iv y League Player of
rounds. The NFL draft was 30 rounds long in 1950 and is now the seven-round format adopted in 1994. The data changes once you throw out the data from older draft formats. From 1994 to 2021, NFL teams took 54 kickers. That winds up being an average of 2.25 kickers per draft. Their average round is the 5th, and their position is 169th. I’m not saying that NFL teams should start drafting kickers with a first-round pick. But McPherson and his successful rookie year might be enough to persuade NFL teams to draft kickers in the 5th, 6th and 7th rounds. The odds that you find hit on someone that deep in the draft are low, so why not try to secure someone at an undervalued position. But all of this brings me to my main point. W hen I did my NFL Awards column, I may honestly have overlooked McPherson. Not for MVP, but he should get a Rookie of the Year award. Since there is only Rookie of the Year (ROY ), Offensive
ROY and Defensive ROY, I think there is only one solution. Make Ja’Marr Chase the OROY, Micah Parsons DROY and Evan McPherson the ROY. Call it a prisoner of the moment take, and for me, it might just be, but for ZLO, that is another matter entirely. The model rewards kickers for a combination of things: accuracy first and foremost, but also the length of the kick, extra points, kickoff yards and touchbacks. Since the end of the regular season, it has had McPherson as its number one kicker in the NFL (the model does not update with playoff stats). Coincidentally Matt Gay, the kicker for the Super Bowl-bound Los Angeles Rams, is neck and neck with McPherson, but that’s a column for another day. So, in conclusion, while I doubt it is unlikely that McPherson will win the Rookie of the year award, I think he should, or at the very least, there is a case to be made.
the Year at Yale was named ACC Player of the week Monday after averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in his last three games. The for ward from West Palm Beach, Florida, posted 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Irish past the Hurricanes, who at the time were atop the ACC Standings. Against NC State, Atkinson again led the Irish w ith 15 points and 10 rebounds while logging a season-high 37 minutes. Notre Dame led by as many as 17 in the first half against the Wolfpack, but NC State stormed back to take the lead early in the second half. However, Notre Dame responded w ith a 21-4 run over the next 10 minutes to rebuild a 14-point lead. Irish head coach Mike Brey said postgame that Notre Dame’s zone defense helped the Irish retake control.
“We played fast early, right. We were getting dow n the f loor, getting stops,” he said. “And in the second half we talked about, ‘We’re going to have to grind and slow it dow n a little bit and play some zone and make it a little bit of a slower game.’” Louisville co-captain Malik Williams was allowed to rejoin the team Monday after being indefinitely suspended a week prior. The senior for ward/center from Fort Wayne, Indiana, leads the Cardinals w ith 10 points and 8.7 rebounds per game this season. If the Irish w in Wednesday, Notre Dame w ill have beaten Louisville tw ice in the same season for the first time in program histor y. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game w ill air on ESPNU. Contact Greg McKenna at gmckenn2@nd.edu
MAX PETROSKY | The Observer
Contact Tom Zwiller at tzwiller@hcc-nd.edu
Irish graduate student Paul Atkinson Jr. leaps toward the basket during Notre Dame’s 69-65 home win against UVA on Jan. 29.
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ND Women’s Basketball | 70-65
Squad falls to Florida State in away match By J.J. POST Sports Writer
Notre Dame women’s basketball fell to Florida State on the road Sunday 70-65, breaking a fivegame w in streak. After a back and forth first half that saw Florida State up by a single point at the break, it was a nightmare third quarter that doomed the Irish in Tallahassee. Notre Dame found themselves on the w rong end of a 22-9 in the ten minutes after halftime. Notre Dame was snake bitten from the field during that stretch, shooting an under whelming 3-14, far below the 41.4% mark they notched throughout the game as a
whole. The Irish stormed back in the fourth quarter, bringing the game w ithin one possession in the final 10 seconds on the back of nine points from freshman guard Olivia Miles and seven from graduate student forward Maya Dodson. A final drive at the hoop only produced a missed lay up and a loose ball that was ruled by officials to have been sent out of bounds off an Irish limb. Notre Dame stretched the game out to the final whistle through a combination of smart fouls and another quick scoring trip, but that missed lay up w ith 10 seconds left proved
to be the closest Notre Dame would come to sending the game to overtime. The result comes at the end of a long stretch of games for Niele Ivey’s squad, who competed in four games over an eight-day span. The fatigue was noticeable, as the Irish missed chances on fast breaks that they often do not and seemed sluggish on the defensive end in transition. The adrenaline and home energ y that powered the Irish to big w ins over nationally ranked opponent North Carolina State as well as Virginia Tech appeared to be drained in a loud Florida State environment. But the Irish now get
to enjoy a full three days of rest before their next contest, back in the friendly confines of Purcell Pavilion (where the Irish are 11-0 this year), against Miami. The Hurricanes should present a slightly more manageable challenge for the Irish, as they currently possess only a 5-6 record in ACC play and are coming off of a brutal 85-38 dismantling at the hands of North Carolina. To contain Miami, the Irish w ill likely need to key in on graduate student guard Kelsey Marshall who has been the main source of the Hurricanes’ scoring this year. Marshall is the only player on
Miami’s roster to average double figures on the scoresheet per game. In the aforementioned ill-fated UNC game, Marshall was responsible for just under 40% of the total points scored by Miami. Marshall is also a force creatively for the Hurricanes as she’s totaled 61 assists this year. Notre Dame w ill look to get back to their w inning ways this Thursday in South Bend when they take on Miami at Purcell Pavilion. The game w ill tip off at 6pm and w ill be broadcasted locally. Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu
ND Men’s Tennis
Irish smash 34-game home win streak Observer Sports Staff
Notre Dame men’s tennis took dow n Middle Tennessee State this Sunday, in Murfreesboro, TN. The Irish broke the Lightning’s home w in streak. Handing the Lightning a 5-2 loss in Adams Tennis Complex, the Irish ended an impressive list of 34 straight w ins at home in three and a half hours. The first doubles match to close was the No. 2 game. Irish sophomore Jean-Marc Malkowski and graduate student Aditya Vashistha fell to Oskar Poulsen and Francisco Rocha, 6-2. This was the quickest of the doubles matches, a seemingly strong start for the Lightning, but the other two Irish doubles teams found their extra gear. A brand-new Irish pair, graduate student Peter Conk lin and junior Matthew Halpin, found a way to beat a long-standing, then-unbeaten pair in Chris Edge and Stepan Holis. Conk lin and Halpin won 7-6 (9-7). The doubles results were split and it fell to the No. 1 court. Irish junior Matthew Che and senior A xel Nef ve found a way to save multiple match points. In doing so, they found their
stride to clamber to a 7-6(11-9) w in over Stijn Slump and Pavel Motl. Slump and Motl were the No. 44 doubles team in the countr y, and it was their loss that rocketed the Irish to the doubles point. Singles started w ith an immediate w in for the Lightning, but the Irish quick ly retaliated. Rocha stepped up again to defeat Notre Dame’s Vashistha in straight sets (6-2, 6-1). However, Nef ve took dow n No. 30 ranked Slump 6-4 and then 6-1.
Conk lin answered immediately to put the Irish up 3-1 in the match. Conk lin mirrored Rocha’s w in directly, defeating Holis 6-1 and 6-2. At the time, Holis ranked No. 106 in the countr y. Then, in the No. 3 match, Edge took dow n Che for the Lightning, but it was the first of the singles matches to be less convincing (7-6 (7-4), 6-4). Despite how tight each set was, Edge’s w in brought match relevance back to
the last two courts to finish. At 3-2, the Lightning could turn the match around. It was Malkowski though who would reestablish thebarrier for the Irish. Against Motl, he took the first and the third set, despite faltering slightly in the second (6-4, 3-6, 6-1). To drive home the victor y, Irish freshman Brian Bilsey took dow n Poulsen in a tight match. After losing the first set to Poulsen, Bilsey
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resurfaced to w in the second and gain multiple match points back in the third to bring the Irish to 5-2 (4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)). This weekend, the Irish face a full slate coming in from Illinois. At 4 p.m. on Saturday, the Irish w ill take on the Fighting Illini at Eck Tennis Pavilion. Then on Sunday, the Irish are in the Eck Pavilion again to face two teams from the Windy City — Northwestern at noon and Chicago State at 5 p.m.
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The observer | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
ND Women’s Lacrosse
MAGGIE KLAERS | The Observer | Photo Courtesy of ND Athletics
Three returners with Preseason All-ACC honors lead Irish to face Chippewas in season opener By OLIVIA SCHATZ Sports Writer
After a devastating loss to Boston College in the NCAA quarterfinals last year, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team is ready to come back swinging. With cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic sprinkled throughout the past two seasons, the team is finally ready to get back to normal and do what they do best. When asked about the effect the pandemic will have on this year’s season, junior attack Madison Ahern expressed optimism. “I think a big thing that was talked about this year is that this is our first season that is going to be normal,” she said. “So far, everything has been normal, and we are just very excited to put COVID away and focus on our game.” Fellow teammate junior midfielder Kasey Choma also chimed in. “We can never take anything for granted because last year we couldn’t even have team meals or hang out outside of practice,” she said. “Now you don’t have to focus on COVID or worry about getting quarantined. We can now just fully
focus on having our first normal season, so we are just really pumped about that.” In the 2022 ACC Preseason Coaches Poll, Notre Dame ranked fourth with 56 points, only behind Boston College (76), North Carolina (74) and Syracuse (63). The Irish finished last season 11-7, all seven of those losses belonging to the aforementioned teams. However, Notre Dame has a chance for redemption, and the women are eager for it. “Something we’ve been talking about this year is that every team that we are playing is in our way of where we want to go,” said Ahern. “And I think BC is just one of those teams we have to beat to get to where we want to be.” Ahern, Choma and graduate student goalie Bridget Deehan were recently selected for the Preseason All-ACC team. Ahern has played a crucial role in previous seasons, and will surely be a force to be reckoned with in this upcoming one. Last season, Ahern scored a total of 32 goals and 17 assists. She started in all 17 contests and scored at least one goal in 16 of them, including four hat tricks. She was ranked the No. 35 player in men’s and women’s college
lacrosse, by the U.S. Lacrosse Magazine in 2021. As an upperclassman, she expressed a wish to continue to work on her leadership both on and off the field. Ahern is not the only threat teams need to watch out for. Choma and junior attack Jackie Wolak are also key players for the Irish. In the 2021 season, Choma led the team in goals (45) and finished second in points (50). As a freshman, even with the season cut short, she scored the teamhigh of 22 goals in the seven games played. Wolak was last season’s points leader with 31 goals and a team high of 20 assists. Other key players from the Irish attack are graduate student Maddie Howe, who had 49 points last season, and senior midfielder Madison Mote, who had 11 goals. The returning Irish defense is also strong, with Deehan as goalie and senior defender Meaghan Scutaro with eight ground balls last season and 10 caused turnovers. While there surely is great talent returning from previous seasons, both Choma and Ahern named multiple players to look out for that have yet to have their moment to shine.
Grace Weigand was ranked No. 15 out of the recruited class this season, according to Inside Lacrosse. Choma listed her as the player to watch. “She’s someone who pushes you no matter what class,” Choma said. “We always look at each other as class blind, but Grace is someone who makes every person on our team better. She raises the standards at practice and is always going a hundred miles per hour. Whether she’s succeeding or failing, it’s at a hundred miles per hour.” Ahern listed two sophomores that she said have yet to break out. “Last year we had a lot of grad students just because of of COVID, and they didn’t get to play too much,” she said. “I think they’ve really stepped up this year and they’re gonna be great contributors for us.” The two sophomores she referenced are midfielder Kelly Denes and defender Aine Maseker. “Both of them are always pushing us to be better,” she continued. “Especially Aine — she is always challenging me in practice to beat her and it makes me better and it makes her better.” Choma spoke on their
evolving roles this season, especially in terms of team leadership. “Now that we’re upperclassmen, a big goal of ours is our leadership all over the field and kind of taking these younger girls under our wing like previous upperclassmen have done in the past,” Choma said. Looking at their tough schedule this semester, strong leadership and grit is most definitely needed. The Irish will get a muchneeded rematch against BC, North Carolina and Syracuse, as well as face off against other highly ranked teams such as No. 5 Northwestern, No. 13 Duke and No. 16 Jacksonville. With incoming talent, as well as the strong recurring players, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team not only has a strong chance of going to the NCAA tournament this year, but also of making it all the way. The kick-off of the 2022 season is Friday at 7 p.m. when the Irish will play Central Michigan in the Loftus Sports Center. Contact Olivia Schatz at oschatz@nd.edu