Opinion

Belles of integrity

Throughout history, the bell has been a significant symbol of liberty and unity. Its chime is a beautiful sound that marks the end of suffrage and the beginning of new promise. I now have a new understanding of the Saint Mary's mascot. As a Belle of Saint Mary's, I have had the privilege of attending a school where the women who surround me support one another, exhibit integrity and honesty and unite with one another in various, essential ways.

Gabrielle Giffords, you will be missed

This week, Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona will announce one of the most unfortunate special elections in the history of American politics. The winner will fill the soon-to-be-vacant seat that currently belongs to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who announced her imminent resignation on Sunday.

Holy Half Marathon

March 24, 2012 marks the eighth annual running of the Holy Half Marathon, an experience that has become one of the greatest traditions at the University of Notre Dame. One of the largest student-organized events on campus, the Holy Half Marathon is completely unique in its ability to unite students, faculty, alumni, members of the South Bend community, and people from across the country in an atmosphere of fun, athleticism and short-shorts.

Spiritual coasting

We have all experienced spiritual highs, times when we feel so close to God and are confident in his love and plan for us, and spiritual lows, when we experience doubt, frustration and even anger when we don't understand God's ways.

Follow Leprechaun Legion, unify "The Shirt" color

What a sight at the basketball game on Saturday, as a national television audience watched as our sea of green shirts helped cheer on the Irish basketball team to a an amazing victory against No. 1 ranked Syracuse, and then rushed the court at game's end!

Old electronics contribute to city toxicity

Welcome back! Another semester means it's time for the GreenMan to "spring" some new sustainability issues and initiatives into light.

The wrong website

 This is in response to "Mathieson must go #1" by Peter Vogel (Jan. 20). He cited a few dating services as evidence to people finding good matches successfully. However, I'm pretty sure Ashley Madison is a website for people who are in a relationship already and are looking to cheat. So if your article was satire, bravo, it was hilarious.

Gary Caruso

Gary J. Caruso graduated from Notre Dame in 1973 with a bachelors degree in American Studies and then earned a masters degree in Presidential Rhetoric at the University of Pittsburgh. After receiving his masters, he volunteered to work in a Pennsylvania congressional campaign and subsequently worked for the newly-elected congressman in Washington, D.C. For nearly 17 years he served as a press secretary, senior communications and legislative director in both personal member and committee offices at the U.S. House of Representatives, working on a total of seven congressional races in Texas, Pennsylvania and Michigan. As a Clinton Administration presidential appointee, Caruso directed the congressional and public affairs efforts at the General Services Administration National Capital Region and served Vice President Al Gore at the White House on the Southwest Border Initiative and White House Community Empowerment Board. He currently serves in a career position within the Department of Homeland Security. Caruso is a longtime softball enthusiast, pitching his junior year for the Notre Dame Inter-mural Lyons Hall campus runners-up team and founding the championship tournament for the Congressional Softball League. He assists the bipartisan team of women senators and representatives in preparing for their Annual Congressional Women's Softball Game benefiting breast cancer survivors each summer. He also assists the Democratic congressmen prepare for their Annual Roll Call Baseball Game against Republican congressmen played each summer at the Washington Nationals Park benefiting the Literacy Foundation and local Boys and Girls Clubs.

Not being in Cairo

One year ago today, I stepped off a plane into 70 degree weather, took a bus ride during which I was stared at by creepy men (and by no means because I was looking good after almost 18 hours of traveling) and found myself immersed in a completely foreign city.

The GreenMan

Email your predicaments to The GreenMan at askthegreenman@gmail.com and let him answer you with a sustainable twist. The GreenMan will be here every other week to provide you with insights you never knew you were missing out on until now.

Mathieson must go #1

"Gone are the days of the traditional American families, if they were ever here to begin with. The visages of Rockwell's wholesome Americanism that we find on postcards and calendars are nothing but illusive shadows."

Right to life issues

This is in reply to Mr. Slavin's letter regarding his concerns that Notre Dame, and Catholics overall, place too much emphasis on abortion versus other social ills.

Eight political stories to follow in 2012

For good and bad, American politics may be "the greatest show" on Earth, and 2012 will most likely be a year to help prove why. Below are eight political stories to follow in 2012.

Mathieson must go #2

Over the past two days, I have been deeply disturbed by some of the articles that I have read in the Scene section of the Observer. The articles that I am referring to are the movie reviews of "The Descendants" and "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," both written by one of your Scene writers named Neil Mathieson. These pedantic, pseudo-intellectual rants by Mr. Mathieson have made me sick to my stomach and ruined my day. RUINED MY DAY. I'm sorry to bring this up, but I know it's something that is on everybody's mind, and somebody had to say it.

History

The title of Francis Fukuyama's "The End of History?" is misleading: his 1989 manifesto is far more argument than question, and far more assertion than argument. But the title is misleading for another reason also: the millennium that Fukuyama hails is one beyond history, not one beyond events. Life and love, war and peace, death and taxes would go on as normal. Our world would still be one of economic and military conflict. But ideological conflict — the kind that dominated the history of modernity — would have come to an end.

Bulls and bears, oh my!

Irrational Fears

There are three cardinal rules of newspaper writing: don't make stuff up, don't misspell names, and don't focus on yourself — nobody picks up the paper to read about the reporters. Well I'm going to break that last rule and write a vapid, self-absorbed column all about me, or more specifically, my four most irrational fears. Though no one ever asked me for them, here are a few of my least favorite things:

Things I learned on the train

Another chance to make basketball history

Thank you, Andrew Plaska

Andrew,