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Keep your "eyes high"

By The Observer · Friday, Aug. 19, 2011

For 169 consecutive years, the University of Notre Dame has opened its doors to welcome new students. For those serving here, we approach this year with as much zeal and optimism as you, our first-year, transfer, professional and new graduate students bring to campus.

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Brotherly advice

By The Observer · Friday, Aug. 19, 2011

I, like many of you nervous freshmen, was not the first in my family to attend Notre Dame. My oldest brother claimed that prize in 1996. Then two more followed him before my turn came.

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Leaving the familiar to brave the unknown

By The Observer · Thursday, May 19, 2011

In a few short weeks, I will be trading God Quad for Times Square, the Golden Dome for the Empire State Building. A cubicle in the 48-floor Condé Nast building will replace my desk at The Observer in the basement of South Dining Hall.

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To my home: Class of 2011

By The Observer · Thursday, May 19, 2011

Five years ago, I never thought I'd be here. When I started looking at schools, Notre Dame was barely on my radar. It was only after persistent suggestions from a friend's grandmother that I even decided to come out to my first football game.

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Not 'The End'

By The Observer · Thursday, May 19, 2011

I've tended to associate the reality of this whole graduation thing with a series of "lasts:" the last home football game, the last final exam, the last Finny's (is there ever really a "last" Finny's?) and so on. For me, each of these lasts came and went, and reality still hadn't set in. I wasn't starting to say goodbyes, I wasn't thinking about moving out and I wasn't breaking down every time someone played Vitamin C's "Graduation." (Just to clarify, Vitamin C still hasn't gotten me yet, and I'm not sure it will.)

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Walking away

By The Observer · Thursday, May 19, 2011

On Sunday I will walk with the Class of 2011 and become a Notre Dame graduate.

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The graduation speech I never got to give

By The Observer · Thursday, May 19, 2011

I haven't told anyone this since Frosh-O, but I was salutatorian of my high school class. There were two valedictorians and then there was me, representing all those kids smart enough to get A's but too lazy to take honors physics.

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Notre Dame in 555 words or less

By The Observer · Thursday, May 19, 2011

Welcome to the land of snow excess. McGlinn Hall, home of the Shamrocks and the "hut dance." Disneyland as a pregame for beating USC. Trying and failing to trifecta Finny's. Night of Mayhem on campus. Walking home from Domerfest with trumpet players. Going to Domerfest as a junior for free Dip-n-Dots. The bench breaking at a hockey game. Remember that website Juicy Campus? Yeah, me neither.

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A day of mourning

By The Observer · Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Following the news about the death of Osama bin Laden, I found myself deeply unsettled by the reactions I observed both in the American public at large, and particularly within the Notre Dame community. After hearing the shouts and chants of the crowd on God Quad from my room on Sunday night, I ventured outside to get a closer look and was greeted with a raucous and joyous celebration not unlike the celebrations we witness after a big football win. It bears considering, however, whether this is the appropriate reaction to the undeniably momentous news of bin Laden's death.

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Call to holiness

By The Observer · Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Last week, I willingly gave up a night of sleep to watch a European event happen on live television. And no, it was not the Royal Wedding. Instead, very early on Sunday morning, I saw Pope Benedict XVI beatify his predecessor, the now Blessed Pope John Paul II. It was a beautiful and moving ceremony. St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets of Rome were filled with people there to rejoice with the Church and witness this step of the formal declaration of John Paul II's holiness. Many of those people had probably seen John Paul sometime while he was alive, too. I myself once saw the back of his head as he drove down the street in his Popemobile during a 1999 visit to St. Louis.

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Honor the sacrifice

By The Observer · Tuesday, May 3, 2011

When I heard that bin Laden had been killed, I took to my friend's vuvuzela and I am not ashamed. While I myself did not lose any friends or family on 9/11, my father lost 343 brothers at the World Trade Center. As an assistant chief at my hometown fire department, my father trained in New York City and had many friends who lost their lives that day. It seemed as if he was driving to the city in his class A uniform every week to attend the funeral of a fallen brother. To this day, FDNY is being affected by the events of Ground Zero. A close family friend was forced into retirement because he developed asthma from all the dust at the scene. Every department has memorials outside their doors in honor of those who gave their lives to save others.

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A sigh of relief

By The Observer · Tuesday, May 3, 2011

On September 11, 2001 and the time following, our nation had never been so unified. Together we mourned the deaths of hundreds of innocent people and embraced those who were directly affected by this terrible event. We watched in horror and disbelief as people half a world away burned our flag and celebrated the death of our citizens. How could such evil exist in this world?

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True significance of bin Laden's death

By The Observer · Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Late Sunday night President Obama appeared before the nation and announced Osama bin Laden's death. This announcement sparked exuberant celebration across campus and the entire country. Students ran cheering through LaFortune and crowds gathered in Times Square. There is nothing wrong with celebrating this moment. One of America's greatest enemies has been brought to the end he so justly deserved.

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Celebrate America

By The Observer · Tuesday, May 3, 2011

On Sunday night, most of the student body reacted positively to the successful assassination attempt of Osama Bin Laden. Many rallied, celebrating the demise of America's greatest enemy. Hundreds sang patriotic songs well after midnight and fireworks decorated the sky on Stepan Fields.

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For the sake of life

By The Observer · Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Many people have written, both here in The Observer and in other publications around the world, about how the killing of Osama bin Laden is not a cause for celebration. They say that it is never right to rejoice at the death of another human being, no matter how heinous his crimes. They make further accusations against the government that orchestrated bin Laden's death and the people who celebrated it that our policies of war and retaliation only increase the hatred directed against us. Some within the Notre Dame community have also said that those Catholics who celebrated bin Laden's death are pro-life only with respect to abortion and have failed to observe Christ's commandment to love one's enemies and forgive those who have done injury.

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