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Non-athlete shirts a reminder

By The Observer · Monday, Feb. 28, 2011

Most of you have seen the "Irish Non-Athlete" shirts around campus, and I'm glad that they have stirred up discussion. I'm fed up with everyone assuming I'm an athlete. Just because I'm a black student at Notre Dame doesn't mean I play sports. I hope the shirt will serve as a reminder to everyone to think before they assume.

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The other side

By The Observer · Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011

I am a member of the elite group known as Notre Dame Alumni, along with my grandfather, father and two brothers. I have an amazing, loving and supportive family and a group of close friends who I wouldn't trade for the world. I am a second year doctoral student in New Hampshire and have never been happier. But things were not always this way. While attending Notre Dame, I suffered from severe depression and anxiety and I engaged in self-mutilation, anorexia and bulimia. I also became an alcoholic, and I always will be. Although my last drink was on November 10, 2006, my next one could easily be tomorrow if I become complacent. My sobriety must always remain my top priority, and those closest to me understand that.

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Early pressures

By The Observer · Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011

What are you doing this summer? I have no idea where I'll be or what I'll be doing, and it's giving me midterm-level anxiety. Most adults I know — and even some of my professors — don't see this as a problem. One of my former professors recently suggested I sell Mexican blankets on the side of the road — he was kidding, but it sounded far more appealing than filling out yet another internship application.

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Healthy conversation

By The Observer · Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011

Monday evening at Saint Mary's College, I climbed the stairs of Carroll Auditorium's stage in teetering, leopard print wedges. With a pink golfball clutched in my hand to ease my nerves, I gritted my teeth, gave one last hair toss and praised God I did not trip. I then looked out into the audience of nearly 150 strangers and friends and took a deep breath. My hands shook and my voice crackled as I began speaking about my journey through an illness which almost claimed my life.

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Something for everyone

By The Observer · Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

Allow me to entertain a hypothetical notion here. You. Saturday. 6 p.m., Stepan Center. You've just indulged in a dinner of fine Filipino cuisine and are settling back satisfied, wondering what this Fiestang thing is all about. The lights go down, a clanging gong sounds and chanting men clad in loincloths and ceremonial blankets take to the stage and begin to dance. One thing is abundantly clear: this ain't America's Got Talent, son.

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Remembering Duerson

By The Observer · Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

In light of Dave Duerson's passing, former Notre Dame football superstar and member of the Board of Trustees, it's clear that Notre Dame should lead the way in finding ways to make football more safe for our players. There is no question that the sport has made a tremendous impact on Notre Dame and the greater community, but at what risk to the players? With Duerson's death, he was clearing making a plea for someone to investigate how repeated head trauma through football led to his mental decline. I think most of us realize there is a price these players are paying, but at what overall cost? A question many are asking is if Duerson had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease found posthumously in about 20 retired players and a disease linked to depression, cognitive impairment and occasionally suicide. Before committing suicide by shooting himself in the chest, Duerson left a handwritten note as well as a text message, asking that his brain be donated to the NFL's brain bank.

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For the free market system in the NBA

By The Observer · Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

On Wednesday, Rick Reilly wrote an article for ESPN about the recent trade of Carmelo Anthony from Denver to New York, criticizing Melo essentially for leaving Denver for New York to play with his buddies — the same criticism that Lebron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh received last summer. Reilly whined that superstar players shouldn't be allowed to leave cities like Denver for cities like New York, calling it unfair. The assessment of "unfair" relies on the underlying assumption that there should be parity among the teams because franchises like Denver will fold if there's not.

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Ode to Kirby

By The Observer · Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

Those who are familiar with the popular Nintendo video game "Super Smash Bros" know the character Kirby. For those who are not, Kirby is a pink, round creature from Dream Land who battles the corrupt King DeDeDe and his henchmen.

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What do we owe Indiana?

By The Observer · Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

In college and at Notre Dame especially, students focus on promoting themselves. Pick me for that leadership role, pick up my résumé, see how well rounded and accomplished I am. But in what context?

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Condemnation is baseless

By The Observer · Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011

I would like to say a few things "inspired" by Allison Kincaid's letter ("The whole story behind condemnation," Feb. 23) on the roots of Catholic condemnation of homosexuality. First, citing Genesis 1 as the root of any Christian moral imperative is questionable in and of itself. Credit where credit is due, you do point out that no one in their right mind would take the first chapter of the Bible literally. But still, even to infer the immorality of homosexuality from a benign clause in such a wholly fictional fable — that is, Genesis 1 — is a distant leap in logic. Listen, I get it. I'm Catholic too, and I have been flooded with Catholic social teachings my entire life just like most people at this school. Gays are evil because when they do the dirty, nature doesn't let them pop out kids nine months later. You can buy that logic if you want to, but in reality it was scraped together by Christians in an effort to justify their preexisting contempt for homosexuality.

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Closer reading is necessary

By The Observer · Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011

I don't usually react to Viewpoint articles in The Observer, but on Feb. 23 I read something so offensive I decided to write a response. In her letter "The whole story behind condemnation," Ms. Kincaid claimed a union between two homosexuals was against God's plan simply because they can't procreate, and something about homosexuality somehow being a pagan tradition. I wonder if she realizes Christmas is rooted from a pagan tradition called Saturnalia. Anyways, suggesting that somehow being a homosexual is wrong and saying it's not in "God's plan" in a religious university with homosexuals is simply offensive and downright degrading.

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T-shirt passivity

By The Observer · Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011

Recently, T-shirts with the slogan, "Gay? Fine by me," have been circulating around campus as a way of showing faith and support for the gay community of Notre Dame. While I believe the sentiments which prompt the stand to be good, I see the movement as passive and possibly counter-productive to the cause.

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Arab world uprisings

By The Observer · Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011

The massive revolutionary protests that have swept across the Middle East in recent weeks have spread like a wildfire from country to country, inspiring the hopes of repressed and downtrodden nations and inciting fear in the hearts of autocratic dictators throughout the Arab world. The popular uprisings have already seen the overthrow of tyrants in Tunisia and Egypt and have critically endangered the oppressive regimes of several others in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen. In addition, the extraordinary courage and organizational capacity of the protestors has spurred demonstrators in such distant places as Zimbabwe and China to stand up and demand democratic reforms in their own countries. Many observers have highlighted the almost entirely unforeseen nature of the protests, which have left many governments, including the United States, fumbling for a response to the rapidly changing situation on the ground. As they work to formulate new policies and strategies to address the reawakened Middle East, there are several lessons that American policy makers should draw from this historic upheaval.

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Remembering Gail

By The Observer · Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011

It's not uncommon for students and alumni of Notre Dame to express the sentiment that Our Lady's University is like a home away from home. It's a place where lifelong friendships are forged and memories that last a lifetime are experienced. For members of the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir, this feeling of home was enhanced all the more by the Choir's late, great director and our "surrogate mother," Dr. Gail Walton.

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Mendoza majors

By The Observer · Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011

Some of us thought the day would never come. But, as sophomores, the fateful moment of choosing a major within Mendoza finally sprang upon us last week.

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The whole story behind condemnatation

By The Observer · Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011

The letter "Story behind condemnation" (Feb. 21) did well to inform us about the origins of why homosexual activity is condemned. However, even though it gives a side that I had yet to fully consider, pagan rituals, it still fails to give the entire story.

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