Opinion

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,

Consider right to life in broader context

Dear Editor,

Happy New Year

It is a vast, uninterrupted expanse of white outside. The snow is falling, but the cold lake is still.

Echoes of yesterday, today and tomorrow

Welcome back! It's time to take a deep breath and start again: a new semester, a new year, perhaps a new major or a new roommate for some of you. And yet, aren't you grateful for what's not new — friends, professors, rectors, well-worn paths to classes, the Rock and South Dining Hall? Both the familiar and the new add their particular flavors to the mix as each of us sorts out where and how we fit into the story of what Notre Dame has been and will be.

Don't want to miss a thing

Yesterday, I saw a lot of Facebook statuses that amounted to, "Today is my last first day of a college semester," etc.

Dan Sportiello

Dan Sportiello is in his fourth year of graduate study in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame--the institution from which he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in the same subject. While his interests are broad, he is soon to take his oral exam in the history of ethics. He is especially interested in the relationship between theoretical and practical reason--and in the relationship of both to the historical circumstances in which they are taught and exercised. His column, Bound Variables, is a biweekly philosophical meditation upon those aspects of our lives here at Notre Dame that go otherwise unnoticed.

John Sandberg

John is a sophomore from Littleton, Colorado and a graduate of J.K. Mullen High School. Before transferring to Notre Dame, John spent his freshman year at the University of San Diego, where he was the baseball beat writer for the Toreros' student newspaper, The Vista. Switching from sports to the viewpoint arena, this year John has written columns on national and international affairs, aiming to articulate a down-to-earth perspective in a world full of "expert opinions." Two of his more widely read pieces this year have been "Virtue as an obligation, not a choice," and "Politics and evolution: who cares?" A third generation Domer, John is an avid baseball fan as well as a participant in Notre Dame's Bengal Bouts. He can be reached at jsandbe1@nd.edu.   

Carolyn Green

Carolyn Green is the student director of the 2012 Holy Half Marathon. A seasoned half-marathoner (she's working her way up to a full), Carolyn hails from Portland, Oregon--home to Nike, Hayward Field, and the elite team of distance runners known as the Oregon Track Club. Of course, Portland is equally famous for Voodoo Donuts, so it evens out. Through the Holy Half column, Carolyn will share her passion for the sport of running and provide exclusive Holy Half updates, inspiration, training tips, and motivation. 

Fr. Lou DelFra

Rev. Louis A. DelFra, C.S.C., is a Holy Cross priest, ordained in 2004. He is Director of Pastoral Life, and Chaplain, for the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). He has also worked in Campus Ministry, and as Associate Pastor and Religion teacher at Holy Redeemer Parish and School in Portland, OR. Fr. Lou previously served as a middle school and high school teacher at Malvern Preparatory School in Philadelphia. He has received his undergraduate and Master's degrees from the University of Notre Dame, and currently publishes in the fields of religion, literature, teacher education, and spirituality. Fr. Lou resides in Dillon Hall.