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Sticks and stones (and violent words and images) hurt

By The Observer · Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011

In the defense of her violent language that has been blamed for inciting the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, Sarah Palin said, "Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election."

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Gates the wrong choice for Commencement speaker

By The Observer · Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011

Last week's editorial endorsing the selection of Robert Gates as this year's Commencement speaker failed to take into account the gravity of the United States' current military engagements overseas and Secretary Gates' role in those operations. As a senior graduating in May, I am troubled by Secretary Gates' selection. Although he has had an impressive career marked by a number of praiseworthy accomplishments, Secretary Gates' role in recent U.S. foreign policy decisions makes him an inappropriate choice for Commencement speaker.

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Tradition

By The Observer · Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011

Tradition. A word so synonymous with Notre Dame it applies to discussions of football and graces numerous articles of memorabilia in the Hammes Bookstore.

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I want America to stay conscious and beautiful

By The Observer · Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011

Wednesday's article, ("The environmentally unconscious one; or, Why I love America," Jan. 26), has to be a joke. In case it wasn't a satire, I just want to state that the deeds of the environmentally unconscious people also make the future generations and the environmentally conscious ones responsible for what they didn't do.

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Paradise

By The Observer · Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011

In the heart of Milwaukee, near the shore of Lake Michigan, lost somewhere in the depths of memory, there is a playground.

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Tunnels are not so cozy

By The Observer · Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011

I don't know if you've ever been in the tunnels before, and from your letter, ("Open the tunnels," Jan. 16), it is pretty clear that you haven't, but to be honest it's not really a warm cozy corridor you can use to walk in between buildings to escape the South Bend weather. It's hot and dirty and you're very likely to hit your head on a lightbulb. Just sayin'.

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#isthisreallife

By The Observer · Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011

Apparently the South Bend City Council passed an ordinance that requires residents to clear the sidewalks in front of their homes within 24 hours of a major snowstorm. Being an off-campus resident, this brought a few things to mind:

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Tunnel Vision

By The Observer · Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011

After living in McCandless Hall for both my first and second years at Saint Mary's, I never thought I would appreciate living in another residence hall as much as I do.

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Imagine

By The Observer · Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011

Imagine not seeing your loving mother's eyes,

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Scholar athletes

By The Observer · Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011

Just as Ben Hansbrough's final layup in the waning seconds of Notre Dame's win over No. 2 Pittsburgh Monday dropped through the net, I felt something I haven't felt in a while. Anybody who's ever played a sport at a competitive level knows the feeling. The feeling of relief coming directly after a big triumph. The feeling of kicking unbelief (as Rocket might call it) out the door and throwing away the key. Heck, it felt as though I had taken the shot myself — which is funny, since if I recall correctly I had accounting homework in front of me and a bag of chips in my lap. Not exactly Big East basketball material.

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Importance of presence at D.C. march

By The Observer · Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011

In the battle to end the horror of abortion, the march of Notre Dame students and faculty this year felt much like the coming of the elves to Helm's Deep in Peter Jackson's rendition of the Two Towers. In a crowd of weary and rugged pro-lifers, many of whom have been showing up for the past 20+ years, it was good for them to see a crop of young, smart and elite students willing to fight on their side of the battle.

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You matter - yes, you

By The Observer · Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011

Did you know that junk mail eats up 100 million trees a year? That the average North American consumes 35,000 cookies in a lifetime? Some statistics impress us, others make us cringe. The ones we ought to think hardest about challenge us to acknowledge that each one of us makes choices that add up to become quite significant. While what we use, or eat, or buy, or do with our free time may seem like a drop in the bucket — or even the tiniest fraction of a drop in the ocean — we matter. Especially if we join our little drops with others, we can and will have an impact. How about this: This year in Chicago, the local chapter of Catholic Charities will provide 2.2 million free meals to the hungry. That's just over 6,000 meals every day.

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Rhetoric dangerous on abortion issue

By The Observer · Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011

Over the past several months, our country has seen a notable deterioration in the level of civility and rationality in public discourse. Reasonable voices advocating practical solutions to our nation's problems have been silenced; drowned out by bitter partisans on both sides of the political spectrum who zealously cling to their own view of the world and reject all others without a second thought. These slaves to ideology would have Americans believe that every single issue is another front in a contentious, ongoing war between good and evil. Nowhere is this divide more evident than in the controversy surrounding this past weekend's 38th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that established a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion.

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The true* home run king

By The Observer · Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011

Forget Roger Maris, Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds. I am the true single-season home run king. Maris swatted a paltry 61 long balls in 1961, McGwire hit an insignificant 70 in 1998 and Bonds tallied a lackluster 73 in 2001. In the summer of 1998, at the age of seven years old, I belted an inspiring 140 big flies.

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The environmentally unconscious one; or, Why I love America

By The Observer · Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011

This past weekend I attended the Notre Dame Film Festival. It proceeded pretty much as you'd expect — couple great ones (big ups to the Westboro Baptist Church documentary), lotta decent ones, a clunker or two. There was one movie about garbage in America that followed a group called "Pick Up America," a bunch of people whose idea of a good time is picking up trash by the side of the road and measuring it. They marshaled some impressively apocalyptic statistics about how there are a trillion kabillion pieces of plastic in the ocean that will be around for hundreds of thousands of years and 100 pounds of trash on the side of any ordinary road.

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Open the tunnels

By The Observer · Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011

I'm assuming you must know this by now, but South Bend winters are harsh. The chilling winds can bite through any article of clothing and the countless inches of snow slow us down no matter where we are headed. Not only do these low temperatures pose a threat to our immune system, but the idea of ice hidden on any path poses a physical threat — a broken bone or a twisted ankle is on no one's agenda this winter.

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Concentration

By The Observer · Monday, Jan. 24, 2011

I used to have extraordinary concentration. The summer after second grade, I sat on my bed and read an entire set of American Girl books in one go, from "Meet Felicity" all the way to "Changes for Felicity." Then I would carry on the story with my Felicity doll for hours afterwards.

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