Opinion

Thank you St. Edward's Hall

I'm writing this letter today to say thank you to both Fr. Ralph Haag and the students in St. Edward's Hall. First of all, Fr. Ralph is a very kind and generous person. Without getting into specifics, Fr. Ralph has gone above and beyond to help me and my family. On many occasions he had come to my aid both personally and professionally and because of him my life is much better. He offers this help without question and was a source of support through a rough time. I've heard on countless occasions comments by students indicating how much they love and appreciate Fr. Ralph and all he does for everyone. St. Edward's Hall is blessed to have him as a rector.

A basketball fashion trendsetter

An open letter to Irish basketball coach Mike Brey:

The gift of art

I graduated in the late 1970's in the Fine Arts. I had hopes and dreams, and then I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy in 1988. Little did I know the vaccine that was given him would cause his autism.

Off to the Pros

We of the Rakes of Mallow would like to congratulate Jeb Brovsky, Bilal Duckett and Steven Perry on being drafted last Thursday in the Major League Soccer Superdraft. We wish Jeb and Bilal luck in Vancouver as they play for the expansion side Vancouver Whitecaps. We also wish Steven luck as he joins the New England Revolution who are in the process of rebuilding. Thank you for all your commitment, passion and hard work these past four years, and may your professional career be successful, long and full of trophies.

Facebook, Wikileaks and us

Story in song

I've always been a closet fan of Nine Inch Nails. The big thing that kept me from saying outright that I liked NIN was the darkness of Trent Reznor's music. His lyrics in some songs were really angry, and I never could say I was mad enough to consistently relate to his tone. There's a beauty to his music, though; at times, a simple melody will play through the crunchy, industrial guitars, distorted synths and sharp, sampled drums. Take "Closer" for example — the instrumentals have a creepy vibe, and the lyrics can be in some cases just disturbing. Right before the end, a short piano riff sneaks in as all other sounds fall by the wayside, and those repeated notes seem to purify the song, like if you turned on the lights after a bad nightmare. "Right Where It Belongs" is another great example of NIN's ability to be more than just dark industrial rock. Reznor has absolutely amazing talent for capturing emotion in a song, whether it's resentful anger, deep depression or driving motivation.

The birth of philosophy

Philosophy was born two centuries before Aristotle when Thales of Miletus predicted an eclipse. The Lydians and the Medes, locked in combat at the River Halys, looked to the suddenly darkened sky and ended their warfare, declaring the river the border between their two nations. As the light returned to the sky, so was a light enkindled on earth — albeit a light of a very different kind: changes in the world — and even changes in the sky — were not the arbitrary will of the gods. They were, on the contrary, governed by an inviolable order — and, when a man came to understand that order, he could predict them. For the first time in human history, a man had traded the subjective for the objective — seeing the world not from within the perspective of a given moment but rather from that of the eternal. For the first time in human history, a man had become as a god — had stolen the divine fire of knowledge of things as they will be. Though it would, in the darker ages to come, dim considerably, this fire would never again go out.

A eulogy to 4 Loko

Football and f���tbol

I am lucky I was there.

An open love letter to Jimmy John's

As a senior graduating this coming spring, I'd like to take the time to reminisce during finals about one of my greatest and most memorable friends in college, a Mr. James John. Coming from the West Coast, I was completely unaware of your notoriety in the Midwest for sandwiches that are totally freaky. When I was a freshman at Notre Dame, your menu was casually slipped under my door in hopes that I would one day have some extra cash floating around when it was too disgustingly cold to walk 10 seconds from Farley to North Dining Hall. When I finally decided to indulge in a tasty sub sandwich (delivered right to my door), our relationship grew faster than Lindsay Lohan's eight ball collection.

Last Lecture

"What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?" I found these questions in Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture," perhaps the first assigned book I have read cover-to-cover in the past six years.

A letter to the champs

Dear Ladies,

The genius of Wikipedia

The Internet can often be disorienting and confusing — Google searches routinely yield meaningless results, and proper information can often be nearly impossible to find. We have all felt the resulting frustration. This was especially the case before the advent of Wikipedia — now the ultimate online encyclopedia and one of the ten most trafficked websites in the world. In its infancy, Wikipedia was often maligned as suspicious and untrustworthy. However, it is increasingly hard to deny its supremacy as a knowledge source.

Saint Mary's library hours

This letter is being written at 4:50 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4. I was sitting in the library diligently working on a research paper only to be interrupted by an announcement saying that the library is closing in 10 minutes. I feel that 5 p.m. is unreasonably early to close on a Saturday. Yes, the weekend is a time to go out with friends, but before I do so, I would still like to get work done for the coming week.

Jimmy Wales: Will stare at you for food

In case no one has noticed yet, for the past few weeks, Wikipedia has been flooded by dramatic life-size banner ads featuring founder Jimmy Wales' terrifyingly temple-veined yet endearingly squinty face and personal plea for donations.

I survived the snowball fight

   Oh what a beautiful sight it was. White snow flying about, people being hit, snowballs being thrown — what more could you ask for? I had gathered my snow and moved to the front lines, and I threw my fair share of snowballs. My friend got nailed in the face and went back to the dorm, but I continued to fight on.

Kudos to the Glee Club

Dear Notre Dame Glee Club,

Enlightenment

The economic and social framework of the modern state — valorized as the very condition of human freedom — renders inescapable certain forms of manipulation: The free laborer, no longer a serf, can now give of himself without his lord having any obligation to ensure his welfare; the criminal, no longer tortured, is now imprisoned until he demonstrates his eagerness to serve the society that has chained him. One tends to think of these economic and social reforms as gestures of humanity, not manipulation — and yet it is not coincidental that the free laborer is one who can work in whichever task the capitalist most needs him, that the reformed prisoner is one who can return to the capitalist the resources that were spent on his rehabilitation. Wage slavery is far more profitable than chattel slavery, rehabilitation far more profitable than retribution.

There's nothing like the family

The tricky aspect of professional sports is the line that is drawn between a sports franchise as a business and a sports franchise as a family. Without both the smart business deals by owners and the love and respect between the owners, coaches and players, teams do not succeed. However, two recent business deals in two different sports have convinced me that the side of family is more important than the business — nothing replaces the family.

A school by any other name ...

As I sit on my futon, writing this column and watching the snow fall outside, I find myself thinking about why I chose to come to Notre Dame.