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Wednesday, March 18, 2026
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Happy birthday to me! 

By Jonah Tran · Monday, Jan. 30, 2023

My birthday was last Saturday. It was the 19thone to date and certainly the most memorable one. I have had a complicated  past with birthdays. I have never had a birthday party. I can never seem to blow out all the candles in one quick motion. I usually do not love the cake because of excess frosting. For me, each birthday was an uncanny déjà vu, an imitated rehash of the year before. Eighteen felt like 17, 17 like 16, 16 like 15, so on and so forth until my memory fades. I offer you my standard birthday routine.  

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Don’t delay discernment!

By Joey Jegier · Friday, Jan. 27, 2023

Before coming to Notre Dame, I had never heard of discernment. Now, I would be lost without it. Discernment has not only brought joy and clarity, but it has also become the subject of my senior thesis.

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'Impermeably and forever': Reflecting on Rory Gilmore's graduation speech

By Mannion McGinley · Friday, Jan. 27, 2023

“Gilmore Girls” has been a comfort show of mine for years. Through my many watches, I've processed that Rory Gilmore is no perfect character. In fact, she’s one of the farthest main characters from “perfect” that I have come to know in my 22 years of reading, watching and learning. While she and Lorelai didn’t always get everything right, they’ve shaped who I am from some of their best moments and I’ve learned from watching some of their worst. 

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Thank you social justice volunteers

By lettertotheeditor · Friday, Jan. 27, 2023

The University of Notre Dame does an excellent job of reminding us how important it is to reach out to “the least of our brethren” and practice social justice as part of our daily lives. There is the Center for Social Concerns on campus that does an excellent job clarifying this for us. One of the other organizations on campus that also actively practices social justice in our community is the Sacred Heart Parish on campus. They have a Social Justice Ministry that has been active for many years with a number of parishioners who have also been active in such ministries.

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Observer Editorial: The hole in our newsroom

By The Observer Editorial Board · Friday, Jan. 27, 2023

As Walk the Walk week wraps up at Notre Dame, our predominantly white institution is left to think about how to put into practice the ideas we’ve engaged with this week. The University has poured funding and time into curating events with distinguished speakers and alumni and publicly uplifted its diverse students’ stories for the week.  This, of course, is an important first step in championing people of color on our campus and educating a majority white student body but it is, by nature, performative. So, how do we confront the actual problems we face when it comes to including students of diverse backgrounds?

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Snow days

By Isabelle Kause · Friday, Jan. 27, 2023

A few days ago on my way across campus, instead of hurrying to get to where I was going like I normally do, I took time to admire the snow. I noticed how beautiful the Golden Dome looked as the snow fell down and how much people seemed to be embracing the moment. Being from Chicago, I don’t have as much appreciation for the snow as most people do. I love when it snows around the holidays, but not so much when it’s March and nearing April. However, given that we’re still in January, I’ve chosen to embrace the snow for the time being. 

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'You can’t ever say you haven’t been told': My love letter to 'The Sopranos'

By Stephen Viz · Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023

Television, in particular paid programming television, has seen a cinematic revival since the turn of the twenty-first century. While once belittled as the little brother of the silver screen, the current landscape of television has changed drastically. No longer do actors smirk at the idea of taking on TV projects, but rather embrace it in ways not seen before. And while there have been dozens of titles that have received both critical and fan acclaim, all roads lead back to "The Sopranos"(1999-2007), arguably the godfather of modern television (yes, all puns intended).

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Winter blues

By Reyna Lim · Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023

It's that time of year in South Bend where campus freezes over and the permacloud chronically deprives us of sunlight. It’s all about perspective, really, because when the snow on the ground is still white, my morning coffee tastes just bitter enough, and my Spotify shuffles to the right track by The Velvet Underground and I’d waken up on time to put on four or more layers of clothes, I can almost romanticize the cold. Sometimes, at night, when it’s dark, I can even tell myself that South Quad is actually Narnia. But the truth is, most of the time, any 15-minute walk can seem like the last trek of your life when the wind is blowing in your face at infinite miles per hour and you’ve forgotten what your fingers are meant to feel like.

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The truth about Andrew Tate

By Oluwatoni Akintola · Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023

Top G. Cobra. The Professor. The man born as Emory Andrew Tate has many names and many cars. And many supporters, too. In fact, Tate has become something of a messiah to one of the most misunderstood demographics of people in the world, many of whom are angry at the world for one reason or another. I’m not talking about fans of Michigan football (though they do have a lot to be angry about). I’m talking about young men who have been rejected by society.

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It’s a wonderful life

By Stephen Viz · Monday, Jan. 23, 2023

During the Christmas season, “It’s a Wonderful Life” never fails to put the world into perspective. And I am sure that this 1946 movie placed plenty of things into perspective for lead actor for James Stewart. The acclaimed late actor, who plays main character George Bailey, was a military veteran of World War II. Stewart felt he was not ready to take on the role so shortly after the war, but after much convincing from producers, he accepted. Jimmy Stewart suffered greatly from post-traumatic stress disorder, and this PTSD he suffered from the war made it difficult for Stewart to return to civilian life. Eventually, Stewart used this PTSD for the emotions of George Bailey when he decided to take on the role. 

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The weary Christian

By Andrew Sveda · Monday, Jan. 23, 2023

“[M]y soul is bereft of peace;” the author of Lamentations writes. “I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD’” (Lamentations 3:17-18). In these verses, the author is so discouraged that he is driven to the brink of utter despair. In such moments, the Christian life feels almost impossible, and we are tempted to lose all hope. “Why go on? What’s the point anymore?” you wonder. Or you may be quite settled that you must go on, but you resign yourself to living under this gray shadow for the rest of your life. And so you grow tired and downcast, dreading today and every coming tomorrow. How can we apply God’s Word to this situation? I will offer a few thoughts.

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It’s time to be real

By Genevieve Coleman · Monday, Jan. 23, 2023

Over break, a few friends and I went to a coffee shop in South Bend. Besides serving one of the best lattes I’ve had in my life, the store is full of books that can be lent out to customers and handmade goods from local vendors.

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Antique shopping

By Maggie Eastland · Friday, Jan. 20, 2023

I think New Year’s resolutions are cheesy and insincere, but I sometimes make them halfway through the year. Two years ago, I made a resolution to write more and share my writing more. Needless to say, that’s a paradox I’m still working out. 

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Dysfunction and extremism: The failure of House Republicans as the opposition

By Blake Ziegler · Friday, Jan. 20, 2023

The 118th Congress has ushered in a divided federal government. The newly Republican-controlled House will amplify the staunch opposition displayed by the GOP since President Biden took office. Still, with Democrats in control of the Senate and the executive branch, Republicans are very much the minority party. With that in mind, let’s consider the role of an opposition party in a democracy and whether the GOP can meet those responsibilities. 

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A critique of awareness

By Jack Griffiths · Friday, Jan. 20, 2023

Welcome to the second semester of NeuroDivergent! While I know that my final column last semester may have given the impression that I was done as a columnist, I still have the desire to do more deep dives and tell more stories. So, to kick things off in a new year, here’s a (hopefully well-structured enough) rant inspired by seeing one bumper sticker on the way back to campus.  

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Transparency, dissent and the Soviet Union’s downfall

By Pablo Lacayo · Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023

The collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the world’s most seismic events towards the end of the twentieth century. Many political analysts have provided a plethora of hypotheses as to why the USSR collapsed the way it did, and the different ways it could have either been avoided or mistakes that precipitated its dissolution. After 70 years of totalitarian government, it is important to explore how small shifts toward transparency and democracy blasted through the foundations of the old Soviet regime. 

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