Print Edition of The Observer for Friday, September 29, 2017
t he shirt unites fans at football games
Student project sells 2.5 million shirts, raises over $10 million for student activities over 29 years
By MARIE FAZIO news writer
For the last 28 years, The s hirt has brought together the student section at home football games, as well as n otre d ame fans across the country. First created by students as a way to raise money for various student activities, The s hirt has become a prominent part of the n otre d ame football tradition with over 2.5 million shirts sold and upward of $10 million raised with the first 29 s hirts.
This year, over 100 students applied for a position on the highly-competitive 15-member committee responsible for the creation of The s hirt,
senior Justin m c c urdy — current president of The s hirt committee — said. The group is composed of two graphic designers, alumni correspondents, a social media and marketing team, public relations representatives and an unveiling ceremony team. m c c urdy said selected students for next year’s team are currently going through interviews with the expectation that the final team for next season’s s hirt will be finalized by fall break.
For many of the committee members, involvement with The s hirt has been a goal for years. b oth juniors
Town halls address research, residential life
By NATALIE WEBER
a ssociate news editor
The u niversity conducted a series of faculty town halls across wednesday and Thursday to answer questions from n otre d ame employees and address various projects and policy changes on campus.
u niversity provost Thomas b urish discussed research
conducted by n otre d ame faculty members. h e said n otre d ame has a turbomachinery lab in s outh b end where researchers can test airplane engines under simulated conditions.
“They don’t have to experiment or try to run it through a computer, build it and see what happens,” he said. “They can just test it in this lab because it’s the real
life conditions. i t’s the only laboratory in the world that can do this. i t’s not just a research project.”
b urish also highlighted the involvement of the Kellogg and Kroc i nstitutes in c olumbia. The c olumbian president negotiated a peace treaty between rebels and the government, who have
Course aims to connect Church, sustainability
By IMAN OMAR news writer
The tri-campus sustainability class seeks to place stewardship of the e arth at the center of faith practice. The course, offered each fall semester, integrates c atholic teachings into environmental studies to reflect on issues of sustainability.
John s lattery, an adjunct environmental studies professor at s aint m ary’s, said the course was developed to examine not only the topics in theory, but also how to physically implement these theories in a practical way.
“The aim of designing this course was to have an environmental studies class that is very tangible,” he
said. “Therefore, we focus on questions regarding how sustainability is practiced on campus and in what ways can we do more.”
Throughout the modern c atholic c hurch, s lattery said, care for the e arth has been a key component in faith practice — particularly with
i ndiana mayors focus on building community
By NATALIE WEBER a ssociate news editor
The u niversity hosted
m ayor James b rainard of c armel, i ndiana, and s outh b end m ayor p ete b uttigieg on Thursday for a discussion of urban development and sustainability entitled “ d esigning s mart c ities: m ayors Taking a ction.”
w hile campaigning for mayor of c armel, b rainard went door-to-door to meet with voters. h e said the city did not have a clearly defined main street, and many residents debated the location of the city’s downtown area.
major metropolitan areas. b ut it grew as a car suburb. “ i t didn’t have really much of a downtown other than that little two blocks, and you couldn’t walk anywhere you needed to go. a nd some of the older neighborhoods didn’t even have sidewalks.”
b rainard said he set out to develop a downtown area in c armel and make the area more accessible to pedestrians and bikers. The town now has roughly 200 miles of bike trails, b rainard said, and almost all of its neighborhoods are connected.
“ m ore than anything, i kept hearing about a center — about being able to walk somewhere i needed to go, about being able to go out for a dinner and a show and not have to drive 40 minutes into downtown i ndianapolis,” he said. see church paGe 7
“c armel is a poor, Quaker farming community that had, at the end of world war ii , only about 200 families — 500-some people,” he said. “Then, it started to grow, much like cities across the u nited s tates did that are on the edge of
KATELYN VALLEY | The Observer
The Shirt, which many students wear during home football games, hangs in Hammes Bookstore. The proceeds from The Shirt sales are split between two endowments that sponsor student actvities on campus.
Olivia Mercurio sophomore Welsh Family hall “movie couples.”
Residents of Howard Hall participate in their anuual fundraising event, “Totter for Water.” Through the event, Howard Hall raises money to benefit Engineers Without Borders by teeter-tottering on South Quad for 24 consecutive hours.
your event included
Friday
Dante Now! A ‘Divine Comedy’ Flashmob Various locations
2 p.m. - 5 p.m. Presented by Italian Studies.
Joe Piane Invitational Burke Golf Course
2 p.m.
Men’s and women’s cross country race.
Saturday
Game Day Yoga Rolfs Sports Recreation Center
9 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Presented by McWell.
Football vs. Miami (OH) Notre Dame Stadium
5 p.m.
The Irish take on the RedHawks. Sunday
Volleyball vs. Florida State Purcell Pavilion
1 p.m. The Irish take on the Seminoles.
ND Theatre NOW: Rhinoceros Philbin Studio Theatre
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Directed by FTT senior Abbey Schnell.
Monday
Lecture by Mark Foster Gage Bond Hall
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Founder of Mark Foster Gage Architects.
Lecture: “Affect, Natsume Soseki and World Literature” Jenkins Nanovic Hall
5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Open to the public.
Tuesday
Lecture: “Science Diplomacy: Past, Present and Future” Jenkins
ZACHARY YIM| The Observer
dante now! seeks to make text accessible
By ALEXANDRA MUCK news Writer
members of the notre dame community will read works of dante’s “divine comedy” in italian during a flash-mobstyle event called dante now! on Friday at 2 p.m. The participants will perform in groups starting at various locations across campus, and they will convene at the Grotto to read a final excerpt together, after which there will be a lecture and reception.
The event — which has taken place every year since 2012 — is based on a similar program in Florence, professor of italian studies a nne Leone, one of the organizers for the event, said.
“When we first got trained with the people in Florence, they were very specific about how it should be read,” she said. “so we probably started with the training sessions for each student, but now it’s built into the syllabus.”
a ll classes in the italian studies program, which include
200 to 300 students each year, incorporate dante into the syllabus, but upper-level students are not required to participate in dante, Leone said. some of the students who do participate, including sophomore beatrice hall, see dante now! as a chance to share stories of what it means to be human.
“When we tell stories, it is a way of living together, of sharing humanity,” hall said in an email. “how could there be a better example of this than reading dante together? dante
wrestles with what it means to be human, how we confront good and evil in our very souls. it is a powerful, compelling, utterly human story, and we get to share it with each other and with everyone who listens.”
Leone said the event is not only open to people in the italian studies department, though.
“The idea is that you don’t have to be trained to perform either,” she said. “in the past, we’ve had people’s parents and alumni and people here for football. … even if people haven’t studied italian or don’t know who dante is, that’s totally fine.”
Leone said part of the event is also making the works of dante more accessible for those listening. dante wrote the poem in the italian vernacular initially for this reason, she said.
“it’s trying to make the poem more accessible to our students,” she said. “ … i think a lot of people have heard of dante and how he’s italian, but don’t know where he’s from or think that ‘inferno’ is the only thing he wrote.”
Francesca carfagnini, a sophomore italian student who will participate in dante now!, is excited to serenade the
unexpecting crowd with italian so they can experience the language.
“even if you don’t understand it, you can still hear the shift in the tone and the language,” she said.
The crowd usually notices the group, Leone said, since they are dressed in costume with tall, red dante hats and golden wreaths.
carfagnini said she is excited for the costume aspect.
“it adds to the effect to be dressed up like dante,” she said. a crowd is not always present in the area, but Leone said she enjoys getting the crowd engaged.
“You kind of have to create your audience as you go,” she said. “some people have come with us and actually followed us to the Grotto. every year we hope for more and more of that.”
For Leone, the best part of the event is the feeling of accomplishment after.
“it’s usually a very festive feeling,” she said. “especially when we end all together, it’s like we’ve done all this together, and that’s very powerful.”
Contact Alexandra Muck at amuck@nd.edu
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Observer File Photo
Students perform in Dante Now!, a flash-mob-style performance of Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” on Oct. 12, 2014. This year, Dante Now! will take place at various locations on campus Friday afternoon.
Saint Mary’s introduces new composting initiative
By ERIN GRIMES news Writer
s aint m ary’s students may have noticed new yellow bins next to the tray return area in the dining hall. These bins are part of a new composting initiative that encourages students to dump their biodegradable waste in them so it can be composted rather than thrown in the trash.
s enior and composting coordinator Katie Frego said this is not the first time composting has been tried on campus.
“We have had composting in the past, but very [briefly],” she said. “ s omeone had made a compost bin last year, but the bin filled up so fast and there was nowhere else to put the compost.”
When the c ollege purchased an acre of farmland from the s isters of the h oly c ross this past spring, however, Frego said she saw an opportunity to bring back composting.
“That was the turning point for composting to truly begin,” she said. “b ecause we finally had an area where we could dump the compost and not have to worry about running out of space or the smell or anything like that.”
The composting initiative is student driven. s odexo, the c ollege’s dining service, just gives the space for the composting bins, general manager of dining services Ken a costa said.
“We promote it and say let’s go, let’s do it as long as it is student-driven,” he said.
Frego said she became involved with the project
because of her passion for sustainability and her realization of the impact the dining hall could have on the environment.
“ i ’ve always been very passionate about the environment, and i ’ve been working in the dining hall since freshman year,” she said. “a nd through that, i ’ve been able to see the amount of waste that is generated by the dining hall just in one day.”
her contacts across campus, Frego said, allowed her to get this project off the ground.
“a s a biology major, having connections with professors in the biology department and also knowing the managers in the dining hall, it was no brainer for me,” she said. “ i hate seeing all this waste that could be composted and used for making new soil just thrown in the trash.”
Frego believes that composting is important so that e arth is preserved for future generations, she said.
“ it is beneficial because we know that climate change does exist, our responsibility as students in college nowadays — and especially living in a country like the United s tates where we are so thankful for the blessings it gives us — that i think it is our responsibility to do our part in helping the e arth and making it more sustainable for future generations,” she said. “We are able to enjoy the beauty of this e arth, but if we don’t respect it and take care it, then generations down the road may not have the same opportunity that
we do.”
The composting system has only been implemented for a couple of weeks, but Frego said the results so far have been great.
“ i n the first week we saved over 500 pounds of waste,” she said. “a fter the second week we were over 500 pounds again. The student body has been really receptive to it. e veryone has been really impressed with how smooth this process is going so far.”
e ven with the great results, however, there still have been some challenges in educating the student body, Frego said.
“The toughest challenge is still educating the students on what can be thrown in the bins and what can’t be thrown in the bins,” she said. “ e ven spreading awareness that composting is now happening on [the] s aint m ary’s campus. The toughest challenge is how to communicate to the students that we are composting and this is a daily thing that will be happening for the rest of the year.”
Ultimately, Frego just wants to get the message across that the small action of composting can have an impact.
“ i really want to get this message across to s aint m ary’s students that throwing away those three watermelon rinds that you would have put in the trash really, actually, truly makes a difference,” she said.
Contact Erin Grimes at egrimes01@saintmary.edu
Philosophy of walking examined in new class
By SYDNEY DOYLE news Writer
saint mary’s philosophy professor Patricia sayre has decided to think outside the classroom this semester with the introduction of her new course, The Philosophy of Walking.
This one-credit course takes a different approach to philosophy and requires that students simply walk during every class period. sayre said she came up with the idea for the course after reading a book entitled “a Philosophy of Walking.”
“it’s not something philosophers seem to talk about a lot,” sayre said. “i read the book and i thought there was something i could build a course around here, but i don’t think i’d want to teach this as a straight academic course, because what’s the point in talking about walking if you’re not ever walking?”
sayre said she connects philosophical readings to every walk she and the students go on as a class.
“We go on a different path every time, and it’s key to the reading in some way,” sayre said. “one week the readings were about escaping — using walking to escape [from] ordinary life — so for this i decided we were going to go off campus. each person got to lead for a little bit.”
sayre said she always is surprised by the walks with her students, and she is even more surprised at their responses to the walks.
“Walks are unpredictable, and that’s part of the joy of it,” she said. “a nd even though i will
do the walk in advance to plan it, it never goes the way i thought it would go. a nd so the responses are terribly interesting that i get in the written work.”
hanna makowski, a senior in the class, said she appreciates this approach to philosophy because it allows room for individual thought. makowski said she likes how the class differs from other classes.
“in most classes you analyze and dissect the work of others, but in this class we are given the chance to create our own work based on our own philosophy of walking,” she said in an email.
The unconventional approach to the class about more than just walking, sayre said, and the course is about creating connections to the larger world.
“We’re doing philosophy in a somewhat different way,” she said. “it’s more like thinking symbolically about what you’re doing, what you’re seeing and how, in many ways, it might be a metaphor for other existential problems you might have in life.”
sayre said one of the best things about her course is how free walking makes her feel. For her and her students, she said, this time is a time to get away from the stress of the responsibilities of everyday life.
“it’s like this little window of time when you are free from all of that,” sayre said. “When you’re walking you simply can’t do those other things, you have time to yourself, your mind is free.”
Contact Sydney Doyle at sdoyle01@saintmarys.edu
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students confront international societal issues
By SELENA PONIO a ssociate news editor
The goal of the i nternational summer s ervice Learning Program ( issLP) is for students to become aware of complex social issues that will help them discern their responsibility as global citizens in our world, director of international engagement at the c enter for s ocial c oncerns r achel Tomas morgan said.
issLP is a communitybased learning abroad program Tomas morgan designed, implemented and directs, according to the c enter for s ocial c oncerns website. The program has averaged 300 applications annually and has 64 positions available to freshman, sophomores and juniors, Tomas morgan said.
“students encounter dayto-day realities facing local communities in international settings,” she said in an email. “We have some amazing sites of deep learning and cultural immersion. i encourage students to come to an issLP i nformation s ession and to come by Geddes hall to review binders full of information from past participants so as to discern which sites are the best
fit for their own particular interests, skills and experiences.”
o nline applications close on o ct. 29, and site committees review these applications throughout the month of november. students are then invited to interviews for positions, and confirmations of participation are due by d ec. 27.
“While it is a competitive process, we encourage all students — frosh, sophomores and juniors — who can see themselves living and working in community with communities to apply,” morgan said.
s enior molly Knapp spent 10 weeks in Trujillo, honduras for her issLP during the summer after her sophomore year. Knapp worked at a c atholic children’s home as a special education, e nglish and math teacher for elementary and middle school kids.
“s ome of my favorite memories would definitely be in the classroom,” Knapp said. “it was always awesome when i was teaching a difficult math concept and to finally see the light go on in one of the kid’s eyes who had been struggling for a while.”
Prior to her issLP experience, Knapp had also completed
a summer s ervice Learning Program ( ssLP) — another c enter for s ocial c oncerns program — in m inneapolis at a community center for the Latino population working specifically with senior citizens. additionally, Knapp said she has always had a desire to work with kids, being the oldest of four kids herself.
“i applied to do an issLP partly because of my experience with the ssLP,” she said. “i just found so much joy in working with both kids and senior citizens, and really wanted to expand my horizons by learning more about the world and how to become a global citizen by connecting with other populations.”
a lthough she is still trying to discern what her future path will be, Knapp said she will hopefully be involved with international human rights law, which relates directly to her issLP.
“i worked with a lot of kids whose parents had been members of the international drug trade, and that is an issue that i have been studying in my classes, and is something that i’m very interested in continuing to learn about and hopefully tackle in a career in policy
and legislation in the future,” Knapp said.
Knapp said she went down to honduras with one other notre dame student, but at the site there were two long-term volunteers who were notre dame graduates. having that connection and being able to talk about their notre dame experiences helped make the transition to living abroad easier, she said.
a s for who should apply, Knapp said although each site has a different level of
spirituality attached to it and that the sites are not identical in terms of experiences, the students who apply should all share a particular attribute.
“i would say that this program would be good for anyone who is willing to step outside of their comfort zone and to really form relationships with a wide variety of people in different circumstances,” Knapp said.
Contact Selena Ponio at sponio@nd.edu
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Photo courtesy of Lindsey Whalen
Students participating in an ISSLP in Buenos Aires, Argentina, engage wih the local community in a schoolyard game.
“What it was was a yearning for a very traditional city — the same kind our civilizations have been building for thousands of years.”
When developing c armel’s downtown area, the city decided to put a height limit on buildings — restricting them to five stories, b rainard said. The effects of tall buildings are similar to the effects of urban sprawl, he said, and cause problems for both the environment and public health.
“ i n addition to the environment, [sprawl] was bad for mental and physical health. People were separated from each other,” he said. “We’re social animals. b ut if you go up too high, you get the same mental and physical health impact.”
The city has implemented other sustainable measures, b rainard said. The city uses the end product from its sewage plants and the methane flames utilized in sewage plants to create fertilizer, he said.
“ i t used to just produce carbon, [and] you had to burn it off for safety,” b rainard said. “We’re using it now to heat up that sludge to turn it into fertilizer, and we sell it. i t went from being an expense to a profit for us.”
c ities have the power to affect wide-reaching environmental change, b uttigieg said, though their efforts are sometimes hindered by state and federal governments.
“ i think we’re finally beginning to realize that there’s more to government than the tension between state and federal [government],” he said. “a nd for a long time, we were led to believe that the tug-of-war between state and federal
power was the only one that mattered, when actually, it increasingly feels like we’re in an environment where it’s really cities and towns against the world.”
b uttigieg said it is important to ensure that local autonomy is protected, as higher levels of the government have begun to interfere with communities’ decision-making.
“ i t’s certainly the case that cities are having their hands tied often by state governments over ideological reasons or power reasons,” he said. “a nd for the first time, we seem to see the federal government begin to want to move in the same direction.”
c ities have begun to form coalitions to combat climate change and bring about change from the local level,
b uttigieg said.
“ i f a critical mass of cities agree to take certain steps — whether it’s embracing the climate goals, moving toward carbon neutrality, getting a certain base of renewables, whatever those goals are — when us cities do it, that’s almost as good as if the entire world and national governments had come together and they make a decision,” he said.
b uttigieg said the s mart s treets initiative — a project which created new two-way traffic lanes in the community — and the introduction of the Lime b ikes into s outh b end made the city more connected.
“We’re now at 15,000 trips per week on this system,” he said of the Lime b ikes. “ i n a city the size of s outh b end, it’s extraordinary. We’ve seen a six-fold growth just from the first month to the second month, and we’re getting about a thousand riders per day.”
n otre d ame students aren’t the only people using
the bike sharing system, b uttigieg said.
“a lot of the riders are actually from low-income parts of town where people may rely on this as a way to get to work,” he said. “a nd so the idea of bikes and bike lanes and bike sharing systems [as] something that’s just for affluent corners of the community really doesn’t bear out when you look at who uses them and how.”
b uttigieg echoed b rainard’s comments and said it was important for cities to be well-connected and accessible to pedestrians.
“The very mission, the function of a city — which is exchange — is usually best supported when people can encounter each other, which means being outside of a vehicle,” b uttigieg said.
When it comes to local community development, b uttigieg said, partisan politics do not have as much of an influence as they do in national affairs.
“When it comes to this local problem solving, even on what might be considered a national or global issue, often party doesn’t matter as much as you would think,” he said. “a nd a lot of that, i think, is because we’re in the business of solving problems in a very immediate level. We’re looking for solutions at a very immediate level.”
Contact Natalie Weber at nweber@nd.edu
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EDDIE GRIESEDIECK | The Observer
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, left, and Carmel Mayor James Brainard discuss the environmental impact of cities Thursday.
EDDIE GRIESEDIECK | The Observer
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks at a discussion on urban development and sustainability in cities Thursday.
Pope Francis’ second encyclical, “Laudato si’: o n c are
For o ur c ommon h ome.”
“We need to internally evaluate whether we are actually practicing environmental stewardship and sustainability,” he said. “a nd i think, a lot of times, the answer is we’re trying to but not quite, and there are actually a lot of things that are inconsistent with what the c hurch teaches that we can improve on.”
s lattery said he believes c atholic institutions should reflect and honor these teachings more concretely in how they live their lives and practice sustainability as institutions.
“ i think it’s really important, mostly because it has a sound c hristian, ethical and moral background,” he said.
“ ... i t is the direction that the pope has taken and multiple bishops conferences have taken on stewardship of the e arth as a centerpiece for what it means to be c atholic.”
s aint m ary’s senior h anna m akowski said the course provides concrete ways of addressing sustainability, specifically within the tricampus community.
“c ommunity is a big part of this course, as it highlights how we are all connected and motivates us to think about how we can all work together to come up with ideas and solutions that can benefit all of us,” she said.
h aving an open dialogue with students from h oly c ross and n otre d ame allows for a line of communication and collaboration between the tri-campus student communities that may be lacking in an informal context,
m akowski said.
“What i enjoy the most about this class is building relationships with students within the same community but from different campuses, which allows for good internal reflection from multiple perspectives,” she said.
m akowski said she enjoys working and learning with other students who are taking the course due to their genuine passion for the e arth.
“People aren’t taking this course for the credits, they’re taking it because they care,” she said. “ i t’s nice to have a community of people that you know are committed to the ideals of the course, which i think is cool.”
s ophomore a nna Zingalis said this course challenges her to think about her everyday actions and how it affects the world around her.
“ i t challenges me to really think about everything that i ’m doing — when i wake up in the morning, when i ’m taking my showers or when i ’m eating in the dining hall — and think about how this is going to affect the future and how it is going to affect other people,” she said.
Zingalis said this is an important course being offered, and she explained that sustainability is something that affects everyone.
“ i think this is a course that is useful to all students because by learning about sustainability and environmental impact, it becomes more personal once you really understand how it works, and it sort of becomes a part of you,” she said. “That’s when it’s truly eye-opening, and you start to realize how this issue matters and the effects it has on a larger scale.”
Contact Iman Omar at iomar01@saintmarys.edu
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Kayleigh mc g uigan and Lindsey meyers, the designers of this year’s s hirt, have collected iterations of The s hirt for almost their entire lives. (Editors note: Meyers is a former graphic designer for The Observer.)
“i ’ve collected these s hirts since i was really little,” meyers said. “it was always my dream to design The s hirt. it’s a very collaborative committee. Kayleigh and i would come up with designs and make them in Photoshop and i llustrator and present them to the team. … We started with the hangtag and went all the way down to every little detail.”
The group decides on a vendor and a color for The s hirt, begins research designs and has the hangtag finished before the end of the fall semester, mc g uigan said. i n the spring semester, the two designers will create designs for The s hirt, send ideas back and forth to the rest of the committee and implement any feedback. a few of the members will take a trip to the vendor’s facility — they visited c olosseum a thletics in c alifornia last year — to finalize the fit and design. e ach season’s design is revealed at the unveiling ceremony in a pril.
“hundreds of hours of work go into it,” mc g uigan said. “There’s not a single pixel that we didn’t think about or touch — color and placement and size and everything. it’s a lot more work than people would think. …
There’s so much that goes into it that you wouldn’t know.”
For this year’s shirt, mccurdy said the group decided to use discharge printing, which replaces the pigment of the shirt with the color of the ink, making the shirt softer and less likely to fade.
o ne of the hardest parts of the process of creating The s hirt, mc g uigan said, is designing a s hirt that will appeal to all notre d ame fans and understanding that you can’t please everyone. This year, mc g uigan said the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“We wanted to go traditional this year because last year was a more modern color and design,” she said. “We also wanted to have a nod to crossroads, which is new and modern, so it was kind of balancing the tradition and modern.”
The group underwent a slight restructuring of where the proceeds from the sales are directed last year, mc c urdy said.
“We realized that the proceeds from the endowment were supporting well more than what was needed to support the medical requests,” he said. “We decided to split from that endowment and put more money towards what was the rector fund and what is now the o ffice of s tudent e nrichment, which makes sure all students have the full [ notre d ame] experience no matter their socioeconomic status.”
The committee decided to allow The s hirt c harity Fund — which collects money to help students with extraordinary medical expenses
is we’re moving all the rec sports equipment into the d uncan s tudent c enter.”
been engaged in a civil war for years, b urish said. b oth the government and rebel forces appointed three members to a committee tasked with writing the treaty.
“They each appointed three individuals, and those six people would get together and see if they could come up with a resolution,” b urish said. “ o ne of the three appointed by the president was a n otre d ame faculty member. d oug c astle was his name. They created a treaty. a ll six agreed.”
e xecutive vice president John a ffleck- g raves discussed the construction projects currently in progress at the u niversity.
“[ r olf’s] will be closing in January, and we’ll start to remodel it for the two basketball teams,” he said. “ b ecause many of us use the rec sports center — either for exercising or for basketball — what we’ve done
— to continue to grow on its own, but will split all future proceeds between the s tudent union e ndowment — which distributes money to student organizations — and the s tudent e nrichment e ndowment. a ll of the money raised stays on campus and benefits students, meyers said.
“The biggest misconception is that i don’t think people know all of the money goes back to the students,” she said. “it’s unbelievable. The total sum of the money they made from last year’s s hirt was around $760,000 total and … 100 percent of it goes back to the students.” i n addition to selling as many s hirts and raising as much money as possible, mc c urdy said the group always attempts to break the record for most s hirts sold. i n 2015, The s hirt came within a few hundred of the 165,000- s hirt record. With remaining home games this season, the group hopes that sales will pick up as the football team continues to prove themselves, mc c urdy said. meyers said The s hirt committee believes a student section unified in a single color sends a message of strength and unity to opposing teams as well as signals support for the i rish at all of the home games.
“We really want people to wear The s hirt to the games every week,” she said. “We want to look like a unified whole, so we want everyone to wear it. i t helps the football team, too.”
Contact Marie Fazio at mfazio@nd.edu
a ffleck- g raves said n otre d ame will likely begin the project of building a new men’s dormitory in m arch of 2018.
“ e arly next year, we’ll start this project, and we’re hoping to have a new men’s residence hall in a ugust of 2019,” he said. “ s o it will probably take us 16 to 17 months to do this. i t will look very much like Flaherty and d unne.”
The u niversity is also constructing a new facility with water chillers and a 2 million-gallon water tank, a ffleck- g raves said.
“We’ll run them mainly at night because at night, electricity is cheaper,” he said. “You can buy it off the grid. We can run the chillers, and we can make cold water more cheaply.”
“The reason we decided to do that is we really do believe it’s an important part of a n otre d ame education, just as we require philosophy and theology and math and science,” he said. “ s o we feel this is an important part of a n otre d ame education.”
When asked if the number of students enrolled at n otre d ame would increase following the construction of the new men’s residence hall, Jenkins said it would not.
“We feel we’re about the right size,” he said. “We don’t want to get to such a big, impersonal place we don’t know one another. We have about a little over 8,000 undergraduates and we think that’s about the right size, so we’re going to stay there.”
a ffleck- g raves, b urish and u niversity President Fr. John Jenkins answered questions from faculty concerning the new facilities, changes in u niversity policies and parking. i n response to a question about the changes to housing requirements, Jenkins said he felt they will help form stronger communities in residence halls.
Contact Natalie Weber at nweber@nd.edu
Lessons from an ex-convict
Kelli Smith news Writer
I was 15 years old when I learned I had been living with an ex-convict.
It all started when my mother informed me a friend of hers named marina would be watching over me while she was out of town. my objections were immediate — in my mind, I was an adult more than capable of watching over myself. but my mother insisted, and, as usual, my juvenile protestations bore no weight.
marina stayed with me for five days. during that time, I was introduced to the most genuine person I have ever met. she quickly became more than a “babysitter” — she became a friend.
It wasn’t until two months and countless “babysitting sessions” later that my mother told me the truth: marina was an ex-convict. she made a regretful mistake as an 18-year-old by engaging in an industry she has known since the age of 3: the drug trade. she received a sentence of 17 years. she served 14 of them.
I was angry. how could my mother withhold something so significant from me? how could she elect a former felon with an irrevocably flawed past to watch over me?
And then I realized: she was teaching me a lesson. It is an undeniable truth that, growing up, I viewed the world in black-and-white. I used to frown upon my mother’s profession as a criminal defense attorney, questioning her judgment and belief system. how could she defend criminals, I would think. how could she morally justify advocating for convicts — people who had done unlawful, bad things?
And yet — intersecting the incessant flow of chaotic thoughts was a paralyzing, voluminous reality that followed a trajectory strikingly unfamiliar in my mind: marina is the kindest person I have ever known.
And knowing her had shattered my black-and-white world.
And now? I am ashamed.
I am ashamed of my adolescent ignorance and inability to perceive the multifaceted layers of human essence. To look at a person and see beyond their background. To ponder, rather than judge, their questionable decisions and wonder: Why would they do that? What led them down that path?
It is that moment that inspired my current pursuit of journalism. And in many ways, it is what led me to notre dame and its dedication to seeking and sharing the truth. marina made problematic decisions. she trekked a flawed path. I am not blind to that.
but I also recognize that she is so much more. she attends church daily to expand her ability to love. my mother cites her as the hardest-working employee she has ever had. she is the easiest person to talk to, is the most attentive listener and is loyal to a fault. she knows her past will follow her no matter where she goes or who she encounters. she knows employers will think thrice before considering her. she knows the world is filled with people like my 15-year-old self, who will unabashedly peer at her from eyes of self-righteousness — eyes of privilege. she doesn’t blame them.
“That place — prison — taught me the hardest lessons in the cruelest of ways,” she recently told me. “but life out here … as hard as it can get is a walk in the park.” convict: a word of negative connotation. one that can prompt extreme implications when taken the wrong way. she bears that word with a resilient courage we would all do well to learn.
Which is why I no longer hesitate when I tell people: Living with an ex-convict was the greatest lesson I have ever had.
Contact Kelli Smith at ksmith67@nd.edu
Try something new
“s o what do you want to do?”
After a day or even week of tests, homework and other responsibilities, such a question is perhaps a common one amongst various friend groups at notre d ame. And the answer typically comes from the same list of each group’s routine activities. Accustomed to those routines, we can easily forget about or even fail to notice the many opportunities notre d ame and s aint m ary’s offer to branch out. We delete the Week@ nd emails, we ignore our friend’s Facebook invitations to campus events and we barely glance at the posters lining the walls of our dorms and classroom buildings.
o nce graduation imminently rolls around, however, this wealth of unique opportunities will quickly vanish. s o this e ditorial b oard wants to take a week to encourage everyone to try new things while there’s still time — think about attending a movie screening, cheering for a new Irish or b elles team or testing out a new restaurant.
In-depth lectures from prominent guest speakers and experts happen in the classrooms we frequent every day. After graduation, it will be much more difficult to listen to the former president of Germany, a renowned dark matter physicist, a former s ecretary of state or a Pulitzer-prize winning author offer insight about their areas of expertise.
c onsistent with the University’s mission, learning does not have to end with our classes. e ver wish you could take an extra e nglish course but don’t have the time? Go to one of the many readings in the h ammes b ookstore. Wish you knew more about biological sciences but are studying political science? Go to lectures sponsored by the many science departments on our campuses. Want valuable business insight but not a mendoza student? Go to any one of the b oardroom Insights lectures hosted each month by the c ollege.
After graduation, we’ll have to pay a lot of money to see the latest and greatest movies in theaters. b ut on campus, we have access to films we can’t yet queue up on n etflix. The d e b artolo Performing Arts c enter often shows classics such as “The m ighty d ucks” and “ h ocus Pocus.” e very week, the s tudent Union b oard ( s U b ) screens a movie you wish you saw in theaters but never got around to watching — often times before it’s even available on dvd
These movies aren’t the only form of art available to us on campus. Just next door to d eb artolo h all, you can check out the s nite museum — one of the top university museums in the country, which houses a remarkable art collection just minutes away from your room. o ther walkable venues include the homes
of several successful athletic teams at this University, many of which get overshadowed by the spectacle of s aturday’s football games. The men’s and women’s soccer teams are currently ranked no. 7 and no. 22 in the country, respectively, and volleyball has defeated its share of top-25 foes in Purcell Pavilion this season as well. As we move into the winter season, don’t take for granted the opportunity to see two of the nation’s best women’s and men’s basketball teams play on campus. e ven more, the hockey team was just ranked no. 8 in a preseason poll, and the fencing team stands as the reigning national champions. b eyond the boundaries of notre d ame, it simply won’t be free to watch future professional athletes or recent o lympians compete live.
And if none of this entices you, there are dozens of ways you can support your friends and fellow students on campus. Go to a humor Artists or student standups show — if they end up on s aturday n ight Live, you’ll be able to say you saw them for free.
Go to the play or musical your friend is involved with, whether it is the s tudent Players, the not- s o-royal s hakespeare c ompany or Pemc o — the quality of the performance is far beyond what is expected of a college production. Go to Acousti c afe or a show featuring one of the a capella groups on campus, and listen to what you’ll be streaming on s potify in a few years. o ur peers are putting themselves out there, and we have the pleasure of witnessing their success almost every day.
b eyond the actual borders of campus, s outh b end is quickly growing into a thriving community. If the new dining hall changes have been bothering you, check out any of the many offcampus restaurants — the Purple Porch c o- o p, India Garden, c hicory c afe and The General are a few of our favorites. If you’re looking for more than just food, o’ rourkes, Taphouse on the e dge, d anny b oy and s outh b end b rew Werks all offer trivia nights along with amazing eats.
It’s unlikely that you’ll spend more than four or five years at this University or c ollege, so while you’re here, take advantage of every opportunity in front of you. In 30 years, when we’re looking back on our college experiences, we could very well forget about that one night we studied or went to a bar — but we’ll certainly remember that time we took advantage of a new opportunity notre d ame or s aint m ary’s provided us with.
s o this week, don’t delete the Week@ nd email. r espond with a “going” to the random event your friend invited you to. Learn more about the topics you’re interested in, go to that movie you’ve been meaning to see and try eating somewhere that isn’t the dining halls or LaFun. e ngage with the community.
Answer the question “ s o what do you want to do?” with something new.
Dear Notre Dame family,
Puerto Rico needs our help
By now all of you have heard about the devastation that Hurricane María recently inflicted upon Puerto Rico. A week after María hit with a destructive force never before experienced on this small Caribbean island, most of its 3.5 million inhabitants — all of whom are U.S. citizens — are facing dire circumstances that include very limited access to drinking water, electricity, food, landline and cellular telephone communication, internet, medical supplies and many other basic necessities which are so crucial to survival in the aftermath of such a catastrophe. Before our very eyes, the island is quickly becoming the scene of a large-scale humanitarian crisis. Many experts predict that electricity will not be fully restored and that access to fresh running water will continue to be severely limited for many months. Everyone on the island has been affected; no one was spared the wrath of this terrible storm. If the people of Puerto Rico don’t get the urgent help they need, thousands of our fellow U.S. citizens face the very real risk of losing their lives. While the U.S. government has sent some help, in our opinion it simply has not been sufficient, and basic necessities are not arriving quickly enough to those who are most in need. As members of Notre Dame for the last 20 years we have encouraged our students to
live out the University’s mission by helping to “create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice.” In the wake of the horrible human tragedy that is currently unfolding in Puerto Rico, we urge you — in solidarity with our fellow citizens on the island, and with the many Puerto Rican students and faculty currently at Notre Dame, and the hundreds of Puerto Rican alumni on the island, on the U.S. mainland and around the globe — to consider sending monetary donations to charities and organizations on the ground in Puerto Rico (Charity Navigator is a good resource to find highly ranked, reputable charities). Unfortunately, collections of water, food and basic necessities are not getting to those who need them, but largely remain stored in U.S. and Puerto Rican facilities due, in large part, to the extreme destruction of infrastructure and storage and transportation facilities throughout the island. We understand that there are so many serious complications that have made it very difficult for officials to distribute aid to Puerto Rico’s desperate citizens, not the least of which is the fact that Puerto Rico is an island located 1,000 miles from the U.S. mainland. And though we applaud the government’s decision Thursday morning to waive temporarily (10 days exactly) the outdated Jones Act
(also known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920) — therefore loosening federal restrictions on foreign ships delivering cargo to Puerto Rico — we believe that this decision was made too late and only after significant public outrage. Please consider calling your representatives to put pressure on Congress to abolish permanently the Jones Act, a move that would free foreign ships to deliver much-needed aid to Puerto Rico for months and years to come as the island recovers from the devastating impacts of Hurricane María. Even if Puerto Rico is far away, there’s a lot we can do to help the people there and to create awareness about the tragedy that is unfolding on the island. We count on you, Notre Dame, to do your part to help bring relief to our fellow citizens.
Marisel Moreno associate professor department of romance languages and literatures
Tom Anderson professor
department of romance languages and literatures
Sept. 28
It is time to compensate college athletes
College athletes are undeniably subjects of exploitation under the current system of college athletics. It may be less desired by fans, universities and the NCAA, but a system that further compensates college athletes is not only economically sound, but also morally requisite.
I recognize that college athletes receive scholarships, and that a college education is a highly valuable commodity in modern society. Surely, college athletes are granted this privilege amongst many others. My argument is not that college athletes receive no benefits of value, but rather that the benefits they receive are grossly disproportionate to the revenue and intangible value they generate.
Notre Dame, Texas, Alabama and countless other schools routinely draw close to or above $100 million in revenue from their football programs alone. Many college football and basketball coaches make much more money than their respective university presidents. At the University of Alabama, even the outside linebackers coach makes more money than the university president. Here at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly enjoys a yearly salary of over $1 million dollars and is not even amongst the very top earners in college football.
Athletics do not just draw in money, but also drive increases in the intangible value of universities. College athletics is often what makes schools more relevant and desired. This is undeniably true of Notre Dame, among many other schools.
Yet, the very casual actors of these increases in relevance, desirability and revenue — the players — are given but a sliver of the pie which they produce. This is blatantly unjust.
I do not believe that all college athletes should be paid.
Rather, I would be in favor of a payment scheme that rewards individual athletes according to the projected revenue they draw in. This would likely mean football and basketball players would be the main payment recipients.
I realize that the system described above currently seems infeasible to both create and implement, but I nonetheless would contend that such a system would be the most in line with sound economics and morality.
I will be the first to concede that I do not have a comprehensive logistical plan to devising such a system, but I do believe that we have the capacity to concoct such a blueprint, given the vast array of innovative and analytical minds this country has to offer.
The reality is that not much serious thought and deliberation has been exercised in attempting to create a payment scheme. This article is not meant to put forth a particular system, but rather highlight the need to seriously work towards devising such a system.
Even if compensation in the form of salary was found to be completely impossible, there are still other personal revenue avenues that college athletes should be able to pursue. More specifically, I think that college athletes should be given the freedom to sign endorsement deals and sell memorabilia. NCAA athletes under the current system cannot even promote their YouTube channel, let alone commit to advertisement deals.
At the very least, players should be able to make money from their apparel being sold. When people go in to the bookstore at Notre Dame and buy a No. 7 football jersey, they are not buying an arbitrary jersey; they are buying a Brandon Wimbush jersey. Similarly, when people pick out a No. 35 basketball jersey in the Notre Dame bookstore, they are making a willful decision to buy a Bonzie Colson jersey. Yet, neither Wimbush nor Colson will receive any compensation from these transactions. This is wrong. Apparel companies and schools should
not have a monopoly on the revenue generated from apparel sold in a player’s likeness. Rather, the player whose likeness was sold should receive at least a portion of the revenue generated.
College athletes have been arbitrarily designated as amateurs. There is nothing inherently amateur about college athletics. They spend more than 40 hours a week practicing. They draw national, even global, audiences. They are a part of a multi-billion-dollar industry. The only thing that makes college athletes amateurs is the fact that they do not get paid. And seemingly the only reason college athletes do not get paid is because they have been labeled amateurs. Therefore, the justification of not compensating college athletes seems to be victim to a circular logic fallacy, not based in either ethical responsibility or economic competence.
obviously, the logistics behind a compensation proposal are very difficult. It is also undeniably true that college athletics would lose a pureness that separates itself from professional athletics. However, asserting the difficulty of paying college athletes and complaining about the loss of uniqueness that would result from instituting such a system are not at all sufficient defenses of the current scheme. Simply throwing our hands in the air and saying, “It’s too hard” or “It won’t be the same” is a cop out and, quite frankly, a demonstration of willful and selfish ignorance to injustice.
It is finally time to face the uncomfortable yet all too obvious truth: College athletes deserved to be paid.
Eddie is a junior majoring in economics and political science, with a minor in constitutional studies. He plans on attending law school after his time as an undergraduate at Notre Dame. He can be reached at edamstra@nd.edu
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Letter tO tHe editOr
Eddie Damstra Dinner Table Talks
By DANIEL O’BOYLE Scene Writer
“The Big Lebowski” uses the “F-word” a total of 260 times. How is this relevant to an excellent indie-folk debut album from an up-and-coming singer-songwriter? Well, in one iconic scene, John Goodman’s character Walter Sobchak smashes what he believes to be the car of a high-schooler who stole money from “The Dude” (Jeff Bridges). While destroying the car, Sobchak screams “This is what happens when you f--- a stranger in the a--.” That line — like so many others in the film — is not suitable for daytime viewing on broadcast TV. Censors had to get a little creative.
“This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps.” It’s a little bit less 90s-slacker comedy. A little bit more, well, indie-folk. Anyway, Los Angeles singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers’ debut album is called “Stranger in the Alps.” And it’s very good.
In a year of fantastic albums from female singer-songwriters — with Jesca Hoop, Molly Burch, Nadia Reid and Laura Marling all producing some of the best work of 2017 — it’s hard to imagine Bridgers could stand out far above her peers. And yet “Stranger in the Alps” does just that. Bridgers’ record is one of the most captivating, emotional and genuine releases of the year. It’s also very sad.
“Stranger in the Alps” sounds more like the record you could imagine given the name without context, and less like an album named after a ridiculous attempt at censorship. The album is filled with heartbreaking songs, reminiscent of fellow Los Angeles native Elliott Smith.
“I’m obsessed with Elliott Smith, which is very common
knowledge,” Bridgers told W Magazine earlier this month. That can be heard most clearly on the opening lines of “Scott Street,” which resembles the start of Smith’s “Alameda” before the song gradually builds into something more grandiose than anything Smith recorded, with swelling instrumentation and rising background noise from a busy street.
But Bridgers doesn’t need to overtly channel the master of depressing songs in order to make an emotional impact.
On “Funeral,” Bridgers sings about performing at the funeral of a young man her age and reflects upon her life (“Jesus Christ, I’m so blue all the time”) before realizing she is thinking only of herself as a family grieves. The album’s opener, “Smoke Signals,” touches upon the deaths of David Bowie and Motorhead’s Lemmy between choruses where Bridgers croons about “burning trash on the beach” over a tune somewhat reminiscent of the opening theme of “Twin Peaks.”
But although death appears regularly — it also comes up in “Killer,” “Chelsea” and “Would you Rather” — it’s never at the center of Bridgers’ songs. Instead, loneliness is the main theme, with “Demi Moore’s” chorus of “Don’t wanna be alone / Don’t wanna be alone anymore,” guiding the album, much like similar thoughts guided almost all of Elliott Smith’s work.
But despite all of the sadness, Bridgers’ sense of humor is apparent in places, and that might just be what elevates this album from a great collection of sad songs to more.
On “Smoke Signals,” Bridgers snidely compares a week away with an ex-boyfriend to Henry David Thoreau’s twoyear retreat to Walden Pond (“I went with you up to / The place you grew up in / We spent a week in the cold / Just long
enough to / “Walden” it with you / Any longer, it would have got old”) and sings about driving fast “because f--- the cops.” On “Motion Sickness,” the most upbeat song on the album, she insults an ex with lines like, “Why do you sing with an English accent? / I guess it’s too late to change it now.”
That should be a little less surprising if you follow Bridgers on Twitter. Sadness is central to her brand, but Bridgers loves to make self-aware jokes about it. And that humor gives the listener just a little bit more connection to Bridgers’ life when she does go over the themes that so many singer-songwriters have tread over.
Bridgers’ humor alone certainly isn’t what makes this stand out even among other excellent albums released this year, but it plays a major part. It creates a deep personality behind the voice you hear on every song, helping to turn the album from a group of sad songs into snapshots into someone’s life. “It really ties the album together.”
Contact Daniel O’Boyle at doboyle1@nd.edu
“Stranger in the Alps”
Phoebe Bridgers
Label: Dead Oceans
If you like: Neil Young, Bright Eyes, Elliott Smith Tracks: “Motion Sickness,” “Scott Street,” “Killer”
By CHARLIE KENNEY Scene Writer
The recently released film “Wind River” by Taylor Sheridan tells a story fit for television not a movie theater. The film tells the story of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent (Jeremy Renner) who gets entangled in a murder on an Indian reservation with an estranged FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen). It’s not a particularly uninteresting story. It grabbed my attention at times; kept me guessing. The extent to which it kept me guessing, however, could be equated with an episode of “NCIS” or “Criminal Minds” that I could watch from the comfort of my living room. An episode of “NCIS” or “SVU” is what this movie should have been — an hour long with all of the details cut out. But the film shouldn’t even be on television because the film is bad. It’s well directed, well written and (for the most part) well acted. It should be, because the film’s theme is a murder-rape that, in the grand scheme of things, is unspectacular. This is not to say that rape and murder are not gruesome and disgusting; it is to say that the only types of murders that keep you glued to your seat for two hours must be out of the ordinary — ones that you would never see on a cookie-cutter episode of “Criminal Minds.” “Fargo,” “The Silence of the Lambs” and “The Departed”
all keep you glued to your seat. Not because they are significantly better produced than “Wind River,” but because of their stories’ natures. “Fargo” is about someone hiring a hitman to kill their wife, “The Silence of the Lambs” is about arguably the smartest serial killer to ever have lived and “The Departed” is about a police scandal of epic proportions — all extraordinary stories that need two hours to be told and demand a film to tell them. “Wind River,” on the other hand, only dances the line between ordinary and extraordinary. Its story of murder and rape is only special because it happens on an Indian Reservation — not too exciting.
Aside from the story, the film has its positives — particularly in what the director, Taylor Sheridan, does. In this film, Sheridan made the jump that so many screenwriters long to make: from writer to writer and director. In the film, Sheridan is finally able to bring his own words to life for the first time instead of pawning them off for someone else to do with them as they wish. Sheridan’s skill in the film is without a doubt the film’s highlight. The film’s Native American dimension is well researched, the characters are incredibly well developed and the film’s structure is very intelligent. The film isn’t an incredibly notable debut for Sheridan, but it has without a doubt put him on the radar and shows incredibly promising signs of what he could
produce in the future — especially if he has a better screenplay and story to work with.
All in all, if crime stories with interweaving plots and predictable endings are your cup of tea, then it’s a pretty good cup of tea. Go out to any theater while its still showing and you’ll absolutely love the hour and 40 minutes that it lights up the screen. But, if you have a short attention span and a particular dislike for police dramas in the movie theater, don’t waste your time. It’s an almost two-hour long movie that draws itself out with needless detail and meaningless, clichéd dialogue. Do yourself a favor and watch an hourlong episode of “Law & Order: SVU” at home instead.
Contact Charlie Kenney at ckenney4@nd.edu
“Wind River”
Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen
If you like: “Sicario,” “Hell or High Water,” “NCIS”
By AUGIE COLLINS scene Writer
In January 2016, r ostam b atmanglij announced his departure from vampire Weekend while the band was at the seeming peak of their popularity, after having disrupted the indie rock scene with three albums marked by global music influences. The split was an amicable one though, with b atmanglij and e zra Koenig, the lead vocalist of vampire Weekend, stating that they were still very much open to working together on future material. Koenig is labeled by the media as the “frontman” of the band, but it is impossible to overlook b atmanglij’s influence as he fashioned the gorgeous melodies and lush beats that condensed musical styles from around the world into three pretty little packages for the band to work with. b atmanglij has worked behind the scenes as a producer for years now, adding his touch to the work of c harli X c X, c arly r ae Jepsen, r a r a r iot, Frank o cean and s olange, among others. While he was the man behind the curtain for those projects though, “ h alf-Light” gives us the first glimpse of b atmanglij’s power as a solo artist under the moniker r ostam. “ h alf-Light” is a work that has been nurtured by r ostam for quite some time now, with one of the tracks being written more than 10 years ago and several others being originally released in 2011 as downloads on his Tumblr page. The album does not function like a b -sides relic though, as r ostam is able to create a work that showcases
his changing influences over the years while still feeling refreshingly different.
d uring an interview with r olling s tone, r ostam outlined his goal for “ h alf-Light” as “trying to write the most complex music that anyone could possibly sing on top of.” While the beats are indeed complex, sometimes to the point of sounding scattered as on the b on Iver-esque “Warning Intruders,” the themes that the album deals with are not radically different. For r ostam though, these themes are deeply personal. o n one of the records leading singles, “ b ike d ream,” r ostam’s hushed voice sings the words of a same-sex love song while perhaps the catchiest beat of the album chugs along in the background. This touches upon a deeper note when considering r ostam’s conscious decision to publicly come out in 2010.
While we have all heard plenty of r ostam’s post-production beats over the years, the aspect of “ h alf-Light” that really stands out is hearing r ostam as the lead vocalist. d uring his time with vampire Weekend he was occasionally posited as the primary voice on tracks such as “ d iplomat’s s on” and “Young Lion,” but “ h alf-Life” is nobody’s but his own. r ostam’s voice is soft and wispy, descending more into a mumble at points, but his intimate tone adds a considerable amount of warmth to each track. In a piece of writing from 2016, when he re-released “Wood,” a track that pays homage to his Iranian heritage, r ostam explained that it was recorded “on a sunny morning with the front door of the studio wide open.”
“ h opefully you get some of that feeling when you listen to it,” he said. Like King m idas, it seems that every track r ostam touches is left with a palpably warm glow.
“ h alf-Light” is a promising first effort from an artist that has already proven himself countless times in the music arena. At this point, r ostam is a name that has become synonymous with quality, and his debut came with high expectations. As much as the album deals with elements of the past by reintroducing old tracks, he does an excellent job of producing songs that are uniquely his, with the influences of past projects not dominating the album. The last thing people wanted was a vampire Weekend imitation that would fall short, but listening to “ h alf-Life” shows that was never the plan. r ostam b atmanglij will simply flourish in any setting he’s placed in.
Contact Augie Collins at jcolli15@nd.edu
“Half-Light” Rostam
Label: Nonesuch Records
Tracks: “Gwan,” “Soak,” “Bike Dream”
If you like: Vampire Weekend, Baio, Ra Ra Riot
By RYAN ISRAEL scene Writer
chances are you have heard Knox Fortune’s voice before. That’s because he has already won a Grammy. Knox Fortune (born Kevin r homberg) was featured on chance The rapper’s “All night” from his Grammy Award Winning mixtape “coloring book.” on the upbeat track, Fortune lends his airy and relaxing voice to the catchy chorus, repeating “All night, I been drinking all night / I been drinking all night / I been drinking ay ay.” The feature introduced the world to the chicago native. now, the young singer — seeking to blaze his own trail – has released an album of his own.
The up-and-comer’s debut album is titled “Paradise,” and despite coming on to the scene through his connections with rap artists like chance the rapper, vic mensa and Joey Purp, “Paradise” is far from a rap album. The solo album is made up of psychedelic synth-pop tracks dominated by creative self-produced beats and Fortune’s soft and wispy voice. The indie singer’s style can be described as something like a mix between that of The byrds and beck’s early work.
The first song from “Paradise” is named “no dancing,” and it properly introduces the listener to Fortune and his
style. despite having lyrics about sleeping in and taking a day off, the track is upbeat and inspires the one thing that the title prohibits: dancing. The subsequent track, “Lil Thing,” tells the story of a summer fling over a relaxing beat, inspiring memories of hot July days.
The album’s best song is “star,” which features Fortune singing an inspirational message with a spacey psychedelic beat that crescendos at the finish. The song drags the listener through an elaborate range of emotion as it moves from an upbeat vocal-heavy beginning to a darker, instrumental ending.
The chicago artist brought on some of his close friends to add to the feel of “Paradise” — just as chance the rapper did with him. nico segal, the talented trumpeter from The social experiment, contributes to songs throughout the album. The chicago-based rapper KA mI’s unique voice beautifully complements Fortune’s on the song “strange days,” which also features an amusing sample for the intro and outro. Joey Purp, who’s also a member of the flourishing chicago rap scene, co-wrote the song “24 hours.” Additionally, Purp appeared on “stun,” a track which unsuccessfully attempts to blend Fortune’s soft chorus with Purp’s harsh and explicit verses.
The feelings inspired by “Paradise” remind the listener of exactly that — paradise. A number of the songs
are energetic and happy, perfect for a day at the beach in the summertime. It’s unfortunate that the album’s release comes at the end of summer, just as chilly sweater weather is beginning to set in. A few songs, like “stars” and “spill,” are slower and calming, perfect for stargazing in any type of weather.
“Paradise” is a great start for Fortune. The debut album showcases the young star’s two strongest assets, his outstanding beat making and his mellow voice. Fortune’s bubbly and cheerful character shows at multiple points throughout his introductory album that’s full of splendid songs and captivating beats.
Contact Ryan Israel at risrael1@nd.edu
“Paradise”
Knox Fortune
Label: Independent
If you like: The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Beck
Tracks: “Stars,” “No Dancing”
Happy Birthday : Listen to what others have to say. your ability to reach out and make others feel comfortable will be helpful when trying to get things done. d on’t feel rushed or let anyone push you using emotional tactics or giving you ultimatums. A steady approach to life, love and prosperity will be the best way to ward off interference, meddling and uncertainty. your numbers are 5, 16, 23, 26, 31, 38, 41.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): b eing dependable and not giving in to temptation will help you avoid getting trapped in something that can only make you look bad. d on’t take on someone else’s battles or get dragged into an excessive situation. hard work will pay off.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Personal opinions are best kept a secret when dealing with peers, siblings and authority figures. your best course of action is to take care of your responsibilities. A day trip or romantic getaway will lead to a new beginning.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): keep busy. Whether you volunteer your services or decide to get into a fitness routine, it will do you some good and keep you out of trouble. d o more, say less, and see what happens.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): s ome of your associates may not be the best influence on you. c onsider your options and stay away from anyone who is erratic, indulgent or too demanding. b e honest about your likes and dislikes, and choose your friends wisely.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Put more effort into the way you present who you are and the skills you have to offer. s howing responsibility and the desire to excel will put you in a position to advance. c elebrate with someone you love.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Plan something relaxing that will give you the boost you need to feel good about yourself and your life. romance should be a priority. refuse to let anyone make you feel guilty for taking time out for yourself.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): c onsider your objectives and the best way to go about getting what you want. Taking an obscure route rather than following the crowd or making an impulsive move because someone else does will be your best alternative.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Get involved in events you believe in. your passionate approach to life and love will put you in a unique position when dealing with matters of concern. you can make a difference if you take action. romance is highlighted.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Look for a unique way to take care of business. It’s ok to stand out if you believe in what you are doing. use your imagination when looking for ways to counter a problem. Take better care of your health.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): spend more time taking care of your mental, emotional and physical needs. A financial opportunity will lead to a better standard of living. b efore you take on an added expense, look for ways to get what you want for less.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Partnership issues will need to be addressed. e xpress your feelings and be willing to listen and compromise in order to come up with a plan that works for everyone. A change to a contract or investment will help you boost your income.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Partner with someone who has as much to offer you as you do. A chance to use your creative skills and unique ideas will encourage you to take a more active role in making your dreams come true.
Birthday Baby: you are emotional, impatient and fascinating. you are popular and outgoing.
Jumble | dAvId hoyT And Jeff knurek
sudoku | The mePhAm GrouP
WiNGiN’ it | oLIvIA WAnG & bAILee eGAn
nc AA corruption needs to end
h ow many straws does it take to break a camel’s back?
If we’re talking about a conventional dromedary camel, then 1,320 pounds should do it.
b ut if we’re talking about the overblown, incompetent, equally authoritarian yet powerless governing body of college sports, it seems that no amount of scandals and stupidity is enough.
Yesterday’s announcement of a full-scale F b I investigation should be the final straw, the final indictment on the nc AA’s broken system.
Yesterday, the F b I revealed it is investigating two related complaints. o ne in which individuals representing big sportswear brands (specifically Adidas) funneled money to top high school basketball prospects in exchange for them to attend schools that were partnered with those brands.
The second involves professional agents bribing college coaches to get them to direct players to those agents. o verall, 10 people have been arrested, including four assistant coaches: c huck Person (Auburn), e manuel r ichardson (Arizona), Lamont e vans ( o klahoma s tate) and Tony b land (Usc ). b ut the worst part of the whole ordeal is how unsurprised many seem. c ommentators and coaches have been quoted as saying they aren’t shocked by the news. It’s just business as usual and a few guys just weren’t careful enough.
b ut college sports can’t let this be business as usual.
The charges brought forward by the F b I reveals how bankrupt the nc AA is. To be clear, the nc AA did not engage in the alleged bribery and neither did it directly encourage players ... sorry, student-athletes, to sign with particular agents. b ut the system the nc AA has created over the past half century encourages endemic corruption, such as that the F b I has discovered.
The influx of money from T v deals and sportswear contracts in college sports has raised the stakes to such a point where coaches are willing to resort to bribery to lure blue-chip recruits to their school.
Players too, since they can’t make money while in college, are encouraged to engage in shady dealings with agents and advisors who claim to be
able to help them get to the nb A.
n ow, no system is perfect and even the federal government can’t figure out how to curb the black market of drugs and arms. b ut the nc AA doesn’t even attempt to address the problem.
Instead, the organization is lost in its fantasy land where it expects every athlete to fully commit themselves to the spirit of amateurism and this ignores the very real pressures star athletes face. In fact, the nc AA is more concerned in cracking down on players making money off their own names, than with thinking of ways to fix a system where athletes can get into serious trouble with shady figures offering representation.
Instead of forcing athletes who want to go pro to deal with agents outside of the rules and behind closed doors, why not allow athletes to retain agents in college? A regulated system is a cleaner system and this way, the nc AA could have some sort of oversight and could impose regulations on what agents could and could not do.
b ut instead of fixing the billion-dollar shadow economy its misguided system has created, the nc AA will zero in on its misplaced sense of amateurism, hold that sacred and disregard anything else going on.
That’s why the nc AA didn’t break when a Louisville coach hired prostitutes to “convince” recruits to sign on.
It didn’t break on any number of occasions it doled out arbitrarily harsh punishments to schools that selfreported an infraction and less severe ones to schools that never owned up to their mistakes.
And the current F b I investigation is just the latest example of how the nc AA is absolutely powerless when it conducts its own investigations and is left at the mercy of the F b I, the media or schools self-reporting to find anything out about possible infractions.
b ut this time it isn’t business as usual for the nc AA. This time there are federal charges.
If college sports is to improve, let’s hope this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Contact Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@nd.edu
The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
nd hopes to rebound in first home Acc matches
Observer Sports Staff
After dropping its first two Acc contests last week, n otre d ame will return home Friday to host m iami and n o. 21 Florida s tate.
The Irish (10-3, 0-2 A cc ) faced Louisville and n orth c arolina s tate on the road last Friday and s unday, taking each squad to five sets, before ultimately falling in each match. n otre d ame sophomore outside hitter Jemma Yeadon led the Irish attack against the c ardinals (7-5, 1-1) with 13 kills. Irish senior outside hitter s ydney Kuhn picked up a doubledouble with 12 kills and 16 digs. Irish senior setter c aroline h olt tallied a team-high 34 assists and junior libero r yann d eJarld, who currently ranks second nationwide in digs per set, picked up 28 digs in the loss to the c ardinals. The Irish bounced back from dropping the first set to draw the match at 1-1. They won the next game as well, giving them a 2-1 lead. h owever, Louisville was able to rebound and grab the next two games, giving it the match. n otre d ame looked to bounce back against n orth c arolina s tate (7-6, 2-0) on s unday, but was unsuccessful. Yeadon once again led the way for n otre d ame, this time picking up a double-double with 17 kills and 13 digs. Irish senior middle blocker s am Fry also notched a double-double with 10 kills and 10 blocks, while five different n otre d ame players hit doubledigits in the digs column,
with d eJarld leading the way with 23.
The Wolfpack jumped out to the 1-0 lead, but n otre d ame drew even after two sets. n orth c arolina s tate won the third set again, but the Irish prevented them from winning in four sets by taking a 25-21 win in the fourth set. The Wolfpack took down the Irish in the fifth set, however, 15-7, giving them the win.
Friday, m iami will travel to Purcell Pavilion to face the Irish for n otre d ame’s first home Acc match of the season. The undefeated h urricanes (8-0, 2-0) currently sit atop the
conference, led by senior outside hitter o lga s tranzali, who is averaging 4.91 kills per set, with a 0.304 hitting percentage.
The Irish will then face the s eminoles (8-2, 2-0) at home s unday. The nationally-ranked squad is led by the duo of m ilica Kubura and n atasha c alkins. Kubura is hitting 0.330 with 151 kills and 3.92 kills per set and is also one of the s eminoles’ top blockers. c alkins is hitting 0.259 with 125 kills, giving her 3.12 kills per set.
The Irish will face off against the h urricanes on Friday at Purcell Pavilion at 7 p.m.
Marek Mazurek Assistant managing editor
MICHELLE MEHELAS | The Observer Irish senior outside hitter Sydney Kuhn prepares to set the ball during Notre Dame’s 3-0 win over Michigan State on Sept. 15.
MICHELLE MEHELAS | The Observer
Irish sophomore outside hitter Jemma Yeadon gets set to serve the ball during Notre Dame’s 3-0 win over Michigan State on Sept. 15 at Purcell Pavilion. Yeadon had 19 kills and 11 digs in the match.
duncan v. morrissey
By PETER BALTES sports Writer
The h ighlanders will look to continue their undefeated season this week against morrissey manor, which is searching for its first win this year.
The h ighlanders (1-0) are coming off a convincing 20-0 win against c arroll last week. It was the first game of d uncan’s season, with their Week 1 game being cancelled due to poor weather.
The h ighlander offense was able to find the endzone multiple times, while the defense held the opposition scoreless. s ophomore captain Kyle Tomshack sees his team as very well-rounded team, but said he hopes to limit the number of miscues this week.
“We came out, we played hard, we got a lot of guys into the game [and] a lot of guys contributed,” he said. “The focus this week has been minimizing mistakes. We had a few big errors against c arroll (0-1).”
Ultimately, Tomshack is putting his faith in an experienced group of older players alongside a strong freshman class to carry the day for d uncan this week.
“I think our biggest strength is experience,” Tomshack said. “We’ve also got some very good freshmen who came in this year who are also helping out.”
Last week, morrissey (0-1) was defeated by Fisher, 19-6. While the manor is still seeking their first win of the season, morrissey remains a football team with great potential. nevertheless, morrissey sophomore captain Tom slevin stressed his team’s high level of talent on defense, attributing the slower start to fixable mental mistakes.
“d espite giving up 19 points
to Fisher, I felt that was far more reflective of mental miscues on our end early in the game that they were able to capitalize on than it was of their ability to move the football on our defense,” slevin said.
s aying that strong defensive play from the manor should bode well for the offense as well, slevin remains confident that his team will compete hard and find a way to win this week.
“I am definitely looking forward to seeing whether or not our defense can make some plays and force turnovers against a solid d uncan team,” slevin said. “This is going to help our offense get going and hopefully help us with field position as well.”
The game will kick off this sunday at 3:30 p.m. at r icci Family Fields.
Contact Peter Baltes at pbaltes@nd.edu
siegfried v. dunne
By COLLIN RAGSDALE sports Writer
o n s unday afternoon, notre d ame’s newly established r icci Family Fields will be erupting with excitement as interhall football finds its way back onto the turf for Week 3 action. b rimming with fierce rivalries games, many teams will be looking to make a statement as their journey to reach the stadium draws one week closer. o ne game that promises myriad scoring and defensive excellency is s iegfried’s matchup against d unne.
c oming off a strong third quarter comeback fueled by interceptions, s iegfried senior captain m ark c erutti said his team is looking strong offensively.
“e verything’s been successful right now,” c erutti said. “We’ve had really good o -line play and a good new running back in [sophomore] Andrew steiner.”
steiner and senior wide receiver m ax Krohn will look to be the playmakers this weekend offensively against the s entinels’ (2-0) defense, which is coming off a disappointing loss to Knott. however, the defense best proven thus far is that of the r amblers (2-0). In last week’s come-from-behind win, the r amblers backfield snagged three interceptions by three different players: junior r yan Pierson, sophomore e lijah h ager and sophomore s hane Johnson.
o n the other side of the ball, s iegfried junior quarterback m ikey b ernard will look to lead his r amblers down the field with what c erutti described as “a run heavy offense.”
The game will take place s unday at r icci Family Fields at 1 p.m.
Contact Collin Ragsdale at cragsdal@nd.edu
dillon v. a lumni
By HANNAH WOZNIAK sports Writer
o ne of the biggest dorm rivalries on campus comes back this week as d illon and Alumni get set to face off s unday. The matchup comes a week before d illion-Alumni rivalry week, bringing excitement for both dorms.
c oming into s unday’s game, Alumni’s offensive coordinator, starting tight end and starting linebacker senior s ean c larkin said his team has been working on smoothing things out and some play installs.
“We’re just working on a couple extra formation with some motion here and there just so we can run all of our plays and confuse the defense out of a variety of looks as opposed to sticking to a base set,” c larkin said.
d illon junior captain d avid c hao said he and his team have been working on touching on the areas that they were lacking in last week’s game.
“What we did last week, we did really well,” c hao said.
“What we didn’t do well is something that is very easily fixable. It’s been a pretty light week.”
b oth teams said they are looking forward to the big rivalry game and love to challenge each other in anything they can.
“This will easily be the biggest regular season game in the league,” c larkin said.
“Two good teams, two big dorms, biggest rivalry. Guys are going to be ready to go.”
“[I’m looking forward to] playing Alumni,” c hao said.
“Last year was a really close game. I believe it was 14-10, and it came down to the last drive. We returned most of our guys from last year, and it sounds like they returned most of their guys, too. It’s nice to have a rematch.”
c larkin said that spectators should be looking forward to the rivalry this weekend.
“I think it’s going to be one of the highest energy games I think of the regular season,” c larkin said.
c hao emphasized the prowess of the d illon offensive and defensive lineman, calling out senior Jack m itchell, senior d ylan volanth and senior Pete mcKeon as key players.
s unday’s game kicks off at 4:45 p.m. at r icci Family Fields.
Contact Hannah Wozniak at hwozniak01@saintmarys.edu
stanford v. st. e dward’s
By CASSIE CORBIN sports Writer
This weekend, last year’s reigning champion, s tanford, takes on its n orth Quad neighbors, s t. e dward’s.
Given Zahm’s forfeit last s unday, s tanford (2-0) had two weeks to prepare for the Gentlemen (1-1). While reflecting on s tanford’s first game of the season against Keenan, senior captain m att o ’ b rien said he is challenging the offense this week.
“After Keenan, which was
a big win for us, some take aways are the following: We need to be more physical on offense and work on our run game and our secondary,” o ’ b rien said. “Looking to the playoffs, we need to stop the pass. This week, we just need to play that confident game from Week 1 against s teds.”
Last s unday, s t. e d’s did not match up well against Keenan and lost 27-0. After seeing his players in practice this week, senior co-captain Tim s herman is optimistic that the Gentlemen will be able to hold their own against the 2016 interhall champions.
“They beat us on a couple of big plays and unlucky breaks, from our perspective,” s herman said. “ s o, those are some things that we can fix and definitely bounce back from. Through practicing this week and getting some more time, especially on defense, we’ll be able to bounce back for the big game against s tanford.”
s herman’s confidence in the Griffins’ offense is increasing as they are installing some new play packages.
“I’m not so much worried about our offense,” s herman said. “ s o long as our defense can hold them to a low score, I think we can put some points up.”
It should be a fast-moving game this s unday as both teams are ready to turn on some offensive heat. o ’ b rien also emphasized that the Griffins will be constantly looking to move ball as part of the “bigger picture.”
When asked about his team’s goals for the remainder of the season, o ’ b rien said they will focus on improving.
“We’re looking to go and close out the regular season and keep getting better,” o ’ b rien said. “We’re playing to win the championship like last year.”
The Griffins take on the Gentlemen on s unday at 2:15 p.m. at r icci Family Fields.
Contact Cassie Corbin at ccorbin1@nd.edu
EMMET FARNAN | The Observer
A Duncan defender tackles a Stanford running back during the men’s interhall championship game on Nov. 20 at Notre Dame Stadium. Both Stanford and Duncan are undefeated so far in the 2017 season.
EMMET FARNAN | The Observer
The Duncan quarterback looks to pass downfield during the men’s interhall championship game on Nov. 20 at Notre Dame Stadium.
Notre Dame preps to host top-ranked squads
By CHARLIE ORTEGA GUIFARRO sports Writer
notre dame is set to race against the best schools in the country Friday in one of the most competitive Joe Piane invitationals ever.
The irish are defending their home course against 11 ranked opponents between the men’s and women’s portions of the competition. The no. 12 irish will be facing two of the strongest women’s teams in the country in no. 1 colorado and no. 3 new mexico, but associate head coach matt sparks said his team welcomes the competition.
“on the women’s side, we’ve got four of the top-10 ranked teams in the country coming in, including no. 1 colorado,” sparks said. “it’s always exciting to welcome the best teams in the country. new mexico and colorado are the two that are especially strong right now.”
sparks also added that the irish will be content with being one of the top schools in the meet.
“We need, as a team — a team goal — to finish, on the women’s
side, in the top eight,” sparks said. “if the men’s side can finish in the top 12, we’ll be excited about that.”
With a men’s team that has a lot of relatively young and inexperienced talent, sparks said this meet will test the team’s resiliency.
“on the men’s side, we’ve got a lot of freshmen and newcomers on the team; this is going to be their first big meet experience as well, we’ve had two other competitions against lesser, less competitive teams,” sparks said. “so now bringing in high-level competition to our home course, we’ll get to see how all the newcomers perform when the pressure is on.”
a fter the solid performance by junior a nnie heffernan and freshman a nna sophia Keller at the national catholic invitational, irish fans should expect another great outing from the duo. sparks had praise for the both women coming into the meet.
“a nnie’s had a great two weeks of practice and being the veteran that she is, we already know what to expect out of her,” sparks said. “she always rises to the occasion
when we get to big meets, so we know she’s going to perform the way she’s performed in practice and in previous years.
“ ... With a nna sophia running so well in the first meet, in a smaller competition, now let’s see what she can do when she has to race against the best in the country. she has raced against the best in high school, she was a high school a ll-a merican, so we expect her to rise to the occasion as well.”
This will be the second, and last, home meet of the season for the irish. sparks commented on the unique experience to host a race.
“it’s always a unique experience to compete on your home course when the kids have to go to class all day Friday morning and then come out and compete Friday afternoon. When you’re on the road, you’re sitting in a hotel and it’s just you and your teammates for that 24 hours leading up to the competition.”
The Joe Piane notre dame invitational will start at 1 p.m. Friday at burke Golf course.
Contact Charlie Ortega Guifarro at cortegag@nd.edu
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ANNA MASON | The Observer
Irish senior Jessica Harris competes in the National Catholic Invitational on Sept. 15 at Notre Dame’s Burke Golf Course.
Gallagher did not put points on the board during the game against i ndiana, c lark is confident they will continue to excel on the field despite the extra pressure.
“They’ve actually played well in both cases,” c lark said. “You can’t always measure players by goals scored. b oth played very well, and when you’re a forward it’s always nice to score goals and you felt like you’ve done your job when it happens. b ut they’re very positive. it’s not easy, both are definitely marked men. e veryone is very aware of them, and they get special attention. You’ve got to deal with that and overcome that burden of having a target on
their back. a nd they’ll do that, no concerns or doubts with that.”
a s the seniors continue to lead the team on the field, the freshmen have continued to improve and display a promising future, according to c lark.
“We got some very good young players, and i’m excited about them,” c lark said. “They just got to keep working and keep their focus and enthusiasm. They got to keep getting good grades as well, especially the freshman. it’s hard playing a fall sport when you start college and you’re practicing every day and not playing. You got to be there every day working hard and they are the ones that have to do the jobs as well. They’re the ones that pick up the balls, the pinnies and other
equipment. We call them the pit ponies. Pit ponies are all the freshman. i n the mines back in s cotland, they were the ponies that used to work underground. b efore mechanization, they used ponies. We don’t have mechanization to pick up the balls and pinnies, so that’s why we call them the pit ponies. e very year they come in and they’re like, ‘You’re calling us pit ponies?’ a nd i’m just like, ‘Google it.’ it’s pretty funny that they actually embrace the name.”
With a team that’s 4-0 at home, c lark said Friday will be a great night for i rish fans to support the women’s team at 5 p.m. and the men’s team at 7:30 p.m. at a lumni s tadium.
Contact Meagan Bens at mbens@nd.edu
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ANNIE SMIERCIAK | The Observer
Irish senior forward Jeff Farina steps into a shot during Notre Dame’s 2-1 win over Bowling Green on Sept. 19 at Alumni Stadium.
ANN CURTIS | The Observer
Irish senior forward Jon Gallagher races toward the loose ball during Notre Dame’s 2-1 double-overtime win over Cal Poly on Aug. 27 at Alumni Stadium. Gallagher took seven shots on goal during the game.
We did a great job of moving without the ball too. We connected a lot of passes and opened up some pockets for us to attack.”
i rish senior goalkeeper Lexi n icholas made her first start of the season against nc s tate and made one critical save at the end of the first half to earn a shutout. r omagnolo said her presence in net adds even more experience to an upperclassman-heavy i rish back line.
“ i t was Lexi’s first start and her first shutout,” r omagnolo said. “We wanted to give her a look and i thought she did really well. s he made a great play at the end of the first half on a free kick. We have two great goalkeepers [in n icholas and sophomore b rooke Littman] and moving forward, we feel great about where both of them are.”
The i rish picked up two goals from graduate student midfielder s andra Yu and sophomore forward n atalie Jacobs against the Wolfpack, adding to their team-leading totals of six and eight goals, respectively. Jacobs has already scored two more goals
this season than any i rish player did last season, and the i rish are not even twothirds of the way though this year.
“ s andra and n atalie have been doing this all year. They’ve done a great job of finding pockets in the back four and running at defenders one-on-one,” r omagnolo said. “ b oth have good instinct for where to be in the box. They’re fearless when it comes to attacking balls in the air and fielding crosses. They bring a lot of quality to our team.”
When Wake Forest (8-2-1, 2-1-0) arrives Friday, it will bring a stingy defense with it. The d emon d eacons have only conceded three goals in their 11 games this season. o nly two of the d emon d eacons’ regular-season opponents have been able to score against Wake Forest this season. Wake Forest has lost two out of the three games it has conceded goals in. r omagnolo believes the d emon d eacons present a good challenge for the i rish.
Irish sophomore forward Natalie Jacobs chases down an opponent during Notre
on Sept. 21 at Alumni Stadium. Jacobs is currently Notre Dame’s leading scorer with 19 points on the
“Wake Forest is a great possession team,” r omagnolo said. “They do a good job of spreading teams out defensively and they have players that can attack the goal and break you down. i t’s early in the year, any number of players from their team can step up and score, we need to be ready to defend as a group.”
Wake Forest junior midfielder b ayley Feist and freshman forward h annah b etfort lead Wake Forest in goals with four each. The combination is threatening, and b etfort’s 5-foot-11 frame makes her a threat to win headers in the box, but n otre d ame has some size to match in 5-foot-7 senior defender Ginny m cGowan and 5-foot-8 junior defender r achel h eard.
The i rish will take on the d emon d eacons at a lumni s tadium at 5 p.m. Friday.
Contact Jack Concannon at jconcan2@nd.edu
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ZACHARY YIM | The Observer
Dame’s 3-0 loss to Duke
year.
had to do a lot to get himself here, so off the field he’s made significant progress.”
that. h e’s going to have to earn that, and that’s going to take time too.”
b ut if s tepherson can work his way up the depth chart and stay locked in, he can provide a boost — particularly with his speed — to the Irish receiving corps.
“ h e’s got great explosion, can take off [and] run by anybody that we play against. e lite speed,” Kelly said of s tepherson. “ h e’s got to work on his concentration skills and his focus. h e’ll drop a ball here and there just because he’s not locked in the way we need him to be. b ut I’m proud of the progress he’s made. It’s been a long haul for him. s ince January, he’s
And Kelly added that the perseverance s tepherson has showed despite the adversity has been what’s impressed him the most with the sophomore.
“Where I’m most proud of him is his grit and sticking with it,” Kelly said. “ h e could’ve kicked the can, if you will, and said, ‘ h ey, I’m done. I’m going to transfer.’
b ut he knew that n otre d ame was a place that could change his life, and I think in a large degree it has in many ways and continues to every day.”
o ne player the Irish might be without against the r ed h awks (2-2, 1-0 m Ac ), however, is running back d exter Williams. Kelly said the junior is dealing with an
ankle injury, so he will be a game-time decision.
“[ s ophomore running back] Tony [Jones Jr.] took the n o. 2 reps, and we really cut back on d exter,” Kelly said. “ d exter was kind of in Tony’s position last week, so he’ll be a game-day decision. And [freshman running back d eon m cIntosh] got the third team reps.”
Fortunately for the Irish, junior Josh Adams will be back in the backfield, according to Kelly, after resting much of the second half last week dealing with an injury of his own.
“Josh Adams, he’s 100 percent,” Kelly said. “Took the majority of the reps — the first team reps. e ach week it’s just monitoring how much volume we give him.”
o n the other side of the
ball, Kelly said sophomore defensive lineman Julian o kwara has carved out a role for himself within particular packages because of the strides he’s made physically.
“We’re pleased with what he’s giving us in our subpackages,” Kelly said of o kwara. “The fight with Julian has been body weight and maintaining that body weight for first and second down, and he’s done a pretty good job there. I think that what surprised us more than anything else is he continues to show really good improvement in the weight room. h e’s surprisingly strong, and I think that that kind of shows that trait in the way he plays. h e can get his hands on you now, and if you really watch tape of him, he’s not just a guy that’s going to bend. h e
will punch you in the chest too and push you back, so he plays with some physicality and his numbers show that.”
And on special teams, the Irish will continue to stick with junior Justin Yoon on kickoffs as Jonathan d oerer continues to develop, though Kelly said he hopes to get the freshman into s aturday’s game should the opportunity present itself.
“We’d like for him to continue to work towards kicking off,” Kelly said. “ b ut I think that’s a process right now, and we’re evaluating each week. Yoon will start on s aturday, but we’ll see — if there’s an opportunity that we can get him into the game, we would.”
Contact Ben Padanilam at bpadanil@nd.edu
con TI nued F rom pAge 20
ROSIE LoVOI | The Observer
Irish junior running back Josh Adams dodges a Spartan defender during Notre Dame’s 38-18 victory over Michigan State this past Saturday at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. Adams rushed for 57 yards in the game before leaving the contest due to ankle stiffness. Irish head coach Brian Kelly said Adams is “100 percent” heading into Saturday.
EDDIE GRIESEDIECK | The Observer
Irish junior kicker Justin Yoon attempts an extra point during Notre Dame’s 49-20 win over Boston College on Sept. 16 at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
EDDIE GRIESEDIECK | The Observer
Irish junior running back Dexter Williams celebrates a touchdown during Notre Dame’s 49-20 win over Boston College on Sept. 16 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
men’s soccer
Irish ready to host Acc-rival v irginia
By MEAGAN BENS sports Writer
After two close defeats on the road, the Irish are preparing to bring back their winning streak at home against v irginia.
m arking the ninth meeting between n otre d ame and v irginia since 2013, n o. 7 n otre d ame (6-2-0, 2-1-0 A cc ) will return to Alumni s tadium to face the n o. 10 c avaliers (6-1-1, 1-1-1 A cc ) after losing to v irginia Tech 2-1 and Indiana 1-0.
“First thing we had to do was get our legs back, because it was obviously a very hard game on Tuesday night,” Irish head coach b obby c lark said. “I think we are there, we had a nice session today. It was a short session. Yesterday, we basically went over some video of our own game. It’s very important to look at things we thought we could have done better during the Indiana game. Today, we looked at
a few things that I expect tomorrow from v irginia, then we came out for an hour. They’re fresh, they’re ready to go and their heads are cleared. Any A cc game is a challenge. v irginia, we have come across them quite a few times in the past years and they are always competitive.”
Arguably in the toughest soccer conference, c lark said v irginia is a technical team that will be challenging to break down similar to any other A cc team.
“They’re always a very athletic team,” c lark said. “They’re technical, good technical players. They’re also well coached, they are very hard to break down. They defend very well, they transition very well. They’re just a good team and it will be a good match tomorrow night.”
e ven though senior forwards Jeff Farina and Jon
see
Stepherson to see action against RedHawks
By BEN PADANILAM editor-in-c hief
After back-to-back weeks on the road, s aturday’s game against m iami ( oh ) will be n otre d ame’s first game back at home.
And, according to Irish head coach b rian Kelly, it will also be sophomore wide receiver Kevin s tepherson’s first game back with the Irish (3-1) this season.
“ h e’ll be limited in action,” Kelly said of s tepherson.
“ h e’s doing a better job. h is cumulative work is such that he just doesn’t have the volume, but he’s been doing a much better job in terms of the day-to-day attention to detail and just his focus. The traits that I’d been talking about with him, he’s better, but don’t expect him to be playing a high-volume game.
“ … h e’s got to work his way up the depth chart. We’re not going to accelerate
see FooTbALL paGe 19
ND prepares for tight matchup with Wake Forest
By JACK CONCANNON sports Writer
The n o. 22 Irish will wrap up a three-game home stand Friday night against n o. 20 Wake Forest.
n otre d ame (6-3-2, 2-1-0 A cc ) is buzzing after a 4-0 win over then- n o. 24 n orth c arolina s tate on s unday, and will look to ride this newfound momentum into Friday’s A cc matchup.
b lowouts of ranked teams are hard to earn according to Irish head coach Theresa r omagnolo. r omagnolo said she was impressed with her team’s performance against the Wolfpack (8-2-1, 1-1-1).
“ d efensively, against nc s tate, we were very tenacious and broke up a lot of plays. We were able to break things up and come away with the ball,” r omagnolo said. “We kept possession and kept moving the ball. see W soccer paGe 18
interhall
Week 3 looms for interhall squads
Knott v. s orin
By ELLIE OLMANSON sports Writer
s unday marks the last chance for s orin and Knott to pick up a win during the regular season, as both teams enter the game winless.
After last week’s loss, s orin sophomore captain e ric r equet said his team’s biggest flaw was losing focus during the game. The o tters (0-2) led at halftime but fell short 15-12 as time ran out against s iegfried (2-0).
“This week in practice we’re really going to focus on getting everyone on the same page and in the mindset to get a win going into playoffs,” r equet said. “This season is different from last because we’ve been able to set and execute our plays.”
Getting the win s unday would mark the first win in two seasons for the o tters.
After going winless in the 2016 season, r equet said s orin is
even more highly motivated to capture the win against Knott.
“s orin won the [interhall] championship a couple years back, so we’re not historically bad,” r equet said. “We’ve just had a couple rough years but are hoping we are able to change that with practice and leadership.”
Knott (0-2) played d unne last week and fell just short 7-10. Previously, s iegfried outscored the Juggerknotts 21-0. Knott currently comes in last in the e ast d ivision standings, with s orin just ahead. Knott has a point differential of -24, while s orin is -17. This game will determine the final standings between the two halls as playoffs begin. s orin takes on Knott this s unday at 1 p.m. at r icci Family Fields.
Contact Ellie Olmanson at eolmanso@nd.edu
ANNA MASON | The Observer
Irish junior defender Rachel Heard dribbles upfield during Notre Dame’s 3-0 loss to Duke on Sept. 21 at Alumni Stadium.
EMMET FARNAN | The Observer
Irish sophomore receiver Kevin Stepherson celebrates a play during Notre Dame’s 44-6 win over Army on Nov. 12.
