Print Edition for The Observer for Friday, November 10, 2023

THE INDEPENDENT

TO UNCOVER

NEWSPAPER SERVING

THE TRUTH

NOTRE DAME, SAINT MARY’S

AND REPORT

AND HOLY CROSS

IT ACCURATELY

VOLUME 58, ISSUE 31 | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

Provost talks framework Mueller re-elected as city mayor

By KATHRYN MUCHNICK Associate News Editor

Provost John McGreevy hosted the first of two town halls Thursday afternoon to answer questions from undergraduates about the University’s recently published ten-year strategic framework. The framework lays out Notre Dame’s vision to be the best Catholic research university, “on par with but distinct from” other leading private universities.

“What was nice for me was how clear Notre Dame’s mission is, and how little controversy, in a way, there is in defining what Notre Dame should be over the next 10 years,” McGreevy said.

“The world doesn’t need another University of Chicago. The world needs the best possible Notre Dame.”

In June, Notre Dame was invited to join the Association of American Universities (AAU), a national consortium of 71 preeminent research universities. Since the University’s admission, it has been learning from meetings and “informal conversations” with other AAU members, McGreevy said.

McGreevy said the strategic framework sets up ways for the University to compete academically with its peers in the AAU, while maintaining a distinct Catholic character. Notre Dame is the only university in the AAU with a religious affiliation.

“Universities, including Notre Dame, are very good at setting up boundaries. We have centers and programs and divisions and colleges and schools,” McGreevy said. “And a lot of those boundaries are necessary

for degree programs … but some of them aren’t so necessary and some of them, we have to get better at crossing — really thinking and collaborating as an institution.”

Additionally, McGreevy said the University will continue to invest in a diverse student body.

“So there are a little bit over 1 billion Catholics in the world right now, and over half of them are people of color living in the Global South. The model Catholic in the world does not look like me,” he said. “That is the future — demographically speaking — of the Catholic Church, and we felt very strongly that Notre Dame needs to better embody that reality.”

McGreevy mentioned several policies the University is

Observer Staff Report

On Tuesday Democratic incumbent James Mueller was elected to a second term as South Bend’s mayor, defeating Republican opponent Desmont Upchurch.

Mueller received 72.83% of the vote to Upchurch’s 27.17%, according to the St. Joseph County website.

Mueller, who graduated from Notre Dame in 2004, succeeded former mayor and current United States Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg when he was first elected mayor in Nov. 2019. In 2019, Mueller received 63.4% of the vote.

The campaign of Mueller’s opponent, Upchurch, had been mired in controversy after he admitted to having hit a woman who he was

see FRAMEWORK PAGE 4

Native American tribes dance for heritage month

SMC hosts AI ethics lecture

By KATELYN WALDSCHMIDT Associate News Editor

Aynslee Dellacca | The Observer

Several members of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and other Great Lakes Region tribes pose together in their traditional regalia for a photo after the Dance and Drum program Wednesday night.

By AYNSLEE DELLACCA News Writer

Members of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and other Great Lakes Region tribes danced, sang and drummed Wednesday evening at DeBartolo Hall.

Current artist in residence and citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians

NEWS PAGE 3

David Martin organized the event as a way to invite the public to experience authentic Native American culture as part of Native American Heritage Month.

“W hat I really want people to understand is that we weren’t a professional dance troupe. This is actually how we do it. They’re the actual songs. We didn’t

SCENE PAGE 5

dating over 20 years ago. Mueller refused to debate Upchurch on this account, arguing he didn’t want to normalize domestic violence.

Democrats dominated the election broadly, winning the race for South Bend city clerk and all common council seat races.

Republicans failed to run a candidate in common council districts 3, 4 and 6. Democrats now control all common council seats in the city.

In Mishawaka, incumbent Republican Dave Wood ran unopposed and was reelected.

Democrats, however, won the race for city clerk and won 7 of 9 common council seats. Wood has faced controversy after his son received a DUI and was recorded saying a racial slur.

fancy-up any of the dance steps,” Martin said. “It was even more chaotic on stage because the whole format of what we did was based off of the format that we would do at our own pow wow.”

The program included several different types of dance, with the first half see CULTURE PAGE 3

VIEWPOINT PAGE 6

On Thursday afternoon, the Digital and Public Humanities (DPH) program hosted “Ethics of AI” as the first of a series of three roundtable events to foreground discussions about artificial intelligence (AI).

Sarah Noonan, associate professor of English, is the coordinator for the Digital and Public Humanities program.

“It is a 15-credit minor, supported by a National Endow ment for the Humanities grant,” Noonan said. “It prov ides students w ith the opportunit y to engage in project-based learning opportunities that blend humanities st yle research w ith digital skills, often w ith an awareness of how the w riting we do as humanities scholars has a broader public audience outside the classroom.”

DPH is hosting this series of roundtable discussions to advance the conversation around how humanities connect w ith other disciplines.

MEN’S BASKETBALL PAGE 10

“We think it’s really important for the program to integrate how digital technologies are inf luencing what we think it means to be human today,” Noonan said. “And we want to be starting that conversation here on campus in order to recognize that just because you can do a thing, doesn’t always mean you should do a thing. We need humanities scholars as part of these conversations.”

C h r i s t o p h e r Wedr ychow icz, professor of math and computer science, began the session by giv ing examples of technical problems and explaining how humans might tack le those problems as compared to AI. “W hat I want to get across here is to demystif y these things a little bit. W hy you would use machine learning, why is it appropriate for certain problems? ” he said.

Megan Zwart, professor of philosophy said that AI use in w riting presents a unique challenge.

“AI is kind of a form of see AI ETHICS PAGE 4

BARAKA BOUTS PAGE 12

2

TODAY

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

QUESTION OF THE DAY: ndsmcobserver.com

Have a question you want answered?

Email photo@ndsmcobserver.com

What is the worst dorm on campus?

P.O. Box 779, Notre Dame, IN 46556 024 South Dining Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556

Claire Dunneback

Olivia Erickson

freshman Saint Mary’s

freshman Saint Mary’s

“Pangborn.”

“Stanford.”

Anna Englert

Rachel Speckhard

freshman Saint Mary’s

freshman Saint Mary’s

“Stanford.”

“Stanford.”

(574) 631-6900 advertising@ndsmcobserver.com

Maddy Burns

Mary Charniak

Editor-in-Chief

freshman Saint Mary’s

freshman Saint Mary’s

“Stanford.”

“O’Neill.”

Editor-in-Chief Maggie Eastland Managing Editor Ryan Peters Asst. Managing Editor: Gabrielle Beechert Asst. Managing Editor: Hannah Hebda Asst. Managing Editor: José Sánchez Córdova Notre Dame News Editor: Saint Mary’s News Editor: Viewpoint Editor: Sports Editor: Scene Editor: Photo Editor: Graphics Editor: Social Media Editor: Advertising Manager: Ad Design Manager: Systems Administrator:

Peter Breen Meghan Lange Claire Lyons Andrew McGuinness Anna Falk Sofia CrimiVaroli Christina Sayut Emma Duffy Confidence Nawali Christina Sayut Jack MapelLentz

Office Manager & General Info

Ph: (574) 631-7471 Fax: (574) 631-6927 Advertising

(574) 631-4542 meastlan@nd.edu Managing Editor

(574) 631-4542 rpeters5@nd.edu Assistant Managing Editors

(574) 631-4541 gbeecher@nd.edu, hhebda@nd.edu, jsanch24@nd.edu Business Office

(574) 631-5313 Notre Dame News Desk

(574) 631-5323 news@ndsmcobserver.com Saint Mary’s News Desk

(574) 631-5323 smcnews@ndsmcobserver.com Viewpoint Desk

(574) 631-5303 viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.om Sports Desk

(574) 631-4543 sports@ndsmcobserver.com Scene Desk

(574) 631-4540 scene@ndsmcobserver.com Photo Desk

(574) 631-8767 photo@ndsmcobserver.com Systems & Web Administrators

webmaster@ndsmcobserver.com Policies The Observer is the independent, daily newspaper published in print and online by the students of the University of Notre Dame du Lac, Saint Mary’s College and Holy Cross College. Editorial content, including advertisements, is not governed by policies of the administration of any institution. The Observer reserves the right to refuse advertisements based on content.

The news is reported as accurately and objectively as possible. Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the majority of the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Assistant Managing Editors and department editors.

Commentaries, letters and columns present the views of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Viewpoint space is available to all readers. The free expression of all opinions through letters is encouraged.

Letters to the Editor must be signed and must include contact information.

Questions regarding Observer policies should be directed to Editor-in-Chief Maggie Eastland.

Post Office Information The Observer (USPS 599 2-4000) is published Monday through Friday except during exam and vacation periods.

A subscription to The Observer is $130 for one academic year; $75 for one semester.

The Observer is published at: 024 South Dining Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556-0779 Periodical postage paid at Notre Dame and additional mailing offices POSTMASTER Send address corrections to: The Observer P.O. Box 779 024 South Dining hall Notre Dame, IN 46556-077

Today’s Staff News

Sports

Kathryn Muchnick Aynslee Dellacca Keira Stenson

Andrew McGuinness Tyler Reidy

Graphics

Christine Hilario

Maria Tobias

Photo

ARIANNA DENNING | The Observer

Students compete in the quarterfinals of the 21st annual Baraka Bouts, which took place this week. The women’s boxing tournament raises money for Holy Cross missions in Uganda. The finals will take place Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in Dahnke Ballroom.

THE NEXT FIVE DAYS:

Want your event included here?

Email news@ndsmcobserver.com

Scene Viewpoint Claire Lyons

Sofia CrimiVaroli

Corrections The Observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times. We do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. If we have made a mistake, please contact us at editor@ndsmcobserver.com so we can correct our error.

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Closing Ceremony for Sand Mandala Jordan Hall of Science, First Floor Reading Room 4 p.m.

Kilt Mile Washington Hall 9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

The bagpipe band hosts a run to raise money for veterans.

Tridentine Latin Mass Alumni Hall Chapel 10 a.m.

Morning Mass offered in the Tridentine Latin.

Spin and Sip Angela Athletic Center 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Join St. Mary’s Student Life for a cycle and custom coffee.

Notre Dame Press Book Festival & Sale Hesburgh Library 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Author events, prizes, and great deals.

Concert: Lalo Cura Philbin Studio Theatre 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Listen and meet Lalo Cura, a Latin and soul music group.

Opera/The Met: Live in HD: “Dead Man Walking” (Jake Heggie) Browning Cinema 1 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Twelfth Night Stapleton Lounge 2:30 p.m.

Enjoy a performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Strategic Framework Undergrad Town Hall Carey Auditorium 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Hear from Provost McGreevy, Q&A.

Life Mapping to Explore and Plan your Future 123 Regina Hall 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Plan for future goals.

NEWS

NDSMCOBSERVER.COM | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | THE OBSERVER

Students launch leftist campus newspaper

By PETER McKENNA News Writer

An independent, studentrun publication called the Irish Radical launched Nov. 1 to provide a space for left-wing and progressive discourse and organization on campus.

According to its website, the Irish Radical publishes essays, poetry and other visual and artistic representations which embody the spirit of its manifesto.

“Despite the many progressive students, movements and organizations here at the tri-campus community, we noticed that there wasn’t a cohesive platform for left-leaning students,” the Irish Radical Committee wrote in a statement to The Observer. “We started the Irish Radical to address this gap in our campus discourse.”

The Radical’s roughly 1000word manifesto quotes activists Assata Shakur and Dorothy Day, and it alludes to the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

“A spectre is haunting Notre Dame — the spectre of radicalism,” the manifesto says.

“Catholics, of course, are no strangers to ghosts.”

The publication isn’t institutionally affiliated, according

to the committee. Its costs come from housing the website irishradicalnd.com, which members of the Radical are currently paying out of their own pockets.

The Radical was created by members of SolidarityND, a club on campus for democratic socialists. A short-lived campus magazine active during the pandemic called the Irish Worker also inspired the Radical, the committee added.

The inspiration for the name of the publication comes from the Latin root of radical, “radic,” which means root.

“Radicalism for us means to grapple with things by the root,” the committee said. “We see crises surrounding us on every side — not just a crisis in culture, but also in labor, health, democracy, our environment and other aspects of life.”

Drawing from an oft-cited line from scripture that describes the Church, the Radical wants to be in but not of the world of Notre Dame, the committee explained.

“While we aim to work in Notre Dame’s progressive ecosystem as an active, productive forum, we also want to articulate utopian possibilities that extend beyond the horizon of what already exists here,” the Radical said. “As a PAID ADVERTISEMENT

big tent group, we abstain from painting a single vision of what change could look like, so the ideas in our pages will arise organically with the priorities of our readers and contributors.”

The Radical does not consider itself a club and does not have a president.

“We’re an informal group of students interested in publicizing leftist literature and media at Notre Dame,” the committee said. “We have an executive board and structure similar to other clubs, but roles and responsibilities are much more decentralized.”

Currently, the Radical displays an article on Palestine, a paper on crisis, a poem about gushers and several other pieces of writing.

“Large-scale publications will be released intermittently throughout the year, along with a more constant stream of articles aimed at disseminating time-sensitive or important news and other information,” according to the Radical’s website.

The publication’s logo is an arm of a leprechaun holding up a red rose, a symbol of socialism.

Contact Peter McKenna at pmckenn2@nd.edu

Culture CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

highlighting traditional dance and song and the second half introducing a more contemporary and modern style. Martin said he especially wanted to represent the contemporary style to the public as a testament to the perseverance of Native American culture.

“I like to talk about [contemporary dance styles] as much as I can because it shows that we’re a living, breathing culture. We’re evolving, changing and we adapt to new materials and new ideas,” Martin said.

Junior Kaitlin Mohlenkamp attended the program and said she enjoyed learning more about the local Potawatomi Nation.

“Well, I think it was beautiful that people came from hours away to connect and dance together. I think it really shows how much of a community the tribes in this area are,” Mohlenkamp said. “They all know each other, and they want to share their culture … It’s really cool to see [even] the young boys and girls dancing and just carrying on that legacy.”

Senior Breanna Gruber, who identifies as Navajo, attended the program to experience a part of her culture she didn’t always have access to growing up.

She said more awareness of Native American presence and culture is important to support their communities.

“A lot of people are not very aware of the fact that Native American people are still living and practicing their culture and traditional ways of living,” Gruber said. “So I think something like this showcases that to people who aren’t able to live in the community or grow up in it, such as indigenous people like myself or non-indigenous people, you get to see a way of life that’s still being practiced and something that predates even Notre Dame itself.”

Assistant professor of American Studies Ashlee Bird is an advocate for Native American visibility and representation in digital media and popular culture.

“Representation across the board is something that can be kind of undervalued in terms of its power and its effect on our communities, and especially on young people and how they understand themselves and who they are, who they can be, how they exist in the world,” Bird said.

As a member of Native American Initiatives (NAI) at Notre Dame and someone with Native American ancestry, Bird strives to help Indigenous peoples feel they

3

have a place at Notre Dame.

“I think this event and events like it are incredibly important for creating visibility. So it’s not just making our Indigenous students at Notre Dame, wherever they might come from, feel seen and feel like they have things going on on campus that are for them, but also to make indigenous peoples visible to the university at large to the student body, to the faculty and to the surrounding communities,” she said.

Native American presentations, programs and education are slowly becoming more popular on college campuses as a way to better recognize the history of native tribes and nations in the U.S., Bird explained.

“I think people are kind of starting to realize that these are underserved communities and groups and also have been largely made invisible,” she said.

Notre Dame has not hosted a large dance and drum event to celebrate Native American heritage in nearly 30 years, Martin said. The University asked Martin to help plan this event with the Initiative on Race and Resilience (IRR) and the Native American Student Association (NASAND) to restore connection with local tribes.

“There used to have a pow wow out here. A lot of people don’t know about it.

I used to come around here when I was a kid, and the Native American Student Organization used to throw it. Natives from all over the country used to come. It was at the Stepan Center. It was a big thing, but they haven’t had it since the ‘90s,” Martin said.

He explained that the most important part of the presentation for him was simply bringing Native Americans back to campus to sing and dance.

“Especially in Indiana, especially in South Bend, when they think of my tribe, they think of casinos,” Martin said. “So, really the easiest way, or the most shocking, is to [bring in] singers and dancers. And then from there, we’re starting other conversations.”

Most of all, Martin said he hopes that attendees, as well as anyone who interacts with Native Americans, recognize them as people deserving of respect, solidarity and support.

“I just hope they’re a little more aware that we are a living, breathing culture — that we’re not a mascot,” Martin said. “We’re your neighbors, and we exist. We want to be good neighbors with you.

And I hope that they don’t forget us after November.”

Contact Aynslee Dellacca at adellacca01@saintmarys.edu

4

NEWS

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

AI Ethics CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

plag ia rism, but t his in itself is bra nd new a nd interest ing because it’s not exact ly li ke cutt ing a nd past ing f rom Wi k ipedia or borrow ing someone’s paper,” she sa id.

“Somet hing is being generated, but it’s clea rly not your intel lectua l proper t y.”

Zwa r t went on to ta l k about ot her issues w it h A I, such as patterns it may be producing.

“This is somet imes ca l led t he black box problem. You ca n get somet hing to produce resu lts, it ca n do what you wa nt it to do, but you don’t k now what patterns it’s f inding. A nd some of t hose patterns mig ht be rea l ly discriminator y,” she sa id.

Zwa r t hig h lig hted a recent exa mple, where A ma zon had to scrap its use of a n A I recr uit ing tool t hat demonst rated bias aga inst women.

“The a lgorit hm looked at t he histor y of A ma zon employees who had been successf u l a nd decided t hat you were more li kely to be successf u l if you were a ma n.

So people who had obv iously feminine na mes or had gone to women’s col leges were automat ica l ly dow ng raded,” Zwa r t sa id. “No one had chosen t hat, but it appea red t here because of how t he data was being inter preted by t he a lgorit hm.”

Zwa r t a lso displayed a Washing ton Post a r t icle t it led “This is how A I image generators see t he world,” which shows A I-generated images t hat invoke numerous stereot y pes.

In one demonst rat ion, t he A I was asked to show att ract ive people a nd generated mu lt iple images of lig ht-sk inned, young, t hin people. W hen prompted to show clea ning, t he A I generated mu lt iple images of women.

“If we outsource our use of images a nd t hat k ind of t hing to A I, we’re going to get a n even more biased version of t hese t hings,” Zwa r t sa id.

Addit iona l ly, t he abi lit y of A I to generate fa lse t ra i lers, scripts or ot her creat ive products presents issues for t he f i lm indust r y, Zwa r t sa id. She prefaced her comments by show ing a mockup Sta r Wa rs t ra i ler made in Wes A nderson’s st yle.

The t ra i ler featured A Igenerated li kenesses of sta rs such as Timot hée Cha la met, Sca rlett Joha nsson a nd more.

“I loved Wes A nderson a nd t hat ma kes me smi le, but none of t hose actors consented to being in t here,” Zwa r t sa id. “This is pa r t of what t he actors a re t r ying to negot iate in t heir st ri ke, [it’s] t hese k inds of protect ions.”

The technolog y ra ises quest ions about actor’s rig hts a f ter t hey’ve sig ned w it h a studio.

“Do people have a rig ht not to be a r t if icia l ly generated? Or if a studio ow ns your li keness ca n it use A I to do what it wa nts w it h it? ” Zwa r t sa id.

During audience quest ions, severa l audience members ex pressed concerns about who gets to decide t he laws surrounding a r t if icia l intel ligence.

“Shou ld governments be responsible for deciding what we ca n a nd ca n’t do? But t hen you bring in problems of governments cont rol ling our informat ion sha ring,” Zwa r t sa id in her response. “Do you wa nt to leave it up to indiv idua ls? Wel l, we’re not rea l ly educated to tel l t he dif ferences.”

“I t hin k simi la r issues a re a lready ma k ing t heir way t hroug h t he cour ts, especia l ly a round image generat ing,” Wedr ychow icz added.

Wedr ychow icz sa id t hat he’s seen simi la r issues a lready being discussed judicia l ly, especia lly concerning A I image generat ion.

“They t ra in A I on images created by a r tists a nd photog raphers.

From what I understa nd t here have a lready been some lawsuits so it’l l be interest ing to see how t hose ma ke t heir way t hroug h t he cour ts,” he sa id.

Fur t her sessions in t his roundtable series w i l l be held in t he spring semester a nd focus on chatbots a nd t he creat ion of a r t by A I. Contact Katelyn Waldschmidt at kwaldschmidt01@saintmarys.edu

Framework CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

evaluating to advance that goal, including offering financial aid to international students to attract students from the Catholic Global South. He added that while the administration simply “keeps an eye” on domestic university rankings, they aim to boost Notre Dame’s international rankings to attract more international graduate students.

For domestic undergraduates, the University is considering other financial aid investments, such as eliminating loans from financial aid packages or guaranteeing free tuition for students below a certain income threshold.

These potential expansions of financial aid packages are part of the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. After the the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional, the admissions office is now working to create a more diverse applicant pool through recruitment.

“We’re going to obey the law,” McGreevy said of the ruling. “But our commitment to diversity goes a lot beyond the Supreme Court. This is a core part of our Catholic mission.”

The strategic framework mentions poverty, democracy and ethics as research priorities. Three new initiatives — headed by James Sullivan, David Campbell and Meghan Sullivan, respectively — were established in September to support this research.

McGreevy highlighted “science and engineering for a world in need” as one of the largest areas for research growth for Notre Dame.

“I think we’re the only global Catholic university that’s going to play at the very highest level in science and engineering.

In that sense, there’s a kind of obligation for Notre Dame,” he

said.

An example of this is an initiative to formalize a link between the engineering, architecture and policy programs to study questions of climate change and the built environment. Notre Dame will also break ground soon on a mental health clinic in South Bend aimed at developing evidence-based solutions to mental health problems, part of the framework’s increased focus on development in South Bend.

“This is the first strategic framework to ever use the words, ‘South Bend, Indiana,’” McGreevy said. “How can South Bend develop economically, so that Notre Dame can thrive in a prospering urban region? … The fundamental issue is that Notre Dame won’t thrive unless this region thrives, and this region has some real vulnerabilities. At the same time, this region can help Notre Dame thrive.”

In terms of student life,

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

McGreevy said Notre Dame is about to launch an effort to “reimagine” the introductory physics curriculum, relying on innovative pedagogy and data from ND Learning. Residential life is looking to boost the number of seniors living on campus and collaborate deeper with the University Counseling Center to address student mental health, he added.

“Sometimes people ask me, ‘Why did I take this role as provost?’” McGreevy said. “The reason I’m here is that I think this is the most exciting experiment in American higher education — that is: absolutely top-level academic research … but with a distinct Catholic mission.”

The next strategic framework townhall will be Nov. 13 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Carey Auditorium.

Contact Kathryn Muchnick at kmuchnic@nd.edu

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

5

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

By CLAIRE LYONS Viewpoint Editor

“Good girl Winnie Foster, every day / Is in bed at seven,” sings Pasquerilla East Musical Company’s (PEMCo) leading actress Serena Melonio.

Yes, precocious 11-year-old Winnie Foster is well-behaved. She is the kind of little girl who says please and thank you and ma’am. But the year is 1893 and the place is Treegap, New Hampshire, a small and isolated town nestled in the dangerous woods of the Adirondack Mountains.

So she stays trapped within the confines of her family home to appease her grieving (and sometimes overbearing) mother and grandmother.

But what happens when good girl Winnie Foster wants to “raise / a little something more than heaven?” What happens when she runs away from home?

This is how we set the scene for PEMCo’s production of “Tuck Everlasting,” a musical adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s beloved children’s novel of the same name.

If you’ve never read the book, just know the woods hold a mysterious secret: an immortal family called the Tucks and the magical spring that gave them eternal life. Oh, and there’s also a man in a yellow suit who is doing everything in his power to bottle that very spring and sell it for money. Caught up yet?

I’ll stop myself from going into detail to avoid spoiling

anything else, but let’s talk about how much of a treat the audience is in for, yeah?

Melonio is perfectly cast as Winnie Foster. Her small frame and perpetual blush could make her pass as a girl half her age, but her voice still holds the strength of a woman welltrained in music. Melonio plays Winnie much like Amybeth McNulty in “Anne with an E” — with an earnestness and passion seemingly inherent in plucky late 19th-century childhood heroines.

Melonio’s age also makes the age difference between Winnie and the Tuck’s 17-year-old son Jesse (Harry Larson) less uncomfortable. Jesse, however, is never a threatening presence. He is exactly the type of young man a little girl imagines herself falling in love with: protective yet adventurous, radically honest yet kind.

The real love story in “Tuck Everlasting” is between the Tuck parents Angus (Mark Hieatt) and Mae (Camila Holden).

‘Til death do us part truly means forever when you’re immortal. The Tucks manage to keep falling in love a thousand times over and still have a joyousness in their marriage that I’ve seen absent between newlyweds.

The surprisingly emotional core of the musical, though, lies in Christian Dunne’s performance of “Time” as older brother Miles Tuck. From the moment Miles is introduced, the audience gets a sense his maturity comes from borderline exhaustion, but we never fully explore his baggage until this song. In “Time,” you never get the sense that Dunne is performing. He becomes Miles with all his grief and emotional

restraint, and with his powerful voice the devastating lyrics are delivered like a sucker punch. “Time” is the first song that truly grapples with the themes of mortality, growing up and change that define “Tuck Everlasting,” and it is performed tremendously.

Other performances to note are the dancers and choreographers who beautifully interpret Winnie’s life in “The Story of Winnie Foster” and comedic buddy-cop duo Bryce Bustamante as Constable Joe and Robert Fuller as aspiring detective Hugo.

“Tuck Everlasting” is truly a treat.

As a senior approaching her final semester of college, it’s nearly time for me to begin uttering the first in a very long series of goodbyes. There have been so many precious moments over the past three and a half years where I wished I could “stay like this forever.”

But as much as I wish the fountain of youth from “Tuck Everlasting” was real, this PEMCo production reminded me that having all the time in the world means absolutely nothing if it isn’t spent with the people you love.

You can watch PEMCo’s production of “Tuck Everlasting” on the Washington Hall Mainstage on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the LaFourtune Box Office for students at $7 and for the public at $10.

Contact Claire Lyons at clyons3@nd.edu

MARVEL ACTUALLY MADE ‘ROGERS: THE MUSICAL’

By CHRISTINE HILARIO Scene Writer

Nothing has committed to the bit as hard as “Rogers: The Musical.”

In the “Hawkeye” show, Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) is forced to sit through “Rogers: The Musical” — a “Hamilton”style Broadway adaptation of the life of Steve Rogers (aka Captain America). Then this joke concept got turned into an actual musical that exists in reality and not just in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And you can watch the whole thing for free (on YouTube!) because “Rogers” didn’t get the Broadway treatment. It was a theme park musical at Disney California Adventure park. Amazingly, though, “Rogers: The Musical” is actually kind of good?

“Rogers: The Musical” had a limited run at Disneyland from June 20 to Aug. 31, 2023. It covers Steve’s entire character arc from “Captain America: The First Avenger” to “Avengers: Endgame” within a 30-minute runtime. That’s seven movies of material (not including cameos). The show has to absolutely sprint through the highlight reel of Steve’s life with barely any connective tissue or explanation for why story beats are happening. But having a plot that makes sense isn’t the point. The point is to pander to the two most annoying

demographics of people: Marvel fans and theater kids. I, unfortunately, happen to be both a recovering Marvel fan and a current theater kid. I wasn’t a difficult audience to impress.

So much of the dialogue is lifted directly from the movies just for fans to say, “I understood that reference.” Did you enjoy it when Cap said “I can do this all day” in the movies?

Well, get ready to hear that line at least 20 times in the span of this 30-minute musical. However, a lot of the lines are changed from their original context in confusing ways. For instance, Bucky Barnes is cut out almost entirely, so a bunch of his memorable moments are given to Peggy instead. Peggy defends Steve from a bully and tells him to “pick on someone your own size,” and she’s the one who is with Steve till the end of the line instead of Bucky. The most consistent throughline in this mess of a plot is Steve and Peggy’s romance, which is the heart of this musical.

It’s never really the plot that makes a musical. If a musical has a good enough soundtrack, it doesn’t matter if the story’s a mess. Just look at “Phantom of the Opera.” “Rogers” delivers when it comes to the music. Skinny Steve gets a solid “I Want” song appropriately titled “I Want You” where he belts his little heart out about how much he wants to fight in World War II. The show also features Alan Menken’s “Star-Spangled Man,” the wartime song pastiche from “The First Avenger,”

except they hilariously remove all mentions of Nazis and Hitler from the lyrics. Got to keep WWII history kid-friendly for the Disneyland audience. One of the funniest changes they made is yassifying Nick Fury and giving him a disco patter song called “What You Missed” where he catches Steve up on important things, such as Thai food being delicious and Darth Vader being Luke’s dad. And of course “Save the City,” the number featured in “Hawkeye” that inspired this whole musical, is a banger.

The set design and costumes left something to be desired, but it was truly a lot more impressive than your average theme park musical. The lighting was in your face and very Disney theme park, but the stage had a turntable and some pretty clever set pieces. The wigs were pure plastic, but the simplified superhero costumes really worked for the show.

They did not need to put this much effort into a theme park musical, but I’m so glad they did.

“Rogers: The Musical” is a fun bit of fanservice that doesn’t take itself too seriously. So give this a watch if you’re a Captain America fan with half an hour to spare, especially if you’re a Cap fan who likes musicals. Don’t do it for me, do it for your country.

Contact Christine Hilario at chilario@nd.edu MARIA TOBIAS, MARISSA PANETHIERE | The Observer

6

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

INSIDE COLUMNS

Found in translation Isa Sheikh Notre Dame News Editor

In Poland, they say good morning all day. Although I’m tempted to interpret various things from this quirk, I will control myself. My roommate, John, who visited his beloved Polish homeland annually, jokingly chalked it up to a lack of creativity.

It was actually breakfast time when I said “dzien dobry” to the man before me, standing in the house he had built with his own hands over the last half-century. John’s grandfather responded with a smile that could melt Atilla’s heart. “So you speak Polish now?”

I don’t. When traveling for a week or weekend, you can only learn enough of a new language to say things like “thank you” or “brother” or “fish sandwich.”

Even as the sound of English chatter in every accent possible pervades more and more of the world, from cafés in Krakow to taxis in Istanbul, you can sense there is much lost in translation. The substitution of a lingua franca brings us closer, but there is something buried.

Though the English language is my first love, it is not my first tongue. I remember — if only because the story was told so many times — crying my eyes out at the prospect of going to kindergarten because I did not know English.

Though I had been born on a hillside in San Francisco, my parents chose to only speak Hindustani with me, so that I might be bilingual, a legacy of the old world maintaining itself in the American melting pot. It was my mother’s firm belief that when the language goes, culture and identity follow. Studying in Ireland, the legacy of a language forcibly taken from its people presents daily reminders of the amputation of a vital organ.

I spent my summer buried in research, all of which centered around a 1912 effort by two men (who would become Nobel laureates) and their work to translate a book of poems from Bengali to English. By translating the works to English, Tagore’s “Gitanjali” became known to audiences in every imaginable place; I saw letters in the MacMillan archive that came from places as farf lung as Mauritius, Armenia, Japan and Hungary.

Thinking about translation as much as I did, I spent much of my days in my head, attempting to translate my thoughts in Hindustani — the lyrics and verses that “reverberated in my inner ear as if they were surgically implanted there” — back to English.

Take, for instance, my grandmother’s favorite 1980s Bolly wood song. With the lyrics in mind, I did the long-division version of translation, not extracting the gist but going word for word. But of course, that does not work.

“Quiet became city’s alleys, thorns became garden’s f lowers,” is the closest one gets to English coherence without adding any words to one of the lyrics.

The dark magic one experiences at the hearing of a garden’s f lowers becoming thorns is lost, even in this sentence you are reading. This lyric has a universal

meaning; others make no sense without being steeped in cultural context. I wonder if translation is ever truly possible.

Some of my favorite poems will never be shared with most of my friends.

I think back to the frustration my siblings and I used to have at my father’s English, the way he always pronounced “clear” as “ki-leer,” and the way we would correct him endlessly to no avail.

What we failed to register was that his mistakes were not made because of some insufficiency, but the navigation of two completely different grammars, alphabets and worlds. He was playing a new instrument having mastered a completely unrelated one. Having a foot on either side of an ocean is hard for anyone, even those who have mastered the splits.

Often, I feel words coming up my esophagus but stop before they reach my lips because there is no one to speak them to. My heart delights at the sight of a curry tent at which to speak my mother tongue, the caged bird within me taking f light. The language I carry cries out, needing to be spoken.

I stand for much longer than I need to, asking them about Lahore or Delhi or how long they’ve been away from home and if they miss it.

Although language can serve as this fence around us, it is far from insurmountable.

It was late in the night when John and I walked up to the kebab counter in Vienna. We could not speak German.

The men behind the window could not speak English. Despite this, I was able to learn that the man opposite me was Kurdish, that his friend hailed from Syria, that “scharf” was German for spicy, that the words for numbers were strikingly similar in Hindi and Kurdish.

I was able to hear his laugh, and he heard mine, requiring no interpreter.

This diversity of language deeply enriches us. On one of the many endless hours spent around the kitchen in my dorm at Trinity College Dublin, one of my housemates from South Africa read us Afrikaans insults. “Jou ma was nie genaai nie, jou pa het in haar poes gekak,” one of them went, eliciting an outrageous laughter few English jokes can, though reader discretion is advised before translating.

Language is what makes us human, in many ways. But it is not the end of our ability to connect with others. That’s why I can understand perfectly what my Spanish taxi driver is saying about the airport gates not letting him through, or grasp the gist of a Polish phone call my roommate has with his family. It is why watching a foreign film without subtitles is uncomfortable, but far from impossible. It is why an elderly Turkish man on the river perfectly sang a 1970s Bolly wood standard to me this summer, without understanding any of it.

It is a revelation to see another’s heart through language, but even more moving to see their heart in spite of it.

You can contact Isa at isheikh@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Tear of ink: Notebooks from abroad Liam Price News Writer

I’m writing in my third notebook of this semester, which I’ve spent abroad at Notre Dame’s London program. For the life of me, I can’t write anything of use, whether it be for my website or The Observer, but writing pointlessly in my notebook is pretty easy for me.

Three notebooks take up a lot of space, and most of this space is just meandering writings about my day. I also allow myself to indulge in brevity, like this entire page entry I wrote Sept. 25: “I write so much s**t. My roommate just farted again, and it smells like oranges.”

But this is also what feeds my addiction to notebooks. It’s low stakes. I use them to write down YouTube recipes, doodle, make todo lists, cry tears of ink and let my thoughts ramble. And despite the low stakes, when I go back in time to re-read my notebooks, there are usually one or two entries in each that I think an audience might (key word: might) also enjoy. The rest is, quite frankly, absolute garbage.

Sept. 5 — Thinking two ways It’s funny to me that Joan Didion considers writing to be an aggressive, hostile process. To write, she writes, is to impose your will upon the reader.

But perhaps this iconic skepticism and self-questioning of Didion’s isn’t the only way of looking at it. Perhaps writing can also be a form of empathy, too. A good writer must put themselves in their audience’s shoes, whether that audience is children, academic researchers or anything in between.

Now, of course, it is equally valid to accuse me of imposing my will upon readers by forcing them to think I’m empathetic. All I’m saying is both lines of reasoning can be true, and both are equally important to be aware of.

Sept. 21 — Butterflies My first thought when I’m feeling happy, 99% of the time, is “Who do I cold-call right now?” The other 1% of the time, I write. I usually write when I’m sad. And because I’m sad when I write, I hate it.

But right now, I’m not sad. I’m happy. That’s because today is my girlfriend Teagan’s birthday, and she just opened my gifts.

She was so genuinely pleased with her gifts while on our call that I got butterf lies in my stomach a whole ocean’s distance away from her. I’m happy we can still have moments like that.

(For those familiar with long-distance relationships, studying abroad is like a long-distance relationship on steroids. Time zones and extra time apart are a unique challenge for a couple to deal with.

But I’m here to tell you that it is possible if you’re really in love. Kelly Clarkson said it best: ”What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”)

Nov. 5 — Writing on the train to Amsterdam’s airport I’m probably just a regular of my generation, but I recently realized that half my personality is simply referencing TikToks that I have seen. I get very annoyed with myself about it, but TikTok provides an easy way to describe what I’m thinking.

The trains — especially the sleek, clean subways of Amsterdam — make me want to cry tears of joy like TikTok’s favorite “railway enthusiast,” Francis Bourgeois.

Compared to the piss-stench of the Philadelphia subways that I’m used to, the Dutch infrastructure is mind-blowing. You can use data on your phone while underground, it’s quiet and unbelievably clean!

The 5-second rule actually might apply when you drop a piece of food on the ground here.

I’m going to stop writing before I cry happy tears of my own about it.

Oct. 20 — Endings I often think about the reported exchange between Miles Davis and John Coltrane where Coltrane asked Davis how to conclude an improvised solo, and Davis just told Coltrane something like: “By taking your mouth off the damn mouthpiece.”

Endings don’t need to be a white ribbon tied in a perfect bow for you. It is simply when the writer takes their pen off the page and says “This work is over with.”

You can contact Liam at lprice3@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

7

OBSERVER EDITORIAL

‘Print journalism is dead.’

Print journalism is dead.

At least, that’s what the critics say. If you’ve been paying attention, it seems as though news boxes lie empty on every street corner. This material fact has heralded the death of good old-fashioned print newspapers and the rise of digital editions, e-readers and a plethora of online news substitutes.

According to The Washington Post, local newspapers have been cutting back their print days due to increasing production expenses. Part of the rationale is to preserve newsroom staff — with smaller budgets, business managers would prefer to lose a day of physical newspaper circulation than lose a journalist.

But here at The Observer, we value our staff and our print edition — which is delivered to newsstands across the tri-campus every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can find it in the dining halls, student centers, Hesburgh Library, Bond Hall, Remick Family Hall and many other academic buildings.

We value our print edition by our countless hours of work, often working past 3 a.m., in our office in the basement of South Dining Hall, to get the paper out the next morning.

Our editorial board cares about this paper and its print editions, but you might not. This is why we believe printing three times a week is so important.

writing solely for digital publications can lead to sloppy writing and clickbait stories. Writing articles for our print edition, often with larger word counts than the average news website, means our staff puts storytelling and quality information first.

Likewise, our print editions keep our staff accountable for the information we publish. If any of our student journalists make mistakes, they are permanently in print — which is the foundation of our transparency and standards for correction.

We are honest with our readers and publish every single correction online and in print.

The Observer’s print edition is the trial-by-fire training ground for journalists across the tri-campus. Our deadlines are sometimes tight and need to be met to fill our print copies. Writing for print inherently trains our writers to meet deadlines and deliver high-quality stories in a tight timeframe.

Training our staff to meet the standards of print journalism is essential for their development as effective journalists and professionals, regardless of their future jobs. Members of The Observer have applied their skills at The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, NBC and ESPN.

Our print edition keeps our standards for journalism high.

W hen reading online newspapers, it is easy to fall into an echo chamber. Readers click on headlines they are interested in, and most frequently, already agree with. This biased consumption of

Some newspapers pitch themselves as digitalfirst. W hile there is nothing wrong with this,

Our print edition helps foster campus dialogue.

reporting within modern-day journalism has led to much of the political polarization we see in the United States today.

As an independent student-run newspaper, The Observer strives to objectively report tri-campus events while providing balanced perspectives within our Viewpoint section. Part of this goal means packaging dissenting opinions into our print editions.

By design, readers of our print edition are presented with diverse perspectives and might be more likely to read and engage with something they might’ve not clicked on online. Plus, the 12 or 16 pages we print are an easier way to stay informed than navigating a website plastered with dozens or hundreds of links demanding attention.

Studies show when people read in print, they retain more information.

Additionally, our print edition reaches people who aren’t currently members of our tri-campus community. Every football Friday, when tourists visit the Hesburgh Library, somebody is picking up a print edition of The Observer. Within the fold of its pages are your names and faces: our friends, our professors, our hall staff and our loved ones.

They are holding a precious piece of campus history preserved in that day’s print edition.

Since 1966, The Observer has been dedicated to uncovering the truth and reporting it accurately.

We’ve been printing truth for you in our paper for over fifty years, and we’re not going to stop any time soon.

Paid time off to visit national parks Matt Baird Are you Paying Attention?

“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?”

Ralph Waldo Emerson opens his 1863 essay “Nature” with this rhetorical question. Emerson expressed this concern 43 years before the lightbulb was invented. If he saw my screen time last summer, he would surely die. Our world is very different from Emerson’s, but the fundamental human affinity for being in nature remains. It is there, even if you have not explored it yet, “non-outdoorsy” people. It is the most fundamental way in which we relate to the world and discover more about ourselves.

I had the privilege of growing up in California, where I can take a 20-minute drive during fall break to see thousands of ladybugs overwintering in Reinhardt Regional Park. My school offered many outdoor experiences from backpacking trips in Death Valley to scuba diving trips on Catalina Island. Exploring the natural beauty of California has given me a deep appreciation for outdoor spaces and my place in nature as a human being. When I am in nature, I feel most myself. It has allowed me to be more present than I would normally be and more aware of the thoughts that I lose in the busyness of the day. My time outdoors has also helped me discover more about what it means to be human.

Emerson puts it well later in his essay. He describes: “In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.” Nature allows us to

step outside of our egos and recalibrate our minds.

The landscape is indifferent to a lost loved one or a newborn in the family, so when we look long enough, we become present enough to experience our immediate sensations and forget our phantom stresses. For this, I believe that everyone should make it a priority to spend time out in nature.

There is a general consensus in the scientific community that regularly engaging in nature improves our health. In a study published by the National Library of Medicine, researchers reported that “92% [of subjects] demonstrated consistent improvements across any health outcome where individuals engaged with natural outdoor environments. Mental health outcomes improved across 98% of studies.”

This is all good stuff. What about our jobs? We cannot just get up and go from the office to spend time in la-la land whenever we please. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, adults in the US work an average of 8.01 hours each weekday and 5.55 hours on weekend days. For Americans working in professional service industries, 94% work over 50 hours per week, and 77% of Americans report experiencing burnout in their jobs.

Forbes reports that managing the psychological impact of burnout costs between $125 billion and $190 billion every year in healthcare costs. These statistics indicate that the work-life balance culture in the American workforce is not only poor enough to make the majority of workers burn out but also extremely costly.

So let’s just go out to regional parks on our days off, right? People have other responsibilities and hobbies outside of their careers, so it is hard for people to make the time to go on day trips on the

weekends. The federal government could mandate annual paid time off to visit national parks.

In France, the government mandates five weeks of paid vacation each year for workers. A fraction of this time could be mandated to incentivize workers to visit national parks. This would bring in more revenue to the parks which would help expand their restoration and conservation efforts. Moreover, the government may see it fitting to open more regional parks to alleviate the traffic. Less tangibly, the exposure to nature that Americans would experience would increase general mindfulness of environmental issues and climate change.

If that seems extreme, companies themselves could include paid time off to go to national and regional parks as an employment benefit. This would increase both employee health and productivity, which would be a fiscal incentive for the company.

The paid time off may also save companies healthcare costs for their employees. The cost of visiting a national park is relatively cheap as well, making it easier for workers to take advantage of the paid time off compared to having paid time off for general vacation time.

In either case, workers and companies alike would benefit. The effect that paid time off for natural exploration would have on the US adult population would be immeasurable, but the population would generally have greater mental health and awareness of their environments, which would make for more informed voters.

Matt Baird, proud native of Danville, California, is a sophomore majoring in English and finance. He enjoys walking, listening to music and humming.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Submit a Letter to the Editor: viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.com

8

SPORTS

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

ND MEN’S BASKETBALL

HOCKEY

Irish to take on Western Carolina

By MATTHEW CROW Associate Sports Editor

On Monday night, Notre Dame men’s basketball defeated Niagara in its season opener. The Irish will look to match that result on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Western Carolina.

While not perfect, the Irish’s 70-63 victory over the Purple Eagles was a promising first step in the debut of new head coach Micah Shrewsberry.

Notre Dame, known in recent years for its veteran experience and year-to-year continuity, trotted out an almost entirely new lineup full of underclassmen and emerged with a hardfought win.

After a slow start saw the Irish facing a 12-2 deficit just minutes into the game, the young group showed poise to steadily chip away at the deficit and enter halftime trailing by just one. The second period went back and forth, with the lead changing hands several times before Notre Dame claimed it for good in the final five minutes.

With so many new faces on the roster, Irish fans hoped to get a sense of which players would step into key roles this season. They certainly got that, as four freshmen and two transfers made up Notre Dame’s eight-man rotation.

The headliner was freshman guard Markus Burton, who wasted no time introducing South Bend to his scoring prowess. Burton used his quickness to get to the rim all night and would finish with 29 points, the most ever for a Notre Dame freshman in their first career game.

Beyond Burton, it was a balanced scoring attack for the Irish, who had just one other player in double figures.

Freshman forward Carey Booth scored 10 points and grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds in a strong effort off the bench. Junior guard Julian Roper II and freshman guard Braeden Shrewsberry chipped in nine and seven points, respectively.

With the first Irish game for a majority of the team’s players and staff now in the books, Notre Dame shifts its attention to Western Carolina.

While the Irish were tested, the Catamounts faced far less resistance in their seasonopening 106-65 win against NAIA opponent Dalton State on Tuesday.

Western Carolina outscored the Roadrunners by 21 in the first half and kept its foot on the gas to score 55 points in the second. The Irish will need to prioritize guarding the perimeter

and playing solid defense without fouling on Saturday. The Catamounts did most of their work on Tuesday from beyond the arc and at the stripe, making 11 three-pointers and converting 21 free throws.

Notre Dame could be aided in its defensive efforts by reinforcements.

Sophomore forward Kebba Njie was ruled out of the Niagara game with a right hand injury but is considered day-to-day and could make his first appearance with the Irish on Saturday. Njie, a presumed starter for Notre Dame, started 26 games for Shrewsberry at Penn State as a freshman. His return would give the Irish a valuable interior presence on both ends of the floor.

Whether or not Njie returns to action, Notre Dame will be counting on a better shooting performance on Saturday.

The Irish did not make a single three-pointer in the first half and finished just three of 17 from beyond the arc against Niagara, which was one of the primary reasons the Purple Eagles were able to stay in the game for so long.

But shooting aside, there were several areas of the Irish’s play on Monday that they’d like to carry forward. Notre Dame turned the ball over just seven times and won the rebounding margin by six, impressing in two areas that it sometimes struggled with last year. The Irish were dominant inside, outscoring Niagara 48-28 in the paint to make up for their inconsistent shooting. They also highlighted depth that has not been present in recent seasons. Eight Irish players saw at least 13 minutes of action, with a ninth, Njie, still waiting in the wings.

The Shrewsberry Era is now officially underway, and the Irish have an opportunity to continue building momentum and positive energy. Their nonconference schedule does not get any easier from here. Next week, they’ll be in Brooklyn for the Legend’s Classic, where they will face Auburn on Nov. 16 and either Oklahoma State or St. Bonaventure the following day. For a largely inexperienced team, taking advantage of every opportunity to pick up wins, especially at home, is crucial. The Irish delivered on Monday and will aim to do the same on Saturday.

Notre Dame will host Western Carolina at Purcell Pavilion on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The game will be available on ACCNX and The Notre Dame Radio Network.

Big Ten hockey returns to South Bend

By RYAN MURPHY Sports Writer

Big Ten hockey returns to South Bend this weekend.

After testing the waters in conference play last week at No. 17 Penn State, the Irish come home for another top20 opponent in the No. 19 Ohio State Buckeyes. The goal for Notre Dame (4-3-2, 0-0-2) this weekend is the same as it’s been in each of their last five series: grow th.

“I think we’re getting better ever y weekend, which is a really good thing,” Irish head coach Jeff Jackson said.

“I think our young guys are acclimating. I do like our mindset and approach each night.”

The Irish took three of six possible points against the Nittany Lions last weekend, w inning in a shootout on Saturday and falling in a shootout on Sunday. In the second game, Notre Dame held the lead into the final minute of play. Conceding a late goal cost the Irish an additional two points, but the overall weekend result was a good way to open conference play.

“Coming out of Penn State w ith three points was big – we should have probably had more just based on how the game played out on Sunday,” Jackson said. “Our guys are learning. I think the big challenge for them is learning to play back-to-back.

That’s something we haven’t done consistently yet, but I think that’s something that w ill evolve for us.”

Putting together a full, 60-minute effort w ill be key for both teams this weekend. Ohio State (3-3-3, 0-3-1) is similarly looking for consistency. After w inning their first two games of the year, the Buckeyes are 1-3-3 in their last seven games. They were swept at home by No. 11 Michigan State last weekend and now look to bounce back.

“We gotta get better,” Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik said. “Even Friday nights to Saturday nights, the consistency is not there.”

Particularly, the Buckeyes have gotten off to slow starts this year. They are 0-21 in their last three series openers.

“Friday nights, we’ve struggled this year,” sophomore for ward Davis Burnside said. “I think

being more consistent, a full 60 minutes on Friday, and hopefully that w ill translate to a w in. And then we can worr y about Saturday, but I think the biggest thing is getting a good start.”

The root of the problem for Ohio State may just be acclimation. The Buckeyes under went extensive roster turnover in the offseason and now feature 15 new faces—more than half the team. There are eight freshmen and seven transfers on the Buckeyes.

On defense, the exodus has been particularly noticeable. Graduate student Scooter Brickey is the only returner out of the six defenders that started in Ohio State’s series at Notre Dame last Februar y.

The turnover has resulted in defensive zone struggles to start the year, some of which have show n up on the scoresheet. The Buckeyes allowed 7 goals in the conference opener at No. 8 Michigan and allowed 6 in each of the two losses to the Spartans last weekend.

“It’s just some sorting in the [defensive] zone, tr ying to figure out who’s got who sort of a situation, box ing out around our net,” graduate student for ward Matt Cassidy said. “There were a couple of easy rebound goals [last weekend] and some dzone faceoff stuff that are areas we are going to focus on.”

In addition to the losses on defense, Ohio State also had to replace the starting netminder who backstopped them to the NCA A tournament last season. With the departure of Jakub Dobeš to the AHL’s Laval Rocket, the Buckeyes brought over junior netminder Logan Terness from the University of Connecticut. Terness has started all nine games for the Buckeyes so far, posting a .901 save percentage.

Letting all those new pieces gel together w ill inevitably take time, although Ohio State would probably like to see the process begin to bear fruit this weekend.

By all accounts, Ohio State’s effort in last Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Spartans was a better one than Friday’s 6-0 defeat. The Buckeyes led the game early in the third period, receiving two goals from their muchmaligned power play, which

entered the game converting at a 12.1% clip.

The Buckeyes have collected just 2 of 12 possible points in conference play so far and w ill want to avoid falling too far off the pace.

No. 3 Wisconsin is the Big Ten’s early leader, w ith a perfect 4-0-0 record and 12 points.

Notre Dame understands this delicate balance between w inning and grow ing all too well. The Irish saw it play out last weekend in State College.

Trailing in the third period of Saturday’s contest, Notre Dame came back to w in in the shootout.

Freshman for wards Maddox Fleming and Cole Knuble were instrumental, w ith Fleming scoring the gametying goal and Knuble the shootout w inner.

Leading in the third period of Sunday’s game, the script f lipped. Notre Dame could not secure the victor y and lost in the shootout.

“In the third I thought we were playing pretty well, but I thought we got a little tentative. We started playing a little bit ‘not to lose’ as opposed to playing aggressively and staying w ith our game,” Jackson said. “And again, that’s a maturity thing.

We have to gain confidence in who we are and who we are as a team. Once we gain confidence in how we need to play to be successful, whether it’s to come from behind like we did on Saturday or to hold the lead or to score the next goal on Sunday… those are all situations these guys are going through for the first time.”

The idea is that this freshman-heav y Irish group w ill be better for the learning experience in both games, regardless of the result. But they too are aware that racking up points now is the best way to mitigate the stiff test that the conference poses.

If there’s one thing Notre Dame and Ohio State can agree upon, it’s this: nobody wants to learn while losing.

The puck drops on conference play at Compton Family Ice Arena at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The series finale w ill begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Contact Ryan Murphy at rmurph22@nd.edu

The Observer accepts classifieds every business day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Notre Dame office, 024 South Dining Hall. Deadline for next-day classifieds is 3 p.m. All classifieds must be prepaid. The

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

charge is 5 cents per character per day, including all spaces. The Observer reserves the right to edit all classifieds for content without issuing refunds.

DAILY

NDSMCOBSERVER.COM | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | THE OBSERVER

CROSSWORD | WILL SHORTZ

9

HOROSCOPE | EUGENIA LAST Happy Birthday: Focus on what makes you happy. Spending time with people who bring out the best in you or enjoy the same things as you will keep you updated.

Look for opportunities that stimulate your mind and help you bring about positive change. Too much time alone will weigh you down; explore what excites you and surround yourself with thought-provoking people and pastimes. Your numbers are 6, 14, 26, 28, 32, 34, 46.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Define what you want to do next, and consider the prep work involved that will position you for success. How you approach your goals will make a difference. Plan to look your best and prepare to be at the top of your game.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Keep tabs on what everyone else is doing, and be prepared to pick up the slack where necessary. Call the shots, make the moves and secure your position. It’s time to put yourself first and engage in what will bring you joy.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Surround yourself with people who share your beliefs and enjoy the same pastimes as you. Refuse to get swept into someone else’s dream where you do the work, but don’t enjoy the rewards. Self-improvement and feeling good about yourself and what you accomplish are necessary.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take better care of yourself and your surroundings. Don’t let laziness lead to poor relationships with loved ones. Participation will pick you up and encourage you to be helpful. The more you do for others, the better you will feel about yourself.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Pay attention to friends, relatives and what’s important to you.

Take care of your emotional and physical well-being, and sort through any matters that bring you down or stand between you and what you want to accomplish. Make loyalty a priority.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Get moving and don’t look back. You have plenty to gain by staying on top of your game and doing your best. Your attention to detail will help you outmaneuver anyone trying to challenge you. Transparency and communication will pay off.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take care of yourself first. Spend more time on what matters and prepare for what you want to do next. Refuse to let anyone capitalize on your kindness and desire to help when you should be helping yourself. Make romance a priority.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Help others, share your thoughts and make yourself useful.

Volunteering, making a difference and staying active will lead to new beginnings and hope for a better future. Create opportunities by taking steps that lead to a healthy and prosperous lifestyle.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Make your entrance and light up the room. Refuse to let anyone overshadow you. Make your presence felt, and you’ll create opportunities to increase your profile and others’ awareness of what you can contribute. Let peace, love and gratitude shine through.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t let anyone put you in a vulnerable position.

Choose your words wisely and refuse to let emotional meddling distract you from reaching your objective. A change at home will result in a window of opportunity.

Take advantage of your good fortune.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Pay attention to your needs and satisfy your soul. Keep your money, possessions, personal papers and passwords protected. Listen carefully and fact-check everything you hear before you share information.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take the high road and don’t look back. Use your skills to reach your destination of choice, and others will take an interest and support your plan. A financial change looks promising, and a proactive approach to life, love and happiness will pay dividends.

Birthday Baby: You are engaging, vibrant and quick-witted. You are compassionate and observant.

SUDOKU | THE MEPHAM GROUP

JUMBLE | DAVID HOYT AND JEFF KNUREK

Support student journalism.

Donate to The Observer. ndsmcobserver.com/donate

FOLLOW US ON TIKTOK. @ndsmc.observer

WORK AREA

Make checks payable to and mail to:

Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday, The Observer is a vital source of information on people and events in the Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross communities. Join the more than 13,000 readers who have found The Observer an indispensable link to the three campuses. Please complete the accompanying form and mail it today to receive The Observer in your home.

The Observer P.O. Box 779 Notre Dame, IN 46556

Enclosed is $130 for one academic year Enclosed is $75 for one semester Name Address City State Zip

10

SPORTS

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

Bouts CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

Mancuso a unanimous victory.

Ellie “The Hammer” Hammerschmitt def. Grace “Haak Attack” Haak Hammerschmitt immediately came on the attack with a thunderous start, forcing a 10-count in less than 10 seconds. The stoppage did anything but stop Hammerschmitt, who quickly cornered Haak to force yet another 10-count.

Haak got a few short jabs in but Hammerschmitt controlled the opening round. Hammerschmitt used both hands effectively throughout the match. Though Haak made up some ground in the second round, Hammerschmitt sent Haak spinning with an early third-round strike, showing her dominance.

Hammerschmitt dropped Haak in the corner late in the match, forcing a third and final 10-count. “The Hammer” lived up to her nickname in the unanimous victory.

Sami “The Smaller” Jorgensen def. Anna “Pushin P” Prest Prest had the better of the attack early, cornering Jorgensen and forcing a 10-count with a well-timed right. Prest’s right hand struck early and often. However, Jorgensen landed a perfect headshot late in the first round to gain some momentum. Both boxers connected for a flurry of jabs right after the opening bell in the second round. Jorgensen drove Prest against the ropes at one point and controlled most of the second round, although Prest closed it out on a high note.

Prest looked like her round-one self early in the final stanza, but Jorgensen quickly countered. Both boxers had impressive moments, but in the end, Jorgensen prevailed via split decision in one of the night’s most evenly fought bouts.

Gabi “Texan Perfection” Cano def. Rosie “The Riveter” Binette Cano and Binette each came out firing on all cylinders, connecting with a plethora of jabs each. Binette used her footwork and quick hands to lay some blows, but Cano was quick to respond. A headshot by Cano late in the round necessitated a 10-count and a timeout from Binette’s corner at the end of the opening round. The second round began with fireworks from both sides once again before Cano connected on an impressive left.

Cano drove Binette into a defensive posture that allowed her to largely control the round, forcing another 10-count just before the bell. Cano started round three with some well-executed strikes to the head. Binette was able to land a few counterstrikes. Each boxer traded a brief stretch of dominance before the bout concluded.

In the end, Cano earned the victory by unanimous decision.

Maggie “Read the Observer” Eastland def. Mary “Red Sky” Quirk Editor’s Note: Eastland is Editorin-Chief of The Observer.

This match had a bit of a feeling out period, with both boxers engaging short, quick jabs in the early going. Quirk connected for the first few big shots of the match, but Eastland answered shortly thereafter. Eastland began to take over with a few headshots as the first round progressed. Quirk pushed Eastland back early in the round, but Eastland heeded advice from her corner and began to strike back. Eastland controlled the second half of the middle round and rode that momentum into the final round. Eastland connected with Quirk’s head frequently, landing several well-timed blows in the final minute. Eastland earned the victory by unanimous decision.

Abby “Silence of the” Lamm def. Luisa “Karma” Capobianco Both boxers came out of the gate lashing all types of hits on each other. The crowd immediately got into the fight, chanting the fighters’ names. Capobianco connected on several high hits early in the match, but Lamm came right back with high hits of her own. Hits to the face were common all throughout round one of this fight. Capobianco got the edge by cornering Lamm several times and connecting on multiple shots. Capobianco took the edge in the early round and the crowd continued to build up the energy. In the second round, Lamm came out swinging on all cylinders and Capobianco came right back with hits of her own. The crowd continued to get louder throughout this round and chants of “Abby” helped her seal this round. In round three, Lamm continued where she left off and dominated in all aspects.

With that momentum, Lamm earned the victory by unanimous decision.

Kim “The Grillmaster” Nguyen def. MC “Can’t Touch This” Elliot Nguyen came out the gate hitting with force and high energy.

She connected on a multitude of low shots that gave her momentum. The crowd quickly got into this match and chants of “Elliot” started. These chants helped Elliot connect with hits to the face to end the early round.

Going into the second round, Nguyen continued where she left off with low body shots.

She used her footwork and defense to drive her opponent back several times and land hits.

Elliot, though, came right back and landed shots on her opponent. In the third round, both Nguyen and Elliot landed an equal amount of shots on each other.

The crowd started to get into the fight as chants of both “Nguyen” and “Elliot” rained down. Elliot started to feed off this energy as she landed multiple head shots. In the end, though, Nguyen won by split decision.by putting together packages of punches that found Lies more and more frequently as

the clock ran on. Lies settled in during the second round, forcing the referee to quickly pause the battle to check in on “Stonesplitter.”

For the rest of the middle frame, “Knuckles” directed her opponent wherever she wanted. The ice in “Knuckles’” veins had not evaporated at the start of round three.

During the final 75 seconds, the pressure was on “Stonesplitter” to impress the judges. The senior from Johnson Family Hall used every second until the final bell and maybe a quarter of a second after the bell to tally points.

It wasn’t enough as Lies won the contest by split decision.

Rosie “The Riveter” Binette def. Tess “Lucky Lefty” Gilmore The freshman Binette spent the opening seconds of the match breaking through the defense of Gilmore, a sophomore. “The Riveter” finished the first round seemingly without a sweat. Although taking many more steps in the backward direction than the forward direction, Gilmore found the red mask of Binette with her blue gloves more often as the bout wore on. Having recovered all the oxygen they needed after the second round, the boxers leaped out to face one another before the final 75 seconds of the competition. “The Riveter,” to chants in the crowd of “Rosie,” argued her case compellingly when it mattered. The referee stopped the bout twice during the final round, first checking out Gilmore and then Binette. By split decision, “The

Riveter” was named victorious.

Sami “The Smaller” Jorgensen def. Chevelle “No Sorry in Sight” Boomershine Boomershine, a graduate student, got off to a hot start in the first round. This provoked Jorgensen to land a massive blow, which caused the referee to hold Boomershine out of the contest for a 10 count. Still, “No Sorry In Sight” would not stop instigating contact as the opening 75 seconds expired. A sophomore and a resident of Flaherty Hall, Jorgensen continued to dominate from the back of her stance all the way through the second frame.

While Boomershine would not stop pestering her taller foe, the crowd shouted out, “Sami, Sami,” urging Jorgensen to polish off a near-perfect performance. “The Smaller” did not let her opponent out of the gold corner come close to landing a strong blow on her blue mask in the final round. By unanimous decision, Jorgensen won the fourth bout of the night in Ring B.

Frankie “Frank the Tank” Masciopinto def.

Erin “Emoney” Coyne Masciopinto executed the first barrage of punches, which Coyne quickly countered. “Frank the Tank” spent the last 10 seconds of a very active first round pushing “Emoney” around the ring. Coyne sustained some heavy hits in the middle round, but was still able to send her red gloves flying into the face of Masciopinto, a senior from McGlinn Hall. “Frank the Tank” PAID ADVERTISEMENT

could not stand it, and she landed one too many blows, forcing the referee to hit pause during the second round to check out Coyne.

In the final round, “Emoney” appeared to be running too short on breath or maybe she was just a little dazed by so many hits from “Frank the Tank,” so the referee stopped the match one more time before the final bell rang out.

Masciopinto won by unanimous decision.

Olivia “The OG” Guza def.

Aranza “Pistolera” Sierra Guza fired the first punch and most of the rest of the punches that were launched during the opening round.

Overcoming her short stature, Sierra sent blow after blow upward into the face protection of “The OG” as the first frame came to a close. A junior resident of Pasquerilla East, Guza would not relent nor give up an inch of ground in the second round. Sierra and Guza probably did not get as many breaths as they would have liked before it was time to come out for the final 75 seconds of battle.

“Pistolera,” a senior living offcampus, and Guza fought a clean fight which the referee did not pause as the clock wound down.

Guza would win by unanimous decision.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu, Annika Herko at aherko@nd.edu, Adam Akan at aakan@nd.edu, Nico Morles at nmorles@nd.edu and Jon-David Regis at jregis@nd.edu

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

12

THE OBSERVER | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

BARAKA BOUTS

10 boxers advance to Baraka Bouts finals

By ANDREW McGUINNESS, ANNIKA HERKO, ADAM AKAN, NICO MORLES, JON-DAVID REGIS Sports Editor, Sports Writers

The 21st annual Baraka Bouts continued Thursday. Here are the semi-final results.

Ring A “Corona” Alvarez def.

Swindar “Lucky Charms” Zhou Alvarez came out hot in the first round, landing consistent blows on Zhou’s stomach as Zhou failed to block Alvarez for much of the bout. Zhou spent most of round one forced into a corner as Alvarez jabbed. Alvarez continued her dominance in the second round, using remarkably graceful yet aggressive footwork to consistently push Zhou back. Zhou had more effective blocking in this round, but that did not stop Alvarez from landing a plethora of blows and controlling the pace of the fight.

The match concluded with a third round where Zhou, after consulting her corner, initially came out with more power and landed blows on Alvarez. Yet, Alvarez’s powerful demeanor again forced Zhou to block as the judge concluded the fight early. In a unanimous decision, Alvarez would win the showcase round.

Frankie “Frank the Tank” Masciopinto def. Tess “Big Steppa” Kesler Cheered on by raucous spectators, Kesler and Masciopinto battled in an electric first round in which both fighters landed blows, jabbed through each other’s guard and had shining moments.

Masciopinto seemed to overpower Kesler as the round concluded.

The second round was somehow even more frenetic, with Kesler and Masciopinto stepping into powerful jabs and landing several critical blows. Neither woman surrendered an inch and they seemed to be inches away from each other as they ducked it out. Kesler landed more blows in round two, but it was Masciopinto who dealt the stronger hits. The final round saw another absolute war, but it was Masciopinto who wrapped her fingers around the match and did not let go—landing high-powered blows, evading jabs from Kesler and forcing an early conclusion to the round. Frankie “Frank the Tank” Masciopinto would go on to prevail by unanimous decision.

Annie “Big Ann” Guinan (def.

Katherine “Bend It Like” Beckman The initial round was defined by a wild pace, with Beckman and Guinan swinging hooks and

attempting to land jabs at a rapid rate. However, both boxers were strong blockers, leading to not many blows being landed. Both had their dominant moments in the bout. The second round saw Beckman come out aggressively, landing a number of hooks on Guinan and producing the highlight of the match by forcing Guinan into the ropes whilst in a clinch. Despite a holding warning, Beckman clearly dominated the round. The final round somehow maintained the same intensity, with Guinan landing blows early.

However, Guinan took back control, forced Beckman into fouls and seemed to deal blows despite fervent blocking. In a frenetic bout partially defined by excessive slapping and holding, “Big Ann” prevailed through unanimous decision.

Lily “The Chelsea Dagger” Whitman def. Kara “The Bear” Janishefski Round one began in a tornado of jabs and hooks, with both boxers stepping into each other and landing blows at various points.

The highlight of the opening round came in Janishefski putting Whitman on the floor after a highpowered blow. It was “The Bear” who controlled the pace of the round as it wound down. Round two opened up with a Whitman comeback, landing a series of powerful blows that forced Janishefski into a corner. The round leveled out after a consultation from the referee, but both boxers maintained their aggressive poise and landed critical blows. The final round opened up with a streak of dominance from Whitman, who thrice overpowered Janishefski and forced her into corners.

Despite frantic defensive jabs from Janishefski, Whitman’s poise and speed kept her at bay. The winner of the bout, via unanimous decision, was “The Chelsea Dagger.”

Maria “La Leche” Silvestri def.

Hannah “Happle” Vespalec At the start of the first round, both fighters exited their corners with pace, trading heavy jabs in the center of the ring. Following a short stoppage from the referee, each boxer was able to land a flurry of shots at their opponent, with Silvestri and Vespalec both taking several upper-body hits. The fight raised its intensity in the second round, with “La Leche” taking the upper hand. Despite numerous great slips from “Happle,” Silvestri was able to connect a string of punches directly to the head of her opponent. Silvestri carried this momentum into the final round, pushing her opponent to the limit and keeping her on the back foot

for most of the round. The referee stopped the fight twice to give Vespalec time to recover, and “La Leche” ultimately won the fight via unanimous decision.

Lauren “Blondie” Buetow def. Shay “Z-Force” Zilvitis In round one, “Z-Force” Zilvitis pressured “Blondie” Buetow early, with an array of body shots keeping her opponent on the edge of the ring. “Blondie” kept her composure, however, and connected strong shots to the head of Zilvitis whenever she saw an opening.

Buetow was able to maintain this composure in the second round, fighting her way out of the corner when she was backed against the ropes. The fight remained closely contested heading into the final round, which proved to be the deciding factor. “Blondie” got an early stoppage after hard shots on her opponent, but the round was all “Z-Force” after that. Zilvitis landed numerous punches to an uproar from the crowd, but the fight proved to be an uphill battle for the boxer in blue. Buetow was crowned the winner by unanimous decision after three rounds.

Nicole “Knuckles” Lies def. Riley “No Smiley” Vandevelde In an even first round, both fighters came out of their corners with something to prove.

Vandevelde was light on her feet, slipping Lies’ jabs while landing a few of her own. “Knuckles” kept pushing Vandevelde late into the round, connecting on a strong hook to the head of her opponent.

Lies started strong in the opening of the second round as well, but a series of shots from “No Smiley” resulted in a short stoppage for the cutman to tend to Lies’ nosebleed.

Following the stoppage, neither fighter seemed to let up. In the final round, Vandevelde built off of her previous momentum, sending a series of shots to Lies’ face, which continued to bleed. Despite the fight being stopped again in the third for the cutman to treat Lies’ injuries, “Knuckles” bounced back, sending a variety of hooks and jabs to Vandevelde’s upper body. The fight was scored in favor of Lies who won by unanimous decision.

Sarah “Midshipmenace” Nowak def. Emma “The Slayer” Solferino After touching gloves in the center of the ring, both fighters showed discipline in the first round. Solferino chose to keep her distance, using strong jabs to keep Nowak away. However, the “Midshipmenace” put the pressure on her opponent. Nowak kept Solferino in a defensive position

for most of the first round, pushing Solferino to keep her gloves up. “The Slayer” proved to be more aggressive in the second round, with her supporters in the crowd egging her on. Nowak kept her distance, maintaining her early lead, but the third round proved to be the decider in a close contest. Both boxers had highlight moments in the final round, but Nowak separated herself from Solferino with a strong finish in the dying moments of the fight.

The judges ultimately crowned the “Midshipmenace” the winner by unanimous decision.

Elle “The Greek Freak” Strogilos def. Chiara “French Thunder” Thrum In this semifinal bout, each boxer had a strong first round. Thrum brought the thunder early, landing right hooks to the side of Strogilos’ helmet. “The Greek Freak” kept the round close though, with a series of punches hitting Thrum’s upper body. The second round showed an equal level of intensity, and the fight remained close. Strogilos caused Thrum’s head to snap back with strong jabs, but “French Thunder” returned hook shots to the applause of the crowd littered with French flags. In the final round, “The Greek Freak” secured her win, with the referee stepping in twice to adjust Thrum’s helmet after strong shots from Strogilos.

Strogilos was named the winner by unanimous decision after three hard-fought rounds.

Ocean “The Matador” Leto def. Lily “Legends by 7” Storrs In a defensive first round, both boxers were comfortable in keeping their distance and waiting for an opportunity. Storrs’ wingspan allowed her to create some separation from her opponent, landing a series of jabs on Leto’s helmet. “The Matador” tried to close the distance, however, pressuring Storrs with hard right hooks. The second round was similar to the first, with “Legends by 7” keeping her opponent away and “The Matador” applying strong pressure. Smooth slips and strong jabs characterized a great first round for Leto, who maintained this energy going into the final round. “The Matador” kept Storrs on the back foot for most of the final round, but Storrs maintained her defensive composure. “Legends by 7” connected on a series of jabs in the deciding moments of the fight, but this proved to be too late, with “The Matador” winning by split decision after three rounds.

Ring B Caroline “Bah Bah Bah” Landry def. Emily “Enemy

Jane” Nowak The first matchup of the night from Ring B featured “Enemy Jane”, a senior captain from McGlinn Hall, from the blue corner, and “Bah Bah Bah”, a junior from Ryan Hall, from the gold corner. In the first round, Landry got a few good hits in while Nowak forced her into the corner. Both boxers had to move fast to dodge blows in the second round and Nowak was given a standing eight count at the end. Finishing up, Nowak came out swinging but had a second standing eight count.

The fight continued and went to a decision, with Landry winning unanimously.

JJ “Soldier Boy” Jorgensen def. Kylie “The Better Jenner” Carney Next up was “The Better Jenner”, a freshman from Flaherty Hall, boxing against senior captain “Soldier Boy” from Lewis Hall.

Jorgensen started out quickly, forcing two standing eight counts on Carney quickly in the first round.

Jorgensen had a few right hooks in, knocking Carney to the ground in the second round. In the middle of the second round, the referee stopped the contest and declared Jorgensen the winner.

Claire “Force One” Ramsey vs. Innie “Bunny-T” Ricketts Both boxers came out swinging, landing good blows to start the first round. Ramsey, a graduate student living off campus, landed more shots than Ricketts, a junior from Cavanaugh Hall. Ramsey seemed to aim more for higher shots while Ricketts aimed lower more often. Ramsey continued to land slightly more hits in the second round but the boxers were very evenly matched. The two fought hard until the very end and had two large groups of supporters cheering them on. In the end, Ramsey won in a split decision.

Olivia “Manny” Mancuso def.

Lauren “Half-Pint” Hubert The first few attempts didn’t connect cleanly as both boxers came out strong defensively. Hubert was firmly dictating the pace, though, showing impressive energy in the opening round. Mancuso did connect on a few noticeable blows late in the first and early in the second round. However, Mancuso fell to the ground midway through the bout, necessitating a stoppage. Both threw a solid amount of punches, but Hubert whiffed on several while Mancuso usually connected. A flurry of quick strikes by Mancuso necessitated a 10-count late in the bout. Those efforts proved to be enough to give see BOUTS PAGE 10