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Volume 54, Issue 59 | friday, december 6, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Class donates $83,000 to local nonprofits ‘Philanthropy and Society’ students divide sum among winning Michiana organizations in ceremony By ALYSSA GUFFEY News Writer
Students in professor Jonathan Hannah’s “Philanthropy and Society” course announced in a short ceremony Thursday afternoon the five groups that would receive parts of an $83,000 grant the class received from the Philanthropy Lab. After a semester spent exploring local nonprofits and conducting board meetings, the students chose to split the funds among five organizations in the Michiana area. Senior Abigail Campbell
spoke on behalf of the class to announce Neighbor-toNeighbor — an immigrant and refugee assistance center in South Bend — as the receiver of an $8,000 grant. The organization was chosen because of its profound impact on refugees’ rights in the South Bend area as well as at the state level, Campbell said. “I’m happy to share that we are awarding Neighborto-Neighbor so they can continue to grow, to flourish and to teach refugees what it’s like to call South Bend home,” she said. The Dismas House of
Indiana was granted $15,000 to support its work of providing a family network for those recently released from prison. Senior Hunter Reh cited the empathy of the Dismas House as a strong incentive to fund the organization. “We want to help a program like the Dismas House that is actively seeking to make the lives of some of the most forgotten members of our society better,” Reh said. “We know this grant will be put to great use, and thank you so much for the work you do for our community.” Junior Natalie Armbruster
SMC student named 2020 Gilman scholar By Mia Marroquin News Writer
Saint Mary’s sophomore Allyson Emmett will be studying in Seville, Spain from January through May after being granted the 2020 Gilman Scholarship to participate in a study abroad program this academic year. The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is a congressionally-funded program sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and
is administered by the Institute of International Education. The program aims to diversif y the kinds of students who study and intern abroad as well as the countries and regions to which they travel by supporting U.S. undergraduates who might otherwise not consider these opportunities due to financial constraints, the program’s website said. The program received more than 5,000 applicants for the 2020 cycle. Just over 1,300 students were offered awards to participate in
credit-bearing study abroad programs and career-oriented internships in countries across the world. Emmett said she came to college knowing she wanted to study abroad during her time at Saint Mary’s. About 50% of Saint Mary’s students study abroad during their four years of college, according to the CWIL website. The center offers programs in over 18 different countries for semester, academic year and summer terms. see GILMAN PAGE 3
Proffesors debate right to build border wall By Tom Naatz Notre Dame News Editor
Professors Jason Brennan of Georgetown University and Christopher Heath Wellman of Washington University in St. Louis participated in a debate Thursday evening
news PAGE 3
surrounding the ethics of immigration. During the event, entitled “Do we have a right to build the Border Wall? ” the two academics clashed over whether or not states have a right to restrict immigration. Brennan advocated a position of open borders. Noting
scene PAGE 5
it would strike the average person as unethical to ban certain Americans from living elsewhere in the United States, he said this same logic should apply to people born abroad. “Imagine that the people see WALL PAGE 4
viewpoint PAGE 7
revealed that $15,000 would be allocated to the Elkhart Education Foundation to assist teachers with limited supplies in their classrooms. With this funding, the class hopes the foundation can continue to help both teachers and children in Elkhart schools flourish, Armbruster said. A Rosie Place for Children — the only hospital for medically fragile children in Indiana — received $15,000 from the class. Senior Joe Witt explained his team felt a connection to A Rosie Place during their site visit. “We were just absolutely
blown away by the care, the attention to detail that went into the home and the obvious passion and dedication of the leadership,” Witt said. Senior Catherine Edmonds awarded the final $20,000 to Cultivate Culinary, an organization that focuses on repurposing food to give to students in the community. Currently, Cultivate Culinary provides for 400 students, but with the help of the grant, they are hoping to double the number of students they serve, Edmonds said. see NONPROFIT PAGE 3
Notre Dame Chorale performs ‘Messiah’
Courtesy of Alexander Blachly
The ND Chorale performs George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” in Leighton Concert Hall. The group performs the oratorio each winter. By CIARA HOPKINSON News Writer
For nearly 30 years, the Notre Dame Chorale has ushered in the holiday season with their performance of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah,” a wildly popular Baroque masterpiece that tells the story of Christianity in three parts. Music professor Alexander Blachly, director of the Chorale, described the piece as “indestructible.” “That’s the word that people usually use about it,”
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Blachly said. “It means no matter how you perform, it is going to sound great. But I think it sounds a lot more great when it’s performed with this sense of style.” W hen Blachly arrived at Notre Dame in 1993, the Chorale had significantly fewer members and performed “Messiah” with a full orchestra. For the past several years, however, the Chorale, which now has around 70 members, has performed with a small orchestra see MESSIAH PAGE 4
w basketball PAGE 12
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TODAY
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“Lacrosse practice.”
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Moderated by Notre Dame’s Graham Clay, immigration experts Jason Brennan of Georgetown and Christopher Heath Wellman of Washington University in St. Louis debate the ethics of immigration policy in the United States during a lecture Thursday.
The next Five days:
Want your event included here? Email news@ndsmcobserver.com
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Naughton Fellowship Information Session 253 Nieuwland Hall 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. All interested students welcome.
Handel’s “Messiah” Leighton Concert Hall 8 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Featuring Notre Dame Choral. Tickets available online.
Red Cross Course Rockne Memorial Rooms 109 & 110 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. CPR/AED and first aid certification course.
Exhibit: “New Faces” The AAHD Gallery, 214 Riley Hall all day Work from first-year MFA students.
Lecture: School Choice in Chile Hesburgh Center 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. Emiliana Vegas will discuss key reforms.
Code Cafe: A Coding Community 246 Hesburgh Library 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Coders of all skill levels welcome to practice.
Exhibit: “Looking at the Stars” Snite Museum of Art all day Featuring a wide selection of Irish art.
Advent Lessons and Carols Basilica of the Sacred Heart 7:15 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Open to the public.
Immaculate Conception Mass Basilica of the Sacred Heart 11:30 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. Open to the public.
Information Session on CSC Seminars Geddes Hall 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Learn more about Spring 2020 seminars.
News
ndsmcobserver.com | friday, december 6, 2019 | The Observer
3
Sister spotlight
Former administrator speaks on mission By SARA SCHLECHT Associate News Editor
Editor’s Note: Sister Spotlight is an effort by the Saint Mary’s News Department to shed light on the shared experience of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross and Saint Mary’s College students. We will be sharing the mission and stories of the sisters in an ongoing series. The word ”mission” is an important part of Sr. Rose Anne Schultz’s life, as much of her work at Saint Mary’s has aimed to apply it to the College community. Schultz first came into contact with the Sisters of the Holy Cross when she attended Holy Cross schools in California, she said, beginning in the fifth grade. “W hen I look at it now from the vantage point of Fr.
[Basil] Moreau, who wanted education of the mind and heart … they were doing that,” Schultz said. “I didn’t know that was what they were doing, and doing it ever so well. They were not only excellent educators — they were very, very friendly.” Schultz said her understanding of the Sisters as being kind, happy women followed her throughout grade school and the Holy Cross high school she attended. W hen she came to Saint Mary’s in the 1950s, it was with the intention of joining the Sisters. Everything since then has continued as a journey, she said. Schultz taught in schools in Indiana and Illinois and also held some administrative positions before making her return to Saint Mary’s. Already serving on the College’s board of trustees,
she was offered the chance to work with the Center for Spirituality and its founder, Keith Egan. “To me, it was a gift just to work with Keith and the Center [for Spirituality],” she said. As Schultz did the work she enjoyed, ongoing discussions within religious institutions and other organizations began to change the way they viewed the purpose of their work. “During that time, the word ‘mission’ was becoming more of a phenomenon,” Schultz said. “Its meaning was being explored, and so at that time I was asked to work in the administration for mission.” Her role in the administration eventually became full-time, though her heart was still with the Center for Spirituality, Schultz said.
The meaning of mission still remained elusive to much of the College community, Schultz said, but the growing division for mission continued its work promoting the values of Fr. Moreau at the level of the College administration. “The thing is, it’s a positive area of change,” Schultz said. “It’s not diminishing what you’re doing, but it took a long while. … It gives me great comfort and joy to see how the mission was incarnated in the College.” Among the division of mission’s projects was sending laypeople who were members of the College faculty to Le Mans, France, to learn about the history of the Sisters. “They learned about Holy Cross and our mission,” Schultz said. “People just had the best experiences there.” Schultz served as vice
president for mission from 1994 until she retired in 2009. The relationships she built with students and faculty through her work are ones she still maintains today. These days, Schultz is still in touch with past members of the board of trustees and those involved with the division for mission. She also teaches first-year novices a course on the life of Fr. Moreau. She is also involved with Friends with Sisters, an organization that seeks to connect students and the sisters. The relationship between the Sisters and the College is an important one, Schultz said. “You have to keep that bond between the two,” she said. “It shouldn’t be separated.” Contact Sara Schlecht at sschlecht01@saintmarys.edu
Badin Hall supports artisans from Nepal By CHELSEY BOYLE News Writer
Notre Dame students looking for last-minute holiday shopping can rest easy this weekend. On Friday, Badin Hall w ill be hosting Conscious Christmas, an annual event featuring the sale of crafts handmade by women across the globe seeking to support and prov ide for their families. Proceeds w ill support the HOPE initiative, a charit y Badin has adopted over the years. Volunteering Badin residents w ill sell scar ves, hats, tote bags, jewelr y, ornaments, baskets, Nativ it y
Gilman Continued from page 1
“My older sister goes here and she didn’t study abroad, but she thought about it and made it seem really accessible which put the idea in my mind,” Emmett said. An anticipated Spanish and global studies major, Emmett
Nonprofit Continued from page 1
Universit y President Fr. John Jenkins also attended the ceremony. His appearance meant the students received an additional $10,000 to award to the communit y, as the Philanthropy Lab promised to make an extra contribution if the
sets and other gifts from 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the LaFortune Ballroom. Nearly all of the goods for sale were produced by fair trade artisans in Nepal. Proceeds go right back into projects that ser ve the artisans’ communities, said Ann-Marie Conrado, anthropolog y professor and founder of the HOPE initiative. “You’re using your purchasing power to make a difference in their lives by ensuring they receive a living wage, that those products are made w ith respect for people and their heritage, but also the planet,” Conrado said. Conscious Christmas helps communities in Nepal
prov ide scholarships and have more accessible education in rural areas, Conrado said. It can also contribute funds for a small home for children who have been orphaned. Senior Paige Smith has seen the impact the HOPE initiative has on communities in Nepal firsthand. After initially finding out about the HOPE Initiative by volunteering at Conscious Christmas as a former Badin resident, last summer she went a step further by v isiting Nepal through an International Summer Ser v ice Learning Program. W hile there, she worked w ith a fair-trade organization that makes homemade
crafts and home decor, some of which are sold at Notre Dame. In working w ith the Association for Craft Producers, Smith said she learned how the artisans make the products by hand. “[I felt fulfillment from] helping places from afar from campus,” Smith said. “[And then from] hav ing opportunities to then go to these places and unite academics w ith communit y and ser v ice.” Conrado said she believes Conscious Christmas showcases the best of what Nepal can produce. “W hen you give that gift, you can show care to not only the person you give it
to but for all the people that brought that gift to life,” Conrado said. “The qualit y of the products is inherently beautiful because they’re all handmade and not printed and stamped off a machine.” The annual event also supports products that are made ethically and do not contribute to env ironmental degradation, she said. “In a time of env ironmental crisis, we can choose where we put our resources and the choices that we make can have an impact in an incredibly powerful way,” Conrado said.
will be taking courses at Saint Mary’s to further her Spanish and cultural development skills. “During my first year, I took a lot of STEM-based classes, so it was during my first Spanish class that I realized I really enjoyed learning the language more than my other classes,” Emmett said. “So I pretty much decided to go
to Spain based on wanting to further [my] Spanish.” Studying in Seville will be Emmett’s first time overseas. She said she hopes to use this opportunity as a chance to travel around Europe and make connections with locals and other international students. Emmett said she attended an information session hosted
by the Saint Mary’s Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership (CWIL) where she first learned about the scholarship. The session included a presentation by a past scholarship recipient which heightened Emmett’s interest to apply. From there, the decision to study in Seville was easy, Emmett said.
“I talked to people who have studied there and they just had such great things to say about it,” Emmett said. “They really stressed how the host university was in a city was rich with culture and how that really impacted their experience.”
Universit y’s top official was present. To close the ceremony, Jenkins expressed his hopes that the semester of experience in philanthropy w ill ser ve the students far in the future. “Philanthropy isn’t just writing a check, is it? You’ve had to go out, look at the community and see the needs there,” Jenkins said. “You have met and spent time with
these wonderful people who strive to meet those needs. You sort of created a community of people who are serving those needs, and what I hope most from this class is that through doing this, you create patterns in your life.” Before the grant announcements, Hannah thanked the Philanthropy Lab for its support and the local nonprofit leaders in attendance for
their engagement with the class. He also praised his students for their work and dedication to the task. “They displayed the maturity dedication we expect of our students here in Notre Dame,” Hannah said. “I could not be prouder of the work that they did.” Hannah plans to teach the class again next fall, as long as funding is available. Witt
said he hopes students in future years can benefit more nonprofit organizations. “I hope [future students] don’t just look back to the same organizations we chose,” Witt said. “I hope they have the opportunity to reach more of the South Bend area.”
Contact Chelsey Boyle at cboyle@nd.edu
Contact Mia Marroquin at mmarroquin01@saintmarys.edu
Contact Alyssa Guffey at aguffey@nd.edu
4
NEWS
The observer | friday, december 6, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Messiah Continued from page 1
composed of 15 Baroque instruments. The distinctive sound of the Baroque orchestra, Blachly said, contributes to the “style” of the work. “It’s clearer, it has a different kind of articulation, the notes speak in a different way,” Blachly said. “The sound of the orchestra is really quite light and the whole piece then has an agility to it. Many movements in Messiah are dances. It’s very hard to get a modern orchestra to dance. It sounds very heavy. ... Just by nature, the Baroque instruments have this quality of a kind of dance-like agility. It just makes the piece move so much faster and so much, much, much more interesting.” Handel loved “Messiah” and directed it many times during his years in London, usually as a fundraiser for a charity or hospital. The passion, variety and drama of the piece, Blachly said, points to Handel’s inspiration.
Wall Continued from page 1
of northern Virginia get together and decide they have a bill they want to pass through their various county legislatures,” Brennan said. “And the bill says the following: ‘Whereas white people from West Virginia and black people from east D.C. commit crime at high rates, use drugs, have low wages, low employment and low educational attainment; and to protect our distinctively high-achieving culture, our community, our schools — which are some of the best in the country — and our exceptional welfare services and way of life. … We the people of northern Virginia hereby forbid them from moving here.” Such a move, Brennan said, would strike the average person as wrong. “Suppose [northern Virginia] did that,” Brennan said. “How would you think about that? What sort of word would you use to describe that kind of bill? Probably think ‘classist,’ maybe think ‘racist’ … something kind of nasty. Nevertheless, these kinds of arguments are precisely the arguments that nation-states use for excluding foreigners for these very same kinds of reasons. So what’s the difference? What’s the magic of a border of a nation-state that’s different from the magic of the border of a town, or a county, or a state?” Brennan enumerated what he saw as the numerous benefits of immigration, noting that researchers estimate free movement would lead to a global economy that is 100% larger than it is now. “A number of current economists — libertarian economists, left-wing economists, socialist economists, conservative economists — there’s surprising agreement: it seems to be
“It sort of runs the gamut of what’s possible to make an interesting performance,” Blachly said. “... The piece is just full of these great contrasts and that’s part of what makes it such a great piece. You don’t get bored because so many different things happen one after the other. It’s a very colorful conception that Handel had and he wrote it in this blind white heat. He wrote this whole piece in three weeks.” The movements range from exuberant to gentle to powerful, Blachly noted, making for an interesting experience for the Chorale members as well. Senior Caiti Crahan, president of the Chorale, emphasized the unity of the work despite the differences in tone. “Some of [the songs] are very serious and loud and some of them are more bouncy and some of them are very slow,” Crahan said. “So there [are] variations but it’s all him.” In order to represent the full range of Handel’s expression, Blachly said the Chorale approaches the work “rhetorically.”
“We try to think what it was in the words that inspired Handel to write the music that particular way because in every case, he’s illustrating the words in one way or another,” Blachly said. “So once you’re aware of that, then you try to figure out ‘what is it in his mind, what is he thinking of, what do those words suggest to him’ and then what is going on in the music that would correspond to the words.” Blachly offered the interaction between the angels announcing Jesus’ birth and the shepherds on Christmas night as an example of Handel’s grasp on his composition. “What happens with Handel is he’s got this incredible burst of sound with trumpets, when the angels first sing Glory to God,” Blachly said. “And then you can actually hear them going back up to heaven. You can hear them disappearing. The music is softer and softer and softer and softer ... and then they’re gone. You can literally hear the angels moving through the sky.”
Tapping into Handel’s mind in such a way gives the performance a richness that is not often seen, Blachly said. “I think some performances are not particularly aware of these things and they really miss out on an opportunity to make the music more interesting because of that,” he said. For Crahan, the Messiah tradition is one of the highlights of Chorale. “The soloists are really talented. It’s kind of inspiring to see them perform,” Crahan said. “I think the part that I like best is that we do it every year so it feels like a very Christmas-y tradition and gets us all [in] the holiday mood. ... You can kind of hear yourself improving over the four years that you sing it, which is also really fun.” “Messiah” is Chorale’s most popular performance of the year, Blachly said. Crahan described how the adrenaline of performing is heightened by having a larger audience than a typical Chorale performance. “We have so much more
energy and so much more fun when you can see an audience is engaged,” Crahan said. “When we sing the Hallelujah chorus, which is the last piece and the most famous one, obviously, everybody stands up which is so cool to see every year.” Blachly pointed to the Chorale members’ talents and the adjustable acoustics of Leighton Concert Hall as major improvements to the tradition. The acoustics, Blachly said, allow the less powerful, but more “colorful” Baroque instruments to stand out. “This is really satisfying because the choir is so good and the hall is so good and the orchestra so good,” Blachly said. “It’s just a great treat to do it. It’s really fun to do it and we can do it on very short notice; that’s the other thing that’s kind of incredible. When I started here, it was very slow going … now the learning curve is so fast. It’s just extraordinary.”
that restricting immigration is the single most inefficient thing that countries can do around the world,” Brennan said. “… Immigration restrictions are so inefficient they cut world production in half.” Given immigration’s myriad benefits, Brennan said there would need to be a compelling reason for countries to severely restrict the inflow of people. In his view, such a reason does not exist. He said newcomers enhance the host country’s culture, it would be easier to “build a wall around the welfare state, not the country” and that immigrants commit crimes at lower levels than native-born citizens. “Places where you do not have a lot of immigrants are cultural wastelands,” Brennan said. “Think about the places that are cultural centers in the United States: Los Angeles, New York, Miami. Probably not South Bend, Indiana, probably not … New Hampshire. They’re places with lots of immigrants.” Brennan concluded with a discussion of the self-determination issue, arguing that it is not a sufficient reason to restrict immigration. “Why would a right of self-determination, or a right to decide who associates with a country, simply imply a right to exclude foreigners? Why would it also not imply other kinds of rights?” Brennan said. “Why not say, ‘We have a right to self-determination, that means the country can decide to engage in eugenics if it wants. We have a right to engage in self-determination, so we can force people to use birth control. We can have censorship, religious control. We can have a command economy.’ The puzzle here is if there is a right to self-determination, why does it specifically say the right to exclude, and not all of this other stuff? Because if you’re a liberal like I am, you definitely tend to think countries
do have some sort of right to selfdetermination, but only within very well-defined borders. They can’t decide everything.” Wellman responded with arguments in favor of a right to selfdetermination. While he did not dispute Brennan’s points about the benefits of immigration, he said the question of who to let in should be left to individual states. “I think as the discussion goes on you’ll see there’s a lot of agreement between Jason and me,” Wellman said. “But I’d like to start by unapologetically defending the claim that legitimate states have a right to design and enforce their own immigration policy.” Wellman encouraged the audience to imagine a scenario in which he had the right to get married, but his father got to choose his partner. Without being able to say no, Wellman said his freedom would be curtailed. “My father is much wiser than I. He might choose better than I. My life might go better, if he got to choose my marital partner,” Wellman said. “But it seems unquestionable that my freedom of association is denied in a very important sense, and my self-determination is restricted in a very important sense. If I’m not the one who gets to decide whether or not I want to marry someone … the important thing is unless I’m in a position to decline a prospective suitor … I don’t have freedom of association.” Wellman built on this logic by stating “legitimate” states should be able to say no to prospective immigrants, if they so desire. He defined a legitimate state as one that protects the rights of the people who live there, citing Norway as the “paradigmatic” example. “Norway seceded from Sweden in I believe 1905,” Wellman said. “Imagine that Sweden said ‘we miss you, let’s
get back together.’ Norway says ‘well, we’ll think about it.’ They have a debate, they have a plebiscite and they decide ‘no thank you.’ Do you think Sweden gets to forcibly annex Norway? I don’t. And I think if you agree with that the best explanation is ‘well, Norway, in virtue of being a legitimate state, enjoys political self-determination, one important component of which is the freedom of association. As we saw in the marital case, that includes the right to decline to associate, if they want to.” Wellman applied this logic directly to immigration. “A lot of teenage, young Swedes go to Norway for the summer because they can make so much more money in Oslo because the economy in Norway is stronger than in Sweden,” Wellman said. “Imagine a Swede says … “let’s stay here permanently. Let’s be a part of this union. I think that just as Norway can’t force a Swede to come over and join the union, the Swede can’t unilaterally insert herself into the political community.” However, Wellman did say that rich, legitimate states do have an obligation to help those in need. Nevertheless, he argued states cannot be obligated to
take in people they don’t want. Instead, he advocated building institutions in struggling countries so people can have opportunities in their own land while expressing qualms with the current immigration model. “Let me be clear: I’m not a defender of the status quo, which I take to be a moral abomination,” Wellman said. “I’m not saying that Norwegians get to close the door, put guns at the door, turn their backs and say, ‘… it’s their fault, not my problem.’ My claim is that they probably do have much more demanding duties than they’re currently discharging. But that doesn’t mean there’s only one thing they can do, which is open their borders.”
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The observer | friday, december 6, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
By MARIA LUISA PAUL Scene Writer
A trip to Martin’s “Hispanic food” corridor is a disappointment and a half, to say the least. Between Mission Foods’ flour tortillas and Mrs. Renfro’s Gourmet Food Nacho Cheese Sauce, Taco Bell’s Taco Seasoning makes an appearance. Not to insult people who enjoy this monstrosity, but saying that Taco Bell is Hispanic is like saying Chicago deep-dish pizza is Italian. It’s just not. I decided to redeem myself — and my stomach — by delighting in some real — I cannot emphasize that word enough — Mexican food. I searched the Internet for the best places in South Bend, heavily rolling my eyes at the lists featuring Chipotle and, yes, Taco Bell. Thankfully, I found several options that promised authentic food on South Bend’s west side. Ever since I arrived at Notre Dame, mentin of “the west side” usually includes comments detailing the area’s insecurity. However, this part of town hosts the largest concentration of the city’s Latino community. Thus, relying on my native Spanish skills and saying a quick prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe, I ventured to the exact place others had warned me against. After all, isn’t that what life is all about? As I left the comfort of the Notre Dame bubble, street signs changed from English to Spanish, and a sense of acquaintanceship started to fill me. Little Mexico, as the area is known, started to feel like home. I arrived at
By CHARLIE KENNEY Associate Scene Editor
Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s most recent film “Parasite” is defined by contrast. The picture opens in a cramped, trash-filled semibasement in what is assumed to be a destitute neighborhood on Seoul’s outskirts. A family of four lives on top of one another, a dinner of processed foods and cheap beer is cherished and drunken youth unknowingly relieve themselves just outside the ceiling-adjacent kitchen windows. The feeling is jovial and carefree — the genre, if anything, comedy. The large part of the rest of the film takes place in a visually and thematically differing environment. A welltrimmed yard with abundant sunlight replaces concrete and dim, flickering street lights. Cleanliness almost to obsession fills those places where grime, errant beer cans and cigarette butts had formerly sat. And a cleancut, beautiful, nouveau-riche family lives in this expansive, ostensibly un-cramped space. Whatever sense of nonchalance resided in that dank semi-basement is replaced by feelings of anxiety and unease. Joon-ho seeks to portray the blemishes of South Korea that have arrived alongside its recent economic prosperity. While high-rise apartments and well-trimmed lawns have sprung up, so has — as is the case with much of the developed world — a quite sizable disparity in wealth. The film seeks to accentuate these differences and the misery that many South Koreans experience just beneath the feet of their more well-to-do neighbors.
an unassuming brick building with a bright red, green and white sign displaying Chicago’s skyline. Taqueria Chicago looked like the real deal. Inside, English and Spanish mingled in perfect symphony,. Words like tacos de tripa and torta de carne asada were aggregated into American vocabularies. Both Latino and American families enjoyed their lunch, truly accounting for a melting pot of cultures. The waitress brought a basket of chips with spicy red sauce that awakened my taste buds, and I knew I was going to have a feast. I ordered tacos with carnita (pork simmered in oil) and al pastor (spit-grilled pork), on a corn tortilla – flour tortillas are blasphemous – and anxiously waited for the food to arrive. Once I saw my tacos come out, my heart started to sing to the groove of the Mexican rancheras playing in the background. No sour cream, no hard shell, no stringy Cheddar cheese; only meat, onion, cilantro and a lime wedge —perfection on two white plastic plates. I went ahead and dressed the sizzling meat with lime and salsa verde. One bite was all it took to transport me to Mexico. Though both were amazing, the taco al pastor was the winner of the day. Its chewiness, saltiness and sweet undertones accounted for an explosion of flavor. Worth $4.25, my feast incorporated the three most important B’s in the Spanish language: bueno (good), bonito (pretty) and barato (cheap). I made sure to leave room for desser at Paleteria and Neveria La Rosita, where they sell ice cream and popsicles
with flavors ranging from vanilla and chocolate to mescal and cajeta. I asked the server about her favorite flavor and, without hesitating, she exclaimed arroz (rice). I ordered a paleta de arróz and a nieve de tequila. The rice popsicle tasted just like my grandmother’s arroz con leche: sweet and with the perfect hint of cinnamon. The tequila ice cream tasted as if someone had decided to chase tequila with milk and sugar — take it as you will. I was certainly not expecting such a bang, but that drunken ice cream was a lot. Although my stomach was at capacity at this point, I would not be content until I had the ultimate Mexican street snack: a mangonada, drinks made with mango sorbet, chamoy sauce, chili powder and mango chunks. They are the perfect combination of sweet, spicy and salty, but they are definitely not for weak stomachs, as the powerful flavor can send anyone to the bathroom. I wished for the best as I made my way to Los 3 Mangos de Michoacan in Western Ave. Inside, the potent smell of burning grease of tacos and tortas vanished with my first bite of mangonada. It was refreshing, sweet and had that spicy kick I was aiming for. After I had my last spoonful of mango, I realized why people say “barriguita llena corazón contento.” A full tummy really does lead to a happy heart. Once felt balked by Martin’s non-Hispanic products, my heart found what it ached for in Little Mexico.
The film primarily revolves around the economic woes of the Kim family and their clever attempts to pull themselves out of poverty. Through the help of his friend and a fair amount of forgery, Kim Ki-Woo, the youngest male in his family, attains a job as a tutor for the daughter of the quite wealthy Park family. As Ki-Woo becomes more familiar with the Parks, however, he realizes the matriarch of the household, Park Yeon-gyo, is quite gullible. A plan is then set in motion, which eventually sees Kim Ki-Woo remain the tutor of the Park family’s daughter; his sister, Kim Ki-jeong hired as the tutor of their son; his father, Kim Ki-taek fill a vacancy to be the family chauffeur; and his mother, Kim Chung-sook, becomes the family caretaker and maid. The four members of the Kim family act as an eponymous parasite within the Park household — deriving their entire income from the wealth of one family. The build-up to such a scenario inhabits the genre of comedy, providing comic relief as time after time the members of the Park family are oblivious to the lack of qualifications each member of the Kim family holds. Kijeong poses as a renowned art therapist in South Korea and Ki-woo enters into a romantic relationship with his student to only further entrench his job security. With the Kim family constantly brushing shoulders with one another, however, it becomes harder and harder for them to conceal their secret. Suspense inevitably replaces comedy as the main focus of the Kim family becomes avoiding detection while at the same time enjoying the spoils of their newfound wealth and environment.
The film almost jokes about the absurdity of class difference in South Korea before taking it more seriously. The rich are so carefree and overindulgent that it almost appears comical — until it doesn’t. To the Park family, the Kims exist as a vehicle through which they can enjoy their material well-being. Every demand of theirs has to be completed immediately, regardless of whether a devastating flood has waterlogged your basement the night before. Wealth can certainly be enjoyed by both sides of Korean society, but wealth does not necessitate acceptance. Late in the film, Ki-woo looks down on the Park family’s backyard from a second story window. A multilayered cake sits on a table, upwards of 20 people don outfits costing more than perhaps the entire Kim house and a cello is being played for God knows why. The tutor asks his student, “Do I fit in here?” before she responds with a hesitant affirmative — as if in private “No” would have sufficed. With a clever plot, “Parasite” illuminates the poverty that lives beneath the trimmed yards and expansive windows of the wealthy. Perhaps South Korea’s economic situation is slightly different from that of the rest of the world, but the film themes appeal to a global audience. I have never viewed a film that so well evokes laughter, gasps and sympathy all at once. Typically a director is required to choose one and ensure the film revolves around it. Joon-ho, as a result of his talent, has the luxury of including all three and doing so to perfection.
Contact Maria Luisa Paul at mpaulran@nd.edu
Contact Charlie Kenney at ckenney4@nd.edu DIANE PARK | The Observer
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The observer | Friday, December 6, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
When I say I’m from Lebanon Krista Akiki Lifestyle Nomad
The Notre Dame introduction is something we have all done hundreds of times since we got here. So, every time someone asked me to introduce myself, I would start off with “Hi! I’m Krista Akiki. I’m from Lebanon…”. And that right there turned out to be the cue to cut me off. People around me seemed pretty impressed by the fact that I was Lebanese. I was really proud of that part of myself. I would jump at every opportunity to describe what it was like to be raised in Lebanon. The fact that so many people around seemed so intrigued by my culture and were interested to learn more about it actually warmed my heart. As rich and challenging as my experience here in the United States has been, I can’t help but nostalgically reflect on all that I have left behind back home. I could sit here for days to tell all about the beauty and charm of my hometown, the energizing cosmopolitan nature of the country’s capital, the antique countryside charm of the towns niched among the most mesmerizing scenery or the cultural heritage that silently depicts years of civilization and tradition. I firmly believe that the philosophers, intellectuals and poets of our world, those who have who have set foot in Lebanon’s otherworldly land and experienced its grandeur, have done a much better job than what I could aspire to do as I string together descriptive words interlaced with feelings of awe and nostalgia. The fascination and curiosity expressed when I reveal my Lebanese identity is often accompanied with quite flagrant assumptions or stereotypical hypotheses. Don’t get me wrong, I have never been offended by the questions people have asked me. It’s quite the opposite actually. Many of them, aside from offering me a good laugh, have helped me spread greater cultural awareness vis-à-vis my side of the world. Below I have compiled and attempted to answer five assumptions I found most noteworthy or even most superfluous. 1. “Have you ever seen snow before?” Many believe that it has never snowed in Lebanon or that Lebanon is a desert. In fact, Lebanese people enjoy a Mediterranean climate characterized by long, warm and dry summers and short, cool, rainy winters. This climate primarily ensues from Lebanon’s location between the
aridity of the Africa and the humidity of the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, one of the many advantages of Lebanon is that the shore and the ski slopes are merely separated by a relatively short two- or three-hour car ride. So, yes, I have seen snow before. I have skied and trekked in beautiful valleys covered with glowing white snow only to come back home near the shore where I’d have lunch outside in the warm sun and cool breeze. “My Lebanon is a serene mountain sitting between the sea and the plains, like a poet between one eternity and another.” – Gibran Khalil Gibran, Lebanese writer, poet and philosopher. 2. “Woah, so you’re exotic!” We definitely don’t have the same definition of “exotic.” I was not raised in the desert; I did not ride camels to school, nor did I raise tropical animals as pets. No, I definitely cannot belly dance … and the list goes on. I think people tend to have that very compartmentalized and standard view of countries in the Middle East, but trust me when I say the differences between two neighboring countries within that region are quite abundant. Robert Fisk, English writer and journalist, really captured the essence of that in “Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon” when he wrote, “It was the beginning of the Orient. ... It was the beginning of the West. … When I arrived in Beirut from Europe, I felt the oppressive, damp heat, saw the unkempt palm trees and smelt the Arabic coffee, the fruit stalls and the over-spiced meat. It was the beginning of the Orient. And when I flew back to Beirut from Iran, I could pick up the British papers, ask for a gin and tonic at any bar, choose a French, Italian or German restaurant for dinner. It was the beginning of the West.” 3. “Is Lebanon very conservative or traditional?” Multiculturalism flourishes extraordinarily in such a geographically limited country. In Lebanon, you can dive into the eastern culture with its intriguing traditions and unique customs in one area, and then head to a different area and experience a Euro-American way of life. The diversity and the harmonious mixture of values are truly exceptional. According to Pope John Paul II, “Lebanon is more than a country; it is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for East and West.” 4. “I didn’t know you were Catholic. Isn’t Lebanon an Islamic country?” Within the answers to these questions lies years of fluctuating sectarian divide and coexistence among the Lebanese population. Lebanon has long epitomized the concept of coexistence as churches and official Islamic
institutions, political parties and even Islamist and Salafi movements have promoted Lebanon as a model for both Christian–Muslim coexistence and the Christian presence in the Middle East. Since the 1970s, the Roman Catholic Church has consistently promoted the country as a model for Christian–Muslim relations. Despite tensions, conflicts, instability and political unrest often relived by the country, the population has always been very diverse when it comes to harboring religion and religious sects. 5. “Do you speak Lebanese?” This has always been a very entertaining question for me. Ironically, in a certain context it rings true; however, the logical and rational answer to that is no. Let me explain: in Lebanon, the official national language is Arabic. A high percentage of the population also speaks either French or English fluently, if not both. Now when it comes to everyday communication, people will speak a more relaxed and informal Arabic where words and sentence structure become more casual. Over the years, the younger generation started inserting French or English equivalents of some words then used them to complete what essentially would be a discussion in Arabic. People even started making up words and eventually the words would become widely accepted and frequently used by everyone. Public Radio International (PRI), a global non-profit media company, published an article dedicated to this phenomenon. The abstract included the following: “In Beirut, residents switch languages practically with each breath…” “Many people here codeswitch to varying degrees, says linguist Loubna Dimachki. “Codeswitching, what does it mean? When you’re combining two languages in one sentence or in the whole interaction.” Multilingualism is everywhere: hellos, thank-yous and how-are-yous are often said in French, street signs are in Arabic and French and menus in restaurants or cafes are in all three languages. The most famous example of codeswitching is probably the following: “Hi. Kifak? Ca va?” which essentially combines English, Arabic and French. The Lebanese people like to joke about it and label it the Lebanese mother-tongue, and funny enough it has become part of who we are. So, can you tell I miss Lebanon? Krista Lourdes Akiki is majoring in management consultancy and global affairs. She can be reached at kakiki@nd.edu or via Twitter @kristalourdesakiki The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Letter to the editor
Stand up for your 2020 debate seat Four and a half months ago at home in Vermont, my sister and I sat before my laptop as the first 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate began to stream. With the political tension in my household, we didn’t bother watching it in the living room. 107 days later, I was standing in the rain on campus being interviewed by ABC 57 on my thoughts about Notre Dame hosting the first presidential debate for the 2020 general election next September. I had never dreamed of seeing a presidential debate live, let alone at the university I attend. However, while notifying my friends and family of the exciting news, someone asked me about student attendance at the debate. I hadn’t thought twice about whether there would be students in the debate audience. It wasn’t until that moment that I wondered if I would even have the opportunity to witness the history that would unfold in our own Purcell Pavilion. Naturally, I took to Notre Dame’s official debate page only to discover that the site offered nothing more than Father Jenkins’ official statement. Billy Joel will be on campus just three months earlier than the presidential candidates yet the details about Joel’s performance are much clearer. Information about students’ possible access to debate tickets simply does not exist. I took my frustration to Google, grasping for some idea of my chance of seeing the debate live and stumbled across a site from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which had held a 2016 presidential debate. The site explained that
the Commission of Presidential Debates (CPD) allocated a limited, unspecified amount of tickets to the university, which would be distributed to current students by a computerized lottery system. This practice was “recommended by the CPD and consistent with past practices of debate hosts.” No tickets from the university would be allocated to the general public, parents, faculty, or alumni. Students who wanted to enter the lottery had be enrolled full time with a GPA higher than the minimum (2.0 for undergraduates and 3.0 for graduate students) and could not have any pending or outstanding student conduct violations or disciplinary actions. The official site of Hofstra University, which also hosted a presidential debate in 2016, shared the same message on the CPD’s recommendation. Their conditions were the same, except they required that students must be a registered voter. However, students who weren’t eligible to register to vote had the ability to enter the lottery all the same. These precedents for student ticket distribution give me hope. Being a first year STEM major with a passion for politics, I fear that even if students are given the chance to attend the debate, tickets would be skewed towards upperclassmen and political science students. Though I am neither of these things, I, and every single one of my peers, deserve the opportunity to sit in front of our nation’s future as much as anyone else. Let’s heed UNLV and Hofstra’s precedent with equal opportunity,
unbiased lottery systems. It’s understandable that the University would consider distributing tickets to alumni or important donors so why wouldn’t they choose that route? Why should they be giving these tickets to us? One answer: we are the students of Notre Dame. We attend this University to receive a world class education and to leave as forces for good. As so, we are encouraged to have conversations across the red-blue line. These conversations are something that every student hears about at least once through their Moreau class and even after is still reiterated around campus. You’d think that when the epitome of bridged conversations was going to be held in its midst, Notre Dame would be nearly begging its students to attend — not the other way around. Fr. Jenkins, I urge you to remember your students when the CPD drops off the University’s allotment of tickets. I know you will put our education first in the matter, but I hope I stand as a reminder that so many of us want nothing more than a glimpse of our future from the debate. Fellow students, pick up the chatter. This will be the most significant election of the century and a once in a lifetime opportunity — one that I pray not to be missing. Chessley Jackson Dec. 1 freshman
The observer | Friday, December 6, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
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Remembering the ‘Boot the Bell’ protests of 2004 Annie Moran and Katie Hieatt Little Known Under the Dome
Before the semester comes to a close, we have one more stor y that deser ves to go dow n among the Notre Dame legends: that of the Notre Dame students whose campus activ ism amplified a farmworkers’ labor rights movement, becoming a part of one of the most successful social impact movements in recent memor y. We all know that jokes abound about Center for Social Concerns seminars’ capacit y to change students’ lives. W hile these jokes poke fun at the sentiment that often comes along w ith participation in one of these courses and their corresponding week-long immersions, it’s not a stretch to say that seminars are some of the most formative experiences that Notre Dame students w ill have in undergrad. At their best, seminars motivate students to become active citizens who are deeply invested in the issues they care about — whether those were discovered on the seminar and sparked by the communit y partners working to address them, or perhaps issues that ex ist closer to home. The stor y of the Notre Dame “Boot the Bell” student advocacy campaign and hunger strike of 2004 is not only one of the most impressive Dav id-and-Goliath stories in our campus memor y (sorr y, Rudy), but it’s also an important reminder of how a spring break seminar sparked a desire to organize and act. Unrest over Taco Bell’s relationships w ith various universities emerged in the fall of 2002 due to the organizing and advocacy of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, or the CIW. The CIW was (and continues to be) a worker-based human rights organization that has fought for a variet y of workers’ rights issues that began w ith farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida. The CIW identified the tomato growers who supplied tomatoes to Taco Bell restaurants — who underpaid and exploited their workers — as a group that could be leveraged to publicize the fight for workers’ rights. Beginning w ith Middle Tennessee State Universit y in the fall of 2002, students began to protest the presence of Taco Bell on their campuses after hearing about the advocacy of the CIW and realizing that many of their campuses had stakes in the matter. Notre Dame followed suit in the spring of 2004. Melody Gonzalez, class of 2005, and Tony Rivas, class of 2007, met through mutual friends and participated in the Migrant Experiences CSC seminar together in the spring of 2004. Returning to campus, they were moved by the discrepancy they saw between the Universit y’s supposed commitment to justice and their contract w ith Taco Bell, which was gaining a reputation through the CIW’s advocacy. This issue hit close to home for both Gonzalez and Rivas — both of their fathers had worked as migrant farmworkers after mov ing from Mex ico to the U.S. as teenagers. These students didn’t need
the seminar to inspire them about issues they already cared about, but it likely helped connect them to the movers and shakers in Immokalee, Florida and to sy mpathetic students and staff on campus. Gonzalez and Rivas were both members of the Progressive Student A lliance, or the PSA, whose members had been in conversation w ith administrators when they heard that the Notre Dame Athletic Department had made a marketing contract w ith Taco Bell the prev ious fall (this was prior to the ex istence of the Taco Bell in LaFortune Student Center). After much conversation and a lack of action on the part of the administration, the students decided that direct action was necessar y. Action began w ith a highly publicized, weeklong hunger strike by Rivas alone that culminated in a demonstration outside of the Taco Bell at Lafayette and Lasalle on April 2, 2004, in which 50 students and facult y members showed up to support the movement. Fort y-four students joined in on a three-day hunger strike on April 13, 2004. On the 15th, about 30 members of the Progressive Student A lliance v isited then-Universit y President Fr. Edward Malloy’s office to deliver several copies of a letter — similar to ones that had been delivered over the prev ious t wo weeks — asking the administration to issue a statement against renew ing its contract w ith Taco Bell. Malloy did not inv ite the students to listen to their demands, but a few students did have a meeting w ith Fr. Peter Jarrett, the counselor to the Universit y President at the time. Meanwhile, more students joined in on the protests. The week of April 19 held reports that 126 students had pledged to fast in one- to threeday increments. By this point, the students had captured the attention of some powerful allies — the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Ox fam and Bishop Nev ins of Florida all w rote to the Universit y administration asking them to meet the students’ demands, but to no avail in getting through to either the administration or to Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum! Brands. Change would not come until the next semester. On August 26, 2004, the Obser ver reported that the Universit y had cancelled its contract w ith Taco Bell at long last. In contrast to the cold shoulder the students had received prev iously from the higher-ups, Universit y spokesman Matt Storin stated the students deser ved “a lot of credit for bringing up these issues, doing the research and carr y ing on the discussion in a ver y responsible and studied way.” It was not until the spring of 2005 that Taco Bell finally gave in to the pressure from the CIW. Yum! Brands agreed to meet the demands of the CIW to nearly double the wages of their farmworkers, ending years of protest. This triumph of a workers’ organization over the power of a major corporation was a historic v ictor y for workers’ rights.
Upon the end of the nationw ide boycott, Gonzalez, one of the leaders of the movement, w rote a letter to the editor explaining the agreement and thanking the campus communit y for their support of the protest. Though the present battle w ith Taco Bell had ended, she emphasized that the work was ongoing, and that the fight for workers’ rights continued not only in the fight to improve conditions for the Immokalee workers but also in the fights emerging in other places and w ith other corporations as well. Melody was right. This v ictor y was not the end of the Fair Food movement — it was just getting started. Yum ! Brands was the first of many multi-million dollar franchises to sign on to the CIW’s Fair Food Program, a partnership bet ween signed-on buyers and certified growers who agree to abide by certain labor standards, which today is hailed as “the best workplace monitoring program in the U.S.” and an essential “international benchmark in the fight against modern slaver y.” Bet ween 2005 and 2015, 13 other franchises followed Yum ! Brands’ decision, including McDonald’s (2007), Subway (2008), Sodexo (2010), Trader Joe’s (2012), Chipotle (2012) and Walmart (2014). One of the most prominent holdouts remaining is Wendy’s, whose refusal to participate in the Fair Food Program is the motivation behind the publicized Wendy’s boycott (their icon may look familiar). CIW’s Boot the Braids movement is active on campuses across the nation and has organized a massive annual march in Manhattan to pressure the fast-food giant to join the ranks of other corporations to protect workers’ rights. So, 15 years later, the CIW’s fight continues — and Melody Gonzalez, who went on to work for the Fair Food Program full time, is still fighting w ith them. You can even listen to a conversation w ith Gonzalez recorded last year on the CSC’s Signs of the Times podcast. You might joke about Appalachia changing you, but seminars prov ide the opportunit y to invest more deeply in the issues you care about and connect your learning to issues of justice you see in your communit y. And, in the spirit of active citizenship, we hope you’ll find yourself continuing to learn about and fight for the things you care about into the next stage of your life and beyond, recognizing that we all have a part to play in the work for justice. Annie Moran is a senior hailing from Chicago studying psychology and education. She can be reached at amoran5@nd.edu or @anniemoranie on Twitter. She’d love to hear your musings on the wonders of fresh basil, experimental theater or the sacred space of public transportation. Katie Hieatt is a senior majoring in economics and American Studies from Memphis, Tennessee. Her goto streaming recommendations are Russian Doll and Killing Eve. She can be reached at mhieatt@nd.edu or @katie_hieatt on Twitter. The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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DAILY
The observer | friday, december 6, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Crossword | john farmer
Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: Think twice about the things you’ve done in the past, what you are doing at the moment and where you see yourself headed in the future. Look at the transition you want to make and the dedication and hard work it will take. You’ll find a way to reach your goal. Be realistic and moderate, and keep your plans simple and doable. Your numbers are 5, 13, 22, 26, 37, 44, 46. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Listen and learn. Observation will help you detect what and who is best for you. Don’t waste time on negative people or projects that aren’t going to help you reach your goal. Keep your life simple and your focus on what’s doable. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Listen and learn. Observation will help you detect what and who is best for you. Don’t waste time on negative people or projects that aren’t going to help you reach your goal. Keep your life simple and your focus on what’s doable. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Be careful how you distribute your time. Helping others can be rewarding, but not if someone takes advantage of you. Pick those you associate with carefully. Partnerships need to be well-balanced. Equality, trust and truth matter. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Focus on what you can do, not what you cannot. Refuse to let an emotional incident throw you off your game. Push to finish what you start, and surround yourself with people who make you feel good about your accomplishments. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Information that helps you make a decision regarding your direction will be offered. Educate yourself, and spend time with people who have traveled the path you plan to pursue. Refuse to get trapped in someone else’s dream. Do your own thing. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Emotional spending is not the answer. Focus on personal achievement and spending time with someone you love. Positive change begins with you. Take a step in a direction that helps you put an end to what is no longer working for you. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): An inquisitive mind will help you gather information and push you to change situations you don’t like. Assess your lifestyle and your day-to-day routine. Happiness begins within, and it’s up to you to make adjustments to suit your needs. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You are primed for success. Don’t waffle; embrace different and exciting changes. Live your dream instead of just thinking about the life you want. Personal and professional gains are within reach if you stretch and grow. Romance is featured. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Keep your allies close and your enemies closer. Knowing what everyone around you is up to will help you ward off meddling and someone misleading you. Use your intuition as well as your intelligence when making decisions. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): If you want something done, do it yourself. Change happens when you take action. Talk is cheap, and making promises is fruitless if you don’t follow through. Use your intelligence, and you will influence others. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Finish whatever task you’ve been given. Leaving a job unfinished will hurt your reputation. A disagreement is likely if you get into a discussion about politics or religion. Pay more attention to doing and being your best. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Pay attention to detail, and you’ll avoid a dispute with someone critical. Focus on building your financial reserve, not spending or giving away your hard-earned cash. Personal improvement, romance and doing something that matters should be your priorities. Birthday Baby: You are insightful, resourceful and proactive. You are intense and ambitious.
sorin elementary | IAN SALZMAN
Sudoku | The Mepham Group
Jumble | David Hoyt and Jeff knurek
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Keep the 4-team CFP tourney Colin Capece Sports Writer
As someone who has been enamored with college football for as long as I can remember, this coming Saturday will be an absolute dream. Beginning at noon with the Big 12 championship game between Oklahoma and Baylor, there will be conference championship games to watch all day long. Every Power Five final features a matchup between ranked teams, and it will certainly be thrilling to watch the action on the field. However, what may be even more enjoyable for college football fans is the debate that will ensue after the day’s contests have concluded, as a handful of committee members in some remote location in Texas will work until the sun comes up on Sunday to select the four College Football Playoff teams. Every year on this day, however, another debate takes place. Since the Playoff’s inception in 2014, I have heard some analysts advocate that the College Football Playoff should expand to eight teams from its current four. They argue that there would be no opportunity for SEC or west coast bias if the CFP field expanded to eight. And what could be better than more meaningful football games at the end of the season? However, college football would be wise to keep its current four-team playoff system for a number of reasons. The four-team playoff selected by a committee makes the regular season incredibly meaningful for teams in the hunt. The playoff committee has shown in recent years that it values things like strength of schedule when it makes its final judgement, and conferences have responded by changing the way they create schedules. In 2016, the Big Ten began playing nine conferences games instead of eight and mandated that schools could not schedule FCS opponents. The Big 12 has added a conference championship game since the playoff’s creation to pit the league’s two best teams against one another. These changes are definitely a good thing for college football, as there are entertaining games for fans to watch every weekend. Additionally, every regular season game is a chance to make an impression on the committee and could make or break a team’s CFP hopes at the end of the season. For example, No. 8 Wisconsin could have had a chance to play in a national semifinal this year, except that it blew a fourth-quarter lead to a 3-4, unranked Illinois team on Oct. 19. Slip-ups against weaker
opponents are usually unforgiving and leave teams no margin for error, which in turn raises the stakes on a typical Saturday in October. In an eight-team playoff system, this year’s Wisconsin squad would be the last team in at the moment, which leads me to my next point. Having a four-team playoff as opposed to an eight-team one means that the first-round playoff matchups are more likely to be competitive games. Wisconsin was clobbered earlier in the year by No. 1 Ohio State and would likely meet the same fate with the entire country watching in an eightteam system. In most years, the seventh- and eighth-best teams in the country can’t hang with the best and second-best teams. Hopefully the committee learned last year that nothing but negative sentiments arise when what’s supposed to be a showcase of the sport’s best competition quickly turns into a bloodbath as the Orange and Cotton Bowls did. If the committee does its job correctly, the four team playoff ensures that only the sport’s best are playing when it matters most. Lastly, a four-team playoff can spark much more heated debates than an eight-team system can, which gets people thinking and talking about the game more and more. The gray areas and subjectivity created by the committee having to choose the four best teams has done nothing but increase the popularity of college football. I might just be a super nerdy sports fan, but I can’t think of a day that’s gone by in the last month where my friends and I weren’t debating the College Football Playoff. There are an infinite number of factors and scenarios to consider when trying to discern who’s in and who’s out. Is a conference champion with a ranked loss better than a conference champion with an unranked loss but more ranked wins? Will two SEC teams make the playoff again if Georgia wins the championship game? What the heck does the “eye-test” even mean? With more teams making the playoffs, some of these fun thought experiments would cease to exist, and the buildup to selection Sunday wouldn’t be nearly as enticing. College football is simply the most exciting it’s ever been at this point in time, and keeping the playoff at four teams will ensure it remains that way. Contact Colin Capece at ccapece@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Continued from page 12
Irish will be eager to get back home for the second game of their series against No. 10 Boston College. “We’re playing top-10 teams left and right here in the second half — this weekend with Boston College and Penn State next weekend,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to make excuses, but I know for me personally, it’s been a little bit of a tough stretch because we’ve been traveling every week, regardless of the length of the trips or we’re flying or if we’re bussing. You’ve got very little time to turn around, and these kids have got classes, and we have our day-to-day work that we do as well. But when you’re on the road for four straight weeks it catches up to you a little bit.” The Irish will be facing off this weekend against Boston College, who are ranked just one spot below them in the standings. The first game of the series will be played Friday in Chestnut Hill, and the second game will be played Sunday at Compton Family Ice Arena. Jackson spoke highly of the Eagles in the press conference. “I mean they look like the team of old — I mean they’ve got a lot of skill,” Jackson said. “They’ve got great goaltending. I think that they’re a really well-balanced team so this would be the best BC team we’ve seen in probably three or four years. You know,
they’ve got some really talented forwards. They got a good defense and … the goaltender not only is a good goalie but he also handles the puck real long, which makes them a threat.” Jackson also noted the challenge the team’s traveling poses to maintaining physicality. “We have to hope that our guys are in such good condition that … it doesn’t impact us,” Jackson said. “I mean, you know, we have a great staff here and training staff or strength staff. You know I think they do a great job of making sure our guys are hydrated and then the nutritional aspect of it is
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taken care of. … They recover faster than I do, let’s put it that way, but they’re also out there battling for 120 minutes every weekend and then they practice all week real hard. … There’s dog days in late November and there’s always dog days in February, because it’s the academics that tie into this too because it gets more difficult as the semester gets closer to final exams. … So it’s the combination of the dayto-day here and then traveling every week [that] makes it a little bit more challenging.” Contact Jimmy Ward at wward@hcc-nd.edu
Allison Thornton | The Observer
Irish sophomore defenseman Spencer Stastney controls a loose puck during Notre Dame’s 3-2 victory over Ohio State on Nov. 8 at home.
throwers really stepped emphasized there are still Track&Field up“Our last winter in the weight gaps that need to be filled. Continued from page 12
to see compete. “Shoaf is a thrower that’s coming in that was a superstar shot put guy out of Ohio,” Sparks said. “It’s tough to step up in the throws and be significant immediately.” Many athletes who have not participated in meets lately will be competing on Friday as well. “We are excited to see what they can do,” Sparks said. “[Senior] Ryan Schweizer was a conference scorer as a freshman and he has had multiple surgeries and injuries that have kept him out for two and a half years. He will run his first race in awhile.” Sparks said he is also excited to see sophomore Elena Denner compete because she has not been in action in over a year. Her twin sister, Maddy Denner, has been a big contributor to the team in both track and cross country. Sparks discussed the success of the throwing squad in recent years.
throw with [senior] Logan Kusky being the ACC champion on the men’s side and [junior] Rachel Tanczos being the women’s ACC champion in the weight throw also,” Sparks said. “And then [senior] Abbey Kapitan was second. Those three in the throws should compete for ACC championships in the throws again.” Senior hurdler Summer Thorpe, who was an NCAA qualifier last spring, will also be an integral part of the team. “Expect Summer to lead [the hurdlers] to a successful season,” Sparks said. Sparks also discussed sophomore pole vaulter Colton Crum, who was AllConference in the indoor season as a true freshman last year. “He was redshirted outdoor, and he has really matured a lot and improved a lot as a result of the redshirt season and throughout the summer,” Sparks said. While the team looks to be strong in distance, throwing and hurdles, Sparks
“In the long jump, triple jump, and high jump there are not even a lot of names to mention, but there are definitely some people there that can step up and improve,” Sparks said. “We’ve got some young bodies. We will see what they have done throughout the fall to see if they can transition from being elite high school athletes to college athletes and how long that transition will take.” The goal for the team throughout the season is to get better day after day, Sparks asserted. “If you take care of the dayto-day goals of getting better, then we will be where we need to be at the ACC Championships,” he said. Other teams at Friday’s meet will include Bethel College, Butler, DePaul, Detroit Mercy, Marquette and Valparaiso. Field events will begin at 4 p.m. and track events will start at 6 p.m. Contact Nate Moller at nmoller2@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 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.
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Sports
The observer | friday, december 6, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
nD Men’s Basketball
Carmody lost to injury, Doherty to transfer Observer Staff Report
Sophomore guard Robby Carmody w ill miss the remainder of the 2019-2020 season after suffering an injur y to his left ACL in the final minute of Notre Dame’s loss to No. 3 Mar yland on
W Bball Continued from page 12
Irish have faced the larger rebuild this season. Besides sidelined sophomore guard Abby Prohaska, junior center Mikayla Vaughn is the only current member of the Irish who played in that Final Four v ictor y, and she saw the f loor for only two minutes in that game. The contrasting fortunes of both teams at the start of this season has therefore been predictable. W hile UConn head coach Geno Auriemma’s team has started the season unbeaten against unranked opposition, the Irish have been inconsistent at best. A lthough Notre Dame has picked up w ins over No. 24 Michigan and then-No. 21 South Florida, the Irish w ill be looking to bounce back after a frustrating loss at home to Minnesota on Wednesday. After the Golden Gophers built an 18-point lead in the first half behind seven first half-threes, the Irish clawed back and took the lead w ith just over five minutes to go. Minnesota then responded w ith a 17-4 run out of a timeout and never looked back. Irish head coach Muffet McGraw, whose icy relationship w ith Auriemma has been a per vading sy mbol of the rivalr y, knows the Irish’s perimeter defense must improve, especially given UConn has shot a respectable 37% from beyond the arc this season. W hen asked about adjustments for Monday’s contest, McGraw responded simply. “Well, I’d like to guard the three-point line,” she said.
M Bball Continued from page 12
the norm. Mooney posted another double-double, going for 17 points and 12 rebounds in a game where no other Irish player had more than five rebounds. He has posted doubledoubles in five of the team’s seven games, including four of their five wins. He’ll need to have similar production for the Irish to take care of business against the Eagles. Mooney and the Irish
So far this season, Dohert y has averaged 2.5 minutes, 1.0 points, and 0.7 rebounds per game. Brey intended to redshirt Dohert y last season, but injuries to several players necessitated burning his redshirt to help fill minutes.
The Irish are now left w ith only eight scholarship players available, w ith walkon freshman guard Elijah Morgan in reser ve and sophomore guard Cormac Ryan sitting due to NC A A transfer rules after play ing for Stanford last season.
Wednesday night. Carmody has played in the majorit y of the team’s games thus far, appearing in seven out of eight games and averaging 5.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 13.7 minutes per game. Carmody was limited to only nine games as a freshman
after suffering a torn labrum in his shoulder. The loss comes at an inopportune time for Irish men’s basketball. On Tuesday, head coach Mike Brey announced sophomore for ward Chris Dohert y has decided to transfer out of the program.
“That’s kind of been my goal all along. But even when we went man-to-man, they came dow n and shot right in our face. We don’t have any pride in our defense at all; I can’t really teach that. So, you know what, we’re just gonna keep working at it.” W hile things might look bleak for the Irish, the performance of highly-touted freshman for ward Sam Brunelle has certainly been a bright spot. Brunelle led Notre Dame w ith 19 points against the Golden Gophers, and is second only to sophomore guard Katly n Gilbert in scoring this year w ith 13.5 points per game. W hen UConn surprisingly routed Notre Dame 89-71 last year in South Bend during the regular season, it was then-freshman Christ y n Williams who stole the show for the Huskies when she torched the Irish w ith 28 points. Perhaps Irish fans can hope for similar heroics from the talented Brunelle, who after the Minnesota game admitted McGraw has already pushed her to be a leader for the group. “Honestly I’ve talked to the coaches so many times and … they want me to be a leader,” she said. “And they’ve said that from the get-go, and so I trust them. They’re the best coaches in the nation and I’m going to do what they tell me to do. And I wanted to come in here and be a leader and so I’m just tr y ing to be as big as a leader I can be, no matter if I’m a freshman or senior.” Sunday’s contest might be decided in the frontcourt, as both teams lean on strong offensive play inside. The Irish have shot just 23%
from beyond the arc this season and scored a seasonhigh 44 points in the paint on Wednesday. UConn is led in scoring by junior forward Meghan Walker, who has an average of 20.3 points per game. Both teams have been less than stellar on the boards, however. Opponents have out-rebounded Notre Dame by 8.5 a game this season, while the Huskies have been similarly outmuscled against teams such as Cal, though they have managed a +4.5 rebounding margin on the year. McGraw noted how a lack of toughness inside proved detrimental to the Irish against the Golden Gophers. “[Minnesota] got really physical w ith us and we just didn’t stay strong,” McGraw said. “We let them push us around. We got really scared and, you know, just wouldn’t attack and then we’re tr y ing to shoot over a shot blocker instead of tr y ing to take her off the dribble and get to the free throw line.” McGraw, however, was happy w ith the effort of freshman Anaya Peoples, who led the Irish w ith 14 rebounds against Minnesota and has chipped in w ith 13.5 points per game as well. “It’s all effort,” McGraw said. “[Peoples] goes in to work. She’s not afraid of a physical game and she did a really good job on the boards.” The battle bet ween both backcourts should also be an intriguing subplot. The Irish are led in scoring by Gilbert, who has put up 14.9 points per game and is complemented by graduate student Destinee Walker, who
has averaged 13.5 points per game herself. They will face their biggest challenge of the year so far against the Huskies, though Williams might not be accompanied by electric starting point-guard Crystal Dangerfield, who missed UConn’s 75-37 win over Dayton with back spasms. If Dangerfield is unable to feature
on Sunday, she will likely be replaced by fellow senior Molly Bent, who started and played 31 minutes versus Dayton. Sunday’s matchup is also the annual Women’s Jimmy V Classic for the second straight year and will be live on ESPN at 4 p.m.
defense will need to key in on Eagles guard Derryck Thornton. Thornton leads the Eagles in minutes, points, assists, and steals. He scored just 11 points in the team’s most recent loss to Northwestern, so the Irish will seek to follow the Wildcats’ blueprint to keeping him contained. Keeping Thornton in check on defense will be even tougher since the Irish will need to adjust to life without redshirt freshman Robby Carmody. The guard injured his ACL late against Maryland and will
miss the rest of the season. He was playing 13 minutes per game, and leaves the Irish with just eight scholarship players on the roster after the sudden transfer of Chris Doherty. Carmody started his first career game for the Irish as a freshman, but missed the majority of last season with a shoulder injury. It is a brutal development for the promising young guard, who had several nice finishes at the rim against the Terrapins and was one of the only players consistently penetrating the Terps’ defense
off the dribble. Nikola Djogo will be one of the players who needs to pick up the slack after Carmody’s injury. Djogo has logged 8.7 minutes per game so far, the least of his career so far. Down two players already, this season appears to be going down a path similar to last year for the Irish; Djogo will need to be ready to give the team important minutes. This will be the final ACC game of the calendar year for the Irish. Their schedule for the remainder of the
year features matchups with UCL A and Indiana at home, a pair of quality early tests for the Irish as they prepare for a full ACC slate beginning with Syracuse in the new year. The Irish have failed to beat a power five squad so far, but both of their chances to do so were road contests against top 10 foes. These matchups present quality chances for the Irish against good teams. The Irish will take on Boston College at Purcell Pavillion at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Junya Kanemitsu | The Observer
Irish graduate student guard Destinee Walker cuts to the hoop during Notre Dame’s 84-60 win over Loyola Maryland on Nov. 8 at home.
Contact Greg McKenna at gmckenn2@nd.edu
Sports
ndsmcobserver.com | friday, december 6, 2019 | The Observer
11
ncaa football
Roundtable: predicting conference champs By LIAM COOLICAN, PATRICK GALLAGHER, DOMINIC GIBSON, DAVID KRAMER, NATE MOLLER and AIDAN THOMAS Sports Writers
It’s conference championship weekend, and that means we’re back with another edition of Observer Roundtable Predictions. The SEC, Big 10 and Big 12 title games made our docket for this week, but check out the NFL and upsets piece to check in on some of our bold calls in other championship match-ups. As for how we have fared with our own picks, David Kramer maintains his grip on first place, but after astutely picking Colorado over Washington in his last upset pick, Liam Coolican has narrowed the gap and jumped into second. Enjoy these picks and let them excite you for a Saturday full of spectacular college football games.
CURRENT STANDINGS David Kramer – 54 pts Liam Coolican – 52 pts Dominic Gibson – 47 pts Aidan Thomas – 45 pts Patrick Gallagher – 44 pts Nate Moller – 44 pts
MATCHUPS No. 2 LSU vs. No. 4 Georgia (+7) No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 8 Wisconsin (+16.5) No. 6 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Baylor (+9)
David Kramer LSU looms as an impenetrable powerhouse in the SEC. Granted, Georgia’s defense poses a potential threat to the passing-heavy offense of the Tigers. However, I expect LSU to expose the inconsistencies in Georgia and emerge with a narrow, 7-point victory. LSU wins and covers. The Badgers come to Indianapolis after an impressive (and heartbreaking) victory over my hometown Golden Gophers. Quarterback Jack Coan seems sharp and laserfocused as of late, but I find it hard to place bets against a team that trounced them earlier this season. Look for a close game for the Big 10 title. Ohio State wins but does not cover. Baylor remains the most under-appreciated team in all of college football. Bear in mind (pun intended) Oklahoma’s woes against the Baylor defense, for three quarters, earlier this season; consider the electrifying Texas fan base at AT&T Stadium in Paid Advertisement
support of Baylor this weekend. All signs seem to point upward for a Baylor upset. Baylor wins and makes a case for CFP contention.
Liam Coolican Georgia knows how much this game means for them, and they have played very well since their lone loss to South Carolina. Quarterback Jake Fromm and the Georgia running backs will have huge games, and Georgia will win outright and claim a spot in the playoff. Ohio State has looked so dominant recently, and it’s hard to imagine them slowing down, especially against a Wisconsin team that was overmatched physically in their regular season matchup. Expect the Buckeye defense to continue to dominate, and Justin Fields will continue showing the nation on a big stage how talented he is. Ohio State wins and covers. Baylor will be looking for revenge after their blown lead against Oklahoma two weeks ago, but Lincoln Riley will make the necessary adjustments on defense to ensure that doesn’t happen. Baylor is a good team, but not good enough to hang with Oklahoma a second time. Oklahoma wins and covers.
Dominic Gibson LSU, led by Heisman candidate Joe Burrow, has looked dominant in almost all of the games they have played this season. While Georgia will want to secure a statement victory and a spot in the playoff, I think their best will not be enough to top the Tigers. LSU wins and covers. Ohio State has looked like one of the most complete teams overall, winning big in almost every game they have played. The talent is there no doubt, and I expect the Buckeyes to show no signs of slowing down in the conference championship game as they look to march forward into the playoffs. Ohio State wins but does not cover. I have a feeling this will be one of the more entertaining conference championship games with huge playoff implications. I really have to give Baylor head coach Matt Rhule a ton of credit for the turnaround he has led the Bears through and almost beating Oklahoma during the regular season. However, I think that this Sooner roster is too talented to let Baylor into this game, having played them already. Oklahoma wins and covers.
season and should slow down the Tigers’ attack. Expect LSU to win but not cover. Ohio State is the clear favorite to end up as the CFP champion. Their lineup is filled with stars at almost every position with Justin Fields, J. K. Dobbins and Chase Young all having impressive seasons. I believe that Wisconsin has still not fully recovered from their soul-crushing 31-point loss to the Buckeyes earlier in the year, and the Badgers will not fare much better in this rematch. Ohio State will earn another huge victory as they easily cover the spread. Baylor seems to have recovered nicely from their epic collapse against Oklahoma a few weeks ago. The Bears handily beat Texas and Kansas and should carry this momentum into the Big 12 Championship game. On the other hand, the Sooners have not always looked dominant or convincing, but they seem to continually prove that they can perform under high stakes. I believe this ability to stay poised and hungry under immense pressure is Oklahoma’s x-factor and will fuel them into the CFP playoff. The Sooners win but do not cover.
Aidan Thomas
Nate Moller
I like a nail-biter in this SEC championship game, with Georgia throwing the kitchen sink at LSU and coming up just short as they miss out on the playoffs for a second consecutive year. LSU wins but does not cover. If you put together Ohio State’s worst offensive performance (28 points) and their worst defensive performance (27 points) in the same game, they still win. That’s ridiculous. The Badgers are hot, but they lost to the Buckeyes by 31 just a few weeks ago. Ohio State pulls away in the second half – Buckeyes win but do not cover. This line is pretty shocking to me, given that Baylor was up 25 points on Oklahoma in the regular season. Their stunning collapse is their only blemish to date, and given that it’s really hard to beat the same team twice in a season, and Oklahoma’s defense is shaky at best, give me Baylor with the upset.
Despite an early season loss against South Carolina, Georgia has made their way back into the top four with a chance to make the playoffs if they beat LSU. This will be an interesting matchup, as LSU has the much better offense and Georgia has the better defense. The Georgia offense has stumbled many times this year, however, and I expect Saturday to be no different. Joe Burrow will make some big plays and lead the Tigers to a hard-fought victory. LSU wins but doesn’t cover. Ohio State continues to dominate its opponents week after week, and I expect the game against Wisconsin to be no different. Ohio State dominated against Wisconsin earlier this year, and Saturday’s matchup will be more of the same. The Wisconsin defense has shown some vulnerabilities over the past few weeks, and Justin Fields will exploit those weaknesses to lead the Buckeyes to a Big Ten title. Buckeyes win and cover.
Patrick Gallagher
Contact Liam Coolican at lcoolica@nd.edu, Patrick Gallagher at pgallag4@nd.edu, Dominic Gibson at dgibson2@nd.edu, David Kramer at dkramer2@nd.edu, Nate Moller at nmoller2@nd.edu and Aidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.
While Georgia’s defense continues to impress, I am just not convinced that this Jake Fromm-led offense will be able to defeat LSU. The Bulldogs struggled to dominate offensively against talented opposition, as they were unable to score more than 24 points in games against ranked competition. However, their defense earned two shutouts on the
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The observer | friday, december 6, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
nd women’s basketball
HOCKEY
Jackson speaks on team’s slump By JIMMY WARD Sports Writer
Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson discussed his team’s recent slump Wednesday in his weekly press conference. The No. 9 Irish are coming off a three-game losing streak after dropping two games to Bowling Green in Ohio and one a week earlier at Michigan State in East Lansing. “You never look to make excuses in any way,” Jackson said. “I thought that we made some bad plays with the puck, our penalty killing wasn’t as good as it should have been and our goaltending gave up a bad goal each night. I look at that as being more of an anomaly because our [penalty killing] has been pretty good, and I know our goaltending is going to be good.” Jackson’s biggest concern, he said, is the team’s inability to score throughout the last few games. “I think that for several weeks
Notre Dame to renew rivalry against UConn
we were getting some secondary scoring, and that disappeared,” Jackson said. “And that’s where the biggest concern I have moving forward here is. I think our goaltending will get in order. But we’ve got to find ways to put the puck in the net on a consistent basis. Our senior line, they’ve been getting matched up against every game, and that’s been okay until now, when we’re not getting that scoring from the second, third and fourth lines. We’ll tighten up the goals again but we’ve got to find a way to get to three goals, at least on a nightly basis. And power plays have been doing OK in the last few weeks, so right now it’s more about getting some fiveon-five scoring.” The Irish started on a good path to begin the season with an 8-0-1 start, but have hit a hump midway through the season. With five of the last six games being on the road, the see HOCKEY PAGE 9
By GREG McKENNA Sports Writer
Junya Kanemitsu | The Observer
Irish sophomore guard Katlyn Gilbert drives into the paint during Notre Dame’s 84-60 win over Loyola Maryland on Nov. 8 at home.
Women’s college basketball’s most intense rivalr y in recent memor y w ill be renewed on Sunday as Notre Dame (5-5, 0-0 ACC) takes on No. 4 UConn (7-0, 1-0 A AC) at Gampel Pav ilion in Storrs, Connecticut. It w ill be the 51st meeting all-time bet ween the t wo storied programs, who have combined to w in 13 national championships. The lineups for both teams, however, w ill look markedly different from when the t wo teams last met in Tampa in April, when the Irish prevailed 8176 to defeat the Huskies in the Final Four for a second consecutive season. W hile the Huskies are certainly not the same team after losing both Nepheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson to the W NBA, the see W BBALL PAGE 10
nd track & field
nd men’s baskeball
Irish look to bounce back at home against Eagles Observer Staff Report
ND to host meet to kick off year By NATE MOLLER Sports Writer
After a blowout loss on the road against No. 3 Mar yland, the Irish w ill return home Saturday to face off against ACC foe Boston College. The Irish are 0-1 in ACC play after a loss against North Carolina opened their season. The Irish w ill need to find a way to get more out of their offense than they did against Mar yland. Senior guard TJ Gibbs and graduate student guard Rex Pf lueger failed to score in Wednesday’s game despite play ing 53 minutes combined, and the offense as a whole failed to create the scoring opportunities it needed. The pair w ill have a good chance to lead the team against the Eagles, losers of four straight and coming off a loss against Northwestern that saw them concede 82 points. The bright spot for the Irish against the Terrapins was John Mooney, as has become
Allison Thornton | The Observer
see M BBALL PAGE 10
Irish senior forward John Mooney squats in a defensive position during Notre Dame’s double-OT win over Toledo at home on Nov. 8.
Notre Dame will kick off the indoor season this Friday in the Loftus Sports Center with the Blue and Gold Invitational. Director of track and field Matt Sparks said the team will use the meet to get baseline times and as a warmup for future meets. “It’s a pre-test to see where we are,” Sparks said. “There is no benchmark about what’s success or what’s not. It’s just a starting point to get better from and use that performance to inspire them to train throughout winter break and be ready to go for the regular season.” The meet will also be used to clear up some questions for the coaches, Sparks noted. “This meet is designed to help clarify some things in the coaches’ minds of whose made progress since we last saw them compete in May and June,” he said. “And with some new faces to see how they have handled the fall conditioning phase.” The athletes who
recently competed at the NCAA Championships will not be participating in the meet, Sparks mentioned, since it is designed for athletes without a cross country season. “For the student athletes, it’s a chance for them to see the improvements they’ve made since they started practicing and conditioning in September,” Sparks said. “It’s more of a big deal for the kids on the track team that didn’t have a cross country season. It’s something for them to look forward to during the fall.” This is the only meet for the Irish before the winter break. Sparks hopes this meet will encourage the athletes to train hard over the break. “We need to get them focused for the hardest part of the season during winter break when we don’t see them for four weeks,” Sparks said. There will be many freshmen competing in the meet. Sparks mentioned thrower Michael Shoaf as someone he is excited see TRACK&FIELD PAGE 9