The Observer is a student-run, daily print & online newspaper serving Notre Dame, Saint Mary's & Holy Cross. Learn about us.
-Christopher Parker | Monday, March 8, 2021
In the parade of flags and banners waving at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Dr. Damon Berry noticed with great interest that both evangelical and anti-Christian symbols were proudly on display, side by side. Berry, a professor of religious studies at St. Lawrence University, joined associate director of the Klau Center for Civil and Human
Christopher Parker | Monday, February 15, 2021
What do journalists do when the details of an event aren’t quite adding up? At The New York Times, they often turn to Malachy Browne. Browne spoke to Notre Dame professor James O’Rourke over Zoom as part of the Ten Years Hence lecture series on Friday. He works with a team of investigators and computer
Christopher Parker | Friday, February 5, 2021
At an event marked by the semester’s firsts — first day of classes, first panel from Notre Dame’s department of Constitutional Studies — scholars joined to discuss the second impeachment of America’s 45th president, Donald J. Trump. Benjamin A. Kleinerman, Jeffery Tulis and John Yoo each gave their opinions on the possible trial during the
Christopher Parker | Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Elizabeth Burman has been stitching together PPE since the beginning of the pandemic. “I could probably sew a mask in my sleep,” she said. Starting as a lone seamstress who volunteered with local charities, Burman has since tapped into the tri-campus community and organized the production of over 4,500 face masks for South Bend schools.
Christopher Parker and Ava Delonais-Dick | Monday, September 14, 2020
The last concert we saw before lockdown was on a small, dark stage in the back room of a restaurant. We had come to see the openers and were grabbing a bite to eat when we spotted the band, ten feet from our table. We panicked — can we go up and ask for a
Christopher Parker | Thursday, September 10, 2020
Every night in September of 2017, graduate student Michelle Berg sat on her laptop in Indiana controlling a telescope in West Virginia. Berg had trained for a week on-site to maneuver the massive single-dish Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the largest steerable radio telescope on the planet. “One of the days they were actually doing maintenance,
Christopher Parker | Monday, April 20, 2020
Here, I complete the opus I began last week of ranking Kanye West’s work. There’s no way to write this list without snubbing a few masterpieces and drawing a little controversy. Still, I’m confident that there’s no wrong way to go. The best Kanye album “The Life of Pablo” — It’s definitely tough to include
Christopher Parker | Thursday, April 16, 2020
I was born in May of 2000 with two older siblings: an 11-year-old brother and a seven-year-old sister. By age five or six, my earliest memories of music involved crouching next to my brother as he used LimeWire to burn a blank CD full of blink-182, Usher and plenty of Kanye West. I got in
Christopher Parker | Thursday, April 16, 2020
As lectures, discussions and even exams have moved online, so too has dorm programming. Many of Notre Dame’s 31 residence halls have continued their traditions virtually in some capacity. Rectors and hall governments are finding new ways to engage with their communities in a time of isolation. Many dorms have retained hall council meetings and
Christopher Parker | Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Like every drama created by HBO, “Westworld” is an epic. It’s not the kind of show that plays in the background while you plug Calculus II questions into WolframAlpha. It requires undivided attention, time for contemplation and the kind of imagination we can only achieve when … well, when we’re locked in a house for