The Observer is a student-run, daily print & online newspaper serving Notre Dame, Saint Mary's & Holy Cross. Learn about us.
-Kate Casper | Tuesday, April 18, 2023
I remember almost missing my flight back to South Bend at the end of Winter Break. I was still in line for TSA 10 minutes before the plane took off, and by the grace of God, I made it (I really shouldn’t have made it). I remember that plane ride back to campus — I
Kate Casper | Tuesday, April 4, 2023
In a niche coffee shop in Vienna, I fit right in, wearing my favorite sweatshirt with the watercolor fish and some orange converse sneakers, the ones owned by every self-proclaimed “Indie Kid” I’d ever met. I plugged my half-alive phone into the wall, sipped on a honey lavender latte and began politely eavesdropping on the
Kate Casper | Monday, March 27, 2023
I’m sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs on Fieldhouse Mall, watching seas of accepted students wearing Notre Dame drawstring backpacks on their tours. They’re walking past landmarks like LaFun and Stonehenge, places that are now just pitstops on a tour, but might very well become their stomping grounds in only a short time. I
Kate Casper | Tuesday, March 7, 2023
I’m in the ACE building, and I promise I’m the least productive person here (besides the guy who’s been napping for the past hour next to a box of Girl Scout Cookies). I’m surfing through my high school newspaper archives, reminiscing about those simpler times at my alma mater, T.C. Williams High School. And, while
Kate Casper | Tuesday, February 21, 2023
I remember it clear as day: The grass was yellowing, becoming more straw-like, and the fireflies by the creek were nowhere to be found, probably hibernating or doing whatever fireflies do when summer ends. Practice had just ended and the moms were too busy shepherding groups of girls into heavily bumper-stickered minivans to notice me
Kate Casper | Tuesday, February 7, 2023
I think most of us spend our teenage years into our twenties wanting to belong to someone, cycling through crushes, collecting prospects like pokemon, hoping maybe somewhere in the chaos of hook-ups, homie-hops, flirtationships and other entanglements, something beautiful will happen. We go to parties looking for partners, light candles for future lovers and craft
Kate Casper | Wednesday, January 25, 2023
What would you fight for? I started off my Winter Break losing brain cells. I watched a combined total of 20 hours of New York City influencer vlogs for the first few days of break and found myself both fascinated and disgusted by their lifestyles: wake up, take a ginger shot, Uber to an overpriced
Kate Casper | Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Letting go has never been easy for me. In fact, it’s one of my least favorite things to do — because, often, letting go feels like losing. Whether it’s letting go of a person or a feeling, a place or a sense of normalcy, things will change, and change can be dreadful. But, I’m convinced
Kate Casper | Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Today, I want to be anywhere but here. Specifically, I want to be in Annapolis, Maryland, rolling around with friends on some grassy hill outside of the State House, discussing John Locke’s social compact over ice cream. The grass is soft and lush, and the sun is tucked behind a few trees, casting spiky shadows
Kate Casper | Tuesday, October 11, 2022
I knew I was in a funk when I took myself on a lake walk last Saturday. While the cause was unclear at the time, I knew for sure my funk was triggered by something. Specifically, I knew it was triggered by my self-imposed “Snapchat Detox”: I would allow myself only 15 minutes of Snapchat