The Observer is a student-run, daily print & online newspaper serving Notre Dame, Saint Mary's & Holy Cross. Learn about us.
-Soren Hansen | Monday, April 23, 2018
Yesterday was Earth Day, as I’m sure you know, and though spring has not yet fully sprung (and thus it seems a little too chilly to spend the day outside), I’d like to focus for a moment on our natural home. In a few weeks, most of us will return to our childhood homes —
Soren Hansen | Monday, April 9, 2018
As April rolls around, I’ve been thinking about the two things which that old joke guarantees in life: death and taxes. Besides inevitability, they’ve got something else in common — I fear both death and taxes. Even so, it’s important to remember death (and your taxes, due April 15th — don’t forget). As a culture,
Soren Hansen | Monday, March 26, 2018
Ah humility, the forgotten virtue. Over spring break I stumbled across the Litany of Humility and was immediately put in my place. Though I’ll admit there is a great irony in my pontifications on this virtue — pretending to have authority we rarely possess is the op-ed columnist’s bread and butter — I hope to
Soren Hansen | Monday, March 5, 2018
The 17th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal once wrote, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” I’m not sure if he’s right about all of humanity’s problems, but I think his words could help us here at Notre Dame. From the moment we wake up with jarring
Soren Hansen | Monday, February 19, 2018
The chocolates, the roses, the heart-shaped pizzas delivered to lucky roommates from long-distance boyfriends — Valentine’s Day has me thinking about dating at Notre Dame; more precisely, the lack of it and why that’s bad for campus social life. To those who acutely feel the pangs of being single in this “cuffing season,” who see
Soren Hansen | Wednesday, February 14, 2018
On a cozy cab ride back to campus one November evening, a student leaned over, tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “Hey, you’re in my education class right? Aren’t you the one who argues a lot?” To many students at Notre Dame, this comment would probably have been an insult. In typical contrarian style,
Soren Hansen | Monday, February 5, 2018
As the snow falls upon our beautiful home, wrapping the trees in white blankets, the quiet of the winter months is appreciable. But though the cold has descended lightly and softly upon our hushed campus, the weather is not the only reason for the aural change — a large number of students, juniors mostly, have
Soren Hansen | Monday, January 22, 2018
I think most of us can remember — some with dread, some with amusement — those “first day of school” photos our mothers made us take; brothers and sisters in their nicest new outfits or hand-me-downs (in my case) posed awkwardly in the front yard or by the school gates with our oversized backpacks and