What was the fuss about ‘death panels’?

The political debate about health care reform turned ugly this past summer. Reforms would lead to “death panels,” several alleged, and government bureaucrats would be making decisions to “pull the plug on grandma.”

Reunion, reflection, renewal

Reunion 2009 offered Ed Stubbing ’64 much more than a chance to see some of his classmates, although he relished the opportunity. “Meeting classmates I hadn’t seen in 45 years was magnificent,” he says.

Man in motion

Max Siegel ’86, ’92J.D. has yet to slow a pace that began with life literally on the run.

Domers in the news

Astronaut Kevin Ford ’82 piloted the space shuttle Discovery in August on a mission to bring supplies to the International Space Station. Among the items delivered were a freezer, storage racks, a new sleeping compartment and the Colbert Treadmill, named after TV comedian Stephen Colbert. . . . *Martha Larzelere…

Deaths of Notre Dame alumni

Deaths of Notre Dame alumni

25 things to do on a home football weekend

Light a candle and say a prayer at the Grotto, and leave double the suggested offering “just to be sure.”

The dust is off a priceless resource

The story goes that Father Sorin obtained Notre Dame’s first natural history museum collection through an exchange with a physician for land Sorin held near Detroit.

Nieuwland’s own: Journal traces a century of scholarly evolution

Father Julius A. Nieuwland’s renowned contribution to chemistry was his laboratory research on acetylene, which famously led to the invention of that durable synthetic rubber, neoprene, by DuPont developers in 1930.

All the campus a stage

Peter Holland spread his blanket in front of the Golden Dome. The Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival was in full swing.

A great bookie, a center found

My most cherished memory of my father is seeing him rush out of his home study, finger in a book, eyes alight, reading a passage that enthralled him. I couldn’t always understand why he was so excited, but his enthusiasm was catching. And his desire to share endearing.…

Learning to talk to God

“I want to thank God for the things we have and things we don’t have,” my daughter began at dinner one night. My husband and I looked at each other, intrigued. Lately our 5-year-old had begun to improvise grace before meals.

What Time Shall I Pray?

When my friend Barbara said she had a meeting later in the day that could result in a lucrative consulting project, my mother’s stock response rolled right off my tongue. “What time shall I pray?”

The order by which people are admitted to heaven

To be admitted without review by committee: children under the age of 12, sixth-grade teachers, the mothers of triplets, janitors, nuns (all religions), nurses, all other mothers, loggers, policemen with more than 10 years of service, Buddhists (see Appendix A).

The Holy Moment

The turning point in my long, bumpy and still-unfinished spiritual journey began on a bright summer day when I exited a busy highway outside Sturgis, South Dakota, and headed north into the seemingly infinite horizon of the Great Plains.

The Careful Convert

My father called me in early November with the words, “something is wrong with me.”

A Family at War

Not since he was a baby, when I would walk with him at night to lull him to sleep, did I hug my only son as long as I hugged him that Saturday night.

Eye of the Needle

In The Divine Comedy, Dante accompanies Virgil through purgatory and hell. Up until about a year ago, one could be forgiven for presuming only a smattering of bankers and financiers would be found in the inferno’s depths, somewhere between the second and fourth circles, where those overcome by lust and obsession with material goods are forever damned. Now it’s apparent some Wall Street professionals deserve to be sentenced to far worse.

Having coffee with Ann Tenbrunsel

A few weeks ago as I walked across the Notre Dame campus to meet Ann Tenbrunsel for lunch, I kept thinking, “How could things have gone so wrong? What a predicament we’re in.”

The intimate study of ‘terrorism’

A productive day for Cynthia Mahmood, Notre Dame associate professor of anthropology, is the stuff of nightmares for many others.

Day of Reckoning

My uncle, Bill Dold, didn’t graduate from Notre Dame. He was a student there in 1943, nice and safe in South Bend during the war, and since he hadn’t been drafted he could have finished out his studies.

Jet lag gene

Most people feel exhausted and disoriented after they travel quickly across several time zones. Not a problem for Giles Duffield’s special mice.

Read full article

Curing arthritis with fat

Nearly one in three American adults suffers from some form of arthritis.

Read full article

Why we look away

An interesting thing happens when people talk to one another. They engage in an intricate dance with their eyes

Read full article

Water on the moon

They say you can’t squeeze water from a stone, but some rocks securely locked away in a safe in Clive Neal’s office prove otherwise.

Read full article

The natural goodness of dogs

Dog lovers have long believed in the virtues of man’s best friend. Now scientists are giving closer attention to the canine’s sense of fair play, empathy, and self-awareness.

Read full article

Setting the stage for success

It all began with music and admiration. Long before Ryan Cunningham ’02 was writing musicals, he was looking up to his older brothers, Kevin and Thomas, as they played piano and sax at the Saint Joseph Summer Theatre in Needham, Massachusetts. He knew he didn’t quite have their…

Words of Notre Dame

Other universities have histories. Notre Dame has legends.

Cafe choice

Creative work from Notre Dame people.

Boys ... ARGHHH!

While driving around town in my minivan I stop at many lights, park in lots of parking lots, spend hours waiting for children to finish school or other activities. I have a great deal of time to notice the cars around me and read bumper stickers. I have noticed, just…

The Seed of Exploration

Santa Cruz, in eastern Bolivia, offered plenty of nearby options for an adventurer. Yet six weeks after arriving to begin a new posting there, I still hadn’t left the city once. Why? I was pregnant.