"My brothers all wanted me to go to Notre Dame because they thought I'd get them tickets on the 50-yard line. I applied and got in, but I wasn't able to go. But I have my acceptance letter framed! We've been to many games and visit often. Once an Irish fan, always an Irish fan."
               We had been in line together for Broadway tickets and he asked which shows my friends and I were interested in. As soon as we mentioned "Once", both of their eyes lit up.
"We've seen maybe 40 or 50 musicals. We go all the time. But 'Once' is one of the best musicals I have ever seen. Period."

"I grew up in an Irish-Catholic neighborhood, full of blue-collar jobs, policemen and such. In the 70s, around the time of Rudy, a few guys overcame their circumstances and went to Notre Dame. So the whole neighborhood became fans of Notre Dame, which is why I love the Irish. I went to my first game this year against Navy. And some friends and I are going to the Pinstripe Bowl!"
After I thanked him for the interview, he asked about the journalism-type work of the blog and added, "I'm going back to school to be a journalist."

Notre Dame fans aren't all found in South Bend. This weekend, in preparation for and at the Pinstripe Bowl, I found Irish fans on the East Coast: fans, alumni, members of the Notre Dame family.

R: "I'm a Rutgers alum."
ND: "And I've been a Notre Dame fan ever since I was little. He was the only way I could have gotten tickets to this!"
            "How did you guys meet each other?"
R: "Through our wives."
            "And they're not here today?"
ND: "No, today is a day for the boys!"

"I am Danish, grew up and studied in Denmark. At the time universities there were quite different from what they are here: When you enter the university after high school, you already are determined about what subjects you want to study. You go right on to study one or two subjects. Not everything. For example, I chose math and physics, and I studied both for the first three years, and then math for the remaining years (getting a masters degree, required to become a high school teacher in Denmark). Also, there were no midterms, all exams were at the end of the academic year. After I got my degree I spent two years in Germany and the US, then got a job in Denmark. I was at the university of Copenhagen for ten years, then I got a job in Maryland as a full professor; I was there from ‘84 to 2007, when I came to Notre Dame."

"I've sat in this seat for every test in this class. And I have another class in here, and I sit in this seat for that class, too."
               "And have you been doing well on the tests in this seat?"
"So far so good."

              With very little prompting, she gave me eloquent and insightful I Am Notre Dame gold. I was so impressed that I couldn't cut either topic...!

                  On the negative perception of athletes...

“I’m on the track team. I do shotput, hammer, weight, and discus. I came from a small high school, where there wasn’t a negative perception of athletes. Then at Notre Dame, people would say, 'Athletes are stupid people. Athletes can’t do anything. They have everything handed to them.' That’s not true! People on the track team are some of the smartest people I know in the entire university. And that’s so cool that they’re so multifaceted: they’re a D1 athlete and extremely intelligent. The negative image put me a little down in the dumps freshman year. I was like, wow, people think I’m just like this without even meeting me. You know, ‘Oh, you’re an athlete,’ with that sarcastic undertone. Assumptions shouldn’t be made about people. You should wait to learn something about someone before you jump to the conclusion that they are something they are not. Everybody here has something to offer."

                    As for diversity?

"It’s true that diversity isn’t huge here, but I learned that there are so many different factors that come into diversity: socioeconomic backgrounds, race, gender, culture. So when you hear people say, ‘I don’t care about diversity,’ and I’ve heard that before, it bothers me. Diversity is new perspective. If everyone has come from the same place, everyone will have the same ideas and the same mindsets. Diversity is where social change develops. Notre Dame has made great strides in coeducation. It’s not even that long. That shows that a University can change, which gives me hope that the world as a whole can change. I like that Notre Dame is striving for diversity now, especially with an atmosphere of inclusion. And diversity is a buzzword right now. I’m excited to see where the University is moving with it.” 

                    "What advice would you give someone discerning the priesthood?"
"That's a very good question. Can I give multiple pieces of advice? One, find a regular confessor or spiritual adviser. Two, attend mass often. Three, pray. And four, talk to other priests. See if any parts of their life begin to mesh with your personality and how you might want your future to play out."
                    "What is your greatest strength as a priest?"
"My greatest strength is that God loves me."
                    (What a great answer, huh?)

(Father's a little blurry here because he was still holding a conversation through four pictures!)

"Sheba's a certified therapy dog. She has to comply to a global standard, which means re-testing every two years. She has to be able to sit while I walk away, restrain herself when other people are around, treat wheelchairs appropriately, be petted, things like that. She has the hardest time when other dogs are around."
                 "What made you want to certify Sheba?"
"I saw therapy dogs on TV twelve years ago, and when we got Sheba eight years ago, we started immediately with her. It took a lot of training and patience, but she's very good at what she does. She is such a happy dog."

Pictured above: Sheba "saying her prayers".

                       "Are glee club rehearsals as goofy as today's concert?"
"Goofy? That was tame for us! We had to restrain ourselves to be professional. Caroling, now that was goofy. We got to interact with the audience, and we have dances for every song. Overall, we're a pretty goofy group of guys."

Seen on North Quad.

"My freshman year, some pretty rough stuff happened early on. One day I was in tears, and I was really distraught, and I went into my friend’s room and was like, “Hey, you don’t have to say anything, just sit there for five minutes so I can vent, and then I’ll leave.” And then she did, and now she’s one of my best friends. It’s cool you can have a system like that—where you come to Notre Dame and everybody cares about what you’re doing, what you’re talking about, what you’re interested in, and they’re asking these questions to see what you’re all about. It’s a free support system."

Seen in Reckers: MOBB, ND's brass New Orleans band with a contemporary twist. (The most fun you'll have in a long, long time.)

Seen at Howard Halliday.

"I'm a graphic design major. I hand-sketched the drawing of the Dome on the front of the freshman shirt! It's a weird but cool feeling with these shirts--I get to wear my art. I mean, who gets to do that?!"
                   "What's your first memory of Notre Dame and the Dome?"
"The summer before my senior year, I was here for a Summer Scholars program. My first week, I was really unsure. But after a few weeks, after staying in the dorms, I definitely thought that this could be home. All the people were so great. And I don't know how that happens! So many great people come to Notre Dame?"
                   "It seems like so many in Summer Scholars come back to mentor as college students. Is that what you are going to do?"
"I'm doing Vision this summer, but I definitely am considering Summer Scholars for another summer!"

"The point of the FCC [Freshman Class Council] and the class councils is to unify the grade. So what we design is kind of like The Shirt, but for the class. I'm the Lewis representative, and of course Lewis is right behind the Dome. So the Frosh-O staff always told us, 'The Dome will lead you home.' We liked that it rhymed. And you know what I just thought of? We starred in our serenade--we spelled spelled L-E-W for Lewis, and I was the W. And I used that when I campaigned for the FCC! I said, 'A W in the Lew is a W for you!'"
                 "What's next for the FCC?"
"We want to try to put on a Freshman Week at the end of our term in March. We're going to try to break a world record. We haven't decided which one we want to break yet, but we're going to come up with something to do and get all the freshmen to help with it. We were the ones who were handing out hot chocolate outside of DeBart!"

               "What is something that people don’t appreciate or don’t know about rowing that goes unsung?"

"Rowing is the most misunderstood sport! A lot of people think of a rowboat, where you just use your arms. But we use our legs a lot. So people will say, “You must have really strong arms.” It’s a lot of core and legs. It’s also a really huge team sport. It’s fun to be the fastest person on the team, but if the rest of the people on your boat aren’t that fast, you’re not going to go anywhere. Inter-squad competition is important because you have to be able to get better, but also help people get better, because it is a team thing."

               "Have you guys become a kind of family?"

"If I wasn’t on the rowing team, I probably wouldn’t have met 90% of the girls on it now. There are a lot of different personalities and majors, so everybody brings something different. I get to spend twenty hours a week with fifty of my closest friends. With so many girls, there is inevitably drama, but we’re pretty unique in how we handle it. If there is any drama, it’s kept between who needs to be involved to iron it out. If you have a problem, you go to the seniors and you figure it out and then you move on."

Fun fact: “I rowed in Bulgaria. The summer before freshman year, I was on the Junior National team. We went to Bulgaria and raced at Worlds. We came in 2^nd.

Vocabulary for the day: “erg” and “coxswain”. Look ‘em up!

                  "What is a resource the Career Center offers that students don't take advantage of?"
"One resource that students seem to do very, very well with is the mock interview. I have heard testimonials of students who went through our mock interview process. Students have said they feel more confident in their job interviews and it's not uncommon to hear stories of these students getting the job! All success stories are moving, but those make me especially happy."
                  "One non-related question...if you could have dinner with someone living or dead, who would it be?"
After much thought, she decided, "Rosa Parks. I would love to sit down with her and hear her account of what happened on that day and what was going through her mind."

                       "What language is written on the wall behind you guys?"
Her: "Chinese. A friend wrote that. But I should be studying that right now."
                       After finding out that she spoke Korean, I asked, "How difficult is the transition between the two languages?"
Her: "They have fairly similar grammar structure. But Korean is a really phonetic language. You can sound everything out once you have a basic grasp of it. Chinese is" (sighs) "all memorization."
Him: "They have some inherent similarities. The Korean written language was created by a king at the time. He used a few parts of Chinese characters to create it."
                      (Some internet research told me that, indeed, it was King Sejong, 4th monarch of the Yi Dynasty, who devised a universal writing system for Korean in 1440.)

               “Who is someone who has inspired you?”

“It’d have to be my old buddy Todd. He always made you laugh. He had heart problems and everything in his life, and finally got married in his life, and wanted a kid, and had that, and probably about four years later, he died. He was about 30 or so. I knew him for about ten years.”

               “That’s pretty amazing that someone who is only 30 can leave such a legacy behind.”

“I think about him a lot. Especially during Christmastime. We always used to go out somewhere before we’d leave for Christmas. Around the 21^st or so, we’d leave to visit family for two weeks, so we’d always get together before that. And I was gone when it happened too. I’d just got home when he passed away. I’d just gotten back that weekend. I had to work that weekend, got home, looked at the paper, and there it was. But! I remember all the good times we had.”

                 "If you could speak to yourself four years ago, what piece of advice would you give her?"
"Try coffee sooner."
                 "You're not addicted yet?" (It was 9 pm and she had coffee with her.)
"No! I just like the taste. I work at the Huddle, so I get meal tickets. I don't spend my money on Starbucks that way."
                 I mentioned the French Vanilla coffee there, which isn't by strict definitions "coffee".
"You go ahead and drink it! It's like a milkshake you can have when you're older that makes you feel good. Go for it."

"I've been a counselor at St. Mary's for fourteen years."
                   "What sets St. Mary's apart?"
"So much. A great education. The fact that it is all-girls. The resources of both St. Mary's and Notre Dame. The family atmosphere."
                   "How would you describe the 'family' that is St. Mary's?"
"A little different than the students at Notre Dame. It's smaller, which means a different kind of family."

                     "Did you cheer for the Irish?"
Dad: "Yes, we did! They both want to play hockey at Notre Dame. It'll be a few years."
                     "You're going to play hockey here?"
(looking over my shoulder) "Santa!"
                     (Santa was skating on the ice after the game.)

"We're a hockey team in the 15-18 year old age group. We're from Ontario. They bused us down here to see Notre Dame. It was an eight hour trip."

"I'm part of the Notre Dame/Saint Mary's Irish Dance team. We just performed at the basketball game. They like to have us perform when they want something really Irish. One of my favorite activities the team does is volunteering. We volunteer for Hannah and Friends, which I think was Charlie Weis's favorite charity. We visit girls with intellectual disabilities and teach them how to Irish step dance. It's incredible. And so rewarding."

Seen in the Main Building. (Congratulations!)

               “What is something people wouldn’t normally know about architects?”

“We’re like a family. There are only forty or so of us per graduating class. We’re in here all the time together. Zero filters, zero boundaries. It all comes out between us. And we can be a really goofy group, especially when we’re all in here late at night. It starts at midnight. Then everyone just gets kind of goofy. People at Starbucks are used to seeing us ask for two Ventis.”

               “I don’t think I’ve ever had a Venti before!”

“It’s a beautiful thing.”

“What made you want to be an architect?”

“I love to draw. But it’s more than that. I love art; at the same time, buildings can be art if you build them right. It’s something you can interact with every day.”

               “What’s the best part of being an architect?”

“Finishing a project. It’s rewarding, and a sense of relief. But you work long and hard on your projects. Right now we are designing an archive building for downtown South Bend in the Ionic Order. We’ve had a project for each of the columnar orders, this being the third. …I haven’t been out of this building until after 5 am every day this week.”

               "Have you become a kind of family with the rest of the football team?"
“Yeah. This past Thanksgiving, there were about twenty other guys at one of the player’s houses, and his family cooked dinner for us. All the food went by really quickly.”

               “There can’t have just been one turkey.”

“I think there were three. And she had big ol’ plates full of potato salad and collard greens.”

               “What is the transition like from high school to college football?”

“It’s very different. You got guys who have been playing college football for three years, working out for three years. Growing men, really. You can definitely feel the difference physically and mentally. There are higher expectations: the coaches expect a lot more of you, your teammates expect more of you. It helps you mature on and off the field.”

Seen in the Notre Dame graveyard.

“I grew up Catholic. It’s so censored in a lot of parts of the northeast that you couldn’t say in some spots, for someone whose family member had passed away, ‘You’re in my thoughts and prayers.’ You just say, ‘You’re in my thoughts.’ Something as small as that—not even some inherently large religious aspect. It’s nicer to be able to say to someone, ‘You’re in my thoughts and prayers.’”

               “What do you miss about home in Connecticut?”

“There’s not quite as much fresh seafood here.”

                     "What's one thing you've learned in Air Force ROTC that applies to your everyday life?"
"Don't show frustration. Making mistakes is inevitable. In a new situation, especially if you're thrown into it, you're likely to make mistakes. And making mistakes is good because you learn from them. You grow. But you don't wince, don't grumble, don't make a face. I had an officer who always pounded that into our heads: Don't show frustration."

"My great-grandfather was orphaned at the age of 9, and he lived with his cousins in Wisconsin on a farm. As a young man, he moved to South Bend. He married, had eleven kids, worked in a shirt factory. He was the biggest Notre Dame fan. Someone even offered to pay for him to come, but he couldn’t: he had to work and take care of his kids. Two of his kids and thirteen total descendants have gone on to attend Notre Dame. His name was Clement Miller. That was my confirmation name—in honor of him."

"Oddly enough, this is not the first time someone has taken my picture at Taco Bell. One time a bunch of little girls came in on a scavenger hunt. Their objective was to take a picture with the cashier. That's me."

I’ve been trying not to write too much of any conversation, so as not to give preference to any one person. But I simply can’t help but include what I learned about this man…

“I was a vocalist and a bass player in bands. All kind of bands—rock, opera, all kinds of bands.”

               “Do you not do them anymore? Are you just too busy?”

“I don’t, but I’d love to get back into it. Before becoming a policeman, I spent eleven years on the road. That’s how I made my living. As a matter of fact, when we were on the road—I believe we were just playing, ah, Norfolk, Virginia, and we were coming back through Ohio. We passed a sign that said “Battle of the Bands: DJ Country.” It was a country battle of the bands…but we were a rock band. We were coming home to work another road show, so we came home, practiced up, and we went there and took Battle of the Bands. Our harmony was super. I’ve had a fun life. I really have.”

               Just when I took his picture and thought the conversation was over, I mentioned that I like to write. And this came from the Renaissance man:

“I just finished a novel, but I can’t get it published. It’s called Tommy and Ellen. It’s about two 10-year-olds growing up in Debonshire, England. So much of what’s popular is full of sex, violence, and swearing. I decided I’m going to write a novel with no sex, no swearing, no nothing. It’s going to be warm and fuzzy.”

               And the kicker:

“I love life. I always have, always will.”

Seen along Notre Dame Avenue. She trotted alongside us from the graveyard all the way to McKenna. She kept the acorn in her mouth and turned around every few steps to make sure we were still there. I've had poor luck photographing squirrels in the past, but this one obviously had an important mission and wanted to make sure we stayed safe, so she was our guide down the sidewalk. She's also very photogenic.

(This girl was so dynamic, interesting, and friendly. I had a blast talking to her and left in a great mood. Thank you for your awesomeness!)

"I didn't know Notre Dame was Catholic until I came here! I'm from Malaysia. There are five of us here on a scholarship program for engineers. If you accept the scholarship money, you also must accept the scholarship at whichever school they choose. Oh, this is really cool: one of the girls on the scholarship with me is the first Muslim student to pursue a major in theology here. Isn't that amazing?! I have so much faith in her. But I really like it here. I love everyone in my section. Everyone is so nice."
                      "When is the next time you are going home?"
"In two weeks! I haven't been home for a year and a half! Yeah! I know! I'm so excited!'
                      "What's the first thing you're going to do when you get home?"
"SLEEP."

“The one closest to my palm is the Ohm symbol. The other one is Sanskrit and roughly translates to ‘nonviolence’.”

               (Wikipedia tells me it reads “ahimsa” and is “inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy; to hurt another being is to hurt oneself.”)

“I realized that yoga wasn’t just a physical practice. I started saying to myself, “How can I feel this way all day long?” So then I tried to grasp that feeling, to harness it in my everyday life. I read and learned more about yoga, which lead me to yogi training, which lead me to teacher training."

               “You said you’re a runner: how is your mind activity different between running and yoga?”

“Running is more of a moving meditation for me. When I practice yoga, I like to focus on my breath and just be in that space.”

“I’m just really proud–this is going to sound really cheesy–to be a part of this family. I’m more at home here than I’ve ever been anywhere. The day before moving in during the summer, I was just like, ‘I’ve never been happier.’ Is that weird?”

               “Not at all! Did you do Summer Scholars as an excuse to come back over summer break?”

“I did Summer Scholars in high school and that was how I got introduced to Notre Dame. So part of it was kind of a pay-it-forward thing. And it was really nice to come full circle, and, after being introduced to Notre Dame that way, to introduce others to Notre Dame. And it was a great excuse to come back because I was so Domesick.”

               “I’ve never heard Domesick before!”

“You’ll hear it a lot during your time here, trust me. I left May 10th and I came back June 25th, and I was like, ‘Finally. I’m here.’ ”

Holy golden dome, Batman! The I Am Notre Dame facebook page has reached 500 likes in only 5 days!

Thank you to all for the comments, suggestions, and support. The Notre Dame family never ceases to amaze.

Be sure to look in the Observer tomorrow (Wednesday) for an article on the I Am Notre Dame blogspot, tumblr, and facebook page.

Once again, thank you to all!

"You guys are the first class, in my thirty years of teaching, for whom I have ever made scarves and elves. I am deeply in love with every one of you."

"I moved from Portland two and a half months ago to work for the Center for Social Concerns here."
                  "What did you not expect to find here?"
"I had always thought college students are college students. ...But I was wrong. The students here are incredible. They are driven, high-achieving, motivated. Incredible. They're not like any other college students. I also didn't expect the competition. I mean, I knew, okay, it's Notre Dame. There's going to be competition. But people here are always looking on to the next step: I gotta graduate, then I gotta get that internship, then I gotta go to law school, and become a lawyer, and make a lot of money, and on and on. There's competition everywhere, and that doesn't always suit everyone. That's what the Center for Social Concerns hopes to do: to create and environment in which people can steep themselves and become immersed in something other than sheer competition."

“I want to be a journalist. It runs in the family. My dad is a journalist. My grandfather was a journalist. He and a team actually won a Pulitzer Prize.”

     “You didn’t feel pressured by your family history?”

“No. I’ve always been good at writing, and I want to keep writing, and, if I’m going to get paid for it, it’s going to be for journalism. I say political journalism, but if I could describe what I really want to do…”

               “In the dream world.”

“That’s always the question, the question I’ve asked myself a million and two times: if money were no object, what would I do with my life? It’s what I call “social justice journalism”. So writing about the things no one talks about. Everyone talks about celebrities who die. So, like, the fact that that gets covered, and the fact that there’s genocide in the world that nobody is talking about…I want to talk about that. As long as I can keep writing, and use that to help people, then I’ll be happy.”

"Communication. You can find creativity through communication. People come from all walks of life. All you have to do is ask them a question. Everyone works differently. Then you can say, 'Oh, that's an interesting way to do that,' and be inspired."

These two didn't have much time to talk, but I've been dying to tell a story from observation. I pass this beautiful human being on a weekly basis in South Quad, but we are always in a hurry and going in opposite directions. She wears a concentrated look on her face. (Most of us do, going from point A to point B.)
In recent weeks, however, I noticed that her friend began traveling with her. They are engaged in conversation and laughing. And the smile on her face is absolutely brilliant. Glowing. And positively contagious.
I asked them how they know each other, and their answer was shrugged and simple: "Just going between classes."

"People don't say 'please' here. At least, not as much as in Mississippi. And 'sir' and 'ma'am'. I'll say it to someone, and they'll be like, 'I'm only 32! Don't call me ma'am!' I'm just being polite. That's what I'm used to."

                       "What does Notre Dame mean to you?"
She didn't even miss a beat: "Family. Love. Home."
                       "Home. For sure. So then when is the first time you can remember being at Notre Dame?"
"I've been to at least one game every year of my life. From age 0 to now."

"No one from my town is ever this generous solely to be generous. And it's awesome that generosity is such a normal thing here."

"We're from Santa Fe, New Mexico. He got the puck during the game!"
                    As for the amazing purple?
"It's. Just. Hair."