Category Archives: Spring 2026 Essays

By Greer Waller ’29 President Ronald Reagan’s aggressive expansion of executive power defined the 1980s as much as the Cold War standoff. On the surface, Reagan projected an era of renewed patriotism, economic deregulation, and foreign policy designed to roll back the influence of the Soviet Union. Yet, beneath this facade of optimism, American innerContinue reading “Who Loaded the Gun?: Rick Ross vs. the Reagan Administration”

By Liam Cavanaugh ’29 In the 34 years of my life, in war and peace, I have been a loyal, law-abiding citizen of the United States. One week after this nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor in 1941, I enlisted as a private in the Army of the United States and served for more thanContinue reading “Communism and Americanism: A Microhistory on the Life of Elliott Maraniss “

By Anna Bellocchio ’28 Emerging from the punk and BDSM communities of New York in the late 1970s, Robert Mapplethorpe photographed and shaped the visual language of queer identity, desire, and the art world through highly stylized studio photography. His work explores the intersection of eroticism, beauty, and queerness. Mapplethorpe approached his subjects with controlContinue reading “Self-Portraiture as a Conduit of Life and Death”

By Evan Weltin ’28 Earth by David Wojnarowicz (1). From 1980 to 1987, the AIDS epidemic had claimed tens of thousands of lives in the United States (2). For a substantial portion of time, politicians in the federal government like President Ronald Reagan remained silent and unwilling to fund adequate healthcare and research in theContinue reading “Bodies, Labor, and Loss: An Analysis of David Wojnarowicz’s Earth”

By Molly Swartz ’26 Before the American media and public ever labeled 1992 the “Year of the Woman,” the University of Notre Dame had already declared its own. In 1990, amid rising female enrollment, concerns about sexual assault, and campus-wide debates over gender equity, Notre Dame dedicated the 1990-91 academic year to addressing some ofContinue reading “Female Firsts: The 1990s & Women’s Leadership at Notre Dame”