Northern Star Blogs

In this space each week, DeKalb scene writer Alex Fiore gives four reasons why successful musicians are so successful that looks beyond the obvious. It’s like Outliers, but with less sumo wrestling and more pointless anecdotes to impress your friends with. Unfortunately, this week’s post will do something completely different. Today I’m presenting the four… [Read more]

The end of an era is fast approaching… well, for me anyway. I came to NIU nearly five years ago as a wide-eyed 18-year-old freshman from Fairfax County, Va. Admittedly, it was nerve-wracking. I hadn’t lived in Illinois since 2004 and I wasn’t sure what life would be like once I returned. Quickly though, I… [Read more]

The problem with being a car nut, in almost any of its forms, is the cost. Horsepower and handling aren’t cheap and repairs are constantly getting more and more complicated and expensive. This is why the majority of gearheads with dedicated track cars also dabble in investment banking or being born with a sizable trust fund. But… [Read more]

The first of May, or “May Day”,  seems like just another day to many people. In reality, May 1 is actually an important day for social classes, cultures and political ideologies across the world. In some places in the United States, for example, May Baskets and kisses are exchanged in the spirit of this spring… [Read more]

Eight players from the MAC were selected in this weekend’s NFL Draft. The highest-picked players from the MAC went in the third round: Brandon Brooks of Miami (Ohio) who went to the Houston Texans and running back Bernard Price of Temple who will be traveling east to play for the Baltimore Ravens. Not everyone head… [Read more]

The Internet is an astounding, if often misunderstood, tool for bringing information to our fingertips in the blink of an eye. As the decades passed, digital cultures cropped up around this ability. We have reached a point here in 2012 where the “barroom debate” has moved from a dimly-lit, alcohol-soaked establishment to its digital equivalent:… [Read more]

The Bahrain Grand Prix was so far the best this season, in my opinion. So far we’ve had a different driver and a different team win each race weekend. Quite the change up from the Red Bull circus of last year. Well, slightly. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel did his usual hat-trick of scoring pole position,… [Read more]

Repeat after me: The Chicago Cubs are terrible at baseball. Their lineup features multiple holes. The bullpen couldn’t close the top of a Pringles can, and the payroll is still loaded with expensive and unwanted contracts that carried over from the Jim Hendry-Lou Piniella regime. It was clearly evident this year was going to be… [Read more]

I’m so lucky that my future sister-in-law is going to be an athletic trainer because after my  9 mile run on April 15, every joint in my lower body wanted to fall off. Now, I think I understand how people with arthritis feel. After about the fifth mile, I started to feel blisters forming on… [Read more]