There is nothing I enjoy more than sitting down in the morning and reading a good paper. Unfortunately at NIU, unless you have a subscription, this is not possible.

Day after day I sift through the pages of The Northern Star only to find it about as organized as a high schooler’s room. The photographs and captions on the front page never have anything to do with the articles surrounding it and the pictures are usually completely valueless anyway.

The articles written by the staff writers are thin and lack any usefulness for the readers. Also, I’m tired of reading the same stories more than once a week.

A major metropolitan newspaper can monitor events, but those are usually subjects that are in a constant phase of change. Let’s face it, the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in the commons is there to stay, and all the articles in the world aren’t giong to crumble it.

I can’t even turn to the comics page for some entertainment. The local cartoons “Bakersville” and “Dormrats” are wastes of space. “Dormrats” seems to aim its humor at a second-grade level, while “Bakersville” time and time again fails to compare with the syndicated politically active cartoons.

Grow up and wake up … the jokes constantly miss their marks and it’s an insult to illustrators such as Garry Trudeau or Berkeley Breathed.

I suggest the editors get together and review their options before the rest of us give up hope. A good college needs a good newspaper and if we can’t count on the Star to deliver the news and features then it’s time for a change.

Jacob Bruce

Freshman

Acting