Autumn has always seemed bitterly beautiful to me, lovely in its colors but harrowing in the life it escorts away.  In Alaska, autumn smells spectacular but gets swiftly cold, often taking its inhabitants by surprise when it arrives. Tiny birch...

My myopic self and I have problems. We’re not exactly on speaking terms.  Anxiety has followed me for as long as I can remember, but it was the worst at the beginning of high school when I was at my most vulnerable. During those years, I was a passenger...

Rage echoes in the streets outside of the United Center in Chicago where the 2024 Democratic National Convention is being held. Passionate chants gather force as a crowd of thousands forms. Protesters demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israeli forces in...

I remember pushing through the heavy iron doors, taking a breath of air that smelled 50 years old and tasted like a sour spider's web. I greeted the man at the front desk and told him my grandpa said hi on my way to the classroom.  I was probably...

Colleges and universities across the United States are staring down significant debt. While NIU’s roughly $32 million deficit is not an anomaly, it is something to watch. NIU ended the fiscal year 2024 with around $77 million in total holdings and...

Only a few weeks from its end, summer shows no signs of easing up. As DeKalb boils in the midst of a heatwave, many students are trying to keep the sweat off their backs by any means necessary.  Bottled water, portable fans and the almighty air-conditioning...

As humans, we often have no control over the events that happen around or to us. In the face of adversity, therefore, what we can or cannot do is not what matters most, but how we react to each obstacle. Through “The Travelers,” Bruno Catalano...

Welcome back new and returning readers! As the school year begins, the Northern Star Editorial Board wanted to explain what content you can expect from the board this semester.  WHAT’S AN EDITORIAL ANYWAY? An editorial is an opinionated story...

Summer break has the perfect weather for summer outings through the different villages of the Midwest, and the perfect opportunity to attend — without pressure — different sports championships, concerts and more. However, the extended break in...