That’s right ladies and gents. This Friday night at The Union we are having the one, the ONLY…Over The Rhine!!!!! I know, you’re probably asking yourself, wow, how in the WORLD did they get Over The Rhine to come to North Central?! Well, it’s simple really, we just asked! I’m actually really pumped for this show though, not only is it an amazing band, but the way tickets are selling it’s going to be a sold out show! If you want to try and get tickets for this AMAZING masterpiece of musical melody, got to www.theunionnetwork.com and they should be able to hook you up! Tickets are $8.00 for the public, and free for NCC students. That’s just another perk of coming to North Central, you get into all the shows at The Union for free!

Okay, so have you ever heard of Anathallo? If not, look them up!!! Anathallo is an absolutely fantastic band that played at The Union last year. I guess you could say I fell in love with them right away. It’s great music to jam out to in your headphones, or to dance to when nobody’s watching…or to jam out to by dancing on your way to class when you think nobody’s watching until you open your eyes and realize there are about five people looking right at you…but that’s another story. Anyway, there’s a point to this story! This past Saturday, myself and a few friends went into downtown Chicago to a small venue called Schubas to see them!—Anathallo that is. I think you can probably infer by now that I had a blast, or else I wouldn’t be writing about it! One of my friends and I had to stand on the benches that surround the inside of the venue just in order to see! Granted, I’m on the shorter side, but still. It was fantastic!

Moral of the story: Take advantage of the activities you can do on campus for free, like The Union, every week there’s a new band, and there are always cool people to meet and hang out with! Also, don’t be afraid to just do things. If you have a favorite band or musician playing at a venue in the city, convince some friends and just go! Don’t waste time sitting there, debating about whether or not the show is to late, or if you have to much to do, because you might end up regretting not going!

P.S. Here’s a link to see videos of previous shows from The Union!

The past few weeks have been filled with some pretty random things, including two absolutely fantastic documentaries. Both were sponsored by the campus Ministry and Service department and open to everyone to enjoy. The first was centered around modern day slavery, and the second about the hypocrisy of Christians in today’s world. I’m just going to give you all a brief overview of both of the documentaries.

Call and Response is a documentary created by a musician named Justin Dillon and inspired by learning about the mass amounts of slavery still going on in today’s world. It’s being called more of a ‘rockumentary’, featuring around 20 artists and many big political names, basically everyone from Moby and Cornel West to Madeline Albright is featured. This graphic, moving film depicts not only what modern day slavery has become, but what can plausibly be done about it in today’s society. You probably don’t know this, but right now, today, there are 27 million slaves in the world, more than at any other point in history. It makes you wonder if we as humans have truly advanced socially, or rather, if we have just learned to hide our secrets better.

Lord Save Us From…Your Followers is an equally as controversial and informative film with its basis in the fact that many Christians in today’s world have been going about living their faith on a day to day basis in a not so Christ like manner. The film quotes Gandhi, as saying “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ” and in my opinion, this is a great summary of the film in general. It’s stressing the fact that we as Christians are not living like the Christ we proclaim to follow. Many times we choose to ignore the problems that would greatly disturb Jesus, and do not treat the people Jesus would most likely be friends with if He were here today with any respect or kindness. In essence, this film “explores the collision of faith and culture in America”. Again in this documentary, big names such as Al Franken, Rick Santorum, Bono, as well as many more voice their opinions on the matter. Whether you are a Christian or not, this is a great documentary to view that brings to light many of the shortcomings of today’s Christianity.

Moral of the story: Go out and find something that moves and shakes the way you think, in a productive way. Take those opinions you hear, check them out, see if they’re based on fact or fiction, and then form your own. Get together with friends and talk about your opinions on some big issues that may be bothering you. Basically, open your eyes and ears to the millions of people around the world that are screaming for your attention, screaming for your opinions and awareness that may one day change the way we look at them, and the situation they are in.