A six-week film series, Forty Years in the Wilderness: Racism and Reconciliation After the Civil Rights Era, begins at 7 p.m. Thursday in Xavier University's Kelley Auditorium in Alter Hall.

The film is sponsored by Xavier University and Tylersville Road Christian Church in Mason.

The series will start with Boycott, an HBO film based on the Montgomery , Ala., bus boycott during the 1950s.

Others include Desmond Nakano's White Man's Burden; Spike Lee's films Bamboozled and Get On The Bus; and Long Night's Journey Into Day, an Oscar-nominated documentary on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It is directed by Deborah Hoffman and Frances Reid.

There will be an interfaith gathering and worship service focusing on racial reconciliation and healing when the series concludes on Feb. 27 in Xavier's Bellarmine Chapel.

"Today belongs to those that are willing to engage," said Paul James, director of Xavier's Office of Multicultural Affairs. "Let's come together in the spirit of truth for the purpose of producing action which can bring about much-needed change.''

The Rev. George Reese, senior pastor of Tylersville Road Christian Church, said the series offers a time to bring people together and discover how our lives and experiences can enrich our sense of interdependence.

"It is time to affirm unity and community as we remember and try to move forward the `I have a dream' of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. now, in the year 2003."

The Caring Cabaret, a benefit to raise funds for Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in Over-the-Rhine, will feature an evening of music and a silent auction from 7-11 p.m. Saturday at St Williams Church, 4108 W. Eighth St., Price Hill.

Items in the silent auction include baskets from Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken, City Manager Valerie Lemmie, Councilman John Cranley and television personalities Greg McKinney and Angelique Frame.

Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen is a nondenominational organization whose doors are opened for the mentally ill, working poor and anyone in need.

More than 400 people are served meals Monday through Friday.

Kindergartens at C.O. Harrison Elementary School , 585 Neeb Rd., Delhi Township, will share a Super Bowl event with their dads.

The event will be filled with football activities that deal with math, language arts, food, and some passing and receiving.

The morning session is from 9:45-11 a.m., and afternoon is 1-2:15 p.m.

An indoor version of the Soap Box Derby races will be held on Feb. 1 at the Living Word Fellowship, 9781 Fields Ertel Road, Loveland.

The free community event is called Pine Car 316.

The event is designed to bring children and families together.

Allen Howard's "Some Good News" column runs Sunday-Friday. He can be reached at 768-8362, at ahoward@enquirer.com or by fax at 768-8340.