Vocalo.org is wrapping up its August editorial initiative, “Lake Effect,” which covered all things Lake Michigan. “Getting Schooled” is the September editorial initiative, which will encompass education, back-to-school, life lessons and how-tos.

Along with these two initiatives, Vocalo invites guests from the Lake Michigan Region to discuss topics of the day. Guests throughout the week will include:

August Editorial: “Lake Effect”

• Monday, August 31, 4 to 5 p.m. Would you sell the lakefront-- say, turn most of the best parts into an exclusive resort-- if you thought it was the last chance to save your town? Some people say that's what's happening in Benton Harbor, Michigan, about 50 miles up the Lake Michigan coast from Chesterton, Indiana. Mick Dumke is a writer for the Chicago Reader and a native of the next-door town, St. Joseph; he wrote a story about the controversy last year and posted an update to the Reader web site. Mick will sum up the story, and we invited representatives from both sides of the dispute to chime in by phone. After Mick intros the story, we'll call Carol Drake, from Friends of Jean Klock Park;  she'll have with her Scott Elliot, who is the named plaintiff in the federal lawsuit. The developers-- the folks building the golf course-- have declined, citing the ongoing federal lawsuit.  We invited a representative from Cornerstone Alliance, the Whirlpool-backed non-profit that's backing the resort development.  But they're a no-show.

• Friday, September 4, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. A representative from the Environmental Protection Agency talks about $475 million earmarked for the Great Lakes and how it will help Lake Michigan. It's been called the most cleanup money coming to the Lakes in a generation.

September Editorial: “Getting Schooled”

• Tuesday, September 1, 9 to 10 a.m. Mr. Tuten Goes to Washington:  Obama's Department of Education, as seen by a CPS social studies teacher-- and rock club owner. Tim Tuten owns The Hideout, a rock club in Chicago (best in the city, according to the Chicago Reader poll in 2008), and in April, he moved to Washington DC, to work in the Obama administration's Department of Education.  Tuten taught social studies in the Chicago Public Schools for almost 20 years, starting in 1986, then went to work in the CPS press office in 2005.  When Chicago's Arne Duncan went to DC to become Secretary of Education, Tim was one of the people who went along.  He's now in charge of events at the Education Department's Office of Community Outreach.

• Tuesday, September 1, 10 to 10:20 a.m. Allie of Kenwood High School in Chicago and Ira of Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization reporting live from a rally led by a coalition of organizations (Albany Park Neighborhood Council, Enlace Chicago, Females United for Action, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, MAGIC, Organization of the Northeast & Southwest Organizing Project), where young people are protesting state-level education budget cuts and demanding more youth investment. The rally is Tuesday, September 1, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. at the James R. Thompson Center (100 W Randolph Street, Chicago).

• Tuesday, September 1, 1:20 to 1:40 p.m. Alexander Russo is a journalist who runs a blog about the Chicago Public Schools -- District 299.com-- considered a must-read by people in town who follow education news/policy. He provides a roundup of local education news, and puts out topics for discussion-- often based on tips from readers.

• Wednesday, September 2, 4 to 7 p.m. Vocalo.org host producer Luis Perez emcees a live, remote broadcast at the Bronzeville Coffee House, 528 E. 43rd Street, Chicago. The broadcast will feature a “Teachers’ Lounge” where teachers will share their most interesting classroom tales.

• Wednesday, September 2, 4:20 to 4:40 p.m. John Slegers is the owner and a flight instructor at Eagle Aircraft in Valparaiso. He’ll talk about the ups and downs (pardon the pun) of his teaching gig.

• Thursday, September 3, 8 to 9 a.m. Eli Fishman recently self-published a book called Education Redux:  The e-OneRoom Schoolhouse. He argues that American education is completely broken, the whole system should be scrapped and replaced with a setup where each child is put in front of a computer loaded with video games designed to teach the K-12 curriculum.  And his whole curriculum is geared towards teaching kids manufacturing.  Here's the story:  Fishman grew up in Chicago and had a long career running manufacturing plants, most of them here.  

• Thursday, September 3, 1:20 to 2:20 p.m. Learning to be a boy: Olivero Rodriguez is a "transman"-- a transsexual who was born female and became male, in 2005-06.  (He's 28 now.)  He grew up in Humboldt Park and recently finished graduate school at the Art Institute, where-- after his transition-- he undertook an unusual project:  He signed up for Little League baseball, posing as a 12 year-old boy.  A female confederate posed as his mom.  He played a full season.  His "mom" shot lots of footage of him playing, practicing, etc.  ... and that footage later became part of his art project.

• Thursday, September 3, 3:20 to 3:40 p.m. Phillip Jackson is the founder and executive director of the Black Star Project, a Bronzeville-based organization that works to close the racial achievement gap in education in Chicago and elsewhere "primarily through parent and student leadership development and advocacy". On September 8 (the first day of school in Chicago), up to 800,000 black men in hundreds of cities will walk their children to school as part of the Million Father March, a national event organized by Black Star. The first Million Father March-- an opportunity for fathers to demonstrate and re-energize their commitment to the education of their children-- was organized in 2004.  Since then, organizing has expanded beyond Chicago.  Last year, Black Star estimates that 600,000 people took part, in 475 cities-- including more than 30,000 people in the city of Chicago.
• Thursday, September 3, 4 to 5 p.m. Two reports came out last week about reforming Chicago's high schools-- one from a team of researchers at the University of Chicago, the other from a group of high school students from all over the city.  We'll have the lead researcher of the first report and two of the high school students to talk about what they found in the latter.  They'll have looked at each other's reports, so they'll be able to talk about the differences-- and similarities-- in what they found and recommended.  Researcher Sue Sporte works at the Consortium on Chicago School Research.  The high school students were part of the Mikva Challenge Education Council.

• Friday, September 4, 8 to 9 a.m. Our guest, the blogger behind “CPS Obsessed,” whose son is entering first grade this fall, is a white, Chicago north-side mom who spent years researching public (and private) school options in the city.  And it takes work:  Middle-class parents who don't want to move to the 'burbs (but who are picky about where their kids go to school) navigate a complicated maze, which she has been blogging about for over the last year.

• Friday, September 4, 9 to 9:20 a.m. Lucy Gray is a former teacher who now works for an education center at the University of Chicago, and she is a non-stop geek about tech tools for teachers.  She keeps a blog called "High Techpectations:  Ideas and Resources For Teachers," and every week she publishes a list of 20-some links to new stuff.  We'll call her each Friday in September and ask her to describe one or two items on that week's list:  What are they, what's cool about them, what could teachers do with them?

Business

• Monday, August 31, 10 to 11 a.m. Launched in November 2008, Groupon.com features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in a variety of cities across the United States, including Chicago and Indianapolis.

• Monday, August 31, 10 to 11 a.m. Yasmin Nair is an academic, activist, blogger and writer. We'll be talking about her research on the Prison-Industrial Complex and how it affects women, people of color, and the queer community. She'll then join us for Feminist Monday when we talk women's sports, well-dressed straight dudes, and androgyny.

• Tuesday, September 1, 2:20 to 2:30 p.m. Editor Geoff Dougherty of Chi-Town Daily News calls in to discuss the latest they are covering.

• Thursday, September 3, 2:20 to 2:30 p.m.  Latoya, editor of Racialicious blog.

• Friday, September 4, 7:30 to 8 a.m. Joe Arnold brings news of the Lake Michigan Region.

• Friday, September 4, 3:40 to 4 p.m. Alejandro Riera, editor of Café Magazine, discusses the busy upcoming weekend for Latin music in Chicago, including Gonzalo Rubalcaba at the Chicago Jazz Fest (9/4); Arjona at the Rosemont Theatre (9/5); Fiesta Boricua, Aleks Syntek and Moenia at the Aragon (9/6); and Tres de la Habana at the African American Arts Fest.

Health and Fitness

• Tuesday, September 1, 8:10 to 8:20 a.m. Ultra marathon runner, and diet and fitness expert, Paul “Crazy Legs” Stofko, answers common health and exercise questions.

Human Interest

• Tuesday, September 1, and Thursday, September 3, from 7:15 to 7:30 a.m. Vocalo.org user AnalyticalDiva cruises the Twitterverse for weird news.

Kids and Teens

• Thursday, September 3, 9 to 10 a.m. Respect Ours teen roundtable.

Movies

• Wednesday, September 2, 3 to 3:20 p.m. Machelle Blount with the Dunelands Business Initiative Group is on the broadcast to talk about the Wizard of Oz Fest in Chesterton, Indiana.

• Friday, September 4, 12 to 1 p.m. Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic, discusses the latest movies.

Music

• Monday, August 31, 9:30 to 10 a.m. Owen O'Mally, of local band The Rikters, discusses the hottest instruments on the market.

• Wednesday, September 2, 2:20 to 2:30 p.m.  Robert Loerzel, from local music blog Underground Bee talks about Chicago folk-rock singer Joe Pug.

Northwest Indiana

• Monday, August 31, 8:30 to 8:45 a.m. Valparaiso was named Community of the year for 2009 from the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Tom Schuman is with the Chamber, he tells us what it takes to win this award.
• Thursday, September 3, 5 to 6 p.m. Named after Chief Little Turtle, one of the midwest's first environmental activists, Little Turtle Music &  Arts Festival in Valparaiso was designed to be a gathering of friends and lovers of music and the arts, rallying support to create a more environmentally conscious community, state and country. The festival will be held this year on September 4 and 5 at the Porter County Fairgrounds.

Relationships

• Tuesday, September 1, 6 to 7 p.m. Vocalo.org interns April and Assia present How To (and How Not To) Talk to a Woman of Color, and other dating and relationship do’s and don'ts.

Spirituality and Religion

• Wednesday, September 2, 9 to 10 a.m. Five psychics from Gary and a life coach talk about spiritual development.

Sports

• Thursday, September 3, 6 to 7 p.m. The winners of our Next Top Sportscaster contest – comedy troupe Blackout – get us caught up on the latest and not necessarily greatest news from the world of sports.

• Friday, September 4, 2:20 to 3 p.m. MC Jitu is a competitive freestyler and emcee. Briefly, he's been at this since at least 1991, and his day job is fighting for social justice as an organizer for the North Kenwood/Oakland Community Organization, which operates in Bronzeville. And he teaches history at St. Leonard's, a high school for the formerly incarcerated.

Theatre

• Monday, August 31, 5 to 6 p.m. Red Hot Annie, Wham Bam Pam, Donna Touch, Bonny Babs and more present an evening of burlesque performances inspired by the movie The Big Lebowski at Gorilla Tango Theatre in Chicago.

• Tuesday, September 1, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Richard Gallion and other actors in the play, All For Love, talk about their work. The story is centered on Mother Thomas a single, widowed, church mother and prison missionary, who has to face her calling as a mother and her calling from God. The play airs Sept. 5th in a special encore presentation on September 5 at the Harold Washington Cultural Center.