Vocalo.org Playlist for Week of September 14

During September, Vocalo is “Getting Schooled”. The whole month we’ll be talking about education, back-to-school, life lessons and how-tos. Vocalo invites guests from the Lake Michigan Region to discuss topics of the day. Guests throughout the week will include:

Special Event: Live Remote Broadcast

• Thursday, September 17, 1 to 4 p.m. Vocalo.org host Bibiana Adames will host a live, remote broadcast from Desi’s Hair Salon and Spa on Chicago’s South Side (2130 W. 95th Street).

September Editorial: “Getting Schooled”

• Monday, September 14, 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.

• Tuesday, September 15, 10 to 10:20 a.m. How to Work with Big Cats: While working as an animal custodian at two South African animal parks, Kevin Richardson has broken every taboo about working with lions, as well as hyenas and other predators, and dispels the misconceptions that breaking an animal’s spirit is the best way to manage them.  Instead, he uses love, understanding and trust to develop deep personal bonds with them, and he discusses his life among the lions in his recent book, Part of the Pride: My Life Among the Big Cats of Africa.

• Tuesday, September 15, 3 to 4 p.m. Martha Thompson is the Director of Impact Chicago, a non-profit organization that teaches women and girls self-defense. She’ll be in to teach us some basic self-defense methods.

• Wednesday, September 16, 1:20 to 2 p.m. The ABCs of CPS (Chicago Public Schools): Sarah Karp is deputy editor at Catalyst Chicago:  Independent Reporting on Urban Schools, an award-winning news-magazine about Chicago's public schools.  She's a veteran investigative reporter.  And she's got two kids in Chicago Public Schools.  (She also went to CPS herself.) She'll be telling us the stories that she's learned the most from, as a parent and a reporter.  

• Thursday, September 17, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Carlos de Jesus is the assistant principal at Pedro Albizu Campos High School, one of Chicago's oldest "alternative high schools"-- schools for students who have dropped out of traditional high schools. He’ll be joined by Jesse Fuentes, a recent graduate of Pedro Albizu Campos.

• Friday, September 18, 8 to 8:30 a.m. Nance Klehm teaches workshops in Urban Foraging-- basically, wandering around and identifying what's edible (or medicinal).  As it turns out, there's a lot.  On her way in, she'll take a look around the flowerboxes on the Pier, and maybe in the park just north of us, and she may bring some stuff to taste.  She also teaches Living Kitchen workshops, where participants use local, sometimes found, materials to make cider, mead, beer, soap, bread, pickles, tofu...

• Friday, September 18, 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?

Arts and Literature

• Monday, September 14, 2:20 to 3:20 p.m. Editor Jacob S. Knabb of Another Chicago Magazine brings in an author to read an excerpt and discuss his/her work.

Books

• Monday, September 14, 9 to 10 a.m. Jahmal Cole owns a self-publishing book company, Role Model Publishing, and is the author of two books, Mudsharks: The Dynamics of Interracial Dating in America and Athletes & MC's, set to release in December 2009.

Comedy

• Tuesday, September 15, 9 to 10 a.m. Meechie Hall is a local comedian. He hosts improv comedy shows all over the city.

• Friday, September 18, 3 to 4 p.m. Corey Bailey is a comedian, an actor and a motivational speaker.

Culture and Politics

• Tuesday, September 15, 2:20 to 2:30 p.m. Alex Parker, public health reporter of Chi-Town Daily News calls in to discuss the latest they are covering. Parker will also talk about the changes happening at that news outlet.

• Thursday, September 17, 2:20 to 2:30 p.m.  Latoya, editor of Racialicious, a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture.

• Friday, September 18, 7:30 to 8 a.m. Joe Arnold brings news of the Lake Michigan Region.
• Friday, September 18, 3:20 to 3:40 p.m. Alejandro Riera, editor of Cafe Magazine, which is dedicated to exploring the Latino lifestyle, will be in to talk about this weekend's events. He'll be talking about the Brazilian musicians making their Chicago debut at the World Music Festival. Alejandro will also tell us about Venezuelan party band Los Amigos Invisibles playing September 18 at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago. Finally he'll bring us news of two Latino films, The Burning Plain from director Guillermo Arriaga and Lake Tahoe by director Fernando Eimbcke (the latter is premiering at Chicago's Facets Multimedia).

• Friday, September 18, 5 to 6 p.m. Kenneth Hite is the author of The Idiot's Guide to US History, an author of role playing games (including an award-winning Star Trek title), a University of Chicago graduate and an editorial cartoonist.  His most recent project, The Idiot's Guide to US History, is a graphic novel-style presentation of the quintessential moments in US History from the lives of Native Americans before by the landing of the colonists to the wars, scandals and advancements of the modern era.

Health & Wellness

• Tuesday, September 15, 8:10 to 8:20 a.m. Ultra marathon runner, and diet and fitness expert, Paul Stofko, answers common health and exercise questions.

Human Interest

• Tuesday, September 15, and Thursday, September 17, from 7:15 to 7:30 a.m. Vocalo.org user AnalyticalDiva cruises the Twitterverse for weird news.

Kids and Teens

• Thursday, September 17, 9 to 10 a.m. Respect Ours teen roundtable.

Movies

• Friday, September 16, 12 to 1 p.m. Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic, discusses the latest movies.

Music

• Monday, September 14, 9:30 to 9:40 a.m. Owen O’Mally of The Rikters and of Gearwire.com talks about the hottest drums, guitars, and recording equipment on the market.

• Monday, September 14, 5 to 6 p.m. Craig Cortello is a New Orleans-based musician, author and entrepreneur who found that playing music taught him important lessons to succeed in the business world. Cortello is a contributing music writer to Where Y'at magazine and AllAboutJazz.com and has interviewed some of the greats of the New Orleans music scene.

• Wednesday, September 16, 2:20 to 2:30 p.m.  Robert Loerzel, from local music blog Underground Bee gives a preview of the Chicago World Music Festival, Friday, September 18 through Thursday, September 24.

Spirituality & Religion

• Wednesday, September 16, 9 to 10 a.m. Five psychics from Gary and a life coach talk about spiritual development.

Sports

• Thursday, September 17, 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.

Vocalo.org can be heard on 89.5 FM throughout Northwest Indiana, Chicago and Southwest Michigan and streams online live to the world at www.vocalo.org/stream. Vocalo.org is the place to find diverse local voices engaged in conversations about topics close to the Lake Michigan region.

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