January 2012 | Signal eNewsletter | WSIU Radio

Vol. 5, No. 1: January 2012

Signal This Month on Morning Conversations

Tuesday, January 3 • Gallaudet/ASL Jennifer Fuller interviews Midwest Regional Center Director Sheri Cook and SIUC American Sign Language Instructor Pamela Walker about local opportunities and information regarding the deaf and hard of hearing community. We’ll also discuss the new WSIU-TV program, Signing Time!, airing Fridays at 3:30pm.

Tuesday, January 10 • Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon Sheila Simon will be in to review her first year in office, including education priorities and initiatives for the upcoming months.

An Online Newsletter from WSIU Public Radio P o w e r e d b y Yo u ®

SIRIS Hosts Holiday Celebration for Volunteers

T

he Southern Illinois Radio Information Service (SIRIS) hosted its annual Holiday Open House and Celebration on Friday, December 2 to thank the SIRIS staff, students, and volunteers who devote their time and effort to keep the service running smoothly.

Several WSIU staff members and students joined the group for homemade holiday treats and good conversation. SIRIS volunteers also enjoyed a gift exchange.

If you’re looking for volunteer opportunities in the Southern Illinois area, give SIRIS a try! Get involved by contacting SIRIS at (618) 453-2808.

Tuesday, January 17 • Regional School Districts Franklin/Williamson Chancellor Rita Cheng. Photo: Provided.

Regional School Superintendent Matt Donkin will discuss restored funding for his office and others around the state, what Regional Superintendents plan to do in response to funding issues, and what could be coming as lawmakers look at funding options and efficiencies.

Tuesday, January 24 • SIUC Chancellor Rita Cheng Rita Cheng shares her priorities for the Spring 2012 semester.

SIRIS volunteers mingle at the annual holiday celebration.

Tuesday, January 31 • TBA at press time Share your comments and suggestions for Morning Conversations to mornings@wsiu.org.

All Morning Conversations episodes are available online at www.wsiu.org/live. You can also find them on our podcast page and get a calender listing of upcoming events at www3.wsiu.org/ radio morningconversation. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Above: SIRIS board member, Suzanne Gorrell (right), enjoys a conversation with SIRIS volunteer Dan Hill (left).

Above: SIRIS volunteers Karthik Tadisina (left) and Tedda Becker (right) share a laugh.

All photos: Beth Radtke.

SIRIS Hosts Film Screening of Lives Worth Living

Live Saluki Basketball Returns to WSIU-TV!

Josh Swan. Photo: SIU Athletics.

‘T

is the season for Saluki Basketball sports fans! WSIU-TV is proud to bring you live TV broadcasts of selected men’s basketball games.

Shown: ADAPT protesters in Las Vegas, 1993.

Photo: Tim Onlin.

Each game will air live on our main channels (WSIU HD 8.1/WUSI HD 16.1) and repeat later the same day on our WORLD channels (WSIU 8.2/WUSI 16.2).

E

Wednesday, January 4

In November, SIRIS staff, students, and volunteers reached out to the community at large by hosting a special film screening and discussion of the Independent Lens documentary film Lives Worth Living, which recently aired on PBS stations nationwide. The screening was held at the SIRIS house at 1003 Oakland Avenue in Carbondale.

7pm • SIUC Men vs. Bradley

Repeats 10pm on WSIU WORLD 8.2 / 16.2

Tuesday, January 24

7pm • SIUC Men vs. Bradley (home) Repeats 10pm on WSIU WORLD 8.2 / 16.2

Tuesday, January 31

7pm • SIUC Men vs. Northern Iowa Repeats 10pm on WSIU WORLD 8.2 / 16.2

Saturday, February 11

12pm • SIUC Men vs. Indiana State Repeats 3pm on WSIU WORLD 8.2 / 16.2

Schedule is subject to change.

Check www.wsiu.org/salukis for updates as they become available.

Proudly Sponsored by Dr. Michael B. Clay of S.I. Dentistry Murphysboro, Illinois

Wells Fargo Advisors LLC

Carbondale and Mount Vernon, Illinois

SIU Alumni Association Worldwide

Wright Do-It Centers

Murphysboro and Sparta, Illinois

Cook Portable Warehouses Nationwide

SIU Foundation Worldwide

ach fall, SIRIS hosts an event coinciding with White Cane Safety Day, a national observance to raise awareness about the issues facing people with disabilities and to celebrate their achievements.

Following the screening, SIRIS board member and Carbondale resident, Suzanne Gorrell, shared her personal experiences with mobility issues before and after the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which was passed in 1990 and amended in 2008. SIRIS board member Brad Klein also spoke with the audience about the changes architects and designers now include to ensure that all buildings and construction are in compliance with the ADA.

About the Film

While there are close to 50 million Americans living with disabilities, Lives Worth Living is the first television program to tell their decadeslong struggle for equal rights.

Produced and directed by Eric Neudel, the film offers a window into a world inhabited by people with an unwavering determination to live their lives like everyone else, and a look back into a past when millions of Americans lived without access to schools, apartment buildings, and public transportation.

The program focuses on Fred Fay, who suffered a spinal cord injury at age 17 in 1961 and simply refused to be relegated to life’s sidelines just because he couldn’t walk. He fought tirelessly for decades for equal rights, access, and opportunity for the disabled, including advocating for programs allowing the disabled to live independently. (Fred died August 20, 2011; the film is dedicated to him.) Also featured is Ed Roberts, who founded the independent living movement in Berkeley and is also considered a father of the disability rights movement. Learn more at www.pbs.org/independentlens/lives-worth-living.

Morning Edition Explores Arab Spring the overthrow and murder of Moammar Gadhafi, these groups can operate freely for the first time. The ripple effects of these organizations’ activities have wide impact on a region in upheaval. Lourdes Garcia Navarro reports from Tripoli.

Encourage Kids to Read with NPR’s Back-Seat Book Club!

H

osted by Michele Norris (left), NPR’s Back-Seat Book Club, presented by All Things Considered (ATC), is a special segment aimed at young people ages 9 to 14.

The Arab Spring: Syria

Wednesday, January 4 The Syrian regime has Libyan women played important roles in the rise against Gadhafi’s consistently blamed regime. NPR examines the Arab Spring one year later in this six-part the 10-month-old antiseries. Photo: Sean Carberry / NPR. government uprising on what it terms “armed gangs ne year ago, demonstrations broke of terrorists and Islamist militants.” out in central Tunisia at the funeral Syrian state television also portrays ceremony for a young fruit vendor who the demonstrations as a danger. Will had died after setting fire to himself when provoked by a confrontation with the Syrian uprising reopen sectarian local authorities. Protests quickly spread conflict in the region? Deborah Amos throughout Tunisia and then to Egypt, reports from Lebanon.

O

Yemen, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets protesting against repressive governments and calling for economic opportunity. The Egyptian, Tunisian, and Yemeni leaders were forced to step aside, and Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi was slain by rebels after a six-month civil war. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad now risks a similar fate as the violence in his country escalates.

Morning Edition examines the repercussions of the Arab Spring in this six-part series, airing this month.

The Arab Spring: Bahrain Thursday, January 5

The least successful of the uprisings occurred in the small Persian Gulf island of Bahrain. After nearly a month of massive popular protests, troops from neighboring Saudi Arabia rolled into Bahrain and the resident monarchy was able to impose martial law. Few journalists could enter, but NPR’s Kelly McEvers made several trips to the island during and after the uprising.

McEvers reports on Bahrain’s brutal government crackdown.

The Arab Spring: Turkey

Photo: Stephen Voss.

The book club encourages engagement with children – the kids who listen in their parents’ cars or kitchens while doing their homework – that are part of NPR’s family of listeners.

Each month ATC chooses a special book and asks kids to read it and submit questions or comments for the author to backseatbookclub@npr.org.

When the author is interviewed on ATC by Michele Norris, the club members’ questions will frame the conversation. They can ask authors where they got their inspiration, why they chose a particular locale, or how they know so much about the topics they write about. ATC airs the segment at the end of each month.

The project is also a great resource for parents looking for quality books to share with their children and for teachers looking to create their classroom reading lists or share ATC’s segments as an educational tool in their lesson plans.

Back-Seat Book Club’s January 2012 Reading List

Friday, January 6

As U.S. and European influence wanes, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan is Monday, January 2 greeted like a hero on Arab streets.

Meanwhile, Turkish businesses fret as The Arab Spring brought the fairest lucrative investments in Libya and Syria elections in decades to Egypt and are jeopardized. How prepared is Turkey Tunisia, but those polls have not been to fill the power vacuum in a changing without problems. Long-suppressed Middle East? NPR’s Peter Kenyon Islamist groups garnered the most votes in both countries, creating friction reports from Istanbul. with the liberals who led the street The Arab Spring: The U.S. protests and who fear the Islamists threaten the very freedoms they fought Monday, January 9 for. Soraya Nelson reports from Cairo.

Is the “Arab Spring” movement good or bad for the U.S.? Pose that question to The Arab Spring: Tripoli Middle East analysts and foreign policy Tuesday, January 3 experts, and opinions break down along ideological lines. NPR’s Deborah In Tunisia, Egypt, and Morocco, longAmos takes a look at the regional established Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood garnered the most winners, Turkey and Qatar, and the risks for the U.S. as the region struggles to votes in parliamentary elections. After redefine itself.

The Arab Spring: Cairo

January’s book pick is The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis.

Head to the Back-Seat Book Club website at www.npr.org/series/141728003/nprs-backseat-book-club to read an excerpt, listen to previous ATC Back-Seat Book Club features, and more.

Host Bryan Kelso Crow. Photo: Rachel Snow King.

Airs Saturday @ 7pm • Sunday @ 6pm January 7 | New Releases New and recent releases from the past year are spotlighted on this week’s edition of Celtic Connections.

Photo: Katie Tullis.

“I support public radio because it prepares me for living in a complex world.”

January 14 | Six Band Spotlight Six of the leading bands in contemporary Celtic music are in the spotlight this week, but you’ll have to tune in to find out which six!

January 21 | Robert Burns Birthday January 25th marks the 252nd birthday of Scotland’s great poet, songwriter, and song collector, Robert Burns. Scottish singers continue to perform and record his works, as we will hear in this week’s birthday celebration.

January 28 | The M&M Show Musicians and bands whose names start with “M and M” are featured this week, including Matt Molloy, Mick Moloney, Manus McGuire, Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, and Mouth Music. Why not?

Thank You, Underwriters!

Please join us in thanking the underwriters who recently began, renewed, or expanded their partnerships to make public radio possible:

The Glass Haunt Benton, IL

Hanger 9

Carbondale, IL

Kiwanis Noon Club

- Dona Bachman, Director University Museum, SIU Carbondale

I

listen to WSIU because it provides a still place in a busy life. Some of my favorite programs are the classical music presentations, Celtic Connections, All Things Considered, and, yes…I listen to Click and Clack of Car Talk!

I like these programs because I am so often surprised by the originality and thoughtfulness they bring to me. I support public radio because it not only provides the distillation of news, it also prepares me for living in a complex world.

It’s important to support public radio because we need to know what’s happening in our own backyard and in the larger world. Thank you so much for supporting WSIU Public Radio!

I’m Dona Bachman of Carbondale, Illinois, and WSIU Public Radio is Powered by Me!

What do you love about WSIU? Tell us and we’ll share it on the air, online, or in print!

Carbondale, IL

Online • www.wsiu.org/you Email • you@wsiu.org

The Neighborhood Co-Op Grocery

W S I U i s P o w e r e d b y Yo u ®

For a complete list of WSIU sponsors and information about sponsoring WSIU programming, visit us online at www.wsiu.org or call (618) 453-4286.

WSIU Public Radio Communications Building 1003 - MC 6602 Southern Illinois University Carbondale 1100 Lincoln Drive Carbondale IL 62901 • 618/453-6101 • www.wsiu.org • wsiuradio@wsiu.org

Carbondale, IL