Michigan Public Radio airs more episodes of WMU professor's show

KALAMAZOO—Michigan Public Radio is airing additional episodes of what has become a monthly storytelling-based program hosted and co-produced by a Western Michigan University education professor.

The episodes are part of the show "The Living Room" hosted by Allison Downey, associate professor of teaching, learning and educational studies. Michigan Radio listeners can tune in to the next "Living Room" show at 3 to 4 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m.  Thursday, Sept. 5, on Michigan Radio's daily news show "Stateside with Cynthia Canty." The episode is dedicated to education.

Downey begins the piece with a collage of voices from interviews she conducted with Kalamazoo preschool and elementary school students the last week of classes this past June. The rest of the show features a story by "The Living Room" Producer Zak Rosen about The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, named after the nationally known authors and activists that is opening in Detroit. Rosen is spending a year at the charter school, producing a series of radio documentaries that kicks off Sept. 5.

Kalamazoo-area listeners can tune in to the episode at 104.1 FM on the radio dial. Podcasts of previous episodes of "The Living Room" are available on the "Stateside" webpage at the Michigan Radio website at michiganradio.org.

Previous episodes

Previous episodes include the most recent broadcast, "Baring It All on Summer Vacation," which aired Thursday, Aug. 29. That show featured a whimsical end-of-summer story by Michigan storyteller and artist, Karen Czarnik. Czarnik, mother to WMU Lee Honors College freshman Shannon Czarnik, recounts a memorable road trip she took with her children to Northern Michigan, where they invoked a family tradition of swimming in every new body of water.

Other previous episodes include:

• In "Running Away with the Carnival," which aired July 24, Downey investigated the lure of American carnivals.

• "Prom Season: First Dance," which aired May 16, celebrates prom season with Downey's story of a first high school dance gone wrong.

• In "Fishing on the Detroit River," which aired April 11, Downey interviewed WMU associate professor of education Jeffrey Jones and his sons about the family tradition of fishing.

• The pilot episode of the "The Living Room" aired Oct. 27 and Thanksgiving Day 2012, and won an Excellence in Broadcasting award from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters in the Special Interest and Cultural Programming category. That show explored the theme of migration by Michigan residents through stories, song and writing.

For more information, visit allisondowney.com.