:Vocalo.org

I met a wonderful woman by the name of Dorothy Burge. Dorothy Burge was born in Chicago IL in the year 1954. She attened the high school lindblom math and science academy. While attending lindblom at that time theres was a "point of change going on. Dr. Martin Luther King jr. was just killed and there were riots going on throughout my teen years". Ms. burge says that the national guard was even called during this horrific desvastation. She goes on to say that "if you didnt live in the community you had to test to get into lindblom and if you were black or latino you also had to test". Racism and descrimination was at its strong points during her teen yrs. Ms. burge also says that " mobs sometimes harrased me when I got off the bus....it was never safe going to and from school ". later on in her years she went to UIC college and trained to be an activist and then soon graduated from UIC with a degree of industral design: being the only black and woman to get such a degree in her class. During this time of the black power movements, Fred Hampton was killed. Ms. Burge has talked to Fred Hampton's wife and son[Fred Hampton Jr] and talked and thought about writing a book about there lives. Dorothy Burge has met many interesting people in her lifetime; like: the dead presidents, comon, most def, wyclef john who she mistakenly thought was akon and many more. Her daughter met many interesting people also like: Jesse Jackson and many more, Ms. Burge is very proud of her daughter and her accomplishments. Dorothy grew up with her mom and dad with 7 other siblings 4 borthers and 3 sisters she loved her brothers and sisters, brothers mostly and she's learning to like her sisters. Ms. Burge family was close and was from mississippi but moved to chicago rite before Dorothy was born, she was the only one born in her family in chicago. Dorothy's mom passed away two years ago[2007] but she didnt leave without answering some of Dorothy's questions like why she had come to chicago and many other questions that pondered dorothy. Dorothy's mom will not be forgotton as she marched with dr. king, and was a working woman. she was a sharecropper and her mom thought of sharecropping as slave work. Dorothy found it hard to relate sharecropping to slavery but her mom didn't find it hard at all. Now Dorothy Burge is a part of the urban studies program, and loves working with her students. I believe Dorothy Burge has had a astonishing life thus far and that a book should be wrote about her, if there were such a book I would be the first to buy it.

 

 

Vocalo user Kristin Barrick Twittered the days after the death of her dad.

Here is a copy of the obit Kristin wrote. Her dad died May 18, 2009. All of the photos in this post are from Twitpic and part of Kristin's twitter feed #grieving. You can follow Kristin on Vocalo. She's kbarrick and on Twitter @Kbarrick.

(this was cut from the broadcast audio story) Kristin waits in Chicago for a flight to Billings Montana. They put the phone to her dad's ear. 

The music in the audio piece is also by Vocalo users. Check out Requieum

Solis by sky_gazer

Outlast me by Asher Lev

 And Strong by DawnXianaMoon

The garden at Kristin's parents home in Billings Montana.

 I wish we would post more Tweets. Kristin blogged included  #grieving 

on her Twitter feed from when she reached Montana May 18 to June 28 2009.

The women of the Chicago Force play football. Real football, with tackling, and hitting, and all the brutality and passion you’d expect from the sport. There are over forty players on the Force of all ages, races and backgrounds, none of whom are paid to play the game but all of whom play at the highest levels of competition. In this piece, four members of the team describe what it’s like to be a woman in a man’s game.

My name is Derrick Shenault. I am 16 years young and live in the West Garfield Park Area. I am a 2009 Chicago Freedom School Fellow. I really like being with the Freedom School because they are here to teach us how to fight for what we believe in and fight for the injustices that are troubling us in our community. I'm a junior at Kelly High School. I believe everyone has a future it's up to you to find it, I also believe you should not let your weaknesses over power your strengths. I think people underestimate youths' power to make change. Just because we're young doesn't mean we don't have a voice. I have been with the Chicago Freedom School for some weeks now, and I like everything the Freedom School has to offer and can't wait to continue working with them to make change. I want all my time and effort to go towards getting gay rights across, informing people of the harms of tobacco products, and also stopping the violence that limits some and most youth to a better future. I dedicate my work for those who are searching for help from the streets, help from the oppression of the anti- LGBTQA, and help to fight the temptations of the tobacco product industries.