October 11th Show

On this last show of the week, here are today's topics:

We are calling our first hour show topic "Parents At Wits' End." We want to reach out to the parents of troubled teenagers who are dealing with more than your typical adolescent peer pressure, anti-social behavior and stubborn silence at the dinner table. Chicago Tribune columnist Amy Dickinson offers advice to help parents deal with extreme behaviorial problems in their teenage kids, and we'll hear from one mother who struggled to control and ultimately save her out-of-control daughter. Following that, we'll talk about the recent school shooting at a Cleveland, Ohio high school. A 14-year-old student opened fire at the school, killing five before killing himself. Reports say the principal called a "Code Blue" alarm over the intercom, suggesting the school may have had a regulated system in place in case of a shooting at the school. We'll talk with a reporter in Cleveland and the regional director of the National Association of School Resource Officers about drill training programs designed to keep schools and its students safe.

In our second hour, empathy for the aging. Magazine editor Jason Wilson participated in a class designed to teach empathy toward the elderly. He'll talk about the curriculum that included wearing restrictive bandages on his knees and breathing through a straw. Also joining us will be Peg Gordon, who teaches a class called "Xtreme Aging." We'll hear how different age groups responded to the aches and pains of growing old, and if that changed how they view the elderly. Can empathy be taught? At the end of the hour, we'll talk about the changing role of comic strips with cartoonist Tom Batiuk, creator of the comic strip "Funky Winkerbean" whose character died after losing her battle with breast cancer.