Hello fellow programmers,

Here's what I have in the hopper at the moment:

Understanding Social Security, September 10 at 7pm. Presented by Personal Financial Strategies of Park Ridge, whom we have not had before but are well recommended. If this program works out, we may tap these people for future financial-type programs.

College admissions program, September 12 at 7:30pm. Presented by Ravinia College Consulting.

Books on the Chopping Block, September 22 at 2pm. This is the third time we've offered this Banned Books Week program because it's always a hit. Four professional actors from Chicago's City Lit Theater do lively staged readings of excerpts from the top ten most challenged books of the previous year.

Astronomy program "Movers in the Sky", October 14 at 10:30 am. This family program will be on Columbus Day morning, when school's out. Presented by Kevin Manning, who did the tremendous astronomy program last spring. This program--which will cover comets, asteroids, and meteors--anticipates a possible spectacular appearance by Comet ISON the following month. If it's not cloudy, the program will be followed by a trip outside to view sunspots through NASA-approved filters.

Organ donation informational program, date TBD but probably early November. Presented by Glencoe resident Harvey Mysel. The focus will be on living kidney donation, which is by far the most common sort of living donation. Harvey is a former GPL board member and a two-time kidney recipient.

Jeanne Nolan author appearance, date TBD. Jeanne, a Glencoe resident, is author of From the Ground Up: A Food Grower's Education in Life, Love, and the Movement That's Changing the Nation, which will be published by Random House next week. [The forward is by Alice Waters!] Her deep knowledge of organic gardening, many contacts in this area, and intriguing personal story (she is a New Trier dropout who was a member of a rather extreme farming cult for 17 years) could make this a big event.

Poetry reading by Jim Davis, date TBD. No commitment on this one yet, but very likely to happen. Jim is the real thing, poetry-wise, and has just published a book. He also is a teacher and coach at New Trier and a semi-professional football player. He read for us at last summer's poetry reading. We may try to bring in Bob Boone and John O'Connor as well.

Scott Javore program on Glencoe's religious/institutional architecture, date TBD. This may not happen until winter.

That's it for now.

Grace