In my broadcast media debut I had a chance to speak with Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss for an Advocate Radio podcast. Eva was friends with Anne Frank before both families went into hiding, and after the war her mother married Anne Frank’s father. The podcast is about 9 1/2 megabytes and 7 minutes long.

The article, "And Then They Came For Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank", profiles a production featuring Eva at the Dallas Children’s Theater this May. In the interview I speak with Eva about why it is important to educate children about the Holocaust. If you want to hear more, Eva will be at the play May 1-10 to answer questions after the performance.

Each editor was brought to tears at least once while interviewing students for our cover stories this month. The article, "Comeback Kids", profiles standout seniors at neighborhood high schools who have essentially turned lemons into lemonade — using the obstacles in their way as stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks.

Listen to this Advocate Radio podcast with editors Marlena Chavira-Medford, Christina Hughes Babb and Keri Mitchell talk about some of these inspirational students, and some of the stories we didn’t have room to print. The podcast takes roughly 11.1 MB to download and 12 minutes to listen.

Hopefully this month’s Advocate has reached your front doorstep, along with our annual Home Design issue. (If not, it should sometime this week.) One of the Home Design stories profiles a family who turned their ranch house into a bungalow, and when remodeling the house, homeowner Cari Kelemen drew her inspiration from architect and author Sarah Susanka of the "Not So Big House" books.

I recently spent some time chatting with Susanka — who happens to have a new book out titled "Not So Big Remodeling" — and talked to her a little bit about her philiosphy, and how it might apply to homes and homeowners in Dallas. You can listen to our conversation in this Advocate Radio podcast.

The question posed in April’s cover story, "The $100 Million Question", might seem like it came out of left field. And perhaps it did, but we thought it might be good to explain the genesis of the story, and the discussion we hoped to provoke by writing it.

To hear more from publisher Rick Wamre, contributing editor Jeff Siegel and managing editor Keri Mitchell about how this story came to be, listen to this Advocate Radio podcast. You can either download it (10.4 MB) or simply play it (a little more than 11 minutes).

You may already have read about the store’s somewhat bumpy journey in March’s Advocate, as well as more details on the grand opening.

Even more is revealed in this podcast, when Lakewood Whole Foods store team leader Carmen Fort and Whole Foods spokeswoman Karen Lukin sat down with us to share some tidbits about the makeover of the old Minyard’s building, and what neighbors can expect the first few days and weeks. One of the more interesting aspects is the mural detailing the history of Lakewood that wil greet shoppers as they enter the store; Lukin talks a little about this, while still leaving some of the surprise element to grand opening day, March 2.

The podcast is roughly 10 minutes long and 15 megabytes to download.

How do descriptions like “dire” and “unpalatable cuts” sound? That’s the word from Dave Levinthal, the ace city hall reporter for Dallas’ Only Daily Newspaper, who joined Rick Wamre and myself to talk about the impending crisis.  What’s going to happen? Can we save the 200 cops and the beefed up code enforcement that we’ve been promised? How will the council react to making cuts or raising taxes? And how worried should we be?

We also found a couple of minutes to discuss the 2011 mayoral race. To download or stream the podcast, click here. It’s about 21 minutes and 29 megabytes.

The March cover story on Dallas’ trail system pretty much sticks to those 8- and 12-foot paved pathways that neighbors use to hike and bike, safely out of reach of zooming vehicles (at least, for the most part). But what if runners and cyclists and even parents pushing strollers could do so safely on actual streets?

The idea behind "complete streets" is making room for everyone — pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and mass transit (including light rail and streetcars). This concept doesn’t currently exist in Dallas, but plans are in the works for a Katy Trail-Arts Loop that would connect the trail to Downtown via existing and planned complete streets. (This plan is briefly discussed in the Preston Hollow cover story.) City Councilman Angela Hunt and Friends of the Katy Trail executive director Eric Van Steenburg sat down with us to talk about this plan, and when and where else we might see complete streets here in Dallas.

To download or stream the podcast, click here. It’s roughly 15-16 minutes and 21 megabytes. After the jump, watch a video interview with the commissioner of the Department of Transportation in New York, which is attempting to turn all of their roads into complete streets:

Woodrow Wilson High School has been designated DISD’s first International Baccalaureate (IB) high school as part of the district "redesign" of high schools throughout Dallas.

What does this mean for Woodrow? According to Woodrow principal Ruth Vail, greater rigor in the classroom, more academic challenges for students of all income levels, and an opportunity to burnish the educational reputation of the neighborhood’s 80-year-old landmark institution.

And the designation puts Woodrow in good company: there are about 540 IB high schools in the United States, and by way of comparison, there are more than 29,000 public high schools in the country.

The Woodrow announcement was made during a podcast we conducted with Vail (herself a Woodrow grad); you can listen to the eight-minute discussion and what it means for the school by clicking here. Pass the word and email a link to this blog post to neighborhood families, especially those with students who are currently sixth-graders or younger — that’s the group this new designation will have the greatest impact upon, because the program is expected to be fully implemented for the 2011 school year. But Vail says students currently in 7th-10th grades eventually will notice a difference in the school’s curriculum, too, as IB courses are added to the curriculum during the next few years.

I’ll have more information and a longer discussion about the IB program Tuesday.

We invited Jim Schutze and Sam Merten of the Dallas Observer to discuss the city’s plan to build and own the convention center hotel. Our publisher, Rick Wamre, who has a few thoughts on the subject, joined in. Want to know what’s really behind the push to build the hotel? Worried about how much it’s going to cost? Feeling a little paranoid about how the city is handling this project? Then download or stream the podcast here. It’s about 22 minutes and 21 MB. (Best yet, we fixed most of the technical problems. Technology is a wonderful thing.)

And our timing couldn’t have been better. Dallas’ Only Daily Newspaper reports today that city officials have had much more difficulty than expected in finalizing a deal to operate the hotel – something the city wants to do quickly so construction can begin before May’s hotel referendum.