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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2017)
Vendors Page 6 Happiness is Love (and Love is Unity!) by Michelle Blaisdell Marginalized for being me, Stigmatized for what you see, Broken from a truth we long to be, These lies cloud the mind, Now it’s “I” instead of “we.” Street Roots • August 25-31,2017 Left: Street Roots vendor Doug Mareks reads his poetry during A rt in the Open outside the Street Roots office. Art "“’Open Bottom right: Cole Merkel, Street Roots’ Vendor Program director, holds the mic for M addie Brown-Clark. treet Roots poets held a reading of their original work Aug. 18 as part of the Old Town Chinatown Community Association’s Art in the Open festival. The hour-long reading featured 10 Street Roots vendors. Many of their poems had previously been published in Street Roots’ weekly newspaper or biannual zines. “This was my first-ever poetry reading,” Street Roots vendor Aileen McPherson said. “I’ve done school readings, which is completely different. I think Street Roots helped to nurture the writer in me, giving me that voice so I could finally share that voice.” Aileen said she wasn’t as nervous this time, with the reading on the sidewalk outside Street Roots’ Old Town office. “These are going to be really emotional for me because there’s a lot of power behind the words,” she said. “My writing causes me lots of nervous anxiety because I’m sharing things that I haven’t shared in years because I wasn’t allowed to. Street Roots gave me that voice. People listen.” Art in the Open, a two-day art celebration, was organized by the Old Town Chinatown Community Association. The weekend celebration included music, karaoke and sidewalk chalk art in front of local businesses and nonprofits. S What do we do when we can’t hold that face, What do we do when the truth is not faced, What do we do when there is nowhere left to run, Lost in a nightmare, so far from what is one? There is a dense shadow that is creeping over us, Binding what is real, we become oblivious, We must not forget the Light of Unity, If happiness and true love are what we want to be. Answers to Page 15 Puzzles Bottom left: Aileen McPherson says Street Roots has given her a platform to express herself. Sheepfoast 9 S 6 t7 L L Z 8 £ 8 £ Z I- L t7 S 9 £ 8 6 Z 1- L t7 S 9 6 Z L 9 8 1- S 6 £ 6 8 S £ Z ÿ 9 L L t7L £ V L 8 6 Z 9 6 L 9 S £ z 8 S S h 9 6 Z £ L t7 S £ 8 8 6 9 L Z by Elizabeth Considine y
