•" •T h e P o rtland O b server-A u g u st 29,199 0
OPINION
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t
9 • 9 • 9 •
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Poetry Committee
Honors Askari’s
Poem
The W orld o f Poetrys’ execu­
tive committee has chosen Nyewusi
Askari's poem “ Meeting W ith A
Stranger” as e ligible fo r presentation at
its sixth annual poetry convention in Las
Vegas, August 26-28. A t the presenta­
tion Askari w ill be honored as a Silver
poet and w ill receive a beautiful com ­
memorative trophy.
Nyewusi will be honored as a
Golden Poet for 1990
Formal presentations are sched­
uled to take place at he Las Vegas H il­
ton. Last year over 3,700 poets attended
from around the world.
In its sixth year, World O f Poetry
is the largest poe ry organization in the
w orld, boasting 1 4 m illio n poets. Fewer
than tw enty per ‘nt o f its w orldw ide
constituency ha' ’ omitted poems e li­
gible fo r a preset
on as a Silver poem
at the conferenc
During
■ presentation Askari
w ill have two m nutes or so to read his
poem and to offer personal remarks.
(The Academy Awards usually lim it
recipients to one m inute) after Askari
has shared his poem, he w ill be pre­
sented w ith the commemorative trophy,
acknowledging him as a Golden poet for
1990.
”O-
p r tm ìr
Heading the three day affair
are, John Campbell, Joan Rivers, Bob
Hope, W illia m Shatner, Eddie Lou Cole
and Red Buttons. Actress-singer Pearl
C. Bailey has been scheduled to appear.
Sleeping to Think: Planning Your Life
By the time a human being is
72 years o f age, a normal person that is,
tw enty-four years o f their life has been
speni'sleeping roughly six years is spent
dreaming. A t no point during the sleep­
ing process does consciousness cease
and i t ’ s been suggested by some experts
that wakefulness/sleep are an interwoven
whole. What do we know or understand
about sleep, our other existence, that
claims about a th ird o f our lives?
People often look at me in dis­
b elief when I suggest that I sleep to
think, not to rest or relax. I use the
sleeping process to plan, p lo t m y next
day, or visualize goals that I w ant to
accomplish in m y life . Sounds crazy? It
is now w e ll documented that sleep is not
synonymous w ith o b livio n or temporary
shutdown o f one’s body. N either is it a
unitary whole dominated by flashes o f
thoughts and dreams. The sleeping
process, in fact, is a complex mental and
physical state. Some psychologists la­
bel the word “ sleep” as a m arginal way
to interpret the many elements and d e li­
cate phases or m ental/physical a c tiv i­
ties we a ll experience each n ig h t
In the process o f fa llin g asleep,
i t ’s been stated that there is no concrete
boundary between being awake and
fa llin g asleep, o nly stages. Shortly be­
fore people fa ll asleep, the brain cortex
decreases its attentiveness to the various
elements o f the outside w orld. M o ­
ments later, relaxation fo llo w s and men­
tal activity or intensity starts to decrease.
Fora short period o f tim e, the individual
can s till hear the radio, the television,
voices, or other noises in the general
area. D uring this state, w hich is called
the “ hypnagogic stage (neither sleeping
nor w akin g)” , the person usually fo r­
gets what they were thinking about when
disturbed abruptly. They claim that
they were not sleeping, but they can not
remember what they were thinking or
what someone in the room said to them.
As the sleep process continues, the
piuscles relax and the heart slows down.
The brain, according to some experts, is
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consciousness and controlled dreaming
is a need fu lfillin g process, the m in d ’ s
way o f view ing things from a different
perspective or in an altered state. Sleep
conscious can be viewed as a second
opinion in the search fo r resolution of
needs and problems. Try sleeping to
think, not to rest.
(It'll take just a few minutes
to see if you can afford a HUD home!)
If you've worked for two
yean for the same employer
(or in the same occupation) and
you have a good credit record,
move ahead 1 space
START
r ■ Write the smaller omount of
either space 3 or space 5 here. As o
general rule, thot's the maximum
omount you can afford for a
monthly house payment (including
property taxes).
YOU DID ITI
If the
nutnber in space 6 is more than
$ 5 5 0 , then chances ore good
that HUD has on affordable
home for you. Your next move
is Io coll your real estate
ogenl
Stop here and compute your Adjusted
Income. Thot's your total gross
monthly income, less federal withhold­
ing taxes. Write your answer here and
move on.
New Recognition has
Rekindled Spirit
is, can be used as a period to regroup and
plot a new course in life. Some people
can get adequate sleep and s till wake up
tired or em otionally drained. Last week,
I had some business to take care o f in
Washington, D.C. and long before I ar­
rived there, I went over in m y m ind ex­
actly how things w ould go when I ar­
rived there. Needless to say, m y busi­
ness dealings went very w ell and I was
most confident during my presentation.
I f you can ’ t dream it, you can not achieve
it. Contrary to people’s perception, the
average person usually remains in a sound
sleep fo r about 90 minutes. They then
begin another cycle and fluctuate be­
tween the two states, * ‘hypnagogic stage"
where they are conscious o f the sounds
around them and the actual sleeping
process. Our society does not place a
great deal o f emphasis on the content o f
our dream life. For example, no one in
my fam ily can explain how every time
m y grandmother dreams about “ fis h ” ,
someone in the fa m ily comes up preg­
nant or is already pregnant.
T o the Senoi tribe o f the Malay
peninsula, dreams are an im portant part
o f their life and culture. The indians
regularly recount and analyze their dreams
in family and communal situations. When
a tribe or fam ily meber is harmed by one
or does harm to another person in a
dream, he seeks out the individual and
gives or recieves restitution. When the
Senoi discuss their dreams, they prac-
tive a form o f dream m odification in
which they consistently reinforce the
pleasurable aspects o f dreaming. They
have no war or violent crimes and enjoy
good health. The Senoi have shown the
benefits resulting from an active aware­
ness and acknowledgement o f the im ­
portance o f dreams.
In short, it w ould seem that sleep
M O V E SIX
SPACES FORWARD
•"17"'
Mir1
New York, August 23 - The cou­
rageous sp irit o f form er Alabama Con­
gressman C arl E llio t Sr. has been * ‘re­
k in d le d ’ ’ by the recognition he has re­
ceived since w in in g the first P rofile in
Courage A w ard, according to a form er
aide w ho nominated him .
Congressman E llio t, whose sup­
p o rt o f the National Defense Educa­
tion A c t o f 1958, w hich opened new
educational opportunities fo r m in ori­
ties. cost him his seat in Congress in
period we know as sleep.
N ow , let me address the topic
o f sleeping to think and provide you
w ith some insight into this phenome­
non. Back in college, I met a student
from India, who practiced “ transcen­
dental m editation” w ith the objective o f
bringing re lie f from tension and increas­
ing awareness. He was a b rillia n t math
student. One day, in an e ffo rt to gain
some insight into his studying techniques,,
I asked him about his math aptitude. His
response really surprised me. He stated
that he studied and took tests in his
sleep. For example, i f he had a test in
math tom orrow, Raj would study the
test the night before during the sleep
process. He w ould get up (in his m ind)
at the designated time, brush his teeth,
eat his breakfast, dress, ride his bike to
campus, lock it up, go to the library to
study before class, leave the library, and
head to class just like he was supposed to
do the next day. He w ould then take the
test and continue on w ith his regular
day. So, when the test day did actually
come around, he was not surprised by
the content or the grade because he had
already “ aced” it. He was not in tim i­
dated or tensed by what was to come and
he later described it as “ creative visu­
aliza tion ” . Eventually, I started taking
test and planning m y life during the
sleeping process.
Throughout the years since
college, I have actively used sleeping as
a means to get ahead careerwise and
personally. I was once told that i f you
can not dream it, you can not do it. I ’ ve
dreamed my way into promotions, a
graduate school fellow ship at the U o f
Portland, and into new jobs. There is
nothing like a dream to keep a song in
your heart and to keep you motivated.
People are so caught up in the everyday
drama o f raising children, paying bills,
dealing w ith covert/overt racism, emo­
tional problems, job-related stress, and
peer/professional pressures that they lose
sight o f their dreams or aspirations. The
sleeping process, conscious sleep that
WANT TO BUY
YO UR OWN HOME?
The Portland Chapter o f Fair
Share at their m onthly membership
meeting last night, August 15. recom­
mended that the voters elect a form er
state representative and Portland school
board member, W a lly Priestley, to the
o ffice o f M ultnom ah County C om m is­
sioner.
Priestley has been active w ith
Oregon Fair Share in their efforts to
reduce property taxes and provide health
care
to those not insured.
Other local candidates on the general
election b allot w ill be sent question­
naires by the Portland Fair Share en­
dorsement chairman, form er state rep­
resentative George Starr.
□ Former Congress­
man whose Fight for De­
segregation Cost Him
His Career
at its highest state o f activity during the
by Ullysses Tucker, Jr.
Fair Share Picks
Priestley
1964, had been living in poverty, unable
to w alk and nearly b lind, when he won
the award, w hich included a $25,000
cash prize.
"S in ce w inning the award,” Jul­
ian B utler told P A R A D E Magazine,
which announced the award com peti­
tion in February, * ‘ M r. E llio t has heard
from friends a ll around the country.
Students w ho did not know that they
owed their education to him ha ve been
inspired to w rite and thank h im .”
The P rofile in Courage Award,
sponsored by the John F. Kennedy L i ­
brary Foundation in memory o f the
late President, recognizes individuals
who demonstrate the value o f leader­
ship and p o litica l courage President
Kennedy admired.
HIIS,
Low monthly payment*
ond 3% down!
Multiply your Adjusted Income (from
space 2) by 0.3 8 , then subtract $150 ond
write the answer here Then move on to
the next space
Most of our HUD homes
are opproved for FHA
Mortgage Insurance, which
makes them more afford
oble then ever Plus, HUD's
bid process is easy
For listings of HUD homes
available now, look for osx
big real estate classified od
in every Sunday Oregonian
Add up all your monthly debts (cor,
loan, credit purchose, credit cord,
child support ond olimony payments
you owe every month) ond then
odd $150. Fill in the total here
and go to space 5.
â HUD-
D E P A R TM E N T O F HO USIN G
A N D U R B A N D E VE LO P M E N T
« 1989 by
You're almost home. Multiply
your Adpsted Income (from
space 2) by 0.5 3 , subtract
the omount on space 4,
and write the result here
N o w move along
HUD. Porttond Othce
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