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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1990)
M ., - . • s. . . . - . -■rit* t . PORTLA^Ö Volume XX, Number 34 Mike Keever to Visit Portland to Promote Reading Program Dr. A. Lee Henderson previews potential of ad revenue in mi nority publications PAGE 2 We're all familiar with the grow ing problem o f racism...catch the view from a youth perspec tive on KBPS' and Portland Public Schools' "Class of 2000: The Prejudice Puzzle" PAGE 6 t O n OPINION Is it education or good minds that produce results? Professor McKinley Burt reflects upon this question in "Perspectives" PAGE 2 Angelique Sanders analyzes the shortcomings of the capitalistic system in "...And Justice For All" PAGE 7 As promised, Ullysses Tucker examines why people put up with physical and emotional abuse, and what can be done PAGE 7 SPORES Ullysses Tucker presents an al ternate view on the NIKE con troversy PAGE 5 A aron Fentress h igh ligh ts D om inique H ardem an, an underappreciated P.S.U. foot ball player on the rise PAGE 5 Also, don't miss the preview of the upcoming Martinez-Arce boxing match PAGE 5 ■■SOSQ2HHI I O R THOSE LOOKING...Are dating services worth it? Meet a woman from the American Singles Network, and see why she believes in them PAGE 6 □ ’’Cowboy Mike” Keever will bring his "magic time machine" to stu dents at King Ele mentary this Thursday, in an effort to promote students' reading enthusiasm ' hen Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus Clow n, Mike Keever, com es to town to conduct "RINGLING READERS", you can be sure he'll bring along his size 36 shoes, red bulbous nose, orange wig and an im portant m essage for children in the Portland area-read in g is fun! A nationwide program designed to e n c o u ra g e c h ild re n to re a d , "RINGLING READRS" is sponsored in cooperation with Reading Is Fundam en tal (RIF), a national non-profit organi zation founded to prom ote reading. This year's all-new , 25 m inute, live presenta tion will feature "Cowboy Mike" K eever and his magical time m achine perform ing for M artin Luther King Elem entary school at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Septe- m er 6. Children from K ing, as well as other Portland schools have been in vited on a special field trip to participate in the program at TH E AM ERICA N ADVERTISING M USEU M located at 9 N.W . Second in Portland. The field trip is sponsored by local Burger King restaurants and their community restau rants and their com m unity representa tives Doris Bray, Mary Jorzig, Felita Burton and Charlene Gordon. Burger King is assisting schools with money for the field trips, and the com m unity repre sentatives will be serving students punch and cookies at the Museum. To show children that "Read ing Lets You Imagine", Cow boy Mike will take them on an exciting tour through time. An im agination tim e machine, run in part by children's ow n im agina tions, allows them to discover, through September 5,1 9 9 0 "The Eyes and Ears o f The Community" News Inside Barnum & Bailey Circus and Clown NEWS ERVER W Pictured above and below are students at Martin Luther King Elementary school on Northeast Seventh and Alberta. books, how life was in days gone by and how it m ight look in the future. The program strives to encourage kids to develop their imaginations and create a renew ed enthusiasm for reading. In addition, each youngster attending the program w ill receive the latest edition o f The Ringling Reporter, an 8-page new spaper containing fun and fact-filled stories about the Circus. Each story was w ritten and edited especially for children by RIF. Immediately following the "RINGLING READERS"program, stu dents and teachers will tour the A dver tising Museum's current exhibit BROAD SHEETS, BOMBAST, and BALLY HOO: The History o f Circus Advertis ing. "RINGLING READERS” spon sor Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be at Portland's Memorial Coliseum Septemcr 12-16 with nine exciting performances. Tickets arc on sale at the Coliseum Box Offic and GI Joe’s TicketM aster Outlets. 25<P B U S IN E S S P R O F IL E Marlon McClain Co-Presldent/Mu-Vislon Records & Darkhorse Entertainment the Selgado project. He stays busy these days. It seem s like everyone wants him to hear a dem o tape, a band, or producer an album. McClain lives by his monthly planner and sushi, the food he loves m ost He also enjoys boating and McClain is single. P ortland Observer-Darkhorse Rec ords, w hat does that symbolize-are you truely a darkhorse? M cC lain-” Basically, we started the company and named it “ D arkhorse” because it’s something that can come from behind and win. It’s a good way to describe w hat your concept is about. I would say i regards to seeing potential and being able to take it from the devel opm ental stage, I’ve always been suc cessful in doing that. Groups like the Dan Reed Network, U-DREW , my early work with Nu-Shooze, and Jeff Lorber Fusion were all unknown talents with great potential. People didn’t believe that they had this potential. I’ve always been in a position to realize this potential and I guess from that aspect, I guess the darkhorse premise is true... BY ULLYSSES TUCKER, JR. P o rtla n d O bserver-H ave you al arlon McClain in no stranger to ways been an underdog or darkhorse and the music industry, especially if so, is this the reason why you take in the city o f Portland, Throughout the on darkhorses? chances sixties and seventies, Marlon played with M cC lain -’ ’Yes, I ’ve been the dark the Soul M asters and Pleasure, one o f the horse or underdog. I’ve always enjoyed most successful groups to come out of the challenges o f being the underdog the Pacific Northwest. During the eight too. Usually when som eone says that ies, he released a solo album, “ Changes” , something or someone is not happening, and played with M aurice W hite, Jeff I try very hard to prove that it is. Som e Lorber, Kenny G., and the Dazz Band to times, you m ust take chances to prove name a few. He also produced gold rec that these things can happen, but the ords for Kenny G and Nu-Shooze. If the rewards are greater than the risk. For first nine months o f 1990 are any indica example, let’s look at the cases o f the tion o f his success to come this decade, Dan Reed Network, U-KREW, and Dennis music industry experts had better start to Springer-my partner (M ike M avrolas) paying attention to the “ darkhorse” and I are investing in some product that running a strong race here in the city o f we think is happening. W e’re spending Portland. Currcndy, he is producing Curtis our own money on our label, Nu-Vision Selgado, a very sassy blues man and Records, to create a certain amount of launched New projects like the U-KREW activity in the Northwest, and hopefully and Dennis Springer )see entertainm ent get m ajor record com panies interested. page). Springer, a sax player, recently Now, all o f these groups deal on a major released album (“ R io” ) is destined todo label and this would not have happened well nationally. had we not invested in these people. W e A t 35, McClain is not content with made som e noise.” how others perceive his music career. He P o rtla n d O b se rv e r-It’s one thing believes hard work and perfection of to be in a position to take economic risk one’s ability and product. M cClain says on new talent, but actually having talent that lazy people and egos do n ’t progress is another issue. You c a n ’t create an far in the music industry. overnight sensation. The artist must bring W hen the Observer caught up with something to the party-w hat do you look M cClain, it was after 10 PM and he was for in potential investments? waiting for a telephone call to Japan. He M c C la in -” Talent, number one. had spent the previous eleven hours in CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 the studio (Falcon Studio) working on M Whom Shall We Educate—Student or Parent? role played by the home. N or have we underestimated the negative impact there t is not an ‘either/or’ situation, but o f adverse social and economic condi hold that for a mom ent. First, let me tions that can seriously impede aca congratulate and offer encouragem ent dem ic performance. to all the many devoted parents and W hat we did do early on (and for the past guardians o f Portland school children. three years) was to point out that there It is you who will entrust your young existed in this nation a num ber o f model ones to a process that should prove to be situations which portray the very es a time o f educational challenge and sence o f “ Education E xcellence,” and renewed friendships. As I said last week that access to the m ethodology and in my article, “ W elcom e Back to guidelines;xxz that made these achieve School,” we hope that this new spaper ments possible is not very difficult at all. with its summer-long advocacy for ‘Edu This is true, o f course, only if ‘those in cational E xcellence’ has been able to charge’ have a serious and com m itted reach the school adm inistration with its intent to repair the disabilities o f so forthright critiques o f policy. many failing systems. As we have been Having said that, let us begin a series o f aw are, in m any cases, the remedy can exam inations of the roles and concerns com e about only through the interven o f the parents in this district - a process tion o f the public at large -- AND TH E we would expect to enhance the learn PARENT, SPECIFICALLY! ing environment of the system as a whole. I had this in mind when suggesting to Though our earlier evaluations have been our readers that they obtain from Port directed primarily to the classroom , land’s "A lbina Ministerial Association” teacher and adm inistration, we have by a copy of that very useful book and no means failed to recognize the key by Professor McKinley Burt I < video, “ Partners for Success: Business and E ducation” ($9.95). The clearly w ritten information and formulas for educational excellence described by ‘suc cessful’ school principals support my contention that these are readily avail able and docum ented exam ples o f edu cational excellence in current practice around this nation. Therefore, there is no excuse w hatsoever for any school district to claim that its doing the best it can “ in face o f governm ental restraints and m andates and the traum atic eco nomic condition o f the parents” - when, in fact, districts with half its resources arc winning national acclaim for their efforts. G E T TH E BOOK! Throughout this scries we shall endeavor to provide Portland parents with a num ber o f relevant m aterials that can assist them in interacting with the system in an effective manner. For exam ple, let us recom m end the following not-to-large or com plicated book - perfect for an age o f planned confusion where school district employed statisticians are ex tremely well paid to manipulate the figures on the academic performance o f your children. This common-sense introduc tion to the art is “ How to Think About Statistics,” by John A. Philip, Jr., W.H. Freeman and Co., 1988 ed. Although there are many other applica tions for this knowledge and insight, ev ery parent with a child in school should keep in mind, “ You can be informed by statistics or fooled by them, but you can ’t escape them !” 1 have found this manual extremely useful and recom mend it without reservation. Only arith metic is required for the minimum com putations, making itan excellent tool for those who have had ‘no course in statis tics.’ W hen I speak o f “ planned confu sion,” I have in mind not only those periodic grade performance bulletins issued by school districts -- especially when under fire - but also the esoteric and rarefied atmosphere where SAT scores are published, examined and assessed according to conflicting objee- tives or personal agendas. There is much more o f course to this business o f being a caring and effective parent o f children who will be entrusted to this process o f “ educational chal lenge’ ’ where the results can be rew ard ing beyond expectations or can be “ term inal.” As I have rem inded you at other timed, we are in a “ technological ag e” where excellence in science and m athematics -- as well as basic skills - will be a prerequisite to a meaningful position in the workforce and the guage o f life-time earnings. Many parents will not under ordinary circum stances pos sess the economic means to provide the home environm ent conducive to learn ing activities of this level. W e will want to deal with this. I believe I have spoken to this situation in the past and what I shall explore in this series is a way -- economic and social -- that ‘a ll’ parents and the com munity can formulate and implement an organized effort to overcom e this dis ability. If “ A von(R)” can deliver cos metics and jew elry into ‘disadvantages’ homes, then surely a caring community can deliver an educational product to the same consumer. I gave relevant de scriptions o f my early and middle child hood learning environm ents where there was provided every motivational tool and aid from science books and m aga zines to construction and scientific toys (Erector sets, chemistry sets, models o f flora and fauna and the like). I would like also to present a great deal of information and suggestions on proven, positive activities for youngster. W hich can have a relevance to educational ex cellence as well as recreational value. There will be much else that should be part o f a caring and supporting home en vironment -- things that a school system cannot and should not attcmpL A lot o f the resources available to accomplish these tasks are more readily available, and lessexpensive than we think. Please follow this series; we ‘c a n ’ bring about a change if we have the energy, will and com m itm ent I