Volume XXVI, Number 30
Committed to cultural diversity.
July 24, 1996
(Ebi' ^ o rtla n h OObsertier
SECTION
Walsh
Joins
Rosemont
Planning
GL
ont tu u n ito
a I r tt h a r
Northwest Portland Parks
Are Still Hoppln’
N orthwest Portland Parks are s till
hoppin’ with free live music every Tuesday
and Thursday evening from 7-8:30 p m . On
Tuesday, July 30, in Couch Park, N.W.
Glisan at 20th, catch a trio o f well-known
local performers collaborating as In Ca­
hoots. Lisa M ille r’s big voice and gritty,
ironic lyrics team up with Lynn Conover’ s
“h illb illy with an urban edge” sound, and
Donna Jose’s outstanding keyboard and
original song-writing skills to present a
range o f styles from acoustic blues to folk
rock, all drawn from county roots.
BS Lit: P l KI MAN
entral City Concern intends to
hire an independent consultant
to create a “master plan” for
the old Rosemont School property.
C
Tri-Met Meeting
T ri-M et Board o f Directors Monthly
Meeting, 3:30 p.m., Mt. Hood Community
College, College Board Room, 26000 SE
Stark Street, Gresham. Public forum be­
gins at4:45 p.m. For more information call,
238- 4829. Persons requiring meeting ma­
terials in alternative formats and/or sign
language interpreters should contact T ri-
Met at 238-4952, T T Y 238-5811, or fax
239- 3092 between 7:30 a.in— 5:30 p.m.
weekdays at least two working days prior I
to the meeting. The meeting room is acces­
sible.
Training To Be Held
The National Coalition Building Insti­
tute Prejudice Reduction Leaders Institute
w ill be held July 18-20th, 1996 in Eugene,
Oregon. Al Herring, the Associate Direc­
tor o fN C B I International and the Director
o f the African Heritage Caucus w ill lead
the three day training. For more informa­
tion call (503)687-8141.
Watercolor Painting
Course Offered Outdoors
Mt. Hood Community College is offer­
ing a watercolor painting class, “ Painting
Naturally,” at various outdoor locations on
Wednesdays, July 17-Aug. 2 1,9 :3 0 a.m -
p.m. Artist Kathy Allegri w ill teach partic­
ipants how to paint lush summer land­
scapes and enjoy lively lunchtime dialogue.
The first session meets at Gresham City
Park, followed by sessions at other com­
munity locations. The course fee is $37.
For more information call the Continuing
Education Center at 669-6979.
Antelope Spirit Dancers
Thursday, August 15 at I lam and 12
noon in Lair H ill park, there w ill be two
special, free performances by Antelope
Spirit: an intertribal dance troupe made up
o f children ages 3-14. Dressed in ceremo­
nial regalia, they’ ll perform fancy dances,
grass dances and j ingle dances. Both shows
w ill be held in Lair H ill Park. In case o f |
rain, performance w ill be moved to the
C hildren’ s Cultural Center at SW 2nd and
Hooker
Bead Artist
Saturday, August 31,12noon-4pm, Mas­
ter artist Sophie George w ill show us how
she makes intricately beaded jew elry and
clothing. George's demonstration is part o f |
the L ivin g A rtist’s series in our Native
American exhibit. Living Legends: Amer­
ican Indians Today. Visitors w ill have the
chance to watch a work in progress, exam­
ine the artist’s tools and see how traditional
crafts are being kept alive with the use o f |
contemporary materials and designs
‘Taxing Matters’
Workshop
Mt. Hood Community College's Busi­
ness Development Center is offering a
workshop to help participants decide what
business form to choose, how to set up
recordkeeping systems and how to keep
track o f deductible expenses. The w ork­
shop, “ Taxing Matters,” w ill be held Tues­
day, July 23. and Thursday, July 25, from
7 to 10 p.m in Room 1582 at Mt. Hood
Community College. The workshop fee is
$35. For more information call the Busi­
ness Development Center at 667-7658
SUBMISSIONS: Community
Calendar information will be given
priority if dated two weeks
before the event date.
i
B
Former Mayor Bud Clark, sporting a hip bike cap, takes a moment from his
liesure bicycle ride in North Portland to chat it up with District 18 Representative
Margaret Carter.
Photo by Mark Washington.
Summerbridge Breaks Down Barriers
T
he Summerbridge Portland pro­
gram is breaking down social
and economic barriers.
Established by The Catlin Gabel School
and Oregon Episcopal School, Summerbridge
is a tuition-free, comprehensive academic
program that prepares high-potential middle
school students for success in rigorous aca­
demic high school programs.
The summer 1996 program runs June 24
through Aug. 2, at The Catlin Gabel School.
“ Summerbridge offers a unique opportu­
nity for Portland Public School students to
interact on an intimate level with young
teachers and mentors. It is a learning experi-
ence that transcends economic and social
barriers for both the teachers and students
involved," says Summerbridge Co-director
Carol Wyatt. “ For Oregon Episcopal School
and Catlin Gabel, this program demonstrates
a tangible commitment to community in­
volvement.”
More than 90 percent o f Summebridge
students attend Portland Public Schools lo­
cated primarily in North, Northeast and South­
east Portland. Many students have limited
educational or economic opportunities.
Students share recruited via classroom
presentations and selected on the basis o f
academic potential, ability and motivation.
Participants represent the economic and eth­
nic diversity o f Portland.
Teachers for Summerbridge are students
recruited from strong academic high schools
and top colleges locally and nationwide.
Summerbridge faculty members have come
from such schools as: Brown University,
Vassar College, Yale University and many
others.
A three-to-one student/teacher ratio and
small classes are crucial to Summerbridge’s
success. This summer’s program has 36 teach­
ers and 100 students.
For more information contact Carol Wyatt
at the Catlin Gabel School. 5O3-2O3-5IO8.
“The Spirit Of A Man” Author Visited Portland
bv
P amela J ordan
he strutted and sashayed from
one side of the stage to anoth­
er. Cajoling, preaching, amus­
ing the women in her audience from a
microphone on the left side of the plat­
form, and the men from a mike on the
right.
S
But behind lyanla Vanzant's entertaining
presentation was a very serious message.
“ The role, energy and presence o f the
black male spirit must be healed, recognized,
realigned and honored,” said Vanzant. “ Only
then can the African-American community
regain balance and order.”
Vanzant delivered that message to over
600 men and women at the Providence Med­
ical Center auditorium Friday. The author
came to Portland to promote her new book,
“ The Spirit o f a Man: A Vision o f Transfor­
mation for Black Men and The Women who
love them
Some might question why a black woman
would write a book for transforming black
lyanla Vanzant, author of The Spirit Of
A Man (HarperCollins San Francisco,
1996). Photo by Tom Radcliffe, Point of View.
men. But as a Yoruba priestess in the ancient
African tradition, spiritual counselor and
author o f three best-selling self-help books,
the 43-year-old Brooklyn native has the au­
thority to do so
Her first two books, Acts o f Faith, and The
Value in the Valley were inspirational books
written to help empower Black women. W rit­
ing a book for Black men was the next logical
step. But an inner voice, not logic gave birth
to The Spirit o f a Man
“ I, hit me like a thunderbolt: write a book
foi the spit ilual empowerment o f Black Men,”
said Vanzant. The thunderbolt hit Ihanks-
giving morning in 1993. She doggedly tried
to ignore that jo lt, until she realized that she
w ouldn't be able to write anything else until
she wrote the book.
Black Men need to be saved from nega­
tive self-talk, and negative self-images. But
more importantly, they need to be saved from
ignorance about the power o f the spirit within
them,” said Vanzant.
Much o f Vanzant’ s message sounded like
pop-psychology with a black cultural spin
From the stage she urged black men to emo­
tionally show up, open up, and be available to
▼
Continued to page A3
The non-profit agency, which operates
low income housing in the downtown area
and the Hooper Detox Center, created an
uproar last year when they announced they
wanted to buy the 7.6 acre property at 597 N.
Dekum St. and build housing for A ID S pa­
tients and recovering alcoholics and drug
addicts there. The Piedmont Neighborhood
Association held two meetings to discuss the
proposal that drew more than 150 people
each, most o f them strongly opposed to the
proposal. Piedmont Association leaders say
they would not object to use o f the property
for AIDS housing, or for drug and alcohol-
free housing on a much smaller scale. How­
ever, they say, creating so many units for such
a "fragile” population could undermine their
efforts to "stabilize" their inner north and
northeast neighborhood.
Central City Concern officials have been
reluctant to consider alternatives to their " v i­
sion" for the property. In contrast, they told
the Piedmont board at its January 11 meeting
that the study they propose would explore the
"fu ll range" o f possibilities for the property.
"W e would ask the consultants to interface
with our vision, but also to interface with
neighborhood concerns,” Ian McKechnic o f
Central C ity Concern says. "W e w ouldn't
rule anything out as long as it was financially
feasible.”
They have asked Piedmont to participate,
and the board is referring the request to the
general membership at its next meeting, 7:30
p.m. January 25 at Holy Redeemer School,
127 N. Portland Blvd.
Meanwhile, some Piedmont board mem­
bers, including former presidents Betsy Radigan
and l oin Markgraf, have proposed that the
neighborhood former a community develop­
ment corporation, acquire the property and
develop it themselves. “ Wedon’t feel we should
oppose this plan unless we can come up with
something better,” M arkgraf says.
State
Pension At
Record High
tate Treasurer Jim Hill, speak­
ing to the Municipal Bond
Club in Portland today, an­
nounced the outstanding returns
earned by the Oregon Public Employ­
ees Retirement Fund (OPERF) in
1995.
S
“ The Oregon Public Employees Re­
tirement Fund earned a record $4 billion
in 1995. The fund’ s growth from $ 17.5
billion to $21.5 billion was the single
largest earning in its history and has placed
the fund as the 3 1 st largest pension fund
in the United States, public or private. To
give you some sense o f how much money
we made, the $4 billion nearly equals
N ike’ s revenues for 1995,” H ill said.
“‘These earnings demonstrate that we are
truly a Icadei in the country in the man­
agement o f the pension fund which is
good news to pensioners and state tax­
payers."
The OPERF is made up o f a variety o f
investments including domestic and in­
ternational stocks and bonds, venture cap­
ital, real estate and cash.
The Treasury has a staff o f financial
professionals who directly invest a por­
tion o f the fund, as well as oversee private
sector investment companies TheOPERF
provides money to pay current and future
state and local government pensions. Since
Treasurer H ill took office in 1993, the
Pension Fund has increased by more than
$6 billion