Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, February 05, 1997, Image 9

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    Volume XXVII, Number 6
Committed to cultural diversity.
February 5, 1997
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o m m u n itg
-a I c n h a r
MHCC Industrial
Technology open house
Mt. Hood Community College’s Engi­
neering and Industrial Technology divi­
sion is hosting an open house for its
M achine Tool T echnology, W elding
Technology and Mechanical Engineer­
ing Technology programs, on Monday,
February 17,6:30-9:30 p.m. in the Indus­
trial Technology Building. The college is
located at 26000 S.E. Stark St. in G re­
sham. For more information call Lynne
Wolters at (503) 669-6930.
Cascade Mountain
Overnight Snow -Camp Trip
Mt. HoodCommunity College's Wilde
Side Outdoor Program is offering an over­
night camping trip in the snow drifts of
the Cascade Mountains February 15-16.
Caves, igloos and tents are all possible
shelters for the adventures enjoying this
winter outing. The cost is $42. No expe­
rience is necessary and transportation is
provided. A mandatory pre-trip meeting
is scheduled for February 1 1 at 5:30 p.m.
in the College Center Information Desk
at (503) 667-7277.
Juvenile Justice: Where
do we go from here?
The League of Women Voters of Port­
land and East Multnomah County invite
the public to attend a forum on Juvenile
Justice in Multnomah County. The forum
will take place on Tuesday, March II,
1997 at 7:15 p.m. at W estminster Presby­
terian Church, 1624 N.E. Hancock Street
in Portland. Meeting charge is $1.50.
The panel will include Elyse Clawson,
Director o f Juvenile Justice Services,
M ultnom ah C ounty, Kevin M annix,
former Oregon State Representative and
author of Measure 11, and Helen Smith,
Chief Deputy District Attorney for Mult­
nomah County. The discussion will focus
on current issues in the Juvenile Justice
field including the changes brought about
by the implementation of Measure 11.
The League of Women Voters of Port­
land and East Multnomah County present:
Juvenile Justice Forum, Tuesday, March
I I . 1997, W estm inster Presbyterian
Church, 1624 N.E. Hancock Street. Port­
land, Oregon, $1.50.
Young Women invited to
expand horizons
“Expanding Your Horizons." a con­
ference designed to increase awareness
and interest in a wide variety of career
options for young women in grades seven
though 10, will be held on Saturday,
February 15, 9 a.m. 3 p.m. at Mt. Hood
Community College. Preregistration is
required and the cost is only $5, including
lunch. For more information call Sara at
(503) 492-1942.
Help Kick-Off a Penny
Drive for Make-A-Wish
Foundation.
-G oal of 4 million pennies-
The Kick-Off Event will be held Mon­
day, February 3. between 12 :00-1 :(X)p.m
The “Make A Million for Make-A-W ish”
annual penny drive continues through
February 12 at U.S. Bank branches or any
participating J.C. Penny Store in KI03
FM ’s listening area. U.S. Bank Tower
lobby, 111 S.W. Fifth, Portland.
SUBMISSIONS: Community
Calendar information will be given
priority if dated two weeks
before the event date.
B
Bridging Heaven and Earth
Impressionistic oil
paintings on display
An exhibit of “Im pressionistic” oil
paintings by artist Jeannine Edelblut will
be on display February 4-27 in the Col­
lege Center Fireplace Gallery at Mt. Hood
Community College. The paintings are a
collection called “Energy W aves", and
are done on canvas with a focus on nature
and biology. Admission to the gallery is
free and the public is invited to attend.
Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, 8
a .m - 7 p.m., and Friday 8 a.m .-5:30 p.m.
For more information call the College
Center at (503) 667-7260.
SECTION
roducing Fire on the Mountain
has long been the dream of
Artistic Director and playwright,
Reg Bradley.
Now the dream of bringing this story of an
old fiddler ascending to heaven has become
a reality. With a set consisting of four thir­
teen foot scaffold towers connected by metal
bridges this is Tears of Joy’s biggest show
ever produced in its 24-year history.
Despite the magnitude of this production,
the story remains close to one, small fiddler.
All is well until the m usician’s joyful but
boisterous fiddling gets him into trouble
with the heavenly order. This universal story
reaffirms that music cannot die. The folk
tale’s earliest origin is Polish, but because of
cultural similarities, Bradley has chosen to
place the tale in the Appalachian mountains
of the U.S.
In the spring of 1992, Bradley did re­
search in Appalachian, visiting and record­
ing folk musicians throughout the hills of
West Virginia. One of these musicians, David
Morris, is serving as folklorist and provided
the central theme song about the "fire on the
mountain and the fire in his fiddle." Com ­
poser Leroy Critchner and Jodi Eichelbcrger
have adapted and arranged the rest of the
show around this theme.
Nationally recognized painter and set
d e sig n e r, H enk P ander, d e sig n e d the
production’s larger-than-life-puppets.
The fiddler himself is a 3 foot marionette.
The puppet, St. Peter, stands 8 feet tall and
is operated with sophisticated controls. Arch­
angel Michael is created as a rod marionette
with a wingspan of 12 feet.
The fiddler's old hound dog, cupids. an­
gels and mountain people add to the story’s
infectious vitality. The intricate engineering
of these puppets has been the work of the
theatre’s technical director, Lance Woolen.
In the spirit of Appalachian, an exhibit
featuring folk art will accompany the show.
In addition to pottery and baskets, The Clark
County Quilters will be providing quilts rich
in tradition.
Also on display will be some of the origi­
nal character renderings created by acclaimed
Portland artist, Henk Pander. These art se­
P
16. Tickets are $8.50 for children and $9.50 for adults, available at Tears o f Joy Box Office 1 360-695 0477; 1-503 248
0557 or at the PCPA.
lections will be included in a larger display
on the complex process of creating a show of
this magnitude.
Funding for this production has come in
part Irom the Jim Henson Foundation which
funds new works for the puppet stage.
Tears of Joy is recognized as one of the
nation's outstanding puppet com panies
l ouring throughout the U.S and abroad, the
theatre performs for over a quarter of a
million people each year.
Three ol the theatre's productions have
received American puppetry 's highest award,
the Citation ol Excellence in the Art of
Puppetry
Three Famous African Sons of France
by
P rof , M ckinley Bt
ri
ineteenth-Century France was
distinguished by the world-re­
nowned genius of three of that
nation's black citizens-all of them bear­
ing the name, Alexander Dumas.
The first member of this family Io come
upon our lively and ebullient stage is Gen­
eral Alexander Dumas, who was Napoleon's
leading and most daring general -- until they
finally parted ways after a series of rancor­
ous quarrels It is interesting to note that
Napoleon Bonaparte had 12 black generals
in all, formidable warriors and tacticians
who ensured the success of so many of his
famed conquests (Mention omitted in Ameri­
Alexander Dumas Pits,
can texts, see J.A. Rogers,.
Naploeon's Greatest General
Like General Dumas, who was born to an
African woman on the island of Haiti, a
c o u ra g e o u s black g e n e ra l, T ou ssain t
French colony a the time, most of these black
Louverature, a Haitian freedom fighter, de­
generals were from Haiti or Santo Domingo
feated every army Napoleon sent to maintain
which adjoined the first country. Santo
control over the colonies. These facts are
Domingo is now known as "The Dominican
cited in Napoleon's letters.
Republic." It is an irony of history that
It may seem impossible, but the son of
Napoleon was forced to yield to Thomas
General Dumas (known as Dumas Pere to
Jefferson and sell all of France's Western
distinguish him in turn from his son, Dumas
Hemisphere colonies to America (The Loui­
fils) achieved even greater national and in­
siana Purchase) - because the tierce and
ternational acclaim than the general In the
N
(2) Alexander Dumas Pere,
"If the baby has wooly hair, it is m ine."
field of letters and in the art of the bon vivant
(good lining, his career is almost unparal­
leled in history.
Dumas' active literary career covered a
period of approximately forty years In the
course of those forty years he wrote sixty-
seven plays, published in’ twenty-five vol­
umes and produced at seventeen theatres',
ninety-two novels published in one hundred
and seventy-eight volumes, thirty-two his­
torical works published in thirty-six vol­
umes. eighteen books ol travel published in
thirty-five volumes, anil fourteen m iscella­
neous works published in twenty-six vol­
umes -a total of two hundred and thirteen
books published in three hundred volumes.
Dumas pere produced such lasting liter­
ary gems as "The Count ol Monte Cristo --
The Three Musketeers
The Man In The
Iron Mask - The Viscount of Bragelonne.”
Two-hundred times his novels and plays
have been made into movies and television
specaculars. He is said to have captured the
very essence of human drams and adventure
-- in a manner not accomplished before or
since.
The fascinating story ol this enthusiastic
patron of life itself (bonvivant) -- sw ords­
man. lover, traveller, gourmet -- is as excit­
ing as any of his novels or plays. When an
adoring public and public authorities built
an "Alexander Dumas Theatre” to highlight
his works, he, in turn, built him self a m ag­
nificent estate and small castle in which to
entertain his continent-w ide coterie o f
friends The French government has pre-
▼
Continued to page A3
School days are numbered for kids without immunizations
n Monday, February 17, 1997,
Church, located al 4244 SE 91st Avenue, to
according to law. children who
immunize pre-school and school-aged chil
are not up-to-date with their
dren. These immunizations are free and avail
immunization schedule will be excluded
able to the public
from all elementary schools and certi­
Parents will receive a letter in early Feb
fied daycare centers (pre-school, Head
ruary Irom Oregon's county health depart
Start, pre-kindergarten).
ments if their children have not been ad
Students will be unable to attend school
equalely immunized They will then have
until they receive their shots. If non-complaint
two weeks to update immunization records
children until a parent picks them up. These
before their children are asked to leave school.
children may not enroll in another school. To
The intent of Oregon Immunization I aw
help parents beat “Exclusion Day", volunteer
(OR 4.33.235 through 433 280) is to protect
nurses from (he Oregon Nurses Association
Oregon children from the dangers ol these
(ONA) will host two immunization clinics on
disease such as whooping cough which are
Saturday, February I and February 15, from
preventable by immunizations The immu
10 a m. to 2 p.m. a, the Pilgram Lutheran
mzalion rale in Oregon is presently ranked
O
48th in the united Stales, with many of the
childhood diseases preventable by immuni­
zations still occurring.
“ In the past, up to 9(X) children have been
sent home because of inadequate immuniza
tions," said Peggy Hillman, immunization
coordinator for Multnomah County Health
Department. "About 25 of those children
never go back to school for that year then
parents don't know where to go for immuni­
zations or believe they are loo expensive."
ONA in a partnership with Multnomah
County Health Department and the Pilgram
Lutheran Church, hosts the Lents Clinic
which provides immunizations for the at
risk infants and children living in this area
with particularly low immunization rates
the first Saturday ol every month
"Each year, hundreds of children are sent
home from school because they have not
been properly immunized," ONA A dm inis­
trator of Business Services Sandy Marron
says, "the Oregon Nurses Association is
provided a free and convenient way to help
prevent life threatening diseases and dis­
missal from school."
Volunteer nurses have given over 1.500
immunizations to children and infants since
the Lents Clinic began in 1995 ONA has
received the "livery Child By Two Im m uni­
zation Partners Award" for its outstanding
efforts.