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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1997)
How do you measur our quality o f life? Bv P rof . M c K inley B i rt We have heard so much about the Quality o f Life” this past decade and at least a dozen ways to measure such an auspicious su te of affairs. So as a matter o f interest, what can we say about the “hood in this respect?” You know, the near-Northeast neighbor hood and North Portland. If you live within these environs and so many o f our readers do, then without doubt you often have been distressed by media accounts o f the style and substance o f our lives here. Not always, o f course, bu, frequently enough for a pretty strong convic tion o f bias to emerge. A neighbor o f mine calls it “selec tive imaging,” where urban areas with a black population o f any size are handled’ with a standard format o f “ feature this-ignore that.” Conversations with individuals and groups in the Northeast reveal that except for the case o f occasional sp e c ia l a ssig n m e n t re p o rte rs , Portland’s 'print m edia’ is a far cry from the exploitive big-city daily newspapers in much o f America. Most residents o f the neighbor hoods say that it is television with its “breathless, breaking-news, crisis- oriented, super-competitive evening news wars for viewers that has re duced Northeast and North Portland into metaphors and icons for the deterioration o f th e ' quality o f life. Now, you have to admit that there is something very special about liv ing in an inner-city neighborhood when you finally realize that your junk mail is substantially different from that received by your outlying fellow citizen’s, primarily o f another culture. A household visit or a less infor mal encounter with E uro-culture could reveal an eye-opening vista o f the over-priced exotica and erotica to be purchased via the Direct Mail postal mall. O f course, there is some good, functional stuff as well - but why haven’t you known about this shopper paradise? Must you move to Lake Oswego? Well, let’s look at it this way. Marketing studies conducted for the benefit o f the "catalog houses" tend to express the same ethnic biases that we described several paragraphs ear lier; in America race is inextricably bundled with income and it costs a "bundle" alright to design, print and mail those beautiful multi-color cata logs by the millions. FDA chief scriber lists available to the Direct Mail people either by direct pur chase or through huge mailing list brokers who deal in classified lists in the thousands or in the millions. No matter ‘w here’ you live, some subscriptions will get you in this netw ork: N atio n al G eo g rap h ic, Smithsonian, Natural History. Sci entific American, Harpers, etc., and o f course subscriptions to any o f the journals o f the professions, science, medicine, education, etc. But not to worry, I believe we all know that it is quality people who Television's crisis-oriented, super-com petitive news wars for viewers...reduces northeast and north Portland into meta phors and icons for the deterioration of the quality of life. Consequently, certain areas never are even rem otely considered in m arket developm ent; they do n ’t think that ’you’ have either the money or the culture to appreciate their ex pensive wares. And lfyou are noteliminated from the Direct Mail Mall in that fashion, then consider this. U.S. Government census tract information pretty well, categorizing most o f us by income, tastes; habit and habitat. This infor mation is compiled and classified accordingly and no catalog will reach your hot little hands unless you live in the right neighborhood (and, sup posedly, have the proper “Quality o f Life”). Now, there are some exceptions to this marketing logic. For instance, magazine publishers make their sub- make a quality neighborhood with their quality way o f life; a little re dundant perhaps, but you get the meaning. Every week I look through the Portland Observer newspaper to learn o f all the beautiful people do ing things to enrich our lives and give m eaning to our less-than- wealthy existence. In our neighborhoods we are vol unteering without being asked, we are mentoring, teaching, interven ing with a threatened youth, caring for our ill, our elderly, our deprived. Our neighborhood watches and other efforts to secure our security, health and welfare, all speaks to a "Quality o f Life” tha,'<annot be ex trapolated from the U.S. Census or any marketing surveys. It lies in the reality and goodness o f the people. from The Portland Observer Federal health officials have in Washington Research The search m akers have signaled they want terviewed scientists including a Se is for someone who “will be less someone outside government who attle geneticist and a New York car confrontational with the Congress, will be open to a congressional over diologist in the quest for a chief o f more deferential" than the contro haul o f the FDA. the powerful Food and Drug Ad versial Kessler, he added. The nation’sc h ie f consumer pro ministration, and the White House Sti II, any decision is months away. tection agency, the FDA is criticized should see the first list o f serious Shalala spokesman Victor Zonana by some for not approving I ifesav ing contenders in a month would say only that "the process is new m edical th e ra p ie s quickly I he Clinton adm inistration is moving forward," and a commis enough struggling with how to replace fiery sioner is expected to be in place by Weisfeidt said Clinton officials form er C o m m issio n e r D avid told him Shalala could begin her Kessler, who gave the FDA new Ihe Senate must approve Presi ow n interviews to pare down candi prominence - and a number o f en dent Clinton’s nominee, and law dates within six weeks. emies- by cracking down on tobacco and pushing a host o f consumer- protection issues. I op candidates so far appear to be strong public health advocates as well, I he A ssociated Press has learned. Considered high on the list: Dr Myron Weisfeidt. a former American Heart Association presi dent w ho h ead s C o lu m b ia University’s medical departm ent. Well-liked bv consumer groups for pushing the FDA to require better November 13,1996 food labels, he is a scientific adviser through June 14,1997 P lay M E G A B U C K S D O U G H to drug giant Merck Inc. and several S eco n d -C h an ce D ra w in g ! medical device firms. Just send in four nonwinning fino brochure Dr. G ilbert O m enn, dean o f the Megabucks tickets from four available a, Oreqon drawings in a row for a chance University o f W ashington's School Loiter i, Servire to win these prizes each month: Centers for details. of Public Health, an expert in g e 1 st prize - $ 1,000 plus jacket netics and environm ental health (I prize awarded) who made headlines with a study 2nd prize - $500 plus jacket 1 declaring popular beta-carotene (1 prize awarded, supplem ents a waste o f m oney. 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