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Committed to cultural diversity. http://www.portlandobserver.net
Volume X X V II. Number 6b
April S. 199S
(Ddie ^ o rtía n h (Ohserrirr
o m m u n í tu
a te n ú a r
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PCC And HAP Opening Skill Center Welfare To Work
Friends of Trees
W hat do R ejuvenation, inc.. T he Bike
G allery and Z efiro R estaurant and Bar
have in com m on? T hese businesses (plus
others) are team ing up to support Friends
o f T re e s’ com m unity tree planting pro
gram in A pril. F riends o f T re es’ 2nd A n
nual Springw ood event, a celebration o f
our trees and com m unities, is slated for
April 18 through A pril 25. T here w ill be
live m usic by Point o f D eparture, great
food, beer from W idm er B rew ing and a
w onderful silent auction. Call 282-8846.
Alberta Street Fair
T he first A lberta Street fair “ W elcom e
T o O u r N eighborhood” is taking place
S aturday, M ay 2 from 11 AM to 6 PM.
O rganizers w ant to encourage NE Port
land residents to com e have fun and cel
ebrate the changes taking place on NE
A lberta Street. T he fair w ill feature a
horse draw n trolley and great raffle prizes.
Call 287-3496.
Co-Housing
C om m unity and privacy - the best o f
both w orlds! C om e find out about Co-
H ousing, a lifestyle popular throughout
E urope and now available in Portland!
Individual residences are clustered around
green spaces w hile additional am enities
p r o v id e fo r o p tio n a l sh a re d m e a ls,
ch ild ren ’s play spaces, shared w orkshops
and more! A free video screening will be
show n on T hursday, M ay 7th at 7:30 PM
at 2901 SE Steele. C all 650-7169.
Infant and Child CPR
T he Red C ross w ill offer Infant and
C hild C P R at A m erican Red C ross, O r
egon T rail C hapter, 3131 N. V ancouver,
Portland. T he class w ill be held on T u es
day & T hursday, A pril 14 and 16, from 6
to 9 PM. Infant and C hild C PR , a 6-hour
course, teaches how to care for an infant or
child w ho stops breathing or is choking,
give C P R , reduce the risk o f injury, and
use the em ergency m edical services (EM S)
system effectively. Call 280-1440.
From Left To Right: Vanessa Williams, Gretchen Quay, Eric Nichols, Richard Boland, Jacob Fox, and Kathryn Beebe.
he grand opening o f the Goalpost
was held Monday April 6, at 8932
N. Woolsey.
Welfare to Work program is mandatory for
participants with children three months or older.
The Goldpost has partnered with many other
organizations to help participants with the transi
T
tion.
Some o f the partners are:
Adult and Family Services (St. John ’ s Fami ly
Center): The mission o f AFS is to help families
become self-supporting while assisting them in
meeting their basic needs.
Center for Community Mental Health/PCR:
They havebeen doingalcohol and Drug programs
atColumbia Villa for6years, and plan tocontinue.
They offercounselingservicesandsupport groups.
Columbia Villa/Tamaraek Resident Associa
tion: The Resident Association will provide re
ception and janitorial services. They will use the
reception and janitorial programs as training for
residents.
Consumer Credit Counseling: This is a non
profit community advocate that helps people deal
with credit debt. They have a strong educational
focus to help keep people out o f debt. They offer
money management classes, and classes on how
to buy a car or home.
B y N eii . H eilpern
Steve Lehi and C huck Rollins will
present a slide program on the history,
com m unities and structures along the H is
to ric C o lu m b ia R iv er H ighw ay from
T routdale to T he D alles. Steve has a large
collection o f slides, pictures and post
cards o f the area. Steve and C huck will
narrate the presentation w ith stories they
h av ecollected from old-tim ers. T hese pre
sentations are free and open to the public.
H andicap accessible.
Packy’s Birthday Party
H elp P ortland’s fam ous elephant cel
ebrate his 36th birthday. W ear floppy
elephant ears, sing “ H appy B irthday” and
w atch Packy eat his cake. G am es and
b irthday cake for all. T he event will be
held at T he M etro W ashington Park Z oo
on April 18th from 10 A M to 4 PM. Call
the event info, line on 220-3687.
Ace Hayes
Fight Hunger!
R e m e m b e r to h e lp O re g o n F ood
B a n k a n d y o u r L e tte r C a r r ie r fig h t
h u n g e r o n S a tu rd a y , M ay 9. J u s t p la c e
a b ag o f n o n - p e r is h a b le fo o d by y o u r
m a ilb o x in th e m o rn in g ! Y o u r L e tte r
C a r r ie r w ill ta k e th e fo o d to y o u r
lo c a l p o s t o f fic e , in c lu d in g H o lla d a y
P a rk , K e n to n , P ie d m o n t, R o se C ity
P a rk , an d St. J o h n s s ta tio n s , w h e re it
w ill b e b o x e d u p b y v o lu n te e r s an d
d e liv e r e d to O re g o n F o o d B a n k fo r
d is trib u tio n to h u n g e r - r e lie f a g e n c ie s
a ro u n d P o rtla n d . C a ll 2 8 2 -0 5 5 5 .
families currently living in Low Rent Public
Housing and Section 8 housing. It offers job
training, access to programs, budget assistance
and computer learning to help individuals be
come self sufficient.
PCC Literacy tutoring: PCC received a grant
to tutor people in literacy. Sharon Simovec from
PCC will coordinate volunteers and learners,
who can meet at the Goalpost. Sharon will
schedule regular weekly hours for assessment,
and pair learners with tutors for individual
sessions. Above arejust a few ofthe many orga
nizations to partner with Goalpost to make the
participants transition happen.
Jefferson High To ecome Three Schools
Historic Columbia River
A c e H a y e s w a s a w e ll-k n o w n p o
litic a l r e s e a r c h e r /a n a ly s t/te a c h e r in
o u r c o m m u n ity , w h o d ie d on F e b r u
a ry 13. H e d e d ic a te d h is life to u n
c o v e r in g lie s a n d c o r r u p tio n a n d , u s
in g h is v a s t k n o w le d g e o f h is to ry ,
p h i lo s o p h y , r e li g io n a n d s c ie n c e ,
h e lp e d th e re s t o f us u n d e r s ta n d w h a t
w a s r e a lly g o in g o n . H is M e m o ria l
w ill b e o n S a tu r d a y , A p ril 18, w ith
s c h e d u le d a c tiv itie s s ta rtin g at 3 an d
e n d in g at 7 P M , a t th e D a n c e P a v ilio n
at O a k s P ark .
Delauney Family o f Services: Services in
clude; individual, couple and family counseling,
domestic violence program, support groups, group
therapy. They will offer evening programs, usu
ally after 3 p.m.
Employment Department, N. Portland: The
program at Columbia Villa is focused on drug and
alcohol issues. It is a voluntary program, aimed at
getting individuals in treatment back to work.
Assistance with resumes, career planning, inter
viewing and individualized services. They would
like to offer job search classes at the Goalpost.
Goals Program: the self-sufficiency program
ofthe 1 lousing A uthori ty ofPort land, € ioals serves
(Photo M. Washington)
Jefferson High School, Three School's in one.
(Photo by M. Washington)
Jefferson High School will split into three
separate schools next year, with various
specialties taught at each school.
Instead o f one principal and three vice
principals, the re-organized Jefferson will
have three principals with separate support
staffs, according to Portland School District
spokesm an Lew Frederick.
T he action, he said, is being taken in
hopes o f upgrading program quality, creat
ing a sense o f belonging by allow ing faculty
and students to ge, to know one another
better, and regaining students lost to other
schools b e c au seo f Jefferson’s low academic-
ratings and disciplinary problem s.
O ne school would contain the Ninth Grade-
Preparatory A cadem y, designed to initially
assess how w ell students are perform ing in
math, history, art and science.
Frederick indicated m ore individual at
tention will be given students as a result o f
the new format. This will also be a tim e when
the ninth graders survey a handful o f career
paths, as they decide w hat the rest o f their
high school curriculum will look like.
“ By the end o f the year they will be at the
level w here they need to be,” said Frederick.
“ If it m eans three extra classes in algebra a
w eek, then they will get that.”
T he arts and com m unications academ y
will be com bined into a second school, with
the health sciences/biotechnology academ y,
he noted.
T he third independent program would
contain the business, finance services and
technology academ y.
A transition sum m er school program will
concentrate on reading and m ath for grades
nine and ten.
Frederick cited success “al 1 over the coun
try w here they are experim enting on schools
w ithin schools.”
C ontinued T o P age A10
Former Bloods Member Turns Playwright
story ... use their thought processors. ..find
out w hat is going on in this story and the
raduation from Bloods gang m em
character, not ju st K w ik’s life.”
bership to active roles as student-
W hen family com munications broke down
p la y w rig h t-d ire c to r-a c to r has
for suc
Jones at age 13, he joined the Bloods gang
show n W illiam C leveland Jones he can
in a search for a neighborhood level of family.
cessfully w rite the rem aining acts o f his own
Unlikehis production, he did not havea younger
life’s play.
brother w ho fell victim to gang violence.
K now n as “ K w ik” Jones, for his speed as
“ I’m, so proud o f him g etting out o f that
a Jefferson High School track star, the 23-
and turning h im self around,” said his m other,
year-old Portland playw right on Friday inter
A zzie Jones. “ W hen they are in the gang you
tw ined personal life history with a w ide range
c a n ’t talk to them because they think they
o f em otional responses o f a fictitious gang
know everything. You just have to have faith ”
m em ber’s loss o f a little brother.
She recalled the night “so m e young men
T he rear view m irror depiction o f a pathos
threw a bottle through our w in d o w ,” and how
journey m ay prove to be the healing portal of
Jones “decided if his involvem ent in gangs
recognition o f truth through w hich this young
w as putting m y life in danger, he w ould get
man becom es the conscious author o f a new
o u t.”
adventure called “the rest o f his life.”
His one-m an theatrical production, “C o n
But. W as this Jo n es’ life story unfolding
v ersations,” w as perform ed at B onneville
on the stage? How much w as draw n from his
Pow er A dm inistration B uilding A uditorium .
ow n experience and how m uch a result o f his
T his w ork o f hindsight, m ixed with a dose
developing skills as a w riter?
o f creative fiction, resulted in m any insights
“ N obody w ould ever k n o w ,” he told T he
-- for the playw right and, hopefully, fo rm em
Portland O bserver. “ 1 w ant people to find the
B y N eil H eilpern
G
bers o f his audience.
D row ning in a bottle after the funeral, his
character bem oans an inability to prevent
violence, intensely expresses guilt, wildly
displays anger tow ards an absent father who
had not prepared him to be “the man o f th e
house,” and sadly w ishes his m other had
spent as m uch tim e listening to him as she did
going to church.
His m onologue and visual expressions
painted a plethora o f w ord and sight im ages
— the fu n e ra l... m em ories o f the kid b ro th er's
athletic ach ie v em e n ts... thoughts o f revenge
... frustration at his inability to share sorrow
with his m other.
W ith experience, Jones will be even m ore
effective as he learns to project and enunciate
clearly, alternate the pacing to keep the au d i
ence interested, and create m ore variety in
tone, direction and hand gestures.
Jones is quick to point out that his gang
m em bership helped him deal w ith a lot o f
“em otional scars that needed to be filled," as
he related with others w ho “w anted to be part
o f som ething." He expressed concern for
people w ho still cling to the negative side o f
gang life. “ I d o n ’t look dow n on them for it,
but 1 do understand it.”
M oved by the b elief that “ E verybody has
a story and ev ery b o d y ’s story is w orth hear
ing,” Jones has taken theatrical arts classes at
Portland C om m unity College, Eastern O r
egon State C ollege and V erm ont’s G oddard
C ollege before returning to Portland w here
he is finishing studies at Mt. H ood C om m u
nity College.
“ You only ge, so m any chances at life, he
said. “Y ou turn this w heel so m any tim es, bu,
soon that w heel gets rusty and you get old.
You have to do som ething w ith y o u rself and
that w heel to m ake i, better. Oil it up or
change it. If you oil i, up it m ay still get rusty.
I changed the w heel!”
“ I’m on a new direction,” Jo n es added. “ I
never w anted to be ju st anybody, bu, alw ays
w anted to be the cream o f the crop o f w hat
ever, som ebody that leaves his m ark on the
world that affects everybody else.”