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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2000)
Committed to Cultural Diversity www.portlandobserver.com January 26, 2000 (I he ^ o rtla n h (!î)bsertier o ut tu u n i t u Mia I c n b a r Z |T Brooks learning to take control of his emotions Celebrate Chinese New Year A SM X1 VlUlJEht ss D uring Friday’s Jefferson vs. Benson boys basketball game, Brandon Brooks took over in the closing moments o f the first half. Jefferson’s point guard pierced Benson's zone defense and found team m ate A ntone Jarrell fora basket A dunk by backcourt partner Aaron Miles, a steal by Jarrell and a three-pointer by Brooks ignited the huge crowd at the Chiles Center. As the hal fended. B rooks’ running jum per capped a 12-4 run by the Democrats, whom USA Today rates as the nation’s fourth- best high school team. A tth e c e n te ro fitw a sth e 5 -fo o t-l I Brooks: splitting the defense with the quickness that led recruiting services to rate him as the third-best point guard on the West Coast; defending B enson's fine forward, Robert Day; strutting beforea wild Jefferson crowd Brandon Brooks is on tire. And his is a flame that bum s within. At times, the senior’s fiery nature has gotten the better o f him. As a freshman, he clashed with then-Jefferson coach Bobby Harris and quit the team. He transferred to Grant and led the league in scoring his sophom ore year But his outbursts led PIL coaches to leave h i m o ff the al I - league team . He has had academic troubles and has been suspended for fighting. Last year, he returned to Jefferson and began to settle dow n, though he sat out gam es this season for disciplinary problems Brooks is am ong the most controversial players ever to play in the Portland Interscholastic League He also is am ong the most talented. He is an explosive scorer and fierce com petitor. He blends speed with great court awareness. It's his passion, though, that makes Brooks stand apart. As with many o f us. B rooks' greatest strength is his greatest weakness. At 18. h e’s just learning to control the flame. “T hat’s all in the past,” Brooks says o f his outbursts. “ I’m doing what I’ve got to do now, and that is all that m atters.” Brooks has the ability and the w ork ethic to play at a top college program. Colleges, however, were skeptical hecould meet NCAA academ ic requirem ents But Brooks surprised some recruiters by getting a 93(1 on his SAT last tall. M arshall Haskins, his coach at Jefferson, says Brooks will be eligible if he gets C 's this year. The Taoist T ai C hi Society o f O regon in v ite s the p u b lic to jo in them in celebrating the arrival o f the Y ear o f the Dragon. T he society will be hosting a Chinese New Y ear’s Celebration featuring a traditional C hinese dinner, speakers and Tai Chi dem onstrations on February 6, at the G reat China Seafood Restaurant, 336 NW Davis, Portland at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person w ith proceeds going to the educational scholarship fund, w hich allow s the T aoist Tai Chi Society to im prove the quality o f the training offered. T ickets are available by calling the society at 220-5970. Dead Mathematicians’ Society The Dead M athem aticians’ Society at Mt. Hood C om m unity C ollege presents a w in te r lecture se rie s, “T he Infinite Enrichm ent Series.” T he series began with a January 20th lecture, "Solving the C u b ic P o ly n o m ia l U sin g C a y le y ’s M ethod," by Bill H lstead, a m athem atics stu d e n t. O n T h u rs d a y Ja n u a ry 27, “ Im plications o f D NA Technology on the Tree o f L ife,” will be presented by M ic h a e l B o y e r, an e n v iro n m e n ta l specialist in transition. O ther lectures follow on February 17 and 24. All lectures are on Thursdays at 4:05 p.m . on M H CC’s B randon Brooks defends a g a in st Benson H igh Sch o o l in the Friday gam e that led USA Today to nam e them the fo u rth best team in Am erica. (Please see 'Brooks' page B3) m ain cam pus in Room 1571, and are free an d op en to the p u b lic . F or m ore inform ation contact Bill Covell at 503/ 491-7437. Seminar highlights Passages from Martin Luther King Jr. Poems Over Broadway! On Friday, January 21, Willamette University held a rousing celebration called "Passages o f Martin Luther King. " The beloved Civil Rights leader was honored at the annual event held at the Smith Auditorium to a sold-out crowd This free event was sponsored by the school’s Multicultural Law Students Association. The highlight o f the evening was a docu-drama given bv local talents like Oregon s Governor John Kitzaher portraying John F. Kennedy and Assistant Attorney Okainer Christian Dark as Coretta Scott King. Other historical characters represented bv locals were Daddy King. Malcolm X and Stokelv Carmichael. The actors and actresses delivered with a passion that was reminiscent o f the era s turbulence. A nother highlight o f the evening was the gospel songs performed by the Gospel Music Workshop o f A merica. Their stirring performances served as the background music o f the entire docu-drama. Dr. Clayborne Carson was the producer o f this year's event. His background as a Poem s O ver B roadw ay! is a monthly open m ike poetry reading for poets o f all ages, skill levels and styles. W ith an intimate, relaxed and non-confrontational atm osphere, it’s g reat for first-tim e readers. Poetry lovers will enjoy meeting and hearing poets from the area read their work. The event will b eat Barnes & Noble at NE Broadw ay and 13th on Friday, February 11 at 7 p.m. Free Photography Contest Stanford professor. Civil Rights historian, director o f the King Papers Project, and senior advisor fo r the PBS series "Eyes on the Prize " made him the idea! candidate to organize such a grand event. A reception immediately followed in the Truman Wesley Collins Legal Center that included food, drinks, a discussion by Dr. Clayborne Carson and an award given to form er Oregon Supreme Court Justice. Edwin J Peterson by Willamette University's Multicultural Law Students Association fo r his commitment to diversity. The International Library ofPhotography is pleased to announce that over $60,000 in prizes will be aw arded this year in the I n te r n a tio n a l O pen A m a te u r P hotography C ontest. Photographers from the P ortland area, particularly Dr. C layborne Carson f V • A i ► I I__ L G overnor John Kitzhaber beginners, are w elcom e to try to win their share o f over 1,300 prizes. The deadline for the contest is M arch 31. The contest is open to everyone and entry is FREE. Y ou can v is it th e ir w e b s ite at w w w.picture.com . Learn to Meditate Free Learn to M editate 3-week course offered by the Sri C hinm oy Centre. D iscover how m editation can sim plify y o u r life and deepen your sense o f happiness, m any techniques taught by e x p e r ie n c e d m e d ita tio n te a c h e rs . D ow ntow n L ibrary (801 SW 10th), Sundays, January 30, February 6 and 13, 1 : 3 0 - 3 p.m. Phone 503/471-1588 to register. Grand Floral Parade Tickets are now avai lable for the Portland Rose Festival G rand Floral Parade held on Saturday, June 10 at the M emorial Coliseum at IOa.m.Pricesare$23,$2Oand $ 11.50 (includes convenience charge - add $.50 forphone/intem et orders). Call Rose Q uarterTicket Office at 227-2681 or any Ticketm aster. Portland Community Design makes changes in head office Bv Ln Pl.KLMAS OlXllLÍOKILAM)i>BSl.lOtR H aving done m ore to shape the look o f housing in Northeast Portland in the last decade than any other person. Peter W ilcox is ready to seek greener pastures. W ilcox will leave his post as head o f Portland Com m unity Design at the end o f this month. He will turn over the reins o f the non-profit urban design firm to Suzanne Zuniga. “I felt that Suzanne w as the right person to be my successor, and that I had better take advantage o f that," W ilcox says. “A fter a decade here. I’m ready for change and new challenges.” O fficially incorporated in 1991, Portland Com m unity Design has played a role in creating 350 new housing projects, m ost o f them for low-income families in inner Northeast Portland. The group has w orked w ith such non-profit developers as H O ST C om m unity D e v e lo p m e n t, N o rth e a s t C o m m u n ity D e v e lo p m e n t C o r p o r a tio n , P o rtla n d C om m unity Reinvestm ent Initiatives, and Rose C om m unity D evelopment PCD and W ilcox also started the planning process that led to the redesign o f parts o f N ortheast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and the restoration o f on-street parking to parts o f the street. Both played a role in the O uter Southeast C om m unity Plan and the revitalization ofthc Belmont Business District in inner southeast Portland The agency is w orking on the G arfield Cherry Tree Three project at Northeast ( iarficld A venue and Failing Street, and the proposed 12-unit project at Northeast Killingsw orth Street and 44th Avenue. The latter, a joint venture with Habitat for Humanity, will include a park and com m unity garden Prior to formation o f PCD, W ilcox drafted the Ten Essentials, the base o f city design standards for building in inner N ortheast Portland. The essentials include a useable front porch, building at grade instead o f flattening the site down to sidew alk level, and using natural material for siding. He also put together a national com petition to design houses for two vacant lots in the com m unity; the w inning designs becam e the seven-unit D aw son Park row houses at N ortheast W illiam s A venue and M om s Street, and the three-unit G oing Street Row H ouses on Northeast Sixth Avenue near King School H ow ever, he realized that A I A. volunteers alone “w ere no, nearly m eeting the needs o f low -incom e com m unities for good housing design." Thus he organized PCD. Perhaps the gro u p ’s single m ost important project has been Albina C om er at Northeast M artin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and San Rafael street. The first housing venture on the boulevard in decades, it contains 42 units built around a central courtyard one flight up Below arc A lbina C om m unity Bank, the San Rafael Cafe and PC D ’s own headquarters. “ I, dem onstrated you could successfully build housing on Ml K when m ost people said you couldn’t," chiefcity planner Michael H arrison, creator o f the Albina C om m unity Plan, says. W ilcox, how ever, says his biggest disappointm ent is the features he had to cut from the project due to cost over-runs. Aside from his innovative approach. Wi Icox has been k now n for his w i 11 i ngness to work with local com m unities. In creating the Stanton Five infill project for HOST, PCD drew up nine different dev clopm en, schem es until they found one nearby neighbors fel, they could live with. “ Peter is a really fine gentlem an.” HOST director Howard Nolte says “ He alw avs has the interest o fth c neighborhotxl at hear, He understands no, only wha, looks good, but w ha, will vork in the housing m arket .” Some o fth c things that Wilcox and PCD pioneered - low-cost housing tha, is also com patible and w ell-designed, high-density housing on MI K and mixed use buildings - arc now being pursued by others. W ilcox and Zuniga say Zuniga says she would like PCD to p u rsu e m ix e d -in c o m e h o u sin g and "sustainable" design The latter approach seeks to minimize use o f scarce resources like fuel “ Instead o f using the best heating system (Please see 'Housing' page 2) I I t
