C e le b ra tin g
Committed to Cultural Diversity
B la c k
H is to r y
M o n th
February 23. 2005
Bejing Modern Dance
M etro
Upcoming performance rooted in
Chinese culture and thirst for freedom
See story, page B3
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SECTION
C
o u i m li n i t y
a 1 e n d a r
Career Fair
Mt. Hood Community College
hill host a career fair on Thurs
day, Feb. 24, offering students
and community members the
chance to receive advice, re
sources and networking oppor
tunities with local businesses.
The fair is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
at the MHCC College Center,
26000 S.E. Stark St. For more
information, call 503-491 -7432.
S tudent s Look
Through the Eyes of MLK, Jr.
w ith
Essays
Ockley Green Middle
School Librarian Jane
Morgan meets with the
four students who won
the Martin Luther King,
Jr. essay contest.
Eating Disorder Awareness
“A Decade of Awareness, Pre
vention and Treatm ent,” the
ninth annual professional con
ference on eating disorders, will
be held on Friday, Feb. 25 at
Washington State University in
Vancouver. For more informa
tion, call 503-295-7890.
photos by N eil H eii . pern /
F or T he P ortland
O bserver
Boy Scout Collection
Local Boy Scouts and Cub
Scouts will be participating in a
door-to-door donation drive on
Saturday, March 5. More than
90 cents of every dol lar recei ved
from the sale of these items will
go toward training and employ
ment of people with disabilities
and special needs. For more in
formation, call 503-225-5767.
Ockley Green Middle
School 7th grade student
Diego V. Diestra reads his
essay on Martin Luther
King, Jr., which won first
place in the school's
annual essay contest.
Preschool Open House
T illam ook C ooperative Pre
schools holds its open house on
Saturday, March 5 from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m. at 935 N.E. 33 Ave.
Financial aid is available. For
more information, call 503-234-
1691.
Used Bookstore Sale
T he M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty
Library ’ s Title Wave Used Book-
store at 216 N.E. Knott St. will
hold its 17th anniversary sale
during the month of March. Sales
will change daily. Hours are
Monday through Saturday from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more infor
mation, call 503-988-5021.
Get Fit, Stay Healthy!
Sankofaa Health Institute offers
a free diabetes support group
from 6 to 7:30 p.m. every third
Thursday at Alberta Simmons
Plaza, 6707 N.E. Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd. For more informa
tion, call 503-285-2484.
B
by N eii . H eilpern
F or T he P ortland O bserver
“We have many races in our school and
we get along well,” said Ockley Green Middle
School student Diego V. Diestra. “This is
what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted.”
Diestra was the first place winner in his
school’s essay Black History Month con
Ockley
Green
Winning
Essays
test honoring the slain civil rights leader. He
depicted a visit to his school by Dr. King and
the image he would leave with students of
different races studying and playing to
gether.
Second place winner Philip Melson imag
ined Dr. King visiting the school, seeing “a
rainbow of races” and thinking that “race
Ockley Green Middle School students
wrote from one of the following two topics
for Black History Month: “If Martin Luther
King Jr. were to visit your school today and
look around, what would he say about race
relations?” and “Is African American His
tory month and Martin Luther King Jr.’s
birthday only important to African Ameri
cans, why or why not?”
‘Dr. King, Jr. would be proud o f how
our school is, and even though we have a
few race problems we 're trying to make it
better. We have many races in our school
and we get along well. This is what Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted. He wanted
relations are way better than they were in the
past.” He also noted that King would prob
ably teach the students to be aware of racist
language that may slip out of their mouths in
everyday conversation.
Damien Johnson-Moore, whose essay
won third place, noted that King “dreamed
we could share things and not have to hate
us all to be good friends. ’
— Diego V. Diestra - 7th Grade
1st Place Winner
‘Martin Luther King Jr. would smile if he
saw the diversity o f races at Ockley Green.
We have black, white, Asian, European and
Mexican-Americans here; it’s a rainbow o f
races. But Dr. King would be very disap
pointed if he heard the words we use here.
Blacks are still called niggers, whites are
still called crackers and new racist words
come daily. It is sad that words like that at
still used. ’
— Philip Melson - 7th Grade
2nd Place Winner
each other.” He said King “helped bring the
entire world together in friendship."
“T his school is w o n d erfu l!” fourth
place w inner Pam D eClue quoted King in
an im aginary new spaper-style interview .
“T here is hardly any racism and people
continued
on page B6
‘Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream
that black and white people could get along
with each other. He also wanted us to be
friends. He dreamed we could share things
and not have to hate each other. ’
— Damien Johnson-Moore - 7th Grade
3rd Place Winner
' When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited
our school, Ockley Green, he said it was a
great school. So what do you think about
everyone’s behavior? ” / asked happily. "It’s
between good and had, some people are
fine, but others need to calm down.
— Pam DeClue - 7th Grade
4th Place Winner
Love the Pooch
Problem pooch classes are a must
take for anyone who may be ne w
to the world of pet parenthood
or is interested in considering
adopting a new friend. Come to
the Oregon Humane Society to
find out why your dog does those
silly little things. Meetings are
every first and third Saturday of
the month at 11 a.m. For more
information, call 503-285-7722.
Women In NAACP
Women in NAACP meets from
10:30a.m. to 1 p.m. the first Sat
urday of each m onth at the
American Red Cross Building,
3131 N. Vancouver. For ques
tions, call 503-249-6263.
AIDS Awareness
A lbina M inisterial A lliance
sponsors a bi-monthly support
and education group for African
Americans living with HIV/
AIDS at Maranatha Church at
4222 NE 12th St. The group will
meet every second and fourth
Thursday of the month. For more
in fo rm a tio n , call E ln ath an
Hudson at503-285-0493ext. 217.
Aquatic Fitness
Providence has a full schedule
of fitness classes including wa
ter exercising at the Providence
Aquatic Center, 4805 N.E. Glisan.
Fora schedule, call 503-215-6301.
Birth Ready
W hether you need childbirth
preparation classes, or just a
refresher. Providence Health
Systems has a workshop for you.
V isit w w w .p ro v id e n c e .o rg /
classes or call 503-574-6595.
!
Kaiser Permanente Giving Kids a Healthy Chance
Virtually free
health care offered
by K atherine K ovacich
T he P ortland O bserver
When your child comes to you crying with
the flu, the chicken pox or a broken arm, will you
be able to take them to the doctor without
worrying about how much it’s going to cost
because the rent is due, the bills need to be paid
and the food needs to be in their bellies?
Every day, children grow up without proper
medical attention simply because their family
doesn’t have health insurance. This is why
Kaiser Permanente is offering 2(XX) children,
grades K-6, the chance at a zero-premium health
plan to make sure Portland’s kids are in tip-top
shape. This can ensure a child is developing
with the positive attention their bodies and
minds need.
“I’ve been a school nurse for 16 years and I
have seen a lot of kids without insurance,” said
Bill Tomlinson, of the Multnomah Education
Service District. “To me, one of the biggest
issues is the attitude and ability o f family to be
able to readily access health care for their kids.
It’s kind of an attitude that if there's something
wrong with your kid. and you have the insur
ance, you don't really hesitate to take care of
your kid. If you don’t have the insurance and
it's going to cost you 30 bucks minimum to get
in the door, you hesitate. The longer you put it
off, the more problems that occur."
Making sure everything is functioning cor
rectly with a young one is vital in their learning
process. Just as a person with a cold is dis
tracted from work, so is a child if the focus is on
M ARK S k OI.NH K
Enrique Azcorra, 41, is the father o f 9-year-old Jaime Azcorra Aragon. Aragon
needed an eye exam and was able to get assistance through Kaiser s new
PHOTO PROVIDED BY
program.
the pain in their body and not the lessons taught
at school.
“If a child is not going to be as attentive in
class, they're going to be absent more. It they're
worried about not getting into see the doctor or
worried about the family in general, they’re not
going to be attentive in school because they’re
not feeling well or worrying about siblings. Kids
who are healthy are ready to learn,” Tomlinson
said.
An alarming amount of students without
insurance rely solely on a school nurse for care.
“A lot of ones we do see, the kids get injured
over the weekend and they wait until Monday
when the nurse is there," Tomlinson said.
Beyond stress, physical ailments can actu
ally prohibit a child from hearing, seeing or
concentrating if not dealt with.
“I can remember one example of a kid who had
hearing concerns and I w asn't really sure what
was going on, but the kid was having a lot of
learning problems at school," Tomlinson said.
“As it turns out, this kid had had hearing prob
lems for a really long time and they were not
being dealt with at all by the parents because
they didn't have access to and didn’t know how
to access health insurance. We got the ball
rolling and got some care for the child."
Realizing that being healthy and being able
to take care of yourself is a learned habit.
“There's learning about w hat's important as
a child, what’re their priorities. Health is a num
ber one priority. If you learn that you can go
right in and take care of any problem right away,
there's an attitude you take in house and in
school. Those attitudes are shaped by the abil
ity of the family to access health care. They may
learn that you worry about those kinds o f things
continued
on page B6