March 16. 2005
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Jazz Returns
to Portland State
M etro
LeRoy Virmegar opens L.V.’s Uptown' with
a benefit for the university's jazz institute
P o rtla n d ffibseruer
See story, page B3
SECTION
C
B
o ni ni u n i t y
a le n da r
Women Mentors
W omen in Community Service
is seeking volunteer mentors for
female offenders at Coffee Creek
Correctional Facility. Mentors
provide support and encourage­
ment to women transitioning
from prison back into the com ­
munity. Mentors must be female,
24 or older. Training is provided.
Call 503-570-6614 for more infor­
mation.
Portland Children’s
Museum Art Activities
Portland Children’s Museum will
hold a variety of art activities for
children throughout the month,
including mediums using mo­
saic, African arts and culture
and garden stepping stones. For
more information, call 503-223-
6500 or visit the website at
www.portlandchildrensniuscTun.iMg.
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 17lh anniversary sale all
month long. Sales will change
d a ily . H o u rs are M onday
through Saturday from 10a.m. to
4 p.m.
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
KingJr. Blvd. For more informa-
don, call 503-285-2484.
Beach Clean Up
Volunteers are encouraged to
join th&20lb annual Great Oregon
Spring Beach Cleanup sched­
uled for Saturday, March 19 from
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sign ups are
encouraged at one of 42 regis­
tration sites all along the Oregon
Coast. For more information go
to www.solv.org or call 1 -800-
333-SOLV.
AIDS Awareness
A lbina M inisterial A lliance
sponsors a bi-monthly support
and education group for African
A m ericans living with HIV/
AIDS at Maranatha Church at
4222 NE 12,h 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 at 5O3-285-ÍH93 ext. 217.
Women in NAACP
Women in NAACP meets from
10:30a.m. to 1 p.m. the first Sat­
urday o f each month at the
American Red Cross Building,
3131 N. Vancouver. For ques­
tions, call 503-249-6263.
Birth Ready
W hether you need childbirth
preparation classes, or just a
refresher. Providence Health
Systems has a workshop for you.
Prepare for pai n, take a weekend
seminar or prepare big sisters
and brothers-to-be throughout
the su m m e r by v isitin g
www.providence.org/classesor
call 503-574-6595.
Creative Space For Dance
Aurora Dance Studio, 5433 N.E.
30th (at Killingsworth), offers an
array of classes for children,
teens and adults at all levels of
ability. Call 503-249-0201 or visit
online at w w w .hevanet.com /
auroradance for additional in­
formation.
Gain Computer Skills
The Sun program offers a com ­
puter class for parents at King
Elementary School. To register,
call503-916-6156or503-319-3425.
Volunteer Option
If you are looki ng for a volunteer
opportunity, check out Bradley-
Angle House to end domestic
violence. Bilingual women and
women of color are especially
needed. Forinformation,call503-
282-9940.
Rap artist and Portland native Bosko is reaching the top echelons o f his profession working with heavyweight performers like E-40, Limp Bizkit and Kanye West.
Isoeal Isabel •Hits It
Bosko propels
Jus Family Records
beyond Portland
by K atherine K ovacich
T he P ortland O bserver
Bosko Kante, who usually just goes by
his first name, doesn’t like to give up easily.
He founded Jus Family Records in 1992
with Terrance Scott after realizing that work­
ing grueling day jobs w asn’t cutting it. They
wanted to be, and became, their own outlet
to a major label for Portland.
“I was going to school studying engi­
neering in college and it was great, but I
figured out how to make a living doing some­
thing I really enjoy,” Bosko said from a Los
Angeles phone call. “1 went 100 percent.
And it’s not something that was easy and
it’s always been a struggle, but I’m strug­
gling doing something that I love.”
Working with heavyweight performers
like E-40, Limp Bizkit, Too Short and Kanye
W est doesn’t seem to phase Bosko all that
much.
“ I never thought o f myself as being lim­
ited," Bosko said. “ I got a give thanks to my
mom for that kind of outlook of never believ­
ing that I didn't have enough to make it. In
a sense it was being too naive to know how
difficult it was. I found a way.”
The artist said he works that much harder
when someone tells him he can’t achieve at
something. This what has made Jus Family
Records take off, landing him into new op­
portunities via word-of-mouth.
Bosko grew up in a musical household,
with his mom listening to R&B to singing in
the church choir as a young boy. Bosko said
he started listening to hip-hop, went onto
break dancing and eventually spinning as a
DJ, “making tapes and trying to be like the
rappers on T.V.”
His songs usually originate with his mu­
sic tracks, where he then builds a lyrical
SIS
base.
“I listen to a bunch of stuff that I’ve
created and it gives me a direction in terms of
a mood or feeling and how to expand on it.
Something that 1 want to do or thought about
doing and never did and just going with it,”
Bosko said. “W hen you ’ re writing, it kind of
takes on a life of it’s own. Each word has to
rhyme. It starts to take off and I’m watching
the story unfold. It's exciting at the end o f the
day what comes out.”
Bosko recently celebrated the release of
his latest project “That Fire,” which features
E-40, DMX, Lil Jon, BubbaSparxx, Kurupt,
continued
on page B6
Tax Help Volunteers Figure the Numbers
Program provides
assistance for low-
income families
by K atherine K ovacich
T he P ortland O bserver
It's tax time again and groans
can be heard all throughout Port­
land. But doing your taxes doesn't
have to be a difficult ordeal with
assistance, and could possibly
mean thousands o f dollars in re­
funds if you play your cards right.
Programs are set up all over the
city to help with free guidance in
figuring out the numbers, the de­
ductions and the exemptions that
could entitle local residents to its
slice of the credit pie.
Earlier in February, the Oregon
Tax Credit Coalition held an event
at Lloyd Center that featured the
Internal Revenue Service. Oregon
D e p a rtm e n t
of
R e v en u e,
Multnomah County, and A A RP’s
Tax-Aide Program.
On board were trained volunteer
tax preparers who focused on low
and moderate income individuals.
About 145 people had both their
federal and state taxes done for free,
with the average return at $ 1,550.
The event was a kick-off to make
people aware of the various local
sites o ffered by the co alition
through 22 different public and pri­
vate organizations.
One main push is for the aware­
ness of the Earned I ncome Tax Credit
that many are entitled to but don t
Marneet Lewis
Franklin
Senior on
State Panel
PHOTOCOl RTESY LOWELLGREATHOI SE
Volunteer tax preparer Jing Chin helps a local resident file for Earned Income Tax Credits at a recent
special event at Lloyd Center sponsored by the Oregon Tax Credit Coalition.
know about. Last year about $73 paying the rent. For other families,
million in tax credits went undeliv­ it may be that this becomes the
resource to being saving for a new
ered.
car
or for putting a down payment
“It's called Earned Income Tax
Credits for a reason,” said Lowell on a home."
Lowell said $338 million in federal
Greathouse, Vision Council Man­
earned
income tax credits that came
ager for United Way of Columbia
back
to
Oregonians last year, bring­
W illamette, a coalition partner.
“This is income they’re entitled to. ing an average of $ 1,611 per house­
For many families, it could be that hold.
“That’s pretty significant for a
they’re having to struggle to make
ends meet with food, utilities and low-income family," Lowell said.
“Families can receive up to $4.2(X),
so for some families that’s a pretty
big impact."
“Tax law is com plicated and
even if y ou're able to com pre­
hend it y o u 'd rather have som e­
body else do it anyw ay," said
Kathy Howell. Senior Tax Spe­
cialist with IRS of Oregon. “ About
55 percent o f the population goes
continued
on page HS
M arneet Lew is, a senior at
Franklin High School, has been
named to a state panel address­
ing education issues.
The Youth A dvisory Team is
a group o f students from all over
O reg o n th at re p o rt to S tate
Schools Superintendent Susan
C a s tillo .
“ I want to have the benefit of
the advice o f a diverse group of
students," C astillo said. "T his
group plays an im portant role in
changing and im proving public
education in O regon by using
their experiences as students to
inform state leaders, educators,
and com m unity m em bers.”
L ew is. 17, is a ctiv e in m any
e x tra c u rric u la r a c tiv itie s, in-
continued
on page H6