May 25, 2005
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
i g
M etro
special
edition
^ o rtla n h ©bserrier
Guild t0 Host
Jazz Legends
Barbeque For Bikes, Kids
The grill will be smokin’ from 11
a.m. to 5 p.m. on Memorial Day
weekend, Saturday, May 27 and
Sunday, May 28 at all New Sea­
sons grocery stores to benefit
Community Cycling Center pro­
grams for low-income youth. For
m ore
in fo rm a tio n
v isit
www.communitycyclingcenter.org
First Hip-Hop Summit
community service
See pages B2 through B5
Performance set at Old Church
W ith plans to wow even the strictest
jazz aficionados, legends Rashied Ali and
Sonny Fortune will perform T hursday,
June 2 at dow ntow n’s O ld Church in a
concert sponsored by The C reative M u­
On May 28, the first annual Hip-
Hop Summit is held at Portland
State University. Panel discus­
sions w illstartat2p.m . followed I sic Guild.
Perhaps best know n as the drum m er
by a hip-hop concert at6:30p.m .
on m any landm ark recordings by John
All the events are free and open
C oltrane, Ali can truly claim to be one o f
to the public and will take place
the founders o f free jazz drum m ing.
at Shattuck Hall on the PSU
His innovative, polytonal style has cap­
downtown campus.
tivated the avant-garde jazz scene for
African Drumming, Dancing decades and, now in his 6 0 ’s, he contin­
The North Star Ballroom, 635 N.
ues to be a force, as w itnessed at his tw o
Killingsworth Ct„ hosts ongo­
sold-out show s in Portland last year with
ing classes on Tuesday and
Ravi C oltrane.
W ednesday’s. Tuition is either
A virtuoso o f relentless and turbulent
$ 15 drop in fee or $75 for6 weeks.
pow er, veteran saxophonist-flutist For­
Ghanaian rhythms will be pre­
tune was an integral m em ber of Miles
sented through beginning and
D avis’ late 7 0 ’s and early 80’s com bos.
ad vanced drumming and you can
also work up a sweat at their
African Aerobics class. For more
information call 503-283-2080
In a d d itio n to
playing with Davis,
Fortune has played
on many recordings
w ith Coltrane asso­ Rashied Ali
c ia te s
M cC oy
Tyner, Elvin Jones and Pharaoh Sanders.
He has also perform ed with Buddy Rich,
D izzy G illespie, Nat Adderly and G eorge
Benson, am ong others.
The perform ance begins at 8 p.m. at
the O ld C hurch, 1422 S.W . l l ,h Ave.
A dm ission is $20 general and $15 m em ­
bers. Tickets are available at the door on
the day o f the show only. All ages are
w elcom e.
F or m ore in fo rm atio n , call T he C re ­
ativ e M usic G u ild at 503 -7 7 2 -0 7 7 2 or
check
th e
CM G
w e b s ite
at
Veteran saxophonist-flutist Sony Fortune will perform June 2 at downtown's
Old Church.
Interstate
Farmer s
Market
Opens
Bradley-Angle Volunteers
T he B ra d le y -A n g le H ouse
needs volunteers for its diver­
sity of programs to end domestic
abuse, from a crisis line to public
speaking or administrative as­
sistance. W omen of color and
bilingual women are encouraged
tocall 503-282-9940.
Women Mentors
W omen in Community Service
are seeking volunteer mentors
for female offenders at Coffee
Creek Correctional Facility. Men­
tors provide support and encour­
agement to women transitioning
from prison back into the com ­
munity. Mentors must be female,
24orolder. Training is provided.
Call 503-570-6614 for more infor­
mation.
Florist Yu a helps her
customer Gloria Canson
(right) pick out a bouquet
at the first Interstate
Avenue Farmer's Market at
Overlook Park in north
Portland. The market
opens each Wednesday
from 3 to 7 p.m. through
Sept 28. An official grand
opening will be held on
June 1 at 5 p.m. with
Mayor Tom Potter and
other notable officials.
Get Ht, 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 i tforma-
tion, call 503-285-2484.
photo by M ark W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver
AIDS Awareness
Albina Ministerial Alliance spon­
sors a bi-monthly support and
education group for African
Americans living withHIV/AIDS
at MaranathaChurchat4222 N.E.
12'*' St. The group will meet every
second and fourth Thursday of
the month. For more informa­
tion, call Elnathan Hudson at
503-285-0493 extension 217.
Jefferson Design
Effort Begins
bu
'-----iiW
Women in NAACP
Women in NAACP meets from
10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. the first Sat­
urday of each month at the Ameri­
can RedCross Building. 3131 N.
Vancouver. For questions, call
503-249-6263.
Birth Ready
W hether you need childbirth
preparation classes, or just a re­
fresher, Providence Health Sys­
tems has a workshop for you.
Prepare for pain, 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/classes or
call 503-574-6595.
photo by
K atherine K ovackh /T he P ortland O bserver
Creative Space For Dance
Victory Middle School sixth graders work on building web pages in their computer class.
Aurora Dance Studio, 5433 N.E.
30th (at Killingsworth). offers an
array of classes forchildren, teens
and adults at all levels of ability.
Call 503-249-0201 or visit online at
www.hevanet.com/auroradance
for additional information.
Victory School Gets Extension
Gain Computer Skills
The Sun program offers a com ­
puter class for parents at King
Elementary School. To register,
call503-91 fr6 156or503-319-3425.
Victory Middle School was re­
cently awarded an extension that al­
lows it to continue as a state sanc­
tioned public school in a 7-0 vote by
the State Board of Education.
The charter school, located inside
the Blazer's Boys and Girls Club on
Northeast Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard, was in danger of losing
its state sponsorship because of pas,
failures in financial planning and
record-keeping, a high turnover rate
for teachers and little supervision on
decisions made by the sch o o l's
founder Rich Blizzard.
Bu, over the last year, correc-
tions have been made w ith C ottrell
B. White Jr. as principal. The school
with a large m inority population
has undergone drastic changes in
its discipline and teaching m eth­
ods, bringing about a night and
day difference in student perfo r­
mance.
L ast m onth, the Portland
School Board turned down a
recom m endation to com bine
Jefferson High School w ith
W hitaker and H arriet Tubm an
Middle Schools and asked Vicki
Phillips, the school district su­
perintendent, to put together a
design team to review options
for the north and northeast
Portland schools.
Phillips has begun putting
that team together now that
the d istric t’s budge, has been
approved, school officials an­
nounced last week.
The team will be com prised
of 15-20 individuals. Phillips
and student board representa­
tive Suleim a C ortez will meet
with student groups from all
three schools to take recom ­
m endations. The students se­
lected for the design team will
come from student leadership.
N ational H onor Society and
Sisters in Action.
Phillips also will include prin­
cipals and teachers on the team.
The principals and the P ort­
land Teachers Association will
make recom m endations.
The design team will also
include parents as well as m em ­
bers o f com m unity-based or­
g a n iz a tio n s, b u sin esses and
c h u rc h e s . P ro fe s s io n a ls in
high ed u c a tio n and school-
based partners will also be in­
cluded.
D istrict officials said it is im­
portant to the school board that
the c o m m itte e 's participants
must have a w illingness to look
at a range o f potential options
and those who have the inter­
ests of the students at heart.
The superintendent expects
to finalize the com m ittee by
early June. In addition to the
m eetings of the design team , a
series o f com m unity m eetings
will be held to gather additional
com m unity input and to keep
the b ro a d e r co m m u n ity in ­
formed.
For suggestions and more
inform ation, em ail Phillips at
superintendcnttiÿ’pps.k 12.or.us
o rcall 5 0 3 -9 16 -3200or write to
the superintendent at 501 N.
Dixon. Portland, OR 97227.