50(í
Stoudamire Signs with Memphis
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Portland great moves NBA career ahead
See story in Sports, page B6
of
"community service
‘City of Roses’
Volume XXXV, Number 33
Discovery Lands in California
Discovery and its crew o f seven
glided safely back to Earth on T ues
day, ending a riveting, at times ago
nizing, 14-day test of space shuttle
sa fe ty . D is c o v e ry s w o o p e d
through the predawn darkness and
landed at Edw ards Air Force Base
in the M ojave Desert concluding
the first shuttle re-entry since
C olum bia’s tragic return.
Basie, Ella, Benny Make Hall
C ount Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and
Benny G oodm an head this y ear’s
class o f 12 inductees to the Nesuhi
Ertegun Jazz H all o f Fam e, w hich
opened last fall in N ew York. The
hall is nam ed after the T urkish-
born Ertegun, w ho played a key
role in developing the catalog o f
jazz, R& B and rock album s at A t
lantic Records, the label founded
by his brother A hm et.
Gasoline Prices Surge
T he retail price o f gasoline rose
alm ost 8 cents last w eek to aver
age $2.37 a gallon nationw ide, a
new high, the Energy D epartm ent
reported. T he previous record
high w as $2.33 per gallon, estab
lished the w eek ending July 8.
Adjusting for inflation, retail gaso
line prices peaked above $3 a gal
lon in 1981.
Anchor Peter Jennings Dies
Peter Jennings, the
urbane, C anadian-
born b ro ad c aste r
w ho delivered the
news to A m ericans
each night in five
separate decades,
died Sunday. He w as 67. Jennings,
w ho announced in April that he
had lung cancer, died at his New
York home.
Rules for Morning-After Pill
Federal health officials will decide
this month w hether to let women
buy em ergency contraception with
out a prescription. But states al
ready are moving to expand access
to Plan B, the pill that can prevent
pregnancy if taken soon after un
protected sex, am id some com pet
ing efforts to restrict it. If the FDA
does allow easier access, the pills
probably would com e with an age
limit — anyone younger than 16
would still need a prescription.
A
Bg
J S
Established in 1970
w w w .portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • August 10. 2005
Community Commitment
New Seasons
to open Arbor
Lodge store
K atherine B lackmore
T he P ortland O bserver
by
In 1999, three Portland fam ilies, along
w ith about 50 other people, started a
com m unity m arket called N ew Seasons.
A little m ore than five years later, the local
chain is flourishing w ith five locations
successfully in operation and four more
stores on the way.
D espite the phenom enal grow th, the
m arkets continue to be locally ow ned and
operated, staying connected to the indi
vidual com m unities they serve and w in
ning custom er loyalty through old-fash
ioned service and a m odern atm osphere.
“ W e’re a local chain and people in
Portland have a strong desire to support
local businesses,” said Brian Rohter, New
Seasons co-founder and ch ief executive
officer. “W e offerextraordinary attention
to ou r cu sto m ers, w e have a happy
w orkforce and w e offer really great, high
quality, locally grown and produced prod
u c ts.”
R o h ter said w h ile N ew S easo n s is
b ran c h in g o u t fro m its lo c atio n s in
n o rth e a s t, so u th e a s t an d so u th w e st
P ortland, w ith on e lo catio n in H illsb o ro
and sto re s in th e w o rk s o v e r the next
co u p le o f y ea rs fo r B e av e rto n , L ake
O sw e g o and H ap p y V alley , th e re are
no p la n s w h a tso e v e r to m ove b ey o n d
the m e tro area.
“ W e’re only opening stores in our
ow n cities so w e know the com m unities
really w ell,” R ohter said. “ It’s easy to go
out there and solve problem s. It m akes all
the difference in the w orld to do business
at hom e.”
T he latest incarnation o f N ew Seasons
will be its A rbor Lodge location on North
¡• hotos by K atherine B lackmore / T he P ortland O bserver
Peg O'Hara, New Seasons Market at Arbor Lodge store manager (left), stands
with Customer Service Manager Jerald Mathies and Assistant Store Manager
Marisel Emert in the store s colorful deli-seating area, currently undergoing
construction and set to open Aug. 31.
We focus on trying to make sure that
the people that work in our stores look
like the people that shop in our stores.
Portland B oulevard and Interstate A v
enue, set to open its doors on W ednes
day, Aug. 31 with a grand opening the
follow ing L abor D ay w eekend on Sept. 3
and 4.
“W e 're com pletely thrilled w ith how
it’s turned out." R ohter said.
T h e new sto re is e m p lo y in g a p p ro x i
m ately 160 peo p le to do e v e ry th in g from
c h e ck in g an d c u s to m e r se rv ic e to m a n
ag in g are as such as the d e li, b ak ery and
p ro d u ce d e p a rtm e n ts. M o st o f th e sta ff
has been h ired so far, w ith h elp from a
rec en t jo b fa ir h eld at P eace L u th e ra n
C h u rch in n o rth P o rtlan d .
"W e had 1,100 people attend the jo b
fair and w e have hundreds o f applicants
we chose that live in the co m m u n ity ,”
R ohter said.
K eeping w ith its philosophy o f b lend
in g in to th e n e ig h b o r h o o d , th e
m ulticultural staff at N ew Seasons is no
accident.
T he firm em ploy s a fu 11 ti m e recruiter to
m ake sure each o f its store locations re
flect the diversity o f the neighborhoods
they serve.
“W e focus on trying to m ake sure that
the people that w ork in o u r stores look like
the people that shop in o u r stores,” R ohter
said.
For these diversity efforts, the Urban
L eague o f Portland honored R ohter and
New Seasons in 2004 with its Equal O ppor
tunity A w ard. He w as also honored with
the St. A ndrew Church M artin Luther King
Jr. M edal o f H onor for Social and E co
nom ic Justice in 2(X)4.
"T hat w as one o f the prouder m om ents
in my life to receive that aw ard ,” Rohter
said.
T he m olding o f each store to please its
custom ers is a w ork-in-progress.
“W e open the store based on the know l
edge that we have and it ev olves o v er the
m onths because w e receive com m ents
continued
- Brian Rohter, New Seasons M arket co-founder and chief executive officer
yf
on page A3
MR
MM
Small City,
BÌ2 HÌP HOP
Why White Kids
Love Hip Hop
Author sees racial harmony in song
photo by N icole H ooper /
T he P ortland O bserver
Car Bomber Strikes Convoy
Bakari Kitwana
(A P) - A suicide car bom ber struck
a U.S. convoy T uesday near a
crow ded square in a w ave o f vio
lence that killed at least 17 people,
in c lu d in g a U .S . s o ld ie r in
Baghdad as Iraqi politicians re
sum ed talks on drafting a new
constitution.
by N icole H ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
Hip hop music has had an influ
ence on racial harm ony as much as
the Civil Rights m ovem ent, accord
ing to Bakari Kitwana, author of
W hy W hite Kids Love Hip Hop.
The form erexecuti ve o f hip hop’s
The Source m agazine. K itw ana re
cently visited Portland on a national
tour to prom ote the b«x»k. his newest
installm ent follow ing his book Hip
H op G eneration.
“W hite kids tire processing rac
ism differently," Kitwana said. “This
is a generation o f young w hites who
arc thinking differently about what
it m eans to be young and white. It’s
an alienation from America. They
d o n ’t have everything good. This
idea o f w hite privilege is for the first
tim e being challenged.”
K itw ana's research isn’t about
pop culture as much as it is about
underground political hip hop. For
exam ple, Rapper Eminem is one of
the few white rappers that have been
able to maintain his ghetto pass into
the world o f rap, but this book is
about white kids writing for pol itical
change.
“Em inem was just a part o f the
story," K itw ana said." “People m ea
sure Eminem in sales, but the impact
is more significant in the Beastie
Boys.”
Kitwana believes black rappers
merging with other white musicians,
lik e 1986's "W alk T h is W ay"
colloboration o f Run D M C and
Aerosmith, was influential in help
ing rap cross over to the mainstream.
With the population of African-
Americans being so small and rap
record sales being so high, it is evi-
continued
y^
on page AS
photo by K atherine
B lackmore / T he P or hand O bserver
Local filmmaker Opio Sokoni will debut his Portland film “Small City, Big Hip Hop" on Saturday,
Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd.
Filmmaker spotlights
Portland music scene
but to delve into the social issues
behind it. He know s hip hop do esn ’t
just mean buying an album , listen
ing to it and m oving on - it’s a w ay
o
f life. It affects the w ay people
tary film “Small City. Big Hip Hop,"
by K atherine B lackmore
dress,
how they act, w hat th ey 're
O pio Sokoni hopes to bring light to
T he P ortland O bserver
W hen outsiders think o f the the burgeoning hip-hop co m m u concerned with.
“ In the film , you see D Js, d an c
Portland music scene, hip hop nity in Portland, proving that the
d o esn 't generally com e to mind. city is a hub for im pressive but e rs, fa sh io n d e s ig n e rs, sp o k en
w ord, and people understanding
Hipsters, rock bands and techno undiscovered talent in the genre.
A transplant from W ashington what the culture is all about." Sokoni
DJs tend to dom inate the h ea d
lines. and a posh, yet bohem ian, D C. in 2003, Sokoni is a H ow ard said. “ It's a very independent m ove
culture dom inates the streets as U niversity trained law yer and gen ment here because there are no
gentrification slow ly creep s its eral m anager for a local radio sta platinum artists, no film industry.
tion. His calling, how ever, is not
way through neighborhoods.
continued y ^ on page AS
Through his debut d o cu m en only todiscussentertainm ent news.
I