Committed to Cultural Diversity
mvn portlandobservei io n i
Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland
M etro
Comes to Portland
for Blues Concert
See page B3 inside
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pom niu nity
C a le n d a r
PCC Art Beat Festival
The art beat goes on at the 19lh
Annual Art Beat festival at all
Portland Community College cam ­
puses, through Friday, May 12.
The free public celebration in­
cludes local, regional and national
artists, visual art, dance, music,
theater and literary events.
Local Grads Honored
The Bridge Builders organization
invites the com m unity to con­
gratulate African American gradu­
ates from Portland and V ancouver
at the 10,h annual Black Baccalau­
reate, 7 p.m. Sunday, May 2 1 at the
U niversity o f Portland C hildes
Center, 5000 N. W illamette Blvd.
Bird Festival
Celebrate International Migratory
Bird Day at the O aks Bottom M i­
gratory Bird Festival, Saturday,
M ay 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at
Sellw ood Park, just south o f Oaks
B ottom W ildlife Refuge. The
event is free and open to the pub­
lic; for m ore inform ation, visit
www audubonportland.com .
Japanese Garden Hosts Moms
G ive your m other a unique gift
this year at the Japanese G arden,
Sunday May 14 from 11 a.m. to 4
p.m. Special perform ances are
scheduled, including Japanese
m usic, haiku poetry, tea and guest
lectures. The event is free with
garden adm ission; for more infor­
m a tio n v is it w w w .ja p a n e s e
garden.com or call 503-223-1321.
Walk For Mothers Day
Join the Fifth A nnual M aking
Strides A gainst Breast C ancer
W alk, Sunday, M ay 14, begin­
ning at 9:30a.m . at 1875S.W .Park
Ave. and continuing a five-m ile
route to the PSU campus. For more
inform ation, call the Am erican
Cancer Society at 503-795-3940or
sign up online at www.cancer.org/
stridesonline.
National Bike to Work Day
C elebrate N ational Bike to W ork
Day, Friday, M ay 19, with a spe­
cial event fro m 7 :3 0 a.m. to 9 a .m .
at Oregon Square Park in the Lloyd
D istrict on Northeast H olladay
betw een 7'h and 9,h Avenues. En­
jo y free breakfast, speakers, door
prizes, dem onstrations and more.
Lents Home Buying Fair
On Saturday, M ay 20 learn how
you can buy your own hom e in
Lents, and meet with realtors, lend­
ers, title com panies, developers,
hom e-buying counselors, busi­
nesses and non-profits. The fair
free and open to all, from 10a.m. to
2 p.m. at Kelly Elem entary, 9030
S.E. C ooper St.
SECTION
Transgender Library Breaks Isolation
Offers education,
supportand
a good read
by
S arah B i o i
fera»
n i
and feel alone in the absence o f transgender-specific
titles.
O utside In, a social service agency for mostly low-
incom e, hom eless and sexual m inority youth, continu­
ally w orks to decrease that type o f isolation, with a
growing transgender health program , and now a refer­
ence library containing over 400 resources.
Ask three people what transgender means, and y o u ’re
likely to get six answers. For the sake o f this article, the
term can imply several com ponents including gender,
gender identity and sexual orientation.
Zarod Rom inski, O utside In’s associate executive
director, hired Llewyn M cC obb specifically to expand
the clin ic’s sexual m inority program , first established in
the early 1990s. T heT rans/Identity Resource C enter was
a response to the grow ing need for trans health programs
as this particular population flourished.
O riginally the center was a w alk-in service, but as
w ord spread, services were expanded and the online
health directory resourcespdx.org was created.
O utside In fashioned its program s from experience,
not statistics. An official num ber for Portland’s trans
population isn ’t available; because as M cCobb puts it,
people aren’t w illing to share private inform ation with
som eone they d o n ’t feel is their ally.
M cCobb said it was a dream to create a library for the
m any books that are now available on the subject. Help
for the project cam e from PSU Reference Librarian Rose
Jackson who approached O utside In with a $9,6(X) grant,
funded by the National Network o f Libraries o f Medicine.
A board o f librarians, com m unity activists. O utside In
staff and PSU researchers w as form ed to oversee the
library.
T he co llec tio n in clu d es boo k s and v ideos o f fic ­
tion, b io g rap h ies and au to b io g rap h ie s, and oth er
boo k s and tran sg e n d er reso u rces to u ch in g on spiri-
continued
on page B6
photo bv
S arah B i . olint /T he P ortland O bserver
Outside In staff members Zarod Rominski (left) and Llewyn McCobb look over materials from the downtown
center's new Trans/ldentity Resource Center, a reference library with unique and hard to find books that
explore gender issues.
Bringing Local History to Life
Black pioneer,
old district
explored
photo bv
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Monia Bowles (from left), Sade Beasley and Kierrä Davis are painting a mural depicting Northeast 19"'
Avenue in the Sullivan Gulch neighborhood as it was 200 years ago with tall firs and a waterfall.
Genealogy
Explored at
L ib ra ry
•Tcommunity service
J
Ä M ffl ¿ S k
T m P orti ani ) O bserver
Until a literary m ovem ent about ten years ago, a
person could walk intoa library with thousands o f books,
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
Before last year, Sade Beasley
had never heard o f B eatrice
C a n n a d a y . N ow th e m id d le
Mt. Tabor Garden Tour
school student is bringing the
T ake a w alking tour o f six Mt.
story o f this African Am erican
T abor-area gardens on SE 55,h
civic pioneer to others through
A venue betw een Belm ont and
her ow n w ords and art.
H aw thorne S treets, benefitin g
Beasley has made a wixxl carv­
Puppy Raising for G uide Dogs for
ing o f Cannaday, w ho in 1922
the Blind. Tickets are $15, avail­
becam e the first A frican-A m eri­
a b le at c a ta ly s t@ p r o v o k in g
can w oman law yer to practice in
change.com , the Portland N urs­
Oregon. The local student has
ery or the gardens on tour days.
a ls o d e d ic a te d a p o e m to
May 20 and 2 1 from 11 a.m. to 5
Cannaday, part o f an anthology
p.m. For more information call Sheri
called "U nsung heroes and un­
Dowley at 503-806-6167.
told stories."
Both are part o f a m ajor art
Low-cost Helmets
S u m m er’s around the corner, do enterprise by the private north­
y o u r kids w ear a h elm et? All east Portland art school G race
sizes o f h elm ets on sale for $5, Academy, and funded by a $5,(XX)
plus free fitting. K ids can also grant from the Confl uence Project
b ring th eir ow n h elm ets for c o r­ o f the Lew is and Clark B icenten­
rect fitting and ad ju stm en t, and nial.
T h e sh o w ie st p art o f the
b ik e /p ed e stria n lights available
for purch ase as w ell. S aturday, project is a 12 by 16 foot mural.
M ay 20 from noon to 4 p in. at
G ate w ay N eig h b o rh o o d F air,
112'h and N ortheast H alsey.
years
lav 10. 2 0 0 6
Latest in DNA
research covered
North Portland Library will present Jump-
Start Your African A m erican G enealogy on
Saturday, May 20 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. the
program is free and the public is invited to
attend.
Local genealogists and library staff will
present inform ation designed to help re­
searchers find inform ation on family history.
Participants will have a chance to practice
researching techniques using library com ­
puters and will be entered in a draw ing for a
free DNA test. The schedule begins at 3:30
p.m. with Emily Aucilino, o f the Genealogical
Forum o f O regon and the International So­
ciety o f G enetic G enealogists, introducing
the basics o f DNA genealogy. At 4:30 p.m .,
local genealogist O.B. Hill will discuss his
experience conducting genealogy research.
At 4:45 p.m ..Stephen Hanks, author o f Akce
Tree: A D escendant's Search for his A nces­
tors on the Eskridge Plantations, will dem on­
strate the beginning steps o f research, using
the fam ily nam es o f several participants.
Librarian Janet Irwin will be on hand to
created under the direction o f
artist Michael Leonard Maguire,
depicting the S u lliv an 's Gulch
neighborhood as it w as 200
years ago, with tall firs and a
w aterfall at what is now N orth­
east 19th Avenue.
The historic scene contains
a deer, fox, w oodpecker and a
stylized Native A m erican ren­
dition o f a C hinook salmon.
Around the edges are Native
A m erican petroglyphs and por­
traits o f historic figures.
On T hursday. May 18 the
mural will be hung on the back
wall o f a building housing Epi­
cure Restaurant on N ortheast
17th A venue facing W eidler
Street. G race A cadem y stu ­
dents will read som e o f the po­
em s from “ U nsung H eroes"
during the unveiling. The an­
thology, w hich also includes
stories o f the S u lliv an 's G ulch
neighborhood, collected by the
stu d en ts in oral interview s,
should be available for pur­
chase later this spring at Broad­
w ay B o o k s an d p o s s ib ly
P ow ell's C ity o f Books. The
w oodcuts by Beasley and 21
continued
on page 115
discuss M ultnom ah County Library gene­
alogy resources, including the specialized
genealogy collection at Central Library
(including Civil W ar records and The O r­
egonian Index) and genealogy databases,
such as H eritageQ uest. From 5:30-6 p.m..
participants will be able to practice the
skills they have learned on the library's
com puters.
North Portland Library is located at 512
N. Killingsworth St. For more inform ation,
call 503-988-4810.
I