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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 2007)
www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity M etro ‘ri’e ^Jortlanit © bseruer /nom m unity C a le n d a r ZooTeens T h e O regon Z oo needs 300 high school stu dents, for the sum m er, to assist in ed u catin g zoo v isitors. If you love a n i m als and teaching others, call 503-220- 2449. International Night Saturday, Feb. 17, the U niversity o f Port land will host a night o f international sights, sounds, and tastes from around the world in the U niversity Com m ons. D inner will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the show runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 per adult at the door. Ghana Women’s Art Exhibit W SU Vancouver, 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., hosts a pow erful W est A fri can art exhibit with guest lecturer and well-know n G hanaian art historian Nii Q uarcoopom e. The gallery hours are M onday thru Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Fridays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 360-546-9580. School Rally in Salem M onday, Feb. 19, show your support to improve Portland Public Schools. Sup porters will rally rain-or-shine on the capi tal steps in Salem at noon. Sisters Fat Tuesday Tuesday, Feb. 20, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 137 S.W. Sixth Ave., Sisters o f the Road, a com m unity advocacy group, will celebrate breaking ground on the Per- sonalist Center expansion, with free Fat T u e sd a y fe s tiv itie s in c lu d e m u sic, gum bo, and M ardi G ras fun. February 14. 2 0 0 7 ‘Middle Passage’ Author Coming to Portland See page B2, inside V CCI i d « •'com m unity servie SECTION Portland Observer ‘Mother of the Year’ Opal Strong lives up to her name BY N lA DlYG Tin-: P ortland O bserver n ancient cultures much importance was given to the nam ing o f a child, for it was believed that he o rsh e would live up to the inherent qualities o f that name. A lthough O pal Strong cam e to her name via m arriage, this belief holds true today. The Portland O bserver has nam ed Mrs. Strong our “M other o f the Y ear" following her recent surprise 90th birthday gala at New Song Church C om m unity Center. Family m em bers cam e from as far a way as Tulsa, Okla. and N ew York City, and G hana, W est Africa, to attend the Feb. 3 celebration. Special guests included such dignitar ies as State Sen. A velG ordly, M ajor Lewis "Bud” Fuqua o f the Salvation Army, W illie Brown o f the N ortheast N eighborhood Coalition and African Am erican Cham ber o f C om m erce President Roy Jay. PHOTO BY N lA D lY (;/T H E PORTLAND OltSERV ER Each presented Strong with com m em o rative aw ards honoring her many decades Opal Strong glows with matriarchal pride at festivities held in her honor. I o f com m unity service and activism in a variety o f endeavors. Featured surprise guests were S trong’s sister. Lucille Reed and her niece Patrice M cDonald, both o f Tulsa, w ho reunited after 17 years in an ecstasy o f joyful em braces and tears. The three-hour gala featured poetry, vocal and musical perform ances by vari ous m em bers o f this trem endously tal ented and successful family, who poured out their hearts and souls to an apprecia tive audience and a som etim es em otion ally overcom e matriarch. D aughter Gail Strong-Price and grand son Sean Strong sang musical selections: g r a n d d a u g h te r s S o n d a F ie ld s an d Catherine Rhodes perform ed a violin duet; original poem s were read by daughter-in- law Bea Strong, great-granddaughters M cKenzie and M ichelle Strong and great- grandson D emetrius Rhodes. Son Luther Strong Jr. and fam ily m em ber Eileen G ilchrist also hosted the celebration. A fter an invocation prayer by grand son Dr. Rev. Mark Strong, pastor o f Life continued on page B6 Two Hot Weeks of Portland Jazz Wolf Family Encounters Saturday, M arch 3 , 10a.m. to 11 a.m., the Oregon Zoo, presents “ D on’t be afraid o f the big bad w o lf’, a unique opportunity forchildren ages 8-13 years old (children must he accom panied by an adult), to explore and learn the nature o f wolves. Call 503-220-2781 for more information. Weight Loss Series New Seasons M arket at N ortheast 33rd and Killingsworth Street will host free w eight loss classes on Feb. 28. March 28, and April 25 from 7 p.m. t o 8 :3 0 p.m. Humboldt Elementary Fund Raiser T uesday, March 6, M cM enam ins Chapel Pub. 430 N. Killingsworth, will contribute 50 percent o f all food and beverage sales after 5 p.m. to the H um boldt Elem entary School program s. Enjoy a delicious meal and help support the school. End the War Now Rally Sunday, March 18. Pioneer C ourthouse Square. O regonians will mark the 4th an niversary o f the Iraq W ar, with a peaceful march through dow ntow n Portland at 1:30p.m. Call 503-230-9427 for more infor mation. Fostering Diversity Thursday, April 26 thru Friday, April 27, Mt. Hood C om m unity C ollege and Port land State University, will host the two- day conference to address critical diver sity-related issues in the Portland and G resham com m unities, with educational, business and cultural leaders. Call 503- 491 -7254 for more information. Black History Foundation The Black History M useum o f Oregon is seeking the brilliant m inds o f concerned individuals to help in restructuring the museum foundation’seommittee. Call 503- 284-0617 for more information. Community Support The African American Health Coalition, a non-profit that touches the lives o f m illionsof African A m ericans each year, rem inds you to support your com m unity organization. All donations, grants, and gifts arc tax deductible. For more inform a tion, visit aahc-portland.org. Bradley-Angle House The Bradley-Angle House needs volun teers to help its outreach against dom es tic violence. W omen o f color and bilin gual women are encouraged to call. For more information.call 503-282-9940. Parenting Classes N ew borns d o n ’t com e w ith instruction m anuals but parents and parents-to- be can attend classes through P ro v i d en ce H ealth S ystem s to learn about a variety o f topics from pain and c h ild birth to b reastfeeding to infant CPR and m uch m ore. For a schedule o f ev e n ts, call 5 0 3 -5 7 4 -6 5 9 5 o r visit: p ro v id e n c e .o rg /c la sse s. American jazz legend Chick Corea is one o f the most influential artists in his genre. Corea performs with Gary Burton on Friday, Feb. 16 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis kicks o f the 4 th Annual Portland Jazz Festival on Friday. Feb. 16atNewm ark TheateratthePortlandCenterforthePerformingArts. Festival opens Friday with Chick Corea and Gary Burton he 2(M)7 Portland Jazz Festival kicks off Friday with tw o full w eeks of events. Festivities begin with dual headline concerts featuring Chick Corea and Gary Burton, 7:30 p.m. at the A rlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and Branford M arsalis.9:30 p.m. at N ew m ark T heater at the Portland T C enter for the Perform ing Arts. G ram m y-award winning trumpeter Roy I largrovc. perform ing with his jazz quintet as a fundraiser for Cascadia Behavioral Health Care, kicks off the second week on Friday, Feh. 23 at 8 p.m. at the New mark Theater. The festival will officially close with the annual “ First Jazz" performance, presented by the Jazz Society o f Oregon, Sunday. Feh. 25 at4:(X)p.m . at the Hilton Portland continued on page B6 Report Finds Living Wage Jobs Scarce Gap widening for working families hen it com es to finding a jo b in O reg o n , the num bers ju st d o n ’t add up. For every jo b opening that pays a living wage in O regon, there are as many as 20 jo b seekers. These are the findings o f the annual study. Searching for Work that Pays: 2007 N orthwest Job G ap Study. W com piled by the Northwest Federation ot Com m unity Organizations. The study com pares the num ber of available living wage jobs to the num ber of job seekers and calculates the percentage of available living w agejobs based, prim a rily. on data from the Bureau o f l abor Statistics. The report finds that the Northwest econom y is not creating enough jobs to meet the dem ands of everyday life, with the gap w idening for w orkers that have families. In Oregon. 84 percent o f open jo b s pay less than a living wage for a household o f three, a single adult with two children. T he consequences for w orkers strug gling to make ends meet are staggering. Many families are forced to make tough decisions, juggling scarce dollars between buying milk for the baby or gas for the car. T here are renewed calls before the O r egon Legislature in Salem to help people find living w age jobs. Gov. Kulongoski has intnxluced the Skill Up Oregon bill that will establish a program to aw ard grants to local and re gional w orkforce investm ent boards to provide w orkforce training to individuals to becom e em ployed in high-dem and o c cupations. The advocacy group O regon Action has proposed an am endm ent to this bill that would help evaluate its success if continued on pane H(i