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August 8. 2007
Health Coalition in Critical Need
continued
fra m Front
in celebration of the community’s
commitment to health.
Event activities begin at 8 a.m.
with music, refreshm ents, and
children’s activities— including
face painting, giant bubbles and a
bounce house.
At 9 a.m. participants will begin
walking along a 1.5-m ileor4-m ile
route (depending on their age and
ability ) through the neighborhoods
of north and northeast Portland.
The coalition invites everyone
who wants to celebrate and en­
courage health and wellness to
participate by paying $20 per per­
son or $150 for a team of 10. The
walk is free for children underbthat
are accompanied by an adult.
Participants will have many op­
portunities to make back that money
through a $5(X) Safeway gift certifi­
cate and other prizes from spon­
sors that include Legacy Health
System, Providence Health System,
OHSU, Kaiser Permanente, Eli Lilly, changed the com m unity norm
Pfizer, the Portland Observer and around physical activity,” says
McKeever. “People who didn’t
New Season’s Market.
Health leaders can now boast that even have becoming physically
events like this month’s walk have active on their radar, didn’t think
made strides towards making Port­ that it was possible, because of the
land home of the healthiest African- Coalition's work, having physical
American community in the nation. activity instructors from the com­
“The coalition's efforts have munity, having an environment at
Dishman and all of the venues that
we offer it that is welcoming to
African Americans has really en­
gaged people who would not have
been engaged.”
To register for the event, visit
aahc-portland.org, call 503-413-
1850 or stop by the AAHC office at
28OON. Vancouver Ave.,Suite 100.
Post Imus, Some Rappers
are Cleaning Up Lyrics
Others still
remain defiant
photo bv R aymond R f . ndleman /T he P ortland O bserver
On days off from working with Downtown Clean and Safe, John Archer fishes on a pier near
the Eastbank Esplanade. It has been many years since he has caught anything worth
keeping, but he hopes that sturgeon and salmon runs will return as sewage is diverted from
the Willamette River.
Esplanade Opens Fishing Spots
continued
from Front
Melcher had expected lower
counts this year, but the numbers
have been even smaller than she
predicted.
For Archer, who considers
fishing to be in his blood, the
num ber-one priority is to have
fun. and he rarely thinks about
how w aterquality affects his luck.
Holding out his arms as wide as
possible to show the size o f a
bass that he apparently caught
last month, his only concern ap­
pears to be geared tow ards catch­
ing a sturgeon o f a sim ilar size.
If he waits until a Thursday
through Sunday after Oct. I, he can
legally hope to take home a sturgeon
off his single-point barbless hook.
Archer remembers the days
when there weren't so many rules
for eastside anglers, who once
had a thriving community of
houseboats and shanties where
Interstate 5 now abuts the river.
"The fishing was better back
then, but we didn’t know any
better,” he says.
(AP) - Rap's critics have been
complaining for years, only to watch
the music become even more pro­
fane — and more popular. But now
it seems as if Don Imus may be
accomplishing what a generation
of detractors could not.
Four months after outrage over
Imus' sexist and racial comments
led to intense scrutiny of rap's nega­
tive imagery, and as the genre's
sales continue to plummet, some
artists are publicly abandoning of­
fensive language.
T he
p la tin u m -se lle r
Chamillionaire recently announced
that his new album, "Ultimate Vic­
tory," would be cuss- and N-word
free. Numerous lesser-known rap­
pers are promoting themselves as
a lte rn a tiv e s to m iso g y n istic
gangsta rap. The handlers behind
1 7 -y ear-o ld se n sa tio n Sean
Kingston are touting him as PG-
rated. And the veteran gangsta
Master Pal so declared that he would
make clean music (though the
"D an cin g W ith the S tars"
contestant's hitmaking days now
seem long gone).
Still, others remain defiant amid
increasing pressure from the public
and corporations. They vow to re­
main, in the words of rap's raunch
king Uncle Luke, as nasty as they
wanna be.
"It would have to pay something
real strong to make me change the
way I do my music," said Twista,
Platinum-selling rapper Chamillionaire says his upcoming album,
'Ultimate Victory,' would be cuss- and N-word free. (AP photo)
w hose explicit lyrics got him
dropped from a McDonald's-spon­
sored concert last week. “I'm gonna
keep saying it because I know I'm
just making good music."
Chamillionaire figured he could
still make good music — just with­
out the rough language. The rap­
per, who won a Grammy this year
for his socially charged smash
"Ridin,"' says he never cursed all
that much in his music any way. The
N-word was a different story: "I've
always used the N-word."
But after the success of his last
album, he went out on tour and saw
mostly white faces lip-synching the
epithet along with his lyrics. Now
Chamillionaire has had a change of
heart for his new album, due in
September on Universal Music
Group, a unit of General Electric Co.
"I was like, 'You know what? I'm
not going to say the N-word on this
one because when I go back on the
road, and I start performing, I don't
want them to be saying it. like me
teaching them,’" he told The Asso­
ciated Press.
Chamillionaire insists his con­
version is a moral issue and not due
to the Imus backlash: "There are a
lot of people who are opportunists
... I'm definitely not that." But more
opportunities may arise for rappers
with clean lyrics in the wake of
Imus' firing for calling the Rutgers
University women's basketball team
"nappy-headed hos" on his radio
broadcast.
The Imus outrage was soon redi­
rected toward equally misogynis­
tic references in rap. as many ques­
tioned whether there was a double
standard. Then came calls from
everyone from civil rights leaders
to rap pioneer Russell Simmons for
corporations and radio stations to
more closely censor profanity and
racial epithets.
■H M M M N BM M M M
Ask Deanna\
Real People,
Real Advice
A n advice
C llllllllll
kilim'll far
reality based
subjects!
NEW SEA SO N S
N O W D E L IV E R IN G
Y o u r fa v o r ite n e ig h b o r h o o d g r o c e r y s to r e n o w d e liv e r s
g r o c e r ie s r ig h t to y o u r h o m e o r o ffic e .
Dear Deanna!
I have been designated as the
babysitter and caregiver for my
younger brothers and sisters. My
mother started having kids again
after I turned 13. Now I'm in
college and I can 't get my home­
work com pleted. I stay tired all
the tim e. I try to talk to my
m other but she is always fussing
about her boyfriends, my sib­
lings' fathers and money. I don't
want to quit college or ruin my
relationship but it looks as if that's
where things are heading. What
can I do? —Tamyra Jackson;
O n-Line Reader
Dear Tamyra:
Families stick together no matter
what and in your case, you have
to be the glue. You may not see it.
but your m other is doing the best
she can with what she has. All
you can do is hang in there, help
the best you can and push your­
self harder to becom e better and
achieve. You should work out a
schedule with your mother, col­
lege and the kids and be sure to
rest and stay focused. You will
get your reward in the end after
you’ve done the right thing.
Your lack o f care for your m or­
als is giving you a dose o f reality
that you can 't seem to swallow
right now. Y ou've shown your
boyfriend quite a few things when
you thought he and others were
not looking. The only thing you
can do is stay on the straight and
narrow path in your relationship,
meet his expectations and dem ­
onstrate to him that you're on his
team seeking longevity and a fu­
ture.
Dear Deanna!
My cousin has betrayed me by
getting with my ex-boyfriend. We
had a break-up but I felt there was
always hope to get back together.
I'm having a hard time because of
the family issue and now they're
having a baby together. I'm trying
to control myself and keep it to­
gether because he was seeing her
when he was with me. I was doing
tine and moving on until he called
wanting to have a fling. I'm tom
between seeing him and telling my
cousin. What do I do? -M ise r­
able Rut Holding On; Denver
Dear Miserable:
If you think things are bad now,
go ahead and get with him and
you'll have a living nightmare on
Dear Deanna!
your
hands. W hether h e's with
I want more out of my current
relationship but I think my past is y o u r c o u s in , a frie n d o r a
causing negativity between us. I stranger, you had your chance, it
have been known to have more d id n 't work out and now h e 's
than one boyfriend and play the onto som eone else. You have
field but I've changed. I'm ready enough time to hold on to your
to settle down but my past seems sanity and find a relationship
to haunt me on a regular basis th at's good for you. Hold your
My boyfriend tells me he would head high and let the past be the
com m it but h e's afraid he can't past and although your cousin
trust me. W hat can I do to prove has him. realize that h e 's cheat­
that I'v e changed and can be ing on her but it's not with you.
trusted? -A n o n y m o u s; C har­
Ask Deanna is written by Deanna
lotte. N.C.
M. Write Ask Deanna! Email:
w w w .n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t.c o m
you click, we deliver, (or pull up for pick up)
askdcanna I (d yahoo.com or 264
People believe that once you're a .S'. DiCienega Rlvd. Suite 1283
cheat, you will alw ays be a cheat. Heverly Hills. C'A 90211. Website:
Dear Anonymous:
www.askdeanna.com