I
500
Church Girls Take Stage
G e n e r a l E le c tio n N o v. 4
L a s t D a y t o R e g is t e r :
O c t. 14
w w w . o r e g o n v o t e s .o r g
I -8 6 6 -O R E - V O T E S
A musical about growing up as
pastor s daughter comes to the
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center
See Arts & Entertainment, page A7
‘City of Roses’
Volume XXXVIII, Number 39
VOTE
★ ★★★★
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • October I, 2008
TLWeek ¡n
The Review
Economy, Credit Worries
W all Street snapped back T ues
day after its biggest sell-off in
years am id growing expectations
that lawmakers will sal vage a$700
billion rescue plan for the finan
cial sector that was defeated in a
House vote on M onday. But the
seized-up credit m arkets where
businesses turn to raise m oney
show ed no sign o f relief.
Voting Starts in Ohio
V oters in the crucial sw ing state
o f O hio began casting absentee
ballots in the presidential elec
tion T uesday, a day after state
and federal courts upheld a dis
puted early voting law.
Obama Office Vandalized
The FBI is investigating an act of
vandalism that occurred at a
Barack Obamacampaign office in
Gresham. The incident follows the
hanging o f an O bam a effigy from
a tree at George Fox University in
Newberg. See story, page A2.
Oden, Blazers Start Practice
A fter a season o f w aiting for
their No. 1 dr;
landTrail Blaz
e rs o p e n e d
p rese aso n
practice with
G reg Oden ea
ger to go. “It’s
g o in g to be
amazing and I ’ m going to be ready
for it,” said the 7-foot center
w hose rookie season was over
before it started w hen he had
knee surgery last Septem ber.
Oregonian Protest
About 75 dem onstrators from
various organizations and faiths,
including Sen. Avel G ordly, an
African American lawmaker from
Portland, gathered at the O rego
nian M onday to protest the new s
paper distributing a D VD called
“Obsession: Radical Islam ’s W ar
A gainst the W est” as a paid ad
insert in S unday’s paper. The
protesters said the D V D was an
attem pt to incite fear o f M uslim s
and blur the lines betw een Islam
and terrorist organizations.
‘Muslim American Woman' is the name o f a se lf portrait by
Sabina Haque, an artist who users her skills to educate and
break down stereotypes.
Watching
Artistsat Work
Martin Owino shares stories o f his Kenya homeland through his art. He is one o f the diverse lineup
o f artists participating in Portland Open Studios, where the public can watch artists at work.
them selves are diverse.
Em erging artists in their 20s
and 30s; m id-career and well es
tablished artists are all part o f the
tour. Many artists have moved
here from other countries, have a
strong ethnic identification or are
influenced by cultures other than
the ones o f their birth.
P a k is ta n i-A m e ric a n a rtis t
S abina H aque resides, in her
words, "on the rim ” o f the coin
w hose faces are her two cultures.
She has explored this space in
between worlds by fusing cul
tural sym bols and icons in a vari
ety o f visual media ranging from
painting to video projection to a
Open Studios brings
multicultural lineup
Local residents are encouraged
to be a tourist in their own co m
m unity by discovering a diverse
and multicultural lineupof neigh
borhood artists o p en in g their
doors to the public during the
annual Portland O pen Studios
tours.
You can go behind the scenes
to see where, how, and why art is
m ade in an up close and personal
view at 98 locations in the neigh
borhoods throughout metro Port-
land. The artists are a friendly lot
— you can engage them in conver
sation as well as w atch them at
work. Children are also invited
and they w o n 't be ignored or
bored.
Not only are all art m edia rep
resented — encaustic painting,
marble sculpture, batik, blown
glass, and mixed m edia works
made with things that w eren’t
originally intended as art m ateri
als, to nam e a few — the artists
continued
on page A 9
An iron is used to get the wax out o f Martin Owino's painting.
TriMet Boosts Security
TriM et announced M onday that
it will take new steps to enhance
security measures, including hir
ing more police officers, increas
ing fare inspections and adding
more cam eras to M AX stations.
See sto ry , page A3.
Janet Jackson Hospitalized
A representative
xBB l,,r •
lancl
says the singerhas
been hospitalized
a fte r fa llin g ill
sh o rtly b efo re a c o n c e rt. A
spokesperson said she "got sud
denly ill" during her sound check
M onday in M ontreal and had to
be rushed to the hospital.
Council Candidates Drawn Into Debate
Lewis, the founder o f Ethos, Inc., a provider o f
music education to minority and disadvantaged popu
lations, said being singled out and discrim inated
against are “hard on a person’s spirit.”
Although he did not believe the vast majority of
Portland’s police officers were involved in racial pro
filing, he said there were definitely a few bad apples
out there.
Fritz, a registered nurse, volunteer leader and pub
lic schools activist, said the city was very good about
studying things and making com m ittees, hut that the
time has com e to implement recommendations to curb
Tackling racial profiling
B y L aura M f . f . han
T he P ortland O bserver
Oregon Action, a citizen-run public interest lobbyist
group, has put the issue o f racial profiling by local law
enforcem ent in front o f voters in a race for the Portland
City Council.
The subject was the topic o f an O regon Action d e
bate in northeast Portland betw een A m anda Fritz and
C harles Lewis, the two candidates vying for a seat on
the five m em ber council in the Nov. 4 General Election.
Both candidates acknow ledged in las, w eek’s forum
that racial profiling is a real problem , one that must be
addressed.
ra c ia l p r o filin g .
Amanda Fritz
Charles Lewis
continued
on page A3
Motorclylist Killled
A m otorcycle hit a curb and
crashed in north Portland late
Monday night and the driver was
killed, police said. The crash hap
pened just after 11 p.m., near the
intersection o f North Willis Blvd
and North Wabash. No one else
was involved in the collision.
Jobless at 7 Year High
New claim s for unem ploym ent
benefitsjum ped last week to their
highest level in seven years due
to the im pact o f a slo w in g
econom y and Hurricanes Ike and
G ustav, the Labor D epartment
reported.
•'com m unity service
One Student, One Cause
Senior has passion for healing, speaking out
Shantel M onk has a passion for
aling and speaking out.
The De La Salle North Catholic
High School se
Ì School
nior has taken on
ior Shantel
a cause to help
lk draws
others despite her
»ration from
p e rs o n a l
ow n
De La Salle
struggles.
th Catholic
She is raising
:herJoe
a w a re n e s s fo r
ly m p h o m a and
leukemia in honor
ler beloved chem istry teacher. Mr.
»*nh H n l l n r a n a Iv m n h o m a and
transplant survivor.
After w orking at Oregon Health
Sciences University with cancer pa-
tients through the school's C orpo
rate Internship Program. Monk be
com e an activist in raising aw areness
on blood cancers.
She will be walking Friday in the
Leukem ia and Lym phom a Society’s
“Light the N ight"even, tocom m cm o-
rate those afflicted with deadly bhxxl
cancers.
M onk likes to refer to her teacher
as a soldier, but she herself is a rep
resentation o f soldiering on and over
com ing a m ultitude o f obstacles.
At the age o f 10, she becam e a
foster child when she was taken from
her 25 year old m other w ho was then
struggling with dnig and abuse is
sues.
Her story is that o f courage and
perseverance. Not only is she one of
the top seniors in her class, planning
on attending S tanford or Loyola
M arym ount U niversity, she is an
active m em ber o f her com m unity.
She spoke at the Portland Youth
Conference with First Lady Laura
Bush last year, while also taking par,
in the M ultnomah Youth C om m is
sion. as well as the Youth Advisory
“Speak Up, Speak O ut" event where
she was an advocate for foster ch il
dren.
M onk describes H alloran as a
“strong soul," a person and teacher
continued
on page A3
t