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Students at King Elementary
produce stunning black-and-
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arts education program.
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Author Honored with Fellowship
The Regional Arts and Culture body ofw ork which has appeared in
Council named local author Sallie the finest magazines in the country
Tisdale its 2013 Literature Fellow She has published seven books,
carrying a cash award of $20,000.
in clu d in g S tepping W estw ard
“Sallie Tisdale is a pillar of the which was named to two best non­
writing community,” said Eloise fiction book lists of the West. Her
Damrosch, the council’s executive other books include Women of the
director. “Her work is honest, au­ Way, The Best Thing I Ever Tasted,
thentic and clear, and she doesn’t and Talk Dirty to Me.
waste a word. W e are thrilled to
Tisdale has been working for
transit police quickly escalates.
The film convincingly dem on­
Yes, not all of his choices are strates how quickly and horribly
good ones. But too often real risk things can go w rong for a young
seems terribly close, never more so black m an in a confrontation with
than in the confrontation with tran­ law enforcem ent.
sit police that quickly turns ugly
Last Friday, President O bam a
so ugly that it is hard to imagine that m ade an attem pt to describe to
Grant could have prevented the white A m ericans the experiences
outcome.
that shape black A m ericans' read-
W atching Grant's last day is ing o f the George Zim m erm an ver-
the more poignant because you diet. His rem arks are a fitting corn-
know how it will end. It's a day panion to Coogler's film , w hich
filled with choices, m ost o f them invites us to sit for 85 m inutes
m undane — he drops Sophina off with a story that sinks deeper into
at work, plays with his daughter, everyday African-Am erican expe-
picks up item s for his m other's rience than most o f what the me-
birthday party, lets fam ily mem- dia gives us.
bers believe he is going to a jo b he
The film gently lures audiences
has already lost, then comes clean into investing in the life o f a young
with Sophina.
black man who they m ight well
W hen we learn o f a shooting w rite o ffo rsh y away from if they
like this — as we do too often — the met him on the street, and then to
person s life is already over; it taste in some small way the little
feels fitting to accord this quality provocations that chip away at
o f attention to the life and possi- his dignity and dem and o f him
bilities that were lost.
m ore restraint and equanim ity
The scene depicting events on than his age and experience could
the subway platform necessarily possibly have taught him.
chooses a version o f events that
Though not a fun diversion,
m any dispute. But it is a story that "Fruitvale Station" feels impor-
will feel familiar to African-Ameri- tant; it rounds out the picture of
cans and other m inorities.
A m erican life. If this film leaves
The police seem to stoke the you devastated, as it did me, it is
conflict and the young men's re- because that is an appropriate
sistance, though unwise, seem s resp o n se.
understandable, even inevitable.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on the
And because I had grown to care Oregon Court o f Appeals and the
about O scar long before he en- first woman o f color to serve in that
tered that train for the last time, I capacity. H er movie review column
cried tears o f fear and horror long Opinionated Judge appears regu-
before that final gunshot, as I larlyinThe Portland Observer. You
watched officers order him from can f i n d h e r m o vie b lo g a t
the train and as the situation with opinionatedjudge.blogspot.com .
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page
Student Images on Display
The North Portland Library ,512
N. Killings worth St., has opened a
public exhibit featuring stunning
black-and-white images of first and
second graders from northeast
Portland’s King Elementary School
and their neighbors.
This display celebrates a part­
nership between Right Brain Initia­
tive, a Portland non-profit arts-in-
schools program, and King, one of
eight public schools in the nation
selected for the Turnaround Arts
initiative, a public-private partner­
ship of the President’s Committee
for the Arts and the Humanities to
boost achievement at some of the
lowest performing schools in the
country.
The exhibit runs through Aug.
30.
Page 13
me the gift o f time to pursue this
long and co m p lica te d w o rk ,’
Tisdale says.
T erry F amily
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photo by A lfredo L ettenmaier
Sallie Tisdale joins a prestigious group of local artists who have
been honored as masters of their craft by the Regional Arts and
Culture Council.
recognize her as a master o f her some time on a book about our reflex
craft, and to honor her with this toward charity - what it means to do
award.”
good, how one knows what good is,
Tisdale has written everything how many ways it can go wrong - in
from short memoirs to books, from the context of a small clinic in Africa
personal poems to complex essays. founded by Oregonians.
She has already compiled a mature
“R A C C ’s Fellow ship will give
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