It’s just like being there–except you won’t get dirty! Thanks to everyone who made this project possible and stay tuned for your opportunity to join in on a future work day. We’re on the verge of finishing the job and getting the area planted with natives.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atcog2wrv2g&w=420&h=315]
The community turned out on Monday, January 16th on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service to make a dent in the weeds and trash at King School Park. English ivy had taken over the south side of the parking lot at the King Neighborhood Facility and was hiding all manner of things thereunder. A robust group of neighbors, King School PTA members, and invasive species foes dug, hacked snipped and pulled all day. The result is that the strip of land is now nearly completely cleared and several truck loads were hauled away.
Thanks to a grant from NECN and the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, the area will be re-landscaped with native plants that are not invasive and that will thrive in the location while providing an easily maintained habitat. There are tentative plans to finish the clearing on President’s Day, February 20th.
Special thanks go to all the volunteers, Portland Farmers Market, Whole Foods, Starbucks, and Metro.
City of Portland’s Urban Growth Bounty series returns with classes on growing, preparing and preserving food
From cheesemaking to beekeeping to urban gardening to food preservation, Urban Growth Bounty provides all the tools you need to do it yourself.
Since its kickoff in 2009, thousands of Portlanders have been able to explore the world of urban homesteading (and to meet others who share their interest) through the Urban Growth Bounty classes. Now entering its fourth year, the 2012 series includes courses on beekeeping, urban livestock, cheesemaking, food preservation, and multiple types of gardening. On-line registration is available at http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/ugb.
“The Urban Growth Bounty classes are a great value and a wonderful way to kickstart your 2012 food growing season,” says Portland Mayor Sam Adams. “There’s always more to learn about how to grow, preserve and eat sustainably on a budget.”
Presented by the City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, 2012 brings back an exciting lineup of expert instructors and an array of classes for all skill levels. Courses will take place from February to July at locations across the city.
A brand new class, Introduction to Food Preservation, Jams, and Jellies debuts in May. Returning also are the most popular classes from the past two years, Cheesemaking with Claudia Lucero and Edible Landscaping with Jen Aron.
For detailed Urban Growth Bounty 2012 descriptions and registration information, visit http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/ugb or e-mail food@portlandoregon.gov.
Interrupting Racism for Everyday Living
Saturday, February 11, 2012
8:30am – 12:30pm
Location: Resolutions Northwest, 1827 NE 44th Ave. Suite 300, Portland OR 97213
This interactive actionshop will explore what it means to be an ally and tools for interrupting racism. Participants will practice-practice-practice!
This workshop is being offered on a sliding scale basis; see our website registration page for more detailed information. Space is available for 6 – 26 people; 1st come, 1st serve. Please register at www.resolutionsnorthwest.org.
No mediation experience required; no one will be turned away for lack of funds. For accessibility information, please contact us.
Please also note other Resolutions Northwest upcoming trainings:
Listen carefully and you will hear the 1% taking power
The following is part of a speech made by Rep. Frederick at the 27th Keep Living the Dream Celebration for Dr. King at Highland Church.
Good afternoon, I’m Lew Frederick, State Representative from House District 43, North and Northeast Portland.
I think this holiday is one that many people think they understand very well, after all, it is of relatively recent origin. And Dr. King is a hero of my lifetime, not of the deep past. I grew up with him as the father of my playmates. But the holiday is also poorly understood, because the history of Dr. King’s legacy and that of the Civil Rights movement have been stripped of much of their nuance, sophistication and complication over the years.
Dr. King’s final book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? is not referenced very often when folks are finding meaningful quotes for our annual speeches. In it, we see how his ministry had expanded, how his leadership on civil rights, or let’s say “human” rights, though grounded in the racial struggles of the time, was clear in its purpose of addressing oppression in its many manifestations. He made a compelling argument, in 1967, for a guaranteed income. He wrote:
The contemporary tendency in our society is to base our distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity. It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking.