Living from the heart: three stories of giving

Genny Nelson talks about the passion behind her life’s work as a human rights advocate

By Nikki Jardin
The Portland Upside
February 2010

After nearly 40 years of advocating for Portland’s homeless and underserved, Genny Nelson remains surprisingly hopeful and optimistic.

Genny Nelson, co-founder of Sisters of the Road, retired in December after 30 years of active involvement with the Old Town nonprofit. She leaves behind a Portland institution known for its work not just as a café but as an advocate and community organizer for thousands of people experiencing homelessness and poverty in the Portland area.

Genny arrived in Old Town nearly four decades ago, during a time when it was known as Skid Road because its inhabitants were primarily end-of-the-line alcoholics and drug addicts. It was while working graveyard shifts at the Everett Street Service Center, a 24-hour men’s shelter, that Genny found her community and the inspiration for her life’s work. All these years later, despite witnessing the setbacks of people on the streets, she remains surprisingly optimistic and hopeful. Her demeanor, far from naïve, is open and welcoming. While talking with her it becomes easier to believe that someday there will be a place for everyone at the table.

Portland Upside: What inspired you about the people you were meeting while working at the shelter?

Genny Nelson: Well, first off you have to remember that it was a different time in the late 60’s and early 70’s. It wasn’t Old Town Chinatown, it was pretty raw. At that time there was a lot going on down here both on the streets and politically. The Vietnam War was going on, so we had veterans but we also had conscientious objectors who were doing their Vietnam service down here. And these guys were truly community organizers. It was from them that I was taught that you don’t do for anyone what they can do for themselves.

I worked the swing and graveyard shifts at the Everett Street Service Center which meant we would keep the coffee on and always made sure we had a can of tobacco and papers around for the guys. You could smoke everywhere back then, remember, and we would just be available all night to talk and to listen. Guys would tell stories, share political views, discuss literature and poetry. I mean, this was a really very different time and it was a gift to get that level of education so I could understand the issues that were affecting people on the streets.

Upside: What were you coming to understand?

Genny: I was taken instantly by the commonality between myself and the people in the neighborhood based at the time on my health issues (Nelson was diagnosed with diabetes as a child). I developed a kinship with other people’s health issues and so my association was not just compassion. It truly felt like I was coming home when I came into this neighborhood. People invited me to be a part of their lives and to share our stories mutually. It was like being a part of an extended family.

Upside: What were some of the other influences that were at play during that time?

Genny: Okay, so there was the influence from the community organizers but there was also the Catholic Worker movement happening. I mean, Dorothy Day was still alive. I was reading all of her books and would read the newspaper when she was still writing for it. She became a mentor to me and I ended up starting a Catholic Worker house with this conviction that we should make room for people who have nowhere to go. I married one of those community organizers and adopted two children. In time, social workers began to know us, the police would drop people off and that was the life until the fall of 1978 when I divorced and needed to get back to work. As it turned out, a job had opened up at the shelter so I went back.

One of the things that we were noticing in the late 70’s was the growing number of women on the streets.

Upside: Why was that?

Genny: Again, you have to remember that at that time women in this country were finally beginning to have conversations, women’s liberation, right? A lot of these conversations were coming out of the privileged white community, but there were also poor women who were saying, “I don’t have to take this.” And when a woman needs to leave her home she is going to wind up where things are cheap. But it wasn’t easy down here. There was only one domestic violence shelter in Portland at that time. For a long, long time people thought that women just didn’t belong on Skid Road. But the reality was that they were here and there was no place for them to go. So I was experiencing that transition here in the community. I was influenced by the book Boxcar Bertha (a chronicle of homeless women, known as “sisters of the road,” during the depression) because I was seeing it on the streets here in my time. I knew the woman with the patch on the eye. I knew the women who lost their livelihoods when the men came home from the war. I knew all of these women who society spits out. They were all there on Skid Road right in front of me. So it was a convergence of phenomena that started Sisters of the Road, that assimilation of all those influences.

Upside: What inspired you to stay in the work for all of this time?

Genny: The stories I hear from people and the sense that all of this is bigger than me has fueled me. I mean, I believe this was a calling. Who finds their soul work at 20 years old? But I’ve always emphasized that it had nothing to do with me. I never could have stayed intact if I thought this was about me. Those community organizers I learned from gave me a gift and that was to look at the issues of social justice and human rights through the eyes of a community organizer. That meant I was not going to try to help people. Did they need an ally? You bet, but I wasn’t going to pretend that I knew what the issues were. They would have to tell me what the issues were.

Upside: It sounds like you’re not really done working.

Genny: I never will be. If anything is clear in this process of letting go it’s that I am just as passionate and committed to human rights as I was back in the day. I don’t think it will go away because the work of social justice won’t go away. We need to make better choices as a society. And that’s the work, but when you hold the big vision you have to be patient and you need to have a sense of humor. I talk to people and I build relationship with them. People are not their addiction or their homelessness or their poverty. They are people. Statistics won’t tell you a damn thing. It’s the relationships that will always tell you the truth. Sisters was never social work and I still say that someday it’s just going to be the best damn coffee shop in town, but it will take all of us working together to change that. And you make change by building relationship with people. And when you build relationship you fall in love, and people do not become statistics when you fall in love with them.

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To find out more about Sisters of the Road, visit them online at http://sistersoftheroad.org or their coffee house at 133 NW Sixth Avenue, Portland, Oregon, or contact them at 503-222-5694.

Nikki Jardin has written for The Oregonian, Street Roots and the recently launched id Magazine. She lives in Southeast Portland and is continually impressed and inspired by the creativity and gumption of her neighbors and friends.

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Helping the homeless is Mary Downer’s mission

By Barbara Sherman
The Regal Courier
February 2010

Photo by Barbara Sherman

In the spirit of paying it forward, Mary Downer spends her weekends visiting with the homeless and handing out socks, hats and mittens.

Homeless people have a friend in Mary Downer, who works by day as a dental assistant at Apple Tree Dentistry in King City and on weekends as a one-person rolling soup kitchen under bridges in Portland.

She can be found most weekends on the streets of downtown Portland, handing out hot beverages to homeless people to brighten their day and to let them know that someone cares about them.

This is a rather unusual way for a young person to spend her days off, but Downer, who graduated from high school in 2003, is on a mission to make a difference in people’s lives.
Downer, a Tigard resident, has been the beneficiary of other people’s goodwill when she needed it, and she wants to return the favor. She started cleaning the office of Dr. Toivo Sepp in 2002 while still in high school and started working in his Apple Tree Dentistry office two days after she graduated.

She got her state certificate to be a dental assistant in 2005, and two years after that, a life-changing event happened to her.

Downer was in the Tualatin Fred Meyer parking lot and noticed an elderly woman sitting in a car, but her purse and keys were on the pavement outside the vehicle.

“It was two weeks before Christmas, and people were walking by and not paying any attention,” Downer said. “My antenna went up. I knocked on the door and handed her the purse and keys and asked if she was OK.”

When the woman replied in the affirmative, Downer went into the store and told an employee about it. She learned later that the employee had done nothing about it, and when Downer went back outside, she got into the car with the woman.

“I had her try to put her gloves on, and she couldn’t,” Downer said. “She didn’t know her name.”
Downer got the woman’s cell phone and called the last number on it, which turned out to be the woman’s son.

An ambulance was called to take the woman to a hospital, and her granddaughters came and took charge of her belongings. The 86-year-old woman had had multiple strokes.

When Downer called the hospital the next day to check on the woman; her family was with her and passed the phone around so they could all thank the Good Samaritan.

After the woman recovered, she took Downer out to lunch and gave her a $500 Fred Meyer gift certificate.

Instead of thinking how she could spend it on herself, Downer immediately thought of how many people she could help with that money.

“I was excited,” she said. “I knew I could buy things I needed to help the homeless. I went to the store and bought two carafes, packages of hot chocolate and Cup Noodles, Styrofoam cups, socks, hats and gloves.”

Downer said that she did it because she feels an affinity with the homeless.

“They’re someone’s child,” she said. “They’re not all there because they did something wrong.”

Packing a rolling suitcase with the carafes filled with hot water and packets of chocolate and soup, Downer hit the streets to hand out hot drinks and offer some cheer to the homeless people she encountered.

“I’ve never had a problem relating to the homeless,” she said. “I counsel with them. They just need someone to listen. No matter why they’re down there, they’re all human beings. I walk around Pioneer Square and under the Hawthorne Bridge—that’s a pretty good hot spot—and the Burnside Bridge.”

Downer said that she doesn’t get into dangerous situations.

“I’m smart and safe about it,” she said. “I don’t go down dark alleys. I text a friend where I’m going. I don’t bring a wallet—just ID. I never go after dark. Just because I’m doing something good doesn’t mean I’m invincible.”

Downer heads downtown one or both days of the weekends, noting Nov. 12, “Last Saturday was very wet and cold, but I had a home to go back to and they didn’t. That’s why I’m starting to collect socks. Even the people who get into shelters at night need warm, dry socks.

“How do you get a job when you’re wearing dirty clothes? A friend gave me some men’s sweaters, and I passed them out. I remember seeing one man wearing socks and sandals, and they were soaking wet.”

Downer went through her $500 windfall a long time ago, and now she spends part of her salary on food and clothing for the homeless. A friend with a Costco card takes her shopping there, where she recently spent $40 stocking up on items.

On Thanksgiving a year ago, Downer gave away blankets along with 100 muffins that she made.

“So many of these people have lost hope,” she said. “If you’ve had hot chocolate in your past, you were probably a kid and cozy after playing in the snow. Sipping hot chocolate was a happy moment in your life.

“During the 10 minutes that they’re sipping hot chocolate, they’re drinking it in a happy place.”
Downer said that when people ask her why she does this, she tells them the story of the woman she helped

“I say, ‘Because I care about you. You’re human. You’re important.’ Some people are at first hesitant to take hot chocolate or soup from me, so I look them in the eye and say, ‘What’s your name?’ They answer and stand up taller. I feel respect from them.

“Sometimes I have 10 or 15 people waiting for me to hand them a cup. I will give them jobs, like stirring the powder in the water. One time on Christmas morning, I asked, ‘Who has a good joke?’”

Downer not only keeps herself safe, but she doesn’t take any guff from people.

“I don’t put up with anything,” she said. “I’ve had to tell people I won’t come back. It’s funny—a young girl standing up to these old men. Most are kind and courteous and grateful. Life has handed them a bucket of lemons.”

People help Downer’s mission by dropping off small items like socks, hats and gloves at Dr. Sepp’s office, and she distributes them to needy people.

“I put the socks in zip-lock bags,” she said. “I tell the people when they get to the shelter to hang the wet socks they wore during the day on something to dry overnight and put the dry ones on to sleep in. I know it makes a difference.”

Downer sees people with mental illness and other serious issues that she can’t resolve for them and admits, “Some of it is very heartbreaking, but the outcome is worth it. Even if you can’t help someone, you can offer a helping hand. We can encourage each other, and it will make the world turn better.”

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Mary Downer can be reached at blissfull23@hotmail.com or at Appletree Dentistry, 16035 SW Pacific Hwy, Tigard, OR, 503-620-2185.

This article originally published November 25, 2009 in The Regal Courier as “Helping the homeless is her mission.” We thank The Regal Courier for their permission to reprint this article.

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Alexa Levin volunteers to be puppy’s first teacher in the Guide Dogs for the Blind program

By Holly Shumway
The Portland Upside
February 2010

Photo by Jessica Levin

For the next 18 months, Alexa is responsible for teaching Delphine basic skills in the puppy’s journey through the Guide Dogs for the Blind program.

Fifteen-year-old Alexa Levin is well aware that her student, Delphine, might just steal her heart. A ten-week-old Labrador retriever, Delphine is in her first stages of training for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Program. Alexa, her “puppy raiser,” is in charge of helping Delphine meet the initial training goals.

Several months before Delphine’s arrival, Alexa and her mother, Jessica, joined a local group affiliated with Guide Dogs for the Blind, whose main campuses are in Boring, Oregon, and San Raphael, California. There are eight different groups in the Portland metropolitan area, throughout Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties. Within these groups, there are approximately 120 active puppy raisers.

Jessica happened across the volunteer opportunity and knew that Alexa was a perfect fit.

“Alexa is a natural with dogs. Even as a little girl, Alexa would spend long stretches of time with our family dog, Payton,” says Jessica. “She would crawl under the dinner table, a favorite spot Payton occupied, and curl up beside him, putting her head on his abdomen. The two of them would stay like that for long stretches of time.”

Unfortunately, the Levin family had to put Payton down several years ago due to medical complications.

“It was really hard for my family. We really missed him for a long time,” Alexa shares.
Over the years, Alexa searched for opportunities to interact with dogs. She pet sat for neighbors, knowing she would eventually like to be responsible for her own dog again.

“Dogs just lift up your spirits. When my mom told me about the chance to raise a puppy for the Guide Dog Program, I knew it was what I was looking for.”

On her path to becoming a puppy raiser Alexa attended weekly meetings to learn Guide Dog for the Blind training tips and techniques. She learned grooming and puppy care to prepare her for the anticipated arrival of her trainee. She also worked with other puppies in the group to gain the skills necessary for her own puppy.

“The group offers on-going mentoring and support as well as practice for new puppy raisers. One thing the group does really well is teach raisers how to help their puppies avoid distractions.”

The puppies are exposed to distractions such as other pets and “career change dogs,” those dogs that did not meet the full requirements for the program, but who join the training sessions to try to steer the puppies off course. The trainers spend their time redirecting the puppies by using specific training principles that include proper tone of voice, leash and collar correction, and continuous praise for positive behavior.

Alexa received Delphine the week before Christmas.

“I found out that I would receive my own puppy a few weeks before her arrival. I counted down the days until she arrived. It was hard waiting for her. I was really excited!”

It is now Alexa’s responsibility to teach Delphine good house manners, basic obedience, and how to behave in social situations. Delphine will not receive her green jacket—the official announcement to the world that she is a Guide Dog in Training—until she grows into it. While at the moment Alexa carries a card identifying Delphine as a guide dog puppy in training, the jacket will enable the young dog to accompany Alexa to social events and to school.

Delphine’s readiness will be apparent in two ways.

First, she will need to grow in size to fit the jacket tailored for six-month-old puppies. Second, she will need to grow into her abilities as a trained puppy, which will depend on Alexa’s dedication and persistence

Alexa is experiencing first hand the awesome responsibility she has undertaken to help Delphine meet her goals.

“The first few weeks involved lots of middle of the night bathroom trips, but just this week, she made it all the way through the night. My mom, acting as my guardian, is part of the training. Mom does the training while I am at school. That helps quite a bit.”

Delphine will stay with Alexa for a period of 12 to 18 months. After that Delphine will return to one of the main campuses for pattern training, during which she will navigate and master the ten stages of guide dog training. Alexa will not be able to see her puppy during this phase of training but she will be invited to the graduation ceremony to hand over Delphine’s leash to the new owner.

Pulling Delphine closer Alexa says, “It will be difficult to say goodbye to Delphine when the time comes. I know she will be going into the program to help someone. Knowing this will make it easier. If it was just to say goodbye without knowing this, well, that would be a lot harder.”

_____

To find out more about becoming a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind, go to http://guidedogs.com or call 800-295-4050.

Holly is balancing motherhood with graduate school but enjoys sharing the eventful stories community members carry.

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From the editors

Rob & Sara Bednark
The Portland Upside
February, 2010

Why did we start this paper?

Although we are often asked this question, the answer never comes easily or simply.

The short answer is that we choose to create a paper that we want to read; one that we find uplifting without being preachy or gushy; a place where we don’t have to sift through depressing headlines and stories to find the positive stuff; a reminder that people right here are doing things every day to uplift our local communities.

Another answer is that neither of us is working, we need an income and a purpose, and we want to do something meaningful. The idea of a positive newspaper feels like a worthwhile endeavor.

Producing each issue is time-consuming, frustrating, and often fills us with worry and anxiety. It pushes us well outside our comfort zones. But when we give each issue one last read-through before sending it off to the printing press, our effort is rewarded as our hearts are again touched by the stories.

We do it for the people in the Upside who remind us that goodness thrives in Portland.

We do it for the organizations that represent some of the best community-oriented ideas in the country.

We do it for the writers who volunteer their talent to write articles and poems that inspire and captivate our hearts.

We do it for the volunteers who distribute the Upside because they believe in the spirit of positive news.

We do it for the strangers who tell us how happy they are to see a positive paper like the Upside.
Regardless of our reasons for starting it, we hope you enjoy reading the Upside as much as we do.

Sara & Rob

_____


All issues can be viewed on our website, http://PortlandUpside.com Contact us by email, editors@PortlandUpside.com, or by phone, 503-663-1526.

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You, too, can be a member of Portland’s growing Upside!

Do-it-yourself membership gift. Cut out and duct tape to bumper, glue to mug, tape to window or pin on shirt.

Do you value the positive news that The Portland Upside reports and want to add to its growth?

Show your support:
sponsor an issue,
advertise your business, organization or event,
or donate.

Go to PortlandUpside.com to donate or view advertising rates or contact Sara & Rob about sponsorship and for more info.

503-663-1526 10013 SE Eastmont Dr
editors@portlandUpside.com Damascus, OR 97089

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What people are saying about The Portland Upside

The Portland Upside
February 2010

“There are so many great things going on in our community and I’m so glad there’s someone out there taking notice.”

“A Facebook friend was complaining that he needed a break from the news since it was too depressing and another friend posted your website. Good!”

“I would like to help out with The Portland Upside. I think this is a great idea that is a long time coming. Congrats on making this happen!”

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Send your comments to editors@portlandupside.com
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Love of food brings Portlanders, farmers together

Local organizer creates an opportunity for Portland eaters to connect with the farmers who feed them

By Cathy McQueeney
The Portland Upside
February 2010

Michele Knaus coordinates the InFARMation (and Beer!) monthly gatherings to educate and build relationships between family farmers and the urban consumers of Portland.

Kelly Reese and Stephanie Turner are tightly wedged at a long table in the crowded community room of Roots Organic Brewery. They’re astonished at the number of people who have shown up for tonight’s monthly InFARMation (and Beer!) event hosted by Friends of Family Farmers. A diverse group is enjoying food and beverages while talking animatedly. Many gather at tables set up by Slow Food and The Oregon State Grange.

Permaculture design students, Kelly and Stephanie study with Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden. They have come tonight to learn about agricultural rules and regulations in Oregon and how they impact socially-responsible family farmers. Tonight’s guest speaker is Anthony Boutard of Ayers Creek Organic Farm.

Like many people in the room this evening, Kelly and Stephanie are interested in local food production, sustainability and food security.

“We’re learning how to take back control of our food sources,” says Stephanie, a 50-year-old Portland resident who is slowly transforming her landscaped yard into a thriving food forest.
“I want to do whatever I can to preserve my right to buy healthy, local food, and protect the rights of family farmers to grow that food.”

Indeed, the increasingly popular InFARMation (and Beer!) has attracted more than 200 people this evening, bringing together Oregon family farmers, urban consumers and the community in general. The topics change each month but focus on the issues facing family farmers and the connection between food and farms in our state. Attendees represent a wide range of interests, from consumers, chefs and farmers’ market managers, to new farmers, established farmers and individuals exploring the idea of growing their own food.

Just over a year old, InFARMation is coordinated by Portland resident, Michele Knaus, a former chef and restaurant owner turned food advocate and educator. She is also a grassroots organizer for Friends of Family Farmers, an organization working to promote and protect socially-responsible agriculture in Oregon.

A lively woman with short auburn hair and an infectious grin, Michele is “obsessed with good food and alternative food systems.” She appreciates the bounty of healthy and sustainable choices available to her in Portland.

“But if we want a guarantee that you and I will be able to continue to buy the meat, poultry, dairy and produce that has been raised to our standards by farmers with the same values that we have, we have to get involved with policy now,” she warns the gathered audience.

“Folks who live in urban areas are stakeholders in our state’s agriculture laws and policies, and we need to educate ourselves on what needs to happen to keep family farming viable now, ten years from now, and fifty years from now. When people talk about food issues, we want them to talk about food and farm issues.”

Michele developed an interest in local food and sustainability as a young chef in New Mexico, where she trained with Lynn Walters at the Natural Café. Walters exposed her to the concept of “farm to table” or buying directly from farmers. Michele next moved east to Nashville, Tennessee, where she opened Grins, a café on the Vanderbilt University campus featuring seasonal and local foods. She moved to Portland in 2006 and taught culinary classes at In Good Taste cooking school while earning a Master of Education degree at Portland State University, where she focused on Food System Sustainability.

After completing her degree, Michele joined Friends of Family Farmers, a nonprofit organization founded in 2005 which advocates for socially-responsible agriculture in Oregon. One of her first projects with Friends of Family Farmers was to develop a monthly event that would bring the sustainable farming community and the urban consumers of Portland together for meaningful dialogue. Thus InFARMation (and Beer!) was born.

It’s hard to get near Michele after the speaker has finished his question-and-answer session. She knows many of the people here and everyone wants a chance to chat with her and to express their enthusiasm for the evening’s meeting. Membership in Friends of Family Farmers is swelling, in part from successful get-togethers like this one.

I recognize firsthand that many new relationships are being forged as people mingle and talk about the ideas discussed tonight.

I’ve connected with Kyle Curtis, manager of the Montavilla Farmer’s Market. He would like to feature some of the produce from our small family farm. I also extend invitations to the permaculture students to come and visit. I hope to learn something from them as well as to share my own experience as a fairly new biointensive farmer. They are shocked at what they’ve learned tonight regarding the level of regulation under which small farmers have to operate and are surprised that so many things they’d thought “natural” or “normal” in a small farming community are actually illegal.

Tonight I also talk to some more established farmers who have offered me their expertise on seed saving and raising sheep. I’ve also made a date to discuss cheese making with a woman who wants to begin home-crafting her own goat cheeses.

Michele has been very happy with the response to Portland’s InFARMations.

“Many people understand ‘Eat local.’ But the next level to learn about is what all it takes to make that even possible. When it comes down to convenience versus conviction, having met the farmer and heard his or her story helps to push you more toward conviction. Bringing the farmers here and bringing the issues in from a different angle has been really helpful in putting a face on the issues. It also helps people connect with others in the community doing food-system related work.

“At almost every InFARMation I’ll see a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) urban farmer from the area talking to a farmer in overalls who drove two hours to get here. I’ll also see young urban people listening, taking it all in, and getting fired up. I get really excited seeing those connections made and light bulbs going off.”

Besides organizing InFARMation (and Beer!), Michele also coordinates the iFarm Oregon database which brings together retiring farmers and farm mentors with new or aspiring farmers. The database screens farm land for sale or lease, work experiences and investment opportunities and matches them to interested parties in order to best meet the needs and interests of a growing number of participants in Oregon and beyond.

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More information about InFARMation (and Beer!) and iFarm Oregon can be found on the Friends of Family Farmers website at http://friendsoffamilyfarmers.org Michele will happily connect with anyone who would like to contact her at Michele@friendsoffamilyfarmers.org

InFARMation (and Beer!) gatherings are the second Tuesday of every month at Roots Organic Brewery’s event space at 1530 SE 7th Ave., Portland, OR from 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Cathy McQueeney owns Blue Flower Family Farm in the Willamette Valley where she raises Shetland sheep, a variety of chickens and fruits, vegetables and herbs using a sustainable, biointensive model. Contact her at cathymcq5@yahoo.com

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Artist champions importance of art at any age

By Rachael Lorenz
The Portland Upside
February 2010

Janet Louvau Holt will be exhibiting her artwork to benefit The Geezer Gallery’s art therapy and instructional programs for seniors.

“You don’t have to give up just because you have a different number after your name,” says Janet Louvau Holt, one of the many accomplished senior artists on The Geezer Gallery roster for shows in the near future.

The Geezer Gallery envisions a future where each and every senior can create and experience joy through the arts, a future where becoming an elder is a process of positive change and new possibilities.

Janet’s words encourage senior citizens of the greater Portland area who will be given the opportunity to experience this exciting new way of growing old through art.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” she adds, knowing that part of the proceeds from the sale of her paintings will go to fund The Geezer Gallery’s art therapy and instructional programs.

Janet will also exhibit her work at the Grand Works Northwest Art Festival scheduled for May 22, 2010.The festival is a benefit to raise funds for Elders in Action’s Personal Advocate Program and The Geezer Gallery.

“It’s hard to know what one’s legacy is. I teach workshops every now and then and I taught in a retirement facility as a volunteer for eight years and that was very moving. I’ll never forget this one woman who had been injured by a bus. She told me that when she was in art class she never felt any pain. I like to think that art helps people get out from themselves.”

Janet made her first painting at twelve years old. She has painted ever since, only taking time out while raising her family as sole breadwinner.

“I thought I would explode,” she says of that time.

Janet loves to draw and keep sketchbooks in which she tries to add at least one sketch per day. She starts her day doing the crossword puzzle, then sets to work in her studio, comfortably located on the lower level of her lovely home.

“I work at something every day. I don’t wait for a lightning bolt of inspiration. It’s my job.

“I don’t work from photos. Doing a drawing puts the image into the mental computer so you can pull it out without looking at the sketch. And if I like it, I turn it into something that becomes a series. It’s important to work in a series because it shows that you really care about the subject.”

When asked if she has advice for budding artists, Janet replies, “Draw, draw, draw. If you have an assignment to do a painting you have two choices. You can do a painting that reflects a day when everything is going your way or a day that isn’t so good. What colors would you choose? What subject? Would you put your fingers right in the paint and scratch down with your fingernails? I like to get them to think for themselves.”

Janet has taught a number of art classes. She says there are always students who were told back in their elementary school days that they didn’t have talent because they didn’t stay within the lines.

“We’re not all Michelangelo, but we can all do something. Use your imagination. You have talent. Your job is to figure out what it is; music, science, literature, painting, sports, whatever. Take the time to investigate and find out what your special talent is, because you have it.”

When it comes to a vision for her work, Janet is clear.

“As I’m working I always like to think about how art reflects the times of the artist as well as the interest. So, when I think about our times, they’re busy, they’re fragmented, they’re loud. But there are also those lovely quiet times with family members, friends, loved ones that have an influence on the look of things. So I don’t want my work to all look the same. I love to experiment. And I expect to keep on doing that.”

Janet’s paintings speak of nature and the beauty that surrounds us. Her use of color is extraordinarily moving. Brightly colored shapes jump from her canvases—trees, flowers, clouds and sun. In other paintings the colors are muted, speaking of beauty even when it’s dark, encouraging us to open our eyes and let it inside.

Janet’s work, one piece of which is featured in The Portland Art Museum’s permanent collection, holds wisdom for all ages, genders, and races.

“It’s very important, not just for artists, to actually go and look at art in galleries and museums. It’s part of our heritage and culture and also when we look at the art of other cultures we can see that we’re all in this together and celebrate the similarities and the differences.”

In March, Janet will open her home for an all-day exhibition of her work. Fifty percent of the sale of woodcuts, monotypes, acrylics and collages will go toward funding The Geezer Gallery.

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To see more of Janet Louvau Holt’s work visit http://janetlouvauholt.com Information about The Geezer Gallery can be found at http://geezergallery.com

Rachael Lorenz is currently working on publishing a children’s book and workbook, “Madeline’s Art Studio . . . Sienna Learns To Paint.” The proceeds from this book will go toward funding The Geezer Gallery. Contact Rachael at 503-913-9255 or Rachael@geezergallery.com

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Oft’ in life we haven’t clear direction

By Charles Walsh
The Portland Upside
February 2010

Photo by Arnetta Guion

Oft’ in life we haven’t clear direction
And thinking can deprive us of connection
With our own happy intuition’s source,
Obscuring the simplest obvious course.
But when we commit to know our true desire
And make the choice that sets our hearts afire,
Life must follow our charms with all it’s zest
For we’ve become the part which all love best.
We know this well but when we would control
We drain the life of what’s inspired our soul;
Dither not with dread practicality,
Step forth alive without conditions, free.
Despite all schemes that we’ve been dreaming of,
What more have we to offer but our Love?

_____

Charles Walsh is a wine lover, hiker/climber and poet. A Portland native, Charles was raised and educated here, though most of his professional life was spent in projects across the United States and Europe.

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The blooms

By Andi Yates
The Portland Upside
February 2010

Photo by Sitta Cole

The blooms

Drop

And love stops

growing

When there are toomanyroots in a small container.

(capture) love - [cage it] and love will faint in the
breathless air, grow brittle and crumble to an empty dust
that falls away, lost…. Forgotten in its own network of
entwining

Beginnings

and

Endings

Better to cradle love on a woven frame of no preconceived
boundaries. Let it send its new shoots to the warmth of the
sun and new roots to places unseen. Watch it slip through
the weave of its holder and mold a cover so complete
yet…….

Free to express and to move as it must to flourish to bloom

And bloom again…………………

<an attempted tribute to ee cummings>

_____

Andi was born in Louisville, KY, and migrated to Oregon in 1974. She found her poetic voice at 17 and has been writing lyrics, poems and short stories ever since.

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Heart Song

Faye Powell
The Portland Upside
February 2010

Photo by Faye Powell

There is a language of the heart,
Bequeathed to us with our very first breath,
Breathed into us with our very first cry,
Possessed by us through a mother’s kiss
and a father’s smile.

There is a language of the heart
Soft as a breeze against our cheek,
Gentle, quiet as a baby’s dream,
That knows no chains of hate or fear.

Light as cherry blossoms on an April morn,
Sweet as a lover’s sigh just before dawn,
Our native tongue, our first heart song,
Leads us back to our own true home.

_____

Faye Powell is a retired librarian who writes fiction, nonfiction and, occasionally, poetry. She can be reached at phaysee1@gmail.com

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Sharing is in style at SE Portland Tool Library

Community comes together to share tools, knowledge and reduce waste

By Jeff Horne
The Portland Upside
February 2010

Volunteers work on getting the SE Portland Tool Library ready while having some fun in the process. Left to right: Cedar, Charles Reid, Chris New (kneeling), Aaron Tarfman, Ginny Benware

I moved to Southeast Portland from Los Angeles about two years ago. When I initially heard about Portland’s tool libraries—mystical places where members of the community can borrow home and garden tools free of charge—I thought, “Wow, Portlanders are crazy!” And I wondered if it actually works.

In fact, the tool libraries in North and Northeast Portland are wildly successful. The library in Northeast Portland (NEPTL), for example, has up to 200 visitors a day during the summer months. Over 85 percent of the tools are donated, with such an abundance of gifts that NEPTL has generously re-gifted over 200 tools to help get a new library started in Southeast Portland.

Steve Couche, a Reed neighborhood resident, is leading the recent Southeast effort. He got the ball rolling by finding a space, securing some grant money and holding a meeting in early December. When neighbors heard about the effort to bring a tool library to Southeast, many went to the meeting and got on board. We have already secured an additional grant from the Rebuilding Center, created a website and Facebook page, and started other outreach efforts. We’re now getting ready to renovate the space.

Why has Steve gone to all this trouble?

“The tool library will help solidify neighborhood cohesiveness by being a gathering place for neighbors to borrow tools that other neighbors donated to the library. Workshops will empower people to make lifestyle changes to more sustainable practices like seed saving and rain barrel construction. And it will save us all money,” he says with a smile.

Sounds good to me!

How often do you purchase a specialized tool that you use only once and then, if you’re lucky, use again ten years down the road? Having every person each purchase their own set of tools is a tremendous waste, in a time of diminishing natural resources. Does it make sense for me and every one of my neighbors to own an 18-foot ladder, tree pruners, and post diggers when there’s almost no chance that we’ll all be using these tools at the same time? Why not share? Isn’t that one of the fundamental lessons we’re taught as kids? Why did we forget?

“Don’t people steal the tools?” you wonder. I asked the same thing. Apparently they do not. Tom Thompson of NEPTL says they’ve lost about a dozen tools of the 4,000 loaner tools they’ve handed out. Sounds like a pretty good ratio to me.

That’s what the tool library is all about. It’s a lesson in sharing and community which offers neighbors the chance to say, “Hey, I really need this tool, but once I’m done with it, it’s going to sit in my garage and gather dust. I’m going to give it to the tool library. While I’m there, I might pick up a pipe wrench and some pliers for a plumbing project I have.”

The Southeast Tool Library is an all-volunteer effort, which means the people involved want to create a new way of doing business in their community. Neighbors with spare tools donate inventory. Neighbors with free time help keep the library running smoothly. Neighbors with neither money nor time get a little relief by being able to borrow tools they’d otherwise have to buy.

Having free tools to borrow can also help beautify and maintain our neighborhoods by allowing folks access to tools they may not want to buy. Rather than ignoring much needed gutter repair or gardening work, they get the tools they need to get the job done. The library also plans to host workshops to empower do-it-yourself folks by connecting them with knowledgeable neighbors. Classes will emphasize sustainable projects and practices.

When’s the Southeast Tool Library coming? We’re getting closer to opening every day, with the estimated opening slated for May 2010. We will be housed at the St. David of Wales Episcopal Church, located at 2800 SE Harrison.

_____

Want to know more or get involved? Visit us online at our new website: http://septl.org Or contact Steve Couche at 503-232-0699 or steveco1948@comcast.net

Jeff Horne is a Southeast Portland resident, environmentalist, yogi, gardener and food security advocate. He’s a board member of the Richmond Neighborhood Association where he is a co-chair of the Sustainability Committee. He is also co-founder of the Crappy Chess Players Club. Contact Jeff at mailjeffh@yahoo.com

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Voices around town

Why is positive news important to you?

The Portland Upside
February 2010

With such a steady diet of bad news, positive news is like dessert. You don’t get it all the time, but when you do it’s appreciated.

–Jacki Kane
Hawthorne neighborhood
SE Portland, Oregon

Negativity is fear-based; positivity breeds courage, heroism, and eventually fearlessness.

–Christopher Kai Bucci
Montavilla neighborhood
SE Portland, Oregon

What we hear and read matters, giving us a sense of the way the world is. If we hear nothing but crisis, violence, greed or intolerance, we might believe that represents all we have around us. Positive news—which is much more prevalent—must be shared to offer us insight into the truth of what we are surrounded by—willingness, optimism, hope and generosity.

–Amy Pearl
SW Portland, Oregon

Positive news is better than Prozac. Not only does it serve to inspire, it also helps us to overcome our inertia, our fears, our separation anxieties and loneliness. It gives us avenues to turn our disparate mental and physical silos into community.

–Meryl Lipman
NE Portland, Oregon

Positive news is crucial for maintaining a balanced perspective. In order to be productive citizens we have to know that our own random acts of kindness make a difference in the world. Hearing upbeat stories about our neighbors reminds us that a positive attitude has a large ripple effect.

–Carrie Ure
SW Portland, Oregon

I believe that human beings are moved to act when they feel connected, inspired and hopeful. What better way is there to support social activism than by highlighting the people and organizations in our community and beyond that are devoting their lives to positive social change?

–Deb Delman
NE Portland, Oregon

It’s important because it opens the door and reminds us that there is positive news going on. There has to be as much positive as negative happening in the world. Dark and light balance out eventually and if we only see the dark, we are missing part of the picture.

–Deanne Belinoff
Concordia neighborhood
NE Portland Oregon

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How a lost phone and kind heart changed a day

By Nicole Morales
The Portland Upside
February 2010

It happens to the best of us at the most inconvenient times.

You just left the office, market, or cafe and you’re on your way home. You start the ignition, hop on your bike, or, like me, board the MAX. That’s when you reach for your cell phone to check for new messages and the time. It’s not there. You pat down all of your pockets and peer into your shoulder bag or purse. No sign of it.

After recovering from panic, you stop and think about what your mother told you to do at a time like this. Backtrack. So you return to the office to check your desk, you re-enter the market to inquire at the service counter, or you scuttle back across the street toward the cafe. Maybe it’s on the table, you think to yourself. Nope.

Uneasy, you recall the last time you used your cell. Whom did I last talk to? What was I doing? How long ago was it?

For me it was 3:00 o’clock on a damp Friday afternoon. I checked the time because I didn’t want to miss the vanpool to the MAX station. At 3:15, I jumped out of the van and dashed toward the platform. But blame it on my wellies, the hood over my eyes, or the eager TriMet operator, I missed the train by seconds. How long will I be waiting, I wondered and reached for my cell. Uh oh!

It must be on the van, I thought, no longer miffed about missing the MAX. That’s when my regular p.m. commute home turned into the mystery of my missing mobile.

My cell wasn’t in the van. It had to be at work. So I went back. Nope. It wasn’t on my desk, and no one had seen it, including the tech guy who was in my office at noon installing software on the computer.

I was clueless. I rarely misplaced important things. Moreover, I began questioning everything having to do with my cell phone. Why am I so dependent on the darn thing? What if I need to make a call over the long weekend? Why didn’t I opt for the insurance to replace lost and stolen phones? What if someone swiped it and now has access to my personal information?

Thank goodness my questions needed no answers!

As it turned out, a Good Samaritan found my cell phone on the same sidewalk I sprinted across while running toward my missed train. That was two hours earlier.

So to this I say, “Thank you Ernie and your pug Betty. You picked up my phone, answered my call, and waited patiently for me to get back to the station. Most importantly, you solved the mystery. And for that I am grateful.”

On behalf of all of us who have lost a cell phone, keys, wallet or other critical belonging, I dedicate this to those kind souls who returned a missed item to its rightful owner. People like you soothe our absentmindedness and give us days to remember.

_____

Nicole strives to connect people via multicultural education and writing. She teaches ESL at a private university outside of Portland and welcomes your inquiries at morales.writes@gmail.com

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Submission of the month

Sitta's Story

The Portland Upside
February 2010

Self-portrait photo by Sitta Cole, age 19

I was born in Liberia, Africa. My life with my family was good until the war. When I was seven years old the rebels waked my family up in the middle of the night. We walked for four days to Sierra Leone so that we would not be killed. For three years we lived in the refugee camp until we were allowed to come to the United States.

In 2005 I came to The Portland International Community School. The teachers treated me with love and respect and taught me things I did not know before.

I came to Focus on Youth in 2008 and started learning photography. The beauty I see and am able to photograph makes me forget the painful things that happened in Liberia.
_____

Focus On Youth was started six years ago as a way to keep at-risk youth on the path to graduation using photography and mentoring. http://focusonyouth.org

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