PTA pitches Coke 'rewards' program

An on-line PTA newsletter recently highlighted a CocaCola program that has students using soft drink label codes to raise money for schools.

It’s all part of something Coke calls “Coke Rewards.” The real “reward” is for CocaCola’s bottom line through acceptance of the consumption of harmful, sugar-laden beverages that contribute to an epidemic of diabetes.

In short, the PTA's promotion of this program is trading the health of children for a few dollars for cash-strapped schools. The problems are real; the answers can’t be found in consumption of soft drinks and corporate handouts.

In addition to Coke’s gaining positive PR through its program, it also buys silence about the harm done by its products. Note the lame disclaimer attached to the end of the newsletter item.

“This promotion is not intended by anyone at Wilson to encourage consumption of certain products, just to take advantage of the benefits the company offers from products you may already be using.”

“Certain products”? “MAY already be using”?

How about a line that overtly warns against the harm associated with the continued consumption of “certain” “products you may already be using.”

I think they call that “education,” which is the mission, if I recall correctly, of the PTA.

Question: If Philip Morris set up a similar program rewarding submitted cigarette butts with contributions to the school, would the PTA participate?



Here’s the full text of the message as it appeared....

DONATE YOUR “MY COKE” REWARDS TO WILSON HS!

If you drink Coke products, you have the power to donate points that translate to cash and prizes appropriate for improving all kinds of areas at the school. Look under the caps of any Coke product bottle and inside of the carton of Coke, Sprite, Barq's, etc cans for a code worth 3-10 points. You may enter them on your own My Coke Rewards account and then donate them to Wilson or drop them in the PTA box in front office and we'll enter them. Wilson's Students for Environmental Action (SEA) will collect caps from recycled bottles at school. Wilson is registered at MyCokeRewards.com and ready to accept suggestions for our wish list and donations of codes. Go to: http://www.mycokerewards.com, scroll over the "Schools" black tab and click "donate to a school", enter Wilson's zip code 97219 to search, scroll to the bottom of the drop down to find Wilson, click on it and then continue. If you go there soon, you can enter Wilson for their SparksParks for Schools promotion and increase our odds of winning $25,000 to improve our school's park-like grounds. This promotion is not intended by anyone at Wilson to encourage consumption of certain products, just to take advantage of the benefits the company offers from products you may already be using. For more information contact PTA VP Maureen Berrie-Lawson at reeniebl@comcast.net.

Reality Check at Wilson High

A recent student-administered study at our local Wilson High School revealed that teens think their student peers are using more drugs and alcohol than they actually are.

The organization Positive Action Concerning Teens (PACT) is using the study’s results to give teens a reality check and to counter peer pressure.

The results show that Wilson students believe that more than nine out of 10 of their peers consume or have consumed alcohol. The actual number is six out of 10. The results also show that those who do drink, do so far less than is believed.

The study also revealed similar misperceptions about marijuana use.

The June issue of the Southwest Community Connection describes the results in a front page story.

One study's conclusion is that teen social norms — and sense of reality — are askew as it relates to drugs and alcohol. What kids THINK is happening, isn’t.

One thing is missing from the story — and presumably the Wilson study: The answer to the question “Why?”

Why the disconnect between perception and reality?

The question begs for an answer.

Here’s one: The media. How is teen behavior portrayed in the media, which consume roughly eight hours of the average teen’s day?

More exactly, how are teens themselves portrayed in the media? Screens are distorting mirrors. What do teens see when they become immersed in a screen world.

The late George Gerbner conducted a classic study of what heavy TV watchers thought the crime rate was and compared that to what “light” consumers of TV thought the rate was. He called the result “The Mean World Syndrome.” Heavy consumers of TV fare thought the world was a much more dangerous place than it in fact is. Those who used less TV, had a better sense of the crime rate.

I imagine that the same is true with perceptions of drug and alcohol use among teens.

One final point: Why didn’t the study include tobacco “drug” usage. Nicotine is as dangerous, or more so, than marijuana and alcohol.

Clearly peer attitudes and perceptions regarding tobacco usage are important at Wilson.

My own perceptions of teen tobacco use are likely distorted as well. I tend to not pay attention when I see teens NOT smoking, but when I do see teen smokers, I find that my reaction varies from anger to depression. It makes a distinct and influencing impression.

There’s a larger point to be made too. Just how well do our perceptions ABOUT ANYTHING, coincide with reality. And if there’s a disconnect, how do we explain it?

BIG topic alert.

Without getting into a philosophical discussion about the nature of “reality” and “knowledge,” the question is worth pursuing — if only to ward off delusion, distrust, paranoia and — peer pressure, whether among teens or adults.

A mom addresses her daughter's graduating class

My friend and neighbor Ruth Adkins, who is an elected member of the Portland School board, addressed the Wilson High School graduating class recently. Among the graduates was her daughter Jane.

Parents no doubt will relate to this part of her short speech.

We live around the corner from the school, and I've seen a lot of you coming and going over the years. I have my own memories and perspective on your busy lives as Wilson students. Baseball games, the bright lights of the football field, soccer and softball down at Rieke. Basketball in the gym. Students out on the track running up and down the bleacher steps – it made my knees hurt just to look at you.

Visiting the preschool program and seeing the power of high schoolers teaching little ones. Choir and band performances. Standing shivering in the Hillsdale shopping center for the December holidays. Musicals, plays, and one-acts from the drama department, from "Merry Wives of Windsor," which as a former Renaissance Studies major I have seen times, to "Rent" and "On the Razzle" this year – with you guys totally blowing us away every single time.

Seeing the bus return from Outdoor School with tired and grubby and happy student leaders. Seeing students serving the community by planting trees on campus, helping pull weeds on clean-up days, coming around the neighborhood to collect empty bottles or recycle our Wilson Christmas tree. Reading The Statesman and the yearbook and getting more glimpses of your opinions, passions, humor and opinions.

Walking past the display cases in the hallway and always seeing something beautiful and inspiring, whether ceramics, drawing, prints, sculpture or photographs.

And then senior year and the joys of college applications, and grownups like me endlessly asking you where you were applying, where you got in, where are you will go.

I particularly want to thank the counselors and teachers for all their hard work in getting those letters of recommendations done and helping with application. Everyone's hard work has paid off and now you are heading out to colleges near and far. Many have with gap year adventures planned or careers lined up.

I know my list has just scratched the surface. It's pretty amazing just thinking about all you have done in high school. You must be exhausted. But of course, the reality is you are just getting started. Your energies and talents are great enough to take you just about anywhere. I know you will ably represent Portland Public Schools and Wilson, wherever you go. So dear Class of 2009, on behalf of the school board, as a neighbor, and as a mom, I'm going to miss you. I wish you all the very best.

The Intrusion of Time

John Wardin’s grandfather, Gustav, made a purchase one hundred years ago that shaped the future of Hillsdale. Gustav bought the Fulton Park Dairy shown here in 1905.

Earlier this week I met with John to look through a family album of old photographs. Together we gamely tried to imagine the perspectives of the photographers.

Of all the photographs, this one is the most striking because of its panorama. We are looking east from the hill where St. Barnabas Church is today. The view stretches from what was Hoffman Road (today Vermont Street) on the right to Capitol Highway on the left. The Fulton Park Dairy is dead ahead.

Intrigued by the view, I set out this afternoon to try to find the spot the photographer stood on. I wanted to update the photo.

One hundred years got in the way. Utility lines, houses, streets, trees, cars. One shot was partially blocked by the roof of a Jeep Cherokee. Another was crisscrossed by apple tree branches. Rooftops were everywhere. I considered climbing up on one to find the right angle, but then thought better of it.

So here’s the best I could do. Wilson High School is now in the distance. Rieke Elementary School is on the right. On the left is the Hillsdale Shopping Center, still owned by the Wardin family. The squirrel skittering across a utility wire is a new arrival.


But if you look closely, you see a glimpse of Hoffman-turned-Vermont on the right. A tree or two on the horizon may have survived 100 years.

And as the contours show, the place will always be “as old as the hills.”

Two Tell-tale Signs in Hillsdale

Today, the day these photos were taken, is December 22, or in the haphazard typography of the above sign, 12 22.

(Note the grab-bag assortment of letters — yes, that "A" has a reverse accent over it; yes, that's an umlaut over the "U". Notice the careless spacing and word arrangement.)

The advertised fund-raising event was 11 days ago, but the sign, now a billboard for a local pizzeria, is unchanged. It is, in essence, cheap, ugly advertising on public property. Some 30,000 commuters see the sign each workday.

The school district still has no policy about such advertised fund-raisers or about where and how they are promoted. Despite the money they raise, they are clear commercial intrusions into our schools.

Contrast the above Wilson High sign and its ungainly "lollipop" design and its dated, neglected content, with the message and design of the nearby Rieke Elementary School sign.

What's the message, stated and aesthetic, of each? Which school has its priorities straight? Which school cares about and has thought about its "public face"?

You be the judge.

Game-day advice adapted for the game of life

Useful advice comes in many forms.

I’m on the mailing list of the e-newsletter for Wilson High School, which has its share of nuggets.

One of them was mined at the request of Scott Aker, WHS athletic director, and Mike Clopton, WHS baseball coach, in the most recent edition. Aker and Clopton wanted to share some advice on how parents and students should behave civilly at games, particularly toward officials and opposing teams.

So, at their suggestion, editor Linda Doyle included a “Game-Day To-Do List for Parents,” which was adapted from materials prepared by the Positive Coaching Alliance and the American Youth Soccer Organization.

It struck me that the advice could be further adapted to the game we call “life.” I have tried to do so here:

A life-preparation to-do list for parents:

• Tell your children to have fun.

• Tell them to make a commitment to honor life in action and language.

• Show your child that truth is everywhere. Teach them how to find it and how to live by it.

• Teach them to acknowledge good deeds by everyone.

• Encourage them recognize good decisions and ask them to consider withholding judgment about bad ones.

• Tell them to gently correct the errors of others around them.

• Don’t do anything that will embarrass them or their friends.

• Teach them to thank those whose job is difficult and sometimes controversial.

• Instruct them to thank their teachers (and coaches, even when the blow it).

• Teach them to be gracious and respectful to those with whom they may disagree.

• Congratulate your children and their friends when they do their best to follow all of the above.

• Ask your children if they are having fun.

Off the Charts

Charts and graphs tell stories — many stories.

The Oregonian looked at the just released results of SAT scores for the Class of 2007 and wrote a story accompanied by a chart and a graph.

Here is the story and here are the chart and the graph, which, unfortunately, weren't presented on OregonLive. You can click on my scan to make the chart and graph larger.

Before "reading" the graphic stories, it's worth noting that the bar graph starts at a score of 450 as its base. Ed Tufte, who has written extensively about graphic integrity, calls this lying with graphics. Show the full range when you depict results, he says, otherwise your portrayal is a visual distortion.

Using the distorted parameters of the graph and applying data from the chart to it, two Portland High Schools, Jefferson and Roosevelt, are literally off-the-charts — way off the charts. They fall well below the 450 base.

To me, that poor SAT performance is a major story, along with the fact that such a small percentage of students are even taking the SAT at these two high-minority enrollment schools. Franklin and Marshall also have startlingly low SAT participation.

I'm obviously not the reporter on this story, but the results and participation for these schools suggest a call the Portland Public School District.

I have also pencil marked Lincoln's scores (the highest) and Wilson's (of particular interest to Hillsdale). The difference in combined average scores for Lincoln (where 82 percent of the students took the test) and Jefferson (where a mere 28 percent took the test) is a stunning 662 points.

What other stories suggest themselves? One has to do with gross disparity between our high schools. Another has to do with college aspirations and academic preparation to achieve those goals. Do students at Jefferson and Roosevelt want to go on to college? Some do, and apparently many don't. If they don't, why? If they do, why have so many seemingly given up trying? Or if they are among those trying by taking the SAT, why are they doing so poorly?

My guess is that peer values and norms as well as expectations and financial resources are huge influences. Oh, and add media stereotyping and celebrity role models to the mix.

That's just for starters. Clearly, there is a whole lot more going on, and it isn't pretty.

I also want to know how these statistics from the best performing and the poorest performing schools have changed from the previous year. Is the gap widening? Did Jefferson improve or decline from 2006? The story by Suzanne Pardington mentioned improvement at only one high school, Oregon City.

I hope that The Oregonian plans to report on the other "news" contained in these results.

Will you be a taker or will you give some back?

I've had a request for the timely lyrics to the song Wilson High School math teacher Jon Beima wrote for the school's graduation last week.

Here they are:

Will You Be A Taker?

There’s dying in Darfur, there’s killing in Iraq,
The earth keeps getting warmer, losing her snow pack,
The rich keep getting richer, widening the gap,
Will you be a taker, or will you give some back?

Will you hide in the shadows, standing at the door,
Listen to your iPod, can’t hear no more,
Will you step out in the sunshine, taking in the day,
Will you be a giver, go a better way?

When you get your paper, will you hang it on the wall?
Will you fold it in your pocket, will you roll it in a ball?
Will you show the world how you have grown?
Will you lay it down and use it like a stepping stone?

There’re children in Portland go to bed at night,
No food in their stomachs, yeah that ain’t right,
Homeless shelters keep growing, bursting at the seams,
People at the bottom, giving up their dreams.

Will you hide in the shadows, standing at the door,
Listen to your iPod, can’t hear no more,
Will you step out in the sunshine, taking in the day,
Will you be a giver, go a better way?

When you get your paper, will you hang it on the wall?
Will you fold it in your pocket, will you roll it in a ball?
Will you show the world how you have grown?
Will you lay it down and use it like a stepping stone?

There’s dying in Darfur, there’s killing in Iraq,
The earth keeps getting warmer, losing her snow pack,
The rich keep getting richer, widening the gap,
Will you be a taker, or will you give some back?

Wilson High's Graduation was inspiring

Linda Doyle edits and publishes an excellent e-mail newsletter for Hillsdale's Wilson High School. Called the Wilson Spotlight, it spotlights accomplishments in the school community.

The current issue presents the inspiring graduation speech delivered by Wilson principal Sue Brent. The inspiration was two-fold. The speech itself was a call to success and commitment, but much of the inspiration came in Brent's recounting the achievements of the graduating class.

Here, edited for brevity, is what she said:

Wilson families, visitors and graduates, thank you so much for coming to celebrate the successful completion of the class of 2007’s high school years.

I’d like to share some numbers with you: 1, 642, 2292, 11295, 343, 300, 140, 108, 61, 18, 98, 10, 3000, 7,000, 73, 2,173 and 600. The numbers say something about what this class of 343 graduates have achieved.

You spent approximately 2,292 days in school from Kindergarten through 12th grade. That’s 11,295 hours. You spent 642 days in high school, if you had perfect attendance.

You have shown tremendous skill and talent as you exit this public high school’s doors. Here are some of the accomplishments of this class: 10 seniors in Student Leadership were given the Multnomah County Sheriff’s award for raising over $3,000 this year to aid those less fortunate....

Three hundred of you will go on to two and four year colleges. (Here she invited all the male graduating seniors to stand.) Now would just the five of you standing in the front row, stay standing. All the rest of you sit down. Those of you standing, represent the world's white male college graduates and as such you are more affluent than 98 percent of the world; the gentlemen who sat down represent the rest of the world.

I’d like to share the story of two young people, Mohammed Abdullah and Emily Norton, who sit here among you.

Mohammed received the only Gates Millennium Scholarship awarded to a Portland Public Schools’ student. This means he will receive four years paid tuition to any institution he wishes to attend. It will also pay for his graduate school costs. Mohammed will attend Cornell University. He began high school at Benson, moved to Roosevelt and then transferred to Wilson in his senior year.

I mention Mohammed because he, like the 73 Wilson scholars who contributed 7,000 service hours, exemplifies the gift of giving back. His service was to the community and youth organizations; helping young students pursue their dreams by supervising a laboratory, helping young students set goals, choose books and reach reading milestones at the public library, teaching and tutoring students in the Ethiopian community.

His inspiration to succeed in science began in Africa, a continent debilitated by infectious diseases. When he first noticed that physicians in Ethiopia were performing a surgery without anesthesia, he became aware of the enormous medical challenges that the patients were facing. This first-hand experience of human suffering due to a lack of basic medical services has driven his decision to contribute by helping others.

He wants to become a doctor.

Emily Norton is one of 18 valedictorians and wants to pursue a career in International Relief Aid. She plans to attend Bucknell University. She is a Wilson Scholar whose service included constructing concrete floors for family homes in Oaxaca, Mexico with Northwest Medical Teams. As the Interact Club co-president, Emily has cooked dinners, served meals to the homeless, visited nursing home residents, and sold “Stop Genocide in Sudan” T-shirts to educate the community about the atrocities occurring in Sudan sending the proceeds to aid refugees.

Emily received the Bank of America Student Award, given to only five students in the greater metropolitan Portland area for her leadership in community service activities.

An immigrant to the US and a life-long citizen. These two graduates epitomize what we all wish for in the future, not only of America, but also of the globe, and the 21st century.

We in America who have been given so much — so much — must decide what we will do with the gifts and resources we have been afforded. Instead of using them solely for ourselves, we all have to commit to dedicate those less fortunate than ourselves.

I know that what you really care about in your heart of hearts is peace. Some of you planted $600 worth of marigolds to put that message out there. You see the situation in Afghanistan. You see the inferno in Iraq. You see the violence, the killing, the bloodshed, and, like me, you want it stopped.

So while symbols are important because they remind us of the work to be done, symbols by themselves do not replace the hard work. And what is this hard work? A great religious leader said, “If you want peace, work for justice." In the Hebrew tradition, the word “shalom” doesn’t mean just the absence of war, it means, righteousness, well‑being, integrity, healing.

Graduates, you have accomplished much. You have been given much. And much is expected of you. The world needs your gifts, your talents, your time and your love. Be generous with these.

And so I close with the words of Jim Henson’s frog, Kermit at his commencement speech to the class of 1996 at Southampton Graduate Campus, “…you are no longer tadpoles. The time has come for you to drop your tails and leave this swamp. But I am sure that wherever I go as I travel around the world, I will find each and every one of you working your tails off to save other swamps and give those of us who live there a chance to survive. We love you for it. Enjoy life! And thank you very much.”

Community aids "damsel in distress"

After reading Abby Haight’s excellent story in today’s Oregonian about the Wilson High School “peace” garden restoration, I’ve edited and updated yesterday’s post.

I had completely missed the great “damsel-in-distress” back story, but Abby wisely played it to the hilt. Check Abby’s story out. Metro section, page C 3 for printophiles.

Blessings of Wilson's peace prank

The “restoration” of the Wilson High School plaza after peace pranksters cleverly transformed it into a “Peace Garden” was a feel-good event at mid-day today.

On Sunday night 3o seniors (pictured below), among them Maggie Collins and project leader Daniel Ronan (pictured upper right), created a huge peace symbol (last picture) out of 2,000 marigolds.

When Collins openly admitted to her involvement, school administrators threatened to withhold her diploma until she paid the $1000 restoration costs.

Today, friends, family and community came to her rescue.

Many of the pranksters, along with parents, other students and community volunteers, moved the marigolds and filled in the spokes of the symbol with sod. There may have been 100 people on hand for the work.

Today’s event came with many blessings, to say nothing of pizza, croissants and Gail Baack’s chocolate chip cookies, oh, and a minor media feeding frenzy of two TV film crews and an Oregonian reporter.

Blessing number one was that we found more work to do and had the hands available to do it. We weeded the garden, and then a small team went off to pull ivy in the trees north of the Wilson campus.

Blessing number two was that the newly sodded grass will contrast with the old grass. A subtle peace symbol lives at Wilson.

Blessing number three was that many businesses contributed to today’s project: Safeway — bananas and cream cheese, Noah's (bagels), Three Square Grill (beignets, French donuts), Baker and Spice (various baked goods), Rudy's pizza on Powell (pizzas), Wild Oats (water) and Portland Nursery (sod).

Blessing number four was that in the course of digging and scraping, someone hit a solid object under the turf next to the round garden’s perimeter. More scraping unearthed a square of a mosaic. Roman perhaps? No, more scraping revealed it to be definitely Trojan, as in the Wilson High School Trojans.

Still more Scrapings and the crew unearthed a 19-foot-long mosaic of letters spelling “Wilson High School — 2002.” A mere five years old, it was well along to becoming an archeological artifact.

So the class of 2007’s prank, a gift of peace, unearthed a bounty of new blessings.

One, we are told, leads others.

Peace Garden blooms at Wilson High

Daniel Ronan, the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association Board's first student member and a Wilson High School senior, reports that last Sunday night 35 seniors used marigolds to transform Wilson's central courtyard into a peace sign.

The planting was the seniors' graduation prank and bears the signature "Seniors 07."

The work, which involved planting more than 2,000 flowers, took approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Daniel writes, "The peace sign has a history at Wilson high school this year. In late February and early March, students from the Peace and Social Justice Club put up peace signs and messages with washable paint on various classroom windows. The depictions were done with the consent of each teacher whose classroom was used. But a parent's complaint about the signs sparked a debate as to whether the messages of peace were political."

The school administration instructed the students to take the peace messages down .

Sunday's prank planting will be removed and the original sod restored this Saturday at 11 a.m. The pranksters are inviting the community to help with the work.

It should be a fun event in a good cause.

High school on my minid

High schools and the high school years are on my mind today.

First, I spent four hours this morning at Beaverton's Sunset High School talking with two religious studies classes about Quakers (I'm a Quaker).

The school is wonderfully multi-ethnic, multi-racial and, of course, a cauldron of adolescent energy. Anyone who needs a boost should join the adolescent throngs between classes as they jam high school hallways. Bizarre, I know, but Sunset High's cramped and jammed halls reminded of the human swirl of Tokyo's subways.

Having a religious studies class at a high school is utterly inspired. Adolescents are fascinated by quests of the spirit. In previous weeks, the classes had been visited by a Muslim, a Christian Scientist and a Mormon. Amazing.

I don't know how much of my Quakerism 101 sunk in, but the questions were excellent. "If you have no pastors or priests, who marries you?" a girl asked. (Answer: True to Quaker form, the betrothed couple exchanges its vows unassisted and from the heart, typically after a reflective period of silence.)

This is the second year that a Beaverton high school has invited me to speak about the Religious Society of Friends. I look forward to returning.

I find it particularly interesting to see who stays around in the brief time between classes to ask more questions. After both classes today Muslim students came forward. One, a girl with a telling gauzy scarf over her hair said that my presentation led her to want to visit our Friends meeting as part of her term project.

The other was a boy, whose questions during class led me to assume he was a fundamentalist Christian, but he came up to say that he was a Muslim and that he was struck by the similarities between our beliefs. That had never occurred to me, but together we quickly reviewed the Quaker testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community and equality — drawing links to Islam.

One other student, a girl who had a beautifully fixed gaze, came up to say that she was a "meditator" and wondered whether the silence of a Quaker meeting was an opportunity to meditate. Meetings by their nature lack the qualities of solitary meditation, I told her, but they were most certainly meditative.

That was Sunset High School. Closer to home, today I receive in my e-mail in-box one of my favorite epistles—Linda Doyle's Wilson Spotlight newsletter celebrating the achievements of the Wilson High School Community. I am not as in touch with Wilson's students this year as I would like to be. but two names jumped out at me in Linda's accounting of honors.

George Wolff, a gifted classical guitarist, won first prize in the state high school competition. George played beautifully at our Hillsdale Book Sale last year and at the Multnomah Arts Center Auction earlier this year.

The other name of note in the Spotlight was Daniel Ronan's. Daniel was acknowledged with an honorable mention in foreign language achievement.

Be it further known that Daniel is also the first Wilson student to serve on the board of the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association and has been active in the peace movement both at the school and in our community.

Both George and Daniel are gifts to Hillsdale. I will follow their paths closely and with great expectation.

Finally, strange to say, my own high school classmates last week enlisted me to be on a reunion committee for our 50th reunion in 2010. Could it be? I went to an embarrassingly tony New England prep school, which I have largely ignored lo these many years. When my principal recruiter, one Wally Winter of Chicago environs, phoned, I saw his enlistment of me as a sign to others that we can bury past angst about our privileged educations and about the pettiness of adolescence to meet in renewed camaraderie.

It will be good, after 50 years, to reconnect with old friends from a vibrant, turbulent time. They have been too long out of my life.

Wilson's Culture Night is next Saturday

Mark Wilson High School's Culture Night and Art Extravaganza on your calendar. It's next Saturday, April 21, starting at 5 p.m. Wilson Senior Russel Matsuo's poster captures nicely the spirit of the event. Art reference hint: It should be a "Scream" and then some....

Wilson High's "Peace" problem solved!

Wilson High School administrators have gone all wobbly about students’ writing “Peace” on the Hillsdale school’s windows. Seems that "Peace" is a political statement.

My sources tell me that if the word isn’t expunged early next week, the student painters face suspension.

“Peace” as a problem?

Let’s see, we have “Peace be with you,” “Peace of Mind,” “Let peace begin with me,” “The US Peace Institute,” “Go in peace,” “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and “Peace studies.”

Hmmmm.

OK, agreed, context shapes meaning. Let’s assume that in this time of war the word “peace” might be taken as opposition to war in general, and the bungling, bellicose Bush Administration/Halliburton oil-grab in Iraq in particular.

Now that we are hyper-aware of context, what do we make of Wilson's martial mascot—the helmeted Trojan, who is either a battle-ready warrior or the logo for a contraceptive (subtle message there, kids)?

Either way, isn’t the mascot a political statement? As an opponent of war, I’m personally offended by the thoughtless choosing of Trojan warrior as a mascot, just as I am that the biggest sports rivalry in the state is called “The Civil War.”

Many “family values/anti-sex education” activists might have problems with a beneath-the-radar condom logo association—especially now that I’ve pointed it out to them.

And if politics is a problem, the school itself is named after Thomas Woodrow Wilson. Here we have double trouble. Wilson was both a politician and the winner of the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. Yes, you read it right: "Peace Prize."

Oh-oh.

So here’s my suggestion: if the school can be named after a politician and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the mascot can be a warrior or a contraceptive logo, then the name and the mascot are fair game for “Peace” and non-violent heroes.

In the name of “Peace,” let’s rename the school “Peace High School” and make its mascot Gandhi. The sports teams can be called “The Passive Resisters” (known for unusual defensive play) and the cheer from the throngs can be Gandhi’s call for peaceful change: “Satyagraha! Satyagraha!” which roughly means “Seek Truth!”

"Seek Truth!" indeed.

Peace.

A local link for little ones and their moms

Hillsdale neighbor Heather Hawkins has put up a helpful website for moms of pre-schoolers in Southwest Portland. It's called readysetmom and lists helpful tips and timely events.

A chance encounter with Heather at the Southwest Community Center this morning led us to talking about TV Turnoff Week, which is April 23 to 29. Last year several of us were able to raise its visibility in Southwest by putting up a student-painted "Jigsaw" sign in Hillsdale.

Anyway, Heather has alerted her readers to my plans for TV Turnoff participation in the Wilson High School Cluster schools this year. Let me know if your family or your child's school is interested in participating as I have organizing materials available. An organizer's CD loaded with information costs $10, but one free copy is available for each cluster school.

You can also get more information at TVTurnoff.org.