Please join us at Sisters Of The Road’s 2008 Martin Luther King, Jr. march and rally, Monday January 21, 2008!

2:00pm - people begin gathering for the march at Sisters Of The Road (133 NW 6th Ave)

3:00pm- march leaves from Sisters and heads to First Unitarian Church (1011 SW 12th Ave)

3:30pm - program begins at First Unitarian Church with speakers including: Nanci Luna Jimenez of Luna Jimenez Seminars & Associates, Paul Boden of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, and our very own Civic Action group members!

4:30pm - 5:30pm - check out informational tables, view Sisters’ PhotoVoice exhibit, eat food, build cross-class community, and take action (write postcards, register to vote, etc.) in the downstairs of the church.

Email Devin at sistersoftheroad.org if you have questions.

We are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Winterfolk with a truly blow-out folk event. Join us Saturday, February 2nd at the historic Aladdin Theater to welcome Peter Yarrow, Doug Smith and Three Together, Tom May, Chris Kennedy, Jim Page with Dick Weissman, Misty River (at left), David Rea, Sky in the Road, and Rite of Spring. Thank-you to these big-hearted musicians for donating their time and talent to Sisters!

Tickets are on sale now; they cost $33 advance and $35 on the day of the show, and are available at: the Aladdin Theater 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave.(503) 233-1994; Music Millennium East, 3158 E Burnside (503) 231-8926; Ticketmaster outlets (503) 224-4400/ 866-448-7849; and Artichoke Music 3130 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. (503) 232-8845.  Doors are at 5:30, show is at 6pm.

Guitar Raffle Tickets are also on sale now at our office at 618 NW Davis; at Artichoke Music at 3130 S.E. Hawthorne Boulevard; or at Portland Fret Works, 3039 NE Alberta St.  The ticket will be drawn the night of Winterfolk; winner need not be present to win.  The guitar is a new, handcrafted steel string acoustic Todd Mylet Concert Model guitar with ebony inlay and a hardshell case (click here to see a photo).  In addition, the winner will receive 1 day (10 hours) of recording time at Billy Oskay’s Big Red Studio, valued at $750.  Thank-you so much Billy, Todd, Portland Fret Works and Artichoke Music!

. . . Thanks to you, that is!  Sisters’ Holiday Matching Grant Challenge went over our goals and raised $419,000 - WOW!  We also met our new donors match with flying colors.

Thank-you, sincerely, from every one here at Sisters.  Thanks too to our ‘matchers,’ the The Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust, The Collins Foundation, and the pool of generous businesses and individuals.  The money you raised will help Sisters do its valuable work all year long.

January Personalist Center Schedule

Our new Personalist Center, attached to our cafe at 133 NW Davis, has a meeting space in which we are able to hold community events during cafe hours.  Please join us for any of these free, cross-class, family-friendly events!

1/2/08
10:30-12:30 – Knitting Circle - all levels welcome, some supplies and instruction included!
1:00-2:00 - Advance Signup:  Nonviolence Training. 

1/9/08
10:30-12:30 – Knitting Circle

1/16/08
10:30-12:30 – Knitting Circle
1:00-2:00 – Skill Share Event, “Cheap things to do with kids in Portland.” Learn stuff to do in Portland on the cheap!  This event will be geared toward folks with children, but who knows what you might pick up – everyone is welcome!

1/23/08
10:30-12:30 – Knitting Circle
1:00-3:00 – Movie Afternoon: Mississippi Burning (1988; Rated R).  When three civil rights workers disappear in 1964 Mississippi, two FBI agents (Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe) with wildly divergent styles resort to increasingly violent tactics to apprehend the culprit Ku Klux Klan. Received seven Oscar nominations (summary from Netflix).

Quotes from Voices from the Street, and the beautiful black and white photos from the PhotoVoice project are now available in an exciting 2008 wall calendar.  Calendars are $10; five dollars from each sale will be split among the ten PhotoVoice photographers, & the rest supports Sisters’ work.

Calendars are available at:

• Ten Thousand Villages on 914 NW Everett St.
• Reading Frenzy on 921 SW Oak St.
  
• Alberta Cooperative Grocery on 1500 NE Alberta St.
• Sisters’ website
• Sisters’ office: 618 NW Davis St.
• By calling Sisters at (503) 222-5694 ext. 12.

Each e-newsletter we’ll bring you a new passage from this amazing book.

Today’s Quote is from Chapter 17, “I learned there is much wisdom and a staggering amount of pain walking around our streets”:  Insight from Interviewers, p. 285:

“Marla: It is my privilege to ask homeless people in Portland about the reasons for their homelessness, the realities of their day-to-day lives, their dreams for the future, and the roadblocks keeping them from their dreams.  Once a week for three hours the little green room at crossroads’ office is reserve for me and one person who has experienced homelessness.  I have permission--in fact--the responsibility, to ask that person questions that would never be allowed in polite society.

“The green room has become my secret garden.  It is in this room I get to make real connections with real people.  There is no talk of the weather or sporting events.  There is much talk about human reactions to the reality of life on this planet.  There’s talk of homelessness and despair, of joy and discovery, of spirituality, health, and attitude, and how homelessness affects everything in a person’s life.  I suspect the people who tell me their stories are changed in some way by the telling.  I know I am changed by the listening.”

Click here to learn more about Voices from the Street and where to buy it; or click here to buy it.

They have an exciting action coming up in the spring and they’d love your input!