In short

Weekly FFT open mic nights start Thursday

Portland State students with an eye for performance can now show off their talents, from singing to juggling, at a brand new weekly open mic night series, premiering Thursday in Food For Thought Cafe.

The free event is designed to give students a voice to express their talents, no matter what those talents are, said Reid McCargar, production coordinator for the Popular Music Board, who is in charge of the event.

Inspired artists can show up for the event at 7 p.m. Thursdays. There will be no pre-registration, and each performer will get anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes of stage time. The event, co-sponsored by Food For Thought and Pathos Literary Magazine, is free and open to anyone on campus.

–Stover E. Harger III

Library opening new student presentation practice room

A new room in Portland State’s library set aside for students to practice their high-tech class presentations will open next Monday.

The room, called the Student Practice Presentation Room, will occupy room 304 of the Branford P. Millar Library starting March 3. The room will be equipped with the same high-tech equipment used in classrooms across campus and will include computers, projectors and a DVD player, according to a library press release. Students will be able to use the room for group discussion and small-group seminars and can check it out for up to two hours at the circulation desk, just like any other student group study room, university librarian Helen Spalding said.

The PSU library partnered with the Office of Information Technology and Associated Students of Portland State University to furnish and equip the room.-Stover E. Harger III

QRC hosting Reid Vanderburgh book reading tonight

Portland State is hosting a book signing and reading by Reid Vanderburgh, a well-known therapist specializing in issues related to gender identity, tonight in Smith Memorial Student Union.

The event will feature Vanderburgh reading from his book, Transition and Beyond: Observations on Gender Identity, which looks at coping with transgender transition.

Vanderburgh, a private practice therapist in Portland, earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology at PSU in 1998. He received a master’s degree in counseling psychology from John F. Kennedy University’s Graduate School for Holistic Studies in 2001.

The event will be held tonight from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in room 236 of Smith Memorial Student Union, and is hosted by the Queer Resource Center. The event is free and open to the public.

–Steve Haske